Hey, Mom! The Explanation.

Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.

Wednesday, March 31, 2021

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2234 - “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” by Brian Aldiss



A Sense of Doubt blog post #2234 - “Supertoys Last All Summer Long” by Brian Aldiss

Last year, I was working to merge some story ideas into a new form, drawing on source material by Isaac Asimov and Spider Robinson. I also tried to find a story I thought I read as a young boy about a boy with a robot teddy bear. There are several candidates for the story I am thinking of and not remembering, such as this one, the Brian Aldiss story that inspired Speilberg's film AI.

The others I previously published are (the first of which explains in more detail): 


A Sense of Doubt blog post #1925 - "The Professor's Teddy Bear" by Theodore Sturgeon and other SF audio - New Thinkable

And today's is the next in the series, on WRITING WEDNESDAY.



“Supertoys Last All Summer Long” 



Publisher’s Blurb
“Supertoys Last All Summer Long” is the haunting tale of a young boy unable to please his mother, a boy who is not a boy at all, a boy whose intelligence is artificial . . .
This tale, which was taken up by the late Stanley Kubrick, and is soon to be turned into a major motion picture by Steven Spielberg, is the title story of Brian Aldiss’ formidable collection of futuristic fables. It is typical of the writer’s humane power of prophesy and his unerring sense of how technology and intelligence could work together. From the pessimism of “III”, where corporate greed controls natural resources, to the optimism of “The Pause Button”, where medical advances lead to a more thoughtful society, Aldiss’ questioning is subtle yet simple — has humanity the wit and empathetic strength to keep up with the irresistible progress of technology?


