i didn't consent to this 😩

Why a lack of consent has come to rule culture, along with a chat about the state of fashion and retail from a slow fashion advocate.

Jun 14, 2026

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🦿 HIP REPLACEMENT 🦿 this week features Christian Ornelas, who joins Ben Dietz and I to chat the relationship between generations and their use of slang, why “touching grass” may have been a tech psyop, and Hunter Biden’s Twitter reign. Listen now on Substack, YouTube, or Spotify!

Key takeaways from the primaries
Liberal advances to CA general election
Nancy Mace’s finishes last in SC

The American state elections are getting very interesting, which isn’t to say they’re all ending up with the most positive outcomes — but: Platner’s advancing as establishment Dems fade out is refreshing. As was Nancy Mace getting last place in her state! Eat your beans, you gassy cow. (While we’re here, the whole prediction markets election thing is really starting to get to me.)

US inflation jumped to 4.2%
“Inflation so high it’s erasing wage gains”
“I love the inflation.”

Mind you, this is a three year high, much of which is shaped by a needless war, started by a man who wantss “world peace” as his birthday gift, in addition to a blasphemous, Roman gay ass, naked man lawn party. Let’s start planning for the day!

Epstein Files Caused a Freakout

Lots of brain dead people this week chatting about how this is Trump’s Watergate moment.

Protesters clash in UK cities after Belfast
White Supremacists Helped Orchestrate Riots
”nothing can justify the violence we saw”

The racism and violence is one thing, it’s a whole other thing when such a crisis was inflamed by tech trillionaires like known white supremacist Elon Musk.

SpaceX IPO could make Musk first trillionaire
Musk is a real-life Bond villain
How Musk Killed Hundreds of Thousands

See above.

Can Sheinbaum Deliver?
“she shows what can be done”

What’s up with the New York Times putting out hit pieces on Claudia Sheinbaum? Sure, she may have had a recent slip but she’s still doing super well. People are clocking this tea too!

Anthropic suspends new AI tools
“Incredible headline”
Meta’s AI Unit Is A Mess
Florida’s OpenAI Lawsuit
SoftBank $6B OpenAI Margin Loan Stalls
Conan O’Brien Partners With AI Cybersecurity Firm
Why Do Chatbots Tell Stories About ‘Elias Thorne’?

Your AI headlines round-up, which I cannot wait to not have to care about once all this shit melts down and undominates culture.

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Imagine redesigning your app and it being so bad that it crashes the credibility of your entire company. Actually don’t imagine, because it happened to Sonos — and the brand still cannot escape the culture crash it made. The problem is based in its long-standing original app offering an intuitive flow through your music library and how you wanted to play said music through your speakers, while the new app confused music libraries with curated content which was further confused by not knowing how to access speakers to play music, which was even further confused by many, many bugs. The app’s framing was around being customizable, cleaner, and faster when it dropped in spring 2024, improving upon a revamp of the beloved S2 app from 2020, which greatly improved on the S1 app from 2008. This app disaster was so bad that it was blamed for ruining the brand’s reputation as people who paid thousands on the fancy speakers piled on complaints, forcing the brand to consider bringing back the old app (despite being unable to). The CEO who oversaw the revamp resigned eight months after.

Sonos is hardly the first — or only — brand to have ever tried to relaunch itself, only to fail so bigly that it had to revert, undo, or abandon its new vision. Gap rethinking its square, “SciFi” becoming “Syfy,” Jaguar’s AI diversity, Cracker Barrel ditching the country: failed rebrands happen every few years, becoming candidates for the Museum of Failure as they rocket to the top of social media conversations on multi-billion dollar schadenfreude fuel. We love a good fail, a good blooper, someone falling on their face after spending millions learning how to walk. What all of these have in common is a disconnect between executive and business classes and what people actually want or need. These really terrible rebrands aren’t made in the spirit of ingenuity but are an expression of pre-enshittification enshittification predicated upon the assumption that people don’t know what they want, that constant change is needed to keep bottomfeeding dollar signs spending and to increase profits. Such sets up a complicated dynamic in culture that hinges upon a lack of consent. Did you want this? Too bad: you’re gonna get it. The customer is no longer always right as they’re the bullseye with which an executive board takes a piss on. This is all capitalism poisoning too: Target ditching DEI isn’t what people asked for but what they got, TikTok making all posts AI remixable isn’t what people asked for but what they got, Everlane being sold to Shein isn’t what people wanted but what they got. These are things that happen to us by brands that we willingly buy into, as if obligated. Our being treated like this is optional and yet many of us embrace the blows a brand gives us consenting to be an economic paypig in this abusive relationship.

