Thought the First
I've recently come to appreciate rap more as a genre of music. In the whitest possible way of describing it, it's basically like slam poetry set to music. The more I listen to it, the more I appreciate it, even if I don't actually like the music of that many rap artists.
But here's the thing: as much as I avoid identifying race where it's irrelevant, it's no secret that rappers are predominantly black. Yet my limited knowledge of rap revolves around Watsky, Eminem, and Snoop Dogg. It's a tiny sample size, yes, but it's still 2/3 white where the entire genre is 3/4 black.
I don't make it a point to make sure that my interests are racially diverse, but see my problem?
*insert profound statement about veiled racism and self-induced pseudo-segregation in modern society*
Thought the Second
Speaking of race, does "The Help" strike anyone as a little...patronizing? An enforcement of "white do-gooderism," as one review put it. I haven't seen the movie or read the book so I can't judge it yet. But from the trailer, at the very least, it seemed uncomfortably like another episode of "Save Us, Motivated Underdog White Girl!" It seems like it'll turn out to be more about Emma Stone's character becoming empowered and the savior of the black help rather than an actually progressive story.
I don't deny that it was essential that at least some white people were on board with the civil rights movement, nor that it's an incredibly good thing to be white and not racist (or any race and not racist, let's be real). But it smells like just another story where the white girl is the true hero rather than the black people being heroes in their own right. You know, a feel-good movie for white people who think they're really progressive.
Still, I don't know for sure, since I haven't seen it yet (I doubt I'll read the book, to be honest).
Thought the Third
I've been thinking about all the stupid stuff on the internet and how entertaining it is. I admit that I find it hilarious and a little bit charming how much people are entertained by stupid stuff, like nyan cat. But the more I think about it, the more I question if it is really an okay thing to be so obsessed with stupid things.
No denying the internet serves many other uses than just cats with bowties and videos of people falling over. And I don't think there's anything wrong with low quality entertainment; not everything in life has to be intelligent, profound, and/or serious. Still, the amount of time I spend watching dumb videos and being entertained by stupid little things is worrisome. I'm legitimately worried that it's hurting my intelligence, my ability to think sharply, and definitely my attention span.
So should I cut back? Should I not worry about it? At some level it is worrying that we can be so entertained by the same basic level of thing that would entertain a two year old.
I don't think it's just a happy sign that we're all children inside. I really don't.
1 comment:
Addressing the third point, I think that could actually be the basis for a scientific study. There are already a ton trying to determine if Google, et al. are making people stupider (One article--that I found on Google, natch--cites that 81 percent of the experts it surveyed say that Google will make people smarter, so there's that.), so who's to say that trivial online media won't?
If someone had to take an IQ test after watching nyan cat for 3 minutes, would they do as well as someone who hadn't or would they still be distracted because the song got stuck in their head? If they were, would this prove the negative effects of all the stupidly entertaining viral videos in the world or just that one? So many variables. So much scientific method. I'm not particularly nerdy for science, but I just nerdgasmed a little.
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