Some Black women and gays love denegration?
As we prepare for CNN’s Black in America 2 (July 22nd & 23rd), let’s “keep it poppin’” with a discussion about some black women and black LGBT folks. In my experience, some women and black LGBT folks are into being disrespected. Disrespect for me ranges — from dancing and signing songs that screams: bitches, punk, sissy, battyman and hoes if you are a black woman and/or a member of the LGBT, —to public physical, emotional and political acceptance of being valued by someone as less than or as a sexual object (i.e., being humiliated). For me, acceptance is when you allow someone or somebody to humiliate you in public spaces. In writing it out, it sounds crazy to suggest that anyone is accepting of publicly being reduced to jokes and sex objects, but I have seen it and at times have allowed it.
More ass, more problems
To make it plain, Mystikal’s Shake Your Ass was a hit. It came out my sophomore year of high school. I remember certain lines like “bitch ridin’ a dick like she makin’ a baby” or “bend over hoe show me what you’re workin’ with.” To make it all the more comical, girls in my high school loved that song and would dance and sing. Also, I remember it being played in college (like and ol’ school jam). The girls would be “ridin’ [on the boys clothed] dick like [they were] makin’ a baby.” While the boys were yelling “bend over hoe show me what you’re workin’ with.” I laughed and allowed girls to playful grind on me. In that moment, I, like everyone else, was mindlessly dancing. Today, we celebrate artists like Plies and Ying-Yang Twins with their lyrics that reduce us to our dicks, lips, tits, ass and pussy. I can’t say that it is always wrong for people to enjoy, but there is something off-color about mindless enjoyment of music and its lyrics. More alarming for me is when I see people celebrating and financially supporting music and musicians that support death/murder of groups of people.
In clubs (like the Wild Hare) gyrating to syncopated beats, people lose themselves in the bass and “auto-tones.” We wile-out at clubs listening to dance-hall finest like Beenie Man and Buju Banton. These musicians are revered in Jamaica and here in the States because they carry on in the tradition of other Reggae artist with providing race and class conscious lyrics about the conditions in their country. The perfect example is Buju Banton’s Hills and Valley, which is a song that I enjoy swaying to myself. However, these artists have their drawbacks (e.g., Buju Banton’s song Boom Bye-Bye). Beenie Man released several songs (Badman Chi-Chi, Mi Nah Wallah, and Han Up Deh) in each of the songs he calls for the death or maiming of either gay men or lesbians. In the song Badman Chi-Chi, Beenie Man ask the audience to repeat after him:
If yuh nuh chi chi man wave yuh right hand and (NO!!!), If yuh nuh lesbian wave yuh right hand and (NO!!!), Some bwoy will go a jail fi kill man tun bad man chi chi man..
Violence in Jamaica
Can you imagine being in a crowd where this was occurring? Hearing the song’s lyrics and watching people dance (hopefully) mindlessly. If they were paying attention to the lyrics, it might mean that by dancing the individual person agreed to whatever the artist was singing (how disturbing is that thought). To see people cheering and singing along to this song, must be a damaging reality for many closeted men and women in those audiences. I can’t imagine being a lesbian woman, a gay man, or a transgender person in that audience and not waving my right hand. Think about the consequences or what might be at stake for someone to not wave his or her right hand. Think about what it meant for her or him to raise her or his right hand despite knowing that she/he was a lesbian, gay, or heaven forbid a transgender person.
It is in these moments of mindless fun that I become convinced there is a certain degree of self-loathing present in each of us. My friends, family and sometimes even I listen to artists that have misogynistic and homophobic undertones. I catch myself listening and swaying while thinking what I am agreeing to about what it means to be a woman, or LGBT person. What does it mean to be reduced to having a big ass, wet pussy, or big dick? More important yet, what are the consequences of music that promote the physical harm of a group of people?
This was a very interesting piece. However, I have several suggestions: (1) Correct the font formatiing of your piece so that its consistent; (2) I am not sure if the profanity in your post adds to your what trying to say about how we internalize our self hatred.Personally, I found the profanity distracting from your argument. (but, perhaps this is your desired effect and if so keep the language); and (3)most importantly, I feel the two sections need to tied together with a narrative about power and oppression. You begin talking about how black women internalize their self-hatred evident in their dancing to music that degrades them then you jump to how LGBTQ individuals internalize self-hared, but you do not tell me the tie connecting them and larger issue at play. Without this overarching narrative in conjunction with individual behavior it appears if you are placing all the responsibility on women and LGBTQ individuals to remedy a larger problem concerning power, homophobia, misogyny,capitalism, and the music industry.
