| Author |
Message |
    
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 11534
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 5:58 pm: |     |
December 22, 2005
Op-Ed Columnist
Blowing the Whistle on Gangsta Culture
By BOB HERBERT
BOSTON
Edwin "E. J." Duncan was a young man from a decent family who spent a great deal of time with his friends in an amateur recording studio his parents had set up for him in the basement of their home in the Dorchester neighborhood.
It was in that studio that Duncan, along with three of his closest friends, was murdered last week, shot to death by a killer or killers who have yet to be found. Whoever carried out the executions, it seems clear enough to me that young Duncan and his friends were among the latest victims of the profoundly self-destructive cultural influences that have spread like a cancer through much of the black community and beyond.
I keep wondering when leaders of eminence will step forward and declare, unambiguously, that enough is enough, as they did in the heyday of the civil rights movement, when the enemy was white racism.
It is time to blow the whistle on the nitwits who have so successfully promoted a values system that embraces murder, drug-dealing, gang membership, misogyny, child abandonment and a sense of self so diseased that it teaches children to view the men in their orbit as niggaz and the women as hoes.
However this madness developed, it's time to bring it to an end.
I noticed that Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, Snoop Dogg and other "leaders" and celebrities turned out in South Central Los Angeles on Tuesday for the funeral of Stanley "Tookie" Williams, the convicted killer and co-founder of the Crips street gang who was executed in California last week.
I remember talking over the years to parents in Los Angeles and elsewhere who were petrified that their children would be killed in cold blood - summarily executed, without any possibility of a defense or an appeal - by the Crips or some other gang because they just happened to be wearing the wrong color cap or jacket or whatever.
The enthusiastic turnout at Tookie Williams's funeral tells you much of what you need to know about the current state of black leadership in the U.S.
The slaughter of E. J. Duncan, who was 21, and his friends - Jason Bachiller, 21; Jihad Chankhour, 22; and Christopher Vieira, 19 - was all but literally accompanied by a hip-hop soundtrack. Duncan, Bachiller and Vieira were members of a rap group called Graveside, which favored the rough language and violent imagery that has enthralled so many youngsters and bolstered the bottom lines of major entertainment companies.
This mindless celebration of violence, the essence of gangsta rap, is a reflection of the nihilism that has taken root in one neighborhood after another over the past few decades, destroying many, many lives. The authorities here have not suggested that Duncan or his friends were involved in any criminal behavior. But the appeal of the hip-hop environment is strong, and a lot of good kids are striving to conform to images established by clowns like 50 Cent and Snoop Dogg.
The members of Graveside wanted badly to make it as rappers. Said one police officer, "They probably didn't even know they were playing with fire."
The Rev. Eugene Rivers, who has been fighting for years to reduce youth violence in Boston and elsewhere, was a neighbor of E. J. Duncan's. "My son Malcolm knew E. J. well," he told me.
He described the murders as a massacre and said he has long been worried about the glorification of violence and antisocial behavior. "Thug life," he said, "is now being globalized," thanks to the powerful marketing influence of international corporations.
This problem is not limited to the black community. E. J. Duncan and his friends came from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. But it is primarily a black problem, and it is impossible to overstate its dimensions.
I understand that jobs are hard to come by for many people, and that many schools are substandard, and that racial discrimination is still widespread. But those are not good reasons for committing cultural suicide.
I'll paraphrase Sam Cooke: A change has got to come. Reasonable standards of behavior that include real respect for life, learning and the law have to be re-established in those segments of the black community where chaos now reigns.
This has to start with a commitment to protect and nurture all of the community's children. That may seem at the moment like a task worthy of Sisyphus because it will require overcoming what the Rev. Rivers has described as "the sins of the fathers who have cursed their sons by their abandonment and neglect."
Sisyphean or not, it's a job that has to be done.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
|
Meandtheboys
Citizen
Username: Meandtheboys
Post Number: 2471
Registered: 12-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 6:16 pm: | |
Wow!
