← Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone
Free Thinking Through the Fourth Turning with Sasha Stone
The Last Spectacular Ball of the Elite's Empire
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Hi, welcome to Free Thinking through the fourth Turning. My name is Sacha Stone. The Last Spectacular Ball of the Elite's Empire the Met Gala in Blue Origin are signs of imminent collapse. Quote the last spectacular ball in the history of the empire. But a new and hostile Russia blared through the large windows of the palace while we danced. The workers were striking and the clouds in the Far east were hanging dangerously low. End quote Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich the theme of the Met Gala this year was Black Dandyism. In case you don't know what that is, the Met explains. I'm Andrew Bolton and along with guest curator Monica Miller, we're extremely excited to introduce the Costume Institute Spring 2025 exhibition. The show is inspired by Monica's 2009 book Slaves to Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. My book and research explores the cultural history of the Black Dandy from the concept's historical origins to his emergence during the 18th century and his contemporary incarnations. In recent years, we've witnessed somewhat of a renaissance in menswear, spurred on by both established and emerging designers as well as prominent men of style who've been more willing to take risks with with their self presentation. The show will explore the Black Dandy as both a concept and an identity signifier. Monica's research invites us to examine men's fashion not only in terms of race, but also in terms of class, gender and sexuality. I'm thrilled to be working with Andrew and the Met on this exhibition. Historically, the term dandy was used to describe someone, often a man, who is extremely devoted to aesthetics and approached it as a lifestyle. Dandyism has been used to think positively about Black people, their ambitions and aspirations, and negatively about those very same aspirations. It was imposed on Black men in Europe during the 1700s as the Atlantic slave trade created a trend in fashionably dressed or dandified servants free and enslaved. Black people came to understand the power of clothing and style in signaling hierarchies of race, class and gender. Over time, dandyism gave Black men and women an opportunity to use clothing, gesture, irony and wit to transform their identities and imagine new ways of embodying political and social possibilities. Black dandyism is cool and all as its authentic self. I'm not sure it maintained that coolness last night with radical chic on full display as a symbol of virtue for the powerful watching in real time as their empire comes crumbling down. You no doubt noticed the vibe shift. Something seemed off about it. It was like the Blue Origin flight. It felt Inauthentic, all for show. A ritual to genuflect to their chosen status symbols while disguising who they really are. Some of the biggest names in fashion and entertainment are in New York today for the annual Met Gala. This year's theme is Super Fine Tailoring Black Style. To coincide with the Costume Institute's spring exhibition, stars have been walking the carpet adorned in custom couture and inventive tailoring. The gowns are mostly absent from the carpet this year with suited ensembles preferred. And it's the first year the co chairs for the gala are all black men who are known for their fashion sensibilities. The gala's theme celebrates black dandyism and how it has shaped fashion over generations. I feel like it's so important to be celebrating black dandyism because it's really an aesthetic movement that comes out of knowing that no matter what our circumstances are, we can be elegant, we can be our best, we can shine. We don't necessarily get the chance to be in these spaces with a large group of us expressing what it means to be in fashion, expressing what our history in fashion has been. A lot of it has been lost. So to be able to express that here today through fashion, it means a lot. This is herstory history. It's gonna go down this night. Someone's gonna write a book about this. Not me, but someone write a book about this night. Not that they will be criticized by the people who matter to them. Those outlets that aren't owned by Donald Newhouse, the billionaire who owns Vogue and the New Yorker worth around 18 billion, wouldn't dare say a word. Everyone is to applaud and praise them for their goodness and moral virtue. But as I watched the parade of famous black artists walk the red carpet alongside ashamed, self hating white celebrities who looked like they'd been kidnapped and who couldn't wash away the fear in their eyes. I could see the man behind the curtain. Or in this case, the woman. Who are they kidding? This was not power or progress. Not for any of them. The Met gala served the same purpose it always has to make rich white people look good. How they measure what defines good is all that has changed. The