"I think you're hot for a black lady, which clearly makes me the least racist person in the world."
[Ed. note: based on the side-eye Serena is giving him, Trump clearly said something waaaay more offensive than that.]
#2. Facebook. Why does nobody else think this shit is crazy? Especially friends who long railed against it, but who have now waved the white flag. Now I am just one of a few old crotchety assholes left who are not on it.
#3. The imperialistic, blood-lusty tones that many 'celebrations' of the death of Osama bin Laden took on. I mean, armed or unarmed, human shield or no human shield -- even when dealing with terrorist masterminds, these are important distinctions, no? And I understand I express this sentiment unencumbered by the loss of loved ones on 9/11, but fighting fire with fire just means that everyone gets burned.
#4. The idea of a live-action Akira film.
#5. The idea of a live-action Akira film with a white cast.
Tetsuo? Is that you?
#6. Odd Future hype--enough already...you can count me out on this one. I don't get all of the fawning and claims of edginess and originality. A truly original and edgy hip-hop album would be doggedly feminist. But now Thom Yorke likes them too?? My feelings are sort of like this:
If Tyler hates the status quo so much, maybe he shouldn't be constantly propping it up in songs and on the Internet. And I don't mean to say that art can't be disturbing or even obscene. But what message does Tyler's lyrics on Bastard and now Goblin send to hip-hop artists like MC Lyte, Jean Grae, Empress Stahhr, etc? I hope OFWGKTA grow out of that teenage American male mindset (kinda like the Beastie Boys did) and end up using their talents for good."Odd Future's defenders in the media emphasise Tyler's technical skills – and it's true that his gift for assonance and internal rhymes is impressive. But his talent is only half the story: the shtick they use it for is played out. And it undermines the rest of his aesthetic: he demands our empathy at every turn for his own tough life, but is too limited an artist to show empathy for people who, with all due respect, suffer much more on a daily basis than growing up in a single-parent household. Tyler's model of male anger ends up feeling a lot more like male privilege – and as conservative and regressive as that implies."
--Alex Macpherson, Guardian UK
#7. Ubiquitous beer commercials that are constantly telling me to 'man up' by drinking only the most watery brands of beer, presumably so scantily clad ladies can immediately start paying me more attention.
#8. Not adding anything to this blog for months...but then spending too much time on a blog post. Though it would help if Blogger wasn't routinely deleting or losing all of my work, even after saving. I guess Trump, Zuckerberg, the U.S. military, potential white Tetsuos, Odd Future fans, and Miller Lite didn't like what I had to say and are conspiring to erase my feelings...
3 comments:
I love it when you get all worked up and start throwing fire around.
1. Donald Trump may very well be racist, but his racism is only like the sixth thing wrong with him, and we have better things than to worry about than a needy megalomaniac whose flirtation with political office was, at best, a public relations ploy to get his shitty reality show renewed for another season. Which worked, by the way.
2. To paraphrase an astute social commentator: “Just like the printing press, telephone, radio, and T.V. before me, [Facebook is] not the next step in human evolution and [it’s] not the downfall of social interactions. [Facebook is] as vapid or profound as you humans make [it].”
I used to feel the same way, but I honestly cannot remember why. Having joined Facebook, I can now write with firsthand knowledge that Facebook is, quite simply, just boring. I mean, if getting updates about what your cousins are making for dinner and what shitty movies a high-school acquaintance’s five-year-old is watching interests you at all (and it shouldn’t), then I can see how Facebook could be cool. The desire to live in public, to have an audience for whatever bland observations you may have about the world, does seem attractive, I guess. It can make one feel less alone, less disconnected from a seemingly cold and uncaring world. But mostly, it's people trying to seem hipper/cooler/more interesting, and watching that is always incredibly dull.
3. The United States is never more ugly than when its blood lust goes on full display. Osama bin Laden served as the symbolic face of Islamic terrorism, and for those among us who need their evil packaged and marketed in an easily understandable and digestible caricature, then his murder was a triumph, indeed. However, the despicable way in which the president announced bin Laden’s death ("Today's achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people."), and the impromptu public celebrations that resulted from that announcement, just illustrated how grotesque and evil this country can be. American exceptionalism is false, no matter how many middle-aged men we murder in their million-dollar homes.
6. The Guardian article you linked to was one of the best things I’ve read about Odd Future. And then there’s this completely on-the-mark comment from, of all places, Tegan and Sara: “I don’t think race or class actually has anything to do with [Tyler, the Creator’s] hateful message but has EVERYTHING to do with why everyone refuses to admonish him for that message.”
My gripe is simply with the echo chamber that has become music commentary. For two years, blogs were full of nothing but praise for Odd Future. Then, when that hype reaches its tipping point, (usually around the time that the New York Times finally gets around to doing a profile), that praise turns into scrutiny and outrage. Everything in this vacuum is a reaction: “Oh, you haven’t heard of this thing? They are the best.” And that inevitably becomes, “Oh, everybody has heard of this thing. That shit is terrible.”
Personally, I see Odd Future for what they are: promoters of their particular version of teenage rebellion, with all the immaturity and nihilism that comes with that. The fact that they spout gay slurs and rape threats is just part and parcel of their own myopic world view. Does that make their songs less interesting to me? Yes, but it is precisely that “controversial” aspect that will keep them in magazines and The New Yorker for a few more years, long after the Internet has found a new Next Best Thing.
Re #2: Don't listen to anything that guy said three and a half years ago. That dude is an idiot. E-communication has definitely changed us, it's just a matter of figuring out exactly in what way.
Re #6: I do feel a bit dirty in that my distaste for Odd Future makes me strange bedfellows with people -- see Fox News/Sarah Palin, who called Common (fucking Common Sense, for chrissakes) "vile" -- who are anti-hip-hop in general, and who may be racist-y in that they may think Odd future is just another example of the 'monstrous black man' -- no -- that's not it. It's more that I don't agree with the conservative politics on display: 'us vs other' and straight males > females, gays'... which, admittedly, plagues all of hip-hop (though usually to a somewhat lesser extent). Complicating matters a bit more is the fact that the group's DJ/producer, Syd, is a lesbian-- although, it should be noted, she doesn't have a 'voice' on any Odd Future song that I know of..
But you're exactly right about the teenage rebellion part, see: the Sex Pistols, GG Allin, 2 Live Crew, Body Count, Brotha Lynch Hung, Necro, Cannibal Corpse, Eminem, etc. And this is precisely why the music media and fans calling Odd Future 'ground-breaking' drives me nuts.
OF takedown from Tiger Beatdown. Now I swear to never put another word about Odd Future on the Internet.
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