Thanks for posting that Tom. |
Lester Jacobs
Citizen
Username: Lester
Post Number: 70
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 8:25 pm: | |
Wow!! Great post Tom. It really exposes today's so called black leaders for the opportunists they really are. |
Duncan
Supporter
Username: Duncanrogers
Post Number: 5352
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 8:31 pm: | |
Stunning, Tom. Again a good find. Bill Cosby seems to be the only AA male speaking out on anything even close to this subject. Proving, once again, it is all about the bottom line. |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 1107
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 9:47 pm: | |
Bravo for Bob Herbert's taking a strong stand against a destructive element. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 11537
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 10:43 pm: | |
But I wonder. Does the nihilistic culture glorify death too much? Or is it merely that we don't celebrate life enough? Kinda like how you don't add darkness to a room, you remove light.
Bob Herbert is almost always this good. He asks the tough questions. His columns often make me uncomfortable. That's a good thing.
|
bklyntonj
Citizen
Username: Bklyntonj
Post Number: 545
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 8:28 am: | |
Tom, what motivated you to post this article?
Also, Herbert is wrong by calling Snoop Dogg a clown! Snoop runs a football little league for over 1200 kids that never gets media attention.
There are many other black leaders who speak out against "thug life". Going to Stanley "Tookie" William's funeral does not mean you support gangs. If a member of your family goes astray, do you forever turn your back on them? Even at death?
I do agree its a problem that needs to be addressed but why did you feel the need to post it on this message board Tom? |
Duncan
Supporter
Username: Duncanrogers
Post Number: 5359
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 8:38 am: | |
bklyntonj. my guess is he posted this because it speaks to a number of discussions that have been had on this board regarding lawlessness, cameras in maplewood, etc. This is just another hunk of meat for the stew is all.
Do you disagree with the entire article? You are right about Snoop and his f-ball team. But is the rest of the article wrong?
By now you should know Tom adds stuff that somehow points to another discussion. Rarely does he post something that has no relevance to a previous or ongoing discussion. |
bklyntonj
Citizen
Username: Bklyntonj
Post Number: 547
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 8:49 am: | |
Duncan, Happy Holidays to you. Long time no hear...
I'm in absolute agreement with the article but I'm not in agreement with the people he singled out! He didn't do his homework on them.
As for Tom, I'll wait to hear it from him. |
Guy
Supporter
Username: Vandalay
Post Number: 1351
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 8:56 am: | |
This from Spike " they blew up the levees" Lee.
“Young black kids didn’t grow up wanting to be a pimp or a stripper like they do now,” Lee said of his own youth. You might think I’m making generalizations, but I don’t think I am. That’s how serious this stuff is.”
…
“We do not all think and talk alike, and I’ve been struggling to get that message through Hollywood,” Lee said. “And I will continue to bring that message.”
Many of hip-hop’s heroes amount to minstrel performers in Lee’s opinion. The pimping and gangsta personas are what sells right now, Lee said, and rappers may not be wearing blackface, but they are presenting an image of what it means to be black like minstrel shows of the late 19th and early 20th centuries
http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051103/NEWS01/511030414/1006/ NEWS |
LW
Citizen
Username: Lrw
Post Number: 57
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 9:28 am: | |
BKLYNTONJ--My thoughts exactly! The entire time that I was reading the article, I was also waiting for the punchline; or perhaps some commentary from TOM at the end.
GUY--Thanks for the quote from Spike Lee, I think that the man is a story-telling genius, and those few remarks speak volumes of the "Black experience". |
dougw
Citizen
Username: Dougw
Post Number: 639
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 9:32 am: | |
Tom why did you post a photo of Bob Herbert? You don't usually do that with other op/eds that you post, do you? |
Hoops
Citizen
Username: Hoops
Post Number: 671
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 9:35 am: | |
I dont buy it. Dorchester is a nice little section in a tough urban town. Herbert makes a leap of logic that contains nothing in it to connect these men as aspiring rappers with the content of their rap or the 'Gansta culture' except for the fact that they were murdered.
It was in that studio that Duncan, along with three of his closest friends, was murdered last week, shot to death by a killer or killers who have yet to be found. Whoever carried out the executions, it seems clear enough to me that young Duncan and his friends were among the latest victims of the profoundly self-destructive cultural influences that have spread like a cancer through much of the black community and beyond.
