OK, we've evolved from blaming Don Imus, to blaming rappers.

what does one have to do with the other?

Why can't the two issues stay separate?

And I thought I'd be a complete jerk and add something else to the mix: Roots is playing this month on TV One.

So there!!!!

Did I miss a memo?

however, from several threads on this board, and several conversations, and listening to several callers on Wash Journal this morning, I've watch this meme develop.

Although they'd love you to think otherwise, knowhutImean?

Personally, I'm still stuck on the "We're responsible for
our own words and actions" meme. Old-fashioned, I know, but
I like it.

And I like the additional flourish that if we're upset about Imus, we are by default ignoring hip-hop lyrics and Ann Coulter is okay by us.

Methinks there are those here intent on muddying the waters, but I could be wrong. After all, I'm upset about Imus so I am by default a big fan of Rush and Glenn Beck. Posters here this morning have told me that, so it must be true.

;)

- as

How an issue can be clouded when you don't really want to deal with it.

Imus is wrong and some rap lyrics are wrong.

Imus is wrong and Ann Coulter is wrong also.

They are definately muddying the water and I am quite disappointed in some of the DU'ers.

As you would probably expect, rap is hardly on my list of favorite entertainments, but years ago, a co-worker who was an ardent Black Nationalist brought an N.W.A. tape to an over-time weekend, and it is hard to resist something with a refrain of "Fuck da Po-lice!"

:hi:

Played him some Randy Newman, the one that starts out "Saw Lester Maddox on the tee-vee last night...."

"Gangsta's Paradise" I like a good deal, but mostly because of whatever they cribbed for the back-ground: it is just so sweet.

from Songs in the Key of Life

right wing we can be. All shouting and no looking for solutions beyond the outrage. Situations like this cry for meaningful solutions.

It's easier on the collective American psyche to blame black men rather than successful white men.

Rappers BAD! Misogyny! Homophobia! Talkin' that gang fuss! Bad, scary black man!

Imus works with sickle cell kids, doncha know? And he apologized! Shouldn't that be enough? What about forgiveness? Forgiveness is good! Black men, bad!

:sarcasm:

It's pretty obvious what's going on. All the folks who think they should be forgiven (which is to say, absolved) of their own racism...etc. It's a remarkable study in the collective unconscious (but not double consciousness...)

Accepting apoligies is bad

Forgiveness is bad

Like I said, Elecric Chair mentality is becoming the norm

And your drippy sarcasm symbol is foolish

Accepting apologies is good. So is forgiveness. Does it absolve you of consequences for your actions? No. We should even forgive predicate felons when they apologize before sentencing, but I think you'd agree that they should still go to jail. And before you start howling incoherently about "false analogies," be aware that you're the one hysterically comparing this case to capital punishment with your "electric chair" nonsenses, so none of that, now.

Working with sickle cell kids is also good. It is not license, however, for continued, repeated, racism.

Cheers, mate.

One more bit of advise. If you stop and think before you type,

you won't have to start a post fumbling with "er" / hemming and hawing

Utterly without substance, but pleasing to yourself, at the very least.

bite their nose to spite their face, and act like total buffoons


So once again, your assumptions are wrong

:rofl:

... Talk about anything BUT Imus is inevitable... "reverse racism", Sharpton, rappers, etc.

It's the predictable result of the foxes guarding the henhouse - it happens every single time.

Hi Bloo :hi:

on the radio, on the local "urban" station, there were black callers blaming the rappers.

similarly, on Wash Journal, there were also black callers.

You will probably notice especially at the beginning of the show, you get the 'same sounding' black voices spewing right wing talking points.

I suspect republican affirmative employment.

Good to see you :hi:

I agree. :)

white people to do it.

So if "rappers" use certain language, white hate jockeys should be able to as well.

When a child gets caught doing something wrong they'll often defend their actions by spreading the blame...and not just children. It's the "they did it too" defense.

right wingers use this same defense a lot.."Clinton did it too"

never-mind the situations are often not related...the deflection serves to re-direct attention away from the wrong doing at hand and direct it at others.

It's about the same as saying if "rappers" didn't use certain language, then white people like Imus wouldn't either...so it's really the "rappers" fault..

They are separate issues, like you said.

:rofl:

"Urban" clothing...-

"So there's some hypocrisy going on here, blah blah blah..."

You know that you've encountered an upstanding white liberal racist when this phrase avoids the word "niggers" and instead substitutes some euphemism, all the while pontificating about "rights" and "equality" (fuck money for schools, by the way...wouldn't help those animals anyway...).

as in "those inner city youths" and it was almost always followed by "crime"

Imus is a talk show host who airs 'serious' political discourse and for better or worse shapes peoples view of the world. He is given a pulpit on national TV. Most rap music is confined to CD's with an occasional show on MTV or Comedy Central where they aren't meant to be taken seriously. I can escape rap if I want to, but we have all dealt with co-workers who tune to talk radio or have had to sit in waiting rooms listening to these publicly-anointed assholes catapult the propaganda. I loud car going down the street just doesn't quite offend me as much. AND rap music isn't so bad if you avoid the gansta stuff...there are thoughtful and politically aware rappers out there, but the MSM won't tell you about them...they'd rather have you think it is all negative. I listen to a lot of world music. Rap and Reggae have become staples all over the world, and most of it is not what you'd expect from what we hear in the states.

