Conservative turn
Every year the Supreme Court of the United States of America announces its decisions on major cases before the justices go on their summer break. This year, the court’s opinions and final verdicts were rendered along the lines of its 6-3 conservative majority.
First, the court ruled that affirmative action during the admission process in universities, wherein admission teams are aware of an applicant’s race, is unlawful. The historic decision has the potential to be extended to workplace hiring policies. According to a poll by Pew Research Center, over 50% of Americans believe that private colleges should not be allowed to use race as a factor in admissions.
Second, the court ruled that the US president, Joe Biden, did not have the authority to implement a student debt forgiveness plan since such fiscal decisions should be made by Congress. Rising student debt is a crippling issue in the country and Biden’s plan would have waived almost $400 billion in debt. Unsurprisingly, the Republican party is of the opinion that the waiver would be too expensive and unfair to those who did pay their debt or could never attend college.
The third case revealed the conflicts among the First Amendment rights, which include freedom of speech and religion, and anti-discrimination laws. The court sided with a website designer from Colorado who refused to work on same-sex weddings as they went against her religious beliefs. Colorado law prohibits businesses from discriminating against gay customers. But the verdict upheld the business owner’s rights.
Tech troubles
The latest TikTok trend, Girl Dinner — it involves an artfully arranged pile of snacks that constitutes a meal when consumed in high volume — has sparked controversies. The spread often includes a selection of bite-sized nibbles on charcuterie boards. It was popularised by the TikToker, Olivia Maher, who said in her video: “A girl just came... here and said how in medieval times, peasants had to eat nothing but bread and cheese and how awful that was, and she was like ‘That’s my ideal meal’.”
Her plate included grapes, bread, a big slice of cheese, a block of butter, a bowl of olives, and a glass of red wine. The video went viral and the trend has amassed 61.2 million views on the application so far. Others have wondered whether such trends are encouraging restrictive eating.
In other news, Mark Zuckerberg recently launched Threads, a rival of Twitter. This comes at a time when Twitter is in crisis owing to its owner, Elon Musk. Threads had more downloads than even ChatGPT on the day of its launch and has already racked up more than 100 million sign-ups. It is meant to be Twitter, but nicer. However, it is too soon to say whether Threads is the next big thing or a temporary fad. Zuckerberg already owns the two largest social media apps in the world and the consequences of misinformation on these platforms are too hard to ignore.
Dystopian future
The Whitney Museum in New York is hosting an immersive, multimedia exhibition by the artist, Josh Kline, that highlights corporate greed and American life. Like an episode of Black Mirror , the installations examine the dark side of digitisation, social media, image manipulation and so on.
Titled Josh Kline: Project for a New American Century, the exhibition features over 100 images and videos depicting a future where Americans have become climate change refugees and suburban areas have been turned into war zones. One of the displays is that of a FedEx box with a worker’s head wearing a FedEx cap, which reads “No Sick Days”. Other notable displays include Unemployment, which depicts life when AI replaces jobs, and Contagious Unemployment, which shows how life, work and health are interconnected in the face of a viral attack.
Exclusive gathering
One of the most exclusive Fourth of July parties was hosted by the businessman, Michael Rubin, in the Hamptons. The guest list included Beyonce, Jay-Z, Tom Brady and other celebrities. Rubin is the CEO of Fanatics, the leading retailer that creates merchandise for all the major sports brands and university sports teams. Rubin has been hosting his epic Fourth of July bashes since 2021. But the guests have to follow a strict dress code — all white.
Rubin posted pictures of the bash on Instagram.“Might need a whole year for my liver to recover,” he wrote. All the guests stuck to the dress code. Kim Kardashian wore a crop top and a maxi skirt along with a diamond belt by Messika Jewelry. James Corden added a splash of colour, wearing a white button-down shirt with pink elephants printed at the bottom.
