#poornography

[loudlylovingreview]

Lennard J. Davis: Hillbilly Elegy is an example of ‘poornography,’ in which the rich try to speak on behalf of the poor

JD Vance has climbed to his current position as former President Donald Trump’s running mate, in part, by selling himself as a hillbilly, calling on his Appalachian background to bolster his credentials to speak for the American working class. “I grew up as a poor kid,” Vance said on Fox News in August 2024. “I think that’s a story that a lot of normal Americans can empathize with.”  Indeed,…

[infinitemonkeytheory]

JD Vance is no pauper − he’s a classic example of ‘poornography,’ in which the rich try to speak on behalf of the poor

[…]

The reality – one that Vance only subtly acknowledges in his memoir – is that he is not poor. Nor is he a hillbilly. He grew up firmly in Ohio’s middle class. 

In my forthcoming book, “Poor Things: How Those with Money Depict Those without It,” I detail how Vance’s work is actually part of a genre I call “poornography.” Created mainly by middle- and upper-class people for like-minded readers, this long line of novels, films and plays can end up spreading harmful stereotypes about poor people. 

Though these works are sometimes crafted with good intentions, they tend to focus on violence, drugs, alcohol, crudeness and the supposed laziness of poor people.

[…]

When you look at the books or films created by people who grew up poor, the tone and focus often shift dramatically. 

Instead of a fixation on the tawdry side of life, you see works that explore the things that bind all people together: family, love, politics, complex emotions and sensual memories.

[…]

Hillbilly cosplay

Vance, on the other hand, fills his book with selections from the greatest hits of “poornography” – violence, drugs, sex, obscenity and filth.

But Vance himself was never actually impoverished. His family never had to worry about money; his grandfather, grandmother and mother all had houses in a suburban neighborhood in Middletown, Ohio. He admits that his grandfather “owned stock in Armco and had a lucrative pension.”

[…]

But it’s not simply a question about believing a politician or not. That would be a fool’s game. 

Rather, the issue here is what I call “representation inequality,” by which I mean that one identity group – in this case, poor people – don’t get to represent themselves. 

What has happened – whether it’s in politics or in publishing – is something called “elite capture,” in which those with cultural capital and power assume the right to speak for and represent the powerless. 

In so doing, dangerous stereotypes and tropes get developed with serious political consequences. Just because you drink Diet Mountain Dew doesn’t mean you do get to speak for those in the mountains.

[takeonmetakemeon]

yep

This was obvious to me from the things his fans said about the book. I knew from what they said that he wasn't poor. And having grown up actually poor in an actual small rural town, his conclusions were more than an insult.

I don't think I've ever disliked a person more.

Not even Chief Tormentor of the Homeless Gavin Newsom, who with his inauthenticity and anti-poor crusade has more in common with Vance than anyone wants to admit. He just looks better in a suit.

[webntrmpt2x]

“The reality – one that Vance only subtly acknowledges in his memoir – is that he is not poor. Nor is he a hillbilly. He grew up firmly in Ohio’s middle class.”

[phantomas99]

The Land of Fairytales belongs to everyone

Greetings to everyone who reads this post. I am from a country called Hungary. In my country there was a scandal in connection with a a children’s book called “Fairytailland beongs to everyone” (Meseország Mindenkié), written by a gay hungarian author. The book was considered unorthodox and even inappropriate, because it featured the members of certain groups, such as LGBTQ+, people with disabilities, people with different bodytypes.

In one week, the book resulted in multiple outrages among certain groups, and many politicians. A politician called Dúró Dóra (who didn’t even bother to even read the book first) even resorted to the symbolic destruction of the book, by throwng it in the shredder in front of cameras, saying that “There is no place for the homosexual propaganda in our hungarian culture”. This was also followed by numerous protests against the publication of the book and its content, and the author also received severe criticism (though I can hardly call that criticism, I would call it written roadrage instead), and even threats, and accusations that the author wants to “corrupt children” with his “aberrated homosexual agenda”.

The politican, Dúró Dóra claimed that she as a mother, wants to protect children from what she labels as “abnormal”, and “pornographic”.

Now this is what I wish to get out of my chest: First of all:There is nothing to “protect” your children from. The fact that homosexuality is not unnatural, not a mental disease, and most of all that it’s representation has no proven negative effects on children, has been discussed a million times, and this has been ignored a million times as well.

Second: The book not only features LGBTQ+ people. There is a tale about a little bunny who was born with three ears instead of two, and is being constantly made fun of by his friends because of it. However when there is some danger in the forest he will be the first to hear it and warn the others, thus turning his disability his strength (the Avatar series did the exact same thing with Toph for example). It also features people from other ethnicities, such as the romani people who have been present in my country for hundreds of years, but they rarely get any good representation. The book also features girls who don’t have slim bodies, but they are happy the way they look, and love baking. in addition to that women are not featured as a mere “prize” who needs to be saved, so she can be married off later, but rather actual knights, who can fight for themselves, bringing through a feminist message as well.

