lay OFF the K 🚮

On the K-shaped state of the world and how cruelty (and dehumanization) continues to be a key way of looking in the modern era.

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• 🦿HIP REPLACEMENT🦿 was live this past week and a thrill, with nearly seventy (!!) people to see Willahbennett of Cosmo and Seventeen in conversation with Ben Dietz and I. It’s a great chat and it inspired us to launch a newsletter: subscribe to HIP REPLACEMENT now and tune in on Substack, YouTube, and or Spotify.

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The Blood-and-Soil Nationalism
Friends are still acting normal. What do you do?
‘ICE Out’ strike and protests
2025 proved boycotts work. Here’s how to build
Don Lemon’s arrest: attack on press freedom
“What does renewal look like?”
“That’ll do it”

This seemed like a big week for realizing the extent of America’s ties to fascism and action, or at least who is — and isn’t — coming to terms with such truths. This ties into many “We told you so.” conversations by Black Americans, who rightly have rung this bell for decades, but specifically for the murders of children from Trayvon Martin to Tamir Rice. While the strikes are good, this conversation kept coming up with friends on Thursday and Friday: yes, it’s a great and, if it helps someone somewhere rethink their relationship to imperialist tools like Amazon, that’s a win — but a “day” is hopefully the start of maintaining a constant anti-capitalist practice. Get uncomfortable! Create some friction! Siloing “action” to a single day is very black square core. Get out there and flip the bird on wheels!

Dems, White House Reach Deal to Avoid Shutdown
US government partially shuts down
“The 23 Democrats that voted yes”

If you were expecting Senate Democrats to enable a shutdown to protest ICE, think again. They’re gonna “negotiate” us to literal death. Why is this my opposition party, dawg?

Italian officials outraged at ICE at Olympics

Be for real, Italy, given your own egregious and hateful immigration strategy.

America Leaves the Paris Climate Agreement

For the second time…not that the accord means anything anymore.

Europeans gloomy about everything

Yes, Americans have it bad and — as I said my whole trip — Americans remain happy, or upbeat and hopeful while applying pressure toward change. Compare that with not-the-US, where people are quite gloomy. The grass is almost always browner!

Tesla scraps models, pivot to AI

Because revenue fell for the first time. Are we about to witness the bursting of the AI bubble and the fall of Elon Musk? Talk about a good time!

Why is Nipah virus spooking the world?
“highly contagious”

I’m not that concerned about Nipah despite it’s mortality rate — but that doesn’t mean we can’t acknowledge this is another storyline of now!!

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A thesis of this era came to me in a cab, while talking to Ben Dietz about why Delta is seeing soaring profits: it’s not because more people are flying but because rich people are spending more on flights as the not-rich travel less. Something struck me then, as that idea crashed into the death of Alex Pretti in my mind: K is the letter of this moment, a symbol for these times. Let me count the ways, all of which you know.

• K-shaped graphs. The K-economy is the idea that the (American) people who are doing well are doing very well while the (American) people who are doing poorly are doing very poorly: the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. The results are graphs where divergent realities emerge, becoming exaggerated, skewering economics and opportunity at the same time. But such a K-shaped graph isn’t limited to economics as it is a very accurate look at our engaging in “alternate realities” across the board: there’s a K-shape to those who approve and disapprove of the economy; a K-shape in global ideological alignment between men and women; a K-shape for CO₂ emissions by country, specifically the US, Canada, India, and China compared to the world; a K-shape for cancer deaths, which are increasing despite death rates dropping. The shape is literal to the aforementioned findings this decade but are emphasized by more and more disagreements in the world around us: AI is a great example, where executives love it but workers hate it, along with viewing this moment in time, in that many are horrified but many don’t see any issues as people voted for homes only to be denied them. To have or have not is the vibe of the moment, both literally and intellectually.

• K-holes. This is literal and not, as this decade has been marked by public figures from Elon Musk to Nicki Minaj using ketamine as the go-to “escape” hatch from reality. But what this gets at is larger la-la-land escapism and general “disassociation” from the present that has become counter programming to “all this,” or as a means to dig deeper into “all this”: we’re in K-holes of screen time; we’re in K-holes of alone time; we’re indulging in K-holes of distractions, from “little treats” to microdosing for almost anything; there are the self-improvement K-holes of “locking in”; the self-improvement K-hole soup that is peptides and Ozempic and the fentanylification of things; and whatever K-hole Clavicular is marketing to the masses. We’ve taken pondering orbs too seriously, alone in our thoughts and largely disconnected from each other, the world passing us by as we wander our valleys of the dolls. We’re overwhelmed! But willing to escape somehow.

