Can Hip-Hop Wash Out it's Own Mouth?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Prominent U.S. hip-hop executive
Russell Simmons on Monday recommended eliminating the words
"bitch," "ho" and the "N-word" from the recording industry. "These three words should be considered with the same objections to obscenity as 'extreme curse words'," he said in a statement. [well, what rock has he and all the rest of the "crew" been under for so long...?] oOo oOo

Simmons, co-founder of Def Jam and a driving force behind the hop's huge commercialism, called for voluntary restrictions on the words and setting up an industry watchdog oOo to recommend guidelines for lyrical and visual standards. [I guess we shall listen and see. . . ] oOo


"Our internal discussions with industry leaders are not about censorship. Our discussions are about the corporate social responsibility of the industry oOo
to voluntarily show respect to African Americans and other people of color, African American women and to all women in lyrics and images," the statement from Simmons and Chavis said on Monday. [Whoops, does this mean "taking away my porno, too"?] oOo oOo
. . .

Well OK: so far so good, but not far enuff. oOo

How 'bout some street respec' for All Americans...people of Non-color...Asian women...Christian believers, not mockers...and anyone who actually knows and uses the true English language in a coherent manner.

oOo And elevate the status of true poets and talented lyricists who actually have something worthwhile to say in their art. oOo


Why shouldn't we hold Everyone to higher standards of (verbal and visual) behavior? oOo


Check out this article from Rob Preston, of informationweek.com:

Our society's capacity to rationalize and defend bad behavior is infinitely scalable. Radio host Don Imus lobs racially tinged insults...and then the apologists tell us what a charitable guy he is.


[NBC, after firing him, then has the nerve to air excerpts of the madman VTech killer's video and spoken diatribe a couple days later. Then, still not seeing any harm done, NBC plays a tape of Alec Baldwin raging on against his own daughter, (clearly a violation of privacy). This they make into a sensationalised self-righteous bit about how foul his verbal treatment of her is. Whatever the verbal abuse, it seems to be OK if it serves somebody's agenda!] oOo

Dare I say it - Hypocrites, the lot of them!! oOo oOo oO

On the Web, forum and blog posts are the cyber-equivalent of road rage--laced with profanity,insults and indimidation. But when an industry figure, Tim O'Reilly, calls for civility in the form of a voluntary blogging code of conduct, you'd think...that he'd proposed marshal law, hit squads and tribunals.
. . .

Sorry, but basic civility isn't an affront to the legacies of Susan B. Anthony and Martin Luther King, Jr. Cleaning up the incessant "f" bombs and mindless, thoughtless name-calling and threats that pollute the blogosphere [and music] "silences" no one's point of view. oOo

In fact, adhereing to [higher standards of expression] elevates one's point of view. oOo oOo

Why does all this matter? Because decency matters.

People, the Internet and, I believe, the Universe itself, all have a Memory.

oOo Didn't your mother ever say something like

"Is that something you want to be remembered for?!" oOo oOo



Well. . .? oOo

More Talk? Imus, Media and other CRap out there

Well it looks like I get to talk about Hypocrisy yet again (see Throwing Stones, below). I heard what Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson had to say about the Imus affair -- and I basically agree. oOo [ Though mostly, we tune them out over their self-righteous slanted agendas. And they've still got one in this situation too.] oOo

[ Parental Advisory : explicit content ]
[sick gratuitous exploitive expression]

But if you see this marking anywhere, are we going to hold their feet to the fire now that Al and Jesse will supposedly lead a "crack-hoe-down" against indecency, hateful speech, excremental expression and blatant greed-driven money-mongering?!! [ Maybe the ACLU and NAACP and AFL-CIO Unions will get their hands dirty, too...] Hmmmm. oOo oOo

Lets see if there are any Outrages and Rants against the Establishment of Gross Ghetto Profiteering amongst CRap groups, shock-rock bands, heavy metal deathheads and Profane Screamers of every social/gender/ethnic stripe! [Yes, I know white people are to blame too, as in my earlier post on the Imus thing.]

And do you think it will only take about A WEEK? for hoards of sponsors, advertisers, huge media Congloms and Cartels to tear down THIS Trashy Trade in aural, verbal, visual, and sometimes "musical" Porn?

Hah! Go up against the Whore of Music Prostitution!?
Nah, I doubt it will happen so fast, if very little, at all. oOo

Oh, the mess we have come to "tolerate" is pervasive in this society, probably Europe as well; maybe Asia, but though they love all things West they may still have some Decency and personal restraint to shun our grossness. oOo oOo

We shall see -- you are known by your fruits. oOo
[ Sure, we know the producers, executives and sponsors "never knew, for all this time!" --and weren't outraged before-- about the crude, hateful, supposedly satirical things their talk-show personalities said/say Lo, these Many Years! ] Right. oOo oOo

Who's accountable- now that the cat's outta-the-bag - and we're Talking?

