WELCOME TO THE SCROLL by Brett Cooper 

Welcome to your weekly round-up of everything I’m loving on my feeds and beyond! These are the stories that have kept me inspired, made me laugh, and more. Hopefully it gives you some insight into the ways my algorithm - and brain - seem to work.

So without further ado, let’s dive in.

STORIES FROM X

Ok, do you remember a couple of weeks ago when I briefly brought up the TWELVE FOOT STATUE of a black woman that was put up in Times Square? And her sister statues from around the world? It gets even crazier, and it all goes back AGAIN to the celebration of mediocrity in our culture.

So to jog your memory, this statue was semi-inspired by Michelangelo’s The David - I’m offended on behalf of Michelangelo - and the goal of this was obviously to fight racism and be an “introspective meditation on humanity.” WHAT?

He also tried to represent the everywoman of the black community. Anyway, it’s in Times Square until June 14th, but it didn’t stop there. This week on X, End Wokeness posted that at night, Times Square gets lit up with photos of a black man - again to teach us about humanity and identity:

And let’s just say, fans have feelings. Very BIG feelings, like this one:

AND, in addition to all of that, there is a whole exhibit dedicated to statues like the one in Times Square:

Seriously, I ask this question all the time with modern art and social justice activities, but what is this actually doing? I have read article after article, description after description, and no one can ACTUALLY articulate what the goal is here. Is it to just plaster black people everywhere for the sake of representation?

The idea seems to be to represent normal people based on “observations [of the black community] and casting calls” from around the country, but wouldn’t it be more empowering to create statues of incredible, aspirational people? Not overweight people in ill-fitting clothing that just look upset, lol?!

And it doesn’t even have to be someone famous! Like think back to The David - where inspiration was taken from. He was DESIGNED to be an inspiration to the people of Florence. He was a symbol of strength, freedom, and independence. He was youthful, beautiful, and chiseled, and the story of David and Goliath that he represented encouraged and empowered the community.

Why don’t we make art like that anymore? Why don’t we celebrate aspirational figures anymore? Or even create them?

We have become so focused on REPRESENTATION, victimhood, and not offending ANYONE, that we celebrate the bare minimum. Exceptional people are often called out and ridiculed for their privilege or setting unrealistic, harmful standards, rather than the encouragement and inspiration they could provide.

I mean, no wonder we live in such a sick, lackluster society.

I say this all the time - inspired by my friend Chris Williamson - but if you want to stand out, the bar really is low. If you want to excel, the barrier for entry has been lowered - so take the opportunity! Be exceptional, be someone who people look to for inspiration and encouragement - to matter what the mediocre mob says.

TIKTOK BOOKMARKS

I wish I had more interesting TikTok DRAMA to share with you all, but unfortunately, my TikTok is exclusively baby content. And not even cute baby content. It’s hours and hours of stroller reviews, and what you “ACTUALLY need” on your registry. I can’t escape it.

Granted, I need all the help I can get, but that makes the content I bring YOU all far less spicy. Don’t worry, I’ll work on my algorithm.

But for today, you need to see this story that is much bigger than just TikTok (but TikTok is where I first saw it.)

A woman SET HER FRIEND ON FIRE after he made a “misogynist” joke. Literally.

@dailymail

A woman who doused a 'lifelong friend' in gas and set him alight had been angered by a sexist comment, a court has heard. Corbie Jean Walp... See more

So the story goes, the group of friends was hanging out at home after a long night of partying, drinking, and doing cocaine - already a terrible sign, people, and the man, Jake, made a joke about the woman “getting back in the kitchen.”

And her response, after being friends for NINE YEARS, was to pour GASOLINE ON HIM and set him on fire.

Jake lived, but has suffered third degree burns on over half of his body.

First of all, this should be a sign to everyone to not drink excessively and please for the love of Pete, do not do cocaine, LOL. But in a broader sense, how far have we fallen that a JOKE gets you set on fire? EVEN while drunk and high?

The woman has been sentenced to seven years in prison, as she should be, but I feel like common sense says that this should be a major warning sign about our cultural sensitivity … about EVERYTHING.

And yet, in that video on TikTok, all the comments were from women making jokes and minimizing the incident. Instead, they compared it to men being tried for rape and the things judges and lawyers ask the victims, like how much was she drinking, did she lead him on, etc.

I mean, HOW do you even get here from that story? She set him on fire, everyone saw, she pled guilty, end of story.

This is not the same thing as a rape case, especially not in a society where UNFORTUNATELY, men are falsely accused. I don’t say that to minimize the atrocities that do occur and the pain of going through those trials and answering those questions, but that is just a fact, and that is simply part of the legal proceedings. These are just women who hate men and believe this was totally valid.

I struggle to think that this is something they would ACTUALLY stand behind individually, but online, when you read these kinds of comments and you see the rage and the hatred, it’s easy to fall into this, post a comment, and feel like you’re part of a feminist resistance. 

Even crazier, some women were more brazen in saying that what she did was totally fine:

Ha. And you wonder why so many young people moved to the Right in 2024. Men are fed up with this behavior from Left-wing, men-hating women, and normal girls don’t want to be associated with this out of control vitriol. Point blank.

INSTAGRAM SAVES

Now SIMILARLY to that, you have to see the comments section on this NYT post.

They posted this fascinating and RELEVANT article about the struggles that young men are facing in our culture today, and I think you can imagine the response.

All of these women should be ashamed of themselves, seriously. This is why SO many women - like myself - simply cannot and will not identify with feminism because your fight is no longer about EQUALITY or uplifting women.

It has been boiled down to nothingness that can be applied to whatever social cause is the “current thing,” and at the root of it is hatred and disgust for men.

Have these people considered that there is an entire generation of men who have been negatively impacted by identity politics and their hateful rhetoric? In comments sections just like this one? In HR meetings? In college classrooms? On TV shows and in movies? No, they probably haven’t.

Instead, they read a caption about young men feeling unmoored and undervalued, and they decide to stick the knife in even further.

Men are the backbone of our society, and women should be humble enough to recognize their importance and be gracious enough to see a world where the genders live in harmony.

But I doubt humility and gracious are words in their vocabulary.

WATCH OF THE WEEK

You guys know I’ve been working with Angel to promote their new movie and I have talked about it a TON recently, but seriously, you all need to go see THE LAST RODEO from Angel Studios. They sent us a screener two weeks ago, and we were blown away.

It definitely isn’t Alex’s normal kind of movie, and yet, every time I looked over at him, he was on the edge of his seat. Meanwhile, I was choking back tears half the time. Hormones, ha!

It’s playing in theaters nationwide right now, and it’s definitely something you can take the whole family to. It’s family driven, full of love and grit, and has amazing values that don’t beat you over the head - thankfully. That’s my biggest problem with “Conservative Christian” art, iykyk.

It’s about fighting for the people you love, redemption, and success against all odds. Neal McDonough is spectacular as the star, but the whole cast is SO strong. Plus, I love that his real life wife plays his wife in the film! I told Alex that if I ever do another romantic character, that’s what we’ll have to do.

If you go to angel.com/BRETT and join the Angel Guild, you will get two tickets to all of their theatrical releases, including THE LAST RODEO. The guild is super cool because you actually get to vote on what films they produce and release. If the guild doesn’t approve, the movie doesn’t get made! 

Anyway, hope you all LOVE it! You’ll have to report back in.

And before you ask, no we haven’t finished the last few MISSION IMPOSSIBLE films. Too busy, too pregnant, too much going to bed exhausted at 8pm, lol!