tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post3574090317587444704..comments2023-11-05T07:37:47.920-05:00Comments on The Assimilated Negro: Read A BookT.A.N.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03386902584581113328noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-71049777705752102202008-05-31T15:01:00.000-04:002008-05-31T15:01:00.000-04:00:: sniffs the air :: Hmmm.. sure does smell like o...:: sniffs the air :: Hmmm.. sure does smell like opinions in here! OPINIONS!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-29158410395019851732008-03-23T20:38:00.000-04:002008-03-23T20:38:00.000-04:00where should i start? put it like this. i have had...where should i start? put it like this. i have had the wonderful pleasure of interviewing the writer of this little song for my University's student newspaper. for everyone sitting around talking about how this was written to educate certain groups of people... you are wrong. for those of you sitting around talking about how it was written to mock certain groups of people...you too are wrong. the writer of this song told me that this song was not written for any of that. its purpose was to get him noticed as an artiist. and i dont know about what you all have to say but i must say that it served its puurpose. he said that he was tired of putting out music that went unrecognized (like the opening of the video states) and he decided to write a song in the style of music that was popular at the time, which so happened to be the lil jon, crunk music, repetitive style. he says this song is not to fix any situation, just to make you think and get him rich. everyone who has listened to this song has done both. you have thought about how you feel about this song and its content and you have helped him make a little more money. as a reporter it is my job to always search for truth and to sit and listen to a bunch of people ramble on about something that they know nothing about is rather amusing. so before you decide to sit around and create issues for "certain communities" to fix....FIX YOUR OWN LIVES!!!!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-55484724732465792822007-10-10T10:17:00.000-04:002007-10-10T10:17:00.000-04:00I came across this video in my English class with ...I came across this video in my English class with the context of reviewing it in light of the "hip-hop is dead" controversy. I think it can be taken a multitude of different ways. Perhaps it's a sarcastic jab at the hip-hop industry, or a deeper message which can be found by the viewer. <BR/>I took it as being more of an illustration of how even if the message behind the music changes, the images and word choice still play a critical role.<BR/>While the message can clearly be considered positive with statements such as "read a book...brush your teeth...wear deodorant", the images and profanities used distort the "goodness" of the message itself.<BR/>"B-O-O-K" is written across the ass of a scantily clad dancer shaking "what her mama gave her". While the message remains the same (that it is a good thing to read books), the images are still condoning the degradation of women. <BR/>The song commands, "A Motherf***ing book n***er!" and while I have no problem with obscenities, the obvious feeling behind them is angry and hateful. This, again, distorts the original message of the song.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-72620142919834178922007-10-10T10:11:00.000-04:002007-10-10T10:11:00.000-04:00This video makes me smile because I honestly hope ...This video makes me smile because I honestly hope that it influences at least one person out there to do something with their lives that is worth while. It would be great if more videos were out there like this so we can improve our world by tearing down styreotypes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-36149495095153933472007-09-19T23:13:00.000-04:002007-09-19T23:13:00.000-04:00CNN clips that, i think, shed some light on the cr...CNN clips that, i think, shed some light on the creator's intention - to parody BET's normal programing. <BR/><BR/>watch them both. in the first the host is too scornful to let anyone else say anything...