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Trump's election was a major wake-up call for Maggie Gyllenhaal. Here's what changed.

A late-night TV interview is a guide to recognizing privilege and putting it to good use.

Actress Maggie Gyllenhaal stopped by "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" to discuss her new show, "The Deuce," but audiences got a lot more than that.

"The Deuce" is an upcoming HBO drama in which Gyllenhaal plays a sex worker. The show grapples with a number of uncomfortable topics, misogyny and power structures among them. Gyllenhaal's conversation with Colbert eventually turned to — as so much seems to these days — politics.

"I think when we were making the show, it was last summer, it was the election," she said. "Sometimes we'd be watching the debates on our lunch break. All of these conversations were bubbling under everything. We were shooting when Trump was saying, 'I can grab women's pussies if I want to.'"

GIFs from "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert"/YouTube.

Trump's election caused Gyllenhaal to reflect on where we actually are in society and how it compares to where we thought we were.

A man who, as Gyllenhaal alluded to, bragged about grabbing women's genitals would receive tens of millions of votes. A man who had been accused by 15 women of sexual assault or harassment would become president. A man who allegedly walked in on a teenage girls' dressing room would hold the highest office in the land. A man who once said it was OK to refer to his daughter as a "piece of ass" would be the next leader of the free world.

Whatever ideas anyone had about misogyny, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and Islamophobia being relics of America's past went out the window with Trump's election. And for Gyllenhaal, it was a wake-up call.

It's foolish to think any of those things had truly been eradicated from our society, but for some, it was easy enough to pretend these problems didn't exist.

Gyllenhaal didn't want to be complicit in America's culture of misogyny any longer, so she made a conscious decision not to let things slide anymore.

As any woman can surely attest, sexism and misogyny are everywhere. They are forced to pick battles and begrudgingly accept sexist behavior as part of working, living, existing in this world.

But as Trump's election demonstrated, putting up with the small acts of sexism can reinforce a dark, dangerous, and pervasive culture.

Realizing her privilege as a well-off Hollywood actress, Gyllenhaal could just as easily continue to let the little things slide. But she didn't want to do that anymore.

For her sake, for the sake of our country, and for the sake of our future, it's imperative to push back against injustice in all its forms.

Gyllenhaal declared that she's "not gonna take it anymore," and while she didn't exactly elaborate on what she meant by that, it's a good start.

Those of us in positions where we can fight back against bigotry and sexism should do so because it's not just about us as individuals, but us as a collective society.

Watch Gyllenhaal's interview below (she starts talking about Trump and misogyny around 7:30 into the clip).

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History (Education)

Woman featured in iconic Great Depression photo didn't know she was famous until 40 years later

Florence Owens Thompson later revealed she wished her photo had never been taken.

the great depression; Florence Thompson; Mona Lisa of the Great Depression; Mona Lisa; the depression; depression era
Photo by Dorothea Lange via Library of Congress
The woman from the famous Great Depression photo didn't know about her fame for 40 years.

It's one of the most iconic and haunting photos of all time, up there with the likes of Hindenburg, The Falling Soldier, Burning Monk, Napalm Girl, and many others. It's called simply Migrant Mother, and it paints a better picture of the time in which it was taken than any book or interview possibly could.

Nearly everyone across the globe knows Florence Owens Thompson's face from newspapers, magazines, and history books. The young, destitute mother was the face of The Great Depression, her worried, suntanned face looking absolutely defeated as several of her children took comfort by resting on her thin frame. Thompson put a human face and emotion behind the very real struggle of the era, but she wasn't even aware of her role in helping to bring awareness to the effects of the Great Depression on families.

It turns out that Dorothea Lange, the photographer responsible for capturing the worry-stricken mother in the now-famous photo, told Thompson that the photos wouldn't be published.

Of course, they subsequently were published in the San Francisco News. At the time the photo was taken, Thompson was supposedly only taking respite at the migrant campsite with her seven children after the family car broke down near the campsite. The photo was taken in March 1936 in Nipomo, California when Lange was concluding a month's long photography excursion documenting migrant farm labor.

the great depression; Florence Thompson; Mona Lisa of the Great Depression; Mona Lisa; the depression; depression era Worried mother and children during the Great Depression era. Photo by Dorthea Lange via Library of Congress

"Migrant worker" was a term that meant something quite different than it does today. It was primarily used in the 30s to describe poverty-stricken Americans who moved from town to town harvesting the crops for farmers.