• KKK. The third and final K is itself three Ks, which originally I was going to have stand for “killing” but that isn’t an ample container for the moment: these are the times of the world being under the influence of the KKK, of religion and hate intertwining to advance political agendas that inflict pain upon the bodies of others. It’s not just the tech tools of the state used against us or the rise of the slopagandists, but that such items play into ongoing cruelties expressed by the state upon children of color all the way up to adults of the same identity (and situation) to anyone who disagrees with this approach. None of this is new — as we know — but the horrors are becoming more and more pronounced, as violence is noramlized and goaded with the intent of producing more of the same. Then there are the defining images of such cruelty — armed assailants with backs to camera, the Midwest and Middle East folding upon each other, the masks that once protected people now used as disguises — a hauntology that not just repeats the sins of the last century in America but sins of the last two or three centuries in the country.

Three Ks to rule these times, which I know is an exaggeration but also very much is the vibe even if we have always wandered in and out of such states: inequalities covered by escapism, all smothered by fascism, each of which is becoming more and more monstrous. Much of this is American but such a vibe isn’t in a vacuum as it clearly has connections from South Africa to Israel, Argentina to Italy — and back again. You know this, I know this, but there’s something clarifying about understanding the K shapes we’re under the influence of, why so many are broke, why so many are dedicated to escape, why there are obsessions with oppression. There are no winners in the K-state and — hopefully — we will overcome as to divert flatlining for most as very few hit a high C. We’ll can close the gap so long as we know we’re in one.

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The New Shadowbanning Panic
“every US election cycle kills a social media platform”

When most things you rely on function by magic (algorithms, business secrets, etc.), conspiracies are the go-to way of viewing the world, which is to say: the TikTok “shadowban” algo tweak or whatever is bad but also unsurprising as it happens every few years, etc. It’s not that deep, all reiterating what I wrote about a literal year ago: such decentralization is the law of the internet, versus grand agendas. All of this as actual grand agendas are documented without the hullabaloo!

“Partnering with this?”
“Yeastie Boys partnering with Murdoch”

I had heard rumblings of some drama with Yeastie Boys in LA, one of the “og” neo-bagel boys in the city — but it was much worse than I thought, as the above TikTok inspired my screaming “EW.” at my phone. Basically, they collaborated with Murdoch’s News Corp to launch the LA equivalent of the New York Post. Loser shit! Everything really is political, which is why they deleted their posts about this collab!! (But the Dodgers? They’re welcoming this shit.)

Fashion Hypocrisy & Bezos Backlash
“allegedly styling Lauren Sanchez”
“the right side of history”

I love Law Roach but a pivot-to-Lauren-Sanchez is egregious and speaks directly to the above.

“optimize for planned remembrance”
“present as an anticipated memory”

I could write a longer piece on this but something’s in the water of talking about “planned remembrance,” of people living not-in-the-moment but in a future memory.

Ted Sarandos: “Instagram Is Coming”

Maybe Ted Sarandos reads this newsletter because everything is TV now indeed, which is interesting but also sucks. I don’t want to watch Reels on the television! Don’t take this techno bait that kills Hollywood and makes everyone an unpaid actor!! That’s bad for everyone!!!

The teenage sex scene that sparked infamous rift

This story about the Safdie brothers is wild, which reiterates some of the bad vibes attached to their projects. Real weird stuff! Watch this have no impact on his Oscar chances lol

The Lost Art of Reading an Actual Book

This story is neither that new nor important but absolutely slaps as it captures something I talked about a few times with friends in LA and NYC, where one person (I don’t remember who! If it was you, reveal yourself!!) said that the feeling culture once got from reading has been replaced with food because food requires no thought or “labor” and makes everyone feel “smart and cultural” when they really are doing something fundamentally human. Post-literate behavior, which this story gets at. Start reading, people!!!! (This ties directly to the first point, about one-day-off-capitalism as a boneless attempt at revolution. Get uncomfy!! FRICTION!!!!)

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In high school, I was an occasional Something Awful reader, which I attribute to my older brother who was a more dedicated reader of the “trash” forum. I remember coming across a post about the discovery of a website dedicated to a fundraiser for a little girl in Florida who didn’t have a face. For a site dedicated to a type of irreverent humor that has misshapen all of culture, there was an important caveat to the post: “look but do not touch.” The post went on to make fun of her, calling her various names and likening her to malformed things, an early techno expression of entertainment based around someone’s poor luck in life’s lottery. Whether one viewed her as laughable or horrific didn’t matter much as — per the caveat — you’re permitted to look away and share thoughts without her knowing, given you should never point and scoff at her directly. While this specific page doesn’t exist anymore (I looked for hours.), this specific post made a huge impact and continues on via the 4chan adjacent Encyclopedia Dramatica’s offensive post of a similar strain along with a late aughts Channel 4 documentary dedicated to her facial reconstruction. The girl — Juliana Wetmore — is hypothetically in her twenties now and survived at least 45 surgeries, although no updates have been given despite “update” being the top search to autofill after her name.

