Letters to the Editor
softdog
Published Letters: 186 Editor's Choice: 8
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Talk is impossible if it's in bad faith
[Read the article: Can Democrats learn to talk about race?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Joan's point might be valid were it not made in bad faith.
She starts this wrongly stating Brazile suggested "the party might be able to do without the support of white working-class voters and Latinos". Which isn't what she said and Walsh admits this -- later in this post.
So why does the open with something she knows isn't true.
For reference here's Brazile's quote:
A new Democratic coalition is younger. It is more urban, as well as suburban, and we don't have to just rely on white blue-collar voters and Hispanics. We need to look at the Democratic Party, expand the party, expand the base and not throw out the baby with the bath water.
Even as Walsh belatedly admits her interpretation was wrong, she still argues for it:"Still, she sounded ready to write off working-class whites and Latinos; it wasn't until I read the transcript that I noticed she said "just rely on white blue-collar voters and Hispanics."
No, Joan, she didn't. Not only does "just rely" clearly not mean "do without" but also "expand the base and not throw out the baby with the bath water" clearly doesn't mean "do without".
If this were someone else trying to push a view they just admitted was false, Joan would denounce the arrogant double talk. Why does she make excuses for the same behavior she critiques in others?
After much bloviation and equivocation, Joan says: "What's the answer? I hammered out this whole post, and I don't have one."
I do. Media pundits who can't make a point without being dishonest should get right or stop taking part.
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Excellent
[Read the article: Opus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This was funny. Credit where credit is due.
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Aging White Racists Still Not Cool
[Read the article: Hip-hop is no longer cooler than me]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"More than anything I'm embarrassed. Since when did young black men, heretofore the arbiters of pop culture, become so lame? And since when did the citizens of that culture not know the difference?"
Really, Paul Kix? Really? Are you, a privilege white editor of a certain age, claiming a culture is uncool by writing an article which only names top selling artists.
Does he mention small label artists like Anacron? Hell, he doesn't even mention Lupe Fiasco.
It takes a presumptious racist to act like he knows an entire culture from the most common version.
Also, but did the heyday of funk and soul not involve a few dances which even the most inept of dancers could master? Has club music always involved aboveground and underground hits?
Why yes, yes it has and yet no aging white dude has had the audacity to claim he's cooler than an entire form.
It's funny, now that a mixed race man is running for the white house, Paul Kix can claim he's cooler than an explicitly black music. Is he cooler than blues and jazz as well?
Since when is the vitality of AN ENTIRE MUSICAL FORM to be judged by a selective sample of top 40 hits.
If he was writing about women in rock, would you judge the entire genre based on the latest Avril Lavigne tune? If black guy wrote about how lame rock was based on a list of bands including Linkin Park and Maroon 6, I'm sure this letters section would explode with counter examples.
Kix is too dumb to actually understand the lyrics of "Hip Hop is Dead"...
"If hip hop should die before I wake
I'll put an extended clip inside of my AK
Roll to every station, murder the DJ"
His entire argument is not that hip hop is dead, but that the heavily commercialized version - and refusal to play other types - is killing it. He also name checks MC Ren, who's violent black nationalist albums were not exactly in heavy rotation.
This article isn't about making a well researched or reasoned argument, it's about a white guy making white person generalizations. Something that a lot of other white guys of any age would never have the stones to do. Please, Mr. Kix - shut up. You don't speak for all white dudes over 30.
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Salon - Cracker Central
[Read the article: Hip-hop is no longer cooler than me]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The only thing which is dead or uncool is Salon. This is a new height in thinly veiled racism.
A mixed race, black identified man has a strong chance to getthe presidential nomination, including strong support from young people and blacks.
And Salon just happens to print a rant by an older white magazine editor who proclaims:
Since when did young black men, heretofore the arbiters of pop culture, become so lame? And since when did the citizens of that culture not know the difference?
He just happens to back this extreme statment using highly selective and dubious examples from his childhood and now.
Had someone made a sweeping provocative statement about some other group with such a myopic viewpoint, I'm not sure Salon would publish it.
Since it's about young black men being lame and less saavy than an white people, however, it's worthy of Salon.
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Salon is its own punchline
[Read the article: "SNL" spoofs Hillary: "I am a sore loser"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The moment I saw that sketch, I knew Salon would denounce it.
It was no less exaggerated or heavy handed humor than the material which satirized support for Obama, but suddenly SNL's brand of mainstream mockery isn't funny.
Right. Has nothing to do with the political leanings of the site. Uh-huh.
I thought it was one of SNL's rare amusing moments, because it was actually brief and to the point. This is probably because it was the pre-credits sketch one of the few places SNL is usually disciplined (the other being Weekend Update). It was also the place for the great sketch slamming Obama.
To me, the rest of the show had and has trouble with pacing, either stretching a simple idea too long or undermining good writing with akward delivery. The number of 10 second gags turned into 5 minute sketches are painful. Only the pre-taped material is consistent.
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Not old enough to be this out of touch.
[Read the article: Hip-hop is no longer cooler than me]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I just did the math and this guy is 27-29.
If he's already complaining about kids these days using an idea of cool he formed at EIGHT YEARS OLD, that's pathetic.