<BR/><BR/>1) http://youtube.com/watch?v=FA-aSi8O3UU&mode=related&search=<BR/>2) http://youtube.com/watch?v=j5vGbnAECr4&mode=related&search=<BR/><BR/>the thing to take away from what the creators say here is that the purpose of the video is to parody rap videos and their treatment of women and young black folks, not to demonize young poor black people. <BR/><BR/>- a white guyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-33063099177138407402007-09-18T19:23:00.000-04:002007-09-18T19:23:00.000-04:00I'm a white guy who happened onto this post due to...I'm a white guy who happened onto this post due to the NPR bit yesterday. The trouble I find with this song revolves around the targeted audience. At what age do we feel that it is appropriate to listen to this song. I would try to keep my kids away from the language until they were teenagers. I would fear that they weren't mature enough to understand the sarcasm. However, the love of reading needs to be intilled in just these young kids. Do we really think some drunk 19 year old is going to open up Invisible Man tomorrow because this was blasting in the club tonight? The message is great and the packaging is slick, but the two don't compliment each other. Either you are informed enough to "get it", in which case you probably don't need help, or you are base enough to just hear the beat and the N word. To some, this would just legitimize that language (see, even that smart black teacher talks like that). The song points out the problem but does nothing to solve it - that is unless it motivates individuals like us to do something.<BR/><BR/>Tom in New OrleansAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-10666359474298490742007-09-17T12:13:00.000-04:002007-09-17T12:13:00.000-04:00wear deodorant n*gga!wear deodorant n*gga!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-27871739820706452592007-09-08T10:01:00.000-04:002007-09-08T10:01:00.000-04:00Read A Book Ringtones!http://jivjiv.com/classichip...Read A Book Ringtones!<BR/><BR/>http://jivjiv.com/classichiphopAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-66364215609531220722007-09-05T23:03:00.000-04:002007-09-05T23:03:00.000-04:00triphop was getting to the point when he notes, as...triphop was getting to the point when he notes, as he calls them "degrading and dehumanizing" aspects of this video.<BR/><BR/>As good or noble a message as drinking water and owning land are, the video undermines the effect. Sure, it's a good message. But how <BR/>do smart, articulate African Americans feel about it? Resentful? Thankful? Angry? I'm a white guy (as I'm suspecting a few of you posting comments are), so I can't speak on behalf of the African American community.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.thuglifearmy.com/news/?id=3889" REL="nofollow">But Jesse Jackson is disappointed.</A> Any time you see infighting between Jesse Jackson and another figure in the African American community, it's not doing anyone any good. <BR/><BR/>Especially when it's something that undermines AND amuses at the same time......Biedshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14664111125528650023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-45451187152951538632007-09-02T17:31:00.000-04:002007-09-02T17:31:00.000-04:00If this had been created by anybody but two young ...If this had been created by anybody but two young African-Americans, it seems like the response would be one of universal disgust. Or what if MTV, with its white executives, had been the first to air it, rather than BET? Seems to me we'd have another Don Imus situation, and rightfully so. The depiction of women is flagrantly offensive and the implication of the lyrics (that black people are so unaware of their own stupidity and foul odors that they have to have it screamed in their face just to realize) is also a pretty gross distortion of a small truth that the makers are trying to comment on. It seems that we're applying a double standard here and letting two guys who made and distributed wildly offensive material off the hook because we still believe that people can't profit off of exploiting racism towards their own race.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-35437169895469023662007-08-27T11:25:00.000-04:002007-08-27T11:25:00.000-04:00I find it very interesting that there is such a va...I find it very interesting that there is such a vast difference of opinions here. I wish I knew each blogger personally. Is it that those who find the profanity, booty shaking and vulgarity spirited and useful are the same people who have not been educated properly themselve? It's not meant to offend. I simply don't think this method is encouraging the uplifting of blacks. We're saying to all of society that this is the only way to get the attention of our people. As a matter of fact let me digress from just including blacks and open the spectrum up to the ghetto which can include whites, hispanic and just about anyone else who finds themselves in a less than fortunate environment. We're increasing the ignorance and sending the message that it's okay if you disgrace yourself as long as you have a point. With the influence that the media and celebrities have why is that we need to use the profanity, the derogatory language, the stereotypes that follow us daily? Would a young man not respond to Jay-Z simply telling him to read a book, if the rap mogul said that it was a factor in making him the name he is today? The uneducated have dreams and most are hungry enough to suceed that they would do just about anything to do so. But when they suceed off of something like this they take with them the vulgarity that brought them to this place and it becomes a vicious cycle. What do we want our future to be- what do we want our legacy to be? Is this a lesson or another way for people to think we're just that ignorant.