I remember being in both hysterics while revolted by my encounter with Juliana. It inspired a suite of unsweet jokes between my older brother and I, referencing her as if a brutalized pizza or a child Dr. Zoidberg, all to minimize the reality of a person in great pain since we had never encountered a person like her in real life: she wasn’t real but instead a human joke. This is how the classic “Don’t point! Don’t laugh!” lesson parents teach has been flipped upside down as difference became shock value became a means for the othered to use otherness as a path forward became a method to dehumanize anyone and everyone. Watching people get murdered ruthlessly again and again on big and small screens wouldn’t feel so normal if the internet didn’t make persons like Juliana a joke almost thirty years ago.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this style of cruelty for a few weeks now, not because we’re experiencing a particularly bad strain now but because its normalization means there are too many Julianas to count: every second, another someone to make fun, another person to erase, another death and life of pain turned to giggles. The world has adopted a very teen boy mindset, a brain rot that reinforces homogeneity tendencies and discomforts with difference: what was once a Comedy Central sketch about skinny fascism in the early aughts has become real in the mid 2020s. The Jank Boteko meme — a Gen Z mainstay this decade — has circulated for years as a TikTok gotcha, becoming blankets and jack-o-lanterns and borgs and cakes. I was naive to always assume “Jank” was a photo manipulation but he is Juliana by another name: Jaxon Buell, a kid born with microcephaly who died before turning six, whose life and death are unknown but are becoming a reflection of deep meme knowledge. This week, a video of a doctor in Spain delivering news of a pancreatic cancer cure went viral, getting over a hundred million views — but the video didn’t get attention because of the news: it was because the doctor has a deep port stain covering half of his face, inspiring an ongoing flurry of reactions that ignore the news and focus in on his image. “The internet mean as fuck,” an unrelated viral TikTok said. “Somebody just posted a video asking y’all ‘Am I chopped?’ and y’all in the comments talking about some, ‘Bitch, you’re minced.’ Minced?” Ryan Murphy has a show about turning comically ugly people into hotties, which does include exaggerated wannabe chads but also someone like Ben Platt, whose ugliness makes way for him to become Isaac Powell. Lookxmaxxing as less a way to nip and tuck at the self but more a machete to behead anyone who is not good looking enough. “You’re bald,” I text someone as a comeback, for the six thousandth time this decade. “Delete it fat,” I reiterate.

The world is cruel, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, etc., etc., etc.: obviously. But this behavior of the recent past, current present, and near future is the everything-is-television problem by another name as it posits not a survival of the fittest but a survival of the beautiful, the era of Freaks yielding to walking among American Psychos. “Look but do not touch” was what we said almost thirty years ago — but now? Laugh as loudly as possible if you aren’t unsightly, all while investing in fillers and surgeries and whatever to escape Juliana. Beauty is profitable — but so is your ability to delivery cruelty. Dehumanize anyone and everyone so you will never be dehumanized yourself. Become a jester who deals in brutality instead of kidness.

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“this image will personally haunt me”
“Nicki is in that pond”
“overgrown labubu”
“how big you gotta be”
“Republicans bringing Nicki”
“who made this”

The Nicki Minaj-goes-to-Washington shit is insane and unsurprising, but a bounty of hilarious posts. (Meanwhile, Hillary is meeting with the Saudi prince. #ImWithHer!)

“instant tummy aches”
“When your tummy hurts”

No clue why Josh Connor is having performative tummy aches but I love this meme.

“charli xcx x veronicas”
“oklou x carolina polacheck”
“leonard cohen x fka twigs”

I wanted to be a hater but this girly pop DJ is getting attention for her literal crossfades and mash-ups and…they’re quite inspired! Not really my bag, but I will take anything to help people get up and dance.

“Death penalty isn’t harsh”
“from a single prompt”
“glazing it so hard”
“Hollywood’s done”

Some of these are memes, some are actually serious, but I watched every “This video will end Hollywood.” AI video and each was worse than the next. But I did not watch the Darren Aronofsky AI movie trailer! Because fuck him and fuck that! (Speaking of all this, the Moltbook “AI social network for AI” thing is so deeply, deeply ridiculous and stupid.)

“every movie ending explained”

Will we have a peek-a-boo movie? And would I watch it? Likely and likely.

“Arquitexture”
“tough start”
“Incredible”

Are we sure Candace Owens isn’t a performance artist?

“wearing a read hat”

I want to go to the library and play Go Mary Higgins Clark.

“Martin Luther King Jr. if he had a regular dream”

Lost count of the amount of times I’ve watched this video.

“My package is coming on Gursday”

I don’t care if this isn’t real or staged, I believe I will survive to see Gursday.

And, finally, a meal I did not — but could have — eaten in America.

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TR.BIZ: 1.29.2026

HIP REPLACEMENT EP.42: Willa Bennett

TR.BIZ: 1.27.2025