Arts & Culture

ELF | Brat Politik

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I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Brat Summer intersected with a period of serious political anxiety in the United States. The prolific lime green movement, a response to the cocaine-starved party-never-stops aesthetic of Charli XCX’s Brat, rode the wave of a rising impulse in our generation to party, cry and party again, such that the whole world scrambled to embody ‘brat’ itself. In the aftermath of a brutal presidential debate which raised existential fears over our generation’s future (to defeat fascism, to save our climate), it seemed that the only remaining option was to indulge ourselves at the withering end of prosperity. 

It appeared a blessing, then, that the Democratic party would replace Joe Biden with a brat candidate — a progressive woman that would both beat Donald Trump and heed a younger generation. But we should be wary, I think, of the way in which liberal politicians leveraged the trending term to resituate themselves in the two-party system. 

TikTok’s Etymology Nerd argues that ‘brat’ is a self-contained concept: “You can only gesture at what ‘brat’ really is by talking about other related concepts. … ‘Brat’ is something more, something ineffable that can’t really be captured with a cohesive definition.” It doesn’t help that the album constantly defies itself thematically — from the indifferent egoism of “360” (“I don’t f*cking care what you think”) to the vulnerable and doubt-filled “So I,” a heartbreaking tribute to late hyperpop artist SOPHIE.

Opinion

ST. HILAIRE | The Shoulders I Stand On

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She stood on a podium before millions of people, accepting an honor that I couldn’t fathom, standing on top of the shattered glass of ceilings that she elegantly broke through, and I couldn’t stop myself from crying when she acknowledged that she was standing on the shoulders of “all the women who have worked to secure and protect the right to vote.”

2008 presidential race

BERNSTEIN | If You’re Voting Biden/Harris in New York, Do So on the Working Families Party Line

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The Working Families Party in New York State is at risk of losing its spot on future ballots if it doesn’t reach 130,000 votes for President. This third party is a left-wing advocate for social democracy and progressivism and it’s best known for its support of democratic challengers to moderate incumbents across the state. With new rules raising the minimum votes required for a third party’s spot on the ballot, WFP is at risk of fading away. In 2019, Governor Andrew Cuomo formed a commission to reform the campaign finance system in New York. One of the commission’s decisions was to increase the threshold of votes necessary to keep a third party on the ballot in future elections.