Sigh

I was pleased to see that Harry Allen at MEDIA ASSASSIN posted an entry replying to my recent blog about Kanye West and Racism.

I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t even realize he’d posted a response until I’d noticed on @JoelMadden ‘s Twitter feed reposting it.  I’m honored that Mr. Allen felt my humble blog noteworthy.

Couple of notes along the way here:

Now, I don’t know why you call me “Hank.” My name is Harry. Thanks for these thoughts, though, and I should be clear: It’s not my practice, as anyone whose read MEDIA ASSASSIN even briefly might notice, to either second-guess our commenters, or other bloggers, who disagree with me. I typically do not even reply, because, to me, after I’ve spoken and expressed my opinion, others should be able to do the same.

I’m massively embarrassed, Harry – Mr. Allen.  My proofreader has been sacked, and I am considering sacking the sacker as well. Honestly I should’ve stuck with ‘Mr. Allen’, had my brain been engaged, but in my 30 minute research for Kanye and the infamous “N”-word, I noticed that the instance of the use of this demeaning word even WITHOUT Kanye’s name was MASSIVE on Twitter.

Pretty much made my head explode to see how many of these people don’t ‘get it’.

Because of that, I have to ask you to forgive me if the section that you quoted, by me, above, was unclear, or tended toward exaggeration. (Indeed, the part that most stung was your remark about “$50 words,” right. I so try to speak very simply when talking about race, and will work harder to do so.)

I apologize for the $50 word crack.  It was definitely snarky, but specifically referred to the sentence in your original article which gave me the most trouble:

Racism has a sole, functional expression: White supremacy.

Later in your reply, you state:

So, this is why I say white supremacy is the only functional form of racism; the only kind that actually works.

To quote a favorite literary work, I grok what you’re saying there.  I just don’t think the two statements are really that close in meaning.  I can understand why so many folks got confused with the message you intended.

In fact, it’s so dominant that any system on Earth that does the opposite—that compels white kids to go to schools with Black teachers, ask Black guys for jobs, and pull for mortages from Black financiers—is so inferior, miniscule, and of such limited range it doesn’t even have a name, or a location.

That is, you’d be hard-pressed, right this second, to tell me where it is, or where white people live like this.

Let me invite you for coffee to Prince George’s County, Maryland, my friend.

A dear friend of mine sent her 5 year old white daughter to school here for the very first time a couple weeks ago, where she is taught by a black teacher, administered by a black principal, and has created many black friends in her class, being the sole white child there.

If she gets sick, they’ll take her to Southern Maryland Hospital to be seen by the predominantly black staff there.

Should she choose to become employed in the area, her boss will very likely be black.

The Real Estate agent from where she will purchase a home in this area will be black, as will the branch manager of the Bank where she’ll go to obtain a mortgage.

If her uncle, graduating High School this year, chooses to enlist in the military, his Commander-In-Chief will be….black.

Yes, I digress and largely nit-pick, but we could have the same type conversation about Anacostia in SE Washington, DC or any one of a number of large urban areas in this country alone.

I’ll also admit to just a touch of snarkiness when it comes to the photo choices here, but doesn’t it demonstrate that there are two sides to the same coin here?

At the end of the day, I realize that the black teacher, that black principal, that black hospital staff, that black real estate agent, and even that black Commander-In-Chief ALL answer, ultimately, to predominantly “white” interests.

I’m pretty sure there can be no argument there.

I’m just not sure that it all means that racism is exclusively a white thing.  I think there’s a lot of hate, a lot of bad blood, a lot if cruel and unjust history on both sides of the equation, and until we can educate our kids on identifying and solving these problems – together – we’re still going to be a long way from a final solution.

All one has to do is search the “N” word on Twitter nowadays to see that we have a long way to go. I’d really like for it to never show up in tweets, but in true patriot fashion, I’d be seriously pissed if they censored it.

Lastly, to all you folks who love to retweet the transgressions of a few: please don’t.  You don’t have to look very far to see a racist of ANY color in this country – don’t compound the problem by acting like you found the only one on Twitter.

Just shake your head, feel sorry for their ignorance, and BLOCK them.  Enough blocks and Twitter will kill the account.

For The Legion,

NSR²

You can follow us on Twitter @Patrioterrorist

Kanye West at the VMA's

There’s a lot being said recently on Twitter about Kanye West and his shenanigans on the Video Music Awards on Sunday Night.   Personally, I didn’t hear about it until Monday, because I opted instead to watch something else on TV that evening.  Frankly, I’m not a huge fan of Hollywood type award shows – they often come off to me as a huge circle jerk where all the Hollywood/Entertainment types just sit around and suck each other off.  Not my cup of tea.