white guilt among the wealthy in our modern Gilded Age is thick. They know something is ending. They can feel the ground shifting beneath their feet, just as the very wealthy in the late 1800s did. They have no choice but to try to buy absolution by bribing the virtuous to be their facade. They have no choice. They know the mob would eat them. Alive if they didn't defer decenter, elevate platform and do something to make their insular world seem like the good place, not the bad place. They have to be on the right side to survive a little bit longer to hold their place in society even as, especially as everything falls apart. They didn't call it virtue signaling during the Gilded Age. They called it civic virtue, which has a long history in America going all the way back to the Revolution and is one of the reasons we see so many of the big names from that era splashed across major institutions like the Andrew Carnegie Institution. This from the History Channel, when, when the Gilded Age is really heating up. There's no income tax in the United States at this time. These guys get to keep all of their money and they have millions and millions and certainly they put it into their lavish homes and so forth. But many of them were big philanthropists. Carnegie is probably the most famous for putting it not just into fine art and so forth, that's for the elite, but for schools and libraries, particularly public libraries. And so I mean, he gave away millions and millions of dollars. So there are those who are saying, well you know, my God, this is, you know, this is really amazing. He didn't have to do that. And this was thing, these were things that workers could use. And this is really, you know, amazing philanthropy. His workers for the most part would say, well, couldn't we just have a living wage instead? You know, we would really wish that, you know, if you're going to be giving away some money that, that you would give us higher quality of living and so forth. And so it seems a little, I don't know, wrong, I guess, or one sided to be criticizing people who are off. Because like I say, Carnegie was giving more to the general public. Others were doing more sort of fine art and so forth, music and so on that were really more for the elite. But even Carnegie has been criticized because it's like, well, yes, you know, you're continuing. What we see is almost all of this philanthropy works to perpetuate the current power system. It might be to make workers lives a little bit better in ways that these philanthropists chose. Well, you should be reading more, you know, you should take on more of the values and habits of, you know, of the middle class. So you can be very critical that it was really designed to sort of perpetuate the values of the upper class and to sort of maintain that power structure. Or you can say yes, but they could have, you know, they just could have taken that to the racetrack and blew it. I mean, the fact that they did invest in huge foundations, many of which continue to operate today. So again, it kind of depends on, you know, it's, you know, the double edged sword. The billionaires alive today are all expected to give back to society in a way that justifies or absolves them of their sins. But something else entirely is going on with what we saw at the Met gala and with blue origin. It wasn't civic virtue so much as virtue signaling. But it does seem strange in a year when Donald Trump and his MAGA deplorables won the popular vote, where he is attempting major change to elevate the silent majority to attend this spectacular ball and to send yet another message to America that you are not invited to this party because we think you are bad people, racist. So we'll celebrate in front of you. We'll rub it in as though we never lost the election at all. The wealthy aristocracy in our country has figured out that they need shields. They must hide behind people whom no one would dare attack or criticize. It is the reversal of the fanaticism that afflicted and ignited the mob when the streets were filled with protesters in the summer of 2020. For podcast listeners, a video line of white people form barrier on Atlanta interstate during protest as the highway is blocked by protesters. Right, Doug, as we're watching the video and your photographer there, pan across the interstate. We are seeing different groups of protesters. Does there seem to be some sort of cohesion among the protesters? Are they all there together or is there sort of any. What we see now is their way of healing from the trauma of the agreed upon reality that emerged that summer. Most people don't remember how unprecedented this uprising really was. Remember chanting through the neighborhoods in Seattle? Do you know that you are living in a historically black neighborhood right now? Do you know that? Do you know that before you know, my last neighbor, this is all black people. Do you know that? Do you know this? If you were cowering in your home as a good white liberal, what did you make of that? How