"New York" magazine inadvertently glamorizes what they detest

Young, good-looking, well-dressed, glamorous white people (what's not to like?)

The new cover of New York magazine has come under fire for cropping out several non-white participants of a Trump Inauguration party (see above), including the co-host of the event, CJ Pearson, a conservative social media influencer who is black. The goal appeared to be to depict the gathering as a racist, “whites-only” affair.

With the title “The Cruel Kids’ Table” designed to lend an impression of snotty popular kids hanging out at an exclusive, and exclusionary, prep school, the sub-headline reads: “Out late with the young right as they contemplate cultural domination.”

Clearly the reader is meant to have a negative reaction to the image, and the title and subheading are designed to reinforce the notion that these are despicable people, to be loathed and reviled.

But here’s the thing: the photograph depicts a group of people who are young, happy, attractive, healthy, well-dressed, and glamorous. It is, in fact, an immensely appealing image. Most people will see it and think to themselves, “I bet it would be really cool and fun to hang out with that squad.”

One is compelled to wonder: are the editors of New York magazine aware that, for all of their efforts to make that which is beautiful and appealing seem disreputable and repulsive, beauty and the appeal still won the day?

Or conversely, are they, like so many of the modern-day cultural Left, automatically predisposed to feel scorn and derision for markers of beauty (square jaws, symmetrical faces, slim bodies, fitting suits, flattering gowns, etc.), while concomitantly cultivating an aesthetic which brazenly celebrates signifiers of ugliness and depravity (blue hair, morbid obesity, unsightly piercings, a propensity to cross-dress, etc.)?

Whatever the case may be, this particular magazine cover stands as a particularly striking failure on the editor’s part to communicate his desired message, as striking a failure— in precisely the opposite way— as have been past efforts of fashion publications to convince readers that people like Lizzo and Sam Smith are sexy and desirable women.