FIRST EDITION: Orbit, 2001
Here, in full, we publish the copy written text in full.
—————————————————————————
In Mrs. Swinton’s garden, it was always summer. The lovely almond trees stood about it in perpetual leaf. Monica Swinton plucked a saffron-colored rose and showed it to David.
“Isn’t it lovely?” she said.
David looked up at her and grinned without replying. Seizing the flower, he ran with it across the lawn and disappeared behind the kennel where the mowervator crouched, ready to cut or sweep or roll when the moment dictated. She stood alone on her impeccable plastic gravel path.
She had tried to love him.
When she made up her mind to follow the boy, she found him in the courtyard floating the rose in his paddling pool. He stood in the pool engrossed, still wearing his sandals.
“David, darling, do you have to be so awful? Come in at once and change your shoes and socks.”
h
He went with her without protest into the house, his dark head bobbing at the level of her waist. At the age of three, he showed no fear of the ultrasonic dryer in the kitchen. But before his mother could reach for a pair of slippers, he wriggled away and was gone into the silence of the house.
He would probably be looking for Teddy.
Monica Swinton, twenty-nine, of graceful shape and lambent eye, went and sat in her living room, arranging her limbs with taste. She began by sitting and thinking; soon she was just sitting. Time waited on her shoulder with the maniac slowth it reserves for children, the insane, and wives whose husbands are away improving the world. Almost by reflex, she reached out and changed the wavelength of her windows. The garden faded; in its place, the city center rose by her left hand, full of crowding people, blowboats, and buildings (but she kept the sound down). She remained alone. An overcrowded world is the ideal place in which to be lonely.
*
The directors of Synthank were eating an enormous luncheon to celebrate the launching of their new product. Some of them wore the plastic face-masks popular at the time. All were elegantly slender, despite the rich food and drink they were putting away. Their wives were elegantly slender, despite the food and drink they too were putting away. An earlier and less sophisticated generation would have regarded them as beautiful people, apart from their eyes.
Henry Swinton, Managing Director of Synthank, was about to make a speech.
“I’m sorry your wife couldn’t be with us to hear you,” his neighbor said.
“Monica prefers to stay at home thinking beautiful thoughts,” said Swinton, maintaining a smile.
“One would expect such a beautiful woman to have beautiful thoughts,” said the neighbor.
Take your mind off my wife, you bastard, thought Swinton, still smiling.
He rose to make his speech amid applause.
After a couple of jokes, he said, “Today marks a real breakthrough for the company. It is now almost ten years since we put our first synthetic life-forms on the world market. You all know what a success they have been, particularly the miniature dinosaurs. But none of them had intelligence.
“It seems like a paradox that in this day and age we can create life but not intelligence. Our first selling line, the Crosswell Tape, sells best of all, and is the most stupid of all.” Everyone laughed.
“Though three-quarters of the overcrowded world are starving, we are lucky here to have more than enough, thanks to population control. Obesity’s our problem, not malnutrition. I guess there’s nobody round this table who doesn’t have a Crosswell working for him in the small intestine, a perfectly safe parasite tape-worm that enables its host to eat up to fifty percent more food and still keep his or her figure. Right?” General nods of agreement.
“Our miniature dinosaurs are almost equally stupid. Today, we launch an intelligent synthetic life-form — a full-size serving-man.
“Not only does he have intelligence, he has a controlled amount of intelligence. We believe people would be afraid of a being with a human brain. Our serving-man has a small computer in his cranium.
“There have been mechanicals on the market with mini-computers for brains — plastic things without life, super-toys — but we have at last found a way to link computer circuitry with synthetic flesh.”
*
David sat by the long window of his nursery, wrestling with paper and pencil. Finally, he stopped writing and began to roll the pencil up and down the slope of the desk-lid.
“Teddy!” he said.
Teddy lay on the bed against the wall, under a book with moving pictures and a giant plastic soldier. The speech-pattern of his master’s voice activated him and he sat up.
“Teddy, I can’t think what to say!”
Climbing off the bed, the bear walked stiffly over to cling to the boy’s leg. David lifted him and set him on the desk.
“What have you said so far?”
“I’ve said –” He picked up his letter and stared hard at it. “I’ve said, ‘Dear Mummy, I hope you’re well just now. I love you….'”
There was a long silence, until the bear said, “That sounds fine. Go downstairs and give it to her.”
Another long silence.
“It isn’t quite right. She won’t understand.”
Inside the bear, a small computer worked through its program of possibilities. “Why not do it again in crayon?”
When David did not answer, the bear repeated his suggestion. “Why not do it again in crayon?”
David was staring out of the window. “Teddy, you know what I was thinking? How do you tell what are real things from what aren’t real things?”
The bear shuffled its alternatives. “Real things are good.”
“I wonder if time is good. I don’t think Mummy likes time very much. The other day, lots of days ago, she said that time went by her. Is time real, Teddy?”
“Clocks tell the time. Clocks are real. Mummy has clocks so she must like them. She has a clock on her wrist next to her dial.”
David started to draw a jumbo jet on the back of his letter. “You and I are real, Teddy, aren’t we?”
The bear’s eyes regarded the boy unflinchingly. “You and I are real David.” It specialized in comfort.
*
Monica walked slowly about the house. It was almost time for the afternoon post to come over the wire. She punched the Post Office number on the dial on her wrist, but nothing came through. A few minutes more.
She could take up her painting. Or she could dial her friends. Or she could wait till Henry came home. Or she could go up and play with David….
She walked out into the hall and to the bottom of the stairs.
“David!”
No answer. She called again and a third time.
“Teddy!” she called, in sharper tones.
“Yes, Mummy!” After a moment’s pause, Teddy’s head of golden fur appeared at the top of the stairs.
“Is David in his room,Teddy?”
“David went into the garden, Mummy.”
“Come down here, Teddy!”
She stood impassively, watching the little furry figure as it climbed down from step to step on its stubby limbs. When it reached the bottom, she picked it up and carried it into the living room. It lay unmoving in her arms, staring up at her. She could feel just the slightest vibration from its motor.
“Stand there, Teddy. I want to talk to you.” She set him down on a tabletop, and he stood as she requested, arms set forward and open in the eternal gesture of embrace.
“Teddy, did David tell you to tell me he had gone into the garden?”
The circuits of the bear’s brain were too simple for artifice. “Yes, Mummy.”
“So you lied to me.”
“Yes. Mummy.”
“Stop calling me Mummy! Why is David avoiding me? He’s not afraid of me, is he?”
“No. He loves you.”
“Why can’t we communicate?”
“David’s upstairs.”
The answer stopped her dead. Why waste time talking to this machine? Why not simply go upstairs and scoop David into her arms and talk to him, as a loving mother should to a loving son? She heard the sheer weight of silence in the house, with a different quality of silence pouring out of every room. On the upper landing, something was moving very silently — David, trying to hide away from her….
