The White Minstrel Show by Kevin D. Williamson

This article has generated a ton of discussion (actually a lot of it good) on sides of the ideological divide. The far right hates it, and so does the far left. Not sure if we can play nice enough to discuss it here, but it is as much about cultural issues as it is politics. Essentially, the thesis is (by a very conservative writer/intellectual) that anti-intellectualism and the phony embrace of redneck, good ole boy culture by conservative elites is a ridiculous as Tupac and Ice T pretending to be hard ass gangsters.

The White-Minstrel Show

 

I'm down wit dat, dawg.

 

White people acting white have embraced the ethic of the white underclass, which is distinct from the white working class, which has the distinguishing feature of regular gainful employment. The manners of the white underclass are Trump’s — vulgar, aggressive, boastful, selfish, promiscuous, consumerist. The white working class has a very different ethic. Its members are, in the main, churchgoing, financially prudent, and married, and their manners are formal to the point of icy politeness. You’ll recognize the style if you’ve ever been around it: It’s “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am,” but it is the formality of soldiers and police officers — correct and polite, but not in the least bit deferential. It is a formality adopted not to acknowledge the superiority of social betters but to assert the equality of the speaker — equal to any person or situation, perfectly republican manners. It is the general social respect rooted in genuine self-respect.

I've been thinking about this lately. One of the accusations of the black community is that people don't allow others to improve themselves. They are accused of thinking they are better than others. Then people not interested in bettering themselves will try to tear down and drag down those bettering themselves. We see it when people complain about black athletes not leaving their friends behind once they have made it. They'll just drag you down, gotta move on from them, we say.

But I'm seeing a lot of this dragging down from Trump supporters. Not many people are really trying to raise all boats. They are too busy trying to put people in their place. Probably not limited to Trump supporters as it's certainly not a trait of the black community. It's a trait of everyone anymore.

 

I thought the author lost his credibility in the opening graphs with the premise that Tupac was just living out the persona of Roland Bishop.

 

Tried to read it, DD, but the long, wordy, contrived lede annoyed me too much.

Rappers adopting a false image to make a buck ... don't see any connection between that and Trump winning an election on the backs of poor whites who hate Planned Parenthood and Hillary Clinton.

Maybe the writer goes on to prove that Trump had Tupac's image and lifestyle as the basis for his campaign, but that's too depressing to think about.

 

Whether the Tupac lead works or not, it makes a lot of worthwhile connections to the idea of play-acting later in the piece. It's worth celebrating continuing.

 

Kind of on the other side of the coin...

 

Quite an interesting piece, and I can't disagree with his points.

 

Sex in the morning
Sex at night
Sex in the afternoon's alright
Ain't a man on Earth
who can stay alive
without a <thump, thump, thump>
SEX DRIVE!

If Ice T ain't gangsta then ...

 

Cash me outside.

 

I’ll be glad when he gets off the doctorquant-extended-family beat ...