The pay was abysmal and not enough to sustain a family, but harvesting was what Thompson knew as she was born and raised in "Indian Territory," (now Oklahoma) on a farm. Her father was Choctaw and her mother was white. After the death of her husband, Thompson supported her children the best way she knew how: working long hours in the field.

"I'd hit that cotton field before daylight and stay out there until it got so dark I couldn't see," Thompson told NBC in 1979 a few years before her death.

the great depression; Florence Thompson; Mona Lisa of the Great Depression; Mona Lisa; the depression; depression era A mother reflects with her children during the Great Depression. Photo by Dorthea Lange via Library of Congress

When talking about meeting Thompson, Lange wrote in her article titled "The Assignment I'll Never Forget: Migrant Mother," which appeared in Popular Photography, Feb. 1960, "I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed."

Lange goes on to surmise that Thompson cooperated because on some level she knew the photos would help, though from Thompson's account she had no idea the photos would make it to print. Without her knowledge, Thompson became known as "The Dustbowl Mona Lisa," which didn't translate into money in the poor family's pocket.

In fact, according to a history buff who goes by @baewatch86 on TikTok, Thompson didn't find out she was famous until 40 years later after a journalist tracked her down in 1978 to ask how she felt about being a famous face of the depression.

@baewatch86

Florence Thompson, American Motherhood. #fyppppppppppppppppppppppp #historytok #americanhistory #migrantmother #thegreatdepression #dorthealange #womenshistory

It turns out Thompson wished her photo had never been taken since she never received any funds for her likeness being used. Baewatch explains, "because Dorothea Lange's work was funded by the federal government this photo was considered public domain and therefore Mrs. Florence and her family are not entitled to the royalties."

While the photo didn't provide direct financial compensation for Thompson, the "virality" of it helped to feed migrant farm workers. "When these photos were published, it immediately caught people's attention. The federal government sent food and other resources to those migrant camps to help the people that were there that were starving, they needed resources and this is the catalyst. This photo was the catalyst to the government intercepting and providing aid to people," Baewatch shares.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

As for Lange, Migrant Mother was not her only influential photograph of the Great Depression. She captured many moving images of farmers who had been devastated by the Dust Bowl and were forced into a migrant lifestyle.

"Broke, baby sick, and car trouble!" is just one of her many incredible photos from the same year, 1937.

She also did tremendous work covering Japanese internment in the 1940s, and was eventually inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum and the National Women's Hall of Fame.

the great depression; Florence Thompson; Mona Lisa of the Great Depression; Mona Lisa; the depression; depression era Families on the move suffered enormous hardships during The Great Depression.Photo by Dorthea Lange via Library of Congress

Thompson did find some semblance of financial comfort later in life when she married a man named George Thompson, who would be her third husband. In total, she had 10 children. When Thompson's health declined with age, people rallied around to help pay her medical bills citing the importance of the 1936 photo in their own lives. The "Migrant Mother" passed away in 1983, just over a week after her 80th birthday. She was buried in California.

"Florence Leona Thompson, Migrant Mother. A legend of the strength of American motherhood," her gravestone reads.

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Therapists explain 6 fascinating personality traits of people who talk to themselves

Self-talk is totally normal and beneficial.

talk to yourself, talking to yourself, self talk, psychology, psychologists self talk
Photo credit: Canva

Psychologists reveal what it means if you talk to yourself.

Ever find yourself talking out loud while deciding what groceries to buy or before walking into a party you have been avoiding? While talking to yourself may seem odd, it's actually a very common behavior.

One study found that 96% of adults report having an inner dialogue. So if you have been wondering, "Is it normal to talk to yourself?"—it definitely is.

"Talking to yourself is the act of verbalizing your thoughts out loud rather than keeping them to yourself," Sarah Panzer, a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist at The Loom Wellness, tells Upworthy. "It can include narrating what you're doing, rehearsing conversations, working through problems, or expressing feelings."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Panzer adds that talking to yourself is essentially how many people work through how to do something.

"For most of us, it's a natural extension of our internal dialogue and thought processing," she shares. "It may become more noticeable during problem-solving, planning, or heightened emotional states. Like most coping behaviors, talking to yourself exists on a spectrum. It may signal a trauma response when it's paired with other dissociative experiences, such as feeling profoundly disconnected from your body or reality."

