We have an unaddressed problem that publishers need content around the clock which means a lot of subpar, not well thought out, bullshit articles and essays get published. I've been meaning to collect them. Imma start today with these two I read today:

VSB (which might own this post) did a story taking shots at Meats in Greens, Gravy and Grits. SMH

https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/5-black-ass-culinary-delights-that-black-people-can-k-1818769083

This Old School Music Website did a story about why Denzel hasn't kissed a White Woman on Screen Since Malcolm X, except he did in He Got Game.

http://www.iloveoldschoolmusic.com/see-the-real-reason-denzel-refused-to-kiss-white-women-in-movies/?src=baisden


Please add on when you come across them. I will be revisiting this post.



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"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

You can tailor an entire ad sell to a single webpage. Couldn't really get that level of impressions with print

Is this surprising?

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“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus

very don quixote of you

I applaud Buddy's effort but yeah...might be an easier to task if we keep a running thread of the good thinkpieces that seem to appear every quarter or so...

This actually ties in with your last thread Buddy. It ain't just the readers getting dumber.

is really dumb. Even a lot of the good sites have stories that are premature to really discuss well.

I am saving this space for the dumbest of the dumbest.


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"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

1. (as you stated) the quantity-over-quality nature of internet "reporting". it is all considered disposable, so very view are trying to be good or even thoughtful. they just want to get new content up. EVERYTHING in the Gawker tree is like this, and likewise the stuff on Huffpost. Huff indeed

2. no editing <-- this is the big one. nobody is saying, "okay, you got your word-count but this doesn't SAY anything". 99.99% reads like a bad rough draft

swear foe God ertime i read some badly written "piece" (of crap), all I can see is the red-pen marks from my 9th-grade english teacher's correction pen

A lot of shit that's published reads like it's been written on a fuckin phone (as I post from my fuckin phone, lol)

it's yellow journalism "evolved" and it's not going away. just ignore it

that food list was obvious done to get clicks and attention and the author was responsible for like 60% of the comments for that piece.

I've been peaking in on them recently and Damon Young has the same formula for each piece:

1. something happened to Me/Someone Black
2. remind everyone that he's Black with sentences that say "First off, I'm Black
3. Throw out a few jokes about being Black while living in a white world
4. wrap it up with a reminder that he's Black

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

makes me wonder who the actual audience is. the title of the site is betrayed by the articles.

Y'all buy those labels, I was born supreme

http://www.okayafrica.com/hey-jeremy-lin-we-need-to-talk-your-hair/

All the more hilarious because it appears to be written by a white dude (or mostly white based on his pic).

Look how the article lays out the case in support of Jeremy Lin and then poorly and awkwardly pivots to it being black face. Fcuk this dude for trying to suggest Black People should be offended when that has overwhelmingly not been the reaction of black people.


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"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

He sounds like a really cool dude to me. Every interview I've read he has something interesting to say.

And I'm telling you....there's little signs popping up everywhere:

'The cultural appropriation debate has reached a ridiculous pinnacle of late, with allegations thrown about so liberally that the concept often gets divorced from its material origins'

That the author doesn't realize the argument he's making is PART of that ridiculous pinnacle is ironic. But I think this is an example of how some sanity is creeping into the zeitgest or whatever you wanna call it. I don't know...it just feels like I can sense we've gone over a hump and we're on the downside now. Even the most ardent of social deconstructionists are starting to kinda retreat. Like the author is saying 'I'm not one of those crazy people who see racism in EVERYTHING but......' My guess is that he wouldn't have added that point this same time last year. There's a huge backlash coming and we're just starting to catch a glimpse of it's beginning. In 2 to 3 years time....we're going to have to spend all our energy convincing people that cultural appropriation IS a legitimate issue sometimes cause they're gonna try to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

is a poor role model "to lead the resistance" and for being "woke".

https://www.gq.com/story/eminem-bet-cypher-trump


Where da fuck did Eminem claim to want to lead the resistance or even to be Woke? He just shared his thoughts that the President is a racist POS which you don't have to a role model to understand or want to express.


Ok, maybe yall right there are too many of these to track.


