This type of discussion is just stupid and self defeating. Do you think the English were pissed when other cultures appropriated their social norms like eating with forks and knives.
Some valid points, but it fell off the rails quick. Bruno Mars is an amazing song writer, artist, musician, and performer. He is absolutely one of the all time greats. He makes classic music that will always stand the test of time. His music is for everyone and that’s all that really matters. At some point people have to realize that their negative opinions are just a projection of thier pain and anger. I understand them and I pity them. So woke that they’re delusional, so smart that they’re stupid.
Well, at least they included some more moderate brain dead racists to contrast the radical brain dead racists so that the conversation had some diversity of opinion.
Bruno Mars is not black enough because he has no black in him. Bruno Mars has embraced the culture because he loves the culture. However, he has benefited from black culture just like Justin Timberlake and Miley Cyrus. Full Disclosure: I like his music. I haven't finished the videos yet, but I think it is an interesting and nuanced discussion they are having. There are different sides to the debate. I even understand and agree with both sides of the discussion.
LOL "black culture", at what point do we just start calling it "American culture"? I truly hope that people realize when they start talking about someone "not being black enough" or "not being white enough" to make certain kinds of music....that kind of talk is inherently racist. It doesn't matter what color your skin is, there's no kind of music you aren't allowed to make, there's no kind of art you aren't allowed to make. We need to be better than this.
LOL, It isn't that easy and you know it. I don't want to derail the conversation, but I think of when people talk about "black on black crime" (You have talked about this stuff in the D&D, Bobby), they treat it like a "black culture" problem impacting only the black community not an "American" problem we should all tackle. There is always a "THEY should" never a "WE should" in these conversations. I agree, Make the music you want, but know you might not be successful at it or accepted by everyone. This stuff is really not as easy as you're making it out to be. I'm always surprised by the "I don't see race" wielding people.
What I've talked about is subcultures that are popular in the black community that are toxic, I don't talk about "black culture" because there's no such thing. They are just American subcultures and they can be embraced by anyone and the results will be the same. When it comes to the "they" vs "we", it's when you are talking about one community that is especially harmed by something. For example, you hear about an issue when it comes to the sustainability of offshore fishing in Maine, you'd say "they" vs "we" if you were commenting about the problem from Texas because in this example it isn't something that currently affects those in Texas and that makes it THEIR problem, not OUR problem. It doesn't mean that Maine isn't a part of America, or that other coastal states couldn't face similar problems, just that in this example it's a problem Maine is specifically facing and not anyone else to the same extent....and that makes it a "them" problem. If every type of person in America was sucked in by the same poisonous subcultures at the same rate, it would be OUR problem collectively....but that's not the case with this example. While we all share the same culture as Americans, we don't all embrace the same subcultures within that single culture. See what I'm saying? I was just commenting about the principle of the matter, not about the specific example. Honestly I know nothing at all about Bruno Mars and I'm not 100% sure I've ever heard anything by him. What I was saying is that if your art is not accepted by some people based on the color of your skin, those who don't accept it for that reason are absolutely terrible people and those people deserve to be called out on their racism.
I don't like the analogy, because murder, drug use, overdoses, education, healthcare, jobs etc. is not regionally specific in the USA. The stuff that is talked about like it is a black community problem affect other communities also. It shouldn't matter if it affects one community more than the other. The opioid "epidemic" affects the white community more than the black community, Where is the THEY in that? Where is the talk about the popularity of the toxic subculture of popping prescription pills? There is a WE associated with this because when stuff affects the White community WE all have to act. It's OUR Problem. This isn't what this thread is about though.
The panel wasn't debating if Bruno Mars was black enough they were asking the question if he benefits from not being black.
It's not regionally specific in that it's not one corner of the country, but when it comes to murder and violent crime, the numbers for the entire country are skewed by a small portion of the country....so while it's sort of a problem for the whole country in theory, the vast majority of the problem is located in just a few cities with one specific demographic, black men between the ages of 16-34 making up about half of the problem in the entire country.....and it's really only a fairly small percentage of people in that already tiny demographic that are causing the problems. If the murder rate within that one demographic were on par with every other demographic in the US, the murder rates in the US would be comparable to those in Canada....with absolutely no change in the law whatsoever. Now that wouldn't make things perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I don't think we'd be talking about the problem with the same urgency without those relatively few hyper violent individuals in just a few cities who are skewing the numbers for the whole country. To put that in context, it's like saying that breast cancer is a problem that is not gender specific, which is true.....but if you look at the incidence of the problem, it's fair to say that it's a MUCH bigger problem for women than for men. I dunno about that, I kind of look at it as a "they" problem. If I was looking to do something about Opioid addiction and abuse....what community should I focus my energy on? It very much seems to be a "white person problem", in that right at 80% of Opioid overdoses are non hispanic white people despite being only 61% of the population. If you could get white people to stop abusing opioids at such a high rate and get more in line with every other demographic in the US, we wouldn't be talking about it as being that big of a problem, not that things would be perfect or anything....it just wouldn't seem like an epidemic anymore. It kind of is though. The same racist BS spouted by those in the original video is part of what puts so much pressure on black people to conform to the standards of certain American subcultures....some of which are the poisonous subcultures that lead to some of the other problems we're talking about. In short, people like those in the video are absolute cancer.