much guilt did you feel? Their escape hatch is all of this madness we've been living through a fake, pretend fix to oppression because Lululemon and the Lifetime network now center black characters and decenter whiteness. I'll never forget my white friends in Santa Monica, of all places, hurling themselves in front of black bodies because the cops were less likely to shoot them. They all believed this delusion even in Santa Monica. But now there is a reversal of that dynamic playing out. White people need Black people and other non whites or LGBTQIA members to hide behind. This problem afflicts white women especially, but not exclusively. I see the beardos on TikTok doing everything to throw themselves at the mercy of the woke by pointing their fingers at Trump supporters. They are the racist, not me. I don't exist at all. I am but a grease stain where a man used to be. But the women whose primary need, a pathological need, is to appear good and be liked, have turned into intolerant, intolerable bullies. Cancel culture isn't over. It's just the accepted norm on the left. Take Kate Max with a popular TikTok running profile. People on the left are currently trying to cancel Kate Max. For those of you who don't know, she's known for doing these interviews where they run and she asks questions at the same time, usually with celebrities, but she's done with people like Chris Cuomo and probably most famously and most viewed Tim Walsh right before the election. Now people are canceling her now because she did one with press secretary Carolyn Levitt, Trump's press secretary. Now I get the little criticism that they didn't go for a run like she normally does. I think that's fair to say. But just listen to some of the things they're saying about this. No, no, no, no. You do not give a platform to fascism unless you are okay with fascism choice. Words that I have for that runner that decided to do like a little tour of the White House with Caroline Levitt, like yesterday would get me banned off the app, so I can't Kate Max, the girl who does the how many miles are you running today? Videos. Doing a video with Caroline Levitt is disgusting. And her comments section are more the same on that same video. This is so beyond disappointing. Girl, what are you doing? Absolutely not. This is insane. Someone actually made their own, like, parody version of the video and basically said that Carolyn Levitt works for Satan. And this video, she's basically talking about what it's like to work for Satan. This is the issue the left has. There is nothing wrong with influencers or podcasters, whatever you want to call them, talking to the Trump admin, just like there was no issue with those same people talking to the Biden admin or the Kamala campaign. It's honestly more respectful when you reach both sides like she clearly has. But the left just wants to shut down anyone that even comes close to Donald Trump or anyone that works for him, and you will never win the argument or the battle that you want to win. Just by shutting down conversation. This content creator goes around like celebrities and, like, how many miles you running today? And then they go run an interview. She did it with Tim Walls. It's pinned as 4.1 million views. Right below Tim. Right below Tim. This woman. She platformed this woman. And her video is right under Tim Walls video. And then, oddly, at the end of this video, it turns into a Tesla commercial. So I'm starting a campaign for Minnesotans to go and tell this person to unpin the Tim Walls video. Don't be mean to her. Don't be nasty. I just want the whole comment section to be like, unpin Tim Walls. Running is a privilege, and being a part of the running community is a privilege that not all people have access to. Whether you do it recreationally or you race a lot or you are, you know, at the elite level, it is a privilege. We are not humanizing fascists. We're not. And if that's your side of the world, then you can stay over there. But don't even dare, in any realm of earth try to pretend like you care about human beings by having, like, waltz on your podcast and, like, have that pinned to your profile for clout. Like, that's crazy performative activism. Again, if you are a white woman and you are wondering why people don't like you, this is why. Because this is what some of us do. And this is why every day, you should spend time being better than that. I am making this video just to let you guys know, in case you don't, that I am a liberal. Okay? I've been seeing a lot of creators talk about politics lately, and everyone's like, why are you bringing politics into your account? This is my formal statement that I am a liberal, and I did vote for Kamala. You couldn't catch me voting for that orange freak. Okay, Kate Max, what is the price of morality? Like, what is the USD amount to humanize evil? I'm just wondering what the going rate for someone's backbone is these days. Thanks. Name is Kate. I'm a running influencer, and I do not use my social media to platform fascists. Some