P6: This used to be a comment. I thought it deserved a whole post, so I promoted it.
All,
I don't know how many of y'all have seen Whitlock's column today where he basically claims that the power 'Pop Culture' is overwhelming poor ole 'mainstream' parents. I guess now that he's 'established' himself, the tough talk meter has been switched to absolving-mainstream America mode.
Myself and the local St Louis Sports columnist (Bernie Miklasz) have been have a discussion about this since Whitlock first started his 'campaign'
My post is below: (http://www.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=4500519#4500519)
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Bernie, I’d like your thoughts on Jason Whitlock’s latest column. (Link here)
As you know, in the past week or so, Jason Whitlock has managed to push himself onto the national stage with his anti-Sharpton, anti-Jackson, anti-hip-hop rantings. He has appeared on CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” MSNBC’s “Tucker,” CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” CNN’s “American Morning” and NBC’s “Today Show.” All culminating with the ultimate: Oprah Winfrey’s show.
And now, with all this media spotlight, and a chance to really push the conversation into ‘mainstream America’s living room, Whitlock PUNKS OUT COMPLETELY.
The very same ‘courageous’ columnist who lays the ills of hip-hop culture squarely at the feet of its majority Black participants for ‘bojangling for dollars’, punts when writing a column about ‘Pop Culture’. He says:
| Quote: |
| Today I want to talk about pop culture in general and hip-hop/prison culture in particular and why we need to rethink old ideas about their ability to influence us.
Pop culture is on steroids now. It’s bigger and badder than it’s ever been. It’s pervasive, inescapable and powerful enough to override good parenting. Read that again: It’s pervasive, inescapable and powerful enough to override good parenting. The naïve argue that hip hop and other youth cultures are harmless. Good parents know better. They realize that it is no longer 1968. They know there’s a television in every room, wireless Internet all over the house, an iPod for every child, a cable channel for every perversion, call-waiting, text messaging, DVR and “Flavor of Love.” Pop culture is like ants in the spring. You can’t keep ants out of your house, and you can’t keep pop culture out of your kid’s head. **SNIP** When I taped the “The Oprah Winfrey Show” on Monday, you could feel the passion the mostly female audience had about the negative influences of hip-hop/prison culture. Pop culture, not just hip hop, is interfering with their ability to properly raise their children. They haven’t figured out why and how pop culture is short-circuiting their efforts. They just know that it has, and they want it to stop. It takes a village. |
That’s right folks. While Jackson and Sharpton should be ‘fired from leadership’ for not solving the issues of violence, misogyny, and ignorance in Hip-Hop and ‘Black culture’ in general, Lil’ Chad and Amy in Chesterfield are simply victims of the oh-so ‘seductive’ and inescapable power of ‘Pop Culture’. Can’t blame you parents or 'leaders' for that, no sir-ree. I mean, ‘the culture’ is out of control!
Lastly, I’d like to note that during this column, when giving specific references to the current ‘Pop Culture’, Whitlock comes up with:
- BET (twice)
- Snoop Dogg (twice)
- Flavor of Love
- MTV
Notice the pattern. No mention of Anna Nicole Smith, Britney Spears erratic behavior, Kevin Federline, Lindsey Lohan, Olsen Twins, Howard Stern, Paris Hilton multiple sex tapes, Kim Kardashian’s sex tapes, Perez Hilton, the reality TV craze, Madonna, ‘Girls Gone Wild’ tapes, Jessica Simpson, etc.
Nope, just a so-called ‘Black’ network and its sister station, a rapper, and an ex-rapper’s buffoonish dating show. None black owned or controlled.
So, Bernie, I have 2 questions:
1) As a writer, what are your thoughts on this seemingly change-in-direction from the ‘no-one-forced-you-to-adopt-Hip-Hop-Thug-Culture’ to the ‘pervasiveness-of-Pop-Culture-is-overwhelming-good-parents’ argument
and
2) Can you explain why you think Whitlock has not called for the ‘stepping down’ of the so-called ‘leaders’ of mainstream America who’ve allowed ‘Pop Culture’ to run amok
Any and all responses welcome.
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Whitlock the secret Black Supremacist
I am too tempted to register.
Bernie's admiration for Whitlock's "taking on issues no one else will" is true if you restrict your view to white folks and Whitlock. It's a big part of what we've all been bitching about...we care, we react, they ignore what we say or simply don't attend to the venues in which we speak.
If Whitlock feels mainstream parents are unable to overcome the impact of pop culture and Black parents can, isn't that racist?
Doesn't it say Black people are superior to white people?
Great comments.
Great comments.
'Big Sexy' parlaying this to the max
First, I forgot to state that I am humbled to have my comment elevated to post status. I can now claim to truly walk among the giants.