But hey this is a blog so perhaps your sentiments are what they are and if so pull the suggestions you find useful and discard the rest.
This was a very interesting piece. However, I have several suggestions: (1) Correct the font formatiing of your piece so that its consistent; (2) I am not sure if the profanity in your post adds to your what trying to say about how we internalize our self hatred.Personally, I found the profanity distracting from your argument. (but, perhaps this is your desired effect and if so keep the language); and (3)most importantly, I feel the two sections need to tied together with a narrative about power and oppression. You begin talking about how black women internalize their self-hatred evident in their dancing to music that degrades them then you jump to how LGBTQ individuals internalize self-hared, but you do not tell me the tie connecting them and larger issue at play. Without this overarching narrative in conjunction with individual behavior it appears if you are placing all the responsibility on women and LGBTQ individuals to remedy a larger problem concerning power, homophobia, misogyny,capitalism, and the music industry.
But hey this is a blog so perhaps your sentiments are what they are and if so pull the suggestions you find useful and discard the rest.
Also, I find the pictures disturbing and objectifying as well. Is there a possibility of finding other pictures that do not reconstitute a system that you are critiquing?
Also, the “more ass more problem” comment is not needed. It does not add to the discussion and to be honest I find it offensive.
Also, I find the pictures disturbing and objectifying as well. Is there a possibility of finding other pictures that do not reconstitute a system that you are critiquing?
Also, the “more ass more problem” comment is not needed. It does not add to the discussion and to be honest I find it offensive.
Hi Fallon,
I think your first comment are very good and I’m glad you caught those gaps. Originally, this blog was longer but I have decided to split some parts out for later. I will correct those areas as soon as time permits.
In terms of the second, it is my intention to startle through over exposure both in the language and in the pictures. I put the captions up there too because they are disturbing and offensive.
It is important that in our attempts to eradicate oppressive structures that are codified in our being that we face the harsh reality of how some people choose to exist in the world.
Hi Fallon,
I think your first comment are very good and I’m glad you caught those gaps. Originally, this blog was longer but I have decided to split some parts out for later. I will correct those areas as soon as time permits.
In terms of the second, it is my intention to startle through over exposure both in the language and in the pictures. I put the captions up there too because they are disturbing and offensive.
It is important that in our attempts to eradicate oppressive structures that are codified in our being that we face the harsh reality of how some people choose to exist in the world.
supernerd,
i agree with fallon that this piece was interesting, but i also have some questions/concerns.
1. the examples you cite seem a bit dated. you mention a mystikal song that was released nearly 9 years ago. have the ying yang twins done anything noteworthy in recent years? i say this because as much as the music industry and culture have stayed the same, so much has changed drastically. and i’m wondering if you could put your argument in a more contemporary context. the bet awards had a performance that featured underaged black girls dancing to a song about men having sex with every woman in the world. seems like perfect fodder for your subject.
2. you start off my mentioning black in america 2. is this something soledad o’brien et. al. plan to discuss?
3. i’m not convinced that dancing to, or even buying music that advocates homophobic and/or misogynistic stances makes one complicit in his, her, or another’s degradation, and i definitely don’t think it means one enjoys being degraded. that assessment is a bit too simplistic for my taste, and doesn’t seem to get to the stuff fallon mentioned in her response. i think it’s a lot more complicated than you let on–on both sides, producers and consumers. and i think it takes a lot of folks off the hook.
4. if the language and imagery you used in this post are already evident in the examples you cite, i’m not sure how startling reproducing them is. it certainly wasn’t for me, and i didn’t really understand them as strategic. maybe others did/will.
supernerd,
i agree with fallon that this piece was interesting, but i also have some questions/concerns.
1. the examples you cite seem a bit dated. you mention a mystikal song that was released nearly 9 years ago. have the ying yang twins done anything noteworthy in recent years? i say this because as much as the music industry and culture have stayed the same, so much has changed drastically. and i’m wondering if you could put your argument in a more contemporary context. the bet awards had a performance that featured underaged black girls dancing to a song about men having sex with every woman in the world. seems like perfect fodder for your subject.