people are not doing anything. Their identity is a threat to the Trump administration, and they're getting deported, they're getting silenced, they're losing their jobs. Like, people are actually losing legal rights for things that they can't control. You did something that you totally could have controlled. As white people, they are vulnerable to attacks by the mob, just as Kate Max was. That is why they must hide behind shields that protect them. From those attacks, which also maintains the real power hierarchy, as it did in the Gilded Age, as opposed to the manufactured one invented by the woke that pretends to protect the most vulnerable. The Met gala was borrowed Absolution. It was a way to get Vogue off the hook for its decades of elevating white models. They know that. Anna Wintour knows that as she tucks into her bloody red hamburger and perfectly whipped up mashed potatoes. So what was Anna Wintour's order? Okay, Anna Wintour would come in for lunch. She'd have a table, and she would come in, and we knew her order. She ate the same thing every day. A very rare hamburger. We ground it from fresh every day. For her, it wasn't on the menu. And a pot of mashed potato, and you make good mashed potatoes. Well, I made robichon mashed potato, which is 60% butter and 40% potato. And you got to make them to order, so you have to keep the potatoes warm and then mill them and then throw all the butter in. When she sat down, so the assistant would call. So, like, the Anne Hathway would call you. Anne Hathway would call, and that's when cell phones were just coming in. She's on her way. First thing she wanted when she sat down was a cappuccino. She had sunglasses all the time, never took them off, Even when she ate halfway to her coffee. She wanted her burger. So he would tell me, I would fire the mash, I get the burger ready. She wanted sen, like bloody ass, rare, almost raw, heavily salted, and mashed potato. She would obliterate the entire thing in less than 15 minutes. The more successful and wealthy a person is in America, the more likely they are to genuflect to the cult and ignore the people who just won the popular vote, who can't stand them for one more minute. That's why movies suck and why the Democrats can't win. They stopped caring about serving the people and only serve themselves once they reach the highest status inside utopia. Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez and pop star Katy Perry used diversity to justify their bachelorette party in space. It was a sign that things are shifting, that almost no one praised it. They could have learned a lesson or two from the wise Anna Wintour. Perhaps if the rocket had been built by a marginalized person, they might have gotten away with it. What it's like to glide through the rarefied air of the elite's empire is to go along with a lie. Everyone just decided that if history couldn't be made, we would all pretend it had been that our utopian diorama was our reality. If the media covers it, and they do, and the awards community rewards it, and they do, who's to say it isn't actual reality? Because it isn't. Drive through the broken down Neighborhoods of Cleveland, St. Louis, Los Angeles or any major black neighborhood in America and you'll see the reality of what the left has abandoned. This from ideastream Cleveland has identified a new public health crisis. Gun violence for several years, gun violence has been the leading cause of death among children and teens in the U.S. though homicides and violent crime are down city and nationwide, public safety and illegal guns on city streets remain a chief concern for leaders and residents. A lot of this is happening in areas where people are having challenges as far as living in survival mode, said Richard Starr, Cleveland's Ward 5 council member who sponsored the legislation. That's where you start to say, well, what are we doing? What are we doing to help people up? How do we get them out of this mindset? How do you get them out of survival mode? End quote. Now maybe you could sit them down in front of the Met Gala and show them the dandy fashion. Would that help get them out of survival mode? How about Blue Origin? Do those astronauts in space inspire little girls? Podcast listeners A picture of Kim Kardashian The Democrats will blame the guns. They'll blame Republicans. They will never blame themselves, because they don't have to. They just have to put on the right mask, wear the right costume and bask in their unearned moral superiority for one last ball. The victims of crime, the victims of a failing public school system are invisible to the people at the Met Gala, just as the many black and brown voters who flip to Trump are invisible because they're inconvenient to a movement that relies on demonizing half the country as racists to elevate itself. The truth. Like everything else in American culture, it was a walking advertisement for the real power in this country. Podcast listeners A tweet by the Democrats Kamala Harris stuns at the Met Gala and a clip