Are teenagers saving America?
Plus, a good take about old naked ladies.
You cannot have missed the fact that there were elections in America, again. They have too many elections, too often, and combined with non-compulsory voting I completely understand why 50% of eligible voters just cannot be bothered. Anyway. I didn't originally intend to add my own 800-odd words to the millions (billions?) currently dissecting the results, but we threw up a quick poll on Instagram and it turns out we still need analysis from an Australian lens.
Very quickly, if you don't know what midterm elections are: They are to elect all 435 members of the House of Reps, and one-third of the 100 members in the Senate. They do this every two years! And it happens halfway through the President's four-year term – Biden was elected in 2020, hence the midterms earlier this week. Too much, guys.
Snapshot of the results: As of Saturday night, it's likely the Republican party will end up controlling the House of Reps with a very small majority; the Senate is dead-even, and looks like it will be decided by a Georgia run-off election (they gotta vote again) in December. This is bad news for Republicans, as it was predicted that they would win convincingly and overwhelmingly – the opposition party taking control of the House has happened with almost every midterm election going back to 1970.
The fact the 'red wave' didn't happen this time is a sign politics is changing, and I think some of the reasons why are very applicable to Australia.
3 takeaways from the US midterms we should think about
1. Gen Z & the end of 'growing into conservatism'. A lot has been written about how Gen Z showed up to vote, and basically stopped that red wave from materialising by voting for Democrats. Some of the more, uh, unhinged conservatives now want to raise the voting age (funny, until you realise they'll probably try at some point). But the analysis of Gen Z voting power is missing something.
You know that assumption that people vote more conservatively, shifting right as they get older? I don't think that's true anymore. Taking a conservative position assumes that you have something desirable to conserve in the first place – not a position that Millennials in their 30s and 40s find themselves in. If new voters are still voting for progressive policies, and older voters are still voting like 18yos, the Republican and other conservative parties (hello, Liberal Party) will see their voter base literally die off without being replaced. I think we'll see the beginning of that same trend at the next Australian federal election.
On a side note, the US also now has its first Gen Z congressman, 25-year-old Maxwell Alejandro Frost in Florida 🥺 We haven't had a Gen Z parliamentarian in Australia yet, will have to wait until 2026!
2. We need to pay more attention to intersectionality. One result I was surprised and saddened by was Democrat and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams losing her challenge to Republican Brian Kemp. Breaking the voting data down further than generic "men" and "women" categories showed who exactly re-elected Kemp – white men and white women.
The US does a better job than Australia at breaking down the voting demographics to really understand what's going on. Getting granular with that data shows people are considering all facets of themselves when they vote – it's not as simple as "I'm a woman, I'll vote to protect reproductive rights." Sticking with the Republican status quo is obviously offering white women more due to their whiteness, than they would lose due to their gender.
I hope that we'll see more intersectional voting analysis in Australia. Actually, I think we'll have to as more and more of Gen Z become eligible to vote – its the most multicultural and diverse generation ever, in ways that are way more influential than just their age. Soon we'll be at he point where a simple gender, age, location categorisations won't tell us anything useful anymore.
3. Time to change how we think about political affiliation. The Senate seat that will go to a re-vote in December is between Reverend Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R). This is in Georgia, both men are Black, and yes that's Reverend as in an actual man of the church. You would think that Christian folks would vote for the preacher – but 88% of white Evangelical Christians actually voted against him.
This TikTok perfectly sums up what's going on. Our logic is backwards. I don't want to butcher the explanation, so just watch Joshua's video – it's very succinct!
In Australia, we also talk a lot about how Labor voters do X, Greens voters think Y, Liberal voters hate Z. Let's start flipping the cause-and-effect of those relationships to see what is most illuminating, because "people who X vote Labor" or "people who hate Z vote Liberal" mean something different than the inverse.
Good stuff on Zee Feed rn:
That insane "saving money tips" graphic above is from a segment on Sunrise last Sunday. If you're tired of listening to unrelatable financial tips from people who do not get it, read our piece instead. CLICK HERE TO READ.
And a couple more:
Content I loved this week 💭
If you follow ZeeFeed on Instagram, you’ll know every Sunday I share content from around the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Here are this week's goodies:
Why Are Male Horror Directors So Afraid of Naked Old Women? on Decider"Look, I get it—aging is a scary, universal fear. If we live long enough, our bodies will inevitably deteriorate. All of the plastic surgery and skincare products in the world can’t stop it. Throw in the societal taboo of nudity for a little extra shock value, and you’ve got yourself a horror movie monster."
'Sad Girl' Books Can Be Racist on Buzzfeed"Whiteness is central to the identity of the Sad Girl character, in real life and on the page. Every aspect of her aesthetic, from her rail-thin body to her taste for hyperfemininity, has roots in anti-Blackness and is dependent on an “other” to exaggerate those qualities in her."
Is This The Death of Fashion Trends? Culture Club podcast episodeA great pop culture discussion podcast by two Australian lifestyle journalists Maggie & Jasmine. There's even a little vocal cameo from me in this ep!
Social Media is Dead on VICE MotherboardEdward Ongweso Jr makes the argument for us, regular people, taking over the rebuild towards the next incarnation of 'social' media and stripping the corp giants of their control. For a 2min version of the piece, he also made a TikTok on it.