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-23905747638783057062007-08-24T13:07:00.000-04:002007-08-24T13:07:00.000-04:00I first saw this video while Rap City was on. The...I first saw this video while Rap City was on. The genius of it to me was how the minstrelsy of the 'serious' videos that followed stuck out in contrast to the intentionally over the top minstrelsy of 'Read a Book'. What this video accomplishes is dually effective. It has a simple lifestyle message that we all need indoctrinated and it mocks some current misguided practices of our Black culture to the point that it becomes embarrassing to us willing or complacent members. All the subsequent videos with spinning rims, booty shaking, drinking/clubbing, etc look so foolish after this video. Its amazing to see people condenmn this as racist. If you are offended by this video, you better have been offended by the whole rap game from NWA on down. Trust me, if we were to rank rap's uses of the n-word from most abusive on down, "read a book, n.." wouldn't even appear in the top thousand. (Fill in violent act or deragatory expletive) that n... are on like every top selling album now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-73092875536817550712007-08-24T12:42:00.000-04:002007-08-24T12:42:00.000-04:00firstly, recognize the context. BET didn't "make...firstly, recognize the context. BET didn't "make" this video, they PAID for it, a BLACK hip hop artist and a BLACK director/animation artist "made" it. it was neither the idea of BET or VIACOM. <BR/><BR/>however, the exploitation by VIACOM and BET of black culture should be part of this discussion. As well so should the System of Male/White Supremacy which our current world (globally) operates under should be included in this discussion as well. none of these things happen in a vacuum. they are all related. <BR/><BR/>secondly, this video was intended to stir debate, get people to think more critically about the world around them and how they relate/ participate in it and perhaps get out and attempt to improve things in their communities and homes. what were all of you critics talking about before this video? i for one am at least glad this dialogue is being engaged.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-21470534140063240082007-08-14T12:41:00.000-04:002007-08-14T12:41:00.000-04:00What I will say are 2 quotes on this subject from ...What I will say are 2 quotes on this subject from my own blog. It’s a quick summary of 4 posts I’ve made on the subject. Suffice to say I am insulted by this video and what it represents.<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.blackentertainmentblog.com/2007/08/further-thoughts-on-black-entertainment_13.html" REL="nofollow">"Yes that’s great, 50 years from now people will remember the day when the illiterate, dirty, alcoholic Black masses where shown the light to a better life when Viacom stepped in and helped them out of their miserable lives."</A><BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.blackentertainmentblog.com/2007/08/further-thoughts-on-black-entertainment_3695.html" REL="nofollow">"Here is perhaps the most obvious point on how “classic” or “ironically positive” this PSA may be. Every other network, especially the national broadcast television networks, will not play this PSA. Viacom, which owns BET, won’t play this PSA on any of its other channels. This isn’t quiet because it won’t be played; it isn’t being played because of the embarrassment and insult it is. <BR/><BR/>If that isn’t an example of exploitation and insult, I can’t wait to hear what is."</A>M. Vasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13950156018638071509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-22678734779849003442007-08-09T16:09:00.000-04:002007-08-09T16:09:00.000-04:00The message is crisp. "N" word is my only beef wit...The message is crisp. "N" word is my only beef with it. Reading is fundamental to success in all walks of life. Good job overall!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-40200120022543952202007-08-04T08:07:00.000-04:002007-08-04T08:07:00.000-04:00In everything offensive there is truth, to argue o...In everything offensive there is truth, to argue of something like this is wrong in the minds of anyone who is actually working towards a change in our communities. Get over yourselves and help make a damn change. Here's a true story yesterday <BR/>I stopped over my moms house to check on my lil brother and sister. Who are usually at each other necks over the simplest of shit, And what do I find?