Poptimism as international relations, a thread. (1/7) Motivated by the central insight that ...

...(2/7) Taylor Swift fans are Russia. Constantly trying to capture new territory while insisting that they are persecuted on all sides. Meanwhile ...

...(3/7) Beyonce fans are China. Their massive and frightening belligerence is only partly excused by the fact that so many of their Western critics are creepy racists. This would imply ...

...(4/7) Madonna fans are representatives of a former global empire in seemingly irreversible decline, increasingly determined to cut themselves off from neighbours. They're the UK, of course. Similarly ...

...(5/7) Kylie fans are just not as important as they think they are, but nevertheless have an unshakeable belief that they are the true poptimum. They're France.

...(6/7) K-Pop fans' main strategic doctrine is to maintain destructive capacity at least twice as great as their nearest rival; they alternate between not caring about the rest of the world and wanting to dominate it. They're the USA.

... (7/7) and finally Lady Gaga fans seem to be able to maintain neutral relations with all other groups, never really gaining anything but keeping themselves content. Germany.