I’m glad I had it recorded, because I would’ve never, EVER believed that a music awards show would be so STUPID as to allow this jackass (Obama’s words, not mine) to do this AGAIN.  Back in 2006, Kanye jumped the stage at another awards show to cry about things not going his way.

Apparently West took the mic from 17-year-old Swift, shouting, “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but Beyonce has one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!”.

Seriously?  He’s calling THAT one of the best videos of all time on the same show featuring a tribute to Thriller?

In the spirit of full disclosure, I haven’t seen Swift’s video.  I don’t even have any idea what song she sang.  I have, however, seen Beyonce’s video, and I liked the song.  The video, not so much.  It looked like it had a $10,000,050.00 budget, with $50 going to costumes, extras and such (since the Flip Video Camera that recorded it was probably already paid for), and $10M to Beyonce.  Not her best effort at all.  The song?  Very catchy.  Nice work.  That’s all you get from me on that, sorry.

What Kanye did, however, was inexcusable.  It was almost as inexcusable as MTV allowing it to happen.  Folks, had it been you or me who jumped up on stage that night, we both know where we’d be right now: in jail.  Frankly, that’s where Mr. West belongs as well, if for no other reason than trespassing, public intoxication and criminal rudeness.

Sadly, it sounds as if the VMA’s are going to ‘solve’ this problem by forbidding alcohol at future events.  That’s the same idiotic, problem-avoiding mindset that makes kids wear uniforms to school instead of punishing the kids who steal Air Jordans from other kids.

The real solution would be to simply ban Kanye from these events, although with the fashion of wearing sunglasses from the ‘Tame Elton John’ collection being what it is, he might be hard to pick out in a crowd.

Would Kanye have tried that move with, say, Eminem or T.I. on stage?  Likely not – he’d have gotten his clock cleaned for him.  Swift, I’m sure, seemed like an easy target for him.  Had he tried that on a grown man of ANY race, we’d likely be sending flowers to his hospital room.

At the end of the day, the message here is simple:  What Kanye did is…well…what Kanye DOES.  It showed a distinct lack of class, dignity and respect for his fellow artists. I’m pretty sure you’re not going to argue your way out of that one, but if you choose to try, feel free to comment below…well, very far below, because we’re not quite done yet.

See, we tell THAT story to get to the meat of the issue: racism.

Hey, dude! You saying that because Kanye is black and Taylor is white, it was a racist move?  Of course not.  That’s no more racist than Joe Wilson calling Obama a liar.  The two moves were the same: poor social conduct.

What baffles me is the outcry this has received in the social media setting, specifically on Twitter.

Hank [Editor's Note: proofread more carefully next time.  My apologies to Mr HARRY Allen] Harry Allen, a self-described “expert covering hip-hop culture” who blogs and fancies himself the “Media Assassin”, recently posted a piece entitled, “Is Kanye the New O.J. ?”: The Real Haters Appear, In Order To Protect Taylor Swift’s White Womanhood From the Rape…Uh, the Rapper.“.

Hey, us bloggers all fancy ourselves somebody – like we fancy ourselves the Domestic Terrorists.  No harm, no foul.

It’s a good article, and he makes many valid points, a few of which I’ll list here in case you don’t feel like clicking the  link above:

That someone apparently so doe-like would engage in speech so rancid, though, should hardly be shocking to Black people, based on experience. As well, I suspect that those white people who say they are surprised by this level of cancer in their holds are, mostly, acting. Race is not a subject people tend to discuss truthfully in mixed company.

Please note that the selective capitalization above is Mr. Allen’s, and not mine. We’ll be gracious and consider it a typo.

He later goes on to post various examples, most of which appear to be white people using Kanye’s name and the “N” word.

(I won’t write that word here, but will instead substitute the word ‘nut’.  Deal with it – the word is offensive, it’s intended to be offensive, and I don’t want it on MY blog.  Will I use it?  Every time I want, thank you very much.  For some reason it’s just more offensive to me in writing, and for that reason if no other, I’m leaving it out.  Unfortunately, many people on Twitter are saying ‘nut’ left and right…and this didn’t just start with the Kanye debacle.)

