The words "racist" and "racism" have been thrown around so much lately, they have just about lost all useful meaning. The really sad thing is that the accusations, in most cases, are so vague that they can't be answered or defended against. When opposing groups refuse to use the same language in their debates, there can be no possibility of coming to a positive resolution, and these opposing groups are not speaking the same language. They might all sound like English, but sound is all they have in common.
We have, however, been handed a double feature in the news lately that might help to explain some of this. Or maybe they will just lead to more unanswered questions. I'm not really sure. We've had two specific, high-publicity accusations of racism in the press in the last week or so that both share a common (and important to this discussion) feature and comparing them might bring some answers. Those cases are, of course, Rep. Joe Wilson shouting "You Lie" at President Obama during the latter's Congressional speech and hip hop artist Kanye West upstaging Taylor Swift during her VMA award acceptance.
You might be asking yourself, a politician and a performer? What could their cases have in common? (Aside from the obvious. Insert your favorite politician joke here.) What they have in common is this: they've both been accused of racism even though there was nothing overtly racist in their specific speech or actions.
Wilson said two words and, right or wrong, those two words are the opinion of many Americans. There was nothing racial about them. There is certainly no one claiming that only one race lies or that one race never lies. Wilson claims that his moment was an outburst, a momentary loss of temper and restraint. The argument goes that Wilson would not have had that loss of restraint if the President were a white man.
West hijacked a special moment to make an announcement with which many of his fans - and fans of hip hop in general - agree. There was nothing racial in his words. He certainly didn't say that only black women should be nominated in this category nor that white women shouldn't win it. West claims that he was just giving a shout out to a friend and lost his head. The argument goes that West would not have lost his head had any black women won the award, regardless of whether or not she was his specific friend.
Do you see the similarity now? Do you see the comparison? Here's where it gets tricky.
Those who have accused West of racism are now being accused of racism for seeing it where none was overtly evident. To make the claim that "a black man offended against a white woman so it must be racism", you must be a racist. Those making this argument even go so far as to ask, "Where were you when Wilson was disrespecting the President? Why the outrage here and not there?" They are apparently oblivious to the fact that every major news organization on the planet (including the of-so-conservative Fox News) ran articles denouncing Wilson's outburst. Many of those organizations, in fact, immediately jumped on calling Wilson a racist. New York Times columnist (and world famous class and race baiter) Maureen Dowd went so far as to swear that she heard the unspoken word "boy" on the end of Wilson's outburst. You should also keep in mind that the people making this argument are, on the whole, the exact same people who are accusing Wilson of racism. So, in essence, they're saying it's okay to accuse a white man of racism without evidence but it's not okay to accuse a black man of racism without evidence.
Wait a minute. Did I say "without evidence"? It gets better. This is the second time that West has had such an outburst against a white female singer. West has been documented numerous times making racist and racial comments. While this specific incident did not overtly smack of racism, West's history does lead to the question. What is there in Wilson's history that leads to the question of racism? If it exists, I haven't seen it. Have you? Do you honestly believe that, if such evidence existed, Wilson's opponents wouldn't be shouting it from the highest mountain? I don't.
You can't have it both ways. You can't use the racism card when it is convenient to your cause and ignore it when it is not. I can't prove anything in either case and so, you might notice, I haven't accused anyone of anything. I can ask questions, though.
My biggest question is, why aren't you asking these questions?
Showing posts with label Kanye West. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kanye West. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Those Silly Words With Meanings
I was strolling through the comments on the Kanye West fiasco - more of the same; you wouldn't be interested unless you're just obsessed with comments like I am - when I came across another tangent that caught my attention. It's not surprising that West is being accused of racism, though the accusation at this point is a bit overblown. There was nothing overtly racial about this particular incident - and West is usually pretty lacking in subtlety - but his past behavior does lend weight to the accusation. Maybe so. Maybe no. Impossible to prove, one way or the other. What caught my attention, though, was a specific comment on the subject:
"Pointless to post at this point, but traditional definitions yada yada yada … “ism” has to do with positions of power. So, for example, a woman cannot by definition be “sexist” toward men, because the woman is not in a (traditional) position of power."