2. you start off my mentioning black in america 2. is this something soledad o’brien et. al. plan to discuss?
3. i’m not convinced that dancing to, or even buying music that advocates homophobic and/or misogynistic stances makes one complicit in his, her, or another’s degradation, and i definitely don’t think it means one enjoys being degraded. that assessment is a bit too simplistic for my taste, and doesn’t seem to get to the stuff fallon mentioned in her response. i think it’s a lot more complicated than you let on–on both sides, producers and consumers. and i think it takes a lot of folks off the hook.
4. if the language and imagery you used in this post are already evident in the examples you cite, i’m not sure how startling reproducing them is. it certainly wasn’t for me, and i didn’t really understand them as strategic. maybe others did/will.
Okay, the more I think about it I find the images and the language very offensive especially with respect to black women. It seems that the only pictures you have uploaded are pornographic pictures of black women and links to more obscene images and songs about black women. Once again as I stated earlier these images, caption “more ass more problems”, and songs do not add to your blog piece.
Furthermore, your positioning of homophobia in Reggae music and your image of the man scratched with the caption “violence in Jamaica” in some ways stereotypes Jamaica as the “haven” “nest” of homophobia even though attacks against LGBTQ communities happen every where and can be found in other genres of music such as R&B, Hip Hop, Rock, etc.
Okay, the more I think about it I find the images and the language very offensive especially with respect to black women. It seems that the only pictures you have uploaded are pornographic pictures of black women and links to more obscene images and songs about black women. Once again as I stated earlier these images, caption “more ass more problems”, and songs do not add to your blog piece.
Furthermore, your positioning of homophobia in Reggae music and your image of the man scratched with the caption “violence in Jamaica” in some ways stereotypes Jamaica as the “haven” “nest” of homophobia even though attacks against LGBTQ communities happen every where and can be found in other genres of music such as R&B, Hip Hop, Rock, etc.
Hi Fallon and Summer,
I am not sure where to begin. I will explain one of my intents and the other intents I have will become more apparent. First, I agree with you both that it is offensive, but it was meant to be spectacle because these images and the language is so pervasive in the black music communities and among black people.
With that said and acknowledged on my part, I am creating satire. Summer as you asked me a post ago, I ask Fallon and yourself to understand the limits of this writer’s pen (smile). I am creating satire hence the heavy peppering of the language and the light sprinkling of the images. To be clear and beyond peradventure, I neither condone nor find attractive any of the images (TRUST).
Summer, I have a design in mind for where I am going with this post. I started with Mystikal for several reasons: 1) the song is symbolic in my head for mindless acceptance of denegration, 2) the hoopla surrounding the artist; 3) I have it on very high authority that anecdotal evidence is all the rave in blogs particularly first-hand experience even more so than passive first-hand observation; 4) it connected me with the subject matter somewhat intimately so therefore my critique is less judgment and more a lesson learned; and 5) finally, each picked artist’s story lends itself to a future idea.
Summer, your third issue about things being larger than the individual is a great point. However, I don’t subscribe to ideology that systems dictate human actions (or inaction for that matter). I believe self-determination and self-efficacy are shaped by systems, but it is human agency that dictates what will or will not occur. So we have a fundamental difference of where things start. I am about taking responsibility for the only thing I can control fully (with god’s blessings) me that other “shit” is just context.
*Fallon you are correct these same issues persist in other communities, however, the way in which they play-out are negotiated and mediated in entirely different ways. It always surprises me when people instead of dealing with the subject at hand (however uncomfortable) turn around and point things out not germane to the present conversation.* This is a particular problem that black liberals do when they feel like black people are being assailed/critiqued. Does it make it any better (or worse for that matter) that “the white man” (or another group of people) is doing it too?
Hi Fallon and Summer,
I am not sure where to begin. I will explain one of my intents and the other intents I have will become more apparent. First, I agree with you both that it is offensive, but it was meant to be spectacle because these images and the language is so pervasive in the black music communities and among black people.
With that said and acknowledged on my part, I am creating satire. Summer as you asked me a post ago, I ask Fallon and yourself to understand the limits of this writer’s pen (smile). I am creating satire hence the heavy peppering of the language and the light sprinkling of the images. To be clear and beyond peradventure, I neither condone nor find attractive any of the images (TRUST).
