"failures of liberalism"
I'm annoyed that I'm so invested in Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau. Photos have been going around recently of the two at Coachella together and I'm fascinated.
After he stepped down as leader of the Liberals, I was really expecting Trudeau to fade from the public eye. I guess I should have know better but people really didn't like him in the end (everyone for their different reasons), so I assumed he would be embarrassed and exhausted.
...And then he slipped back into the public eye hand-in-hand, and clad in denim, with Katy Perry.
Something about this pairing has me hooked.
Part of the draw for me is that I don't really either of them like them but I don't hate them either. I've gone through the roller coaster of loving them[^1] and then hating them.[^2] Time has passed and there are bigger fish to fry. I've moved on now and I feel pretty indifferent about the two of them as individuals.
But now they're a cohesive unit and I'm hooked. I'm invested and annoyed about it.
Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry come from two different parts of my life (parasocially, of course) and I never could have even predicted that they would be in the same room together, let alone dating.
I think my fascination is also linked to my general interest in celebrity gossip.
I'm partially invested because of the entertainment value of it all (I'm a reality TV fan, after all) but I also think celebrity drama and they way we talk about it can have insight into bigger societal questions about race, gender, politics, and identity. It can be a pulse-check to see where society is at with certain issues of social change and it can spark important conversations about privacy and the public eye, how to talk about interpersonal issues, and how to spot power imbalances.
I truly don't know what insight there is to gather from Katy and Justin. Maybe how disgraced politicians can use their power to slide into the celebrity zeitgeist and detach themselves from their career failings? But I'm not sure that's the only thing going on here.
(This post made me snicker)
[^named-note] 1. In 2015, when Trudeau was first elected and promising electoral reform, and when I was in grade 1, I bought Roar on iTunes and sung California Girls on repeat with my friends during recess. [^named-note] 2. hating always feels like too strong of a word but I seriously didn't like Trudeau when he in 2015 when Trudeau was first elected and promising electoral reform and in grade 6 when I bought Roar on iTunes