A reader points out:
"I have always been amused that Kanye West, the benign rapper with the art school background and the English professor mother, is the one into trendy political grandstanding and accusing Bush of not caring about black people, whereas 50 Cent, the gangsta rapper with the South Jamaica, Queens background and the cocaine-dealer mother, is the one who makes occasionally favorable references to Bush and doesn't think Katrina should be blamed on any people in particular."
He also points out that in 1972, another black celebrity endorsed Richard Nixon besides Sammy Davis Jr. (who agonized for rest of his life over whether he had betrayed his people) and Wilt Chamberlain (who did not): James Brown. You can't get any blacker culturally than Soul Brother Number One, so that gave Brown more freedom politically to be nonstereotypical.
I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions to this tendency, but it appears relevant to Barack's Obama's life story.
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
Ray Charles is another data point.
ReplyDeleteSammy Davis, Jr. is "culturally black"? Was he worried that he betrayed blacks or Jews?
ReplyDeletewhile the phenomenon is true, i think your reasoning is off. the set of blacks who act "black" that you are talking about, well they're celebrities. blacks that are famous are generally not famous for anything that has to do with intellect, and so (1) are generally not given to any kind of analytical thinking, (2) are apolitical, or just respectful of the rich and powerful (the majority of athletes for example) and (3) being rich and happy, thanks to all their white fans, free of the resentment that fuels most of blacks on the street, who anyone with eyes and ears knows despise white people passionately.
ReplyDeleteon the other hand, those few blacks that do have the rudiments of an analytical brain, like that ass-clown kanye west, are generally the worst kind of black, because they use whatever mental power they have to find rationalizations and bitter recriminations for the sense of inferiority they are just smart enough to perceive.
on the other hand, those few blacks that do have the rudiments of an analytical brain, like that ass-clown kanye west, are generally the worst kind of black, because they use whatever mental power they have to find rationalizations and bitter recriminations for the sense of inferiority they are just smart enough to perceive.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely true. It is like in the movie "Amadeus" when Salieri (played by F. Murray Abraham) damns God for making him talented enough to realize the greatness of Mozart, but not talented enough to be able to compose like Mozart.
Think what's missing.
ReplyDeleteHow many Irish, Italians, or Jews get upbraided for "not acting _____ enough" or "acting Anglo" etc?
Why this social control mechanism to enforce group identity?
Because African-Americans FEAR assimiliation and particularly inter-marriage. The guys who need to be controlled are the Kanye Wests, the Sidney Poitiers, etc.
Look at what Bill Cosby takes as far as abuse, yet Jay Z or some other hard rapper can say nearly the same thing and hardly get any push-back. Why?
IMHO the "hard" Black celebrity is not seen as an assimiliation threat, (even though likely he is) while the ones who are less "hard/angry" etc are seen as the threats.
africans fear intermarriage? wtf? a fat white skank is every black man's dream. (that and an escalade with 26 inch rims)
ReplyDeleteThere was a story on internet jihad on 60 Minutes recently. One of the leading figures was the author of a 1600+ page treatise on terrorist tactics. He was Syrian and was known as [long name]al Suri. He was a red headed guy who looked like he could be Conan O'Brian's crazy older brother. There was also a red headed Egyptian taxi driver involved in the 1993 World Trade center attack. I wonder if guys who look like this have to go out of their way to be radical and prove their Islamic credentials
ReplyDelete"africans fear intermarriage? wtf? a fat white skank is every black man's dream. (that and an escalade with 26 inch rims)"
ReplyDeleteLOL! This is the funniest thing I have read all day. You forgot to mention a 40 oz. of Colt 45 and a bucket of KFC.
