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The Balenciaga Controversy

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Re: The Balenciaga Controversy

#31

Post by canucklady »

p0pcult wrote: post #16

Until there is actual evidence of actual pedophilia, this is just a retread of the 1980s satanic panic, being capitalized upon by the global fascist hard right, but this time conflating pedophilia with homosexuality and transsexuality. Is it tasteless? De gustibus non est disputandum. So much high fashion is stupid and provocative, imo. Is it pedophilia? No.

It's amazing to me how seemingly mainstream this conspiracy theory has become in the US. People used to joke about "think of the children" being used to justify all sorts of ludicrous policies. Now you can just make up any baseless allegations about your political enemies and throw "child abuse" in to make it stick.

Re: The Balenciaga Controversy

#32

Post by no-dr-onboard »

syrrim wrote: post #18
thepasswordis wrote: post #3

Here’s Balenciaga’s 2023 video showing off their styles for the year. This is from their own YouTube channel. Fair warning: the children shown appear to be dolls, not actual human children, but it is still disturbing: https://youtu.be/Yh_1K9s6UV0 These seem to be adults dressed as literal demons (one of them has horns on their head) many of whom are carrying (probably fake) children, and all marching through the mud.…

They filed a lawsuit claiming they didn't know about a single stray sheet of paper in one of the photos of the shoot, which looks entirely innocent on first inspection, but happens to be a court document for a famous child pornography suit. The existence of this document has been claimed by some observers (shoe, for one), to be the "smoking gun" proving that this is all satan worship rather than strange art. So it is…

I suppose the other thing to consider is the (art book in the photos) by an author who regularly depicts children naked, dismembered, and covered in blood.

Please stop engineering doubt. It's absurd to pretend that there isn't a consistent theme of child abuse here.

Not a claim on OP, but in general for this conversation: I find it intriguing that the level of grace and benefit that is given to the people involved in this controversy seems to be at an all time high. I wonder if the same people extending this grace and benefit of the doubt would do so with those opposed to them politically.

Re: The Balenciaga Controversy

#33

Post by sakopov »

chrischen wrote: post #10
badcppdev wrote: post #9

"Gabriele Galimberti, who shot the teddy bear ad but had no involvement with the spring campaign, said in a statement on Instagram that he too was given no control over the creative content of his shoot, other than details like lighting and framing. The content — pairing child models with the teddy bear bag — had already been decided before he was hired, he said." There is a valid lesson here for all professionals in…

I honestly think this is going a little too far. The photographer also stated that they were not even involved with the photo with the court case documents... Everyone is quick to judge but everyone is culpable for something bad... This is like China's internet mob justice and "human flesh search" days all over again. Mob justice on the random people hired to do this is irresponsible. Target the beneficial owners...…

> Mob justice on the random people hired to do this is irresponsible.

So, here's a random person hired to do this shoot boasting about it on their Instagram page. [1] I don't even know what angle you can come at this to make this seem normal.

[1] https://twitter.com/curioslight/status/1596822351668469762

Re: The Balenciaga Controversy

#34

Post by p0pcult »

canucklady wrote: post #31
p0pcult wrote: post #16

Until there is actual evidence of actual pedophilia, this is just a retread of the 1980s satanic panic, being capitalized upon by the global fascist hard right, but this time conflating pedophilia with homosexuality and transsexuality. Is it tasteless? De gustibus non est disputandum. So much high fashion is stupid and provocative, imo. Is it pedophilia? No.

It's amazing to me how seemingly mainstream this conspiracy theory has become in the US. People used to joke about "think of the children" being used to justify all sorts of ludicrous policies. Now you can just make up any baseless allegations about your political enemies and throw "child abuse" in to make it stick.

Not just make it stick, but to implement stochastic terrorism, as with the recent LGBTQ nightclub shooting in Colorado.

Re: The Balenciaga Controversy

#35

Post by p0pcult »

Jerrrry wrote: post #27
p0pcult wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a society with rule of law, everyone deserves benefit of the doubt, always, until proven otherwise.

Legally, sure. In a society with a court of public opinion, the exact opposite is true.

Oh, so we should aspire to model ourselves after...

...middle school?

Re: The Balenciaga Controversy

#36

Post by kevinmchugh »

syrrim wrote: post #18
thepasswordis wrote: post #3

Here’s Balenciaga’s 2023 video showing off their styles for the year. This is from their own YouTube channel. Fair warning: the children shown appear to be dolls, not actual human children, but it is still disturbing: https://youtu.be/Yh_1K9s6UV0 These seem to be adults dressed as literal demons (one of them has horns on their head) many of whom are carrying (probably fake) children, and all marching through the mud.…

They filed a lawsuit claiming they didn't know about a single stray sheet of paper in one of the photos of the shoot, which looks entirely innocent on first inspection, but happens to be a court document for a famous child pornography suit. The existence of this document has been claimed by some observers (shoe, for one), to be the "smoking gun" proving that this is all satan worship rather than strange art. So it is…

It seems this belongs to the class of thought which believes that the rich and powerful are literal Satan worshippers and they, for some reason, like to hint at this in public.

Re: The Balenciaga Controversy

#37

Post by SilverBirch »

Controversy is what it is. Firstly, it's high fashion - they're always courting controversy, but secondly, what exactly do people think is happening when they see some ruling about child porn in a photoshoot? I'm sure Tucker Carlson will run and run with this (and unfortunately there are unhinged people who genuinely think there's a pedo sex cult around every corner), but this is just your bargain basement shock chasing. We didn't accidentally stumble across some candid image of someone at Balenciaga revealing some inner thought, it's a deliberately provocative campaign the same way a dozen other campaigns have been, the only people who benefit from this are outrage merchants and Balenciaga. It's certainly a dangerous game to be playing at the moment though.

Re: The Balenciaga Controversy

#38

Post by cjbgkagh »

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #30
thepasswordis wrote: post #3

Here’s Balenciaga’s 2023 video showing off their styles for the year. This is from their own YouTube channel. Fair warning: the children shown appear to be dolls, not actual human children, but it is still disturbing: https://youtu.be/Yh_1K9s6UV0 These seem to be adults dressed as literal demons (one of them has horns on their head) many of whom are carrying (probably fake) children, and all marching through the mud.…

> These seem to be adults dressed as literal demons (one of them has horns on their head) many of whom are carrying (probably fake) children, and all marching through the mud. It’s very unsettling. No offense but that’s just a fashion show in a setting involving some mud in the background. It looks a bit like another planet rather than hell. Also there are no children here. I’m still looking for the disturbing part.…

I give a wide berth to artists but those teddy bears are not innocuous. They are highly suggestive and in the context of the photo shoot are beyond the pale. In my opinion BDSM teddy bears alone is a bright red flag.

Re: The Balenciaga Controversy

#39

Post by ThalesX »

Reminds me of when I worked in Berlin for a year. The streetlamps were filled with posts of what looked like young models broken from heroin. Sexualized and dirty. They used the hashtag #heroinkids. I believe this is their current website: https://ignorantfashion.de (sort of NSFW)

It's just shock advertising people, or at least I think shock advertising is the likelier culprit than a cabal of kiddie grooming satanists.

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