forward this to someone with Meta glasses
Working through the softening of bad things by cultural co-sign and learning about the trends one top newsletterer loves.
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🦿 HIP REPLACEMENT 🦿 was a special one this week, as Clara and Eli of Side Projects joined Ben Dietz to dissect Cannes Lions from Cannes Lions. I, sadly, missed out as I was not there but it’s a great convo: listen in here! And I’m back on the pod this week!!
Venezuela quake toll tops 900
The devastation of this recent earthquake is just awful, a reality expressed via horrible video footage. I’m not recommending watching them, but it’s tragic context.
Trump-Backed Wins Colombian Presidential Race
Latin America Is Moving Further to the Right
Far-right backlash is brewing in Latin America
“You see the same thing”
Pay attention to Latin America, as Trump creep has clearly taken hold — and will leak (a la: to Spain, Europe). Trump may have uncharmed the global north but, when paired with items like Peter Thiel in Argentina, a plot is apparent.
French politicians draw battle lines over aircon
Hundreds in Spain may have died from heat
European heatwave is worst ever
“I can survive”
The #canicule has been distressing, worsened by the personal politics of air conditioning being politicized versus the wasteful oligarchic terrorists who are ruining the planet. We shouldn’t need air conditioning — but fight up at the Elon Musks and Taylor Swifts instead of at each other! And, as if France being in hell wasn’t enough, they also have a confirmed ebola case. EEEE!!
Socialists in NY leave Dems reeling
“who is ‘the Democratic Party’ if not voters?”
Opposite of South America, Democratic Socialism is increasingly winning the American ticket (at least in cities). The larger Democratic establishment — and Republicans — are freaking out. Dummies!! Don’t be the UK, idiots!!
Miller Said to Erode Disability Rights
Court blocks lawsuits against Roundup
Court allows remove protections from immigrants
Alarm over sentences for anti-ICE protesters
Some depressing legal developments that not just represent Trump wins but mass people losses, as everyone from the disabled to the MAHA to activists are affected by these decisions.
Pentagon restores flu shots for all recruits
Eli Lilly gave obesity drug to a 79-year-old
To the flip of the above! Big fafo energy here, as the second is an incredible blind item about Donald “Weekend At Bernie’s” Trump that is gaining legitimacy.
Concerns as Boyle Heights fire stretches
“burning for six consecutive days”
Amidst all the other terrible things of the now, the warehouse fire in LA has been stressing me out. Wear masks, my Angelenos!
Man first functionally cured of sickle cell
This is so amazing, and hopefully is something replicable. We love good news!!
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I have no interest in Meta’s surveillance glasses and, if I meet anyone who has them, I will interrogate their choices. The attraction to them, I assume, isn’t a style thing given their aesthetic banality but instead a want of features, to have extra eyes upon your extra eyes, six instead of four. Are you so pressed to make content that you need the urgency of the first person? Who watches your content and who are you watching? Do you not see other people as people? Or as accessories to content? What are your thoughts on privacy and consent, given such an “always on” approach to the world suggests you’re you’ve bought into the post-consensual now trend? I wonder this and wonder this. I will ask you about these things! I will definitely tell my friends about your answers. Our mutuals will know your name.
Who are these people, this more desperate gang of Glassholes? These aren’t just “tech” fans anymore. Is it simply a shared longing for technofascist creep? These aren’t style people either, try as Zuckerberg and Bezos might, as wearing these glasses show more a groping toward the gowns of power, to be dragged into a future few want, save for those sharing exploitative values. I know, I know: a pivot is occurring, in which they hope that we — Me and you, etc. — take their bait. Kylie Jenner eating stars to coax you to don these panopticals. Emily Sundberg giddily going Zuck-to-Zuck to feed me such a spectacle. Vanity Fair eagerly offering a lens into the lens launch, positioning it as an example of the next frontier of fashion. A “smart strategy,” some keep saying. But is it really that smart? Is it? This, days after Timothee Chalamet’s push toward prediction market, Kalshi. This, days after A24 won an investment from Google to make AI-powered filmmaking tools. This, days after Polymarket debuts an “art film” featuring Rick Rubin.
These are the accessories of evil. “Kylie Jenner normalizing nonconsensual stalker glasses,” “Meta glasses are just Cybertrucks for the face,”“people should refuse to hang out in places that don’t implement this”: so say the reviews online. “[Kylie] and timothee in a competition for most ethically dubious brand partnership,” activist and creator Matt Bernstein observed. “Is A24 still cool?” Hollywood Reporter — and others — wonders. “The people that are supposed to be in the lead of culture, supposed to be principled, they’re supposed to be the prime examples of creativity or the prime examples of integrity,” protracta explains, “They’re adopting these things — for what? For the check?” “Why would a music legend and Buddhist partner with and narrate a gambling ad?” Luxury Fashion School with Jarrod asks. “He is now positioning AI as some sort of spiritual thing…Rick Rubin only cares about tech bro capitalism.” Evil as accessory, in the hopes you become an accessory of evil too.
