teh Mexigogue

I told myself I have to stop speaking on things based on first impressions because it often turns out that my first impressions are mistaken in some form and I then end up on the wrong side of the argument. I will, however, tell you what I thought about John McCain tapping Sarah Palin for the VP spot based on the tiny bit I do know about her which I gleaned from cnn.com.

First impression: sheer Machiavellian genius. John McCain is brilliantly exploiting the race and gender rift causes by Obama narrowly edging out Satan Hillary Clinton in what ultimately came down to be a battle of firsts. Half the white women democrats will move over to the McCain ticket and the goodship Obama goes down in epic failure.

Second Impression (after I read a news article):

Omg. . . I did not realize that Sarah Palin was anti-choice. Is it really possible that McCain expect this to escape the notice of the masses of disaffected liberal white women and that they will vote for him anyway? Searching memory banks: remember the majority of black Americans supported the first Bush’s Clarence Thomas nomination during the Anita Hill debacle and that many blacks, reacting instinctively to any criticism of a black man, regarded the hearings as a race-agenda contrived mysterious white racists who had somehow paid off Anita Hill so that she could bring Clarence Thomas down, literally completing the mythological much dreaded racial sellout. Never mind the fact that it was Anita Hill who was the democrat (the party popularly seen as more friendly toward black people) and that Clarence Thomas was a conservative judge who had (and has) never sided with the majority of blacks issues like affirmative action, and that it was the a republican President who had nominated Thomas in the first place. The fact is that most black people regarded Clarence Thomas as one of their own simply based on skin color.

It’s not out of the realm of possibility that the same type of thing might happen for Sarah Palin among white women (I will take care to note here that neither Clarence Thomas nor Governor Palin, to my knowledge, have ever asked for or demanded loyalty among the masses based on skin color or gender, it is my position that these types of prejudices can manifest themselves completely spontaneously because we, as a society, are made up of individuals, all of who carry around these prejudices in one form or another).

Third impression:

Perhaps McCain’s radical choice for VP (and by radical I mean tapping a political unknown rather than an established name) might have been unnecessarily risky or, even worse, he might be intentionally trying to lose the race. He was, after all, in a virtual tie with Obama before the VP announcement and it could be argued that a close game is when it’s time to establish the run game rather than come right out with a double reverse or a flea flicker. Of course, all this presupposes that he made his pick primarily on the prospect of winning core demographic groups over to his ticket rather than being chosen because she’s actually the best candidate available. I’m sure that anybody can argue just for the sake of argument that Palin actually is the most qualified person for VP, and I really don’t feel like arguing out of sheer boredom, but if anybody actually does think that she’s the most qualified VP candidate out there, I’d like to hear why. At this point the only thing I know about her is that her nickname from high school sports was barracuda, she used to be a mayor of something (I think), she’s married to an oil dude, and that she’s supposedly for free market capitalism and that she’s anti choice on the abortion issue.

A recent blast from the past (video link).

The essay is here. My comments are as follows:

I read the following article on your website:

http://www.mysistahs.org/features/hiphop.htm

This is quite possibly the most poorly written work ever produced by human beings. I might actually be inclined to agree with your position but the essay was written terribly. You should get a man to proofread your work for you. Just kidding. But seriously, there is no such thing as a collective consciousness (I think perhaps you intended to refer to the “collective unconsciousness” which is also a BS concept). But let me critique specific parts so as not to be overly vague:

Hip-hop culture is frequently condemned for its misogynistic exploitation of women

????

Is there a type of exploitation of women that is not misogynistic??? If not, then your word usage is redundant.

For young people that do not hold sexist ideals, mainstream hip-hop may influence them to do so

This is part of the blank state theory that is really really dumb. Please read “The Blank Slate” by the Harvard Professor Stephen Pinker. This book will ensmarten you.

When going to any hip-hop related event, my friends and I normally expect that we will be disrespected verbally and physically, and have to prepare ourselves accordingly.

And every time I go to a Klan meeting I get called names.

Thirdly, you used the word “misogynist” like a zillion times. Using a word over and over and over and over and over and over and over does not enhance your argument and perhaps actually decreases its efficacy.

In a study done about black male/female relationships of the hip-hop generation, many black men in the hip-hop culture that were interviewed valued economic resources and used these resources as a way to manipulate and control women. And some women negotiated with their bodies for things that they wanted.[4] In order to gain access to these things and to get the love and attention from men that they want, some women felt they must cater to the exploitative images of what men want and think women should be.

This is actually a valid point but it is not specific to only black or hip hop culture. Women have always negotiated sexually for material things. This is true from prostitution to marriage, they are two extremes of the same behavior.

One of the women Vibe talked to is Nikki, a 30-year-old woman who has had many lovers in the hip-hop industry. Vibe said, “…her lovers read like a Who’s Who of rap.”[5] Her reason for partaking in multiple insignificant relationships with rappers was, “I’ve got nothing to offer…No education, no good job, no nothing. So why would a man want me, other than sex? I felt I had to give, so I used myself.”[6] Many women like Nikki are put all of the blame on themselves for being used by men. They assumed and accepted that men would oppress and disrespect them.

Good for Nikki. At least she knows to blame herself for her own actions. After all, at the age of 30 she is not a child. If she did well in life, she deserves the credit. If she acts stupidly, she deserves the blame.

People first need to be made aware that women’s rights are being violated verbally in the sexist lyrics

No no no no no no no no no no no. Please don’t equate free speech with the violation of rights. If somebody uses the word “wetback” or “spic” (I am Latino) that is not a violation of my rights, that is simply somebody being a jackass. If a rapper refers to hoes and bitches, it is the same thing. There is no freedom that violates another freedom.

Each individual can remember the roots of his/her own internalized sexist ideology.

First of all, notwithstanding the misogynistic lyrics of contemporary hip hop, I don’t have an internalized sexist ideology, and even if I did, remembering the roots of it would not be of any particular help to me. Second of all, blah blah blah blah blah.

The worst part of this entire thing is that I actually agree with your main premise which is that hip hop music contains too many messages that disrespect women.

At best, dumb. At worst, criminally stupid. Down with mysticism.

Once again it seems that the conservationists’ cries of alarm have been premature. CNN reports a new finding of the existence of an estimated 125,000 gorillas living in the equatorial Africa. This by itself outnumbers the 1980s estimate that said there were only 100,000 of the apes left worldwide. The resurgence of the numbers should only be a surprise to anyone who believes that nature is static rather than dynamic. As Charles Darwin postulated many years ago, when a species is decimated due to outside forces, it is inevitable that the weak will be curried from the population leaving only the strongest to reproduce and pass on their genes.

In the case of the world’s gorillas, the two biggest causes of their decline have been the destruction of their natural habitat and poaching by hunters. It is no surprise then that the remaining gorillas in the Congo have begun to evolve a natural resistance to poaching. You can put them in a boiling water with a little bit of vinegar and they don’t even cook. Also, the apes in question have been seen in the area living in huts, riding horses, and throwing nets over stranded astronauts, and in one salient instance, Charlton Heston. Let us not fret over these developments. The war against our larger furry cousins is on. Take heart that we have at least a few hundred thousands years head start on them.

Oh yeah, just to be on the safe side, somebody go and bury the Statue of Liberty.