from Two Ways Mark Halperin, Sean Spicer, Dan Turrentine Last night, the Met Gala if you read the New York Post about 50 stories about the Met Gala, most don't have much to do with politics, although in the past AOC made a big splash when she went and other political figures have gone. Amongst the few political figures at the Met gal last night 105 was the former Vice president, United States Kamala Harris, resplendent In black and white. The Democratic National Committee Twitter account tweeted out that photo, and I want to thank the DNC for doing that. Could not have been more. Well, we are always happy to have her here in New York, but look, I don't know what she was doing. I mean, why. I do, but I don't see how this helps her. It's. You know, it's. On some level, it's as silly as the White House. You know, retweeting Trump is the Pope. Like, why is the DNC tweeting her @ the Met Gala? It doesn't really help the party. I just, you know, she likes to hobnob with wealthy people in the arts. What about. But what. But what about the argument the president's a billionaire who hobnobs with billionaires? Like, what's wrong for the Democrats to have their fancy moments? Sure, but Trump has. I mean, Trump's base, his strength is the working class. Kamala's Achilles is she is seen as out of touch and elitist. And nothing is more out of touch and elitist than even. Even by New York City standards, nothing is more out of touch and elitist than the Met Gala. And so, look, I mean, I don't think anyone ultimately cares, but, like, as she's inching back into the public's square, into the public spotlight, probably not the best look for her to be at the Met Gala. Well, Sean, besides agreeing, what else do you think? I just think she should have gone to Bergdahl. Bergdahl on the way to the Polo Club. It would have just made a trifecta of dumb moves. Look, I will say this. The idea. Look, she can go to where she wants. She can do. I'm a capitalist. I hope she goes to the Polo Club every night. I hope she. But the bottom line is, you want to reenter politics where there's governor of California or is the potential Democratic nominee, and the DNC is tweeting that out. Like, somehow that's like. It's one thing if she does. It's another thing if the new chairman thinks that that's a smart message for them. I mean, I could not be happier. What a. I would love to know, not just for a book, but in general, the chain of events that led the DNC to tweeting that photo. I would just love to know. Well, I also wonder, does Ken Martin wake up this morning and say, who was the knucklehead that did that? Or does he say, so it's his idea. His idea. But, I mean, who took the photo, how did it get to the dn, the person who controls the DNC account? Just interesting to know because again, you know, I don't begrudge her wanting to have a glamorous and exciting life. She's, you know, she was a senator from California. She was, you know, vice president. The Bidens will be on the View tomorrow, by the way. But for the DNC account to tweet that out, I don't get it. They say that something, but the Democrats are once again sending a message to the American people that you don't matter, your problems don't matter. The only thing that matters is our spectacular ball, the one you're not invited to because you don't believe that this is history being made. You see who we really are, and that ruins everything. If this is the plan for Democrats, for Hollywood and the left's empire, they're not reading the room or looking out the window. There has been a vibe shift. They must feel it too. Cause otherwise they would not have to work so hard for forgiveness. Thank you for listening to my podcast, sashastone.substack.com and remember to thine own self be all of your affection is gone, baby and your love is growing cold I said your affection is gone baby and your love is growing cold But I've got a new story to tell you this evening, bab One that ain't never been told I went to work the other day but I thought that I doubled back and that car I saw sitting in the front of my door it looked like a brand new Catalan and I ain't got now baby I think you've been cheating on me I believe to my story that you've given me some outside help that I don't think I really need the iceman came by this morning and you know he didn't leave no ice the postman stopped by later baby and it didn't even ring why I think you're cheating on me baby I think you're running out on me I believe to my soul, baby that you've given me some outside I have that I don't think I really need Now I want you to tell the iceman the next time he better leave some ice and I want you to tell the postman he better ring more than twice and when I come home from work in the morning it better still be some groceries on the shelf and I want you to tell that slick and insurance man that he better right of insurance on I think you're cheating on me I think you're running out on me I believe to my soul baby, you giving me some help Some help Help I don't really need, love.