Aida is overwhelmed by the news and can no longer keep up. Is it so healthy that we take refuge in memes and rabbitholes when the world is burning?
How can you write a column about pop in these times when the world is burning? Maybe even more so – the last two weeks alone offer more than enough material. So much so that we can’t keep up with finishing a discussion: What was it again with Gil Ofarim, his court case and his comeback through the jungle camp initiated by RTL? Did Xavier Naidoo really claim at a demonstration a few days ago that we all eat human flesh – and thereby prove that he has never stopped swearing? And why is Kid Rock now showing up as a sauna-goer with US Health Secretary Kennedy? Maybe to distract from the fact that the former fighter for low, fair ticket prices now charges up to $5,000 per ticket for his concerts?
Did we even notice that the Berlin Goethe Institute in Exile – which has shown the work of authors, (pop) musicians and other artists who live as refugees in Germany – was suddenly closed without giving any reasons? Or that someone shouted the N-word at the British Film Awards BAFTA, which, unlike a “Free Palestine,” was not cut from the television broadcast? Is anyone else keeping up with the revelations in the Epstein files – and especially with the discussions about what was censored out of the documents? Have you noticed that right-wing rock concerts and barbecue parties by right-wing groups take place at a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp? And what was going on at the Berlinale? How can it be that a Minister of State for Culture in a free democracy tries to influence cultural events?
I’ll tell you honestly: I can’t keep up anymore, even though it’s my job as a journalist to keep a reasonable overview of world cultural events. And especially not now, since war broke out between the USA, Israel and Iran on Saturday. So: eight months after the Twelve-Day War last summer – and on the first day the most powerful man in Iran, the spiritual and political leader Ali Khamenei, is dead. 37 years after he took power – intended as a mere interim solution – and never let go, building a terror regime that was based on murder, torture, sexual violence, fear and oppression and let an entire country bleed dry. It didn’t even take 24 hours for the bombs to find him. It’s not a shame about the dictator, but a trial in which all crimes against humanity are exposed and dealt with – before the International Court of Justice – would have been desirable. But we don’t even get that far into thinking, because the next big thing is definitely already there. Cynical memes that will be forgotten the next moment are probably our only way to cope with anything.
Pop as a place of retreat – and as a space for discourse
Pop culture is the space in which we discuss and process social developments – but at the same time the retreat into which we hide when everything becomes too much, when we try to cope with a world in chaos. Moreover, one in which we no longer know what is actually true and what is not because of AI slop and disinformation campaigns. One way to deal with this is to use memes to ridicule everything – perhaps so that nothing really hurts anymore. Another seems to be the opposite: discussing everything obsessively down to the last detail and often falling into the conspiracy rabbit hole, as we are currently experiencing with the topic of the Epstein files. Sexual violence and the exploitation of minors don’t seem to be bad enough: almost every day I read some new, far-reaching conspiracy theory on social media, often seasoned with a pinch of racism, anti-Semitism or other hate ideology. Maybe because, in the face of excessive monstrosity, some clever minds lose their grip on the ground and the carousel of thoughts keeps turning? Or because violence against women and abuse of power by extremely rich people alone is not enough of a kick? Or a combination of all? I don’t know it. But the same principle seems to apply to all topics: every news item becomes a pop culture happening, and the discourse surrounding it becomes consumable entertainment on social media – which, according to the logic of the platforms, has to be presented more and more blatantly in order to generate even more attention and clicks.
The Only Way Is Through
Is there a way out of here? Little Aida wants to be taken away from this reality – I don’t like this timeline, it’s too brutal, too misanthropic and too stupid for me. But like so often in life: the only way is through.
So I put on the new Mitski album, which fits the current moment so well with its paranoia and self-confidence, turn the volume up to maximum and sing along: “Wheeeere’s my phooone?”
