Once in a blue moon it’s good to take a break from scrolling through Instagram and consume some “real” information. Below are 5 of the best pieces of internet that I’ve consumed recently. I’m pretty sure that watching/reading them will make you a smarter and/or happier person (or at least more interesting to talk to at a dinner party). – Karley
1. Queen Nicki Minaj Going on an Awesome Rant about Gender Double Standards
I’ve fallen into a deep Nicki Minaj hole recently. I just love how she has no filter, and is constantly calling people out for being assholes—whether she’s calling out sexism in hip-hop, instances of racism in pop culture, or just acknowledging when an interviewer asks her a stupid question. In this video, she goes on an amazing rant about how when a woman is assertive she’s a “bitch,” but when a guy’s assertive, he’s a boss.
2. Anti-intellectualism Is Killing America: A Response to the Tragedy in Charleston
This Psychology Today article by David Niose is a quick but important read about the underlying issue that causes so many of America’s problems, from racism to gun violence: ignorance. It also includes some really embarrassing statistics about America—brace yourselves.
3. The Fat Jew Being Interviewed by Katie Couric LOL
I can say for absolute certain that the only people who provide me with experiences of true joy on this earth are the Fat Jew and Amy Schumer. My girlfriend and I actually got into a big fight the other day because she said the Fat Jew’s Instagram was ruining our sex life, claiming that whenever we get into bed I just spend 45 min scrolling through his feed (AKA re-looking at posts I’ve already looked at like 5 times) rather than paying attention to her. And it was super awk because I couldn’t even deny it. I was like yeah, it’s true, I’d rather re-read the Fat Jew’s Instagram than have sex like 99.9% of the time.
4. John Oliver on the NSA Collecting your Dick Pics
Thank god for John Oliver! I was so depressed when the Colbert Report ended because not only was it my favorite show, but it was basically the only way that I consumed the news—whoops. Then Jon Stewart announced that he was leaving the Daily Show, and I basically just resigned myself to never knowing anything about the world ever again. But thankfully, John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight has saved me from ignorance. His show is really great because it gives you a roundup of the week’s most important news stories, but it also goes in-depth into one main story—which Stewart and Colbert never did—so you end each show really feeling like you learned something more in-depth than a quick headline. This is the episode I recommend most thus far, which talks in detail about the information leaked by Edward Snowden, and basically about how the NSA is looking at the naked pics on your phone. Ahh! Also, wait… Snowden is a babe?! I never really noticed it before, but Oliver interviews him in this ep I was getting all sweaty and turned-on watching it.
5. Judith Butler Talking about how our Behavior Creates our Gender
Judith Butler is one of my heroes! As you probably know, Butler is the famous philosopher and gender theorist who proposed that gender isn’t something we’re born with. Rather, it’s a socially-imposed construction that we are performing all the time. In this 3 minute video, she gives a short overview of the theory behind her famous book, Gender Trouble (which went on to become one of the key works of contemporary feminist theory). If you care about this, then you should read the book!
Main image by Tim Barber