It doesnt seem clear to me. Dorchester is a mostly Irish catholic area. This crime could have been racially motivated, it could have had something to do with drugs, or anything else that can be imagined. He provides no details to let us know one way or the other. Herberts sentiments are clear and no one should argue that we should not be tossing around words like 'niggaz' and 'bitches' in the context of endearment and yet believe it or not that is exactly what they have become to some.
I am not defending bloods, crips, latin kings or any other criminal organization but I am likewise not demonizing rap music.
I can sympathinze with Herberts nostalgia for times gone by when there was a real civil rights movement and there were true social leaders not out for a buck but out for the good of the people. The fact that somehow the movement for equal rights has morphed into a laissez faire attitude among some, the message can still be found in rap music.
actual news article on the murders shows that 71 people have been murdered this year in Boston |
Fight the power
Citizen
Username: Tookiew
Post Number: 8
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 9:41 am: | |
Why is it that black culture is always blamed for being violent and nihilistic? Did African Americans make the decision to drop the atomic bomb on civilian populations? Did African Americans make the decision to invade another country because of made up reasons? Did African Americans decide to stay in a war based on a constantly shifting muck of justifications? What about the white culture of violence and nihilism? Why aren't white leaders blamed for not attacking that? |
dougw
Citizen
Username: Dougw
Post Number: 641
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 9:49 am: | |
I think Colin Powell and Condolezza Rice are black. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 11548
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 10:27 am: | |
The picture of Herbert was so to make it clear that he wasn't yet another white guy criticizing black culture.
I disagreed with plenty of things in it. In fact, it bugged me that he focused so much on blacks. In the later sections, he points out that this nihilism is infiltrating all of us, not just blacks, so thank goodness for that. And isn't that the essential point? Who cares where it originates? It's affecting all of us, whether it affects us directly or not, whether it's today or tomorrow.
I disagree with Duncan's characterization of me. While I did post this because it was relevant to other recent discussions, I do occasionally try to bring an original idea here.
|
JerryC
Citizen
Username: Jerryc
Post Number: 209
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 10:37 am: | |
Great post, Tom. I started reading the followup posts from the top and I knew it was only a matter of time before I found the usual head in the sand denial. I'm happy to see that Cosby is not alone in his criticism of black leadership.
The article in today's Star Ledger only confirms that much of this leadership is working hard toward making sure that youths do nothing to accept responsibility for their actions. Let's just put the handcuffs on our police and let the criminals run free. |
dougw
Citizen
Username: Dougw
Post Number: 650
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 11:04 am: | |
I understand why you posted the photo Tom. I think it is sad that you had to do so. I generally stay away from discussing race issues for the same reason. Some people feel that only blacks can criticize blacks. That is really sad. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 11551
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 11:10 am: | |
I agree that we all should feel free to criticize as well as praise, when appropriate. I should be clear about that. Perhaps you're right about the picture. The words ought to stand on their own.
|
bklyntonj
Citizen
Username: Bklyntonj
Post Number: 548
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 11:22 am: | |
JerryC, I have agreed with you on many points and on the situation as a whole re: Jacoby St. but your latest post is way off base. That's exactly why I say blacks need to handle their issues amongst themselves, too many people telling them how they should and should not go about handling their business and their reactions.
And as far as Bill Cosby, most blacks disagree with him addressing the issues he did in public, not with what he said. Only comments I've ever heard of him being the only AA speaking out against these issues have come from people who have no ear to the black community.
I'll go out on a limb and say all AAs want the violence and drugs and ... to stop in our communities and abroad, its a matter of making sure the ways the problems and/or people causing the problems are dealt with are humane.
Many think blacks are too sensitive but if someone's been kicking your butt for as long you can remember and they ease up on the butt kickings a little bit, would you be convinced that they won't start up again? Or, to use a football analogy, how many coaches call the opposing team to ask them the best way to score on their defense or defend their offense?
