Kayne West is an idiot

Jamie Foxx, get away from that mad man.

My dad's comment: "He's more-or-less right, but I think it just takes the attention away from the crisis and puts it on him to say that."

Please to reread the 'people are dying' part in that post of yours.

You want an investigation into the the treatment of intelligence by the administration that everyone promised up and down for months, and that suckers agreed to delay because "it would be "bad" for the country going into the election"? Well too bad, suckers, that's all soooooooo fucking two years ago, let's shake on it and move on to the next ass fucking. Fuck that shit. FUCK IT. I'm tired of people giving this ahole a pass. Call them ON IT NOW. Not for politics, but because they CAN'T BE ALLOWED TO DO THIS TO MY COUNTRY. Go Kanye. Man, you gotta really hate yourself to cover for that shit. Won't stop any relief effort, might actually get them to fucking DO THEIR JOBS.

But this was clearly a guy just saying something off the top of his head/from his heart - he just got through calling himself a hypocrite. It wasn't a focus-group tested anti-Bush message, and that's what I respect him for.

That's ridiculous. You don't want to hear it because it upsets your talking points.

Now George Bush, his administration and FEMA... now THOSE
are genuine idiots...heartless, negligent, incompetent,
murderous, manipulative, dishonest IDIOTS.

-- Banana Nutrament (straightu...), September 4th, 2005.

I don't think it diverts that much attention, and I think I'm probably wrong to even suggest it does "more harm than good." It probably doesn't do much of either, in the grand scheme. I still think he could have picked a better moment than in the middle of a program designed to get people to donate (you know some racism deniers out there turned off their TVs)

This is second hand, but I understand even the mayor of Atlanta said something along the lines of "It's not just a race issue - there are plenty of poor whites in the outlying areas of NO who were stranded or died waiting too"

Kanye didn't call it right at all. The key group Bush et al don't care about is poor people. In this city, they're predominantly black - in others they're not.

Actually... I don't think that's quite true in America. In most large cities (all?) the poor people are predominantly black. To say George Bush doesn't care about poor people (and does anyone disagree with that statement?) is equivalent to saying he doesn't care about black people. And I don't even think it's actively "racist" -- no one says George Bush hates black people, he just doesn't care. He doesn't know them, he doesn't understand them, he's never had to relate to them.

And if I can bring it back to music for a second, it's interesting to look at Aaron Neville's version of "Louisiana 1927," specifically for his omitting the term "cracker," a term Randy Newman used very specifically to refer to the exact same situation -- comfortable leader, representative of the leisure class, doesn't care about poor people. It's the class version of the passive racism we see in the government response to this crisis.

Which is to say, Kanye wins on a technicality, as in New Orleans and most large American cities, poor people are primarily black.

If someone wants to make the argument that George Bush does care about poor people, I'd like to see some evidence.

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/ap/20050903/capt.mssw11609030029.bush__mssw116.jpg?x=380&y=344&sig=k1VsJomvGDGU_Dx4fyS2_Q--

see! see! why, he MUST care!

anyway, here's a related thread for this board:

Hurricane Katrina Relief for Musicians

How do you prove a motivation? It's like asking someone to prove they're not racist and not expecting to hear about "many black friends" or something.

well, hmm, let's see, maybe you could point to anything he's done during his five years in office to help poor people. i can't do it myself. but feel free to try.

i've watched the kanye clip a couple of times, and i don't see what people are getting so up in arms about. he said things that are true and widely acknowledged and he wasn't exactly using his speech as a podium for endorsing any militant action, unless you consider "caring" militant.

You're confusing motivations with results. Many businessmen have done wonderful things for the less fortunate with the sole intention of making themselves some money. Using your logic this proved their intention of "caring" for the poor when in fact caring for them may have just been an accidental consequence of selfish motivations, not altruistic ones. Adam Smith found businessmen to be anti-social, greedy and selfish and yet approved of the systemic processes that they worked in for their unintended results of creating wealth and services for the masses, which he approved of. I don't know the facts on how poor or poor black America has done with Bush but I wouldn't correlate it either way to him desiring the result. Would you do the same with Reagan if you knew black America did well under him?

You make it sound like raising money to help the, I dunno, million or so people that have lost everything, is an insignificant justification for a television program.

the way a president shows what he cares about is by acting on it. or at least trying to act on it. but i don't actually have to explain this to you, do i?

Yes, a higher proportion of black people are poor than white, but more white people are poor in total. The poorest of the poor are not inner city black people, but rural white southerners.

