Kanye West VS Taylor Swift: How Far Have We REALLY Come?

I read a short blog post by Ras Kass about MLK day and he pointed out how John McCain voted AGAINST instituting it when he was a Senator. Ras Kass has been dropping knowledge like this since day 1 (listen to “Nature of the Threat” off of his first album Soul on Ice. It will change your life.) It got me thinking about race relations today and how far we have truly come, and I feel that even though we’ve come a long way there’s still some things that haven’t changed. It’s just swept under the rug.

We have a black President yet racism is still very prevalent in the US today. This brings me to what I really want to talk about, the Kanye West/Taylor Swift debacle. I know I know, late pass like a motherfucker right? I was going to blog about this when it happened but I didn’t have a blog back then and I forgot. And besides, I’m pretty sure most of you have not seen the depth of the backlash from this event:

Taken from the Media Assassin blog

What’s even more shocking is that there’s more where that came from, WAY more (warning, the preceding link may shock you.) It’s 2010 now and we still have ignorance like this existing in our nation. These are all teenagers and children spouting rhetoric I would only expect to hear from seasoned racist veterans! Are we REALLY talking about lynching in 2009? Over an interruption during a “music” award? I know the kids have been brainwashed into liking shit music but I didn’t think the dedication would ever go THIS far! You’re willing to kill a man over an interruption? I would have been dead 10 times over by now if that were the prerequisite for justifiable murder. All it takes is for one black person to do something wrong in the peoples’ eyes and over half a century’s worth of progress goes down the drain. You’re all willing to make threats for hate crimes over THIS little girl?:

This also illustrates how much I believe the internet is killing our social network. Social networks aren’t digital people, they’re real and physical. We don’t talk to people anymore or engage in any form of meaningful contact with them, we “Tweet” and “Poke” them, as my man Phonte said “you can’t download a handshake.” Internet haters and bloggers are now able to hide behind this fake curtain of digital anonymity without suffering any consequences for their actions. You act like an ass when you’re alone then no one's there to keep you in check. It’s real easy to talk shit when you know nothing will come of it and what starts as a joke at first slowly snowballs into a damaged way of thinking.
 

This is a nation of hypocrites; people crave the entertainment of black music without accepting the people or culture that come with it. Black athletes, black entertainers, pretty much any people of color aren’t seen as real by some of their audience. They’re as disposable as their images on the screen are. Jay-Z is one of the richest entrepreneurs in this country, yet he said himself that it still doesn’t mean he can walk into any Country Club he wants. The media doesn’t help either. Any controversy sells, and whether it’s some sinister agenda or just a way to get ratings they will push everything to the limit. There’s always been an undercurrent of white superiority that’s being fed to the masses, it happens all the time to countries we take over or “take under our wing.” Whether it’s subliminal or intentional many have been led to believe that white skin, skinny bodies and blue eyes are what’s desirable. People need to learn that dark skin and non-anorexic bodies are beautiful too, and without more REAL social interaction and informing of the masses then the ignorance will carry on. So for God’s sake teach your children, the tv and media ain’t doin a good job of it.