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A survey out of the United Kingdom made headlines last week when it revealed that almost half of young people wished they lived in a world without the internet.
Lots of us who are considerably older know that feeling.
It’s a rational response when you open up a social media app and are unwittingly subjected to a video in which the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron appears to be pushing him in the face just before the couple deplaned in Vietnam. It was an image that opened up the sewers of X, flooding the world with wild theories and vile speculation about the Macrons’ 17-year marriage.
It should have been the stuff of tabloids, but eventually even Rich Lowry of National Review weighed in and NPR tried to tell us “why it matters.”
No one seems to be buying the Macrons’ story, that it was an affectionate moment between a husband and a wife, misconstrued because we didn’t have the whole picture. It certainly didn’t seem that, as a palace spokesperson said, they were “having a laugh" or as the French president said, they were “play-fighting.”
While some on social media suggested that Macron was a battered husband, there was more mockery involved than genuine concern. That has also been the case closer to home when conservatives take to social media to recklessly speculate about the 32-year marriage of Barack and Michelle Obama, something that the former First Lady has addressed on her podcast.
The 20-year marriage of Donald and Melania Trump has, of course, been endlessly dissected by people with zero first-hand information.
Same for Bill and Hillary Clinton, who will mark 50 years of marriage this fall, despite all-too-public embarrassments and betrayals.
Political spouses are always going to come under the same spotlight that shines on their husband or wife. But it’s curious how quickly the public seems to want to throw a marriage under the bus at first opportunity. It’s even more curious when this is done by social conservatives who rue the decline of marriage as a foundational institution.
It seems like all of us, regardless of political affiliation, should be pulling for a marriage to endure, especially those that have already weathered the storms of decades. My own parents will celebrate 50 years together this coming weekend, and as happy as I am for them, I’m also happy that Bill and Hillary Clinton are approaching that landmark — and genuinely sorry that Al and Tipper Gore, who made it 40 years before divorcing, won’t.
Thank you, Tom Cruise
Pop star Bruce Springsteen recently called the Trump administration “corrupt, incompetent and treasonous” while touring the UK.
In contrast, movie star Tom Cruise, promoting his new “Mission: Impossible” film in South Korea, politely said, “We’d rather answer questions about the movie. Thank you,” when asked by a reporter about Trump tariffs, per Fox News.
That, Hollywood, is how it’s done.
Springsteen is preaching to a choir, as Billy Gribbin noted on X, writing, “His defiance has inspired precisely nobody who didn’t already hate President Trump.”
Meanwhile, Cruise also put out a gracious post on social media Tuesday thanking the people involved with the film, and also the audience, “for whom we all serve and for whom we all LOVE to entertain.”
It’s rare to see examples of the Christian concept of “the servant’s heart” emanating from Hollywood, so it’s good to see Cruise getting reciprocal love at the box office. He is aging into a class act.
Recommended Reading
During the pandemic, like many Americans, Hunter Tarry found herself increasingly isolated and unhappy — and decided to take matters into her own capable hands:
“What began as a chance to exercise and break out of the dishes-and-diapers routine became something far more meaningful: a community. In between serves, strangers became friends, lifting one another in triumph and in hardship. It wasn’t just volleyball that kept us coming back.”
Read more: A volleyball court taught me what America needs most
Utah state Sen. John D. Johnson believes that American universities — and, by extension, their graduates — are suffering from both a lack of intellectual seriousness and moral purpose:
“True education derives from virtue, and from liberty rooted in reason. It prizes self-rule, not mob rule. It knows that happiness is found not in the hedonism of the moment, but in a life anchored to virtue, ordered liberty, and moral purpose.”
Read more: The renaissance that American universities need
Asma Uddin looks at the competing First Amendment principles at play in the Supreme Court case regarding a proposed publicly funded religious school in Oklahoma:
“The case exposed deep fractures not just between religious liberty advocates and church-state separationists, but within the school choice movement itself. Mainstream charter school advocates found themselves opposing St. Isidore, worried that mixing religion with charter schools would change what makes charters work —their identity as public schools that offer alternatives to traditional districts while staying accountable to taxpayers."
Read more: The St. Isidore stalemate is a missed opportunity in America’s education wars
Endnotes
Per last week’s conversation about bumperstickers, a winner comes from April McKnight in California, who wrote,
“I really got a kick out of seeing this bumper sticker on the back of a minivan: I identify as a truck.”
Anyone who served their time in a minivan (mercifully, my time has passed) can surely relate.
Email me at Jgraham@deseretnews.com, or send me a DM on X,@grahamtoday. As always, thank you for reading and being part of the Right to the Point community.