Posted by Deltron at gso26-136-204.triad.rr.com on December 09, 2003 at 22:23:42:
...or does black culture, as a whole, really remind you of minstrel shows?
This post was a long longer than I had originally intended, so here is a WARNING. This is a LENGTHY post. It's also off topic, 'cause this isn't the viewblackpeopledegradingthemselves.com/newboard/board.html, but you're all (mostly) smart enough to at least understand what I'm trying to say.
Now it's a given that things aren't nearly as bad as they were. You can't get on network TV and say nigger over and over again, no matter how you use it (unless it's a Very Special Episode of Smart Guy, of course). And of course, we only use one type of water fountain now, so that's a plus.
But what the fuck is up with black culture today!?
Ebonics hit in what? Like 1995 or so. I'll say 97 to be safe. That's when everyone was introduced to "black speech." That was mistake one: giving slang a name and associating it with a certain group of people.
Mistake two is none other than SNOOP DOGGY DOG. Anyone else seen that stupid AOL commercial? Where the WASP family completes their fish AOL disc portrait, and uberwhitey Jerry Stiller tells em they'll fill it with a Snoop Dogg CD. Then Snoop jumps in and says WAIT JUST A MANIZZLE.
FO SHIZZLE, MASSAH!!! MY NIZZLE, MASSAH!! BLING BLING, MASSAH!!
What the fuck is this!? It's words that any kid age 10-14 are gonna know, that's for sure. It's sold straight to them. They've (not sure yet who THEY is) managed to turn black culture into a phase that tweens go through. By the time they're 15 they're out of bumping the latest edited Jay Z single and onto the whiter aspects of life.
14 year-olds today didn't get to hear about how ridiculous it was that Ebonics was becoming a language. All they know is that Ebonics is a language. That black people were the reason Ebonics was made a language. That Ebonics is a language for black people. Things remain stupid til nobody's left who remembers it being stupid.
The Catholics are a pretty good example of this. I was watching this thing on Judas on the History Channel, and they said that up until the 1950's, the idea of Jesus dying upon the cross willingly for the sins of mankind wasn't even heard of. Back then, the church still blamed the Jews for the crucifixion. Sure, he died for the sins of mankind, but he died because of the JEWS. But, suddenly, they decided that was stupid, and opted for the more heroic approach.
In 1955, 1960, you'd probably find more Catholics who still hated Jews than more Catholics who didn't. But now it's just common knowledge: the Jews had nothing to do with it.
Now of course this is just an assessment of what I'm seeing in kids. There's definately more black dudes who know how to play the system than who're being played by the system. Unfortunately, a majority of them never get far enough along to actually play it to their advantage.
Snoop isn't the blame alone, I know. The fact that he's appeared in every outlet of white media spouting that IZZLE MANIZZLE bullshit is pretty lame, and he's definately a front runner for "washup of the year," but this is happening all over popular music. Black dudes tapdancing for massah, muttering stupid shit that tweens all over the globe immediately adopt as THEIR stupid shit.
The absolute worst part is how they've managed to keep this joke going so long. As soon as someone tries to call em out on these repeat performances of Mr. Bojangle's Magical Tapdance and Watermelon Hour, there's always going to be some jackass calling the guy a racist.
As long as there's money involved, it's A-OK. Ridicule that man! Let's have more goofy Nigger Speak! White America loves it! What? The NAACP doesn't want to support us? Give em money! Give em all money!! It'll keep em quiet while we remind America just HOW different they are. Cash DOES rule everything around me.
I used to think that homos were the nigger of the 21st century (is Queer Eye for the Straight Guy really anything more than five stereotypical gay guys spouting undeniably gay catchphrases and flapping their hands around like giddy schoolgirls?), but it looks to me like not much has changed. Sure, sure, black people can, like, vote, or get good jobs, but to the average American, who gets their entire view of the world from the ol' TV, black culture is nothing more than fading gangsta rappers spouting goofy catchphrases on whatever award show happens to be on FOX that month.
Alright, if you stuck with all this the whole time, props to you. I doubt I expressed all my concern in a very intelligible manner, but I'm hoping it was at least evident.