An Old IgnorImus

Inexcusable.

Foot In Mouth Disease

Metromix. Jackson, protesters blast Imus comments: "On his Wednesday show, 'Imus in the Morning,' the host referred to members of the Rutgers team as 'nappy-headed hos.'"

At the same time radio provocateur Don Imus was appearing on Rev. Al Sharpton's show to discuss his controversial comments about the Rutgers women's basketball team, protesters gathered outside NBC Tower in Chicago calling for his ouster.

Led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and other members of his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, about 50 protesters held signs reading "no apologies, no forgiveness" and chanted, "Imus must go" while walking on the sidewalk outside the high-rise building on Columbus Drive.

Nasty Fellow

I do listen to Imus sometimes. I've never liked the man, though. Imus is always mean-spirited, and, of course, he is mostly liberal, which makes him doubly unlikable to me.

He is almost as vicious sometimes as Keith Olberman.

Mel, Michael, and Don

Still, most of the time I stick up for people who make the mistake of putting their foot in their mouth—ala Mel Gibson. (Gibson's gaffe.) As you may remember, though, I did not defend "Kramer" (Michael Richards), because of the sniveling, racist way he apologized. And now, I cannot stand up for Don Imus. My reason is that his comment was so over the top that it is unforgivable. Yes, it makes it easier for me to condemn him since I don't like the man anyway. Yet, I believe I'd denounce anyone who would make such an insensitive remark.

Even Senility Would not Justify It

There is no excuse for the remark, period. The man is getting old and so might not be in charge of his faculties so much anymore—he comes off as a crotchety old curmudgeon anyway. Yet, still, and again, this cannot be an excuse. If he can't control his mouth to this gross extent, he doesn't deserve to be on the air.

Me and Jesse

So, for the first time in my recent life, I find myself in agreement with Jesse Jackson. Imus must go. I don't want anyone on the air who can say such hurtful things, even on a bad day.

Rock

(*Wikipedia is always my source unless indicated.)


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The Usual Suspects Smell Blood

Hanoi

Jane










Jane Fonda on the NVA anti-aircraft gun

Fonda and Her Cohorts Sense a Weakened President and Nation

She won't sit in an enemy tank this time, but she smells the blood of a wounded President and nation, and that of its noble soldiers, and decides its time to once more move in for the kill.





This anti-American crowd, ungrateful for their wealth, safety and security, are once again baring their fangs, eager to rip into the heart of America's ability to survive.

See also Sarge Charlie's great blog today, SargeCharlie, as he has focused on Ms. Jane too.

Protest Focuses on Troop Increase for Iraq

Protest on the mall - New York Times: By IAN URBINA, Published: January 28, 2007 —

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Tens of thousands of protesters converged on the National Mall on Saturday to oppose President Bush’s plan for a troop increase in Iraq in what organizers hoped would be one of the largest shows of antiwar sentiment in the nation’s capital since the war began.

The event drew demonstrators from across the country, and many said that in addition to taking their discontent to the streets they planned to press members of Congress to oppose the war. "When we voted it was a directive to bring our troops home now," said the Rev. Graylan S. Hagler of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, referring to the November elections when Democrats won control of Congress. Demonstrators listened to speeches from a roster of politicians and entertainment figures including the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio and a candidate for the presidency in 2008; and Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California. The actors Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins also addressed the crowd.

The protest was largely organized by the group United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of 1,400 local and national organizations. Included in the coalition are the National Organization for Women, United Church of Christ, the American Friends Service Committee, True Majority, Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans Against the War, the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, CodePink, MoveOn.org, and September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows.

Counter protesters also converged on the mall in smaller numbers.

“We never lost a battle in Vietnam but we lost the war, and the same is going to be true in Iraq if these protesters have their way,” said Larry Stark, 71, a retired Navy officer who fought in Vietnam for five years and was a prisoner of war during that conflict.

