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CNN Goes Full Gender-Fluid, Rolling Stone Hates Another Song, and Snow White Tries Killing Her Own Film

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Aug 14, 2023
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

08.14.23

Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – CNN

If you are tired of all of the creative gender talk that has infiltrated the public discourse, you are not prepped for half of it. Encouraging all of this self-involved blather about the fluidity and self-identification of gender is CNN, which this weekend offered up a guide for those of us who do not grasp all of the complexities. (They did not have much in the way of advice for those of us who do not care a whit about playing along with this delusional thinking.)

Among the most asinine of these selections, at least from a personal perspective, is the choice that seemingly finds intolerance or incomplete attribution in the letters “T-H.”

ey/em/eir (commonly pronounced aye/em/air) – I’m taking em to the park today. Ey wants to bring eir camera to capture the garden for emself

This is hardly the worst of it. Apparently the desire to not be regarded as a human is also a practice, as some prefer to be referred to not with pronouns, but to be recognized as things.

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Nounself pronouns are neopronouns that use nature and other inspirations as nonbinary or genderless descriptors. For someone who uses the nounself pronoun “leaf,” that may look like: “I hope leaf knows how proud we are that leaf is getting to know leafself better!” or “Leaf arrived at the coffee shop before me; I was mortified to have been late to meet leaf.”

I can say, with confidence, that were I to engage with someone mandating they be referred to as an object in nature, I would not go any further with the conversation, and I would simply leave.

Demo-Lition Project – CNN

This type of gender reporting is certainly not paying off for the network. CNN may want to self-identify as a serious news outlet, but fewer and fewer people recognize it as such. An announcement has been made that some massive revamping of the schedule will be taking place. Abby Phillips and Laura Coates will be given new shows in the 10 PM and 11 PM time-slots on weeknights. Christiane Amanpour and Chris Wallace will be granted new shows on the weekends, with Wallace shifting to a new news-based format, a departure from his interview-style program that has been roundly ignored.

Mornings are also getting revamped (yes, again). Kasie Hunt will be given the unforgiving 5 AM position, and Phil Mattingly will hop on board the foundering "CNN This Morning" show.

Pamela Brown, Victor Blackwell, Manu Raju and Alisyn Camerota all are said to also have new appointments throughout the dayside schedule. 

If it feels like a major overhaul, that's because it is, as the network continues to bleed out in the ratings. Just last week, CNN came in behind Newsmax (once again) in the primetime slot on a Friday. The significance of this: CNN appears in 25 million more cable TV homes than Newsmax.

News Avoidance Syndrome – VARIOUS OUTLETS

  • When it is impossible to defend the president, then it seems best not to mention it at all.

At least users on social media are upset. A pool report from the gaggle following Biden as he...does nothing this weekend, delivered a rather offensive soundbite. As he was getting into a vehicle, Biden was asked by those following him about the plight of the wildfires that struck Maui. The president was glib in delivering a “No Comment," while beaming and then driving off to the shoreline.

What stands out in all of this rather crude behavior is that, not only is Biden not showing he cares, but he's acting this way while heading to the beach for a weekend jaunt, just days after he wrapped up a two-week vacation.

Compare this to the outrage we were treated to by this same media complex when it was said Donald Trump golfing when other calamities transpired was the height of venal heartlessness.

Anti-Social Media – ROLLING STONE

Fresh off of the failure to cancel Jason Aldean, Rolling Stone has found its next outrage in the country music realm. After a dozen features on why Jason Aldean was hateful, racist, violent, and overall offensive, the magazine watched as he topped the national music charts with his latest release. Now, we see that this level of anger from the magazine was not at all about the content of the song, but who it was listening to it.

One of the great stories from the past week was unknown famer-turned-musician Oliver Anthony, who sings heartland-based songs out of West Virginia. In a matter of days, he has exploded on social media and landed a recording contract – and Rolling Stone cannot stand it.

His big draw that has angered the magazine is the single where he sympathizes with the poor little man who is being hindered by the government and taxed oppressively, which somehow angers the alleged rebels at the music outlet. Make sense of that if you can.

Presentation Paradox – THE GLOBE AND MAIL

  • Pointing out the depraved activity is the real crime here!

In a completely stunted op-ed offered up by the paper, the writer takes a critical look at the “far-right” and the alleged obsession seen there with pedophilia. This, of course, stems from the hit film “The Sound Of Freedom,” and the op-ed suggests that those on the right wanting to make child kidnapping and sex trafficking a focus are to be considered “dangerous.”

Bear in mind, the actual pedophilia is not so much of a concern.

To get a sense of just how ill-received this entry was, the paper's Xitter account boasts close to two million followers, and – after an entire weekend – the story didn't even earn 700 likes on the platform, while getting hammered with a ratio.

Prose& Contradiction – DISNEY STUDIOS

  • Why not just dare people to come out and see your film?!?!

It was a couple of weeks ago when some leaked set photos from the live-action remake of “Snow White” came out, and the PR is only getting worse for Disney. Those images, and the reactions to them, were bad enough that studio contacts tried to deny they were real, before having to admit that the photos were, in fact, legitimate.

Now comes some advanced promotional interviews with star Rachel Zegler who appears intent on driving away even more potential ticket buyers. In one interview, she admitted to not being a fan of the original film, a sign of a lack of passion for the project. But then came a carpet pre-party interview where Zegler declared that Prince Charming is actually a stalker, and, if she had her way, he could be eliminated from the film entirely.

So despite perpetual failures for over a year now, Disney seems intent to remain on its losing woke pathway.