There’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And Then There’s RBG, Pop Culture Icon.

The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is one of the most beloved and respected jurists in the history of the United States. But RBG, as she was affectionately known, was more than a legal icon, she also became a cultural icon as well.

“RBG became a meme rather than a person toward the end of her life.” — Alyssa Rosenberg, Washington Post.

In the later years of her career on the nation’s high court she became a celebrity. Documentaries and biopics have explored her life and career, there are bobbleheads, pins, and coffee mugs. Actress Kate McKinnon made her impersonation of Ginsburg a staple on Saturday Night Live.

She became a pop hero — the Notorious RBG. But is this a problematic view of Ginsburg, her life and career?

Listen: Washington Post columnist Alyssa Rosenberg speaks with Stephen Henderson on Detroit Today about RBG, the cultural icon.

Guest

Alyssa Rosenberg is a Washington Post opinion columnist covering culture. She wrote a piece this week titled “The Flaw in the Cult of RBG.”

Rosenberg writes that this view amounts to a “hero worship of a fictionalized version of Ginsburg” which she says “obscured clearer views of her fragility and the stakes of her final gamble.”

“The tendency to treat politicians or public servants in a rockstar way. it’s not fandom, it’s not just fun,” Rosenberg tells Stephen Henderson on Detroit Today. “These people have real consequences and they deserve to be scrutinized.”