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The Fandom Around R.B.G. Is Out of Step With Reality The Fandom Around R.B.G. Is Out of Step With Reality
(about 1 month later)
When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg revealed last month that she had been treated for cancerous lesions on her liver, a YouTube video whispered across the liberal internet like a prayer. The video, titled “Hang On Ruthie!” is a 2018 parody of the McCoys’ 1965 hit “Hang On Sloopy,” and every few months, it is resurrected through boomer chain emails and Facebook pages with names like the Rude Liberals. Filmed “somewhere in Oregon” by the musical duo Buffalo Romeo, “Hang On Ruthie!” features the earnestly progressive trappings of the Pacific Northwest (a local lesbian choir sings backup in black judicial robes) and a charmingly amateurish production (still photographs of Supreme Court justices are made to wink or bob their heads to the beat). The “Sloopy” lyrics are recast to celebrate Ginsburg’s legal prowess: “You know you argue so good/You know your briefs are so tight/You got the juris and the prudence/Keep counsel up all night.”When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg revealed last month that she had been treated for cancerous lesions on her liver, a YouTube video whispered across the liberal internet like a prayer. The video, titled “Hang On Ruthie!” is a 2018 parody of the McCoys’ 1965 hit “Hang On Sloopy,” and every few months, it is resurrected through boomer chain emails and Facebook pages with names like the Rude Liberals. Filmed “somewhere in Oregon” by the musical duo Buffalo Romeo, “Hang On Ruthie!” features the earnestly progressive trappings of the Pacific Northwest (a local lesbian choir sings backup in black judicial robes) and a charmingly amateurish production (still photographs of Supreme Court justices are made to wink or bob their heads to the beat). The “Sloopy” lyrics are recast to celebrate Ginsburg’s legal prowess: “You know you argue so good/You know your briefs are so tight/You got the juris and the prudence/Keep counsel up all night.”
But the subtext is that Ginsburg’s greatest accomplishment these days is staying alive. Ginsburg is 87 and has been treated for cancer of the colon, pancreas, lung and liver. With every new health scare — she headed back to the hospital again last month to clean out a stent in her bile duct — her online fandom erupts in a panicked frenzy of memes, as if the sheer force of cultural production alone could sustain her. As a Supreme Court justice with a lifetime appointment, Ginsburg wields immense power in American government, but her liberal influence on the court is extremely precarious. If she dies before President Trump leaves office, her legacy could be the ascension of a far-right judge to her spot on the bench.But the subtext is that Ginsburg’s greatest accomplishment these days is staying alive. Ginsburg is 87 and has been treated for cancer of the colon, pancreas, lung and liver. With every new health scare — she headed back to the hospital again last month to clean out a stent in her bile duct — her online fandom erupts in a panicked frenzy of memes, as if the sheer force of cultural production alone could sustain her. As a Supreme Court justice with a lifetime appointment, Ginsburg wields immense power in American government, but her liberal influence on the court is extremely precarious. If she dies before President Trump leaves office, her legacy could be the ascension of a far-right judge to her spot on the bench.
This national death watch is an absurd and distressing phenomenon. And yet Ginsburg’s physical frailty is central to her pop-cultural cachet. The whole appeal of her little-old-lady archetype is that it situates her as an underdog and makes for a heady contrast to her intellectual might. In a sequence from the 2018 documentary “RBG” that has been sliced into GIFs and pasted around the internet as tribute, she wears a “SUPER DIVA!” sweatshirt as she heaves teensy hand weights over her shoulders. Even footage of Ginsburg nodding off at the 2015 State of the Union was celebrated by her fans, especially after Ginsburg explained that she had not been “100 percent sober.”This national death watch is an absurd and distressing phenomenon. And yet Ginsburg’s physical frailty is central to her pop-cultural cachet. The whole appeal of her little-old-lady archetype is that it situates her as an underdog and makes for a heady contrast to her intellectual might. In a sequence from the 2018 documentary “RBG” that has been sliced into GIFs and pasted around the internet as tribute, she wears a “SUPER DIVA!” sweatshirt as she heaves teensy hand weights over her shoulders. Even footage of Ginsburg nodding off at the 2015 State of the Union was celebrated by her fans, especially after Ginsburg explained that she had not been “100 percent sober.”