<BR/>Both of them in the living room READING A MUTHAFUCCIN BOOK!!! I ask them why? This was odd to me, it's summertime. They took me to a site called youtube and showed me this video i died laughing. Nevertheless I stopped at books-a-million todayAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-75544567585322163212007-07-25T01:21:00.000-04:002007-07-25T01:21:00.000-04:00>Blacks did not get here by ourselves.You weren't ...>Blacks did not get here by ourselves.<BR/><BR/>You weren't a slave. Your parents weren't slaves. At what point does responsibility for your life start with you?<BR/><BR/>One of my ancestors was an (white) indentured servant forced to come to the U.S. to work off a debt. She worked in the fields alongside the other farmhands (mostly other indentureds, since this was in the north). Once her time was done, she didn't have the money to return so she was stuck here: with no money, no education, and not speaking much of the local language. <BR/><BR/>Life's a bitch. Move on, already.<BR/><BR/>-PMAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-64595271892666029872007-07-23T18:03:00.000-04:002007-07-23T18:03:00.000-04:00putting down people won't get through to them. bl...putting down people won't get through to them. blacks did not get here by ourselves. we did not create the projects, we did not recreate racism which gives blacks lower education, lower paying jobs, and forces them to be out of the homes so that they can't parent as well. black men are constantly dehumanized in the working world, stripped of their "manliness" and thus some take it out on their wives and spouses. is it right? no? but is that one of the reasons why there are so many broken families? yes.<BR/><BR/>this video does nothing. it can join bill cosby and the rest of them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-67049287170385196312007-07-16T20:37:00.000-04:002007-07-16T20:37:00.000-04:00Was raised in the ghetto . . . got out through har...Was raised in the ghetto . . . got out through hard-work and the willingness to get an education. Some friends/relatives are still there . . . I keep in touch, visit often but don't want and will NOT go back.<BR/><BR/>That said, I f*in' LOVED this video. Somebody really needed to saw this YEARS ago. And if no one actually comes out and says this, when do you think folk gonna figure out some things? Do you really think they are going to figure it out on their own? Won't they have done that by now? Do you really think they are going to "listen" to some square-ass up-tight person telling them in a "serious," tone that maybe they should go to the library and read a book? Darlin' they beat you DOWN for carrying a book. <BR/><BR/>In my neighborhood, every day at 3PM 500 feet from the school I had to use my BOOKS to fight my neighborhood friends because I was taking "college courses" and carrying those said "books." So, me telling them nicely and with concern that maybe they should read a book . . . would have ended with me laying on the concrete spitting out my teeth.<BR/><BR/>So, yeah . . . they'll listen to this. And yeah, I'll laugh at them and the video because, damn it's funny (and true).<BR/><BR/>My grandmother always said about my old neighborhood, "If you want to keep something (money) secure, hide it in a book. They'll never think to look there."<BR/><BR/>Sad, but proved to be true. My mother's house was broken into several times. Everything was overturned and taken. Except the books. EVERY TIME.Telemillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08238505104337970695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-75946731395819428532007-07-16T11:12:00.000-04:002007-07-16T11:12:00.000-04:00"maybe the healing power of our projected laughter..."maybe the healing power of our projected laughter will convince this lost generation to find its way home."<BR/><BR/>I think it's a mistake to assume our generation (or any) has gotten things right. I'm sure 15 years from now this so called "lost generation" will criticize the generation beneath them. And they'll be wrong too. Let's not be so judgmental. That's all I'm saying.<BR/><BR/>Newsflash! That video was racist. <BR/><BR/>Always,<BR/><BR/>BlankAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-38809294157007422722007-07-16T10:35:00.000-04:002007-07-16T10:35:00.000-04:00hey dream big, interesting post earlier. i feel...hey dream big,<BR/> interesting post earlier. i feel that we are primarily in agreement as far as the middle third of your comment is concerned. the initial and final thirds look to require some clarification/revision. "cops" and "jerry springer" as you noted might as well be charicatures for white racial sterotypes, and might even be analogous to this video were it not for two important points. 