➤ ASYLUM LIMITS, from p.8
The departments said persecution
would be defi ned narrowly as “actions
so severe that they constitute
an exigent threat.”
“Persecution does not encompass
the generalized harm that
arises out of civil, criminal, or military
strife in a country, nor does it
encompass all treatment that the
United States regards as unfair,
offensive, unjust, or even unlawful
or unconstitutional,” the proposal
states. “It does not include
intermittent harassment, including
brief detentions; threats with
no actual effort to carry out the
➤ HOLLYWOOD, from p.19
and “Booksmart” featured gay and
lesbian leads, but movies like “Toy
Story 4” had queer characters in
only one scene.
GLAAD’s newest report, which
marked the fi rst time that disabled
LGBTQ people were counted,
found only one fi lm that featured
a queer person with a disability —
➤ CANCEL CULTURE, from p.15
jokes are reliable), his fi lm “I Love
You, Daddy” could not be released,
he was barred from TV, and he had
to spend a year out of the limelight
before touring comedy clubs again.
The idea that his main responsibility
should be to the women whose
careers were ruined because they
spoke about his actions got lost.
Roman Polanski fl ed his ongoing
American trial in 1978, and
decades later one consequence is
that Americans have not been able
to see his last two fi lms. As a form
of justice for raping a 13-year-old
girl it’s perverse and inadequate,
but this is the way our capitalist
marketplace has responded to consumers’
political demands (as well
as their perceptions of how it can
make money).
Social media shaming can be
mindless and even dangerous, but
it can also be positive. After New
York Times editor James Bennet
ran an op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton
calling for the military to attack
protesters, the tweets by his
Black colleagues at The Times saying
that Cotton’s views endangered
their lives led to his resignation.
That’s not a “Twitter mob”. It was a
threats; or, non-severe economic
harm or property damage.”
Those facing violence from anti-
LGBTQ or otherwise abusive family
members or community members
would seemingly be out of luck, as
the proposal states that “persecutors
who are private actors, including
but not limited to persecutors
who are gang members, rogue offi
cials, or family members who
are not themselves government
offi cials or neighbors who are not
themselves government offi cials,
shall not be considered to be persecutors…”
And yet, even when the persecutor
Poe in the Lionsgate fi lm “Five Feet
Apart.
“GLAAD challenges Hollywood
to prioritize authentic and meaningful
LGBTQ characters and
stories highlighting the full community,
and including LGBTQ
characters living at the intersection
of multiple identities,” the report
stated. “More LGBTQ people
of color, characters with disabilities,
use of social media to circumvent
workplaces’ hierarchies. which
typically quashes internal dissent.
The Karen is in danger of becoming
another mindless meme, used
as an insult by white people who
don’t question how close their attitudes
may be to hers, but Christian
Cooper might have wound up
arrested or worse in Central Park
if he couldn’t use his phone to put
Amy Cooper on public blast. All
this suggests that we should think
about accountability culture instead,
where pundits can’t act as
provocateurs and then play innocent
when they get angry responses
and ordinary people can engage
in dialogue with public fi gures who
piss them off. If the fl aws of this
system are glaring, why does the
American legal system, which enforces
racism, classism, and record
recidivism, look better to anyone?
Why should someone who can’t
afford a defense lawyer care that
they don’t exist in Twitter beef?
The norms of American culture
are shifting, as the Overton Window
has been pushed both to the
left and right since 2016. Advocating
for socialism and defunding
the police is no longer taboo
is not a “private actor” — such
as the case of repressive regimes
where governments are known for
bigotry and repression — refugees
could see their cases dismissed
entirely because the US could say
such assertions are based on stereotypes
of the national character
of the asylum’s seekers homeland.
“Accordingly, the proposed rule
would bar consideration of evidence
promoting cultural stereotypes
of countries or individuals,
including stereotypes related to
race, religion, nationality, and
gender, to the extent those stereotypes
were offered in support of an
transgender and non-binary
characters, those of different religions
and faiths, body types, more
queer women, characters who are
asexual, and others will only fuel
Hollywood’s future success.”
Those who enjoy watching drama
and comedy fi lms may have
noticed a bit more diversity. There
were seven fi lms each within those
genres that were LGBTQ-inclusive,
(although it hardly means these
will become policy any time soon),
while questioning the legitimacy of
trans identity or a biological link
to BIPOC’s IQ results is becoming
one in media to the left of Fox
News and Breitbart. This may suggest
why Weiss and Sullivan announced
that they no longer felt at
home at The Times and New York
magazine, respectively, and quit.
But any talented writer with no Ivy
League connections might wonder
where the chain of cancelation really
starts. Let’s face it: until recently,
a trans woman never could
have become a regular Times editorial
contributor. Noam Chomsky
alien’s claim to show that a persecutor
conformed to a cultural stereotype,”
the departments stated
in the proposal.
Additionally, the regulation
would give immigration offi cials
power to label applications of asylum
seekers as “frivolous,” deny
them fair hearings.
Those who are seeking asylum
in the US after passing through
multiple countries could also see
their cases thrown away, as the
proposal fi nds fault with applicants
for their “failure to seek asylum in
a country through which the applicant
transited.”
followed by the categories of action,
sci-fi , fantasy, and horror,
which tallied a total of six LGBTQinclusive
fi lms, and two animated
and family fi lms that were inclusive.
Paramount boasted the greatest
percentage of LGBTQ-inclusive
fi lms, at 33 percent, or three fi lms,
and Lionsgate had the most fi lms
in total, with fi ve. Four of Disney’s
19 fi lms were LGBTQ-inclusive.
wrote that the mainstream American
media allows vigorous debate
only within rigorously guarded ideological
boundaries. We’re in a moment
of extreme fl ux, where these
boundaries are in question. So is
the notion of what constitutes the
media itself: some podcasts have
at least as many listeners as the
average cable news program gets
viewers. It’s very hard to feel hopeful
about anything in American
politics now, but the possibility of
positive change rather than complacency
is real. So the concept of
cancel culture is very convenient
for media gatekeepers who don’t
want to be challenged.
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