Stereotypes are something we all form to develop our own way of dealing with life as we know it. JerryC, what sterotype did you your last comment support? |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 11555
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 11:30 am: | |
Bklyntonj, what do you mean when you say the problem was that Cosby brought the issues up in public? Do you mean within earshot of those who are not black? What would you hope him to do? Write in magazines that only blacks read?
|
Duncan
Supporter
Username: Duncanrogers
Post Number: 5363
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 11:45 am: | |
Tom... I apologize and in no way meant to imply that you don't bring original things to the board. More often than not you do. I read it as corrolary to another thread going on. So accept my apology for misrepresenting your intent.
I lived in Boston and Dorchester, when I lived there, was not mostly Irish...South Boston was mostly Irish. Dorchester from the Piano Factory to over to JP was, and is as far as I know from the people who still live there, is predominately african american.
There is a lot to disagree with in the piece, sadly there is a lot to agree with as well.
|
Phenixrising
Citizen
Username: Phenixrising
Post Number: 1341
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 11:46 am: | |
“But the massacre of four young men in the house next door to Rivers' Dorchester home have shown Rivers and other community activists that no one is safe from the violence that has pushed Boston's murder rate to its highest in a decade.”
Why blame this killing on “Gangsta Rap”? We don't know the circumstances concerning these deaths. As reported, a car is missing from one of the victims. Could it be robbery? A feud? All kinds of scenarios could unravel.
Like other areas you have the “good” and the “bad” sections of town. This happened in the “good” section of town that happens to be mixed. According to my Mom, there's been killing in different sections of Beantown and the murder toll this year has been devastating. Personally, I can’t stand the stuff (gangsta rap), however, because these young men were “aspiring” rappers, it’s automatic that it had to do with the music?
Rappers references to women as b##chs and hoes and the usage of the N-word is deplorable. Glorifying the “gang" or "thug" life is right up there too. These messages and images are broadcast globally, they have become the lens through which the world now sees this. I agree with Herbert on this, however, to blame these murders on gansta rap? Then lets include “heavy metal”, “hard rock” et al.
Here’s an example of the band KoRns lyrics:
"Day, is here fading
My time, has gone away
I flirt with suicide
Sometimes kill the pain" (KoRn)
Should we blame all teen suicides on these lyrics? There’s an underlying problem that goes deeper than the lyrics from this song. It's called teen depression or a teens cry for help.
Parents have to be aware of what their kids are listening, watching and doing. A good education on positive growth starts from home… not from the lyrics of a song.
|
bklyntonj
Citizen
Username: Bklyntonj
Post Number: 549
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 11:59 am: | |
Tom, many blacks do not feel as though they're treated fairly by whites in position of authority. That's why its felt best not to let them know too much information. Hence, many blacks felt Cosby was exposing issues that should've been left unexposed.
The media has a way of being selective on what image they want to portray. Now, based on what you hear and see, what image do you think is portayed? Since you're good at finding articles, find three articles posting something positive of black youth or police/black relationships. |
Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 916
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 11:59 am: | |
Actually, Phenix (damn I hate that spelling), what you're proposing has already been heard in the courts. As I recall it was an Ozzy Osbourne song that was the subject of a lawsuit. If this line of reasoning is brought to its logical conclusion, though, then Shakespeare is in a lot of trouble for "Romeo and Juliet".
After the Janet Jackson media frenzy, I am no longer surprised by any overreaction... I'm just waiting for the cleavage ban on broadcast TV.. but its hard to argue the point that some (not all) popular rap music glorifies a very negative way of life.
Then again, didn't Vanilla Ice talk about "his 9" in one of his songs?  |
Hoops
Citizen
Username: Hoops
Post Number: 672
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 12:07 pm: | |
Duncan - I defer to your personal knowledge of the area. I read the description off the internet.
here is an updated article on the murders
exerpted -
Police have ruled out the involvement of drugs or gangs in the murders and continue to interview witnesses in searching for possible motives. In the days immediately following the murders, the investigation focused on locating a vehicle, which police believe the suspect used to flee the seen of the shootings, a black 1998 Ford Escort, registered to Vieira's address in Wakefield.
Violence is deplorable and in my opinion the rising tide of murders in urban areas are a direct result of domestic programs that have been defunded. - Police, healthcare, medicare, medicaid, head start, after school programs,etc. These are things that help people to overcome their situation in life and enable them to step up.