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"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

I swear, this thing is written on MAYBE a 3rd grade level.
It's some of the worst, most transparent attempts to dumb down syntax I've encountered in a while.

http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/36160/1/ghetto-tourism-new-yorks-disturbing-new-trend

Here is an article (which was shared by Kevito on Okayplayer's front page, framing it as an illuminating demonstration of the racism of yuppie interlopers) that considers the moral evil of "ghetto tours"/"safaris" (or as their organizers call them, free street art sightseeing tours) through Bushwick.

"Ghetto tour" is used in quotes in the article, while safari isn't (but it is treated like a quote by the writer who repeatedly refers to "what you think of when you hear the word 'safari'"). Judging from the comments, these problematic characterizations are the biggest issue readers have with what might otherwise be harmless or even beneficial acts of cultural appreciation.

There's a pretty big issue with the article though--nowhere does it quote ANYONE having characterized the tours as either "ghetto" or as a "safari". No attendee nor organizer is ever cited as having said anything remotely similar about the tours.

Now, let that sink in. The magazine, pretending to care about these communities, manufactures a labeling of them as "ghettos" where previously one did not exist, and then peddles their own invented smear as good journalism.

I would argue that even if solitary attendees or organizers could be found who made such comments (which, to reiterate, is not established in the article), it would still be irresponsible to peddle this garbage.

Would the existence of a solitary attendee of "Hamilton" who called it a "ghetto musical" be sufficient cause to write a thinkpiece about whether Hamilton is indeed "ghetto" (or whether the characterization of it as ghetto were a significant aspect of the thinking of any strata of American culture?) Not IMO.

Anyway, I had this one sitting on the shelf for a bit so glad to get an opportunity to vent on it.

This is just hilarious.

"Free tours by foot are turning Brooklyn’s poorest neighbourhoods into safari-like spectacles – but at what cost?"

Good question. What is the cost? lol The author even seems to admit that there's no cost. So really, it's just an excuse to say a bunch of anti-white shit. It's also funny that the pics show the tour to NOT just be white people. I bet he was disappointed that there were POC on the tour messing up his whole characterization. And well-to-do? Do they look rich?

'Some white guy'. With their 'squash enthusiasm'. And their 'argyle jumpers'. Therein lies the motivation here. And the false characterizations are the stuff of face-palms. That the participants are being 'chaperoned' and the assumption that they don't feel safe to go there without 'some white guy' who 'really likes mayonnaise' and 'kisses dogs on the mouth'.

Maybe they're just interested in graffiti and they found someone who knows the locations of the most interesting pieces who's offered to show them where the best spots are. I wouldn't go on a tour like this....but a person visiting from Japan? Has passion for street art? Doesn't want to walk around aimlessly hoping he just happens to find the high quality pieces? What's wrong with him wanting to do something like this?

'But people LIVE in Bushwick. It's not a museum'. Yah...they don't do walking tours in museums for obvious reasons. All tours, bus-tours, walking tours, etc take place in locations where people 'live' lol. They do bus-tours in the Rocky Mountains. People live in the Rocky Mountains.

that by providing links for these articles, you are doing these websites and authors a favor.

"Sean sparks like John Starks, nah, Sean ball like John Wall" - Rest In Power Forever Sean Price.

fuck you.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

The VSB piece on grits and greens read to me - at least in part - like tongue was planted firmly in cheek. This shit ain't hardly nobody's thinkpiece and the author would say as much, I'd bet.

I think a lot of the deluge of content we're seeing is like that... serious, but not.

We might kinda wanna get over ourselves a bit.

The problem is the place doesn't explicitly say it caters to women (so then it could be ignored or at least easily dismissed or pigeonholed). It dares to present itself as though it is dedicated to black people's concerns but then will publish articles that expose black women's concerns. And sometimes it has articles that suggest maybe some men could treat women better. That's attacking men which upsets some men. And that's not good bc VSB is supposed to not make men mad bc it's about all people which means men shouldn't be upset by its content.

So take it all with a grain of salt.

(No, of course I'm not talking YOU, *insert your username here, male OKP*. Perish the thought! Clutch the pearls!)

fuck you.

