> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Required Reading - URL: https://hyperallergic.com/required-reading-672/ - Published: 2024-03-15T21:03:14.000Z - Updated: 2025-11-24T15:14:42.000Z - Description: This week it’s a whole lotta TikToks, as the US government wants to ban it if the company doesn’t sell it to another owner, which is pretty terrible. - Author: Hrag Vartanian - Tags: Art, Required Reading, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-large, #Import 2025-11-24 09:36 (2023, 2024, part 2) While a [TikTok ban looms](https://hyperallergic.com/artists-respond-to-tiktoks-nebulous-future-in-the-us/) in the United States, we decided to dedicate this week's edition to what we culled from the video-sharing social media platform for your viewing pleasure. Also, did you know [40% of adults](https://www.instagram.com/p/C4iKHc1sMh2/?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the United States use TikTok? ‣ [A Coptic Orthodox clergyman visits the Met Museum's *Africa and Byzantium*](https://www.tiktok.com/@metmuseum/video/7341954916195339562?%5Fr=1&%5Ft=8kg3WHEvyiU&ref=hyperallergic.com) and reads/sings an 8th-century manuscript on display: https://www.tiktok.com/@metmuseum/video/7341954916195339562?\_r=1&\_t=8kg3WHEvyiU ‣ How bad is [ageism in corporate America](https://www.tiktok.com/@dandanzhudg/video/7334742259771919658?ref=hyperallergic.com)? Really bad: https://www.tiktok.com/@dandanzhudg/video/7334742259771919658 ‣ [France has not only made it illegal](https://www.tiktok.com/@mayelondon.uk/video/7330035072105549089?ref=hyperallergic.com) to buy or sell counterfeit designer handbags, but declared that owning one is now a crime: https://www.tiktok.com/@mayelondon.uk/video/7330035072105549089 ‣ Some [advice about "trust fund babies](https://www.tiktok.com/@blakeharrislaw/video/7344162159485553962?ref=hyperallergic.com)," aka trustafarians: https://www.tiktok.com/@blakeharrislaw/video/7344162159485553962 ‣ [Online dating apparently works](https://www.tiktok.com/@maxcomedian/video/7346216378073943339?ref=hyperallergic.com) for some people: https://www.tiktok.com/@maxcomedian/video/7346216378073943339 ‣ How do you [hold your wine glass](https://www.tiktok.com/@reaganellyce/video/7343701983167073578?ref=hyperallergic.com)?: https://www.tiktok.com/@reaganellyce/video/7343701983167073578 ‣ [Bear in snow](https://www.tiktok.com/@kickinghorsemtn/video/7345656437420461318?ref=hyperallergic.com)! https://www.tiktok.com/@kickinghorsemtn/video/7345656437420461318 ‣ A [Disney cruise gone wrong](https://www.tiktok.com/@roberttolppi/video/7335299873383697707?ref=hyperallergic.com): https://www.tiktok.com/@roberttolppi/video/7335299873383697707 ‣ [Some hotel rooms](https://www.tiktok.com/@greenjulia0/video/7337461562430573867?ref=hyperallergic.com) are … a lot: https://www.tiktok.com/@greenjulia0/video/7337461562430573867 ‣ [Broken crayons as medium](https://www.tiktok.com/@%5Flakenzo%5F/video/7325160894411885867?ref=hyperallergic.com): https://www.tiktok.com/@lakenzo/video/7325160894411885867 ‣ Blakely Thornton might be right: [Camilla Parker Bowles, the Queen consort of the United Kingdom, has won the IRL Game of Thrones](https://www.tiktok.com/@blakelythornton/video/7346284843069656366?ref=hyperallergic.com): https://www.tiktok.com/@blakelythornton/video/7346284843069656366 ‣ AI will cause [a lot of people to lose their jobs](https://www.tiktok.com/@newyork%5Fangelo%5F/video/7345847209977597227?ref=hyperallergic.com), including those in fields we don't always think of as being impacted by layoffs, according to billionaire Mark Cuban: