This Is What Being American Is All About

[CatholicsAreKewl]

Hmm, yeah, I think if you look at the song from a stereotype perspective, instead of a racism perspective, it doesn't seem as bad.  Especially if you take it at face value, as famous white country musician talking with the famous black hip hop artist.  I think it'd be easier for me to swallow if it didn't have the gold and iron chains line.  That one really makes me wince.  

 

Me too...  but mainly because it was corny.

[Guest]

Love both these artist but this song sucks...

[PhuturePriest]

This is the musical epitamy of the US as a melting pot of culture while dealing with quintissentially American concepts.

 

So it's a social concept and not a musical one? I have problems with this because it is after all music...

[God the Father]

American racism in the twenty-first cenury is an entirely political construct. Despite the fact that the "institution of racism" has been reversed, and now exists as an anti-white institution, the American Left adds fuel to any racist embers it finds (during its constant, intense search process) in order to convince the black voting bloc that it is unsafe to stray from the "liberal plantation."

 

Racism now exists not in discriminatory behavior, but within people, songs, ideas, thoughts etc. that might suggest it's time to move past the white-guilt, affirmative action, welfare, and preferential hiring/admission policies and start treating people equally and valuing individuals according to their contributions.

 

Here's a famous white country artist giving a prominent black musician a feature on his album: something that would have been unheard of in an actual era of racism. The black individual--he's black--writes his own lyrics (plz correct if wrong) suggesting it might be time to push past this ridiculousness, and the left fires back immediately that he--a black person, unelss I'm terribly mistaken--has created a work of racist art. Because, like a trademark, failing to punish violations--no matter how absurd--of the worldview that ensures their political victory would impair that worldview's success in the future.

 

Paula Deen was crucified by her leftist media masters for uttering a racial slur in the past after being the victim of an armed robbery; however, Robert Byrd was literaly a Ku Klux Klan chapter leader, who no doubt included the same term as part of his routine vernacular, and got a free pass from the Left because of his conversion to leftism and realization that the people he was actually, legitimately racist against could be easily manipulated as instruments for advancement of the leftist agenda.

 

Further reading:

 

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2013/06/government-is-new-race.html

 

Song is terrible, by the way

Edited June 24, 2013 by God the Father

[Guest]

Nelly and Tim MaGraw had a good song....That song and the one with Willie Nelson and Snoop are my favorite country/rap mash ups...

[Guest]

And yes the song by Willie and Snoop is about smoking weed...They actually did 2 songs....Superman and My medicine...Superman is my favorite of the two...

[BG45]

The thing is, we're not that far removed from legalized slavery in the United States.  It continued, in a form of questionable legality, into the 1940s under the name of peonage.

Edited June 24, 2013 by BG45

[dUSt]

Why are we forgiving L.L. for his gold chains?

 

Let me get this straight...

 

Black people forgive white people for putting them in iron chains, and all we have to do is forgive them for wearing gold chains? I don't get it.

[Lil Red]

country/hip-hop mash-ups are dumb. unless this is Brad Paisley and LL Cool J that we're talking about. then it's not dumb.

[CatholicsAreKewl]

Why are we forgiving L.L. for his gold chains?

 

Let me get this straight...

 

Black people forgive white people for putting them in iron chains, and all we have to do is forgive them for wearing gold chains? I don't get it.

 

I think he said "forget" not "forgive". They're definitely not equal. He might be meaning, "If you forget the bling bling stereotype, I'll forget the whole slave owner stereotype". I'm probably giving them too much credit, though.

[Lil Red]

I think he said "forget" not "forgive". They're definitely not equal. He might be meaning, "If you forget the bling bling stereotype, I'll forget the whole slave owner stereotype". I'm probably giving them too much credit, though.

 

you can never give LL Cool J or Brad Paisley too much credit.

[Anastasia13]

The thing is, we're not that far removed from legalized slavery in the United States.  It continued, in a form of questionable legality, into the 1940s under the name of peonage.

 

Slavery is alive and well today in the US if you look at sex trafficking.

[Anastasia13]

So it's a social concept and not a musical one? I have problems with this because it is after all music...

 

I've always felt that some of the most interesting music had to do with social concepts and social issues.

[Socrates]

Cheesy song, but it brings up some legitimate points.

 

While there's always been some mutual animosity since the War Between the States, this whole politically correct hysteria over the Confederate battle flag, and any symbols or aspects of Southern pride or culture as being inherently racist and hateful is a much more recent thing.  Until the past few decades, people didn't freak out over displays of the Confederate flag, or demand it be taken down from public view, nor were there demands to tear down monuments to heroes of the Confederacy.  

