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What's behind the Justin Timberlake backlash?

Timberlake must be wondering what went wrong. Because, truth be told, there's nothing egregiously bad about either Man of the Woods or his Super Bowl performance. They're just... slightly disappointing.

The backlash feels bigger than a commentary on his music. There's a mockery and a cruelty that feels personal - as though people had a lingering resentment towards the star, and they've suddenly been given licence to express it.

For some, it goes back to his relationship with Britney Spears. After they broke up, he made music and videos that traded on their story and told several interviewers he'd taken her virginity - a personal detail that wasn't his to share.

For others, it's about his failure to support Janet Jackson after exposing her breast to millions of TV viewers at the 2004 Super Bowl.

Timberlake's half-hearted acknowledgement of that moment at this year's show did not go unnoticed.

"He chose to perform the song Rock Your Body, during which the famous wardrobe malfunction took place, and yet he didn't mention Janet: He didn't shout her out, and he stopped the song right before the line during which he ripped off her costume," pop critic Ann Powers told NPR. "It was almost like he was trying to erase what had happened in the past, but that is just not flying in 2018."

"The Super Bowl performance invited people to reflect on the time Justin threw Janet Jackson under a bus, and what that said about race and gender," agrees Peter Robinson, editor of Popjustice.

As The Pop World Seeks Accountability, Justin Timberlake Seems Lost In The Woods

You say "not right for this moment." Explain what you mean by that.

Justin Timberlake's entire career and art is based on his ability to be smooth — his ability to be easy, to create music that seduces us with references to the past, with appropriations, with artful mixes, and never quite shows any struggle. But we are living in a moment of struggle, and we want our pop music to also reflect that struggle. And frankly, Timberlake now embodies that phrase so often spoken today: white male privilege. It's just not a good look for 2018. And it's really, in some ways, not his fault — it's just who he is.

Why Prince fans are bashing Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl halftime performance

In a 1998 interview with Guitar World magazine, Prince was asked directly about the use of digital editing to "create a situation where you could jam with any artist from the past." He was not a fan.

"That's the most demonic thing imaginable," he said. "Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing ... it really is demonic. And I am not a demon. Also, what they did with that Beatles song (Free as a Bird), manipulating John Lennon's voice to have him singing from across the grave ... that'll never happen to me. To prevent that kind of thing from happening is another reason why I want artistic control."

Last one could plausibly form the basis of a tech-related submission, although it is a little late.

Paul Ryan, our Speaker of the House, shared some tremendous news. About the massive Tax Cut we gave our Middle class. Which means so many can now afford those things they only dreamed of before. "A secretary at a public high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, said she was pleasantly surprised her pay went up $1.50 a week. ... she said [that] will more than cover her Costco membership for the year." Amazing!

"'I have heard time and again that the middle class is getting crumbs, but I’ll take it!'
twitter.com/APBusiness/sta…" https://twitter.com/PRyan/status/959519794138509312

Army: 2 deaths, 60 hospitalizations blamed on vaping oils

The U.S. Army is warning about the dangers of vaping synthetic cannabinoid oil after about 60 soldiers and Marines in North Carolina and 33 troops in Utah experienced serious medical problems in January. In a Monday public health alert, the U.S. Army Public Health Center said military personnel have suffered headaches, nausea, vomiting, palpitations, dilated pupils, dizziness, agitation and seizures.

All the symptoms are associated with synthetic cannabinoids. Two Marines have died in accidents blamed on synthetic cannabinoid-induced seizures.

"This problem has the potential to spread quickly across the Army," the alert said.

Army regulations ban the use of so-called CBD oil or any products derived from marijuana, so some soldiers are using synthetic replacement oil.

Vivo’s Xplay7 may be the first Android smartphone with 10GB of RAM

Sub it when it's no longer a rumor.

Previously: Samsung Announces 12Gb LPDDR4 DRAM, Could Enable Smartphones With 6 GB of RAM

Amazing speech, airing now! On all channels. #TrumpTV

Somebody please inform Jay-Z, the very foolish owner of the BADLY FAILING Tidal, that because of my policies, Black Unemployment has been reported to be at the LOWEST RATE EVER! He needs to DUMP his failing businesses, buy himself a good suit and tie, and find a real job. So many of his people, of our wonderful African Americans, did. I did.

Russia's Navalny detained as protesters point to poll fraud threat

Russian presidential elections: Navalny freed after day of protests

We put off part Two of Ethics for Soylentils, even though they are sorely needed, for another unfortunate series of events: aristarchus censored yet again.

As some are aware, since the unpleasantness at Charlottesville last August, I have been submitting articles on the self-named "alt-right". Nearly all of these have been rejected. That in itself does not disturb me, I tend to call a spade a stupid idiot white supremacist homosexual gayhater who cannot get dates. But that is just me. No, here we have a case, for the second time, when one of my submissions has been accepted, but then disappeared. This worries me. It is one thing to be rejected, with which I have no problem, and I will not grouse about. But to be accepted, and then the Man in the High Castle steps in to block the Fine Article? Sounds like censorship to me, and must also seem that way to at least some of the editorial staff.