We could go on and on and on: Robert Downey Jr. to sell Snapchat Specs, to grow the budding Jarvis fantasy market; Michael Caine’s AI voice being used for an Odyssey audiobook, to cash in on the upcoming movie; DoorDash and T-Pain doing a staged bit on Twitter, illustrating a need for more truths in marketing; Zendaya stunning in a $35 vintage Spiderman tee to promote the new Spiderman, telling you that she put an ad in your ad to make your ad; the G-7 inviting AI executives to their summit, parading care and cautiousness to mask deep complicity. The lines between politics and celebrity, celebrity and tech, tech and fashion, fashion and advertising, marketing and politics, and so on were once clear and cleanly drawn kingdoms someone could dip in and out of. Now it is a cloudy black smudge, a post-truth haze that seeks your becoming desperate and intoxicated enough to sell yourself — literally. Your likeness, your savings, your institutional power: become an accessory. Marketing and advertising are no longer a service or skill of sales but an exhausting evil as entertainment. Celebrities and “artists” and creators drip arsenic into your water, drawing you to drink, smiling as you sip, knowing they will profit from your seeking the conceptual “cool” being sold. Is that “cool” real? Is any of it? Don’t ask, don’t tell.
One would think in this summer of disclosure days that disclosure would be en vogue but, like a corrupt governmental regime, it certainly isn’t. In is a coastal ideology that you dumb fucking idiots who aren’t them must buy into this. You need surveillance. You need AI. You need to gamble. Reese Witherspoon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Andrew Ross Sorkin and Alicia McKenzie and Mark Cuban and Laila Gohar: whether you call it surveillance summer or sell out summer, this boon for them burns you. This is a moment where personal values and integrity are being tested in ways that are seen and heard: while a vote for a pro-Israel or pro-Trump cause is between you an your ballot, your poor values are sunglasses and “swag” and apps. Your poor values stare out, espousing your endorsing Meta and Claude and Kalshi as “moats,” explaining how it just “works” in corporate settings, in cities, at your second home. What happens after the OpenAI debt to kill all our jobs does not pay off? What happens after when someone realizes you auctioned off your child’s likeness to a corporation? What happens after your peers find out you gave away your creative output to an entity that promised “quick wins”? You’ll still have your specs, I guess.
It’s surprising the K-economy still retains its stately shape as these examples show how slippery it is, as culture is used to further cleave haves from have-nots. Money is no longer the sole content craved: it’s whole identities, if not whole communities. “Cool” as lubricant for them to fuck you over, all sold as the promise of asending to the top of the skyscraping K. Liberty stolen as it assumes you too dream of hoarding dreams, that you’d bet on placing distance between you and disenfranchised and destitute. This, I write to you, days into another “hottest summer ever.” This, I write to you, as wealth disparities exceed that of the French Revolution. This, I write to you, very hot but more bothered, my hands itchy to break more than Meta glasses.
The Glitchy, Gloppy Look of Now
A good story on the aesthetic of the now, that the trendy gooey, gloopy, glitchy style is a rebellion against the Millennial AU tech look (ironic as Gen Z…is more conservative lol). This taps into the green energy I wrote about at the top of the year!
Daters: AI dependence gives them the ick
See above. DUH!!!!!!!!!!!
I drove the Slate Truck
Will I ever own such a car? No, never, but this is a great American effort to make cars affordable. That is to be applauded!!
The Burnhams I knew at Cambridge
A fantastic essay on the origins of (Future prime minister??) Andy Burnham.
Are Public Libraries Children’s Libraries?
A very good story on how libraries are being dumbed down. We knew this was the intention of politicization, but seeing the shift in practice is quite concerning. Dua Lipa wouldn’t stand for this!
Call It a ‘Book-cation’
To be a hater for a moment: if you need a vacation to read a book, there’s more to be reevaluated in your life. Going to a place inspired by a book? Cute. A lil cringe? Yes, but cute. Vacation-as-your-only-time-to-read is the trend, as it reveals a willing siloing of the intellectual, an outsourcing of personal responsibility. This is why I hate Bricks, etc.: they enable you with an excuse to not-change!!
Lizzo’s New Album Didn’t Even Chart
The Lizzo flop drama has been so interesting as it’s a puzzle of truths: is she — who has said she’s being suppressed — correct or did the album flop on its own accord? The latter is likely, but very interesting that she used the former to gaslight us into questioning the reality. Everyone loses here, in the same way Hollywood pivoting to AI is a fuck you to artists. Could be worse: you could be @LizzoCharts.
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In these digital trenches, there are a handful of people who I trust to take the wheel of keeping-people in-the-know, who share a similar work ethic and similar care and similar thoughtfulness. One of them is very obviously Lucy Blakiston of shit you should care about, a newsletter that is less a place-to-read and is more a community, a mindset, of similar people hoping to make this complicated world more accessible. That’s hard to do online and Lucy makes it easy — and fun!