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

________
http://twitter.com/aehorton
http://instagram.com/aehorton

somebody fucking alert the media, the marines and the air force.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

It's infested our society.

Almost every single article posted so far in this thread is a product of that ideology. The tide is turning though. Both Obama and Macron have addressed it during the past couple weeks and we're going to see alot more of that. Obama identifying himself as part of the emerging 'enlightenment liberalism' movement (for which, I might add, I've been called a racist and my posts have been deleted for identifying and espousing). And Macron dropping this bomb just yesterday:

"You can anticipate and plan everything, but when you actually experience it, it's different. For me, my office isn't first and foremost a political or technical one. Rather, it is symbolic. I am a strong believer that modern political life must rediscover a sense for symbolism. We need to develop a kind of political heroism. I don't mean that I want to play the hero. But we need to be amenable once again to creating grand narratives. If you like, post-modernism was the worst thing that could have happened to our democracy. The idea that you have to deconstruct and destroy all grand narratives is not a good one. Since then, trust has evaporated in everything and everyone. I am sometimes surprised that it is the media that are the first ones to exhibit a lack of trust in grand narratives. They believe that destroying something is part of their journalistic purpose because something grand must inevitably contain an element of evil. Critique is necessary, but where does this hate for the so-called grand narrative come from?"

SLOW SLOW CLAP to this!

Earlier this week, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie dropped this bomb:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo3OZWPOa3g

I finally got one of her books yesterday and just started diving deeper into her work and views....she is MY type of fucking liberal.

We're seeing the backlash in culture and comedy to. The Onion is starting to go HARD against the post-modern left and that's increasing more and more with stand-up comedy as well. To be frank....the divide on the left might be largely based on intelligence and IQ. The smart leftists have either already abandoned this crap or they are slowly retreating from it (some more reluctantly than others...but it's happening nonetheless). It really is the low-IQ left that are doubling down on it. And they're no different from conspiracy theorists. It's so much easier to 'deconstruct the grand narrative' and call it 'white supremacy' or 'the patriarchy' then it is to actually educate yourself on what the grand narrative IS. Y'know....learn about history, culture, philosophy?

In short....people are getting stupider because we've devalued our history and culture and antiquity. Let Camille Paglia, intellectual force of nature, explain it here (this whole interview is fascinating but this segment sums up why we're getting dumber):

https://youtu.be/v-hIVnmUdXM?t=826

So if there's no objective world....no legitimate canonical body of knowledge....no legitimate grand narrative....no historian can be trusted....all great art is an exercise of power and oppression.....WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US? Nowhere. We are stuck in nowhere and we are churning out a generation of philistines who are trained to point their accusatory fingers at everyone in a way that disguises their own incompetence and lack of basic knowledge. 'Of course I don't know anything about Kant and Shakespeare and Thomas Edison. After all, they're racist straight white men'. It's a worldview of convenience that seduces people in 3 main ways.....it excuses ignorance and lack of knowledge, it awards moral superiority and it takes NO EFFORT to learn and apply. The basic concepts of white supremacy and patriarchy and anti-capitalism can be learned in less than an hour and like conspiracy theories...they provide extremely simple answers for EVERYTHING. There's no more need for analysis or education after you adopt those worldviews.

So there's certainly movement and promising developments that suggest we are starting to wake up. But this shit is not gonna disappear overnight. It's out in full force and that's why we're reading all these ridiculous articles. Here's a few I came across the past week:

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2017/09/speech-is-free

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/how-men-can-help-women-in-stem-shut-up-sit-back-and-listen/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/10/10/conservatives-are-the-real-campus-thought-police-squashing-academic-freedom/?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.6d2ed70a5a38 (This person is a university professor??????)

