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    Music Activism Gets Back on the Road

    Bands were sidelined by the Covid-19 pandemic during the 2020 campaign. This year, with increasing sophistication, they are encouraging political activism.Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania could not believe their good fortune.Looking down from their sky box at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, they saw more than 20,000 die-hard fans in the biggest city in the swingiest of swing states, responding with deafening cheers to a speech by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam on one of Ms. Harris’s signature campaign issues: abortion.“We find ourselves reaching out to ladies, young women, whose lives are at risk,” Mr. Vedder said. “And we’re reaching out to moms who want their daughters to have the same reproductive freedoms that they had and they fought for, and also men too, who don’t want government dictating the path of our daughters, our sisters or even our partners.”After the Covid-19 pandemic forced musicians off the road during the 2020 presidential cycle, rock activism is back, with new sophistication. Tours are prioritizing swing states. Artists are making their pitch before live audiences and on their significant online platforms. And bands are leveraging voter targeting methods once used exclusively by the political class.“Being at a rock show, it’s one of those things where you feel so connected to your community,” Jeff Ament, the bass player for Pearl Jam, said in an interview. “And if you’re not the person that goes to City Council meetings and is involved with your community that way, voting is the one time every year where you get to go out and voice your opinion on equal terms to everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re a millionaire or a 20-year-old going to school and working at the coffee shop. It should be the great equalizer.”Jeff Ament, the bassist of Pearl Jam, is using his platform to encourage fans to vote in the November election. Jim Bennett/Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Hulk Hogan Is Not the Only Way to Be a Man

    The Democratic Party must join the battle for the hearts and minds of young men. It matters not just for this election, though the vast and growing gender gap means that disaffected men could hand Donald Trump the presidency. It matters for how we mentor young men, and it matters for how we view masculinity itself.And yes, the Democrats can do it. Within the Kamala Harris coalition, there are men who can show a better way.If you ever wondered whether the Republican Party sees itself as the party of men, I’d invite you to rewatch the last night of the Republican National Convention. Prime time featured a rousing speech by the wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, a song by Kid Rock and a speech by Dana White, the chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship — all as warm-up acts before Trump delivered his acceptance speech. Republican manliness was the capstone of the convention.But what kind of men were featured? They’re all rich and powerful, and as a longtime fan of professional wrestling, I loved watching Hogan as a kid, but none of them are the kind of man I’d want my son to be. White was caught on video slapping his wife. Kid Rock has his own checkered past, including a sex tape and an assault charge related to a fight in a Nashville strip club. Hogan faced his own sex scandal after he had a bizarre sexual relationship with a woman who was married to one of his close friends, a radio host who goes by “Bubba the Love Sponge.”We know all about Trump, but it’s worth remembering some of his worst moments — including a jury finding that he was liable for sexual abuse, his defamation of his sex-abuse victim, the “Access Hollywood” tape and the countless examples of his cruelly insulting the women he so plainly hates.JD Vance is different. No one should denigrate his personal story. He has overcome great adversity, served his country honorably as a Marine and, by all accounts, is a good husband and father. But he now wears Trumpist masculinity like an ill-fitting suit. Last week, he was justifiably attacked for a 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson in which he declared that the country is run, “via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies.” He identified Harris (who has two stepchildren) as just the kind of person he was talking about.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More