posted by Sam Richards
So Harry Allen has an interesting critique of white racist rants about Kanye West that spread across twitterlandia in the hours (make that minutes) after the tantrum he threw at the VMA ceremony. If you’re not aware of what that means, it’s a yearly gathering of corporate created celebrities (along with a few organically talented artists) who hand out awards to one another so that the corporate owners can more easily entice unsuspecting consumers to shell out more of their hard-earned cash to consume the images-words-songs that very few of those celebrities created in the first place (because their not truly artists). Whatever…
So Mr. West has a moment of psychiatric infamy and the rest is FB and T history.
Back to Harry Allen, who trolls the Web and finds tweet upon tweet of insulting and racist comments about Kanye and asserts that these tweets represent the underbelly of whiteness — public faces of respectability and politeness followed by sudden bursts of racist ranting when one of their/our own (in this case, Taylor Swift) is publicly insulted by persons black or brown.
The tweets are pretty raw and clearly go into the “WTF Are They Thinking?” folder. It’s amazing that white people feel as comfortable as black and brown comedians to attach their name and face (and Twitter ID) to the n-bomb with such gusto and glee. Check out Harry Allen’s blog entry, which you can read here.
Honestly, I found Kanye West’s actions to be quite funny. I understand Taylor Swift is 17 and it was her first major award, but I feel as if people are looking too deep into the situation. I don’t understand why people are shocked by Kanye’s actions. Anyone who follows or knows about Mr. West’s history isn’t tremendously shocked by his actions. When I first saw it, I admit I was a little surprised that he would attack an innocent 17 year old girl that does not do anything to anyone. After however, I thought to myself that it’s purely Kanye being Kanye.
People may argue that he took it too far, but I just see it as Kanye being himself. I mean for crying out loud, Kanye went on national TV and accused George Bush of hating black people. Why is it that when he goes on the VMA’s and interrupts Taylor Swift, people are all of a sudden expressing their hatred for Kanye. Let be serious now; it’s not a big deal. I don’t agree with Kanye’s action, but I’m also not going to blow it out of proportion like a lot of people are. Celebrities are always taking part in some type of unorthodox actions, so why this is a surprise, I don’t know.
Now I must say what gets me annoyed is that people are making this whole mess to be a racial thing. Why is it that in America when a Black person does something to a White person and vice versa, Americans automatically start screaming “ ahhh it’s a racial thing.” I find that to be complete and total BS. There was nothing racial about that whole incident. It was purely about Kanye expressing how he felt. Regardless of who other than Beyonce had won, I truly feel as if Kanye would have reacted the same way.
Let’s analyze this for a second. Say you like a sports player and believe that they should have won the MVP award, but they end up losing. You are going to feel a certain way knowing that a person that you feel should not have won it, won it and your favorite player didn’t. This is exactly what Kanye was expressing, just he did it on a national TV level. He felt as if Beyonce was the better candidate. What’s so racial about that? Exactly, there is nothing even remotely close to even associate this incident with racism.
Americans need to stop making everything a Black-White thing. We always preach how we want to move past racism and strive for equality, but yet we try to find racism in everything. Although you may not like Kanye, he’s going to continue to be himself. I do not agree with his actions, but I found the whole thing to be funny. Come on now people, it’s not always a racial thing!
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It was not until my Soc 119 discussion group the Wednesday after the incident of Kanye West embarrassing and publicly insulting Taylor Swift at the Video Music Awards that I even thought about it being a racial issue. One of my discussion group leaders asked what the group thought about the incident and asked if we thought it was Kanye West being racist toward Taylor Swift. Interesting conversation began. The majority of the group did not think that it was a racist hit toward Taylor Swift. What was interesting about the conversation was that people of the group thought it would have been racist, or at least seen as being racist if Kanye West and Beyonce were white and Taylor Swift was black. The more I thought about it, the more I agreed.
I do not agree with the fact that if the tables were turned and everyone was the opposite color, that it would be racist. I do, however, believe that the media would have made it out to be racist. The media has a unique way of portraying things. For one, most of the time, they lie and make things out to be much bigger of a deal than it is. I am not at all saying that this situation was not a big deal. I think it was a terrible thing that happened to Taylor Swift and my heart truly goes out to her because she definitely did deserve that award. I have never been a fan of Kanye West the person. I am, however, a fan of his music. He, the person, is an ignorant, outspoken, jerk, who thinks he is God’s greatest gift. That kind of person, of course, would make that type of comment in front of the entire world.
Now let me get back to the racist issue. After reading this article and reading the Twitter comments toward Kanye West, I do not agree with it. People, especially white people, should not be making racist comments about the singer. He deserves people, of all races, to hate him for what he said to Taylor, but he does not deserve to be discriminated against. In this case, people, particularly white people, are making a racist situation out of something that had nothing to do with race. It actually makes white people look ignorant and rude. I myself am a white female, and never did I ever think Kanye was being racist toward Taylor. So people, do not try making it something different than it was. The guy is an ass and will most likely never live this down. Do not egg the cocky singer on by making racial comments toward him. Do not even give him the satisfaction.
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What Kanye West did during the awards show was outrageous. No matter which way someone looks at his actions, it was completely unfair to Taylor Swift. Although the awards can be viewed as just something to award large music companies of their success, still, these artists are people. Yes, they have created music which is largely not there work, but so what. It was an accomplishment for her to have put all this effort into performing, promoting, and being an overall great artist who deserves recognition.