Much as I would not throw around the 'N' word, even as I am called the 'N' word frequently, I understand that it is part of some larger social force that has co-opted the language and reused this powerful image perhaps to remove the stigma associated with it.
Violence in society especially American society has been here and tragically there is no end in sight. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 11556
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 12:08 pm: | |
Duncan, I was playing with you! Didn't you see the smile in my picture? Of course you said that inadvertently. I just found a hole in your statement and drove my joke through.
bklntonj, are you saying you don't think sunlight is a good disinfectant? You may be right, but I don't know.
As I said, there's a lot to disagree with in Herbert's piece. For another thing, I am not sure I believe lyrics cause problems. I think they reflect them instead, at least sometimes. It brings back to the age-old question: does life imitate art, or does art imitate life? The answer is something in the middle. I think there's some of each, like the mind-body connection.
|
LW
Citizen
Username: Lrw
Post Number: 58
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 12:09 pm: | |
Once again, BKLYNTONJ, I'm in total agreement with you. Also, why is it that the same people who advise Blacks to help themselves and to stop blaming "whitey", are the same people who take such great interest in analyzing the black community and it's problems? |
bklyntonj
Citizen
Username: Bklyntonj
Post Number: 550
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 12:51 pm: | |
Good question LW. Thank you for understanding.
...Still waiting for those articles Tom. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 11562
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 12:56 pm: | |
I am sure I will have a hard time finding them! So much for the liberal controlled press.
I will keep an eye out for them, and even if I find some, I acknowledge it would be a big rarity!
|
bklyntonj
Citizen
Username: Bklyntonj
Post Number: 551
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 1:29 pm: | |
Exactly Tom. While I do agree with you that Herbert's article is a major issue, I have to wonder why public media feels the need to report on so many negative images. That's why I don't blame America for thinking most blacks are causing problems amongst society, look at the picture being painted. That's also why most blacks living in MSO are shunned by many other blacks, we're the outsiders according to that same picture painted by society.
This is why I am so adamant against black youth that come from families doing pretty well trying to conform to a "thug life". If the stereotype doesn't eat you up, your counterparts in the "real hoods" will. |
e roberts
Citizen
Username: Wnwd00
Post Number: 362
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 2:46 pm: | |
LW,
i think the reason why there seems to be a great concern over the "black community and it's problems" as you put it, is because of the fact that while all races/communities/people have lots of problems in the eastern essex county area (where we are)of new jersey the vast majority of violent crimes and significant property crimes are committed or percieved to be committed by black perpitrators.
This results in the people who fear the crime/violence to want to try to end it or at the very least understand it which goes directly why there is a great deal of attention paid by white people to the black community.
bklyntonj i totally agre with your last statment regarding black youth from middle class and afluent families attempting to conform to "thug life". with most people perception is reality if you dress and act like a thug then you are a thug which is only a small step away from a criminal. |
JerryC
Citizen
Username: Jerryc
Post Number: 213
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 3:41 pm: | |
I wondered how long it would take you to jump into the fray, LW. Hold on a minute while I get the rose colored soapbox for you to stand on.
Perhaps the answer to your question is that those of us who live in and around the "black community" are affected by it and have a vested interest in how it conducts itself. By the way, what exactly IS the "black community"? Don't we all live in the same community? How quickly would you start screaming if someone here started to discuss the "white community"? |
bklyntonj
Citizen
Username: Bklyntonj
Post Number: 553
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 4:16 pm: | |
Jump into the fray that you created JerryC.
How did Malcolm put it, oh yeah, "the hate that hate created".
I understood why James Brown was upset about his issues because people were not understanding what he was going through. That's also why I agreed with you. I also believe the topic of this thread has a lot to do with what's happening on Jacoby St. But explain to me what purpose your general comments (streotypes) on how some blacks may react have on this thread?
|
JerryC
Citizen
Username: Jerryc
Post Number: 215
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 5:01 pm: | |
bklyn,
I'm a little lost here regarding just how and why you regard my comments as racist. Let's see: in my first post, I simply said that I agreed with Bill Cosby and that I feel that a portion of the black leadership is missing the mark when it comes to addressing the important issues of the african-american race. That was racist???????????????