My point in all of this is, The only thing that equalizes race in the is country is money ( OJ simpson), and education. The people in New orleans who stayed didn't have money to leave or the education needed to understand the gravity of the situation. As far as Bush is concerned the country just lost 10,000 democrats.

This is a good time to take a look at the ingrain institutional racism in this country, as well as the total failure of Libertarian and Republican philosophies regarding the downsizing of the federal government.

I don't believe that what happened in New Orleans was a conscious genocide, but I do believe that it was negligence, and a disregard for the poor, that caused widespread death. Negligent genocide?

As far as whether or not Bush cares about poor/black people, I think it's fairly obvious from his own actions that he doesn't. Black people are fine to Republicans as long as they play the game by their rules. And even if they do, they are still black.

A|ex P@reene, you're not working from fact: there are three times as many white people as black people living under the poverty line in the US.

What about specifically in New Orleans?

Most of the poor people there (this is why I specified cities and not rural areas, many of which were hit just as hard, and many of which are populated by equally impoverished white people) are black, as was clear from the television coverage. Unless there were secret outposts of poor white New Orleaners that the news cameras couldn't find, it was apparent that nearly everyone trapped in the city was black.

If I recall correctly, there were white folks, middle-class, who did try to ride out the storm and stay at home. And they ended up more or less dry and comfortable in the French Quarter (like, say, Alex Chilton -- to bring this back to music yet again).

my stepmom's best friend, her husband, her aunt and mother were rescued from the roof of their house in new orleans. they're white and middle class.

Anyway, Village Voice:

"The city of New Orleans has a 34 percent poverty rate, triple the national average. It's about 70 percent black."

Not a direct proof of my argument, but the fact that nationally there are more poor whites than blacks doesn't mean the same is true for specific large cities.

Is this statistic based on percentages, or actual people? There are how many more white people than black people in the United States?

White 75.1%
Black: 12.3%
Native American: 0.9
Asian: 3.6%
Hispanic: 12.5%

Number in Poverty and Poverty Rates by Race and Hispanic Origin Using 2- and 3-Year
Averages: 2002 to 2004 (PDF)

2002-2004 Three Year Averages and poverty rates:

White: 10.5% = 24,346,000 people (8.3% 16,113,000 for White, non-Hispanic)
Black: 24.4% = 8,794,000 people.

And he didn't cite, so I have no idea as to that statement's veracity. Not that I have any reason to doubt it, but it's not relevant to Kanye's statement. Which was totally OTM.

But no, America is not "explained" by race. And neither are Bush's political convictions.

Let's all give 'im a big hand.

yes, you are a genius for having figured out that there are many more white people than black people in the US

Heather Locklear: This I have to see! Now, this is a complicated process. Right, Richard?

Mike Myers: No. My pasta-maker is easy to operate, because the directions are easy to follow.

Heather Locklear: Well, we've heard that before: you buy an appliance with easy-to-follow directions, and you get it home, and you need a Ph.D to figure it out. Usually, this "easy direction" stuff is a big lie.. like the Holocaust! [ the phones ring wild, and the bulbs light up on the map ] Now, are your directions really easy to follow? Or is it just another Holocaust-type scam?

Mike Myers: [ dumbfounded by Janet's statements ] Uh.. they're, uh.. they're, uh.. easy to follow.. they, uh.. involve, uh.. three easy steps..

...Kayne you say Kanye, you expletive deleteds ? Quit judging this thread by its title.

I think you need to check yourself before saying someone is an idiot, are you thinking about the people? or are thinking about one person said? Before u condem, check yourself and think what would u do in that situation that u have lost everything, ur home, family, and no where to live, so you need to get a reality check, son!

-- Noin Cheyn (cheynnoi...), August 4th, 2005 3:53 PM.

-- jessica dankwah

Now pay attention Jess. What I just did, I was already doing. OK ? Jeez

I don't believe that what happened in New Orleans was a conscious genocide, but I do believe that it was negligence, and a disregard for the poor, that caused widespread death. Negligent genocide?

Some of the crap I've seen from Chicago to Gary....I wouldn't blame anyone for assuming the worst.

He blasted French PM Nicolas Sarkozy, whose first inquiry upon arriving at the scene is said to be, "how many illegal immigrants in there ?".

I kept waiting for a literal translation of the Kanye moment : "Nicolas Sarkozy n'a rien à faire des Noirs". Didn't happen but, you know, same thing.