Anderson Cooper/60 Minutes/Cam'ron... did you watch?

Which has been my problem with the recent lines of these arguments for the last two weeks. We continue to identify symptoms rather than the disease itself.

All due respect to Mr. Whitlock and his new crusade, if the music alone (whether defined by the lyrics or the heartless greed of the record companies behind it) were the cause of every ill in the African-American community, all we'd have to do is confiscate the iPods.

This music, like the art in every age preceding it, is a reflection of the culture that created it. That it then further reinforces that culture is a given.

And while I understand the impulse to break the cycle of cultural reinforcement (boycott BET, etc.), I'm not sure this single strategy in any way addresses the urban epidemic of hopelessness that gave rise to the music in the first place.

Add - And to the 60 Minutes piece last night: what cause has any authoritarian institution in this country, in government or out, ever given a young African-American to trust it?

 

I played DefJam Icons last night on XBox as Ludacris and I beat the living shit out of Big Boi and The Game in the BET studios. I had The Game bleeding so much, you couldn't see the NWA logo on his right titty.

 

That made me laugh ... a lot.

 

That's a defense rationalization to Don't Snitch, but it is meaningless when discussing that the biggest killer of black men between 16 and 26 is black men between 16-26. Snitching is a sympton of uncontrolled murder.

 

I'm not defending anything. An explanation isn't a defense.

 

It is more like an excuse, but I'll meet you somewhere in the middle and edit it to rataionalization.

 

But Fen, isn't it troubling that this code of silence has gone from unwritten rule to a way to make money? The mob's Omerta is one thing. Selling tee-shirts that say "Stop Snitchin'" is something else.

 

Nor am I rationalizing anything. I'm simply saying that from the perspective of a 14-year-old African-American, living in an urban setting, there's almost no reason to trust the authoritarian institutions white America takes for granted. Never said it's right. Never said it's wrong.

 

I would like to think that a 14 year old African American has that kind of historical perspective. But my experience doubts it.

 

IW -- One of the examples of a criminal enterprises thriving in and through popular culture is the fact that you think the Mob's omerta wasn't just as much about making money as the No Snitchin' thing is.
And WCV? You get one of these.

 

Fenster, I know the omerta was about making money - but they never printed tee shirts and sold them. That's the part of this that's new.

 

OK, but I don't know as merchandising makes that much of a difference.