Politics has taken this approach too, likely inspired by — and under the pressure of — business interests and obligations that eclipse representing the electorate. “We didn’t vote for this” a chorus as much as a joke (“Fell For It Again Award”), an expression of over-stepped boundaries and promises unkept and trust eroded down. Starting a war with Iran, the bulldozing of the East Wing to build a ballroom, the far reaching terrorism of ICE, DOGE slashing American essentials: all things no one technically voted for and yet the reality that we live in. It’s major media being owned by the right, it’s data centers encroaching upon small communities, it’s SpaceX messing with our 401Ks: no one asked for this. Search engines and websites no longer working is this. Automatic draft for the American military is this. The use of your likeness for deepfakes is this. A near-perfect example of this joint-slay in hell are Meta glasses and other “smart” glasses, an invasion of privacy at scale, a means to watch and monitor you just for existing in the presence of someone’s panoptic lenses. The most perfect example? The countless artists and regular people whose likenesses, voices, creations, and general existence are the information and intellectual engine running large language models that are profiting into the multi-billions as no regular people are compensated.

In this age of non-consent, everything is a violation not because we didn’t read the terms and conditions but because everyone and everything is done by monarchical rule and constant nannying instead of thoughtful collaboration and listening. Docs saved automatically without asking are good, browsers blocking unnecessary notifications without permissions are good, but my or your writing being used to train tech or viral AI stars using your face for views are decidedly not good. We live in a state of consent confusions that very likely blur intimate sexual situations but also lead to debates about if artists should have a say about phones at concerts and if location-sharing everything is an overreach of personal privacies. Ariel Pink and Drea de Matteo can complain about being cancelled as a non-consensual act but so should we about information from AI-backed search tools that regularly spit out inaccuracies as if a feature and not a bug. Yes in my backyard, not in my backyard. Things are too loud and I want it quiet! You will be subjected to my dog in a place where a dog does not belong. Life as a bean soup theory. I didn’t consent to being born! No one asked to be treated this way and yet, as we pursue our own main character me-me-me-ness, we embrace non-consensual dogmas. It’s my body. It’s my phone. It’s my time. We each Elon Musks attempting to plough the whole of the world: we want it our way, no matter who we step on, no matter who dies in the process. Back the whole of the world against the wall while taking away our power and you get a people parroting the means of suppression implemented upon them.

Mean times like this are only so mean because values like collaboration and listening are in short supply. Everyone being the king of their kingdom means every kingdom is at war. Trust is lost when you — a brand, a leader, a neighbor — abandon your word because you felt like it, because it’s more profitable to do it this way instead of that way, because you didn’t care to do the work to meet in the middle. It seems we didn’t consent to any of this, yet we all seem to aspire to have such power to live life as if the autocrats who have malformed our world and ways of thinking.

Knicks win NBA championship
”New York is on one”
Mamdani celebrates Knicks win
”AOC chatting with some folks”

Everyone watching the New York plot line completely jealous.

Attitudes to same-sex marriage issues are shifting
“UFC fighter beating Dylan Mulvaney”
“The right have this weird kink.”
America’s best, worst places to be gay and trans
Rainbow Map

A trend I hate is the rise creeping queerphobia, all thanks to fuckass conservatism making it “cool” again. The “coming out to my Muslim mom” video is going viral for a reason! In any event, the latter two items offer some blue skies for queer people in the US and EU (the latter of which was sent to me by my friend amanda brennan).

“What if there were nine political parties?”
Political Typology Quiz

The American fantasy of “more than two political parties” is so silly, but this Pew story mapping the different parties within the two is very smart. A great way of looking at where people fall politically! Here’s what I got on the quiz.

Popular Snacks Contain Additives, Contaminants
“are the new war on tobacco”

Lots of talk about snacks as the new smoking.

Study: GLP-1s may lower breast cancer risk
What We Know About Weight-Loss Is Changing

Speaking of! At this point…should we all be on GLP-1s to better our health? Add this to the board of good vibes.

An Abortion After a Down Syndrome Test
“If you don’t want a disabled child, don’t have children.”

The Jesse Ridgway abortion/disability story is something and, as the creator in the second link wisely notes, disability isn’t siloed to pregnancy. If such items are that much of a concern to you, perhaps you should interrogate if being a parent is right for you.

