Dude: Your passion is admirable, and you may even be right. But you're a musician, big guy. In your business it's all about the timing. And dog, your timing sucks.
But telling the world "George Bush doesn't care about black people" during a telethon for hurricane victims only narrowly eclipses Mike Myers' deer-in-the-headlights look as you departed from the cue cards and Chris Tucker's bug-eyed as they cut to him almost as quickly as they dumped out of you.
If your publicists just slit their wrists, it won't be too hard to figure out why. They decided to commit hari-kari before your career did.
Charitably yours,
Steve
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/aptv_story.asp?category=1401&slug=Katrina%20NBC%20Telethon
6 comments:
These people harbor a disease of mysticism - this disease blinds them with a hatred that is nearly equivalent to that which foments inside the mind of a radical islamist. The need to blame something, anything, for their insecurities and self-loathing in the face of something they can not explain trumps all other desires.
Emboldened by a mainstream media that has subtly hinted that racism is the root cause of this catastrophe, it is hardly surprising in an era where voices of all sorts have the loud microphone of new media to trumpet their ideas, that the crazies being heard. Those who are guided by reason, now more than ever need to step up to match and pound down the voices of the desperate, though still dangerous, mystical anti-american Left.
Kanye West was right to speak up? Its all about timing eh? I think he's got it right.
"Dog, in your business, it's all about timing."
So, you have some minor grasp of proper hip-hop nomenclature, shown by your heart-felt usage of the word 'dog,' but you still missed the train - Kanye West does not need the support of ANYONE that his message might offend. His album shipped on Tuesday; It's really perfect timing.
At worst, It's the difference of a few million records - selling maybe 4 million instead of 6 million. But it's still millions of records sold. The man is set - he is wealthy, he is talented, he will still be working with his peers and who he wants (no one who disagrees with his sentiment would have gotten a call back from West anyway).
Go on, ask his publicist. You're going to be waiting a long time to see this hurt West in any serious way.
And mph, you're missing the point: It's far subtler than having to wade through the flood-waters of your murky post (learn how to edit; your word for the day is 'concise,' look it up). Few are saying the catasptrophy is Bush's fault - people are incensed by his inability to act QUICKLY, for haste in leaving his ranch, haste in showing a desperate need to be involved, would have shown him to be a world-class and historic leader, but instead, he immersed himself in this year's adaption of "My Pet Goat."
And once again, he has the far-too-real right-wing spin-control teams saving his ass, from your upper-eschelon Karl Rove, all the way down to blogging foot-soldiers like you. Good luck with your promotion.
the other celebrities are mindlessly reading a teleprommpter with scripted bullshit about rebuilding,
Kanye West puts his reputation on the line by saying something REAL, agree with it or not, as an American you should admire it.
I do, I think Kanye West has just as much right to speak his mind as William Buckley or Bill O'Reilly.
And I agree, George Bush does not care about poor black people, and poor people.
I wish I lived in a civilized country but I don't, we are an abomination.
"Dog, in your business, it's all about timing."
"So, you have some minor grasp of proper hip-hop nomenclature, shown by your heart-felt usage of the word 'dog,' but you still missed the train - Kanye West does not need the support of ANYONE that his message might offend. His album shipped on Tuesday; It's really perfect timing."
So was what he said a publicity stunt, then?
I don't think that's what you mean, but you make it seem like Kanye is trying to establish some more street cred with those who lament he's not sufficently gangsta. Obviously, his record sales prove he shouldn't worry about that, but still it will be interesting to see from the Soundscan totals whether he helped goose the new CD.
In the end, it's not what he said -- few would dispute that it was heartfelt -- it was when he said it.
A telethon was no place for an anti-Bush screed, no matter how deserved.
You could debate whether the White House would've moved faster had more white people been in harm's way and you would probably win that debate. But Friday night was not the time for debates. It was about beginning the very slow process of healing and West did nothing to further that goal.
What Kanye said may have been "speaking his mind" but that doesn't mean that there was any actual thought behind what he said.
1) It was a telethon and not a political rally. To pick that forum for his comments was just plain stupid. Either pro- or anti-Bush, it wasn't the time or the place for it. Being smart is as much about when and where you choice to voice your opinion as it is about the opinion itself.
2) The hurricane didn't cause the devastation in New Orleans: the failure of an inadequate levee system did. Who controlled the levee system? The state of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans. No one in the federal government, let alone George Bush, had any responsibility for those levees.
3) The state and local governments have been warned for over forty years that this is exactly what would happen if a category 4 or 5 hurricane hit the city, and neither the mayor nor the governor did anything to protect the citizens of New Orleans. So who deserves the blame: the black mayor of New Orleans or the white guy sitting 2000 miles away with no control over the levees? If you need help answering that question, you really don't have mental acuity to be engaging in this discussion in the first place.
4) The residents of New Orleans engaged in a wide variety of criminal actions ranging from shooting at rescue workers to looting everything that was nailed down. I've read people denying that, but I saw the videos myself: denying reality doesn't change it. They weren't taking food and water either: it was TVs, tennis shoes, etc. It wasn't media hype. Those who claim otherwise are doing so for racial or political reasons - not because it's the truth. Other places hit by Katrina didn't engage in such lawless behavior and they haven't had nearly the difficulty in getting help. Go figure...
5) Just because you hate George Bush doesn't make him responsible for everything that happens. Before the hurricane had even hit, he had signed an executive order mobilizing the federal government to act but when the local and state governments do such a miserable job and fail their citizens so horribly it doesn't make it someone else's fault when other people can't fill the gap quickly enough.
In short, only racism and political motivation could possibly put George Bush at the center of any blame game. To say otherwise is just putting your ignorance on display. That's exactly what Kanye West did, and just because he's a black man doesn't make him immune from criticism.
He did and said something stupid and he deserves to be called out on it. Plain and simple.
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