We need to make it clear that our airwaves are not a bully pulpit for racism, misogyny, etc. These people will still have freedom of speech...like the rappers do, but people will have to seek out their recordings, books,etc.

What does it matter what a gasbag like Imus says? I bet most young, black people in the country don't even know who he is. But they do know 50 Cent and Dr. Dre and all the other rappers. Rappers are the ones calling each other nigga and ho and making out like the thug life is a way of living. Even when you've got intelligent rappers with something to say like Immortal Technique, they still have to fall back into ignorant gangbang mode. Technique calls people nigger like he's an Imperial Wizard and talks about "putting the tool to your chest" even as he laments that his people are locked in a cycle of violence and ignorance. Is this intentional irony? I think it may be part of the silliness he has to play along with to have "industry cred", the same way that white metal acts had to have poofy hair and wear makeup and ridiculous tights to fit in with the 80's metal scene.

Allow me to present an example. You can tell the guy is a closet geek (how many rappers make math references?) but still has to thug out to keep his audience.

You mother fuckers are nothing
You cannot harm me
I'll resurrect every aborted baby and start an army
Storm the planet hunting you down cuz I'm on a mission
To split your body into a billion one-celled organisms
Immortal Technique will destroy your religion you stupid bitch
You're faker than blue-eyed crackers nailed to a crucifix
I'm bout to blow up like Nasa Challenger computer chips
Arsenic language transmitted revolutionarily
I'm like time itself, I'm gunna kill you inevitably
Chemically bomb you, fuck using a chrome piece
I'm Illmatic, you won't make it home like Jerome's niece
I'll sever your head diagonally for thinking of dissin' me
And then ill use your dead body to write my name in calligraphy
This public democracy, brain washed your psychology
So you're nothing like diversity without equality
And your crew is full of more faggots than Greek mythology
Using numerology, to count the people I sent to Heaven
Produces more digits than 22 divided by 7
You're like Kevin Spacey, your style is usually suspect
You never killed a cop, you not a mother fucking thug yet
Your mind is empty and spacious
Like the part of the brain the appreciated culture in a racist
Face it, you too basic, you're never gunna make it
Like children walking through Antarctica, butt naked

What's my point? Imus means dick-all to black America. If I were Al Sharpton, I'd be less concerned about Michael Richards and Don Imus and more concerned about people the kids actually listen to, respect and emulate. But that probably wouldn't get much attention on mainstream media. A white person saying something ignorant and racist is more interesting than any sort of constructive dialogue.

Rev. Al has, for several years now, talked publicly about some of the degrading language used in gangster rap. It's been one of his major issues.

CW, I read a load of disgusting messages yesterday on an AOL blog and you're right...the blame is now being shifted right back to African Americans, which left me almost speechless. Some of the invective against Sharpton in particular was shocking. How fucked up is this?

I've seen him on the Daily Show a few times, he's never mentioned any of this. I guess you could lay a portion of blame at MSM's feet. I didn't even know he had a radio show and I've certainly never heard anything he said about rap repeated. The only time I hear about them via MSM is when something ridiculous like Tanya Brawley or the Duke Lacross case comes up and then we hear about a protest march or something but that's it.

BET still stands for "booties every time." But MTV and the major record labels are still owned by pink-scrubbed white boys in suits. The same people blasting idiot black culture are the ones blasting out idiot white culture, too. We've got bling and ho's from the rap side and drugged out crazy girls from the pop side.

I'm not a fan of rap so I don't follow the scene closely. I do like rock and metal and I know how hard it is for talent to get noticed. Bands like Iced Earth and Dream Theather are bigger in Europe than in the States. It's funny, when Dream Theater hit Japan it was like the second coming of the Beatles and nobody even knows them over here. If talented rappers have to put up with that kind of crap, it's no wonder crap acts like Black Eyed Peas and their "humps" song are what we know and the good stuff languishes in obscurity.

I'm rather active in science discussions, and skepticism and debunking discussions, etc. While I'm quite understanding of people who don't understand science, but I don't suffer grown adults who are completely scientifically illiterate. And boy, oh boy, I've seen it all. Victoria era Northwest Passage explorers proved that global warming isn't true, the second law of thermodynamics proves that evolution isn't true, school shootings are caused by GM corn....


But I've never... absolutely never... seen as much nonsensical bullshit as I've seen with these Imus apologists. I mean, you could study brain damage from car crash victims, you won't see the nonsensical thought patterns that these people are coming up with.

Rappers are as bad as Imus?

Black people who discuss nappy hair are as bad as Imus?

Imus isn't a racist? OK, he's a racist, but he's the good kind of racist because he donates money to cancer?

How delusional are these people to think that any of this makes sense? Are they coming up with this stuff themselves? Did it sound good when somebody said it to them on talk radio?

FTW?