Kartik Research Employee’s Death Prompts Discussions
“A model died during a Katrick Research campaign”

This is certainly a lightning rod of a story, as the first link — a WWD story — and the second link — via a popular Instagram — are at odds, representing how tragedy is shaped and reshaped for clicks. Still: fashion is such a problematic industry, as situations like this all the way to mass pollution slip by without any accountability.

“KALSHI”
“someone who has all the opportunity”
“Kalshi ad getting no love”
“club chalamet has forsaken him”

I hate this Kardashian and I hate that, in Camila XCX fashion, people are supposed to see him and the way it’s shot and go “CULTURE!” when this is an ad for the worst thing imaginable.

decisions
“You look so good.”

ROSIE ODONNELL’s facelift and her speaking about it certainly represents a healthy evolution on the plastic surgery and beauty conversation. Do this shit on your own terms! And don’t tell people you did it!!

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I mourn the loss of the little happy person in me who saw an industry like fashion and was filled with excitement and hope by the possibility of clothes. Now? All I see is waste, poor politics, and greed. It’s sad! I still think clothing and fashion are a great means of self-expression, but I’m also aware that promoting such a concept at scale hinges upon exploitation in production to keep up with the demands of novelty. Something that was once a thing I wanted to do “when I grew up” is now a space I will continue to challenge as it is the most glamorous hook of consumerism that has been stabbed deeply into the back of culture — and it makes me so mad and sad! I’m proud to have recognized this, dodging the influence to prioritize brands and approaches to fashion that are low-impact and slow to adopt. It might “seem hard” but slowing down and unplugging from the trend machine (lol) opens your third eye when it comes to engaging with fashion — and all — trends. Saying no and embracing looking as an act of enjoyment are truly super powers.

In this pursuit of alternative modes and mindsets in fashion, I came upon Standard & Strange, an “own fewer but better” retail concept with stores in Berkeley, New York, and Santa Fe that is decidedly anti-trend. They’re committed to quality clothes from small and or niche makers like Mister Freedom and Graziano and Gutiérrez, seeking to eschew the hype machines of buy-right-now to manifest buy-for-life mentalities. Their style is suave urban country dude, a very modern type who mixes vintage, goes denim and leather heavy, taking inspiration from classic forms (a la: military and mid-century influences). It’s cool stuff!

I wanted to understand what someone who runs a brand like this is into and how they navigate the hurdles we all face as fashion has largely abandoned craft for over-trendiness. Is taking such a stance a harder business prospect? Is it somehow easier? What else comes with thinking this way? It seems the answers are all: yes, yes, and a whole lot of DIY, as I chatted with brand’s founder — Jeremy Smith — about what he’s into and how he runs the business. Over a long phone call, we plunged into the hollowing out of resale culture, how digital culture has eroded discovery, and why macro-trends are what to watch. If you’re curious how a brand can — and does — square the problems of buy-buy-buy trendiness with anti-consumerism, you’ll find oodles of inspiration here.