Summer, I have a design in mind for where I am going with this post. I started with Mystikal for several reasons: 1) the song is symbolic in my head for mindless acceptance of denegration, 2) the hoopla surrounding the artist; 3) I have it on very high authority that anecdotal evidence is all the rave in blogs particularly first-hand experience even more so than passive first-hand observation; 4) it connected me with the subject matter somewhat intimately so therefore my critique is less judgment and more a lesson learned; and 5) finally, each picked artist’s story lends itself to a future idea.
Summer, your third issue about things being larger than the individual is a great point. However, I don’t subscribe to ideology that systems dictate human actions (or inaction for that matter). I believe self-determination and self-efficacy are shaped by systems, but it is human agency that dictates what will or will not occur. So we have a fundamental difference of where things start. I am about taking responsibility for the only thing I can control fully (with god’s blessings) me that other “shit” is just context.
*Fallon you are correct these same issues persist in other communities, however, the way in which they play-out are negotiated and mediated in entirely different ways. It always surprises me when people instead of dealing with the subject at hand (however uncomfortable) turn around and point things out not germane to the present conversation.* This is a particular problem that black liberals do when they feel like black people are being assailed/critiqued. Does it make it any better (or worse for that matter) that “the white man” (or another group of people) is doing it too?
i never said anything was offensive.
i missed the satire–the irony, the sarcasm, the outlandishness that often furnishes the genre. i’ll go back and reassess.
i’m still going to push back on your anecdotal evidence. even if your post was about mystikal getting out of jail–isn’t he about due for release?–i’d probably still think, who cares about mystikal? mystikal’s hairline didn’t even care about mystikal. i just think if there are newer, fresher examples of the same problem available, why not go with them? besides, who wants to remember the ying yang twins?
as far as systems and agency and such, we just have two different ideological positions. but i will say that there are real limits to the agency you describe. i mean, i could say that by paying taxes i’ve supported the deaths/murders of groups of people–much more directly than, as you say, these folks who buy this kind of music–and that by exercising my “human agency” by not paying them i could end up homeless or in jail. i just think that in a lot of instances, including the one described here, it’s a lot more complicated than you delineate. buying a misogynistic and/or homophobic album and/or song is not always or automatically a vote yes for such terrible things.
i never said anything was offensive.
i missed the satire–the irony, the sarcasm, the outlandishness that often furnishes the genre. i’ll go back and reassess.
i’m still going to push back on your anecdotal evidence. even if your post was about mystikal getting out of jail–isn’t he about due for release?–i’d probably still think, who cares about mystikal? mystikal’s hairline didn’t even care about mystikal. i just think if there are newer, fresher examples of the same problem available, why not go with them? besides, who wants to remember the ying yang twins?
as far as systems and agency and such, we just have two different ideological positions. but i will say that there are real limits to the agency you describe. i mean, i could say that by paying taxes i’ve supported the deaths/murders of groups of people–much more directly than, as you say, these folks who buy this kind of music–and that by exercising my “human agency” by not paying them i could end up homeless or in jail. i just think that in a lot of instances, including the one described here, it’s a lot more complicated than you delineate. buying a misogynistic and/or homophobic album and/or song is not always or automatically a vote yes for such terrible things.
ashe summer ashe!!
ashe summer ashe!!
Fallon, care to explain what ashe means? Sorry I am not hype enough to understand!
Fallon, care to explain what ashe means? Sorry I am not hype enough to understand!
Summer, I agree (and maybe it is another limit to my pen), but I do believe that I was making a move throughout the piece toward younger lyrics, actions and musicians. It will be address to your liking I swear it will.
In terms of CNN Black in America 2, I am not sure what you were asking me, but this season of black in America is looking at solutions and who is creating change. There was a lovely piece on this community based organic farm project in Atlanta. There was a dynamic piece done on MLT program, a principal whose school has a 100% matriculation rate to college, and etc coming down the pipeline.
Fallon and Summer feel free to push back, I like when people posit ideas and although I have my reasons up front if your ideas circumvent or make apparent a gap, I will acknowledge and correct it.
Thank you again for the value-added conversation. I truly like your ideas and thoughts on this matter. I live for the exchange of ideals…kind of so Mills (dont you think).
Peace!!
Summer, I agree (and maybe it is another limit to my pen), but I do believe that I was making a move throughout the piece toward younger lyrics, actions and musicians. It will be address to your liking I swear it will.
