Based Safety vs. Cringe Propaganda #5

BASED SAFETY
In his monthly Spike Magazine column, art critic Dean Kissick writes about NFTs, KAWS, and the troubling phenomenon of all that is solid melting into pop culture. Speaking of NFTs, head to Covidian Aesthetics to read the first of what I’m sure will be many excavations of the newest rage in digital art by SP sister-in-arms Mónica Belevan. The ever provocative literary stylist Cashed Cobraz House Writer takes the piss out of the NYT-approved downtown rich kids over at the Drunken Canal. One of the greatest journalists of our time, Aris Roussinos, analyzes the end of American empire and the longtime coming consequences of our decades of bloodthirsty imperialism. One of my favorite sites dedicated to the art of extreme music, Bardo Methodology, interviews British doom veterans Atavist about their excellent and under-praised 2020 record (III: Absolution was the group’s first since 2008). Funeral Requiem, a new and interesting Columbian black metal band, is interviewed by Occult Black Metal Zine. Zac Davis, a writer and musician and friend of SP (perhaps best known for his insane psychedelic no wave band Lambsbread), continues his investigation into the dark heart of contemporary fear. We also have to give love to our podcasting collective. Amanda Milius, the former Trump admin functionary and current filmmaker of The Plot Against the President (and daughter of John, the director of Conan the Barbarian) joins Jack and Ortant to discuss politics and cinema at TPN. Based and hot poster (and SP amiga) Bimbo Umbermensch joins The Fedpost. And for the weekly shameless self-promo, I’d like to point out that the brilliant writer and academic (and SP writer) Udith Dematagoda joined System of Systems to discuss reactionary literature throughout modernism.

CRINGE PROPAGANDA
I hate to be mean, and I’m sure they are nice people, but someone really should tell those Drunken Canal kids that getting a 1000 word write-up in the New York Times just a few months after launching is probably indicative of a certain flaccidity, shouldn’t they? I almost liked this utterly absurd Alexander Reid Ross article about the big scary “red-brown alliance,” because it forced leftists to start doing apologetics, proving how utterly unradical and noncommittal to their positions that they actually are, but at the same time, no. Ross is quite obviously a deranged sociopathic media hitman and the fact that this article was published at all is more proof that we are in a decadent and terrifying political era (most of the people mentioned are just Democrats Alexander, just like you!). At Bookforum, Jennifer Ross scolds George Saunders for not telling her clearly enough that she should hate racists. I feel a little bad about picking on Jacobin so much (JK not at all), but David Sirota’s soft Democratic Party critiques are just pathetic and he’s the worst. I have always been a little unclear about what the fuck decolonizing” something actually means; and after reading excerpts from Erica Hunt’s “Decolonial Memoir,” I’m absolutely 100 percent positive it means nothing. And finally, some more Ezra Klein goodies! This week in the lib-lizard king’s insidious thoughts, Klein is just sure that “Stacey Abrams and Joe Manchin Can Meet on Common Ground.” Yeah, no shit Sherlock! They have the same fucking politics!

Till next time, thanks guys!

Illustration by Adam Lehrer