*
He was nearing the end of his speech now. The guests were attentive; so was the Press, lining two walls of the banqueting chamber, recording Henry’s words and occasionally photographing him.
“Our serving-man will be, in many senses, a product of the computer. Without computers, we could never have worked through the sophisticated biochemics that go into synthetic flesh. The serving-man will also be an extension of the computer–for he will contain a computer in his own head, a microminiaturized computer capable of dealing with almost any situation he may encounter in the home. With reservations, of course.” Laughter at this; many of those present knew the heated debate that had engulfed the Synthank boardroom before the decision had finally been taken to leave the serving-man neuter under his flawless uniform.
“Amid all the triumphs of our civilization — yes, and amid the crushing problems of overpopulation too — it is sad to reflect how many millions of people suffer from increasing loneliness and isolation. Our serving-man will be a boon to them: he will always answer, and the most vapid conversation cannot bore him.
“For the future, we plan more models, male and female–some of them without the limitations of this first one, I promise you! — of more advanced design, true bio-electronic beings.
“Not only will they possess their own computer, capable of individual programming; they will be linked to the World Data Network. Thus everyone will be able to enjoy the equivalent of an Einstein in their own homes. Personal isolation will then be banished forever!”
He sat down to enthusiastic applause. Even the synthetic serving-man, sitting at the table dressed in an unostentatious suit, applauded with gusto.
*
Dragging his satchel, David crept round the side of the house. He climbed on to the ornamental seat under the living-room window and peeped cautiously in.
His mother stood in the middle of the room. Her face was blank, its lack of expression scared him. He watched fascinated. He did not move; she did not move. Time might have stopped, as it had stopped in the garden.
At last she turned and left the room. After waiting a moment, David tapped on the window. Teddy looked round, saw him, tumbled off the table, and came over to the window. Fumbling with his paws, he eventually got it open.
They looked at each other.
“I’m no good, Teddy. Let’s run away!”
“You’re a very good boy. Your Mummy loves you.”
Slowly, he shook his head. “If she loved me, then why can’t I talk to her?”
“You’re being silly, David. Mummy’s lonely. That’s why she had you.”
“She’s got Daddy. I’ve got nobody ‘cept you, and I’m lonely.”
Teddy gave him a friendly cuff over the head. “If you feel so bad, you’d better go to the psychiatrist again.”
“I hate that old psychiatrist — he makes me feel I’m not real.” He started to run across the lawn. The bear toppled out of the window and followed as fast as its stubby legs would allow.
Monica Swinton was up in the nursery. She called to her son once and then stood there, undecided. All was silent.
Crayons lay on his desk. Obeying a sudden impulse, she went over to the desk and opened it. Dozens of pieces of paper lay inside. Many of them were written in crayon in David’s clumsy writing, with each letter picked out in a color different from the letter preceding it. None of the messages was finished.
“My dear Mummy, How are you really, do you love me as much –“
“Dear Mummy, I love you and Daddy and the sun is shining –“
“Dear dear Mummy, Teddy’s helping me write to you. I love you and Teddy –“
“Darling Mummy, I’m your one and only son and I love you so much that some times –“
“Dear Mummy, you’re really my Mummy and I hate Teddy –“
“Darling Mummy, guess how much I love –“
“Dear Mummy, I’m your little boy not Teddy and I love you but Teddy –“
“Dear Mummy, this is a letter to you just to say how much how ever so much –“
Monica dropped the pieces of paper and burst out crying. In their gay inaccurate colors, the letters fanned out and settled on the floor.
*
Henry Swinton caught the express home in high spirits, and occasionally said a word to the synthetic serving-man he was taking home with him. The serving-man answered politely and punctually, although his answers were not always entirely relevant by human standards.
The Swintons lived in one of the ritziest city-blocks, half a kilometer above the ground. Embedded in other apartments, their apartment had no windows to the outside; nobody wanted to see the overcrowded external world. Henry unlocked the door with his retina pattern-scanner and walked in, followed by the serving-man.
At once, Henry was surrounded by the friendly illusion of gardens set in eternal summer. It was amazing what Whologram could do to create huge mirages in small spaces. Behind its roses and wisteria stood their house; the deception was complete: a Georgian mansion appeared to welcome him.
“How do you like it?” he asked the serving-man.
“Roses occasionally suffer from black spot.”
“These roses are guaranteed free from any imperfections.”
“It is always advisable to purchase goods with guarantees, even if they cost slightly more.”
“Thanks for the information,” Henry said dryly. Synthetic lifeforms were less than ten years old, the old android mechanicals less than sixteen; the faults of their systems were still being ironed out, year by year.
He opened the door and called to Monica.
She came out of the sitting-room immediately and flung her arms round him, kissing him ardently on cheek and lips. Henry was amazed.
Pulling back to look at her face, he saw how she seemed to generate light and beauty. It was months since he had seen her so excited. Instinctively, he clasped her tighter.
“Darling, what’s happened?”
“Henry, Henry — oh, my darling, I was in despair … but I’ve just dialed the afternoon post and — you’ll never believe it! Oh, it’s wonderful!”
“For heaven’s sake, woman, what’s wonderful?”
He caught a glimpse of the heading on the photostat in her hand, still moist from the wall-receiver: Ministry of Population. He felt the color drain from his face in sudden shock and hope.
“Monica … oh … Don’t tell me our number’s come up!”
“Yes, my darling, yes, we’ve won this week’s parenthood lottery! We can go ahead and conceive a child at once!”
He let out a yell of joy. They danced round the room. Pressure of population was such that reproduction had to be strict, controlled. Childbirth required government permission. For this moment, they had waited four years. Incoherently they cried their delight.
They paused at last, gasping and stood in the middle of the room to laugh at each other’s happiness. When she had come down from the nursery, Monica had de-opaqued the windows so that they now revealed the vista of garden beyond. Artificial sunlight was growing long and golden across the lawn — and David and Teddy were staring through the window at them.
Seeing their faces, Henry and his wife grew serious.
“What do we do about them?” Henry asked.
“Teddy’s no trouble. He works well.”
“Is David malfunctioning?”
“His verbal communication center is still giving trouble. I think he’ll have to go back to the factory again.”
“Okay. We’ll see how he does before the baby’s born. Which reminds me–I have a surprise for you: help just when help is needed! Come into the hall and see what I’ve got.”
As the two adults disappeared from the room, boy and bear sat down beneath the standard roses.
“Teddy — I suppose Mummy and Daddy are real, aren’t they?”
Teddy said, “You ask such silly questions, David. Nobody knows what real really means. Let’s go indoors.”
“First I’m going to have another rose!” Plucking a bright pink flower, he carried it with him into the house. It could lie on the pillow as he went to sleep. Its beauty and softness reminded him of Mummy.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2103.31 - 10:10