In terms of CNN Black in America 2, I am not sure what you were asking me, but this season of black in America is looking at solutions and who is creating change. There was a lovely piece on this community based organic farm project in Atlanta. There was a dynamic piece done on MLT program, a principal whose school has a 100% matriculation rate to college, and etc coming down the pipeline.
Fallon and Summer feel free to push back, I like when people posit ideas and although I have my reasons up front if your ideas circumvent or make apparent a gap, I will acknowledge and correct it.
Thank you again for the value-added conversation. I truly like your ideas and thoughts on this matter. I live for the exchange of ideals…kind of so Mills (dont you think).
Peace!!
i don’t like much of anything, so please don’t make such efforts. what i’m trying to suggest is that as a reader the mystikal example, et. al. is sort of like hearing/reading someone use old slang. others may not agree.
regarding bia2, i brought it up because the line created an expectation for the reader that i don’t think was met. i just didn’t see the link, and you didn’t really go back to it. so i was just curious about it as an organizational strategy. is soledad o’brien going to talk about asses? or folks’ complicity in and/or consumption of the misogyny and homophobia in black music? you could’ve just started with, “In my experience, some women and black LGBT folks are into being disrespected,” and i would have known exactly what you were about to talk about/where you were going.
and, though i know this isn’t what your post is about, what about the white people who consume this part of the culture?
that’s all.
i don’t like much of anything, so please don’t make such efforts. what i’m trying to suggest is that as a reader the mystikal example, et. al. is sort of like hearing/reading someone use old slang. others may not agree.
regarding bia2, i brought it up because the line created an expectation for the reader that i don’t think was met. i just didn’t see the link, and you didn’t really go back to it. so i was just curious about it as an organizational strategy. is soledad o’brien going to talk about asses? or folks’ complicity in and/or consumption of the misogyny and homophobia in black music? you could’ve just started with, “In my experience, some women and black LGBT folks are into being disrespected,” and i would have known exactly what you were about to talk about/where you were going.
and, though i know this isn’t what your post is about, what about the white people who consume this part of the culture?
that’s all.
Hi Summer,
Thank you for your honesty. Do understand that I am not doing it (just) for YOU to like, but so that I can examine where my efforts fall on deaf ears.
In terms of you harping-on about Mystikal and it being a “late” example. I think yes it is a good point you make, but I agreed with you, but to continue to harp-on it, is to make it meaningless or trivial.
In summary of what you have said to me, you must want me to be writing a different post. I am not speaking to white consumerism of black denegrating music.
I am trying to create a chronological order to the consequences of being mindless, but if it is happening too slow for you I apologize. Maybe I should have started with the currenter music first and went back from there, but yeah I didn’t so this is what it is.
Hi Summer,
Thank you for your honesty. Do understand that I am not doing it (just) for YOU to like, but so that I can examine where my efforts fall on deaf ears.
In terms of you harping-on about Mystikal and it being a “late” example. I think yes it is a good point you make, but I agreed with you, but to continue to harp-on it, is to make it meaningless or trivial.
In summary of what you have said to me, you must want me to be writing a different post. I am not speaking to white consumerism of black denegrating music.
I am trying to create a chronological order to the consequences of being mindless, but if it is happening too slow for you I apologize. Maybe I should have started with the currenter music first and went back from there, but yeah I didn’t so this is what it is.
supernerd,
please pump your brakes. questioning what i do or don’t understand–even rhetorically–doesn’t really seem necessary or constructive. i might suggest–that is, if you are even still open to suggestions from a commenter like myself–not doing that once we go public. it seems like a pretty quick way to alienate readers and folks who don’t take jermaine jackson’s lyrics ([warning, semi-inside baseball 80s song reference coming] “don’t take it personal”) as words to live by. unless that’s your goal. and if so, then carry on.
