Summarised by Centrist
Journalist Rebekah Barnett writes that the Paris Olympic Games opened with a controversial drag cabaret fashion show depicting a modern interpretation of da Vinci’s Last Supper, featuring LGBTQ+ icon Barbara Butch as Jesus and a blue smurf Dionysus.
While Christians and conservative cultures expressed outrage, creative director Thomas Jolly denied the religious reference.
Barnett says the scene is illustrative of the “lying-as-norm” culture the West has come to embrace: “once again everyone is being told not to believe their lying eyes.
“‘Experts’ are being wheeled out to prop up PR messaging. And people who want to appear erudite are furthering the BS by politely correcting their friends on social media.”
She explains: “I worked in marketing. I am an English and Cultural Studies major. I fully understand how easy it is to twist a fact, find an expert, and apply a reframe to hit the message you want and pull the rug out from under the one you don’t want.
“But I refuse to do it because IT’S LYING. I think the best thing we can do is keep saying what is obvious and put up with the withering looks from our erudite friends who assume we just don’t understand NYT op-eds well enough.”