Just following up, looks like Jason ‘I-hate-all-y’all-Kneegrow-opportunists’ Whitlock seems to have no problem parlaying this for his own benefit.
The irony of Whitlock interviewing for Imus’ time slot is just too hypocritical for words:
http://www.newsday.com/sports/ny-spbest0422,0,907968.column?
coll=ny-sports-headlines
They're not stupid enough to
They're not stupid enough to think Whitlock could fulfill Imus' function.
Back upside Whitlock's head - The Bojangling continues
We may be getting close to D.R.O.P. Squad time with Whitlock. I originally posted this at http://www.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=4563326#4563326
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In his latest column, the courageous 'Big Sexy' takes on the NBA race based officiating issue. And, as usual, he goes right to the 'Blame Hip Hop' card:
Black NBA players have aligned themselves in terms of appearance and attitude with hip-hop/prison culture.
Everyone pretty much acknowledges that the NBA’s predominately white-in-arena fan base has a problem with the league’s hip-hop/prison image. But we’re supposed to think the predominately 40-year-old white refs aren’t turned off by the same things making the fans uncomfortable?No, this is a study worthy of debate and consideration. We should talk about it without demonizing white or black referees. We should talk about how it relates to the things that transpire in our schools and workplaces.
With all the negative, pervasive images being thrown at us by pop culture, it’s even tougher today to avoid giving in to stereotypes.
Let’s think for a second what Whitlock is saying here: In spite of the fact that officials spend hours upon hours talking to, laughing with, and working side by side with their Black MILLIONAIRE CO-WORKERS (min. salary approx. 500K, AVG salary is approx 5Mil), the power of the ‘appearance and attitude of the hip hop/prison culture’ is so powerful that those same officials, just like Joe Six Pack in the upper deck, can’t tell the difference between D.Wade and Ricky Davis.
According to Whitlock, in their mind, once the ball goes up, the lovable, flaky Gilbert ‘Agent Zero’ Arenas is no different than from any other character from ‘The Wire’. The oversized kid, Shaq, who spends his pre-game time cracking jokes and imitating kung-fu moves, in the eyes of Dick Bavetta and Steve Jaffe, turns into Tookie Williams strolling the yard at the tipoff.
All that personal and continuous interaction be d@mned, all they see are a bunch of 6’5” 50 Cents in shorts and tank tops. And who can blame them, everyone in the arena knows these Kneegrows are out of control. It doesn’t matter how much time the officials have spent in close proximity with these guys (repeating for emphasis, they ARE ‘co-workers’), at the end of the day, these million dollars Kneegrows are just common ‘thugs’ from any street corner U.S.A.
No wonder Crawford is challenging ‘Big Fundamentals’ to a ‘rumble’. Must be a ‘Hood thang’. I mean it’s obvious that the ‘power of hip hop/prison culture’ means that to Crawford, in spite of the MULTIPLE interactions with the mild mannered Duncan, is no different than 'Hot Sauce' or 'The Professor' from the And1 StreetBall series.
But then comes the ultimate in tomfoolery:
It would also help if well-intentioned members of the media offered some depth and perspective to their analysis of America’s complex, black-white racial dilemma.
Folks, take a hard look at what’s in bold there, and then read it again.
Now, I humbly ask, could not Whitlock have made that exact same statement from the outset of the Imus controversy? Is that not EXACTLY the point Sharpton and Jackson (and many others) actually raised?
At the height of ‘ImusGate’, rather than asking why news organizations, corporations, political leaders, and the Beltway elite continued to participate in his show and chose to ignore that Imus spewed his own brand of sexist, racist, anti-Semitic, and overall ignorance everyday for YEARS for huge sums of money, our man Whitlock decides to call those raising that issue ‘terrorists’.
Who’s really the ‘Bojangler’ here?
So to summarize:
Even on a bogus non-issue like race based officiating, when folks work next to you everyday, knowing full well that you have legal employment (NBA player) and are rich, our man Whitlock says its understandable to throw all that out and potentially treat you more harshly because of, well, 'Hip Hop/Prison Culture'. Whether you are in fact part of this bogus ‘culture’ seems secondary.
Oh yeah, and 'mainstream America' would have more moral authority to get rid of those 'loud mouthed opportunists' complaining about discrimination if it just actually managed to STOP DISCRIMINATIING!! How quaint an idea.
What a clown.
Any and all responses welcome.
Whitlock and the NBA
I think your analysis about Whitlock is dead on. I'm older than he is but I don't know why he finds hip-hop culture or its products so threatening. Well, I do know. It gives him something to write about on slow news days and it allows him to publicize himself as a contrarian interpreter of popular black culture.