Kanye West -- I love you.
3 September 2005, lunch time
The man produced Common’s very excellent album Be. He has actually produced plenty of excellent albums and songs. Kanye’s own album, College Dropout is excellent. That isn’t why I love Kanye West. No, I love Kanye West because Kanye West went on national television and said: George Bush doesn’t care about black people. Poor Mike Meyers, he looks so damn confused. [via Turbanhead]
He’s also said some stupid things as well:
“I would rather take that chance because it’s important for my people. The concept of AIDS alone—my parents always told me, who are activists—that it’s a man-made disease in the first place that was placed in Africa just like crack was placed in the black community to break up the Black Panther (black activists) party.”
by Robert on September 3 2005, 1:59 pm #
Damn it Kanye.
by ramanan on September 3 2005, 2:01 pm #
Still, the look on Myers face after he said it…and the very comical cut to Chris Tucker looking all confused lol…Kanye is awesome…
by ahilan on September 3 2005, 2:10 pm #
Yeah. I think I can look past white conspiracy paranoia on his part. Being black in America sucks. It’s nice to see people get emotional and speak their mind for a change. He spoke out on ending the bashing of homosexuals in rap music recently.
And, when people are freaking out on FOX news you know things are getting bad.
by ramanan on September 3 2005, 2:22 pm #
I have been walking around for the last two hours saying “George W. Bush doesn’t care about black people.” Hahaha. Oh man.
by Ben on September 3 2005, 3:14 pm #
Metafilter is discussing the Kanye video clip and the Geraldo video clip. There are lots of great links to the US media getting off their asses and doing their jobs in the later thread.
by ramanan on September 3 2005, 4:18 pm #
My girlfriend just sent me a link to a Slate article that discusses the ways in which the bullshit pretenses of news anchors and reporters are finally eroding.
http://www.slate.com/id/2125581
She’s the one who dragged me into the room to watch the Kanye clip. Our jaws just dropped. I’m glad somebody had the courage to say it, and I hope that he doesn’t become a magnet for criticism, in any way that deflects attention from the failings of the government.
by Matt on September 3 2005, 10:53 pm #
Robert Hilburn, of LA Times critiques the NBC Telethon. He makes interesting points about the self-congratulate mode of the media in the US. It seems that there head is so far into their arse that they can actually feel the polyps.
by Sunny on September 4 2005, 5:11 am #
I think it’s important to note that the people left behind in this situation were by majority, both black and poor. It’s easy to say George Bush doesn’t care about black people, but the facts indicate there is an equal probability he doesn’t care about poor people. Making people out to be cold-hearted racists is fun and all, but I am inclined to believe this is more about class and not colour.
by rishi on September 4 2005, 2:18 pm #
No doubt—but it seems to suggest there is a bigger problem in the city if the vast majority of its poor are also black don’t you think?
Anyway, I’ve said it before, the only people that should have voted for Bush are old rich white men. Everyone else should have known he doesn’t give a fuck.
by ramanan on September 4 2005, 2:34 pm #
I don’t know if you’ve taken a stroll through some of the lower income areas in Toronto, but you might notice something similar to what you’re seeing in New Orleans. I agree that there is a bigger problem here, but I’d have to add that it spans the continent.
by rishi on September 4 2005, 4:09 pm #
By ‘here’, I don’t mean Toronto. Pardon my poor communication skills.
by rishi on September 4 2005, 4:12 pm #
Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish in New Orleans, breaks down on television, damning FEMA for their horrible job handling the evacuation. Metafilter has been churning out lots of great links.
It is also nice that for a change you can find the egregious behaviour of the US government being reported on by the television media. Shame that it takes tragedy in the States before the US media decide it is time to reform their ways, assuming this is a permanent change we are witnessing.
by ramanan on September 4 2005, 5:31 pm #
A funny video of some cops getting caught looting.
by Ananthan on September 4 2005, 8:15 pm #
What a stupid video. I think you’d be hard pressed to find such snarky coverage on NBC now. Also some of the comments in that link are priceless: you know them niggers planned that natural disaster. I just knows it. That has to be fake, but some of the comments sound pretty real, and pretty ignorant.
by ramanan on September 5 2005, 2:58 pm #
Apparently CNN hasn’t completely changed its ways just yet:
This is being discussed on Metafilter. Apparently all of this is too much for Senator Mary Landrieu, who had the following to say: If one person criticises them or says one more thing including the President of the US, he will be hearing from me. One more word about it after this show airs and I might likely punch him, literally.
by ramanan on September 5 2005, 5:31 pm #
She speaks like a Democrat! This is nothing new; all of Bush’s stuff is staged.
by Sunny on September 5 2005, 9:06 pm #
The reporters demeanour in that video is a little unprofessional but i’m surprised that’s what you chose to focus on, the damn cops are LOOTING!
by Ananthan on September 6 2005, 12:59 am #
I don’t know what sadder about the whole situation:
a) That the disaster is easy to predict in general (each year at least a couple hurricane hit the southeast US) and in specific (a day or two before Katrina hit, it was evident where it was going) and still the government and people were so unprepared.
or
b) That the US media is still a sycophantic propaganda tool for Bush. (i.e. CNN v. ZDF).
by Ryan on September 6 2005, 2:12 am #
True, but the whole thing looks like the crew went down to New Orleans looking for a scandal, not to report on what was going on. It just seems to typical of the US media. (Africanized Bees and all that.) I just find that’s more obnoxious than the cops looting a Wal Mart.
by ramanan on September 6 2005, 3:36 am #
True, and the media does deserve a lot of blame for their sensationalising of stories. But this was a true disaster, the bee scare and others weren’t.
The reporter was obnoxious, but cops looting during a disaster is beyond any measure of obnoxious and the far more important/relevant part.
This isn’t directed at you personally, but criticizing the media has become so prevalent and noisy in every event/issue that people lose sight of what’s being covered. Sure it’s important but anyone with a brain can filter out the baggage.
by Ananthan on September 6 2005, 6:44 pm #
Police grabbing shoes in a Walmart just doesn’t make my blood boil. Reporters going down to New Orleans, and choosing to report on looting cops rather than all the other crazy shit that actually matters does get on my nerves. That video was snarky and light-hearted. It just strikes me as inappropriate and lame-ass journalism. That’s just me. I am overly sensitive perhaps.
And I actually think a lot of people have trouble figuring out what bias exists in the media, what stories aren’t reported on, why stories aren’t reported, etc, etc. FoxNews is a popular news network. That says something about the media savvy of some large segment of the American people.
That news segment is tries to make light of the storm. It tries to dehumanize the victims by pointing out the criminal actions of those trying to survive the storm. To me, the point of the segment is less about showing you a looting cop, and ore about making the viewers at home feel comfortable with the fact the rescue effort is so half-assed.
The following is a truly reprehensible police action:
At one point, there were a load of girls on the roof of the lobby saying ‘Can you help us?’ and the policemen said ‘Show us what you have got’ and made signs for them to lift their T-shirts. When they said no, they said ‘Fine’ and motored off down the road in their motorboat.
I’d like to see the same journalist report about that.
by ramanan on September 6 2005, 10:24 pm #