- Days ago = 2098 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2233 - May All Our Shoes Be Satan's Shoes


A Sense of Doubt blog post #2233 - May All Our Shoes Be Satan's Shoes

Go ahead. Have your Satanic panic. You will just prove the point Lil Nas wants to make and expose your own HYPOCRISY with your self-righteous stupidity.

I love this.

Years ago, I argued that really transformative art, the kind of art with paradigm shifting power needs to attack beliefs, values, to be an iconoclast and shake the foundations of the flimsy belief systems of people with no heart and soul.

Even better than Piss Christ.

I can't afford the shoes, but to be one of 666 purchases.

Awesome.

Lil Nas: I applaud you.

Also, I think the current number of views (more by the time you read this) at well over 49 million an climbing tells us all everything we need to know on the power of art, the way that controversy gets our attention. Got mine, didn't it?

But then, what do we do with the "controversy" stirred?

And Nas is taunting critics online. Love it.


Luke 10:18 — The New International Version (NIV)

18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.



#LILNASX #MONTERO #CALLMEBYYOURNAME

Lil Nas X - MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name) (Official Video)
49,308,565 views



Official video for “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” by Lil Nas X. Listen + Download: “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” out now https://lilnasx.lnk.to/Montero​ - Put headphones on for a simulated 360 Reality Audio experience.
https://www.insider.com/lil-nas-x-montero-video-tiktok-meme-pole-dancing-hell-2021-3

May All Our Shoes Be Satan Shoes

Robyn Pennacchia
March 29, 2021 09:57 AM

Screengrab from "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)" video by Lil Nas X

This weekend, following the release of Lil Nas X's music video for "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)," in which he gave Satan a lapdance, he released his very own line of sneakers, which he is calling "Satan Shoes." He will be selling 666 pairs of revamped Air Max '97's, each with 666 embroidered on the side and filled with 66 CCs of red ink and one drop of actual human blood.

Naturally, the religious right has lost its goddamned mind over it. And it's truly been beautiful.

"We now live in a world where Nike Satan shoes made with real human blood are a real thing but Dr. Seuss books are banned. Our world is broken AF.


Lil Nas X can literally give satan a lap dance in his music video, and release a pair of satan shoes, and people still don't believe that there are satan worshippers in the music industry. That's the level of delusion we're dealing with.


Candace Owens being mad at these shoes, George Floyd and Cardi B. Nothing new to see here.


Satanic Nike shoe with human blood inside that mocks the word of God in Luke 10:18, while it also has the number 666 and the Satanic pentagram on it. Are atheists awake yet?

Lil Nas X's troll is masterful, given that QAnon people have long been obsessed with the belief that celebrities wear red shoes to signify their interest in eating babies in Satanic rituals (or even that these shoes are made from actual human baby leather). It's also served to make absolute goddamned fools of people who have spent the better part of the last several years sobbing about cancel culture.

Especially since some of them went so far as to say the shoes should be "canceled." Including South Dakota GOP Governor Kristi Noem:

Text:

This is outrageous, disgusting and perverted and on #PalmSunday no less. Somehow @lilnasx thinks that Satanic worship should be mainstream and normal. I don't think there have been better candidates to cancel than LilNasX and these shoes.

I mean, she can try to do that, but I would think that for whoever would spend $1,000 on Satanic shoes, Kristi Noem trying to "cancel" them would be a bonus. Given that they've already sold out, it looks like she missed her chance.

As governor of South Dakota, Noem should know she represents whatever Satanists are living there, and refrain from denigrating their religion. Every American has the constitutionally protected right to be a Satanist if they want. Does Kristi Noem hate the Constitution?

Lil Nas X took care of her though.


Kaitlin Bennett — the gun girl who rose to fame on a pile of adult diapers — even decided to get racist about it.


He's got the right idea here, and I'm not kidding. We should all just declare ourselves "Satan Worshipers," I am Spartacus-style, just to shut these people up. We should declare all of the shoes to be Satan Shoes so they have to go barefoot. And not even just shoes. Food! Movies! Drinks! More music than they already think is Satanic! Make is so they can't do anything without it being "Satanic."

Then maybe they can stop making everyone's lives hell with their ridiculous accusations and threats. Pun intended.

Actual "Satan Worshipers" do not really exist, largely because the people who believe in Literal Satan From The Christian Bible are Christians. Satanists, at least LaVeyan Satanists, are just super aggro atheists. Theistic Satanists are fairly few and far between, and mostly Nazis. And even they aren't going around worshiping Satan as Christians understand Satan. There is nothing in real life that bears any resemblance at all to the kind of Michelle Remembers nonsense the Christian Right thinks is happening all over. And quite frankly, at this point it's obnoxious that they keep insisting upon it.

I would say "How long can you believe something is going on without having a single piece of evidence for it?" but I think we already have our answer to that one.

The fact is, the Christian right has been responsible for far more evil and caused more damage to society in its quest to root out "Satanism" and "demonic influences." That's just a fact. Even if we don't count the witch trials, in which they murdered young women because they thought Satan gave them magic powers, it's a fact.

For years, they claimed Satanists were out there trying to molest children. They sent innocent people to prison, they tore families apart, and created a toxic environment where people were terrified their kids were constantly in danger of being molested by Satanists, and where good people were terrified of being accused of doing that and having their lives ruined.

And yet, it turned out the child molestation calls were coming from inside the house. I don't know how you go through the kind of massive and far reaching child sex abuse scandal the Catholic church did, or Josh Duggar, or however many thousands of incidents of pastors and clergy molesting kids, and still manage to get all het up over imaginary Satanists and their apparent intrinsic desire to hurt children. But they do.

Speaking of hurting children, how many kids have to live through self-righteous holy rollers telling them they're going to hell for being gay or non-Christian or different in some way?

How many kids had to live in turmoil and fear that if they came out their parents or friends wouldn't love them anymore? How many adults still have to live through it?

How often do we hear "How can you hate me, your fellow American, just for having a different opinion than you do?" from the same bigots claiming everyone who disagrees with them is going to burn for all eternity?

What Lil Nas X is doing is taking just a little bit of their power away, and it's beautiful. I hope they're unhappy. They deserve it.

Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons.




The Lil Nas X Outrage Is Exposing Hypocrites

BY

@andrejgee


Mar 29, 2021


Lil Nas X has cultivated a reputation as one of pop culture’s biggest trolls, and he’s embarked on his most ambitious (and important) campaign yet. He debuted his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video on March 26, a satirical “gotcha” to homophobic listeners and religious zealots. In the Tanu Muino-co-directed video, Nas X twerks on the devil himself. Then he followed that up over the weekend with “Satan Sneakers,” which sound like they’re right out of a headline on The Onion: the 666 pairs each have a pentagram on them and a drop of human blood in the air bubble. 

