Juggalos: How do magnets work?

Jonah Weiner at Slate, for some reason, brings us a review of the new Insane Clown Posse video “Miracles.” It’s a rather grand review, comparing this particular posse of clowns to a rap-rock Wordsworth “dropping f-bombs aplenty in praise of the natural sublime,” for example.

The song is a catalog of whoa-dude epiphanies, the sort that teenagers in movies enjoy while lying on the hoods of subcompacts, passing joints, and gazing up at the stars. Wide-eyed and wondrous, rappers Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope hail a variety of phenomena that will “blow your brain,” from “the Milky Way and fucking shooting stars” to “long-necked giraffes” to “fucking rainbows.” One especially quotable line, courtesy of Shaggy, suggests a profane David Macaulay: “Fucking magnets, how do they work?” The rhymes are children’s-song simple, but the music swirls with portent: A synthesizer plays a flickering, ascending melody, and the song climaxes with a cathartic electric guitar solo. There are awed shout-outs to pets, sound waves, and for some reason, to a pelican that once tried to eat Violent J\’s cell phone. The video, a four-minute parade of not-inexpensive-looking computer animation, illustrates nearly every “miracle” mentioned. (Emphasis mine.)

I would respond that “electromagnetic force,” one of the fundamental four interactions in nature, is responsible for how magnets work, but, it seems that the Insane Clown Posse is, er, averse to science:

“I don’t wanna talk to a scientist,” Shaggy raps after his magnet stumper. “Y’all motherfuckers lying and getting me pissed!”

Huh. Oh well. Guess they have something in common with flat-earthers, creationists and global-warming deniers. The rest of the review is basically an ode to Juggalos, and their heroes, the Insane Clown Posse. In any case, I recommend we start teaching physics to Juggalos. It might help. At the intersection of “music” and science lies understanding.