When I first came across Oliver Anthony and his music, I was blown away to say the least. He had a whole collection of songs that I could listen to for hour...

It's everywhere nowadays, and I think it needs to be discussed here as well, especially on a communist community as we are. heart-sickle

While I agree with the sentiment expressed in the song, some lines about fat people on welfare are absolutely baffling. As if they are the problem. What the hell?

But overall, this song speaks to me. I feel communist and workers really do understand the frustration of this song, and can build bridges.

  • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
    ·
    10 months ago

    But overall, this song speaks to me.

    It doesn't speak to me. At all. Smells like astroturf to me.

    Rich Men North of Richmond

    Themes of the song include low wages ("for bullshit pay"), food poverty ("nothing to eat"), high inflation ("dollar ain't shit"), high taxes ("taxed to no end"), child trafficking ("minors on an island"), welfare abuse ("the obese milkin' welfare"), and centralization of power ("wanna have total control").

    A reference to politicians "looking out for minors on an island somewhere" has been interpreted as a reference to Jeffrey Epstein and his private island, and has led to speculation that Anthony was referencing the QAnon conspiracy theory, which revolves around the belief that politicians and other elites engage in child sex trafficking and other child abuse.

    ---

    I don't think the song is astroturfed tho

    ~12 hours ago I decided not to make the following a post because "somebody on Twitter says..." isn't worthy of a post. But Anthony smells very rotten to me. If he's not proven to be a astroturf creation in the next few weeks or months - I will be very surprised.

    "Never seen a guy blow up this fast": Oliver Anthony industry plant astroturf claim goes viral amid Rich Men North of Richmond's success

    [@Lucky] pointed out that [the song's instant popularity] was the doing of a right-wing entrepreneur named Jason Howerton, who is the CEO of Reach Digital, a firm that allegedly helps "media companies and political influencers grow their social media footprint exponentially."

    Further, @Lucky shared how Jason was one of the first people on X to promote Rich Men North of Richmond and even indicated that he funded the recording of the song. He also alleged that Howerton was one of the key players in the industry plant or astroturfing campaign.

    • mah [none/use name]
      ·
      10 months ago

      "somebody on Twitter says..." isn't worthy of a post. @Lucky

      this is very interesting - and astroturfing is definitely a possibility; I went to search this "@Lucky" guy mentioned in the article https://twitter.com/TheMAGAHulk - in particular this post: https://twitter.com/TheMagaHulk/status/1691126144056070144

      bordiga-despair

      I don't know how much we should trust this guy. But what he says it's interesting indeed.

      • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
        ·
        10 months ago

        Sometimes I have to actually try to avoid the urge to post something questionable or sketchy. I know better but I have - I don't know what to call it - "poster's urge" and I want to be first which is very dumb. If the astroturfing stuff is real - truth will out soon enough.