1)neither "cops" nor "springer" subjects are exclusively of one race. 2)neither "cops" nor "springer" is mascarading as an educational device. on cops, for every meth'd out white guy cowering beneath a kiddie pool there is a black crackhead babbling incoherently about a crime he witnessed. too, neither the producers of "cops" nor "springer" are portraying their shows to be anything more than what they are; mindless entertainment processed for public consumption. no lectures, no messages. this video can not make that claim. i see you've noticed my 'Deliverance' comment, yet you failed to read/remember the previous post(s) to which it was a response. i was making note (sarcastically as it were) that this cartoon isn't the only depiction of pejoritive sterotypes available, and white america is subject just like any other group. (i actually thought the movie was alright, and it was filmed in my home state) as far as your shock at the "loaded" nature of my comment, it would seem your delicate sensibilities have specific immunity to backreading the post(s) to which it was a response.(and/or its your first day on the internet-if so...welcome) i am familiar with inner city sterotypes better than you know and am aware of the truthful aspect(s) within them. but the question i was asking which you nor your anonymous compatriots have suficently answered in my mind was to the purpose of this PSA. yes, it was funny. but to paraphrase my previous post...how is this video going to effect change in its supposed target audience? perhaps it is satire as jmc39 observantly noted. or perhaps its just entertainment disguised as a racially meaningful message. how's that for "loaded"?<BR/><BR/>p.s.<BR/>apologies on the extra long post...lot to get off my chest today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-40652465245935004942007-07-15T03:50:00.000-04:002007-07-15T03:50:00.000-04:00It's not a PSA or directly educational as others h...It's not a PSA or directly educational as others have noted.<BR/><BR/>It is satire. Anyone else recall Spike Lee's MauMau's in the movie Bamboozled? Read a book is a cartoon, a literal caricaturejmc39https://www.blogger.com/profile/15679234587494608425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-74726440628711147042007-07-14T13:44:00.000-04:002007-07-14T13:44:00.000-04:00PS....I thought it was funny too !PS....I thought it was funny too !Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-72430909748580108752007-07-14T13:42:00.000-04:002007-07-14T13:42:00.000-04:00Triphop -They already have those cartoons you spea...Triphop -<BR/>They already have those cartoons you speak of ...in fact have you seen "Cops" or "Jerry Springer". They are almost self-parodying in their ridiculousness. I also get that you feel that Mr. Anonymous was laughing just a little too hard, but, doesn't dismissing him as having no part in the discussion make you just as prejudicial as you assume that he is. In fact, your "Deliverance" comment was about as racially loaded a comment as I've ever heard. Additionally, I am not sure where you live, but, In DC and Chicago where I've grown up in the inner city areas these stereotypes are all too true (very sadly). It would be ludicrous to suggest that this is completely offbase unless you haven't spent much time in the inner city. The biggest problem is education (see...lack thereof), but sadly, until education is taken more seriously by the educators and parents in our inner cities and until the students themselves start taking more personal responsibility, we will be destined to produce an essentially functionally unemployable (and regretably sometimes illiterate as well)class of young people with little upward mobility or hope. This will continue to engender the type of crass materialism, immediate gratification, and hedonistic attitudes so commonplace today. Obviously, this "lifestyle" is mostly unsustainable and yet, unfortunately, so successfully self-perpetuating. Rome wasn't built in a day, but, it is never too late to start laying a new foundation. The cartoon is grotesque and exagerrated to be sure, but, I think that is part of the point..... to make the next generation a bit more self reflective and maybe even just pissed off enough to collectively do something about it. Tutor, mentor, big brother, big sister, educate, encourage and support and someday we'll be able to laugh at the cartoon a little less defensively. Just a thought.....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16210951.post-71223946692959921712007-07-14T13:25:00.000-04:002007-07-14T13:25:00.000-04:00Damn. Educated Black folk are too loquacious for t...Damn. Educated Black folk are too loquacious for their own good.<BR/><BR/>I'm in the 'hood every day, and I thought it was fucken funny.The Bear Maidenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08219416611385201896noreply@blogger.com