https://www.tiktok.com/@newyork\_angelo\_/video/7345847209977597227 ‣ Chinese Gen-Z-ers are finding [interesting ways to fly budget airlines](https://www.tiktok.com/@candiselin86/video/7346421191340608810?ref=hyperallergic.com): https://www.tiktok.com/@candiselin86/video/7346421191340608810 ‣ Walter Masterson went to speak at the [Owasso County school board meeting in Oklahoma](https://www.tiktok.com/@waltermasterson/video/7346341202418994463?ref=hyperallergic.com) after the death of Nex Benedict: https://www.tiktok.com/@waltermasterson/video/7346341202418994463 ‣ I love it when [HOA (Homeowners Association) meetings](https://www.tiktok.com/@volumeupvids/video/7345900178366270762?%5Fr=1&%5Ft=8kh4BdbUWMA&ref=hyperallergic.com) go wrong: https://www.tiktok.com/@volumeupvids/video/7345900178366270762?\_r=1&\_t=8kh4BdbUWMA ‣ A response to gender scholar [Judith Butler's recent comments](https://www.tiktok.com/@novaramedia/video/7343566697003109665?ref=hyperallergic.com) about Hamas: https://www.tiktok.com/@novaramedia/video/7343566697003109665 ‣ On the [out-of-control tipping culture](https://www.tiktok.com/@subwaytakes/video/7345171948709727518?%5Fr=1&%5Ft=8kg43tQLdJS&ref=hyperallergic.com) of the US (people are funny): https://www.tiktok.com/@subwaytakes/video/7345171948709727518?\_r=1&\_t=8kg43tQLdJS ‣ [South Korea's population crisis is real](https://www.tiktok.com/@2hearts1seoul/video/7345476506518408455?ref=hyperallergic.com) and some people think the [4B movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4B%5F%28movement%29?ref=hyperallergic.com) might be working: https://www.tiktok.com/@2hearts1seoul/video/7345476506518408455 ‣ Did you know the [US government used local folklore to fight communist fighters](https://www.tiktok.com/@msloan98/video/7331217828369943816?ref=hyperallergic.com) in the Philippines? If you want to learn more, check out this [article in *Esquire Philippines*](https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/cia-aswang-war-a00304-a2416-20191019-lfrm?ref=hyperallergic.com) about psychological warfare: https://www.tiktok.com/@msloan98/video/7331217828369943816 ‣ [Kinda true](https://www.tiktok.com/@beckettkenny/video/7333357237873806634?%5Fr=1&%5Ft=8kh9MDxHH1K&ref=hyperallergic.com), no? https://www.tiktok.com/@beckettkenny/video/7333357237873806634?\_r=1&\_t=8kh9MDxHH1K ‣ An Arab American influencer explains [how people looking for jobs may be facing repercussions](https://www.tiktok.com/@wallyrashid/video/7342963173974183210?ref=hyperallergic.com): https://www.tiktok.com/@wallyrashid/video/7342963173974183210 ‣ The [birth of the Whitina](https://www.tiktok.com/@ceil%5Fno/video/7343368638759439658?ref=hyperallergic.com)? https://www.tiktok.com/@ceil\_no/video/7343368638759439658 ‣ Social media influencer [Mark Laita made the Whittakers famous after posting an interview](https://www.tiktok.com/@catchupnews/video/7345601470823140651?ref=hyperallergic.com) with them, and then his problems started: https://www.tiktok.com/@catchupnews/video/7345601470823140651 ‣ [TikTok users are resurfacing a 1990s soft rock anthem](https://www.tiktok.com/@daniellecollins67/video/7342876052282166561?%5Fr=1&%5Ft=8kg4UkNPS9a&ref=hyperallergic.com), David Gray's "Babylon" (1999), positing it as the antidote to all sorts of contemporary malaise: https://www.tiktok.com/@daniellecollins67/video/7342876052282166561?\_r=1&\_t=8kg4UkNPS9a [*Required Reading*](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/required-reading/) *is published every Thursday afternoon, and it is comprised of a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look.*