https://jennyeholland.substack.com/p/behold-the-hideousness-of-madonnaWell, the first two weeks of 2023 are in the past, and as we hurtle toward whatever future awaits us in this period of monumental but as yet unannounced change, I find that some things are coming into clearer focus for me.
In December, I wrote about how arresting I found the Fifth Generation Warfare concept and my interest in it has only grown since then. It seamlessly blends together my two enduring interests: war and conflict between states and people, and high-low culture’s influence on our lives. Until I read about 5GW, I thought these were two separate things. Now I realise they are not.
I grew up in the 1980’s and 1990’s, which, looking back, now seems like a golden age for pop culture — and also the era in which is rooted our current cultural decay. If you allow me to overwork a metaphor: the seeds of this rot were planted in the 1960’s, and the roots became infected in the ’80’s-’90’s. The rot was there, but we couldn’t see it yet. It was under the surface.
Now, it’s ugly, diseased fruit has burst, and I see it in almost every piece of new pop that I come across.