• The thieves bleeding our culture dry,


• the so-called (musical or visual) "artists" [ I shudder to even use the term! ],


• the producers, promoters, big media-mongers


• MTV, VH1, Fuse, whatever else TV and Web crap outlets


• distributors, retailers ["dealers"] oOo


• thugga-mugga youth sub-culture


• You and Me, the one's who get it, eat it up, "buy it."

oOo oOo Sure, all these. oOo oOo

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Maybe it's Not "Just Talk". . .

Well Sports Fans, maybe what you Say does matter? oOo oOo

I usually don't even take the time of day to give any attention to so-called "pop culture" - precisely because so much of it is so foul these days. As a classical musician and teacher I've given up for years trying to talk sense against the Tide of Turd that passes for "culture".

I've pretty much written-off the bastard rants of most media. These blathering idiots and commentators over the airwaves don't deserve my attention and I don't usually give it. oOo oOo

I don't even know who this Imus character is, but he seems to be of the same ilk as Howard Stern, Rush Limbaugh, and other shock-jock types spewing forth over their own horns.

And as far as being avoidable-- they are just a small part of that sprawling clan of nonstop talkie-talkies: the radio DJ's, morning-show hosts and !crickey! all-manner of broadcast "sports" and "news"casters.

You've heard the outrage now about the radio show comments re: female basketball players at Rutgers (where I almost went to grad school). The phrase about "nappy-haired ho's" isn't the only thing-- at least he didn't use the M-, F-, B- S- and whatever-else-words like "some folk" do constantly! oOo

When I heard the Context of the larger banter between the 2-3 men (?) in the studio, I can really hear how far out of line they were, and how they got sucked deeper into the pit of their own wording. oOo

The Tongue can be a mighty evil-doer, and get you all twisted up. And

what's most often on your tongue gives evidence of what's in your Heart.

oOo I agree it's time to have a Dialogue on racism in speech and attitudes-- but I hate that hackneyed term, so let's Just Talk: oOo oOo

• Just Talk: about the loss of (Black) culture. There used to be a dignity and celebration about rising above and beyond oppression, ignorance and hatred.
• Just Talk: about the poisonous speech put out by those Crap cd mongers and popular Posers -- our environment is infected nearly completely with their disease(s).
• Just Talk: about wide-spread "tolerance" [sic] capitulation and participation by cultural wannabees in the lowest forms of gutter-ghetto thought and behavior. So-called White culture (from pre-teen to college-age) has embraced it:

the "Life"-- violence, hate; the "Look"-- slummy 'n slutty, with slimy bling; "hoppin, tripping, cappin" violence to Everyone, not women only; glorifying greed, crime and perversion.

• Just Talk: about how we are so desensitized to anger, mean-spirited joking, demoralizing talk and gestures.
• Just Talk: about the demeaning of (all of our) culture on TV and "drama/movies/plays"-- like in

The Sopranos: those idiot foul-stenched examples of bad mean White people: disgusting vermin of mob and crime gangs.

And now The Black Donnellys (who/whatever "they" are...?) who are not Black and probably not Irish either-- anyway no one would want to claim them...violent, putrid, immature, disgusting low-life specimens.

• Just Talk: about how tolerant we are of sick violence, graphic and hurtful depictions of cruelty, shock and even the threat of pain-- inflicted on us, by us! -- through even mainstream TV shows and countless slasher/shocker/scare-tactic stories and films. [Mr. Stephen King, as a kingpin of your "genre" you are not without blame...]
• Just Talk: about why the entertainment industry thinks we want and/or like to be "provided" with these kinds of stories and characters? OK, it's to appeal to the worst of humanity, and cater to our basest instincts, thank you very much. Mr. Media, take it, here's my money and my soul.
• Just Talk: about our animal-breeding prison system, that great fermentation hole for gross and evil: the gangs: Black, White, Skinhead, Chicano, Whatever ethnic-stripe they're all bad; drugs, rapes, murder and shame of other inmates by equally evil men.

• Let's NOT Just Talk: about anger, apathy, racism, bigotry, intolerance [ or that shoved-down-your-throat "progressive tolerance" of anyone's aberrant behavior either], corruption, immorality, poverty, injustice and hate, etc. >> [ Read the comments to this post, some goodies... ]
  
• Just Talk: ain't enuff! Real change can only come through the heart > to inform the mind > which can correct our life actions > and finally, to renovate our spirit. oOo oOo

It's Personal, people! And it's Impossible! [Uh-oh]

True Christians know that as bad as society is, as bad as our culture on the streets, in our schools and in our homes can ever get-- the solution is not in external control of groups and systems, but of the individual. oOo

Only God can transform our lives-- and

God Don't Never Make No Junk in the first place!

oOo Moral decisions and consequences are nurtured and realized within. Our experience of life and other people, good or bad, to honor or curse, is felt inside of each of us. We must pay better, closer Attention to what is really inside of us, where it comes from, and how to be rid of "it". oOo

We need, most of all, Good Attention-- attention to what is true, good, right, pure, noble and admirable in all other people, the life around us and in us.

And as large as our problems of race and sexism and pain inflicted on human beings in any form are, or may become, we can (re)turn to God and (re)pent so that from here on we Can speak the Truth and not Just Talk! oOo oOo