What? Really? As a writer, I find words to be important and try to stay current and knowledgeable on their meanings and I don't recall the -ism suffix having anything to do with "positions of power". As always when there is a disagreement on meanings, I don't settle for trusting memory. I look it up. Dictionaries are wonderful things.
According to the Mirriam-Webster dictionary, the actual definition of the -ism suffix is:
1 a : act : practice : process b : manner of action or behavior characteristic of a (specified) person or thing c : prejudice or discrimination on the basis of a (specified) attribute
2 a : state : condition : property b : abnormal state or condition resulting from excess of a (specified) thing or marked by resemblance to (such) a person or thing
3 a : doctrine : theory : religion b : adherence to a system or a class of principles
4 : characteristic or peculiar feature or trait
Do you see anything in there about "positions of power"? Because I don't. Tell me, please, what positions of power Buddhism would be about. Doesn't work, does it?
Let's try that dictionary again. Another definition? Well, despite using "sexism" as an example, the person who made the comment was actually arguing about the definition of "racism", so let's look that up. Again, according to Mirriam-Webster:
1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2 : racial prejudice or discrimination
And again, no mention of "positions of power". You can try this experiment with just about any dictionary you care to check (the internet makes this wonderfully easy) and you will not find "positions of power" in the defining component of racism or any of the other isms people might like to discuss in this context. Why not? Because one has nothing to do with the other. Yes, positions of power often make these isms easier but the absence of power doesn't come anywhere close to making them impossible. It doesn't even make them difficult.
This wouldn't bother me quite so much - inability to properly use their own language is a hallmark of idiots and I expect it - except that this mushy thinking is often used to justify the asinine idea that minorities cannot be racist, women cannot be sexist, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth and people who insist on clinging to this false idea are the very people who prevent such isms from being correctable. If you believe that a particular race is inherently superior to another or that one race is inherently inferior to another or that race is the defining factor in all or most aspects of an individual person then you are a racist. If you believe that a particular gender is inherently superior to another or that one gender is inherently inferior to another or that gender is the defining factor in all or most aspects of an individual person then you are a sexist. If you are in a position of power then you have even more ability to cause harm with your particular ism but you do not require a position of power to have the ism.
Words have meaning, people. You can't pretend them away and you won't improve anything by trying to do so.
"Pointless to post at this point, but traditional definitions yada yada yada … “ism” has to do with positions of power. So, for example, a woman cannot by definition be “sexist” toward men, because the woman is not in a (traditional) position of power."
What? Really? As a writer, I find words to be important and try to stay current and knowledgeable on their meanings and I don't recall the -ism suffix having anything to do with "positions of power". As always when there is a disagreement on meanings, I don't settle for trusting memory. I look it up. Dictionaries are wonderful things.
According to the Mirriam-Webster dictionary, the actual definition of the -ism suffix is:
1 a : act : practice : process
2 a : state : condition : property
3 a : doctrine : theory : religion
4 : characteristic or peculiar feature or trait
Do you see anything in there about "positions of power"? Because I don't. Tell me, please, what positions of power Buddhism would be about. Doesn't work, does it?
Let's try that dictionary again. Another definition? Well, despite using "sexism" as an example, the person who made the comment was actually arguing about the definition of "racism", so let's look that up. Again, according to Mirriam-Webster:
1 : a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2 : racial prejudice or discrimination
And again, no mention of "positions of power". You can try this experiment with just about any dictionary you care to check (the internet makes this wonderfully easy) and you will not find "positions of power" in the defining component of racism or any of the other isms people might like to discuss in this context. Why not? Because one has nothing to do with the other. Yes, positions of power often make these isms easier but the absence of power doesn't come anywhere close to making them impossible. It doesn't even make them difficult.