Why do you talk to yourself?

While there may be many reasons people talk to themselves, Panzer explains that it is usually completely healthy and functional.

"It can be a way to organize thoughts, regulate emotions, or focus attention, especially for verbal processors who think best by hearing ideas out loud," she adds. "Talking to yourself can also serve as a grounding or self-soothing strategy, as it mimics the kind of support we might seek from someone else."

And no, you're not crazy for talking to yourself.

"From a psychological perspective, self-talk is not a sign of instability—it is a core feature of human cognition and emotional regulation," Jen Loong-Goodwin, therapist and founder of LifeLoong Therapy, tells Upworthy. "How we speak to ourselves plays a powerful role in shaping our sense of self, our emotional well-being, and the way we relate to others."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Personality traits of people who talk to themselves

If you talk to yourself, you may have certain personality traits. Here are six things it might mean:

1. You're likely a strong verbal processor

"Some people simply find verbalizing their thoughts helpful, the same way someone might prefer an audiobook over reading," says Panzer. "If you're a verbal processor, talking out loud can help you make sense of your feelings, work through a problem, or organize your thoughts."

2. You're likely self-aware

Talking to yourself reflects self-awareness and cognitive organization.

"People who talk to themselves often have higher levels of self-reflection and mental organization," explains Loong-Goodwin. "Studies have shown that self-directed speech can improve focus, problem-solving, and emotional clarity. This kind of self-talk helps individuals slow down and respond more intentionally rather than react impulsively."

3. You may be multifaceted

If you are a self-talker, you likely have a personality that has many "parts."

"Talking to yourself can reflect different 'parts' of the self communicating with one another," adds Panzer. "For example, a protective part may speak up in response to vulnerability or stress, offering guidance, warnings, or criticism in an effort to maintain safety. Your inner critic may speak up when your ego or sense of belonging feels threatened, such as pushing you towards perfectionism or control to help avoid rejection, failure, or harm."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

4. You may be frequently stressed

According to Chloë Bean, a somatic trauma therapist, self-talk can be a sign that your nervous system is under stress and working to adapt.

"Self-talk often increases during overwhelm and stress," Bean tells Upworthy. "Have you ever heard someone say 'nooo!' as an expression of how they are feeling or 'what was I thinking?', expressing disappointment or frustration with themselves or the situation. Rather than indicating pathology of some kind, it can reflect a system trying to ground itself, make sense of a situation, stay organized, or push through demand."

5. You might struggle with anxiety and depression

Talking to yourself may also reflect underlying mental health struggles.

"It is not whether someone talks to themselves that predicts mental health outcomes, but how they do it," says Loong-Goodwin. "Research in cognitive behavioral therapy shows that harsh, critical self-talk is associated with anxiety, depression, and burnout. In contrast, compassionate and supportive self-talk is linked to resilience, emotional regulation, and lower stress levels."

6. You may be self-critical

Loong-Goodwin notes that positive self-talk can serve as a form of "reparenting" for people who grew up with emotional neglect or high levels of criticism.

"Positive self-talk can function as a corrective experience," she explains. "This process is often described as reparenting, where adults learn to provide themselves with the validation, reassurance, and guidance they did not consistently receive growing up. Recent research in self-compassion and attachment theory shows that learning to speak to oneself with care can reduce shame, improve emotional safety, and strengthen psychological well-being."

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Pop Culture

In an iconic 1975 clip, a teenage Michael Jackson stuns Cher during hypnotic robot dance duet

The clip marks a turning point in Michael Jackson's iconic public persona.

jacksons, michael jackson, robot dance, Cher, 1970s TV
via Cher/YouTube

Cher and The Jackson 5 doing the robot dance.

One of the most distinctive aspects of Michael Jackson's mega-stardom was that he grew up almost entirely in the public eye. He began performing with his brothers at age five and remained a significant figure in American pop culture until he died in 2009.

He burst onto the scene as a child with an incredibly soulful voice. He became an electrifying performer as a teen before rocketing to superstardom at 20 with the release of his first solo album, 1979's Off the Wall. One of the pivotal moments when the public witnessed this transformation came in 1975, when 16-year-old Michael performed with his brothers, The Jackson 5, on The Cher Show.