The people who protested/protest the book got stuck at the part where LGBTQ+ people get represented. I read a comment which said “Children wouldn’t have the capacity to understand such thing, so putting it in a children’s book is pointless” or “This kind of perversion is mere poornography, and anyone who shoves it in the faces of children is malicious!” Alright, the book has a lot of pictures in it (it’s a children’s book after all) and none of them show depictions of sexual acts, only the exact same thing that happens in cartoons, and many other mediums that feature a type of romance (e.g.: kissing and hugging), the only difference is that now we have two princes, or princesses, so this part of the outrage runs out of fuel.

“Children wouldn’t have the capacity to understand such thing” Well that ain’t exactly true either, even though children have a vaguely different perception of the world, they aren’t stupid, let alone unemphatetic. They have the capacity to understand abstarct or complicated concepts, such as death, grief, and loneliness, why wouldn’t they be able to understand various differences? This is in fact the reason why representation from a young age is important: If you are the part of the represented group, you can see yourself as the hero of the story, feel tha the things featured in there are available even for you. And even if you are not the part of such group, you can learn a thing or two about the perception of others, you see how they feel, what kind of problems they may have, with one word, you can become open and emphatetic to their world.

Some people also put an equality sign between homosexuality and pedophilia. The latter one is still condemned by the whole LGBTQ+ community, and they do everything in their power to keep them out of their community.

In summary, i think this book could be a great start where we break the circle of hatred, intolerance and biggotry, but appearently we are not ready for “that talk”. Some leaders of my country would do everything to prove that LGBTQ+ people cannot be the part of my homeland, while even our very national anthem has been proven to written by a gay man.

Sadly, my country seems to turn into an increasingly authoritarian regime led by bigotic hypocrats, where many forms of hatred like certain far-right groups can once again walk down the streets without shame, but minorities are not allowed to even show themselves.

[ataktoskampilomena]

poornography γνήσιο αθηναϊκό

πριν μισή ώρα στην ζωοδόχου ένας ξεναγός έδειχνε σε ένα γκρουπ τουριστών ποια γκράφιτι να φωτογραφίσουν και στην αραχώβης κορίτσια ελάχιστα μεγαλύτερα από εφηβα έβγαζαν από το σπίτι τους ένα σπαστό ηλεκτρικός πατίνι

και αν μας ρωτάτε εμείς τα κορίτσια του κέντρου του ερ μπι εν μπι των μισών ενσήμων της χιπστερ επέλασης των τσάμπα πτυχίων των ακριβών ενοικίων των απλήρωτων υπερωριών και όλων αυτών που τις μέρες μας καταστρέφουν πώς είναι οι ζωές μας αντέχουμε επειδή τάπερ δεν ανταλλάζουμε με τις μαμάδες μας αλλά με φίλες

[malscare]

Polyglot has drawn incest and child poornography, fyi! Can send proof. Hope tumblr doesnt cut off my ask lmao post link: /post/616678124232540160/polyglotplatypus

Oh disgusting, thank you for letting me know. I'll delete the post as soon as I get on desktop!

[callmebliss]

Exploitation of the poverty-stricken to make those who watch/read feel better about themselves? Oh, you mean poornography?

[survivethesun]

Who is this comedian? He hit the nail right on the head with #POORnography

[miguelvagalume]

Vivienda Madrid #poornography #madrid #sinfiltros #nofilter #lux

[bostonreview]

[ataktoskampilomena]

εκπαιδεύω το αφεντικό να μην ενοχλείτε όταν αγνοώ τους πελάτες και εκείνος μου λέει να μην στέλνω μηνύματα με το κινητό διαβάζω μια ποιητική συλλογή, απαντώ αυτά παθαίνεις αν θες ενημερωμένοι προσωπικό λέει και φεύγει ήρεμος πως δουλεύω για εκείνον δεν του είπα είναι η δική σου και εκείνος φαντάζεται ευπώλητα και παρου��ιάσεις με λάιβ στρίμινγκ λες και όλη η ποίηση γράφετε από άντρες σε ιλουστρασιόν χαρτί με την ματαιότητα του μέλλοντος και την προσδοκία των κρατικών βραβείων σαν εκείνον τον κακομοίρη συγγραφέα που στο διήγημα του για την πολιτική και ηθική κρίση στην Ελλάδα δεν ήξερε να μου απαντήσει αν επίτηδες ξέρασε τόσο poornography δεν θυμάμαι τον τίτλο του βιβλίου και τον συγγραφέα τον θυμήθηκα επειδή μοιάζει σε αυτόν τον πελάτη που παραγγέλνει στο μπαρ πριν ακόμα κάτσει στο τραπέζι και απαιτεί να τσακιστώ να τον σερβίρω όπως απαιτεί το αφεντικό να δουλεύω και να βάζω πλάτες για το μαγαζί όμως  η πλάτη μου με  τους στίχους σου ανατριχιάζει