Rolling Stone peddles racism under a veneer of “fake woke”
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“If you don’t notice a few key episodes of this podcast, you might be impressed. The main host Brian Hiatt is a skilled, well researched interviewer who, while he favors the softball question, also has an unusual level of ability to appear sincere and thoughtful rather than merely buttering up the guests.
Reading the magazine/website version of Rolling Stone, it is often impossible to take seriously due to a sense that the writers don’t truly BELIEVE what they’re saying (like saying U2’s new music in the 2010s is a masterpiece, that kinda thing), but Brian Hiatt almost fixes that issue with the podcast— he really makes you believe he loves music. Instead of the magazine’s tendency to hype up anything involving (in nearly all cases, long past prime) “classic rock” figureheads, with an added bit of insincere and desperate, chart-hopping poptimism, the podcast’s mix of poptimism and classic rock worship feels more earnest because it tends to concentrate on music in both categories that is actually good, and not merely lucrative. There are of course exceptions to this— sometimes mediocre albums or songs simply have so much commercial success that they will get the royal treatment— but the podcast attempts to make up for it with lists covering lesser known artists in many genres, and often brings in younger critics who aren’t afraid to contradict Hiatt. (Though, we do also get graced with the frequent presence of the insufferable guest Rob Sheffield, a writer who loves the sound of his own voice but rarely uses it to say anything an AI couldn’t.)
Unfortunately, the racism for which the magazine’s founder Jann Wenner is famous does make appearances. The podcast chooses to dedicate an entire episode to hyping up the “innovations” of Grimes in the field of AI, despite the fact Grimes did not even bother to make herself available for an interview (sending her manager instead). Grimes is of course, an indie pop artist who was influential about a decade ago, but her recent work has been more in the field of white-nationalist politics than music (she had not released any music for years at the time of her episode) and she’s been vocal in explaining that her embrace of AI is connected to her belief in the ideas of far-right accelerationism. Grimes has used her twitter/x and instagram to promote the racist philosopher Curtis Yarvin aka Moldbug (who endorses a return to feudalism and slavery) and several scientists and activists involved in the eugenics movement (such as Simone and Malcolm Collins, and Richard Spencer associate Razib Khan). This is not even scratching the surface— she has also lent her support to a neo fascist magazine, Palladium, founded by an actual holocaust denier (attending fundraising galas for them two years in a row, even doing a cover story). And much, much more. She has even “jokingly” made fun of the Holocaust herself. (Note, Grimes is not, in any way, Jewish.)
Now, you can argue maybe Rolling Stone is just taking an “apolitical” interest in Grimes, disregarding her history of white-power hate speech and even outright anti-Semitism because of the “importance” of her recent AI experiments (despite having been beaten to the punch a decade ago on AI by the work of Holly Herndon). This becomes untenable though, when you notice another episode from not long before the Grimes one— a hit piece against Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, in which the hack Andy Greene (like Sheffield, one of RS’s least talented contributors) concocts a ridiculous narrative that Waters is anti-Semitic simply because he opposes the war in Ukraine (opposed by 99% of the world), and the brutal occupation of Palestinians by the Israeli military (also opposed by 99% of the world— including by nearly all American Jews under age 50).
By attempting to silence or even “cancel” the anti-racist, pro-peace activist Waters (who only seems “radical” because all the rest of his boomer generation sold out those ‘60s ideals long ago, proving their peace-and-love was just a get-rich-quick scheme), Rolling Stone podcast proves their lack of editorial independence from Penske Media Corporation, the huge company who owns them. Penske also owns Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Indiewire, even Artforum. They’ve gone mask off over the past year, using these publications to advance a far right political dogma about the evils of unions (Hollywood Reporter and Variety were full of pro-corporate, scab propaganda during the writers/actors strikes). Another key plank in their ideology is fealty to the Likud Party of Israel. Any attempt, no matter how timid, to express dissent with the ideology of genocide toward Palestinians, can result in firing from a Penske publication (as seen when they fired the editor of Artforum for merely calling for a ceasefire).
No amount of interviewing skill or even surprisingly decent taste can make up for this podcast’s cowardice in going along with Penske’s genocidal political requirements. It is unconscionable to pretend Roger Waters is antisemitic because of his support of human rights, while then elevating a literal open fascist and anti-Semite such as Grimes.”
melodie-c via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
03/07/24
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