We often see the claim that nowadays, it is as if everyone has to be an activist on everything. As for me, I’m content in being that person who pipes up in a conversation to tell people my mind and call them out. Things should change, and I don’t think an especially modern way of thinking, despite the framing of this opinion in the media as being one
It is unlikely for the name ‘Bolsonaro’ to be unfamiliar to most, at least everyone has heard a mumble about how terribly Brazil has handled the Covid-19 crisis or the dystopian state of the Amazon rainforest. These infamous failures are brought to you by Bolsonaro: a former military officer who was elected in 2018 as a member of the conservative party of the nation, which is ironically called the Social Liberal Party.
My life can be sorted into fangirl phases. One Direction posters were plastered across my pre-adolescent bedroom walls. 5 Seconds of Summer lyrics were scrawled across the inside of my wardrobe when I was 13. Now the likes of Michelle Obama and AOC grace my nightstand, although granted, Harry Styles is still my phone lockscreen.
“Should we separate art from the artist?” has become an increasingly popular question as cancel culture continues to grow more prevalent in modern day society. Most of us would like to say that we cannot separate the two and should never support a ‘bad’ person. However, I strongly disagree.
Whenever someone asks me what my career prospects as a classicist are, I say that our current prime minister is a classicist, and I am usually met with a grimace or huff. Indeed, Boris Johnson is a less than desirable poster boy for classics. He exemplifies every bad stereotype about the field: he is priviliged for being ‘pale, male, and stale’ and a public school alumnus, and entitled and apparently out of touch with current social values. I am reluctant to use him as an example of a good career path for a classicist for these reasons, but also because he is, frankly, a bad classicist.