Where Mr. Allen lost me (well, he never really had me but I was going in with an open mind since I highly respect the person who referred me to his article), was when he spewed forth this nonsense:

My ongoing call, however, is for non-white people to develop an understanding of race that is meticulous, logical, and systematic. Racism has a sole, functional expression: White supremacy. Racism is not historical. It’s futuristic. It is not going away. It is being refined. It is weaponized through deceit, secrecy, and violence, in that order. It’s chief tools are not clubs, bullets, or nooses, but words.

Now here I almost agreed with him, save for this line: Racism has a sole, functional expression: White supremacy.

Seriously?  You’re kidding, right, Hank?  Well, this next little bit may label me a ‘hater’.

As an aside, I absolutely LOVE how folks equate ‘those who disagree with me’ = ‘hater’. Whatever floats your boat, people.

I had to read it two or three times to really understand what this man was trying to say, and folks, he almost fooled me.

At the end of the day, Mr. Allen throws us a whole boatload of $50 words, but his insinuation that only white people are racist is, in fact, highly suspect at best, and racist at worst.

It’s so outrageous to claim that racism is a white-only problem that I’m not even going to comment on it.

Instead, I’ll simply offer a sampling, with commentary, of OTHER tweets I discovered in a very brief, unscientific, cursory 30 minute search.

Had Mr. Allen wanted to present an honest, fair, and balanced assessment of what’s happening on Twitter with regard to Kanye and racism, he’d have done well to include these:

There are TONS of these tweets, claiming 1-2 million search hits on Twitter for the highlighted terms.  Here’s a clue for you clueless folks:  retweeting the 50 or so genuinely racist comments (yeah in 30 minutes I saw less than 20 actual racist comments, but I’ll give you 50 for arguments’ sake) is where the millions of hits are coming from.  Seriously.

Retweeting this nonsense is a large part of the actual problem here. JiggyJeff really tries to get the mob rolling here, and in the process the counts showing up in a search continue to climb.  If only Jiggy had some original thought to contribute, we might be able to better understand what he means.

Here’s a nifty take on this.  Kyle seems to think that this is somehow linked to The President.  Sorry, Kyle, but every little bit of ignorance in the world cannot be linked to the fact that so many folks dislike Obama and his performance.  Obama was nowhere to be seen when Kanye pulled his last two stunts, but I’ll bet he got called a lot of the same names then , too.  Nice try though.  He, of course, wasn’t the only one crying foul on behalf of Obama (who was reportedly not pleased with Kanye’s performance, calling him a ‘jackass’).

These above are a selective example of the ones I’ll call The Word Keepers.  These poor misinformed souls think they own the rights to the word ‘nut’.  Sorry, people.  That word belongs to all of us, and it’s not up to you to grant me or anyone else permission to use it.  Next time please check your arrogance at the door, okay?

Next up, a sampling of folks suggesting we just take this issue on using violence:

Violence, of course, isn’t the answer here.  Never is.  However, I thought that these two, showing up in the search next to each other, were kind of interesting:

Soooo…@oneflynicca, please meet @lfregozo – go smack the piss out of him and let me know how that works out for you.  Remember, however: “Pics, or it didn’t happen!”.

There are also a fair number of people who simply want to search, retweet, and label the authors ‘racist’ – again, contributing ZERO to a solution regarding race relations in America:

How can we get past racism with people always on the lookout for it instead of trying to get all of us to get PAST it?

That last part of @Edoubleyou’s comment tickled me.  I saw Tim Wise on CNN yesterday – trying to sell his book.  Racism = profits.

There were also the share of random idiots just seeking attention – you have to wonder what goes through their minds:

Young lady, I predict that you won’t like who may be following you now.

So, were caucasians the only ones using this term, the only ones making racist remarks?  You tell me:

So, as you can see, we have people being anti-Semitic, anti Mexican, anti Nabisco and anti-Mobile-Homeowner, in addition to the anti-white, anti-black, anti-black-by-white and anti-black-by-black comments deluging Twitter over the last couple of days.

I personally wouldn’t give you 50 cents for ANY of these hateful, ignorant people.  Our society has zero room for racism in this day and age, but we sure could all do with a dose of 100% intolerance for sheer stupidity.

Racism’s sole functional expression is white supremacy?

Does that mean that racism only exists in a white people -vs- the rest of the world context?  Certainly not – but I believe that a lot of readers may have come to that conclusion given the context of the article on Media Assassin.

Mr. Allen, sir, the only context in which this is correct is the context that shows us that all racism is destructive and nonproductive.  Those who Lord over both you AND me shall continue to do so if we choose not to change it.

We have nothing to gain by fighting and alienating one another, and everything to lose when we continue to do so.

