Every week, a new Internet drama emerges. The endless slog of media cycles makes me wonder why so many of us cannot see the battlements we’ve put up around ourselves. In looking at the Kelly Clarkson and Shane Gillis controversies, I fear for us as a society. Social media has made us incapable of seeing the forest while we spend every day knocking our heads against trees as we consume, think piece after think piece.
Generally an unproblematic singer and former talk show host. American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson took to social media to share how a Brooklyn boutique treated her. Very quickly, people took sides. Her fans saw her innate goodness. Others said the small business was being demeaned this way. The Art of Play boutique’s owner quickly went to social media for interviews. Adam Rubin, a children’s book author and marketing executive, spoke to any media that came near the boutique.
In the same week, comedian Shane Gillis, who had been fired from SNL, was welcomed back. Characteristically, he made a joke that offended some people. While he doesn’t strike me as someone who spends much time in the gym, his joke was about how, when he’s doing reps, he can’t believe how women wear whorishly short shorts. He did not describe the burqa-style outfit he was wearing. Imagine him at the gym at your own risk.
Each situation places us as both a viewer and a decision maker. Because our media environment lets anyone with a phone share their feelings, we are inundated with millions of points of view. But we rarely see people comment from a neutral position.
My descriptions of both situations were certainly biased. I’ve used Adam Rubin’s book for teaching and despise the text. I’ve also engaged with a number of men, both at work and online, who would rather blow hard than apologize. I'm therefore predisposed to be a woman. Similarly, online men love to disparage my looks. These are usually men I wouldn’t have looked twice at in real life. I will not side with a man making a joke about how a woman looks. From my description above, you might have picked up on those biases. I purposely peppered it with clear color commentary that should have tipped you off.
But social media often privileges those who speak persuasively while appearing unbiased. They use phrases like "you know" to bring you into a communal intellectual space. Once they've cosseted you within their worldview, you’re more likely to believe they're truthful. You might mistake persuasive language for factual statements.
In the Kelly Clarkson situation, the store owners painted themselves as small business owners, even though all three had large bank accounts and other careers. Clarkson is a woman with millions of dollars and a matching following. There is no truly little guy in their online argument. You might see both parties as wealthy and out of touch. Additionally, many of us have spent a couple of decades getting to know Kelly; our personal feelings might cloud our take. Parasocial relationships can help celebrities gain fans who cheer them on no matter what. Online connection is a double-edged sword. Many of her fans said they were disappointed with how she used her platform.
Shane Gillis made that joke because he makes jokes like that. Michael Che later claimed he never saw the joke in rehearsals or in life. As W Kamau Bell pointed ▶out, Gillis’s joke functions to maintain the status quo. Men wearing short shorts in the gym don't raise suspicion because our society gives men the freedom to do what they want. Women wearing short shorts is an assertion of power that destabilizes patriarchy. Making a joke that reinforces patriarchy stokes up men who neither have the intellectual ability nor the desire to change patriarchal structures.
But next week, two different controversies will emerge, because our social media economy needs strong emotions to fuel the dopamine machine. And here is what I mean about our intellectual frameworks. Our minds are our castles. We can sit in our towers and look out at the world. But if we leave our comfort zones, we will be confronted with things we have told ourselves to avoid. For example, I don’t really know anybody who finds Shane Gillis funny. Confronting his joke online lets me see into a world very unlike mine. Many people’s anger at his joke comes from the fact that his worldview and theirs contradict. Even if you see his worldview as problematic, as I do, going head-to-head with his supporters will not change that. After all, their battlements are built to the sky with faux masculinity and a fear of feminism. On Kelly Clarkson, I feel generally neutral, but I have built up walls against art gatekeepers. If I had lashed out at the owners, I would support their worldview that not everyone’s going to get what they’re going for. Moving from our biases only reinforces our intellectual barriers.
As a media consumer, I invite you to be conscious of the biases you’ve built in your mind. Understand that everything you consume will be filtered through those systems. Decide which battles are worth taking down your intellectual drawbridge, and which to avoid so you can rest for the bigger war.
Also, the artist Bliss Kolb is amazing. ▶Check him out on YouTube.