He was a red headed guy who looked like he could be Conan O'Brian's crazy older brother. There was also a red headed Egyptian taxi driver involved in the 1993 World Trade center attack. I wonder if guys who look like this have to go out of their way to be radical and prove their Islamic credentials
ReplyDeleteNo. In fact, many Muslim men in the Mideast and Pakland (Pakistan/Afghanistan/Northern India) dye their beards red with henna in imitation of Muhammad. Many accounts of Muhammad portray him as having reddish-hair.
"a fat white skank is every black man's dream. (that and an escalade with 26 inch rims)"
One black guy I talked to said that the reason black men prefer fat white girls is because fat white girls have poor self-esteem and are overjoyed when black men take interest in them. Consequently, he explained, they are prepared to spend handsomely on their black boyfriends.
While a lot of black men do prize white women, there's also a cultural liking for big battys. So fat white women provide the best of both worlds.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, many Muslim men in the Mideast and Pakland (Pakistan/Afghanistan/Northern India) dye their beards red with henna in imitation of Muhammad.
ReplyDeleteI've seen many examples of this but didn't know the reason, so thanks for that.
Some interesting general info on red hair:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair
Although my normal hair is mousey blond, my facial hair has a reddish tinge, so don't make me angry; you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
Come on
One black man I find interesting is John McWhorter. He looks very mixed, but he seems to feel no need to prove he's black by having the right attitudes and politics. He seems very independent; he's politically moderate; he has embraced a "white" upper-class lifestyle; and he is comfortable criticizing black culture.
ReplyDeleteIn "A Personal Odyssey", Thomas Sowell points out that black intellectuals from the middle and upper class tend to be leftist while those from working class origins (like himself) tend to be more socially conservative.
ReplyDeleteYes, Sowell is working class and very dark in color. He's irritated by lighter skinned leftist African-Americans who belonged to fraternities and sororities who would never have let Sowell in because he couldn't pass the paper bag test.
ReplyDeleteMcWhorter, on the other hand, doesn't fit any of these patterns. He's a straight black male conservative whose passion is Broadway musicals. (He's more like Mark Steyn than anybody else.) So, good for him.
A reader adds Don King to the list of celebrities who are so culturally black that they can afford to be Republicans.
ReplyDeleteTH,
ReplyDeleteMuhammad didn't have red hair, but he dyed his beard red when he grew older.
You might be right about that. Looking back at some of the accounts, it isn't clear if they speaking of his regular hair or his facial hair or if this was natural or the result of dyeing. Thanks.
Speaking of henna-dyed beards, here is the Hamas representative Jon Stewart once dubbed "Carrot Bottom."
Somewhat similar to James Brown's example is the writer Stanley Crouch. He's been immersed in jazz for most of his life, first as a drummer in an avant-garde combo, but mostly as a writer and one of the directors of the jazz program at Lincoln Center. In that role, he's been an unabashed partisan for the centrality of blacks in American music ("culturally ethnocentric" in the parlance of the current post). But his politics are fairly conservative, probably close to McWhorter's in many respects, especially as they relate to the problems facing blacks today.
ReplyDeleteAnd he'd most definitely flunk the paper bag test.
I believe Clarence Thomas (not only dark-skinned, but an honest-to-goodness native Gullah speaker*) has also expressed bitterness in private at the attitude of lighter-skinned liberals toward him.
ReplyDeletei'm not sure i agree with this. it definitely happens, but i'm not convinced the majority of middle class blacks are like this at all. none of the ones i knew were. it was usually low class blacks that i knew who were public about being pro-black.
ReplyDeleteyou can't tell me guys like randy jackson and al roker are black panthers in private. they're just not.
i'd stick with the old rule that mulattos tend to be more into the black power thing.
Why do you people have so much trouble posting comments that are relevant to Sailor's articles?
ReplyDeleteSteve, your equation of Bush and "whiteness" is far off the mark. In the political landscape, the Bush Administration symbolizes social aggression and conquest. These are uncivilized values which are more commonly found in the black community than in the white community. Gangster rappers such as "50 Cent" appreciate Bush because they recognize a fellow thug.