For The Legion,

NSR²

]]> http://thedomesticterrorist.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/much-ado-about-kanye/feed/ 7 The NSR Legion 9-14-2009 4-24-06 PM 9-15-2009 9-54-26 AM 9-15-2009 9-12-52 AM 9-15-2009 9-08-39 AM 9-15-2009 8-58-45 AM 9-15-2009 9-00-56 AM 9-15-2009 9-15-11 AM 9-15-2009 9-03-53 AM 9-15-2009 8-41-38 AM 9-15-2009 9-14-11 AM 9-15-2009 9-12-28 AM 9-15-2009 8-54-17 AM 9-15-2009 8-49-33 AM 9-15-2009 8-44-19 AM 9-15-2009 8-39-37 AM 9-15-2009 8-36-15 AM 9-15-2009 9-04-52 AM 9-15-2009 8-50-15 AM 9-15-2009 9-11-39 AM 9-15-2009 9-04-15 AM 9-15-2009 8-54-43 AM 9-15-2009 8-51-03 AM 9-15-2009 8-56-58 AM 9-15-2009 9-03-00 AM 9-15-2009 8-29-50 AM 9-15-2009 8-25-27 AM 9-15-2009 9-14-32 AM 9-15-2009 9-13-14 AM 9-15-2009 9-08-39 AM 9-15-2009 9-06-39 AM 9-15-2009 8-56-36 AM 9-15-2009 8-52-36 AM 9-15-2009 8-35-46 AM 9-15-2009 8-34-27 AM 9-15-2009 8-33-25 AM http://thedomesticterrorist.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/racism-alive-and-well-in-your-local-schools/ http://thedomesticterrorist.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/racism-alive-and-well-in-your-local-schools/#comments Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:07:38 +0000 Mobius http://thedomesticterrorist.wordpress.com/?p=39 ]]> A reader sent me the following form.  For privacy purposes, their personal information has been redacted.

Are your local schools promoting racism?

What’s disturbing about this form is that the reader’s local school system finds it necessary for parents to declare their children as a specific race.  WTF?

We’re spoon-fed a lot of rhetoric by the Government, mass media and idiot politicians about the evils of identifying people by their race.  There are even unnecessary Hate Crime statutes across the country which add penalties to crimes which are motivated solely by race. (crime is crime, folks)

Why then are the public school systems essentially teaching our children that aligning yourself with a specific race is not only important, it’s mandatory?

Note the line where the parent may (rightfully) opt out of identifying their child’s race – which, of course, in my opinion, is the only correct course of action.

Many parents, such as my reader, simply comply as a matter of habit – we’re indoctrinated from an early age to not question authority, but to submit to it blindly and without hesitation for fear of repercussions.

Note also that if the parent chooses to DECLINE to pigeonhole their child into a specific race category, at the very bottom of the form, there is a space for an ‘observer’ (a/k/a Stasi Informant) to identify the child anyway.

This is how your tax dollars are being spent, America.  Categorizing your citizenry into races, and then preaching to you repeatedly that it’s not important and that race should not be a factor in anything in our society.

Mixed message much?  Of course not.  The ‘confusion’ here is intended to exert control over the populous, while selectively using this data to tout social programs for the favored ‘race du jour’.

You’d be hard pressed to explain exactly why this data is necessary in a country where we’re teaching our children that all people are supposed to be equal.  If racism never dies in America, it’s because our schools teach it on a daily basis.

Aimed at actors Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Bruce Willis, Hilton continued his scandalous tirade by pointing out other questionable photographs of Tallulah Willis, 15.  Willis is the minor child of Moore and Willis.

Legal sources familiar with the incident tell TMT that the aging Hilton, whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira, could be prosecuted under California Penal Code § 311.2-311.4 and 311.11 for the distribution of Child Pornography due to the salacious manner in which he has depicted the photographs.  Providing links to inappropriate photographs of minors is also prohibited via Federal Law.

Photographs indicated by Lavandeira clearly depict the minor child’s breasts and buttocks.

While it’s a longstanding practice in the Hollywood scene to launch scandalous attacks against celebrities, sources agree that children are generally off-limits. “While Mario may get away with calling Will I Am (of the Black Eyed Peas) the N-Word, right now his biggest worry should be Bruce Willis.”, concluded one source.

Attempts to reach the California Attorney General’s office, Moore, Willis and Twitter for comment were unsuccessful.