Texas University seeks MATH professors who specialize in social justice? Can't make this stuff up:
https://careers.insidehighered.com/job/1456531/assistant-professor-associate-professor-or-professor-of-elementary-math-education-20180060fac/

More Lin/Martin stuff. Jaw-droppingly stupid.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/jeremy-lin-kenyon-martin_us_59dce0d9e4b0208970d00545

More left-sanctioned anti-semitic bullshit that's become commonplace:
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/246724/the-specifically-jewy-perviness-of-harvey-weinstein

There are no words for this article on the Evergreen incident:
http://www.cooperpointjournal.com/2017/10/09/poc-talk/

Here's the petition signed by 200 law students in reference to a scheduled debate about DACA:

"We demand change and we demand action. WE refuse to sit by and let hateful xenophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric to be part of the message/culture/speech of Seattle University School of Law and Seattle University as a whole.
We demand the school act on behalf of it's undocumented students, and instead of co-sponsoring programming which is harmful to them, they should foster an environment which is safe for them and for everybody else on campus."

For Christ's sake. We have LAW STUDENTS trying to cancel a DEBATE because it's hurtful! I mean....I'm an advocate of immigrant rights in just about every way. That's why I'd WANT to debate the issue. And does it not occur to anyone else how condescending this petition is to undocumented students? That they are incapable of participating in a debate about DACA because their feelings are too hurt and they're too fragile?

And then there's the all the protest footage taken from universities this year.

My personal favorite (MY SO and I wish we could meet the guy beside the camera...sounds like his heritage is Indian....dropping BOMBS on those philistines. We were literally jumping up and down hi-fiving each other when we watched this):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAU5ebDseO0

Charles Murray shouted down by philistines earlier this week:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtpalw92JYY

Berkeley Students demand exemption from exam because of the stress they experience as a result of the earthquake in Mexico. They accuse their professor, a life-long advocate of workers' rights in South American countries, as a privileged white oppressor. The professor (who had just returned from Guatemala) made the point that South American students are going to classes and taking tests during civil wars and impositions of Martial law and widespread murder of dissenting voices by militia groups. But for them? The 'stress' of an earthquake thousands of miles away is too much to bear. What a disgrace. (the footage improves after the first couple of minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCtgaDNgDaU

In other news....student protesters at ACLU were chanting 'liberalism is white supremacy'. Shit is absolutely bananas right now.

her opinion, but in the comments, she is quite disgusted by readers offering theirs.
Another issue, the article is titled "5 Black-Ass Culinary ‘Delights’ That Black People Can Keep" -- she identifies as Cuban.
Also, the majority of her article submissions denigrate black folk in some form.
Too much negativity in her writings for me to appreciate any of it.

And oddly, as a writer, somehow her Twitter presence is very meager. https://twitter.com/KAraujoNWT

and while I don't follow VSB that much I have peaked in a few times and get the feeling they are struggling for clicks since the move.

When they moved to the root a lot of comments were basically "congrats, good luck but I ain't fucking with yall anymore"

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TBH the fact that you're even a mod here fits squarely within Jag's narrative of OK-sanctioned aggression, bullying, and toxicity. *shrug*

http://fabulizemag.com/2017/10/jay-z-had-all-these-white-creatives-create-sambo-art-in-the-story-of-o-j-video


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

We arent going to even touch not 100% sure he negro for all that pontificating on sambo art

somewhat of a point

w/ this statement, especially

"I mean, he’s talking to niggas, about niggas, visually depicting niggas but nigggas can’t actually create the visual story?"

all this SJW-type talk that be going on in these parts and this ain't raising an eyebrow in the slightest? things that make ya go 'hmmmmm' indeed

oh, but I forgot...checks is getting cut, my bad.

________________________________________________

The ULTIMATE negation of everything.

The space between despair and orgasm is hard to fill ~ Maron

________________________________________
"Take the surprise out your voice Shaq."-The REAL CP3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2H5K-BUMS0

________________________________________________

The ULTIMATE negation of everything.

The space between despair and orgasm is hard to fill ~ Maron

Jay-Z puts out a whitewashed (or approved) version of black power and folks that never bothered to think about this shit until they saw it on TV lap it up.

At least dude could put his money where his mouth is.

....ever notice how many "a recent study shows..." articles are floating around these days?
Academics need to publish and as a result a lot of bs is getting out there too.

https://kotaku.com/why-black-men-love-dragon-ball-z-1820481429

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“There is no fate that cannot be surmounted by scorn.” -Albert Camus