Tell me about a trend you’re following that you’re really into.
The cyberdeck trend. Cyberdecks are DIY, stick-together-your-own computer. People are doing all kinds of wild shit with this, like taking Raspberry Pi — or whatever little micro computer you can find — and building these unhinged contraptions to replace laptops, iPads, whatever. A lot of it is very civilian-level hacking, people who would never identify themselves as somebody who could do this kind of thing. I got pulled in by some emergent Instagrammers working on their own tools. More and more exposure of techniques and how to build things, moving away from any kind of canon or consumer-driven products: you just DIY this kind of stuff. I haven’t built one, but it reminds me of having to cobble together computer equipment when I was much younger.
What’s a trend you hope never dies?
It’s a cultural trope, but it’s really DIY culture. Being able to build things, without permission. Let’s not go breaking code and burning our houses down, but more of the sense of being willing to decide you’re going to do something and then you do it, not waiting for someone to tell you it’s okay or that you need a degree to do that or specialized training. DIY in every sense! Some of my friends have started asking questions like “How do I make a pair of pants?” and that takes them into needing a sewing machine or a commercial pattern or find instructions for pattern drafting online or books, then build the whole thing from the ground up. Whether it’s building your own house or making your own clothing, they exist outside of highly expensive systems. If you weren’t wanting to become a professional pattern maker or work for a large apparel company, you’re gonna spend a lot of money in school, which isn’t going to pay out at this point.
When I opened the Berkeley store, I had a few general contractors come through to build it out and they bid between $70K and $100K, which I did not have — but I have skills. I decided to go offline for two months, five weeks to build out the store and three weeks to build out the warehouse. I got help from a former employee who is now an architect, who drew me plans and helped out with carpentry and dressing rooms and the cash wrap build. I grabbed any staff available to do painting, putting up shelves, but the worst stuff I did myself, so they weren’t sitting in poison grinding out the floor and staining it. It’s a combination of, “Can’t afford it, let’s do it anyway.”
What’s a trend you are so over?
Travel influencers, and influencers in general. I realize there are influencers who will help us out. It’s a complicated little corner, but it’s really travel influencers who bother me the most. It is that DIY spirit of “Go explore and share it!” but now it’s turned into something bent by commercial interests, paying them to be somewhere or being very culturally unaware, stomping all over everything. It’s at a scale where one post can ruin a restaurant. I was in SF a few days ago, where everyone was griping about some restaurant or another that had just blown up on Insta — and now you can’t get in. The fate of those are usually from getting that big bump, then they start to rely on that revenue until the next guy comes along, then you get that next bump. There’s only so many people.
This leads to another unfortunate direction which is, before Instagram, I’d happily hand out recs for travel. Now I’m unfortunately a lot cagier about it because — especially where I live — everyone is a very small business and I don’t want them overrun because it will wipe them out long term. They’re businesses that exist because they have a high local proprietorship and customer base. To throw that out there, to absolutely trample them to where regulars don’t come back, is a shame in every direction. It used to be fun to geotag a place, which would get echoed, which would then lead to a place being overexposed. I hate the mindset that I’m in now: I don’t like being gatekeep-y whatsoever, but we’ve created this monster that goes both ways.
Also: where vintage is at now. I sell a lot of reproductions and, back then, some things — like The Real McCoy’s — were like $2500. But you could find them, if you’re good at finding shit, some that were in good shape for $50, $100. That’s really dried up. I understand there’s rare vintage, but $10K to $12K? That’s unwearable.
What is defining retail and fashion now?
A lot of it is building a customer base that’s very oriented around not buying the next hot thing, which means we stay out of trend on a micro level but we are forced to follow trends at a macro level. Which means: I can’t sell wider pants if everyone wants narrow pants. We have to be realistic. Am I ever gonna wear skinny jeans again? Fuck no. Absolutely not. I’m almost 50.
We got burned by micro trends in the early years. It may have been FW14, where the trends were burgundy things, which was very 80s minivan, with bomber and varsity jackets with bucket hats. We bought in — and it just sat. None of it sold! Over the years, the way we shop and we merchandise, is we watch the shows but we’re not looking at the trend but at specific products and where it fits in. We don’t really add brands at this point from shows because there are so many stores that go to MAN or Liberty Fairs, or all of them, and you can tell. 60% to 70% of their inventory is from one show! We moved away from that kind of buying, but we do go to trade shows for existing relationships and, if we do find a brand, we tend to circle them for a while and do a background check. Who are they? How long have they been doing this? We want to buy-in early — but not too early, if that makes sense.
I have a growth plan that caps at a certain number because that’s the number where we hit stability and everyone gets paid. I want nothing with the concept of build-it-to-sell-it: I don’t want to spend the amount of energy I do on something I won’t have forever. That alone starts to change the velocity dynamic and where I allocate payroll. I don’t underpay myself to cook the numbers. I never got rich in tech so I can’t coast on a cash pile. But I, and my staff, don’t have to suffer.
How are “trends” shaping small businesses now?
It’s every retailer’s dream to have one of the brands they sell catch fire, which turns into the influencer thing: a certain amount of drive and popularity is great but drop days become terrible for different reasons. I’ll sell 100 pairs of jeans in 18 minutes, then our infrastructure crumbles — Shopify is not properly equipped to handle high-volume checkouts. — then people accuse us of bots and selling out the backdoor to influencers, which is not true. People get really mad. I love selling out things, but you can’t grow these brands if no one can get their hands on them. Sometimes we’ll do in-store-only for two weeks then: you want one, you gotta go to the store, put it on, walk out the door. Kind of weird, kind of rude, but I’m trying to solve a particular problem.
One of the philosophies of the shop is we want to bring more people in. We’re not hard sellers: you show up to the shop, you buy something or you don’t buy something, but you learn something. At no point is this about getting on board with a trend. This is about durability. You’re basically doing enterprise sales, relationship building, the way things used to be sold over decades.