This wouldn't bother me quite so much - inability to properly use their own language is a hallmark of idiots and I expect it - except that this mushy thinking is often used to justify the asinine idea that minorities cannot be racist, women cannot be sexist, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth and people who insist on clinging to this false idea are the very people who prevent such isms from being correctable. If you believe that a particular race is inherently superior to another or that one race is inherently inferior to another or that race is the defining factor in all or most aspects of an individual person then you are a racist. If you believe that a particular gender is inherently superior to another or that one gender is inherently inferior to another or that gender is the defining factor in all or most aspects of an individual person then you are a sexist. If you are in a position of power then you have even more ability to cause harm with your particular ism but you do not require a position of power to have the ism.
Words have meaning, people. You can't pretend them away and you won't improve anything by trying to do so.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Video Award Stupidity
If you follow music entertainment news at all (and probably if you just casually follow the news at all) then you are no doubt already aware of the uproar caused yesterday when Taylor Swift won the MTV Video Music Award (VMA) for Best Female Video and hip hop star Kanye West jumped on stage,took the mic from her, and basically announced that someone else (in this case, fellow hip hop star Beyonce) should have won instead. I was going to write a post denouncing this tactless, boorish behavior, but then I continued reading. My conclusion was: What's the point? I have denounced Kanye West in the past - he is a no-class loser and he insists on demonstrating that fact almost every time he goes out in public - but music fans as a whole are so much in arms that they really don't need one more cheer leader. Besides, I found something else in those comments to attract my attention.
While most people who have commented on this topic have been very angry or disappointed with West's behavior (most depending on where their emotional/fan state started from), there have been some defenders of West who state that he was "just speaking the truth". I would put those people in the same "no-class loser" category as West, but they're not really my point here. If you aren't clever enough to know that, truth or not, dashing on a young lady's (a young lady who is almost universally considered to be one of the nicest, sweetest people in modern entertainment, no less) special moment instead of waiting until a more appropriate time is not acceptable, civilized behavior, no amount of words from me is going to fix you. Actually, that "just speaking the truth" part of the story is my point here.
See, I'm confused. I - unlike some of these other people, apparently - completely understand that entertainment is mostly subjective, not objective. It is mostly about personal tastes and opinions, not about measurable, empirical data. Some of it, however, is objective. You can objectively tell whether or not a person knows how to play a piano with skill, regardless of your opinion on the particular songs that person might choose to play. I don't know, I hope you can. That seems to me to be a pretty simple thing, but this is where I'm confused.
There are three classes of comments that are the cause of my confusion. There is the already mentioned "just telling the truth argument" but there is also a related argument from the other side. That argument says, "Obviously Beyonce's video was better, but Kanye shouldn't have done it that way." And finally - and this one goes back to the Kanye defenders - there is the argument that says "Taylor Swift has no talent anyway."
I'll take them in reverse order because that will be easiest. That's purely objective.
You cannot honestly make the claim that Taylor Swift has no talent unless you are completely oblivious to reality. You can easily claim that her particular talent is not to your taste, but that's not the same thing. Just because you don't like the particular, specific results of her talent does not negate the talent itself. As a whole, I dislike the rap genre. Over the last 20 years I can probably count the number of rap songs I've actually enjoyed on one hand, two if I'm feeling extra generous. (Here's a funny Full Disclosure for you: Kanye West actually has one of those songs.) I still recognize the talents involved with certain artists despite the fact that I don't personally care for the results of those talents. So you don't like country music. This prevents you from recognizing the talents of a teenage girl who writes most of her own songs, directs many of her own videos, and - at 19 years old - has a career that many senior entertainers would envy? I'm sorry, that's just blind stupidity.