Mr. Stark said that the protesters were undermining troop morale and increasing the likelihood of a premature withdrawal. “It’s like we never learn from the past,” he said.

Ghouls

Ms. Fonda did us all a favor for many years after being rejected by half of America and hated by the military, by making half-hearted apologies and keeping silent with her vicious anti-Americanism. She mistakenly believes that enough time has passed, and that the 70's have returned again with the howls of ghouls like Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Cindy Sheehan, who cause more death and destruction for American GI's than Al-Queda ever could.

May free speech reign, as I always say. This is America. Let them speak.

Then, after they have spoken, we will speak. We will proclaim the truth about them, and not let them get away with murder.

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A Message for Moderates

I know you are confused, or think our feelings about Ms. Fonda are extreme. In my opinion, they are not. I do not advocate that any harm come to Ms. Fonda, nor to her compadres. I want to afford them the right to their views. They have a right to gather, and say anything they feel is true.

My only goal is to counter their arguments. Plus, some of what they do is done in the mistaken belief that they are being heroes. They envision themselves as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington type people or John Doe types. I want to clarify, for any of their fans, for the nation, and for Ms. Fonda et al, that they are not heroes. They are the exact opposite. Since celebrities want above all else to be liked, (followed by their desire to make millions of dollars off the capitalism they abhor), I want to show them that their hateful views do not make them liked. Rather, they are despised, by at least a significant portion of the nation.

Maybe, maybe, they will stop and consider their positions. Probably not. At least, though, some of their fans will reconsider their devotion to them, and—hoping against hope—their box office will slip.

Rock

(*Wikipedia is always my source unless indicated.)


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Kingly Thoughts

Martin Luther King, Jr.




I cannot do justice to the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., so I will just talk a little about how he would have felt about a couple of relevant issues to our world today.

Content of Their Character

First, he wanted us to judge people by the content of their character rather than by the color of their skin.

He made it quite clear in his lifetime that he was not out to replace one kind of racism with another.



So, I believe he would have been supportive of leaders like Bill Cosby, Juan Williams, and Larry Elder, African-Americans who call for blacks and whites to behave responsibly, get educated, work hard, and treat people with dignity and respect, regardless of color, avoiding the crutch of victimhood. I believe he would have been against many of his so-called disciples, like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who have preached victimhood to their followers, and sought to divide blacks and whites. Martin Luther King did not work through self-pity, nor anger.

On Iraq

Martin Luther King would have been against the Iraq War probably. He was against all war. I'm not sure if he would have been completely against the First Iraq War, tossing Saddam out of Kuwait, but I'm sure he would have been against the Second War, the invasion.

The Efficacy of Nonviolence

With all due respect, I don't see how Dr. King's tactic of nonviolence would have worked with Saddam Hussein, and this to me shows the limitations of the Peace Movement in general. Nonviolence worked for Mahatma Gandhi and his followers in India because a whole country rallied alongside him to bring down a foreign control over an unwilling teeming mass. Gandhi had one impossible task, to unite his followers in a mission to resist nonviolently. He had a ready audience, though, that just needed a tactic. Violence, as in terrorism, might have worked there too, but Gandhi was right that nonviolence in that case was more effective, and more humane.

Nonviolence would not have worked with Saddam, however, as he would have just beheaded the protestors, as opposed to the "civilized" Brits in India.

When people start to care about things, then you can use nonviolence as a tactic. The Brits cared about people, to a certain extent. They cared bout world opinion; about their finances; and about being the noble imperialists they wanted to be. They cared about law and order, the smooth running of India, and a whole host of things. They also did not want to be seen as cruel.

Saddam cared only about Saddam. He didn't care about people, even his own family; about world opinion; about being noble, as in his mind butchering people was the will of Allah; nor about the finances, as he had all the oil he needed. Nothing could touch him.