The video alone was enough to have politicians clutching their pearls at the supposed moral decline of society via pop music—even if many of the video’s critics represent the hateful base that Nas X is trying to call out. 

It parallels Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” as an envelope-pushing visual that proves no matter how progressive society claims to be, there’s still a loud sect of outraged conservatism. Both videos expose the priorities of right-wing politicians who have the energy to get irate at musicians but are indifferent about inhumane public policy. 

One would think the “Montero” video is a little too over the top to be taken seriously, but as H.L. Mencken once said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.” The three-minute visual depicts Lil Nas X roaming through what seems like a demented Alice In Wonderland setting before descending a giant stripper pole and purportedly entering Hell, where he dances on Satan. He was clearly trying to upset the kind of conservatives who believe “all gay people go to hell” by throwing their hateful rhetoric back at them, as if he were saying, “If this is what homophobes think I am, I’ll lean all the way into it to make a spectacle.” But the satire was lost on the people who immediately deemed it satanic, a not-so-new allegation often levied on videos depicting religious and spiritual imagery in a not-so-reverent light. Some of the most compelling music visuals of all time have faced such criticism.

One of the most quintessential examples, Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” was deemed “blasphemous” by the Vatican for scenes of the singer cutting her wrists in church and dancing in front of KKK-like burning crosses. But those in an uproar missed the point of the 1989 visual: she and director Mary Lambert were making a statement about racism. Various cultural critics have championed the video and gleaned commentary on woman empowerment, the notion of white solidarity with the civil rights movement, and the prevalence of Black men being punished for sex with white women throughout history. But too many critics merely fixated on the crosses. Madonna referenced the song in the midst of 2020’s pro-George Floyd uprising by noting, “The Past Catches up to the future.” Her statement was specifically about race relations, but the phrase also applies to the frenzy over controversial videos.

Months after Madonna’s statement, Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B vied to outnasty each other on “WAP,” a song about their sexual desires. We all got here one way, but apparently we’re chaste to talk about. The video, where the women wore dominatrix-like outfits and grinded on each other in the not-so-subtle imagery of a shallow pool, was also criticized. Most of the ire went toward the song’s lyrics, for the same reason as the video: it depicted women owning their sexuality. Ditto their recent Grammy performance, which received FCC complaints. 

The rap world, like most of the world, is cis male-dominated. It’s typical to hear women dehumanized as mere apparatus for a man’s phallic fantasies, but it disingenuously becomes a moral issue when a woman takes ownership of her own sexuality. Conservative politician James Bradley called the artists “what happens when children are raised without God and without a strong father figure,” and another said the song “set the entire female gender back by 100 years.” But far less criticism is levied against male rappers’ sexual conquests and violent lyrics. And that’s not to say that there should be. All artists deserve artistic license to say what they want, which is exactly why people shouldn’t be trying to censor “WAP” and “Montero.”

It proves that no matter how progressive society claims to be, there’s still a loud sect of outraged conservatism.


While “WAP” was subject to inherent misogyny, the root of the disdain for “Montero” is homophobia. There are many decrying it for being “satanic,” but rap history reflects their hypocrisy. DMX’s Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood album cover depicted him doused in blood, and his “Damien” series was about him taking violent advice by the devil. Still, most people do nothing but root for DMX to live his best life. Three 6 Mafia is literally named 666 Mafia, and Juicy J and DJ Paul are rightfully seen as fun, colorful contributors to hip-hop (they even got a reality show on MTV). “Demon Time” is a cultural colloquialism. Big L’s “Devil’s Son” is regarded as a hip-hop classic, and horrorcore was an entire genre where artists waded in the darkness. If hip-hop listeners really had a collective no-fly zone for satanic imagery, then it wouldn’t be so prevalent in hip-hop lore. And if the criticism for the song was truly about defiling religion, there would be similar smoke for the numerous sexual scandals involving priests, pastors, and young altar boys. Cries about the depiction of the devil are an easy way out for many people who don’t want to publicly admit that Nas X’s sexuality bothers them.

“Montero” co-producers Take A Daytrip called out the hypocrisy and hate by tweeting, “Y’all do realize if no one ever said that ‘all gay people go to hell’ and instead treated the LGBTQ community equally in the eyes of God that there would’ve never been a Satan shoe or a music video that depicts Satan in it… Right?” 

Most men looking to appear tolerant end up feigning acceptance for the LGBTQ community, but it feels like many have a threshold that, if crossed, causes them to go on a Boosie-like homophobic rant. Nas X knows that, and he removed their chance to toe the line with “Montero.” It’s all good and well to say, “I don’t care what someone does behind closed doors,” but we’re exposed as a deeply bigoted society when those doors open and we don’t like what we see.


Both “WAP” and “Montero” were also criticized on the grounds that they corrupted children. Last night, Joyner Lucas saluted Nas X for the video “creating viral moments, making people talk, & creating content he already knew you was going to react to.” He called it “a formula guaranteed to work,” but then tweeted a sentiment that essentially stated Lil Nas X should be cognizant of kids in his creative process because children liked “Old Town Road” and subscribed to him on YouTube. Nas X succinctly replied, “I literally sing about lean & adultery in old town road. u decided to let your child listen. blame yourself.” 

