The official title of this stunning talk is: “Animal liberation and social justice.” But you should watch it, take notes, change your life and donate some cash to the Vine shelter.
Category Archives: representation
Sanitizing Waka Flocka Flame
I’ve noted before that Waka Flocka Flame travels a careful orbit between violent drug rhymes and friendly celebrity. It reminds me of Snoop Dogg and Sean Price — they both sort of make visible the double-consciousness of famous black men. Simultaneously expressing fictional violent anti-social expressions (which are consumed for people’s pleasure) and at the same time in different venues re-representing themselves with a friendly comedic persona (which is consumed for people’s pleasure).
Here is Waka telling a story from his childhood about his grandmother punishing him stylized like a Charles Schultz Peanuts holiday special.
Let’s remember that only the voice is Waka’s the representation is the work of a whole team of experts (sound editors, animators, directors, artists). And a company makes money on the whole thing.
It would be very interesting to map the choices of animated representations of the recent Trae and Waka videos.
Filed under hip hop, media, punishment, representation
Bikers against child abuse video
Filed under do-it-yourself, kindness, representation, sexual assault
Accountability for trolls: Jeopardy edition
Arthur Chu has won a couple of Jeopardy episodes with an eye for strategy. Along the way he has received a ton of abuse from the inter webs. He reports in a interview with Slate that his wife encouraged him to engage with the trolls.
I have to give my wife credit for this because she’s a strong believer that dragging trolls into the sunlight to name and shame them is better than ignoring them, and the way she was kind of goading me by retweeting all the offensive tweets and getting me to reply to them got me to see that there were two choices—retreat behind a rock and wait for the trolling to blow over, or consciously engage the trolls, take control of the conversation and own my image as a nerdy rumpled “Jeopardy! jerk” and embrace it. And the latter has turned out to be a lot of fun—and in the end generated a lot more positivity than negativity, though it would’ve been hard to believe that’s how it would’ve ended up that first night of angry people calling me out.
I tend to think that likeliness of success with trolls increases with social status, but this is a good snapshot of the ‘feed the trolls’ argument.
Filed under communication, intersectionality, race, representation
Juxtaposition from death row: Ray Jasper
Ray Jasper is scheduled to be executed by the state of Texas. From death row, he wrote a strong piece on his impending death and the practice of state killing. I appreciate the juxtaposition he paints about race. Referencing a passage by Lisa Maxwell, Jasper explains:
Imagine you’re a young white guy facing capital murder charges where you can receive the death penalty… the victim in the case is a black man… when you go to trial and step into the courtroom… the judge is a black man… the two State prosecutors seeking the death penalty on you… are also black men… you couldn’t afford an attorney, so the Judge appointed you two defense lawyers who are also black men… you look in the jury box… there’s 8 more black people and 4 hispanics… the only white person in the courtroom is you… How would you feel facing the death penalty? Do you believe you’ll receive justice?
As outside of the box as that scene is, those were the exact circumstances of my trial. I was the only black person in the courtroom.
Again, I’m not playing the race card, but empathy is putting the shoe on the other foot.
via A Letter From Ray Jasper, Who Is About to Be Executed.
If the people in Texas is going to kill this dude, the least I can do is read his letter.
Filed under communication, juxtaposition, race, representation, rhetoric
Describing the call out as oppression: Paula Deen
There is something toxic about people who have public histories of being offensive arguing that being criticized for hateful comments is comparable to experiencing hate itself.
Here is Zerlina Maxwell explaining why Paula Deen’s recent articulation is exactly this kind of hijack of experience.
“In a recent interview with People, Deen said (via CNN):
“I feel like ‘embattled’ or ‘disgraced’ will always follow my name,” she tells People. “It’s like that black football player who recently came out,” referring to NFL prospect and former University of Missouri football standout, Michael Sam.
“He (Sam) said, ‘I just want to be known as a football player. I don’t want to be known as a gay football player.’ I know exactly what he’s saying.”
It’s no surprise that Deen would feel embattled, but as someone who said racially insensitive things, it is a surprise that Deen sees herself as the oppressed, instead of the one doing the oppressing. How is Paula the victim if she was the mastermind behind the slave themed wedding? It seems to me that actually being oppressed and embattled by structural inequality and policies that lead to disparate outcomes for people of color is worse than being called out for your bigotry. And being the first openly gay player in the NFL like Michael Sam is nothing like being a celebrity chef exposed for referring to your Black employees in explicitly racist terms.”
via Paula Deen thinks she’s oppressed like “that Black” gay NFL player.
1. Writing words or speaking it aloud usually archive ideas marked to bodies.
2. It is worthwhile developing critical vocabulary for this rhetorical maneuver. It is one of the best tactics to resist the call-out.
3. Thanks Feministing. You rock.
Filed under communication, Gay, learning, media, representation, rhetoric
Policing sex education in college
This week is sexland at Humboldt State University. A similar event in Tennessee garnered the condemnation of the state legislature.
For real?
The most important issue in a whole state is whether college students learn more about sex?
The student-initiated educational event is a pretty good example of the leftist backlash that comes in the era of the internet. I think it is a kind of resistance to the political policing when the club would lose their budget and then have private donors refund them in 48 hours.