 

Such things were (correctly) seen as symbols of regional pride, and respect for one's heritage, rather than as being about about slavery and racism.  The War Between the States was not just about slavery, and emancipation of the slaves was not even a Union objective until late in the war, when Lincoln saw it as a tactic to help bring down the South. A number of states which had previously tended to side with the Union, such as Virginia, joined the Confederacy only after the North sent troops to invade South Carolina, which they saw as an unjust and unconstitutional act of aggression by the federal government against the the states and their right to self-government.  Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, commonly regarded as the greatest heroes of the Confederacy, were not fans of slavery or war, but chose to fought for the Confederacy because of the North's invasion of their homeland.

 

The contemporary left seems determined to see everything associated with the South as exclusively about racism, however.

 

And white cowboy hats being seen as racist?  That's just ridiculous.  This croutons reminds me of reading about a governor's race (actually in a Northern state, though I forget which one), where there was an ad by the GOP candidate which featured the candidate's pickup truck, which was attacked as "coded racism" - even though it was pointed out that this was his vehicle he drove in "real life," rather than a prop for the ad.  In Texas, I've seen plenty of black guys driving pickups.

 

A lot of this nonsense is politically-driven hysteria, rather than legitimate racial grievances.  If the left can't find legitimate racial injustice to attack, it simply starts attacking more and more things as "racist" in order to demonize their enemies, and perpetuate the race baiting game.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Socrates

[Seven77]

At the risk of being labeled a Leftist––something I'm most certainly not (I don't take geographical sides/directions either), I would like to say something with genuine sincerity…

 

I just don't understand this southern “heritage” that delights in the Confederate flag. Everyone who flies a Confederate flag was born in the United States of America--not in the Confederacy. The 13 colonies were under British rule and flew the British flag but why would an American today fly a British flag (excluding 1st or 2nd generation immigrants from Britain)? That would be absurd, right?

 

While it is true that the federal government doesn't have a right to invade states which do have a right to self govern, states do not have the right to dehumanize human beings. The federal government was right in its exercise of force.

 

Like it or not, the Confederate flag is associated with slavery, though perhaps not intrinsically associated with it. There may be a line between racist heritage and a purer form of heritage but flying a Confederate flag always---always requires an explanation upfront. What heritage is being represented? What does this heritage consist of? How on earth can a Confederate flag have any relevance for any one in today's day and age, other than racists? I would genuinely like to know.

 

Cheesy song, but it brings up some legitimate points.

 

While there's always been some mutual animosity since the War Between the States, this whole politically correct hysteria over the Confederate battle flag, and any symbols or aspects of Southern pride or culture as being inherently racist and hateful is a much more recent thing.  Until the past few decades, people didn't freak out over displays of the Confederate flag, or demand it be taken down from public view, nor were there demands to tear down monuments to heroes of the Confederacy.  

 

Such things were (correctly) seen as symbols of regional pride, and respect for one's heritage, rather than as being about about slavery and racism.  The War Between the States was not just about slavery, and emancipation of the slaves was not even a Union objective until late in the war, when Lincoln saw it as a tactic to help bring down the South. A number of states which had previously tended to side with the Union, such as Virginia, joined the Confederacy only after the North sent troops to invade South Carolina, which they saw as an unjust and unconstitutional act of aggression by the federal government against the the states and their right to self-government.  Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, commonly regarded as the greatest heroes of the Confederacy, were not fans of slavery or war, but chose to fought for the Confederacy because of the North's invasion of their homeland.

 

The contemporary left seems determined to see everything associated with the South as exclusively about racism, however.

 

And white cowboy hats being seen as racist?  That's just ridiculous.  This croutons reminds me of reading about a governor's race (actually in a Northern state, though I forget which one), where there was an ad by the GOP candidate which featured the candidate's pickup truck, which was attacked as "coded racism" - even though it was pointed out that this was his vehicle he drove in "real life," rather than a prop for the ad.  In Texas, I've seen plenty of black guys driving pickups.

 

A lot of this nonsense is politically-driven hysteria, rather than legitimate racial grievances.  If the left can't find legitimate racial injustice to attack, it simply starts attacking more and more things as "racist" in order to demonize their enemies, and perpetuate the race baiting game.

 

Edited June 25, 2013 by Seven77