He’s right. When Nas made “I Can” for kids, there was no assumption that he was suddenly set to become the precursor to Hip Hop Harry. Similarly, “WAP” isn’t Megan or Cardi’s B first song. Parents should already know that their content is inappropriate for children. These are all adults making music for adults. They have no responsibility for what any child but their own is listening to (which is why Cardi B turned “WAP” off when her daughter walked in the room). If the conversation turns to the children who don’t have sufficient guidance, or may not have active parents at all, that’s when it becomes a broader issue that leads to the true people setting society back: politicians.

There were several politicians who used “WAP” as low-hanging fruit to portray themselves as morally upright figures last election season. Just a couple days after “Montero,” Nas X announced “Satan Sneakers,” a limited-edition rendering of the Air Max 97s with a reference to bible verse Luke 10:18, which says: “He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.’” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem came out against the shoes on Twitter, blustering, “Our kids are being told that this kind of product is, not only okay, it’s ‘exclusive.’ But do you know what’s more exclusive? Their God-given eternal soul.”

Too bad she doesn’t take her own advice. South Dakota currently has 1,933 COVID deaths. Earlier this month, she proudly proclaimed that “South Dakota is the only state in America that never ordered a single business or church to close” and “South Dakota never instituted shelter in place, never mandated people wear masks.” CNN reports that because of those decisions, her state has the eighth-highest COVID death rate per 100,000 people. Her decision-making is responsible for many, if not all of those deaths. It’s a rite of allegiance for conservatives to inflame moral panic by deeming controversial pop music a scourge to humanity. But these moments exhibit the true value of envelope-pushing art by displaying politician’s inhumane priorities.

Politicians like Noem are cogs in a system that subsists on economic inequality and has mass homelessness, a predatory justice system, a racist police system, a gun violence problem, and more issues. Conservatives, by virtue of their name, opt to conserve all these injustices. Noem, nor any politician who aligns with her, has any moral high ground to question whether a piece of art hurts anybody when they’re collectively responsible for the death and destitution of millions. American policy corrupts more lives than any music video ever could. 

Lil Nas X "Montero"
Image via YouTube

That’s exactly why such intense displays like “Montero” are socially and politically valuable. They’re not merely about shock value. They subvert hateful pathologies and thus put a mirror to bigotry and moralists, showing them how the scope of their hate is interpreted by those weighed down by it. “WAP” made men sweat by mimicking patriarchy. Nas X sought to show religious, homophobic people how ridiculous their condemnations are by owning them.

Renowned writer, documentarian, and activist Toni Cade Bambara famously opined, “As a culture worker who belongs to an oppressed people, my job is to make revolution irresistible.” Sadly, the idea of genuine equality is still revolutionary. In a letter to his 14-year-old self last week, Lil Nas X wrote, “I know we promised to die with the secret, but this will open doors for many other queer people to simply exist.” The hoards of so-called religious devotees criticizing Lil Nas X are some of the main people who commit the true sin of ostracizing and condemning members of the LBGTQ community. 

In order for marginalized groups to experience more acceptance, artists like Lil Nas X should continue to push the bounds of cultural niceties and norms to flush out hateful people, challenge their beliefs, and make incisive statements about regressive constructs. So many of the prominent people who come out against these songs have their own skeletons, many of them more detrimental to humanity than they claim the music is. Those who are offended by “Montero” or “WAP” have something going on within them which needs to be scrutinized. That will happen with more art that challenges the oppressive status quo and shows us that we’re not so progressive after all.


He’s gonna ride til he can’t no more.
 Lil Nas X

https://www.vox.com/22356438/lil-nas-x-satan-shoes-nike-montero-video-gay-agenda-christian-controversy

Lil Nas X’s evil gay Satanic agenda, explained

Lil Nas X put human blood into 666 pairs of Nikes because being queer means embracing your villainy.

By Aja Romano  


Not content to merely spur controversy and debate within the country music industry, Lil Nas X has jump-started the 21st century’s first foray into Satanic Panic by selling blood-infused Nikes.

Welcome!

It all started with the March 26 release of his latest music video, “Montero (Call Me by Your Name),” in which he cavorts erotically with various iterations of Satan, is stoned by a crowd throwing buttplugs, transforms a spear that’s been homoerotically aimed at him (à la St. Sebastian) into a stripper pole, and then slides all the way down the pole into hell before giving Satan a lap dance as an excuse to seduce him, murder him, and steal the crown of hell for himself in a win for bottoms everywhere.

Oh, and he does all of this while singing with a mix of joy and wryness about gay sex, the frustration of living a closeted life, the pain of loving someone who’s still in the closet — Lil Nas himself is openly gay — and the jealousy he feels toward straight people who get to live their lives without facing bigotry and oppression due to their sexuality. “You live in the dark, boy, I cannot pretend,” he sings. “I’m not fazed, only here to sin.” The song’s subtitle, “Call Me by Your Name,” also doubles as a refrain, in which he sings, “Call me by your name / tell me you love me in private” — another reference to the closet, as well as a reference to the acclaimed 2017 film about an illicit gay affair.

So you can see how the music video might be a little bit shocking — especially from the portion of the public that loves a good moral panic and believes queerness is a sin.

But Lil Nas X apparently wanted to ratchet up the potential for outrage just a bit further. So he partnered with a creative agency named MSCHF, a Brooklyn-based promoter with serious Zardulu energy that’s become known for a string of viral stunt promotions. In 2019, MSCHF released a viral pair of sneakers called “Jesus Shoes,” which claimed to contain a drop of holy water in every pair.