(re-)clarifying a point is not harping on it. i read both what your goal(s) were in your initial response to my comment questioning your choice of example(s) and your later comment about what you felt you had done in your narrative. i returned to the mystikal point to say that the goals you had, though they may have been apparent to you as a writer, and plain to you as you read your own blog, weren’t immediately evident to me, as a reader who can only infer your intentions by what is on the screen.
i don’t want you to write a different post. what i do want you (frankly, all of us) to write is a post that clearly reflects your intentions to your readers–i think that’s why we’re “practicing” amongst ourselves. and since fallon and i seem to be coming from a similar place, i imagine that my ears are neither deaf nor my eyes blind. however, if you disagree with that assessment too, oh well.
further, i know white consumption of black culture wasn’t what your post was about. i said i knew that that wasn’t what your post was about. i didn’t even suggest that you add wording pertaining to it to your post. i’ve noticed that posts sometimes spark conversations in the comment section that might not deal directly with what was said in the entry, but were prompted by it nonetheless. if you’re not interested in questions corollary to your main issue/point, well, duly noted. i was merely asking a follow-up question inspired by what you had written, because something you said apparently sparked the thought. it appears that you’re not cool with that, either.
in the future, should i be so compelled to respond to your posts, i’ll be sure to: 1. make no effort to ask you for clarification and/or ensure that i am clear in my own response(s), 2. ask (follow-up) questions that pertain only to your main claim (as i understand it), and 3. just let your post be what it is, whether or not your intention(s) are apparent to me, the reader.
sm.
supernerd,
please pump your brakes. questioning what i do or don’t understand–even rhetorically–doesn’t really seem necessary or constructive. i might suggest–that is, if you are even still open to suggestions from a commenter like myself–not doing that once we go public. it seems like a pretty quick way to alienate readers and folks who don’t take jermaine jackson’s lyrics ([warning, semi-inside baseball 80s song reference coming] “don’t take it personal”) as words to live by. unless that’s your goal. and if so, then carry on.
(re-)clarifying a point is not harping on it. i read both what your goal(s) were in your initial response to my comment questioning your choice of example(s) and your later comment about what you felt you had done in your narrative. i returned to the mystikal point to say that the goals you had, though they may have been apparent to you as a writer, and plain to you as you read your own blog, weren’t immediately evident to me, as a reader who can only infer your intentions by what is on the screen.
i don’t want you to write a different post. what i do want you (frankly, all of us) to write is a post that clearly reflects your intentions to your readers–i think that’s why we’re “practicing” amongst ourselves. and since fallon and i seem to be coming from a similar place, i imagine that my ears are neither deaf nor my eyes blind. however, if you disagree with that assessment too, oh well.
further, i know white consumption of black culture wasn’t what your post was about. i said i knew that that wasn’t what your post was about. i didn’t even suggest that you add wording pertaining to it to your post. i’ve noticed that posts sometimes spark conversations in the comment section that might not deal directly with what was said in the entry, but were prompted by it nonetheless. if you’re not interested in questions corollary to your main issue/point, well, duly noted. i was merely asking a follow-up question inspired by what you had written, because something you said apparently sparked the thought. it appears that you’re not cool with that, either.
in the future, should i be so compelled to respond to your posts, i’ll be sure to: 1. make no effort to ask you for clarification and/or ensure that i am clear in my own response(s), 2. ask (follow-up) questions that pertain only to your main claim (as i understand it), and 3. just let your post be what it is, whether or not your intention(s) are apparent to me, the reader.
sm.
Well said summer. I concur.
Well said summer. I concur.
Hi Summer and Fallon,
I am concerned about the tone of this comment. It seemed more like someone setting a boundary, which is fine we all set them at times for different reasons. To be clear, I have not been upset with any of the comments you two have made. I have to the best of my ability been responsive and tried to explain in the clearest way, my intentions. It is because of my efforts to be clear that this is so concerning to me that you, Summer, feel the need to warn me that I could alienate people. My goal is not to alienate but to push back when appropriate. I apologize if that distinction does not exist for you two in terms of my responses to your comments.
Summer, I have to question a few things you said only because I want to make sure we have a mutual understanding between us. When you said “questioning what I do or don’t understand –doesn’t really seem necessary or constructive” was that in relationship to me saying “Do understand that I am not doing it (just ) for YOU…?” If so please remember that in our previous posts, I said that my next post would be more to your liking, to which you responded I don’t like much of anything, so don’t make the efforts. Your honesty (which I politely thanked you for) merited me (in my opinion) saying “Do understand that I am not doing it (just) for YOU…” Summer, I agree that me questioning what you do or don’t understand is not constructive which is why that has never been my goal. I was being just as honest and clear as you were when you asked me not to make efforts, because not much of anything was to your liking. From that statement I only could infer that you thought my goals to be clearer were only derived at making you like my post, which by far, was not the case.