We were defunded last year — two-thirds of our budget was taken away from us about two and a half weeks before the event, and we had to raise about $11,000 back. And we did that in less than 48 hours, because support came in from across the nation …
Last year was much more difficult working with the university. This year they’re being more supportive.
via GOP’s war on “hookup culture”: Tennessee Republicans enraged by college Sex Week – Salon.com.
Organizer Brianna Rader is interviewed in Salon and gives a great example of flipping the expectations of thoughtful conservatives:
How did you end up co-sponsoring an event with one of the Christian groups on campus?
We had an event last year called “Religion and Sexuality” … One of the guys that sat on that panel was the director of Cru, which is a more conservative Christian organization. And he was nervous at first, but we tried to get him to understand where we were coming from. And he actually really loved the event, and he loved that we were able to talk about these complicated issues … in a frank and open manner. And so we talked to him again this year, and we said: Hey, would you like to do more with us? And he really loved the idea. And so he proposed bringing these speakers from Colorado in, who he was familiar with, and running an event with us [“Long-Term Intimacy: Commitment and Sex”] …
We’re not promoting, like, one sexual lifestyle. We’re just promoting sex-positivity. Which means that is inclusive of abstinence and all different beliefs.
via GOP’s war on “hookup culture”: Tennessee Republicans enraged by college Sex Week – Salon.com.
Thanks to the organizers who promote dialogue, healthy sexuality, consent and safe-sex. Salute to Salon and Josh Eidelson for the cool interview. And of course, I found the link at Feministing‘s Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet.
Filed under academics, feminism, health, learning, representation, resistance, sexual assault
Food, authenticity and cultural appropriation
Thanks to Bitch Media for the comic frame.
Shing Yin Khor has a wonderful comic about cultural appropriation and food at Bitch Media. Five stars.
Filed under art, colonialism, cultural appropriation, food, representation
Cannibal capitalism: Chief Keef and rehab
I’m interested in the idea that folks would become famous because they harmed themselves or allowed someone else to harm them on camera. I’ve been calling it cannibal capitalism – as a means of describing this wide scope on popular media. Cannibal in the sense that viewers consume of the body of another human being who is on camera taking years off of their life
Chief Keef is in rehab for ganja and let’s loose with some great insights about how unpleasant it is.
Nestled inside a nondescript beach house, one of hip-hop’s most controversial rising stars is holed up in court-ordered rehab, and he’s feeling frustrated and alone.
“It’s like being locked up,” Chief Keef, 18, tells Billboard, in his first interview since he entered rehab. “And when I’m locked up, I don’t want anybody to come see me. I won’t let my family come here. I haven’t seen my 2-year-old daughter.”
via Chief Keef Talks Rehab, ‘Bang 3’ Album & Learning How to Surf | Billboard.
Cannibal Capitalism is best thought of as a pattern of mediated communication about morality. Along with viewing people getting hurt and enjoying it (Jackass, NFL, Ultimate Fighting) we also get the moral commentary from the narrators and participants about that suffering.
Part of the narration of morality that comes with hip hop and cannibal capitalism is a kind of racism+classism+paternalism. When the articles were popping about Odd Future, the dominant story was just how naughty they were and emphasizing the difficulties they got into. Very little conversation about music, and heavy emphasis on the disciplining of (usually) young black men.
The quote from the Billboard article is the opening passage. Do you think it invites a kind of moral judgement? Do you wonder what this rapper did to get this punishment? Is it framed in a way to encourage you to read it as an omniscient person who hasn’t had this kind of difficulty, shaking your head in faux-sympathy?
There is no doubt that Chief Keef is at the core of a major moral panic. One part of the division is the fascinating language used to divide people up. Richard Sherman and the significance of the representation of thug:
I wonder if the exciting pleasure of the music and imagery of Chief Keef experiencing suffering, particularly mapping up to the discipline and punish strategy of suffering/redemption (recycled) is part of the appeal?
Public consumption of rap stars and their back stories usually includes a kind of nefarious sharing of information. I went over to my buddies house and we listened to music and also to a 5 minute rant from KRS-ONE threatening some dude over a van robbery.
Hip hop fans are usually fiends for gossip, and interested in the music, culture, language and well, anything of our favorite musicians.
Filed under capitalism, communication, hip hop, media, prisons, punishment, race, representation
Freestyle rhetorical analysis: Top Chef 11 finale
Rhetoric is a lived art — we use it in all of our discussions when we make arguments. When we write stuff down or record our words, they can be analyzed. There is mass critical discontent about the winner of Season 11 of Top Chef. In the scrutiny of a single television episode, quite a few folks have made visible pathways of arguments presented in the TV show. Salute to freestyle pop culture rhetorical analysis!
Consider the breakdown of the faux-humility presented by contestant Nicholas in Entertainment Weekly by Stephen Lee:
Back in the stew room, Nicholas infuriated me by saying to Nina, “Well, it didn’t happen.” Nina: “What?” Nicholas: “I had to be perfect to beat you.” Just in case anyone was mistaking that for humility, it was NOT. That’s Nicholas trying to look like the underdog so that if he lost, he could just shrug sadly, but if he won, he could do that whole dropped-jaw thing and make it look like some dramatic come-from-behind victory.
via ‘Top Chef’ season finale: An unsavory winner | Season 11 Episode 17 | EW.com.
Filed under academics, do-it-yourself, food, representation, rhetoric
Life of refinement 