The Jackson 5 and Cher performed a medley of the band's biggest hits, including "I Want You Back," "I'll Be There," and "Never Can Say Goodbye." But the most memorable moment came when Michael and his brothers broke into the robot dance during "Dancing Machine," and Cher did her best to keep up.

The Jackson 5 and Cher do the robot dance

It's fun watching Cher try to fall in line with the Jacksons, while Michael absolutely kills it, gyrating like an animatronic on hyperdrive during his solo.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

The Jackson 5 may have helped bring the robot dance into the public consciousness by incorporating it into performances of their 1973 hit "Dancing Machine." But it traces back to mechanical "mannequin" dances from the early days of film. In the 1960s, Robin Shields, a popular mime, performed as a robot on late-night talk shows. By the 1970s, dancers had set those moves to music on shows such as Soul Train.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

In a 2003 interview, Cher said she had to learn the moves on the fly from the Jacksons.

"Think of how hard it was for me to learn to do that, and the guys just knew how to do it. I've been working all day, and they just came on and said, 'Okay, sure, this is how you do it,'" Cher recalled. "I had a lot of fun on that show. It was a lot of work, but I had a lot of fun. You know, and I got to work with some great people."

What's also notable about the performance is that Michael's voice had changed, and he sang in a deeper register than he had as a child a few years earlier.

Things changed for Cher and the Jacksons in 1976

By the following year, things had changed for both The Jackson 5 and Cher. Cher reunited with her ex-husband, Sonny Bono, for The Sonny and Cher Show, which ran until 1977. In 1976, The Jackson 5 left Motown Records for Epic Records and changed their name to The Jacksons. Jermaine Jackson temporarily left the group to pursue a solo career, and he was replaced by his brother, Randy.

Here's The Jackson 5's complete performance on The Cher Show from March 16, 1975:

- YouTube www.youtube.com

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Education

The one sign that someone is highly intelligent, according to philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer

He understood the inner world of exceptionally intelligent people.

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via Canva/Photos and Artistosteles/Wikimedia Commons

A math professor and Arthur Schopenhauer.

Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) transformed our understanding of the human condition by arguing that people are primarily driven by desire, rather than reason. As bleak as this may seem, he believed that the suffering caused by desire could be mitigated through art, compassion, and a life of simplicity.

Given that Schopenhauer was one of the greatest minds of his era, he had a unique understanding of how geniuses think. He believed that most highly intelligent people share a single trait: they like to keep to themselves. Julian de Medeiros, a Substacker and popular TikTok personality who discusses philosophy, discussed Schopenhauer’s thoughts in a video with nearly four million views.

@julianphilosophy

Simple sign of intelligence #introvert #smart #work #intelligent #home

What is a sign that someone is highly intelligent?

“This is a simple rule about intelligence from the philosopher Schopenhauer, who basically argued that intelligent people keep to themselves. In fact, that intelligent people need time and space. They tend to be introverted or, in his precise words, ‘it is the fate of all great minds to be alone,’” de Medeiros says.

Highly intelligent people don’t mind being alone

One would assume that some super genius who wants to be alone all the time is some miserable curmudgeon. However, de Medeiros argues that this is not the case. “For Schopenhauer, being alone did not equate loneliness. In fact, he said intelligent people prefer their own company. It's like they're never bored. There's so much that they want to do. They're happy to have time to themselves,” he continued.


Schopenhauer was pretty clear that he enjoyed being alone in a passage from his 1851 book, Parerga and Paralipomena:

“The ingenious person will, above all, strive for freedom from pain and annoyance, for tranquility and leisure, and consequently seek a quiet, modest life, as undisturbed as possible, and accordingly, after some acquaintance with so-called human beings, choose seclusion and, if in possession of a great mind, even solitude. For the more somebody has in himself, the less he needs from the outside and the less others can be to him. Therefore, intellectual distinction leads to unsociability.”

The video concludes with a warning from de Medeiros: “Intelligence can breed indifference because [if] you like being by yourself so much that you don't go out to spend time with people or with friends. This can make you a misanthrope."

Was Schopenhauer correct in his assumptions about intelligence?

Even though Schopenhauer’s ideas date back to the 19th century, a 2016 study published in the British Journal of Psychology shows he wasn’t wrong. A survey of more than 15,000 adults found that, for most participants, socializing with friends was positively associated with life satisfaction. However, for those with higher IQs, the pattern flipped. Participants with higher IQ reported higher life satisfaction when they socialized less frequently.