Update 9.4.2009:

This week Demi Moore and Kirstie Alley went Twitter-dueling again with Perez after Moore finally figured out that Hilton had likely violated California Child Pornography laws:

“Clearly Perez Hilton isn’t taking violating child pornography laws very seriously. He might not but there are alot of people who do!”
“Anyone who advertises follows or supports Perez supports violating child pornography laws!”
“Clearly Perez Hilton isn’t taking violating child pornography laws very seriously. He might not but there are alot of people who do!…Anyone who advertises follows or supports Perez supports violating child pornography laws!…Let me ask all of you, what is it called when someone is telling people to look and focus on a child’s “boobs & ass” while providing photos?”

Not one to let anyone have the last word, Perez fires back:

• “Expect another letter from my attorney, kitten. Xoxo”
• “P.S. Bring it on, bitch!”
• “And THIS is what senile Demi is referring to http://bit.ly/TzOex A photo I linked to on my Twitter a couple of weeks ago.”
• “That fine, upstanding, wholesome young lady is her 15 year old. daughter Tallulah, http://bit.ly/TzOex
• “And thanks for drawing MORE attention to your daughter’s behavior and your parenting skills (or lack thereof). U r real smart!”
• “Should I sue Demi Moore?”
• “Still waiting for you to retract your incorrect, libelous and defamatory statements”
• “Look at her Tweets. SHE is the one breaking the law with her libelous, defamatory, inaccurate and stupid allegations.”

When Mario starts sending the x’s and o’s, you can tell it’s getting under his Drama Queen skin.  Last salvo we saw showed the Perezophile threatening to involve lawyers – which as we all know is a bluff.

“@PerezHilton: @kirstiealley Playtime is over. Be a woman and own up to your actions! Who is your lawyer? My P.I. is already looking into it. Save me time!”

People who are serious about suing don’t waste time and resources asking ‘Who is your Attorney?’, they just go directly to the source.  Nice try, Mario.  Back to Nintendo with your tubby ass!

Our sources at the United States Department of Justice tell us that US Attorneys are looking into whether Lavandeira violated Federal Child Pornography Trafficking laws with these posts.  Senator Cardin’s office had no comment, except to say that they are looking into the thousands of complaints sent to his office by his constituents regarding Mario’s conduct.

Our money is firmly bet on this degenerate being banned from all future appearances where minor children are present (Sorry, Nickelodeon), as well as being used as an example and doing some serious jail time.  Sadly, he’ll love the attention…but so will Bubba.

Be sure to check out these other fine blogs here and here and here!

On Fri, Aug 7, 2009 at 11:56 AM, Justin Ruben, MoveOn.org Political Action <moveon-help@list.moveon.org> wrote:

Dear MoveOn member,

It’s getting ugly out there.

All across the country, right-wing extremists are disrupting congressional town-hall meetings with venomous attacks on President Obama’s plans for health care and clean energy.

• Last night in Tampa, Florida, a town hall meeting erupted into violence, with the police being called to break up fist fights and shoving matches.¹
• A Texas Democrat was shouted down by right-wing hecklers, many of whom admitted they didn’t even live in his district.²
• One North Carolina representative announced he wouldn’t be holding any town-hall meetings after his office began receiving death threats.³
• And in Maryland, protesters hung a Democratic congressman in effigy to oppose health-care reform.⁴

We’ve got a plan to fight back against these radical right-wingers. We’ve hired skilled grassroots organizers who are working with thousands of local volunteers to show Congress that ordinary Americans continue to support President Obama’s agenda for change. And we’re building new online tools to track events across the country and make sure MoveOn members turn out at each one.

But we need to scale up our efforts quickly to make sure this plan works. To really swing into action during this month’s congressional recess, we need to raise at least $250,000 immediately. Can you chip in $20 to support our work?

[link deleted because the idea of giving these morons any money is just too pornographic]

If the shouts of the right-wing mobs are the only voices our senators and representatives hear over the recess, we’ll have a hard time passing health care and clean energy legislation.

That’s why we’re launching our Heat Up Congress campaign so quickly to fight back, using new technology to implement rapid response town hall turnout, organizing personal phone calls from small business leaders and donors to their representatives, running new ads, and activating an energized network of on-the-ground organizers and volunteers.

This month could decide the future of health care and clean energy in America—and we’re already one week in. If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, now’s the time to get involved. Talk to your neighbors, go to a town hall meeting—and today, please chip in $20 to support our work.

First Lie: These aren’t right-wing extremists. They’re US Citizens.

You don’t get a chance to tell me another lie, so I stopped reading after that. Nice try though. Next?

-Mobius-

The Domestic Terrorist