I can handle the other two arguments in one blow because they're really the same argument, just the polite version and the rude version. That argument says that Beyonce's video was obviously better than Taylor's and "everyone knows" that Beyonce should have won that award. Here's a clue for you people: that's a subjective opinion and cannot be proven one way or the other. Sure, you can pile up objective facts about the videos - technical features like use of lighting, videography, photography quality, editing, etc. - and, if those facts carry a significant amount of weight, you can probably lean toward an objective statement of which video is better. In certain extreme cases you might be able to make an objective statement - for example, if I were to make a music video, you would probably have no trouble objectively stating that either of these two ladies' videos was better - but in the end it still comes down to one person's opinion of how well those facts came together to form a whole versus another person's opinion. It's still subjective. You cannot objectively state that Kanye West was "just telling the truth" and that Beyonce's video was "obviously better".
Shall we compare objective facts about the two videos? I actually sat through them both to form my own opinion, so I would find such a comparison worthwhile. Swift's video is a classic story video, with characters acting out roles per the lyrics of the song. There is no dialogue in the video, so it's all physical acting and I didn't see any significant problems there. The girl opposite Swift could have been better but she was also supposed to be a stereotype, so that may have been intentional. Lighting, editing, sound, etc. all seemed to be of the expected professional caliber. Beyonce's video was black and white and featured three women dancing in bathing suits on a featureless stage with shifting lighting effects. I'm not being facetious here. That's literally all there was. Again, there were no glaring technical issues. The lighting effects were put to good use and the women demonstrated the expected dancing talent. I personally found the dance to be somewhat repetitive and not able to hold the attention for the length of an entire song (unless of course you're looking at the women and not actually watching the video as a video), but that's my own subjective taste. If you prefer your music videos to have something to do with the song then the preponderance of the evidence would be in Taylor's favor. If you prefer dancing videos then the preponderance of the evidence would be in Beyonce's favor. If you truly believe that the bulk of the music video watching audience is specifically one or the other then you need serious psychological help.
In short, label me as one of those who actually does believe that Taylor had the better video and deserved the award (at least between those two - I didn't watch the others since they weren't the argument), but I accept that as a subjective statement. If you believe that Beyonce had the better video, that's your subjective opinion and you're welcome to it. What you're not welcome to is the claim that there is some objective standard by which you are right and I am wrong. Beyonce was not ripped off. There were simply people who didn't agree with you and their subjective opinions carried more weight.
I almost feel like I should thank Kanye for giving me something amusing to write about outside of politics but, instead, I'll just offer some free advice. Get some help. You are obviously spinning out of control and when that leads to being an obnoxious bully toward a 19-year-old girl and destroying a memory she'll never get to have again, I'd say you've crossed a line.
Congratulations on your VMA, Taylor. And, for the record, Beyonce too Video of the Year, so congratulations to her as well.
While most people who have commented on this topic have been very angry or disappointed with West's behavior (most depending on where their emotional/fan state started from), there have been some defenders of West who state that he was "just speaking the truth". I would put those people in the same "no-class loser" category as West, but they're not really my point here. If you aren't clever enough to know that, truth or not, dashing on a young lady's (a young lady who is almost universally considered to be one of the nicest, sweetest people in modern entertainment, no less) special moment instead of waiting until a more appropriate time is not acceptable, civilized behavior, no amount of words from me is going to fix you. Actually, that "just speaking the truth" part of the story is my point here.
See, I'm confused. I - unlike some of these other people, apparently - completely understand that entertainment is mostly subjective, not objective. It is mostly about personal tastes and opinions, not about measurable, empirical data. Some of it, however, is objective. You can objectively tell whether or not a person knows how to play a piano with skill, regardless of your opinion on the particular songs that person might choose to play. I don't know, I hope you can. That seems to me to be a pretty simple thing, but this is where I'm confused.
