This professor is a socialist but he makes money from finding racism. Is it any wonder he finds racism where there is none? Ho, Ho! Three cheers for incentives! Try as they might, even socialists themselves can't psychologically escape the mighty...Invisible Hand!
But not with Eminem and other rappers, Rodman said. Society refuses to believe rappers have the intellectual capacity to sing about purely fantastical, violent situations.
"Why is it so difficult for us to envision Eminem (and other rappers) as someone who might have enough creativity, intelligence and artistry to fashion and perform a convincing fictional persona?" he said. "(It's) a bias that rests on the misguided notion that some people are simply incapable of certain sorts of higher thinking and artistic creativity."
That's funny. I have a different explanation of why Society (the professor means "whitey") believes that when rappers rap about violence, they rap about their true feelings. Simply this: We take them at their word (and not just their lyrics). To rappers, that what they rap about is "fo' reeel" is a given. When an outsider questions whether it is just "for show" or entertainment they essentially question the rapper's "street cred", a faux-pas of perhaps deadly proportions. Heck, rappers insult each other by calling their opponents "wanna-be gangstas" as opposed to themselves who really live "da thug life." When in real life rappers are routinely arrested for drug possession and weapons possession (see Snoop Dog), when not just their entourage but their record producers (see Suge Knight) are put in prison, and when popular rappers (see Tupac, Notorious B.I.G., et al.) are gunned down the onus is on those who claim rappers don't mean what they say about violence to prove it.
I'm sure many rappers would also find this professor's premise, that what rappers sing about is not true, to be not just wrong but patently racist: "What? You can't believe that ghetto-thug life is this bad? That we hate the police, that we think women are just ho's and bitches, and that drugs are commonplace? We should expect a white professor to think only white singers can speak the truth!"
Another double standard is while a portion of society believes Eminem symbolizes the demise of youth in society, they fail to recognize or believe the converse -- that so-called positive influences produce positive results in American culture."No one seems to believe that popular computer games like SimCity will make us a nation of brilliantly creative urban planners, but it's almost a given that graphically violent games like Mortal Kombat will generate armies of murderous super-predator teens bent on terrorizing our cities," Rodman said.
What infantile wishful-thinking! (Professor stomps feet) "Waaaaah! It's not fair! If you say bad video games hurt people then you *have* to say good video games help them! Waaaaah!" No, maybe it works that way or maybe it doesn't. Maybe the facts simply are that seeing and participating in virtual violence makes a person more violent in real life but playing games like SimCity just doesn't help us plan better in real-life. I'd like to see some studies on it but until then, who knows? What I do know is that the professor should pull up his underwear because his false dichotomy is showing.John Hardin, a doctoral student and USF instructor, said people should listen to Eminem, because most of what he says -- whether pleasant or not -- largely reflects a portion of society.
"I think we need to embrace how complicated society is," Hardin said. "Getting rid of Eminem doesn't get rid of the problems. You still have Dylan Klebolds that walk into Columbine and shoot people."
Quite true. But what do receive from these same liberals when you explain, "Getting rid of guns doesn't get rid of the problems. You still have outlaws who will possess guns and kill innocent law-abiding citizens"? I'll give you a hint: it's the name of this blog.
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