I'm running behind but wanted to post this before yet another day passes with no sign of pulse on the blog. Noemie Emery in The Examiner:
Now that the Obama presidency is nearing the 60-day mark, it’s time to thank those fastidious scribes on the left and the right who worked so hard to warn us against Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, and the dire things that would surely occur if she ever got close to executive power.
How right they were to insist that she was unfit for high office. Let’s just imagine what she might have done:
As president, she might have caused the stock market to plunge over 2,000 points in the six weeks after she assumed office, left important posts in the Treasury unfilled for two months, been described by insiders as ‘overwhelmed’ by the office, and then gone on to diss the British Prime Minister on his first state visit, giving him, as one head of state to another, a set of DVDs plucked from the aisles of Wal Mart, a tasteful gift, even if they can’t be played on a TV in Britain. (Note, the Prime Minister, who is losing his eyesight, may even be blind in one eye).
As vice president, she might have told Katie Couric that when the stock market crashed in 1929, President Franklin D. Roosevelt went on TV to reassure a terrified nation. Or on her first trip abroad as Secretary of State, she might have, as the AP reported, “raised eyebrows on her first visit to Europe...when she mispronounced her “EU counterparts names and claimed U.S. democracy was older than Europe’s,” then gave the Russian minister a gag “reset” button, on which the word “reset” was translated incorrectly.
What a good thing that Palin, whom Christopher Buckley called “an embarrassment, and a dangerous one,” wasn’t in office to cause such debacles, and that we have Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Hillary Clinton instead.
Read the whole entry. It had to be said, and she said it quite well. Imagine the outrageous howls we'd be hearing with these set of facts under a President Sarah Palin.
Most everyone, I presume, has heard that Oprah is dedicating her show Thursday to the issue of Chris Brown beating up Rihanna, in general, and domestic violence, in particular. Tyra Banks, apparently, is the hook they are using to script the thing out. This may or may not be a good thing, we'll have to wait and see, but for the first time in a long, long time Oprah is going to be appointment viewing for me. I can't see the original show that afternoon but will be able to see the local 10 p.m. re-airing of her daily program.
Take this to the bank: I will have some very definite comments afterwards based on what I see.
Where is the shame in the game, ladies and gentlemen?
This rambling post will nominally be about two male artists (Musiq and Chris Brown) but might as well be an open question to all of African America, in particular, and all of America, in general. Years ago a line developed in the black community that you could hear all over the place; don't hate the player, hate the game. Another version that seems pulled straight from the underground economy was this: there's no shame in my game. Thus my question many years later: have we no shame, no self-respect? Have we completely tossed away everything, even admirable pretense, regarding male-female standards of conduct?
Before discussing this subject further, I attempted to test the Grooveshark widget this morning by directly posting from their site to this blog. That test, as we used to say in the Army, was a "no go." So, here's the selection I wanted to post. First, some of the lyrics from Musiq's fantastic single, Buddy:
[Verse 1:] Pardon me, darling . . . if I alarmed you I don't mean to bother you I just wanna Get you to pause and slow your walk so Maybe we can talk and I can try to charm you (I'm) Just trying find out who you are I don't mean to come off like a telemarketer I ain't no hood, no crook, no robber I just wanna part of your heart I can borrow
(sometimes)
[bridge:] and maybe I could call you up (sometimes) And maybe I can take you out (sometimes) So let's exchange digits and later arrange visits Either your place or mine (yeah) This a different type of commitment (yeah) I'm talking 'bout a true friendship (yeah) Someone I can depend on To be down no matter what Let me know if you with it 'cause girl-llllll
[chorus:] It would be fly if you were b-u-d-d-y Don't be shy, give it a try I could be yours and you could be mine I can't lie it would be fly if you were my b-u-d-d-y Don't be shy give it a try I could be yours if you could be mine
And here's the actual tune:
Yep, I love this song; the guy has a great sound and is illustrative of what we have largely thrown away in the black community in the decades-long rush toward braggadocious thuggery that can only conceive of women as chickenhead service providers. We're now treated to the disheartening and somewhat sickening spectacle of Chris Brown beating up a black woman (bigtime music star, Rihanna) . . . and many ordinary black women actually defending him. For all that I know, Musiq may be just as bad in his relationships with women. Who knows? But his music has a different vibe, one that reaches back to an aspirational time when black guys weren't pressured to be so superficially callous, shallow and absolutely demeaning to women. Hell, entertainers by definition are superficially callous and shallow without any sort of inherent, internal pressure from the community that gives birth to them futher requiring that they actually live down to such an embarrassing standard.
[1] I just shake my head at the sadness of it all; [2] personally, I had never knowingly heard of or seen Chris Brown before this incident. I hope he fades away into irrelevance.
I'm not going to castigate Rihanna (I love the chick!) for apparently taking him back; a man and a woman have to handle their business and I know that can be a very complicated thing. She's caught up in the relationship. I understand that. However, we (the outside parties) have a responsibility to attach severe shame to his behavior. I see that as our job, our role, in reinforcing what is and is not responsible behavior. What will and will not be tolerated. In my estimation, we do an incredibly poor job of this in the black community.
Yes, we are all sinners and yes, personal responsibility mandates that I put myself number one on my own personal list of known sinners. I also know there's a long history of this in our overall community. But . . . has there ever been a time where a lesser-known male star has beaten up a bigger female star and survived the shame of such a punkish act?
Could the disparity between Barack and Michelle vs. Chris and Rihanna be any greater? Is there something of substance to discuss here or nothing more than a blip on the screen? Is all of this reducible to a mathematical certainty of a young couple getting in a fight and boyfriend beats up girlfriend? Separate and apart from politics, this Rihanna/Chris Brown situation presents an instance where the Barack/Michelle coupling has to be used to change the dysfunctional dynamic now prevalent in Black America's popular culture. We'll see if this possible discussion is embraced or buried.
The Keith Urban thing from a few days ago has me in something of a music mode. Nothing deep, nothing obsessive; I'm just amazed, though, at the technological leap that removes you from browsing used record stores and -- at the click of your mouse -- allows you to hear old favorites. Or completely removes you from any record store and allows you to sample or fully hear all kinds of new music.
I'm almost tempted to feel sorry for kids these days. Almost. How do they get work done with so many phenomenal stimuli floating around within easy reach?
Back to the music mode thing; I'm going to test out a Grooveshark Widget in this post; a selection from Darius Rucker (Don't Think I Don't Think About It) should play once clicked by you, dear reader:
My goodness, I love it when new technology works as advertised! Yes, I really do appreciate Darius Rucker and what he's trying to do with his music. This probably won't work out or, at the very least, I'll be wildly inconsistent with it, but I'm hoping to periodically post music selections via Grooveshark on this blog.
Recent Comments