The more Ginsburg’s persona was revered, the more she appeared to be literally irreplaceable. Any call for Ginsburg to step down risked being cast as sexist, the brutish dismissal of a powerful older woman who refuses to shut up. “I love my job,” Ginsburg told The New York Times in 2013, while Obama was in his second term and Democrats safely controlled the Senate. Besides, she said, “There will be a president after this one, and I’m hopeful that that president will be a fine president.”The more Ginsburg’s persona was revered, the more she appeared to be literally irreplaceable. Any call for Ginsburg to step down risked being cast as sexist, the brutish dismissal of a powerful older woman who refuses to shut up. “I love my job,” Ginsburg told The New York Times in 2013, while Obama was in his second term and Democrats safely controlled the Senate. Besides, she said, “There will be a president after this one, and I’m hopeful that that president will be a fine president.”
[Follow our live coverage of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death and the Supreme Court vacancy.]
“The Notorious R.B.G.,” Ginsburg’s online alter ego, was codified in a fan Tumblr in 2013 by Shana Knizhnik, a law student at the time, in the wake of Ginsburg’s electrifying dissent in Shelby County v. Holder. As Chief Justice John Roberts led the court in dismantling a key protection of the Voting Rights Act, Ginsburg argued that it was “like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.” Then she made the rare, pointed move of reading the dissent aloud from the bench. In the Trump years, the Notorious R.B.G. branding has fused with the aesthetics of the patriotic liberal #resistance, where knitted pink pussy hats are Photoshopped onto bald eagles and otherwise staid government officials are cast as characters in conspiratorial fantasies.“The Notorious R.B.G.,” Ginsburg’s online alter ego, was codified in a fan Tumblr in 2013 by Shana Knizhnik, a law student at the time, in the wake of Ginsburg’s electrifying dissent in Shelby County v. Holder. As Chief Justice John Roberts led the court in dismantling a key protection of the Voting Rights Act, Ginsburg argued that it was “like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.” Then she made the rare, pointed move of reading the dissent aloud from the bench. In the Trump years, the Notorious R.B.G. branding has fused with the aesthetics of the patriotic liberal #resistance, where knitted pink pussy hats are Photoshopped onto bald eagles and otherwise staid government officials are cast as characters in conspiratorial fantasies.
But Ginsburg, as Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern has noted, is not the most liberal Supreme Court justice; that would be the Obama appointee Sonia Sotomayor. In recent years Ginsburg has voted with the majority in favor of the fossil-fuel industry and against criminal defendants and asylum seekers. As a lawyer arguing before the court, Ginsburg built the case for gender equality incrementally, patiently moving conservative male minds in the style of “a kindergarten teacher,” as she put it in “RBG”; she counted the archconservative Antonin Scalia as a friend and carries a keychain that reads “With best wishes, Strom Thurmond.”But Ginsburg, as Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern has noted, is not the most liberal Supreme Court justice; that would be the Obama appointee Sonia Sotomayor. In recent years Ginsburg has voted with the majority in favor of the fossil-fuel industry and against criminal defendants and asylum seekers. As a lawyer arguing before the court, Ginsburg built the case for gender equality incrementally, patiently moving conservative male minds in the style of “a kindergarten teacher,” as she put it in “RBG”; she counted the archconservative Antonin Scalia as a friend and carries a keychain that reads “With best wishes, Strom Thurmond.”
Ginsburg’s tendency toward consensus building has only served to support her brand. She is the ideal heroine for a liberal faction obsessed with norms and eager for alliances with never-Trump Republicans. In place of taking to the streets, the #resistance lionizes conservative bureaucrats like James Comey and Robert Mueller, plugging them into fan-fiction narratives about stopping Trump. And it lauds Democrats for performing cinematic acts of civil disobedience: a condescending clap at the State of the Union or a pointed “dissent” jabot worn behind the bench.Ginsburg’s tendency toward consensus building has only served to support her brand. She is the ideal heroine for a liberal faction obsessed with norms and eager for alliances with never-Trump Republicans. In place of taking to the streets, the #resistance lionizes conservative bureaucrats like James Comey and Robert Mueller, plugging them into fan-fiction narratives about stopping Trump. And it lauds Democrats for performing cinematic acts of civil disobedience: a condescending clap at the State of the Union or a pointed “dissent” jabot worn behind the bench.