Conclusions

Nonviolence is a beautiful tactic, and it works in some situations. When it can be used, it ought to be. We can thank Gandhi and King for demonstrating its efficacy in appropriate situations. Gandhi brought down a whole nation using it; and King started the Civil Rights Movement, which perhaps also needed the hard edge of Malcolm X for completion.

Nonviolence works especially well against decent people who have evolved into abusers, or with abusers who have a spark of decency in them. It's a great tactic to wake the conscience of a nation. It might also work in situations where a mass strike might hurt someone's pocketbook.

It doesn't work well with monsters and tyrants. It cannot awake the conscience nor touch the hearts of those that have neither. Plus, it won't affect those who have nothing to lose from it.

Therefore, nonviolence was an appropriate tactic for India at the time, and for the Civil Rights Movement in the beginning. It is not approprate today for Iraq, Iran, Korea, nor for terrorism, in my opinion.

Rock

(*Wikipedia is always my source unless indicated.)


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Messy but Beautiful

James Brown.



I saw James Brown perform in person in 1992 in Tel Aviv, Israel. It was an experience of a lifetime.

Celebrating James Brown

I was kind of looking for a bit of guidance on writing today's post from paz, the path, but what I got was that paz, like many Americans, is reverent about James Brown, the godfather of soul, the hardest working man in show biz, which is fine. I was watching on TV the public funeral, billed as a "Homecoming Celebration" for Mr. Brown, coming from the James Brown Arena in Augusta, Georgia, and had some thoughts on the whole thing. I missed the beginning of it, but I saw enough of it to get a flavor.

Pleased and Dismayed

I was pleased by the event, and dismayed.

James is Smiling

One thing that made me happy was that I felt Mr. Brown would have approved much of the celebration.

African-American Contribution to the World

Second, in listening to the music, the rhythms, the cadences of speaking, the living poetry spoken by such masters at it as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, two people who are normally not my heroes—I had to admit that blacks in America, African-Americans, have created something unique in the world.





A musician myself, though not an expert at the various genres, I recognize that African-Americans have created the blues, soul, funk, rap and other genres, and that this is a magnificent contribution to the world.

One thing that is cool is that African-American singers, and even rappers, have taken and used human resonances in ways and combinations never done before. Having traveled the world, I am acutely aware of variety in the human being's musical expression, from the Middle-Eastern ululations, to the atonal Japanese kabuki, to the rich Muslim call to prayer. The sounds at James Brown's "funeral" were rich and melodious. I do believe that African-American performers send their vibrations to parts of their bodies that no singers have done before.

The Spoken Word

I even admit that African-Americans, despite the whole Ebonics thing and bad grammar etc., have contributed these same resonances and rhythms to the spoken word, again as with the poetry of Jesse Jackson, rap, and jive talking. I know that the "bad grammar" part of the whole deal is in one sense just a shortcut to allow the rhythms and resonances to flow. So, I guess it's kind of a separate language, a language with a beat. A language with soul.

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The only problem I have with this is when people rely just on this language and don't develop also proper English. Again, Reverends Jackson and Sharpton are adept at both "languages," which is a good thing.

Church Cadences

Another interesting consideration is the "church cadences," which blacks get into in public events. This cadence is a beautiful thing. The crowd gives their "Amens" etc. showing they are in sync with the speaker. The only problem I have with this is that it doesn't matter what the speaker is saying. The rhythm is the thing. He could be saying, "Brothers and sisters, I want you to go home and fry your hamsters," and the crowd would be yelling, "Tell, it Brother." We tend to turn off our brains when we get into these flows. Still, this was a funeral, so church cadences were appropriate. I was just making a global comment.

