>seriously, waiting for any president to actually <BR>>serve the interests of ALL the <BR>>peoples represented in this country (black <BR>>and white, rich and poor, jewish <BR>>and christian). <P>I thought that was his job.<P>>and not to defend <BR>>Clinton totally, he has put a <BR>>lot of minorities in executive branch <BR>>positions-more than any other president. <P>Does this make him a good person ? <BR>Doing better than his predecessors (sp?) who did terrible stuff, doesn't make him 'OK' automatically, only less bad.<P>Plus the fact that I don't think that putting minorities in executive branch positions is as innocent as it may seem.<P>When the Belgian government colonized Congo (late 19th century-1960) they had Congolese officers killing, mutilating and terrorizing their own people. It is a way of justifying the injustice that is going on.<P>>i take HUGE offense to that...i wear <BR>>glasses! (and i'm nearly legally blind, <BR>>so watch out! )(but for real, <BR>>i hope you didn't mean that) <P>Don't worry, I wear glasses myself. People who wear glasses are visually handicapped, agree ?<P>But I think you misunderstood that sentence.<P>What I was trying to say is that me making a comment on performing at the White House in front of Clinton, his wife and the rest of the political and economical establishment, <BR>is not the same as saying 'don't work with white, gay, ... people'. <P>For the simple reason that 'white' or 'gay' or 'handicapped' people are a GROUP/collection of DIFFERENT individuals (some will be nice people, some will be a pain in the S), whereas Clinton is ONE individual with the potential power to change things.<P>>still, if the roots did a <BR>>nike commercial, a lot of us <BR>>would be up in arms. <BR>>There isnt anything wrong with that, <BR>>but i realize now, that we <BR>>can't expect someone to stand up <BR>>for every single belief we hold. <P>I don't expect that, I just asked why he'd do it. I don't consider being asked to perform at the White House a 'simple' question<BR>I don't think one decides within the next 5 minutes, there's a lot of stuff to consider (as ?uest said himself). <BR>I was wondering if any other players felt the same way I did, since I didn't see any remarks in the follow-ups to ?uest his post.<P>>I don't see it as ?uest <BR>>compromising his beliefs for his music.<P>Well, I don't know ?uest's beliefs. But it is a choice between pros and cons, and the result is a 'compromise'. <BR>?uest said that himself, if he wouldn't have been in doubt, there would be no compromise (the decision would've been pretty easy), but now there's a choice between A and B, and both are pretty incompatible in this specific situation.<P>>I see it as the president <BR>>totally being hypocrital (OH NO!!! THATS <BR>>A FIRST!!) There are police organizations <BR>>all over the country who are <BR>>encouraging boycotts of blackstar, rage against <BR>>the machine, and the roots, because <BR>>of their stance on mumia abu <BR>>jamal, and their expression of that <BR>>through their music. <P>>To have one <BR>>of these people invited to the <BR>>white house (even if it wasn't <BR>>Clinton's doing, I'm sure he doesn't/didn't <BR>>have to okay it...and I'm sure <BR>>someone is not going to be <BR>>happy) is surprising, to me at least. <BR>>and for ?uest to turn this <BR>>down will not make much of <BR>>a statement (in terms of any <BR>>kind of reaction from those whom <BR>>we want to affect) <P>Simply going without expressing ANY remark, will definitely not be a statement.<P>>once again, clinton wasn't like "get me <BR>>?uestlove on the phone". this is <BR>>will smith's thing. I don't feel <BR>>?uest is compomising his integrity or <BR>>his credibility. i'd rather him make <BR>>his statement through his music, to <BR>>those who are listening (us), rather <BR>>than some old white dudes<P>I'm an old (27) white dude myself ... <img src="http://www.okayplayer.com/dcforum/Images/happy.gif"> LOL<P>>its not up to ?uest to <BR>>cause a stir amongst them--he's just <BR>>a musician(you know i dont mean <BR>>it like that, im proving a <BR>>point, damnit). <BR>>if you want to <BR>>place that social and political responsibility <BR>>on him, make sure its in <BR>>his motivating his fans, eff a <BR>>president. <P>Him not going or doing something to use that time and mediafocus to express his remarks would be a HUGE motivation to me as a fan.<BR>Him performing like 'it's just me, Will, Quincy and some other talented people having a great time', without any reference to the context would be disappointing to me as a fan.<P>>its up to US, the <BR>>youth, to make a change. ?uest <BR>>playing drums for will smith is <BR>>not going to set anything back <BR>>anymore than it is by our <BR>>own actions (killing each other, discriminating <BR>>against each other, not helping each <BR>>other), so ?uest, i officially exempt <BR>>you from this responsibility, if most <BR>>of us (including myself, i know <BR>>i am guilty) aren't willing to <BR>>step up to the plate ourselves, <BR>>so i really wouldnt expect ?uest <BR>>to do the same, though he <BR>>has. <P>The thing is, I have certain moral standards that I apply to EVERYONE. Whether it be the postman, a friend, Prince, Clinton (not George LOL) or myself.<P>Of course we're all different individuals, but at the same time all of us also live in communities. These communities interact with each other, within a certain framework/society. <BR>You can't isolate people from this situation, we don't exist without the larger entity. So occasionally there will be conflicts between what an individual wants and what is best for the community.<P>Now I happen to see the world as one big community (every organisation thinks this way; globalisation).<P>This means that I try to calculate what impact personal/individual decisions I take have on other people (within this world-community) their lives. <P>For instance : if Tommy Hillfiger proposes an endorsement deal, meaning I have to wear Tommy gear on shows and press-photos, I turn it down, cos it means exploitation of workers in Indonesia and other low-fare countries. My individual benefit = exploitation of others.<BR>That is NOT something abstract, it hits home for me (I've actually gotten offers like this) and it means loosing money (which i could use very well).<P>And I KNOW that most of 'us' don't give a damn or don't change their ways, but that doesn't mean I should use that as an excuse to do nothing myself. <P>I know they'll find someone else to wear Tommy gear, so one might argue that my decision doesn't make a difference, but it does, cos I know at least I did the right thing. <BR>I don't use 'what most people do' as a reference for my own behaviour, I try to do what I find ethically correct.<P>Again, this is not about ME. There's thousands of people doing this stuff every day, and we all realise it's HARD, but that's never been an excuse to me to not even TRY. <BR>We are ALL responsible as individuals, I feel noone can be excempted (sp?) from this.<P><BR>(Please keep in mind that I'm NOT a native English speaker, so sometimes it's hard for me to express EXACTLY what i'm trying to say, if my comments seem a little rude or 'smartass', it's not intentionally)<P>take care,<BR>krewcial<BR><a href="http://urgent.rug.ac.be/vinylators">http://urgent.rug.ac.be/vinylators<;/a><P>'We've got to change our own minds about each other. We have to see each other with new eyes. We have to see each other as brothers and sisters. We have to come together with warmth'<BR>