Ginsburg’s recent bending of tradition to voice her political views tipped her into the realm of #resistance wish fulfillment. Trump, she said in the summer before the 2016 election, is a “faker” with an “ego.” She later apologized for the breach, but she had fulfilled her Facebook fans’ greatest fantasy: a buttoned-up official dramatically breaking character in opposition to Trump. It’s the ultimate testimony that his ascent in American politics is not normal.Ginsburg’s recent bending of tradition to voice her political views tipped her into the realm of #resistance wish fulfillment. Trump, she said in the summer before the 2016 election, is a “faker” with an “ego.” She later apologized for the breach, but she had fulfilled her Facebook fans’ greatest fantasy: a buttoned-up official dramatically breaking character in opposition to Trump. It’s the ultimate testimony that his ascent in American politics is not normal.
The fact that Ginsburg was wrong about Obama’s successor did not temper her cult. Since Trump’s election, the R.B.G. economy expanded with more children’s books, action figures, a board game and popular movies, including the biopic “On the Basis of Sex,” in which Ginsburg herself makes a cameo. Trump’s rise represents a serious threat to Ginsburg’s legacy, but as a narrative twist in her mythology, it is thrilling: The superhero has found her archvillain, whom she must best by cheating death yet again.The fact that Ginsburg was wrong about Obama’s successor did not temper her cult. Since Trump’s election, the R.B.G. economy expanded with more children’s books, action figures, a board game and popular movies, including the biopic “On the Basis of Sex,” in which Ginsburg herself makes a cameo. Trump’s rise represents a serious threat to Ginsburg’s legacy, but as a narrative twist in her mythology, it is thrilling: The superhero has found her archvillain, whom she must best by cheating death yet again.
Recently an indie musician named Pleb Mahogany posted a TikTok in which he appears in front of a janky montage of Ginsburg news photographs. Hand on his heart, he lip-syncs a song from “Hamilton,” in which Eliza Hamilton implores her husband: “Just stay alive/That would be enough.” The TikTok has the quality of many masterful internet videos, in that its sincerity level is impossible to divine, but the comments are unmistakably earnest: “SUPERHERO QUEEN”; “We LOVE RBG!! She’s on my keys.”Recently an indie musician named Pleb Mahogany posted a TikTok in which he appears in front of a janky montage of Ginsburg news photographs. Hand on his heart, he lip-syncs a song from “Hamilton,” in which Eliza Hamilton implores her husband: “Just stay alive/That would be enough.” The TikTok has the quality of many masterful internet videos, in that its sincerity level is impossible to divine, but the comments are unmistakably earnest: “SUPERHERO QUEEN”; “We LOVE RBG!! She’s on my keys.”
As Trump’s presidency drags on and Ginsburg’s hospital visits arrive with ever greater frequency, all this hagiography appears increasingly misplaced. Ginsburg’s dissents are as cutting as ever, and chemotherapy does not appear to have slowed her down. It is her fandom that feels spent. She was fashioned into the star of a mythical vision of the Obama era that never really existed — the dawn of a “postracial” society in which liberals were so comfortable in their dominance that they could consume their own politics as if they were kitschy pop-culture artifacts.As Trump’s presidency drags on and Ginsburg’s hospital visits arrive with ever greater frequency, all this hagiography appears increasingly misplaced. Ginsburg’s dissents are as cutting as ever, and chemotherapy does not appear to have slowed her down. It is her fandom that feels spent. She was fashioned into the star of a mythical vision of the Obama era that never really existed — the dawn of a “postracial” society in which liberals were so comfortable in their dominance that they could consume their own politics as if they were kitschy pop-culture artifacts.
Now that the Trump era has been met by a true activist movement with the sustained protests of Black Lives Matter, the Ginsburg memes hit like relics. In 2016, Ginsburg was asked about Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling during the national anthem, and she called it “disrespectful” and “really dumb.” She later apologized, admitting that she had been “barely aware of the incident or its purpose.” Today the symbol of progressive change looks not like a justice in a chic dissent collar but a regular person for whom justice was not served. It looks like Breonna Taylor or George Floyd. It looks like a movement staged not in the halls of power but on the streets.Now that the Trump era has been met by a true activist movement with the sustained protests of Black Lives Matter, the Ginsburg memes hit like relics. In 2016, Ginsburg was asked about Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling during the national anthem, and she called it “disrespectful” and “really dumb.” She later apologized, admitting that she had been “barely aware of the incident or its purpose.” Today the symbol of progressive change looks not like a justice in a chic dissent collar but a regular person for whom justice was not served. It looks like Breonna Taylor or George Floyd. It looks like a movement staged not in the halls of power but on the streets.