A Great Show

A Bit Messy

Overall, it was a great show. This is part of the problem. Part of it was seemly, and part of it unseemly. In case you think this is just another white guy critiquing a black event, you could hear members of the audience actually saying real-time some of the things I'm writing now. You could actually hear one person complaining, "This is so egotistical," and there were other comments too. Several members of the audience told certain people to "get off the stage." For example, there was some animosity for James Brown's companion of many years, Tomi Rae Brown. She sang beautifully, with soul, like James Brown used to sing; and spoke eloquently too. She and Brown had many troubles over the years, and I'm not an expert on this, but part of it involved accusations of physical abuse. I don't take sides on this issue because I wasn't there, and it's none of my business. I just report, however, that the crowd seemed to be blaming her. Recently of course, she was in the news after Mr. Brown's death for not being allowed back into their home of residence.

So, again, it was a great show, if a bit messy. Even the messiness of it all, though, I don't think would have necessarily bothered Mr. Brown. Part of the reason for Mr. Brown's genius I imagine was an attempt to deal with the messiness of life. He had been in and out of marriages, four of them, and in and out of jail. Overall, I'd say he led a good life, and the good he contributed to the world far outweighed the bad, but you have to admit it was a bit "messy." So, the funeral celebration was apropos.

Show or Funeral?

My second critique of the "show" was that it was just that, a show. I couldn't figure out at times if I was listening to a New Orleans' type funeral where the participants "celebrated" the life of the now deceased rather than mourn his passing. Nobody seemed sad that James was gone. Many of the "performers" were just that, performers. They were there to show off their talents, with songs often that had nothing to do with James Brown. It seemed like a chance for them to shine, rather than an opportunity to make James Brown's memory shine. This is the second time I've seen an African-American funeral where (the first time I actually attended) the "mourners" were competing, it seemed, to give the best "performance" at the funeral. I of course will make no generalizations from this, but I do think the center of attention ought to be the deceased, not the mourners. If you're at a James Brown funeral, sing a James Brown song, mention James Brown, tell a story about James Brown. Don't get up there and start reviving your singing career.

Again, oddly enough, the ones who steered away from this kind of thing, and kept things proper, were Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, who were most appropriately somber and centered on James Brown.

Tribalism

My third critique is quite a serious one—one that has little to do with this particular funeral, but one that is directed at the African-American community. I don't suppose Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson could have done anything different, but their welcoming of Michael Jackson to the event went a bit too far. To Mr. Jackson's credit, he had been urged to sing at the event, but he declined. I don't mind welcoming people back into the community when they are prodigal sons. Forgiveness is a virtue sometimes. But you have to be sorry to be forgiven. With Michael Jackson, there is no admission of anything, and no expression of regret. He has not received any psychological therapy to make him less of a threat to young boys. Al Sharpton, like he did with the fraudulent case of Tawana Brawley, seemed to stand with Michael Jackson against his unjust, and white, accusers.

Mr. Sharpton seems to communicate quite consistently that if you are black, then you are good, period. This is tribalism. This is what happened with the O.J. trial, where a black man was defended by his race simply because of his race, despite mountains of evidence. I don't hate Michael Jackson. I can understand why he would be included in this funeral. James Brown loved Michael Jackson. Yet, don't make Michael Jackson, or O.J. Simpson, or Tawana Brawley, out to be heroes, heroes who are slandered by the white community. Even if Mr. Jackson never did all the things he was accused of, his behavior with children has been inappropriate, and this ought to be recognized. Don't treat the guy like a returning hero, a victim of society. The children were the victims.

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Messy but Beautiful

All this being said, and allowing that my life has been just as "messy" as James Brown's, and forgiving Mr. Brown for his taste in friends and judgment about them; and inserting my big punch about tribalism; I'm willing to admit that the funeral celebration, despite being "messy" and despite my two other criticisms, was, on the whole, a good thing. It made me feel good; smile; laugh; and get into its rhythm. It showed Mr. Brown's influence on music, musicians, on America, and on the world.

James Brown was a great man, gave us great music, and I loved hearing it and grooving to it.

Thank you James. Go in peace my Brother.

Rock

(*Wikipedia is always my source unless indicated.)


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