Photo credit: Elena Ternovaja, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.
The Sydney Sweeney “great genes” controversy rages on — a cultural “total meltdown,” as Kara Kennedy writes at The Free Press. An advertisement with an attractive blonde actress wearing blue jeans from American Eagle pushes back against the woke notion that there is no objective ideal of beauty. Miss Sweeney plays with a pun on “genes” versus “jeans” and a voiceover informs us that she has “great genes.”
Some say the statement reflects white supremacy, eugenic thinking, a “Nazi dog whistle.” Others answer that whether American Eagle jeans are a good choice for you probably does depend on genetic predisposition (body type), as well as other factors REGARDLESS of race. Still others insist that Sydney Sweeney really isn’t so attractive after all.
Spencer Klavan asks if we can change the subject already:
Sydney Sweeney won’t see your tweets about how mid she is but you know who will? Me. It’s the only thing on my timeline, in fact. Please can we talk about something else
— Spencer A. Klavan (@SpencerKlavan) July 29, 2025
Purely a Material Entity?
If I had no sense of humor whatsoever about the whole thing, I would point out that the nature of “genes” is the subject of a fascinating scientific dispute. Is the genome purely a material entity, information coded in DNA and other cellular structures? Or does the material genome exist alongside an immaterial counterpart, in a Platonic space outside our material realm, as biologists Richard Sternberg, Michael Levin, and others argue? Brian Miller examines some of the relevant mathematics here.
If those scientists are right, then intelligent design, as well as whether Sydney Sweeney has great genes, would take on a whole new meaning. For more, see my book, Plato’s Revenge, on which Spencer Klavan kindly comments:
There are more things than are dreamt of in our materialist philosophy — not just in heaven, but right here on earth. At a time when this is becoming newly, exhilaratingly apparent, David Klinghoffer’s wonderfully readable book explores some breathtaking implications of the latest natural science in an area — genetics — that touches deeply on our origins, our characters, and perhaps our souls.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Image source: Discovery Institute Press.