Havent watched the Taylor Swift video and I dont need to watch it to tell you that its inherently offensive and ultimately harmful ~Rapper Earl Sweatshirt~ Sorry, but, I disagree with you Earl. Look... almost NOTHING offends me personally. I earn a living as an actor and have taken part in a number of projects that are joyfully, deliberately offensive to mainstream sensibilities. Im also a black guy in North America. I hear about unarmed dudes who look like me getting shot by cops every week. My personal bar is set HIGH for moral outrage. You gotta come WAY harder than playing dress up and Twerking to even register on my outrage-O-meter. Lately its been locked SQUARELY on Furgeson, MO. Taylor Swift just doesnt make the cut. What I feel when I watch things like this Taylor Swift video is embarrassed. Embarrassed for Swift and especially her young fans who will undoubtedly be influenced by this video. Yes, yes, I get it. Its a parody, shes making fun of herself, gotcha, sure, great, gold Star Sherlock. The fact remains, mocking Ratchet culture, Twerking & more egregiously, B Boy culture, without any knowledge of its origins just makes you look ignorant. Make no mistake, the people authentically engaged with the culture and styles you are appropriating are LAUGHING AT YOU. ( If youve never heard the term Ratchet. Its cool. Just read this useful link before you Twerk again and know the origins of the thing you are doing: jezebel/on-miley-cyrus-ratchet-culture-and-accessorizing-with-514381016) Its one thing to make a choice and deliberately take part in some offensive humor, but, if you are unfamiliar with the term cultural appropriation, you are unable to make an informed choice about offending entire cultures. If youve never heard of cultural appropriation, again, its cool, heres a quick definition. Cultural appropriation refers to picking and choosing elements of a culture by a member of another culture without permission. This includes traditional knowledge, religious symbols, artifacts or any other unauthorized use of cultural practice or ideation. (A more in depth exploration of the term can be found here. huffingtonpost/2013/11/25/cultural-appropriation-katy-perry_n_4337024.html) Ive said it before. Most visible minorities I know find instances of casual racism more boring than offensive. That feather headdress you and your guurls are wearing at Coachella? Yeah... native people are mostly rolling their eyes and laughing at you while you tweek off the Molly. The awkward B boy/Girl poses you throw up in booty shorts with your tongue out and a thick gold chain around your neck? Thats basically a billboard for the ACTUAL B boys and girls you love so much to avoid your embarrassing ass or, videotape you secretly to share with their networks and have hours of laughter later on. So, by all means, keep appropriating culture liberally. It gives members of the cultures you appropriate tons of material to laugh at while were not hanging out with you, and, you know... actually contributing to the culture youre tryna desperately be down with, which, FYI, is WAY more fun than dressing up like a Hip Hop Rodeo clown and dancing around for our entertainment. Dont get me wrong. Youre welcomed to come in and join in the fun. All it takes is a bit of humility and genuine curiosity. But, if you wanna stay outside its cool. Every court needs jesters. Omari #BOOM #THE_VMR pitchfork/news/56374-earl-sweatshirt-taylor-swift-is-perpetuating-black-stereotypes-with-her-new-video/ ( Thanks to dope Hip Hop artist Kimmortal for the link )
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 20:23:06 +0000