There are three classes of comments that are the cause of my confusion. There is the already mentioned "just telling the truth argument" but there is also a related argument from the other side. That argument says, "Obviously Beyonce's video was better, but Kanye shouldn't have done it that way." And finally - and this one goes back to the Kanye defenders - there is the argument that says "Taylor Swift has no talent anyway."
I'll take them in reverse order because that will be easiest. That's purely objective.
You cannot honestly make the claim that Taylor Swift has no talent unless you are completely oblivious to reality. You can easily claim that her particular talent is not to your taste, but that's not the same thing. Just because you don't like the particular, specific results of her talent does not negate the talent itself. As a whole, I dislike the rap genre. Over the last 20 years I can probably count the number of rap songs I've actually enjoyed on one hand, two if I'm feeling extra generous. (Here's a funny Full Disclosure for you: Kanye West actually has one of those songs.) I still recognize the talents involved with certain artists despite the fact that I don't personally care for the results of those talents. So you don't like country music. This prevents you from recognizing the talents of a teenage girl who writes most of her own songs, directs many of her own videos, and - at 19 years old - has a career that many senior entertainers would envy? I'm sorry, that's just blind stupidity.
I can handle the other two arguments in one blow because they're really the same argument, just the polite version and the rude version. That argument says that Beyonce's video was obviously better than Taylor's and "everyone knows" that Beyonce should have won that award. Here's a clue for you people: that's a subjective opinion and cannot be proven one way or the other. Sure, you can pile up objective facts about the videos - technical features like use of lighting, videography, photography quality, editing, etc. - and, if those facts carry a significant amount of weight, you can probably lean toward an objective statement of which video is better. In certain extreme cases you might be able to make an objective statement - for example, if I were to make a music video, you would probably have no trouble objectively stating that either of these two ladies' videos was better - but in the end it still comes down to one person's opinion of how well those facts came together to form a whole versus another person's opinion. It's still subjective. You cannot objectively state that Kanye West was "just telling the truth" and that Beyonce's video was "obviously better".
Shall we compare objective facts about the two videos? I actually sat through them both to form my own opinion, so I would find such a comparison worthwhile. Swift's video is a classic story video, with characters acting out roles per the lyrics of the song. There is no dialogue in the video, so it's all physical acting and I didn't see any significant problems there. The girl opposite Swift could have been better but she was also supposed to be a stereotype, so that may have been intentional. Lighting, editing, sound, etc. all seemed to be of the expected professional caliber. Beyonce's video was black and white and featured three women dancing in bathing suits on a featureless stage with shifting lighting effects. I'm not being facetious here. That's literally all there was. Again, there were no glaring technical issues. The lighting effects were put to good use and the women demonstrated the expected dancing talent. I personally found the dance to be somewhat repetitive and not able to hold the attention for the length of an entire song (unless of course you're looking at the women and not actually watching the video as a video), but that's my own subjective taste. If you prefer your music videos to have something to do with the song then the preponderance of the evidence would be in Taylor's favor. If you prefer dancing videos then the preponderance of the evidence would be in Beyonce's favor. If you truly believe that the bulk of the music video watching audience is specifically one or the other then you need serious psychological help.
In short, label me as one of those who actually does believe that Taylor had the better video and deserved the award (at least between those two - I didn't watch the others since they weren't the argument), but I accept that as a subjective statement. If you believe that Beyonce had the better video, that's your subjective opinion and you're welcome to it. What you're not welcome to is the claim that there is some objective standard by which you are right and I am wrong. Beyonce was not ripped off. There were simply people who didn't agree with you and their subjective opinions carried more weight.
I almost feel like I should thank Kanye for giving me something amusing to write about outside of politics but, instead, I'll just offer some free advice. Get some help. You are obviously spinning out of control and when that leads to being an obnoxious bully toward a 19-year-old girl and destroying a memory she'll never get to have again, I'd say you've crossed a line.
Congratulations on your VMA, Taylor. And, for the record, Beyonce too Video of the Year, so congratulations to her as well.
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