In terms of the remark about being “open to suggestions from a commenter like [your]self”, Summer I am not sure how to approach this statement. I don’t know you enough to have an emotional judgment about you (i.e., like or dislike you), but what I can say is that I respect your ideas and your ability to convey them. I like that you are honest and upfront and bring to bear your multiple intelligences to your post and your ideas. I like (even now) that you are witty and you have good posts overall, and that you leave great comments that show that you are engaged. With that said, I hope you see why I am a bit befuddled as to why you typed “a commenter like [your]self.”
This is where the heart of my concerns lies in the following parts of your post. I am not interested in creating factions among the bloggers so this [1960 Batman and Robin the dynamic duo-esque] relationship between fallon and you is a little interesting. I say that because I don’t want to be the joker, penguin or catwoman (smile). I want to be part of the team too (the Justice League or what). I hope that made you smile, or at the very least, I can say I tried to inject humor.
Hi Summer and Fallon,
I am concerned about the tone of this comment. It seemed more like someone setting a boundary, which is fine we all set them at times for different reasons. To be clear, I have not been upset with any of the comments you two have made. I have to the best of my ability been responsive and tried to explain in the clearest way, my intentions. It is because of my efforts to be clear that this is so concerning to me that you, Summer, feel the need to warn me that I could alienate people. My goal is not to alienate but to push back when appropriate. I apologize if that distinction does not exist for you two in terms of my responses to your comments.
Summer, I have to question a few things you said only because I want to make sure we have a mutual understanding between us. When you said “questioning what I do or don’t understand –doesn’t really seem necessary or constructive” was that in relationship to me saying “Do understand that I am not doing it (just ) for YOU…?” If so please remember that in our previous posts, I said that my next post would be more to your liking, to which you responded I don’t like much of anything, so don’t make the efforts. Your honesty (which I politely thanked you for) merited me (in my opinion) saying “Do understand that I am not doing it (just) for YOU…” Summer, I agree that me questioning what you do or don’t understand is not constructive which is why that has never been my goal. I was being just as honest and clear as you were when you asked me not to make efforts, because not much of anything was to your liking. From that statement I only could infer that you thought my goals to be clearer were only derived at making you like my post, which by far, was not the case.
In terms of the remark about being “open to suggestions from a commenter like [your]self”, Summer I am not sure how to approach this statement. I don’t know you enough to have an emotional judgment about you (i.e., like or dislike you), but what I can say is that I respect your ideas and your ability to convey them. I like that you are honest and upfront and bring to bear your multiple intelligences to your post and your ideas. I like (even now) that you are witty and you have good posts overall, and that you leave great comments that show that you are engaged. With that said, I hope you see why I am a bit befuddled as to why you typed “a commenter like [your]self.”
This is where the heart of my concerns lies in the following parts of your post. I am not interested in creating factions among the bloggers so this [1960 Batman and Robin the dynamic duo-esque] relationship between fallon and you is a little interesting. I say that because I don’t want to be the joker, penguin or catwoman (smile). I want to be part of the team too (the Justice League or what). I hope that made you smile, or at the very least, I can say I tried to inject humor.
Summer, in terms of white consumption of black culture, I am not against exploring it. I just did not want to muddy the waters because I felt that tangent would have steered the conversation away from the issue I was presenting. So definitely bring it up and tell me your ideas about it, and I can respond with my un-researched prospective on it. In terms of the limits you placed on yourself when commenting on my blogs. I hope you don’t do any of the following things you listed except for repeating the same critique for the same post. Once [we go public] ,it is posted I can’t drastically change it or restructure it in terms of changing examples and removing captions, which is what I meant when I said it is how it is.
Fallon, I am still waiting on what ashe (means) and since you are responding when Summer responds…I hope you can bestow some knowledge on your boy.
Summer, in terms of white consumption of black culture, I am not against exploring it. I just did not want to muddy the waters because I felt that tangent would have steered the conversation away from the issue I was presenting. So definitely bring it up and tell me your ideas about it, and I can respond with my un-researched prospective on it. In terms of the limits you placed on yourself when commenting on my blogs. I hope you don’t do any of the following things you listed except for repeating the same critique for the same post. Once [we go public] ,it is posted I can’t drastically change it or restructure it in terms of changing examples and removing captions, which is what I meant when I said it is how it is.
Fallon, I am still waiting on what ashe (means) and since you are responding when Summer responds…I hope you can bestow some knowledge on your boy.