The 11 Big Things That Happened In May 2019
This month may have been one of the more odd months of 2019, which is saying something.
If you're reading this post, you're probably a Digg dot com reader, which means you probably generally keep up with What The Internet Is Talking About. But even the most astute news nerd can miss a major event or two. That's fine. It's good, actually. Especially if you went on a vacation or did a digital detox or something.
Still, it's important to keep up with The Story that is always unfolding in front of us, no matter how funny, exciting, depressing or infuriating it can be. Composed of some of the most trafficked, best-performing stories of the month, this One Big Post should catch you up, starting with…
May 2 — Tourist Gets A Cheap Tattoo In Bali And, Uh, Quickly Regrets Her Decision
May began with a cautionary tale. As a lot of folks with tattoos know, bad ink is easier to come across when the tattoo is a) cheap and b) procured without much research.
Getting a tattoo while on vacation in a faraway beach town is a good way to knock out both of those categories at once and end up with something that will rack up hits on the internet, like this, uh, "dog":
May 4 — Men Have No Friends And Women Bear the Burden
This essay from Melanie Hamlett for Harper's Bazaar has a divisive title, that much is certain. But the point of the article — that men around the world are often worse at expressing themselves and their feelings with loved ones than women are — while a bit of a generalization, is interesting. And in my straight white male opinion, it rings fairly true.
A thought-provoking part of the piece was a reference to researcher Brené Brown, who found that…
"Whereas women experience shame when they fail to meet unrealistic, conflicting expectations, men become consumed with shame for showing signs of weakness. Since vulnerability is, unfortunately, still perceived as a weakness instead of a strength, having hard conversations that involve vulnerability is something men often try to avoid."
But what really pushed this idea the edge for me, though, is the extremely aggressive comments Digg received on social media after sharing this story. Take a look:
if you find yourself upset and maybe even agreeing with this guy above, I have a humble request for you: try reading Hamlett's piece as if you had never seen the title. Especially if the title made you feel bad. This is very important. Thanks.
May 8 — This Reimagining Of The Obi Wan Kenobi/Darth Vader Fight Is So Much Better Than The Original
May (the Fourth) often produces some uninspired "Star Wars" content, but this year we got something pretty special. This modernization of Vader and Kenobi's original lightsaber battle from "Episode IV" is really something.
May 10 — BBC Interview With Ben Shapiro Quickly Goes Off The Rails, Ends With Shapiro Saying 'We're Done Here'
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro is known for two things. His supporters, as Shapiro mentions in the video below, praise him for his debating ability. His detractors dislike him for his racist, xenophobic views that are routinely referenced in domestic terrorist manifestos. A centrist might say he's a bit of a mixed bag.
Anyway, in the middle of the month Shapiro went on BBC to get absolutely dismantled by fellow conservative commentator Andrew Neil.
The very ending of the clip — where Shapiro finally calls it quits at 14:58 — generated a lot of talk online. But my favorite part, I think, comes at 11:01 when Neil's remark that "plenty of things are bad and wrong, but that doesn't make them fascist" actually renders Shapiro speechless for a brief second.
Pretty punk rock.
May 15 — We Can't Tell If This Is The Best Or Worst Brand Tweet Of All Time
Coconut water brand Vita Coco tweeted a photo of pee at someone. Then they made it their profile pic.
We're not interested in rehashing the online skirmish that provoked the final incident, but here's the pee:
As we blogged at the time, we have to say we support this in general. If brands are going to be weird and edgy, they might as well be weird and edgy. There is no use in leaving the glass half full here. Except, I suppose, if your social media person doesn't have to go.
May 18 — Arnold Schwarzenegger Assaulted In Shocking Attack During Event In South Africa
Digg's post of this video went viral on Facebook twice, and it's easy to see why. Arnold is one of the most famous people in the world. He's also one of the most recognizable. He's also 71 years old. Finally, he's freaking MASSIVE.
So when he got drop kicked in the middle of an appearance in in South Africa, well, the poor idiot who tried to attack the former governor of California just sort of bounced off him. And then he got hauled away by security.
Remember, don't come for Arnold. This will be important later.
May 21 — How 'Game Of Thrones' Compares To The Most Watched TV Finales Of All Time
"Game of Thrones" ended this week and a lot of this month's most popular videos and articles had to do with the show's final few episodes and finale.
None of those were more interesting to me than this comparison of TV finales throughout the years. You'd think you could guess that "Game of Thrones" had a metric boat load of viewers for its finale. But would you have guessed that it had just over half as many as "Frasier"?
It is worth noting the only finales with more viewers than that of "Thrones" aired on network TV. Even the hallowed and divisive "Sopranos" finale had fewer eyeballs than Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen and company.
May 22 — Former FBI Body Language Expert Explains The Body Language Cues That Actually Mean Something
Wired made a cool video with former FBI agent and body language expert Joe Navarro. Navarro spent a quarter of a century identifying lies and spies through non-verbal cues. It's pretty cool:
[WIRED]
Nearly as interesting as the truths Navarro presents are the myths he busts. Arms crossed? That's not standoffish behavior, it's a pacifying tick.
"We humans are lousy at detecting deceptions," he drives home a couple of times.
May 22 — Spectacular, Terrifying Colorized Footage Of A 1955 Nuclear Bomb Test
I don't have much to say about this video besides that it is both a beautiful work of art and terrible illustration of the limits of the dark side of human potential.
[Aishou]
May 23 — Linda Hamilton, The Original Sarah Connor, Reprises Her Role After 30 Years Away In 'Terminator: Dark Fate'
Remember what I said? Don't come for Arnold. Messing with him is almost always a mistake. Though, when it comes to the "Terminator" movies, they can usually make a ton of money whether they rope in the actor-turned-politician or not.
Still, Schwarzenegger is back for another movie, and while I'm not here to say whether or not it looks good, I will say "Terminator: Dark Fate" is the trailer that excited the Digg audience the most this month.
May 28 — How Many Bones Would You Break to Get Laid?
For the final week of May, New York Mag and The Cut ran a curious cover story that just knocked it out of the park with the Digg audience. A long, meandering exploration of the cosmetic surgery habits of incels by Alice Hines, "How Many Bones Would You Break to Get Laid?" paints some fascinating and ugly portraits of normal-looking people with twisted ideas of what humans should look like. Two anecdotes stand out and work well in tandem:
In 1993, a 34-year-old neo-Nazi made an appointment with a Chicago plastic surgeon and murdered him, saying later in court that he was motivated to protect "Aryan beauty." Incels tend to venerate the same European features, but they also revere the surgeons who bestow them.
And:
"I had a dream: to meet the great Dr. Eppley," wrote Truth4lie in one of over 1,100 incel forum posts mentioning the doctor. "I finally met the man, the true master artist, a superior human being. He should be mentioned with the likes of Mandela, Shakespeare, Luther King, Descartes, and Mother Teresa. He is the Einstein of Aesthetics," he wrote. "He's changed thousands of incel lives for the better."
[The Cut]
That was May. This was April.
Here's to June <3
Did you like this One Big Post? Did you hate it? If you have criticisms, questions, concerns or queries shoot me an email at [email protected]. Make the subject line "May 2019 Post" so I know it's real.