In my second post, I was talking directly to LW who in my opinion is more of a racist in his own regard than anyone here. He posed a loaded question in his post and I simply responded. Further, I posed a legitimate question of my own? I ask, what makes you so quick to call me or my comments here racist?????? And, how the hell did I start the fray? I didn't initiate this thread.
"The hate that hate created"??????? I care more about the people in my "community"...ALL of the people in my community, than you will ever know. You don't know anything about me and yet you hurl an accusation like that out. Your ability to so easily catagorize people like that fairly sickens me. |
bklyntonj
Citizen
Username: Bklyntonj
Post Number: 554
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Friday, December 23, 2005 - 11:19 pm: | |
When did I use the word racist? What is that your trump card? Pull out the "racist" word?
And you did start the fray, I asked Tom tougher questions than you and he didn't react the way you did (and he started the thread). Stop being sensitive. No one strayed off the subject except you. And you simply said you agreed with Cosby?
"I'm happy to see that Cosby is not alone in his criticism of black leadership."
That's agreeing with Cosby? Cosby went after the actions and behavior of under privileged single black mothers and children, not black leadership.
Can't you stick to the topic without getting bent out of shape?
|
JerryC
Citizen
Username: Jerryc
Post Number: 217
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, December 24, 2005 - 12:34 am: | |
under priviledged. Interesting phrase.
Your are right Bklyn. I got all bent out of shape over nothing.
Have a wonderful holiday. |
anon
Supporter
Username: Anon
Post Number: 2435
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, December 24, 2005 - 12:52 pm: | |
It brings back to the age-old question: does life imitate art, or does art imitate life?
Mr. Reingold: I am discovering more and more that life imitates art. Unfortunately it is the art of Jackson Pollack. |
dc906
Citizen
Username: Dc906
Post Number: 21
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, December 24, 2005 - 2:28 pm: | |
Forget music. I hope this "Gangsta Culture" that he speaks of includes Hollywood. I stuggle to find a movie or TV show that does not include multiple murders and other violent acts. Look at the top TV shows that everyone loves- CSI, Law and Order- remember that hit "Homicide?"
|
tom connelly
Citizen
Username: Brightontom
Post Number: 27
Registered: 3-2005
| | Posted on Saturday, December 24, 2005 - 2:33 pm: | |
Hoops
Totally wrong in regards to Dorchester Mass
predominant irish neighborhoods abound, but is hardly regarded as irish in total - although everybody from dirty dot roots for the celts.
|
Fight the power
Citizen
Username: Tookiew
Post Number: 13
Registered: 12-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, December 27, 2005 - 5:34 pm: | |
The violence must all be from those black-controlled media outlets. Sure, that's it. |
mamatamu
Citizen
Username: Mamatamu
Post Number: 104
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 8:26 am: | |
Yes, Speaking of media outlets.
"Thug life," he said, "is now being globalized," thanks to the powerful marketing influence of international corporations"
No kidding.. and to whose benefit?
Just as comfortable and affluent whiteamerica is broadcast across the globe.
Black and white and yellow and brown people actually believe the distortions that they see.
I had a student once proclaim in class,
"All white people are smart, all white people have money." I had another one say, "All Chinese people are smart."
I replied, "if these guys were so smart, would they be sitting here in summer school with you?"
The images stereotype us all and I think for blackamericans the images are more damaging.
IMO, the media would rather show the "drug-dealing, gang banging, misogynist, niggaz and hoes," rather than a "Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or Louis Farrakhan."
Which images are more profitable?
Which images convey messages of hate? |
Smarty Jones
Citizen
Username: Birdstone
Post Number: 112
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Friday, December 30, 2005 - 8:32 am: | |
Hoops, Urban Murder rate is declining, not rising.
Another interesing topic that is relevant to this towns focus on Gangs/youths/'wilding' (to resurect a phrase from the eighties)
www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/29/D8EQ8EM0A.html |
Closed: New threads not accepted on this page