Together, Lil Nas X and MSCHF designed “Satan Shoes”: a limited edition of 666 pairs of custom Nike Airs in which the air bubble in the sole has been filled with a mixture of red ink and “one drop of human blood.” The shoes, which cost $1,018 per pair and went on sale at 11 am Monday, reportedly sold out in less than a minute (or should we say ... soul’d out?) — although Nike has reportedly moved to sue MSCHF and block sales of the shoes, citing infringement.

Outside of sneaker culture, you wouldn’t typically expect a limited number of shoes being sold at a very high price to set the world on fire. After all, how much trouble could a few hundred pairs of shoes possibly cause? Yet in the three days since they were announced, all hell has broken loose. According to many outraged conservatives, in fact, these boots were made for pied-piping children directly into the fiery pit of eternal damnation.

The “Montero” music video, with its decadent queer eroticism, spurred an initial homophobic backlash as conservative viewers chided Lil Nas X for supposedly corrupting children. But if the video drew a wave of backlash, the video plus the Satan shoes drew a veritable tsunami.

The resultant controversy has spawned a series of endlessly entertaining moments — cascading dominos of devilish diversion, starting with the enjoyably campy video that began all of this hysteria.

And beyond the initial hilarity, the shoes have also prompted a broader discussion about bigotry, homophobia, the historical roots of Satanic Panic in the US, and whether all that much has really changed since Satanic Panic began in the 1980s.

A fight for the soles of the nation

The world found out about the Satan shoes from this tweet on March 26, which immediately went viral:

The satan.shoes website that promoter MSCHF built features a photo of one of the blood-infused shoes rotating against a backdrop of orgiastic demons depicted as a ’90s collage-style website wallpaper, along with quotes from Paradise Lost and the Bible:

A screenshot of the MSCHF website featuring a black sneaker and satanic wallpaper.
Get thee behind me.
 MSCHF

The launch of the website led to this official description of the process by which the shoes — purchased by MSCHF and altered after the fact — were injected with the ink-and-blood mix, which MSCHF co-founder Daniel Greenberg provided to the New York Times, and which the New York Times, paper of record, subsequently quoted: “Uhhhhhh yeah hahah not medical professionals we did it ourselves lol.”

Nike, for its part, was quick to issue a statement to the Times emphasizing that the shoes were not sanctioned by Nike:

“We do not have a relationship with Little Nas X or MSCHF. Nike did not design or release these shoes, and we do not endorse them.”

In context, the terse dismissal carries the terrified tone of a jock shouting, “No homo” — an impression bolstered by Nike’s subsequent reported lawsuit against MSCHF.

For what it’s worth, the Church of Satan also distanced itself from the stunt — but not before the shoes prompted intense alarm among prominent Christians. Most visible was this tweet from South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who took time out from presiding over the worst Covid-19 response in the US to cry that Christians are in “a fight for the soul of the nation,” implying literally that Lil Nas X’s shoes are a satanic influence.

“Our kids are being told that this kind of product is, not only okay, it’s ‘exclusive.’” Noem wrote. “But do you know what’s more exclusive? Their God-given eternal soul.”

Noem’s response garnered a wide range of reactions, most notably from Lil Nas himself, who subsequently boggled that she was “a whole governor” who was “tweeting about some damn shoes” instead of doing her job.

But other conservatives also spoke out against the shoes, including popular Tennessee pastor Greg Locke, who called Lil Nas a “thug” and railed against the shoes as “a bunch of demonism, devilism, and psychotic wickedness.” Black right-wing activist Candace Owens called out Lil Nas and his Black fans for “promoting Satan shoes to wear on our feet.” Rapper Joyner Lucas complained that Lil Nas was corrupting his legions of young fans — to which Lil Nas quickly clapped back, as he did for most of the louder grievances:

(My personal favorite response born of all this social media chaos is this incredible “hole for Satan” tweet, made by a Christian comedian who seemed to think “hole for Satan” was a legitimately funny burn, which consequently makes it the funniest thing anyone has ever said.)

But concern over the shoes has predominantly been met with ridicule on social media, and trends like Satanic Panic and #SatanShoes have made the rounds as a result. Lil Nas X seems to be exulting in the controversy. He was quick to double down by posting a faux apology on YouTube that essentially functioned as a Rickroll for the music video’s aforementioned bump-and-grind moment with Satan:

He also continued courting attention and scorn in equal measure by promising to release a Christian-friendly version of the shoe, with a nod to the famously homophobic, if kinda reformed, Christian-founded fast food chain Chick-fil-A:

The artist also made it clear how fully he anticipated all the outrage — and how happy he is to ride the waves of it to even greater success:

But while he’s clearly been having fun with the responses, he’s also been consistent about bluntly explaining the importance of the song and how it fits into his role as one of the few out gay entertainers in the music industry.

In fact, the whole topic has spawned ongoing conversations about everything from queer subtext in art to religious moral hypocrisy to (my favorite) the storied folkloric tradition of associating queerness with demon-fucking.

Be gay, do crimes, enjoy hell

Lil Nas X, as much a performance artist as any other Hollywood star, has made it clear that he intended for “Montero” to spawn exactly this level of outrage in precisely the way that said outrage has unfolded. In essence, it’s the entire package of “Montero” — the video, the shoes, and the social media backlash — that he’s presenting as art. All of it taken together creates a commentary about modern-day witch hunts, modern-day Christianity in general, and modern-day queer identity.