So here is my submission that was accepted, but never made it to the front page:

aristarchus [soylentnews.org] writes:

Not sure about this one. Seems too early to panic. But evidently, Chelsea (nee Bradley) Manning attended a party of the alt-right, white, and light. Article is on Slate [slate.com]:

        Chelsea Manning went to a rather awkward party on Saturday night. It’s something she’s been able to do since May, four months after an outgoing President Obama commuted the former U.S. Army intelligence analyst’s prison sentence after she had served seven years behind bars for leaking 750,000 sensitive military and diplomatic documents on Iraq and Afghanistan.

Well that alone should get Soylentils all a buzz, especially the ones who are "Stolen Valor" participants.
But there is more to the story, and the party.

        In a BuzzFeed report, partygoers touted Manning’s attendance as proof of their own inclusivity. “I truly don’t want to speak for her but I guess she respects what this is all about,” said Jack Posobiec, an infamous alt-right provocateur and vocal Trump supporter. Cernovich later tweeted that he was “glad she stopped by.”

                Yes I literally shook hands with Chelsea Manning tonigut, the left is freaking out, it was not a big deal. It was a huge and amazing party. Glad she stopped by. All are welcome to party with me.
                                                                                — Mike Cernovich ?? (@Cernovich) January 21, 2018

If it is alright with the dudes that promoted Pizzagate, that someone who released the child-murdering conspiracy theory that is the US Military is at their party, well, it it alright with me.
But:

        In other words, Manning claims she attended the party to learn more about a group of people she believes push a dangerous ideology that doesn’t deserve a platform. Gathering “intelligence” on “fascists” is probably not the most pressing activity when you’re facing a difficult Senate race, nor is the inconspicuousness presumably required of such a secret mission realistic if you’re as famous as Chelsea Manning. If that is what she was up to, it’s also a move that could be construed as evidence of an affiliation with antifa, the anti-fascist activists on the left that are often associated with violence and direct-action tactics that sometimes break the law. Antifa’s tactics also include conducting deep research on far-right organizers, sometimes by embedding activists at events.

OK, you know the drill, Soylentils! Look to your Right! Now look to your Left! One of these people is a Microsoft shill. Careful what you say.

Other coverage: http://www.newsweek.com/chelsea-manning-says-she-attended-pro-trump-new-york-ball-gather-intelligence-787929 [newsweek.com] [newsweek.com]
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/22/an-evening-with-deplorables-inside-the-far-right-party-in-manhattan [theguardian.com] [theguardian.com]
http://www.newsweek.com/white-supremacist-accused-amtrak-terror-attack-also-attended-alt-right-event-771495 [newsweek.com] [newsweek.com]
https://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=https://www.forbes.com/sites/lukethompson/2018/01/04/the-x-files-alt-right-gillian-anderson-david-duchovny/&refURL=https://www.google.com/&referrer=https://www.google.com/ [forbes.com] [forbes.com]
Only including the Forbes link because their site is opaque if you block javascript, and I am hoping someone can tell us what it says!

And, the evening was not a total loss [nydailynews.com]. One Nazi got punched in the face. So, who was making money off the alt-right in this instance? And how is this submission user hostile?

As usual, all the actual links are stripped, and this is actually the version I posted after this submission was put into stasis. But the points remain the same. (Except, what happened to the User:Hostile tag? It was there until I pointed it out. Is there a Hostile User list on SoylentNews? Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the antifa party? The Mighty McCarthy Buzzard! ) It was pertinent enough for some editor to approve of it, but beyond the pale for some other editor, for some other reason, which I presume we will never know.

In other news, janrinok sent me a very nice Direct Message, (note: normal Soylentils do not have these, so they are like messages from the Gods!), where he said he read much of the past history of the censorship of the arirstarchus on this site, but he did not see it as such. And he expressed some concern that my submissions might open SoylentNews up to a lawsuit (Peter Thiel is an ass!). I do not find that convincing, and I still believe that it is the political bias of several (I could name names, and name names of people who were to become eds, and were mysteriously dropped?) members of the editorial staff, and The Mighty Busstard.

Strange, janrinok seemed to think that I took TMB to be my nemesis. Nothing could be further from the truth. I consider TMB to be my student. A recalcitrant, stubborn, and significantly developmentally delayed student, but I have hope for him. In the long run.

So I encourage everyone to add the #freearistarchus!!! tag to your sig, even though we are not Twitter (thank the gods), in order to shake up the eds. The promise that was Buckfeta is in danger of being lost, as I have long pointed out. So we need to decide what SoylentNews is to be, a libertarian backwater blog, or an actual replacement for the site that must not be named, for the same reason that site was what it was.

Oh, and if any of you disagree with me, I will more likely than not send you over to Larry the Cable Guy. Let's git 'er done!

Found this comment while I was searching for NASA GOLD stuff.

Zuma!

Folks, I know you want to hear my statement to Bob Muller, the "Russia" investigator (terrific guy). Believe me, I want to give it. I want to testify very badly. But I had to fly to Switzerland because of a prior commitment. To go to #WEF18. Let me tell you, it's so interesting. Everybody who matters is here! So many billionaires, so many leaders & rulers, so many WINNERS. It's my first time going, they invited me last year but I told them "no." Big mistake! Everybody here loves me. The Swiss love me, everybody. So nice to take a break from the haters & losers. But trust me, I'll be back. In a few days, I'll be back. Probably. A little preview of my testimony: there was NO COLLUSION & NO OBSTRUCTION. Stay tuned! #MAGA 🇨🇭
pic.twitter.com/N3e5KGJAMU