General Discussion Thread - Juche 114, Week 7
Welcome again to everybody. Make yourself at home. In the time-honoured tradition of our group, here is the weekly discussion thread.
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Someone (who is kinda liberal) suggested I watch the superbowl halftime show, in part cause of its politics is the impression I got from them, so I watched a recording of it and I didn't understand it. Some of the lyrics I was not even catching or seemed like the typical self-talking-up of rap and the whole bit with Sam Jackson being Uncle Sam was like ??? what message are they going for here. The best part I could find on it was the unplanned part with the person who waved the Palestinian/Sudanese flag, but I didn't even see that in the video itself that I watched. Am I just not the target audience or needed captions? My instincts say "it's resistance liberal politics", but maybe I'm being unfair and I need to look more closely at the lyrics.
in essence I agree it's resistance liberal politics
so, with the whole drake thing, it's larger and not specific to drake himself but what he "symbolizes" which is why the line "you're not a colleague you're a colonizer“ comes into play regarding black culture/outsiders who would discard the people of the culture he used and wrung out like a wet rag once he's ready to move onto the next thing/larger more mainstream stage
/ I think the whole superbowl thing makes it feel more assimilationist and unchallenging rather than liberatory or empowering. im not sure if kendrick was fully ironic or what when incorporating "the revolution will not be televised" while he's being played on America's most watched televised event.
maybe im too harsh. maybe im importing too much frustration from assimilationist tendencies from my own background (chinese americans/canadians) into this situation (wherein a certain YA novel author is my own "drake"). idk
fuller nuance (love to see libs beat the shit out of that word) perspective from someone who is black and of black culture who i think has better angles on all points than I could - tumblr post. excerpts:
The Super Bowl will always be a bread and circus event that lines the pockets of white shareholders. The fact that they allowed Black people to perform is simply to give the appearance of empowerment and progress, thus assuaging our appetite for real revolution by letting spectators woop and cheer and have the feeling that something happened.
context: US flag and americana imagery:
At the end of the above, all African Americans should be wary of narratives that corral them securely within the frame of the United States. This is an intentional set of blinders that keeps you seeing yourself as belonging to this outsized plantation. We made connection to this land, but we were brought here in chains.
Thanks for sharing this and your analysis on it in such depth. It is interesting and insightful.
Its liberal protest for sure, pure virtue signaling with no actual weight.