A 2023 study titled "The Psychological World of Highly Gifted Young Adults" found that highly gifted adults often enjoyed their own company over that of others because they had difficulty finding interests they shared with the average person. Highly gifted people just didn’t feel like they “fit in” socially in most environments.

Ultimately, one of the hallmarks of being highly intelligent is being incredibly cautious. So, if you’re a smart cookie and enjoy spending evenings at home with a good book instead of hanging out at a bar, don’t feel bad; there’s nothing wrong with being your own favorite company.

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Television

Guy puts over 20,000 MTV videos on new website as a tribute to the 'golden era' of music videos

"It triggered something deeply nostalgic in me."

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Photo credit: YouTube screenshot via The Original MTV VJs

This MTV tribute site features over 20,000 music videos.

If you’ve been online in recent weeks, you’ve probably seen dramatic headlines or social-media posts suggesting the demise of MTV. Not true! However, the company did recently shut down some of its channels devoted to its iconic early format of 24-hour music videos. As Rolling Stone reports, five MTV stations in the U.K. went dark, and others in Australia, Poland, Brazil, and France were expected to follow. Digesting that news, one viewer channeled their wistful nostalgia into an interactive "passion project": a tribute-styled website called MTV REWIND that salutes the network's "golden era."

The site, which is unaffiliated with MTV or parent company Paramount Skydance, features over 20,000 music videos pulled from YouTube and spread across six decades (the 1970s through the 2020s). It also includes a "shuffle" feature, retro commercials interspersed throughout the clips, and specific channels devoted to two classic MTV programs: the heavy-music staple Headbangers Ball and the hip-hop-focused Yo! MTV Raps.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

"It triggered something deeply nostalgic in me"

"Zero algorithm, just random discovery like MTV used to be," the site’s developer wrote in a trending Reddit thread. In the comments, he explained the initial spark: "I built this because I was feeling a sense of loss when MTV rug-pulled 24-7 video content. It triggered something deeply nostalgic in me. I spend a lot of time coding already and I like a challenge, so [I] thought to myself "[Why] can't I recreate the experience (maybe even make it better)[?] I've been listening to it non-stop since I started coding it on in the background and stopping to watch the videos learn about the music." In an informal AMA, the Redditor shared that building the site took 48 hours top to bottom.

Upworthy reached out to the developer, who went deeper on their love of MTV. "I am in my early 40s and grew up in the late 80s/early 90s when MTV was still pure music television," he said. "I remember coming home from school and MTV was just ON—it was the cultural hub. Watching the transition from music videos to reality TV felt like losing something important. That's what drove me to build this—preserving what MTV used to be." He also praised the "unique art form" of the music video format: "They're 3-5 minute films that combine visual storytelling, cinematography, choreography, and music into something greater than the sum of its parts. Directors like Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Hype Williams, they used the format to create legitimate art. MTV was the gallery that made it accessible to everyone."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

"Clicked, and immediately it plays Wham for me"

Lots of other users weighed in online with their feedback, even suggesting other vintage commercials. Naturally, they also had a lot of other opinions, with many sharing how deeply this whole thing scratched their nostalgia itch. Here’s a sample of the most enthusiastic comments:

"So many songs/bands from the ‘80s that I had completely forgotten about but instantly remember as soon as the video starts playin."

"This is really awesome. Doing something cool and fun just for the purpose of being cool and fun"

"Clicked, and immediately it plays Wham for me. New favorite website. Thank you."

"Super soaker 50 commercial brought be back."

"This is the perfect blend of random music discovery and pure nostalgia that I didn't know I needed."

"Reddit post of the year."

"I'm hooked! Saved to favorites and will be used whenever I host people."

"Dude, I'm stoked that there's a Headbanger's Ball option. That was instrumental, no pun intended, in the development of my music tastes and discoveries in the early-mid aughts."

Even though MTV is still alive and kicking, lots of people still used the recent news as a jumping-off point into a debate about what the network's final video should be. While a lot of people voted for The Buggles’ "Video Killed the Radio Star," the first clip ever aired on MTV back in 1981, some lobbied for a Weird Al-styled parody called "TikTok Killed the Video Star."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

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