Megan’s Reviews > Blank Space: A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century > Status Update

Very interesting shift in this chapter, but the generalization of tech- & internet-driven activism as a “net positive” feels really diminutive—it’s impossible to acknowledge all of the excellent things that came out of that era without also naming the fact that there are pockets of “activists” online preaching some of the most vile, hateful things imaginable.

I don’t love the argument that Lady Gaga’s “provocations feel shallow”. Gaga’s ability to push the limits of what feels appropriate or right in the late 00s and early 2010s did have impact, whether or not that impact measures up to what we might want to see from an artist today. For the time, her embrace of radical inclusion was HUGE and remains culturally significant.