The video for “Montero” uses mostly classical imagery from a traditional version of Christianity to showcase how intertwined the languages of religiosity and homoeroticism have always been. In case it’s not clear from the sequence where Lil Nas X throws buttplugs at himself in the shape of stones, all the titillating erotic elements in the video are intended as metaphors. He also plays all the characters in the video, and so essentially winds up self-flagellating — another bit of erotic play, this time on the theme of eroticized guilt and self-hate that also runs through Christian iconography.

The classical religious imagery in the video functions precisely the way religious imagery always has for many queer people — as a way of inserting queer subtext and overlaying figurative storytelling onto more socially acceptable biblical narratives. Remember, queer people have historically been denied access to salvation through legitimized readings of the Bible and stories like the fall of Adam and Eve — not to mention the constant reminders from most Christian churches that they consider being gay a sin. In response, they’ve inserted subtextual interpretations into biblical stories and readings of characters, and passed those subtextual readings down through the centuries.

The “Montero” video is in keeping with this tradition: It teems with traditionally homoerotic religious imagery, like the phallic spearing of St. Sebastian, the erotically charged Miltonian depiction of Satan as a ripped hot guy, and of course the bondage implications of tangling with a giant snake in the Garden of Eden. Lil Nas X showcases, calls out, and celebrates all of this long-established subtext, making it overtly sexual. In doing this, he not only creates an explicitly queer religious commentary but also challenges Christianity to reckon with the hidden queer identities in its midst. And he does it all while he’s singing about loving a man who’s still trapped in the closet — a societal closet that Christianity helped create and still reinforces.

Lil Nas X is deeply aware, as most queer people are, that the queer experience has always been defined by deviance, primarily because mainstream society has historically refused to legitimize any other kind of queer experience. Queerness has always been associated with the monstrous and diabolical, with queer influences being framed as corrupt and perverse, and queer people experiencing higher rates of imprisonment than straight people, all while being disallowed to marry, start families, and enjoy “normal” lives. Thus, queer people have learned to embrace and own their social ostracism, turning deviance into something to celebrate.

The essence of being queer, in other words, is to “be gay, do crimes,” and to celebrate monstrosity.

Lil Nas anticipated the backlash to his stunt — and weaponized it to make a point about religious intolerance

These themes aren’t particularly deep — they’re a well-established part of queer theory, religious history, and media criticism. Most people probably wouldn’t even need to know much about them to understand the metaphors in “Montero.”

But there’s just one problem: Modern Christianity isn’t exactly keen on figurative interpretations, especially when it comes to demons and gay people.

Modern evangelical Christianity is largely influenced by the kind of epic Christian fantasy that emerged during the 1980s when writers like Frank Peretti turned the concept of “spiritual warfare” into, ironically, a kind of Dungeons and Dragons-like role play that saw good Christians quite literally fighting and defeating actual demons through prayer and spiritual badassery. Fueled by Satanic Panic, that version of Christianity spread like wildfire across the country during the rapid growth of evangelicalism throughout the 1980s and ’90s. And it never really went away — as Lil Nas X’s strategic baiting has made clear.

Simultaneously, Christians’ justification of the persecution of queer people has historically been based on very literal interpretations (and frequent misinterpretations) of biblical passages. These include verses in which sodomy is discussed and other same-sex subjects are hinted at broadly; this is also the approach that’s been used over the centuries to justify slavery and burning women alive for alleged witchcraft.

So a queer Black entertainer, singing about gay sex and flirting with the occult all in one fell swoop? That’s basically a bingo card of challenges to Christian literalism — and many Christians, at least on social media, seem to be failing the test.

You might be asking: What’s the point of all this? Why would Lil Nas X bother to get people riled up and angry for no real reason?

There’s actually an excellent reason. It’s virtually unheard of to see an openly gay entertainer sing about being in love and having positive gay sexual experiences, let alone one as famous as Lil Nas X — who didn’t come out until after he was already famous. He is clearly determined to make his own outing into a positive, inspiring act, and making music about his queer identity is part of that.

But the flip side of that positivity is the joyous subversion that’s such a huge part of queer creation: acknowledging and celebrating your deviance. Lil Nas X has cut straight to the core of the queer experience with “Montero” and its accompanying diabolical shoes, framing queer people as fabulously demonic. In presenting that side of queer identity, he’s owning his queer Black heritage and anticipating the response to his daring performativity.

He’s also arguably inviting Christians to kick back and not start a new moral crisis over something so relatively trivial. But the nature of the stunt is that he’s already anticipated this predictable moral panic and framed it in advance as the kind of response that proves his point about the need for queer people to reject hate and choose to love themselves.

“i spent my entire teenage years hating myself because of the shit y’all preached would happen to me because i was gay,” Lil Nas X tweeted. “so i hope u are mad, stay mad, feel the same anger you teach us to have towards ourselves.”

It’s possible there will be more controversies yet to come around “Montero,” Christianity-adjacent or otherwise; many people have pointed out the video’s alleged plagiarism of the FKA Twigs video “Cellophane” (which also features a stripper pole to Hell), including the director of the latter. But the backlash to the music video — and to those 666 pairs of shoes with their 666 drops of human blood — reveals how skilled Lil Nas X is at owning a conversation and asserting his identity in an innovative way, all while making music that justifies the hype.



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2103.30 - 10:10

- Days ago = 2097 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)