Lucy’s skillset lies in being able to unpack hot pop items like Lena Dunham’s Famesick while being able to break down knotted world events like the current Iran conflict. Get you someone who can do both and, yes, Lucy does all that and then some. Known for her book club, she’s an always-be-reading type who’s ahead of the trends in the literary world, wandering into the tradwifery of Yesteryear as it pops while hitting Wuthering Heights as it reached its cultural height. Again: more reasons to love her, as we have a very game-recognize-game connection of being steeped in it all while looking for more to read. I don’t know how she does it! And yet she does.
To peek behind the curtain, I sent Lucy a note to get her take on the trends she’s into and to talk these times and the reads coming out of it. In a neon pink font, she emailed back thoughts on journaling, on a growing contingent of people caring for the world, and why she (And you!) should be more post-plot in books.
Tell me about a trend you’re following that you’re really into.
Oh my god ok, I have been obsessed with keeping a diary since I was like 10, but since I write for a living now, I have found that JUNK JOURNALING is my new favourite outlet. I’m not sure if it’s a trend of if my algorithms are just serving it to me, but I love watching people junk journal, how they set out their pages, where they get their stickers etc. I travel a bunch so I collect basically EVERYTHING little receipt of pamphlet, and set down most nights while I’m away from home to do it.I also love it because I can use the images of my creations in my newsletters as headers!!!!
What’s a trend you hope never dies?
I think it’s dead already, but I loved when people were telling their parents that their favourite celebrity had died and filmed their reactions. So cruel, but so entertaining.What’s a trend you are so over?
Looksmaxxing. Babe, that’s gender affirming care.What’s a defining theme of 2026?
Ugh, unforch a defining theme is the cost of living being cooked. I’m Gen Z, and am surrounded by Gen Z’s and we’re constantly comparing the lives we live to the lives our parents did. Like, they bought homes for less than 100K, and that’s just INSANE.In saying that, another theme is how much we all care about the world. Even when its hard, even when we have no money, even when we have access to every Bad Thing happening all the time, somehow we still have time and energy to care about SO MUCH. This is what gives me hope 𓆩♡𓆪
What’s your read on what you’ve been reading?
Ooooooooh I love this question. I think the world has so much PLOT in it — it often feels like things that should only happen in science fiction books are happening in real life, so I don’t really read for plot. I’m sick of plot. I read books that mostly put me in the brains of complex people. Maybe because I see myself as one? Maybe because I love seeing how other people think? Maybe I’m just a freak and like to read about other freaks. Weird girl fic for life.
Subscribe to Shit You Should Care About here and grab her book here. Follow her on Instagram too.
“gay fathers”
“sausage”
“kinda spilled”
“dating a twink”
“queer sultry summer”
“their pride schedule”
“They should invent”
“Shame month”
“who doesn’t go to pride”
“there’s byron noem”
“he hired escorts”
“Woody’s full name”
The final 2026 Pride and June 2026 queer posts 🥀 Also, for my Drag Race people: do we believe Raven’s “comeback” is a stunt? Did she and NPB collude to wear the same outfit? Is she competing only because it’s Michelle Visage without RuPaul? Is this rigged in her favor to correct Tyra’s crowning? DISCUSS!!
“keeping an eye”
“NOT that bad”
“rtating fan in your room”
“Placebo effect”
“It ain’t that hot”
“La vie est belle”
“La fracture sociale”
Favorite #canicule content, which may make you sweat.
“WHY would you”
I had to see the tick poppy seed muffin and you do too. Can I also say I am terrified of ticks? Less creep factor and more alpha gal factor, which is why I need this card.
“that little twink”
“1000x harder to watch”
This week in Millennial cringe hell, some Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros content got attention. So bad.
“If Japanese podcasters”
Grab your L, Japan-lusting white Millennials of the world.
“Goldilocks being investigated”
“Reflection from mulan”
“Me making poop”
This guy on TikTok reciting things like an Australian news reporter kills me.
“toddlers to people”
“seeing my wife’s boobs”
“used to fly a MAGA flag”
“my work survey”
The Indiana player pointing was a meme of the week.
“perfect e-reader”
Let’s go out in public and point our e-readers at each other!
“Printers never work because”
Immediately adopting this belief about printers as truth as well.
“bell pepper gang”
NEW IT WATER BOTTLE JUST DROPPED!!!!
And, finally, how it feels to be on social media these days.
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thanks for writing about Zuck and Meta. to each his own and everyone sets their professional goals but it felt disturbing to see people celebrate the Zuck interview on here
This is much less “refined” than a lot of my scribbling, but I posted this little essay-like object about the Meta Glasses a few weeks back folks may “enjoy”. https://againstconfusion.substack.com/p/but-wait-it-can-get-worse?r=gvvi&utm_medium=ios