On the other hand, the racist comments that went along with his appalling actions are not acceptable. Anyone could have made that comment to her. It could have been a black, white, hispanic, or asian person. Just because Kayne is black does not mean that he deserves all those horrible insults. He was just stating his opinion, which was not okay in this situation. But who cares if he is black, Kayne (as a person was wrong) and calling him a N-, doesn’t make the situation any better. He was wrong, and I personally feel that he just felt too confident in the music business, and forgot for a minute that he is internationally known and that he probably just destroyed his career. As a result, he does not deserve to be insulted to that degree, and I am sure he probably felt like a horrible person after he did that.
Another interesting part of this action is how people would have acted if it was someone of another color or race. For example, if Enrique Iglesias would have told Taylor that I am sorry but Beyonce had a better music video than you, how would everyone react? That would be a Hispanic man telling a white woman that she just didn’t do a good enough job. How about if it was Eminem telling Taylor that Beyonce did a better job than her? How would people react? You could not really call Eminem a racisit, so what would people say? They would probably just accuse him of being a cruel person for saying that. Instead of starting up with racial insults which just continues to divide our country. Furthermore, what if it would have been a woman instead of a man. What if Pink had told Taylor Swift that she did not beat Beyonce’s music video. There would probably be some really negative female comments made towards her. As a result, this cannot be taken as a incident of racial segregation. What was said was because of just an ignorant person, without taking into consideration just of much of an accomplishment the awards show is for some people. Kayne needs to remember to think before he opens his mouth, because everybody else in this world does, no matter what skin color!
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Oh Kanye West and your shenanigans, at what point in his head did it cross his mind to say “Yeah, that’s cool. She won that, but Beyonce is much better. I have to do something.” So he runs on stage, grabs the microphone from Taylor Swift, and looks out at the crowd. At this point he could be thinking to himself, “what did I just do and what should I do now.” Everyone has some moments where they say things they did not really want to say, or they do things they really did not want to do; even without the influence of alcohol or drugs. He was on stage with the microphone in his hand and he said what he thought he had to say. Yes what he did was wrong; he could have commented after on what he thought, communicated directly to Beyonce, or done something a little less ludicrous. However, to call him the “n-word” based upon his actions is always going to be wrong for anyone to do.
In some ways it is almost related to what the people do outside of the HUB or outside of the Forum on some days. Go and preach their beliefs to the people that could really care less to hear. However, I could see someone interrupting them with their own beliefs just like Kanye did at the video music awards. Is interrupting someone’s speech all right? No, not at all and to go in depth and insult someone based on their racial group based upon what they said is even worse.
People need to take a step back from what they are thinking sometimes, and think to their selves, “what if someone was going to say this to me? Would I be offended?” The world has some ridiculous people in it, and Harry Allen has decided to expose some of those people. Granted, he is not doing the most respectable thing himself. Who gave him the right to patrol around facebook and twitter and expose each person who says something inappropriate? What if there were inciting events that had occurred that lead up to this situation of unintentional racism? Essentially, he decided to do his own “citizen’s arrests”. He does need to do some growing up himself now; he has made his point, there are racist people in the world we do know that. Exposing them though publically to the world and that could possibly hurt them in the future with jobs or with many other things in life is wrong. Is he really even better than the people that tweet something wrong?
Yes, racism is around, but not as bad as it used to be; everyone in this world has flaws. Harry Allen does need to find another hobby though in my opinion.
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As one of the people who watched the VMAs as this event took place, I’m not really sure what to make of it. Even many days following, people are still making remarks about this incident and how rude it was of Kanye West to do, but I’m not really sure what to make of it. Especially when one wonders whether not this is actually a race related issued on Kanye’s behalf. His track record is not one of the best, as once he went on national TV and proceeded to tell the United States that President Bush did not care about black America but that’s not the exact issue at hand. The blog of Harry Allen is absolutely and completely unnecessary.
Granted I am a young girl who grew up with an easy life on Long Island, I may make jokes and have the occasional party where my friends and I were dressed up as “gangsters” but even my friends and I know where to draw the line. Publically expressing you feelings in the manner Harry Allen did is the reason why criticisms and racial slurs will never actually diminish from our pop culture and in turn our world. When we allow comments to be solicited everywhere, at any second, through a Facebook or Twitter update, we are allowing for all of these prejudices to take place in our society. Although the constant stream of such updates can’t be monitored by a certain site, and freedom of speech is something we are granted in the Constitution, when does that become the REAL issue? People need to realize that freedom of speech doesn’t always mean that you can publically say whatever you want without any sort of consequence. I’m absolutely outraged by some of the things people have had to say about this incident, but this blog is something completely of its own.
Ultimately, I truly believe this issue will never EVER be resolved. I hate to be that person who is dead set in my ways and beliefs that all of racism will never be “cured,” for lack of a better word, but if people insist that they’re opinions can be exploited in these manners, there will never be a time that people aren’t angry or hurt by other people’s opinions. This goes for all different types of speech, including song lyrics, which is why I cannot take Kayne West’s side on this either. The ways he lashes out in public are one thing, but the words he carefully chooses, or in some cases not so carefully, are some that shouldn’t be spoken to the public. If you have a certain influence on the way of a nation, through politics, pop culture, heroism, I don’t think you should be criticizing other prominent figures of our country in such a negative way. The influences that some people have shouldn’t be used the way they are and the things said in public shouldn’t be said either.
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I was not able to see the VMA’s live, mostly because I was much more interested in the Phillies game and usually do not care about the celebrity drama. Moments after this “incident” I happened to check my facebook to find it bombarded with comments about Kanye. My feelings on this are very simple, and in my opinion are not racist or biased in any way. Kanye was totally out of line by interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech, no matter what the extenuating circumstances are. You can bring in about Swift’s age, and how this means more to her on account of her inexperience with the industry, however, this would not be acceptable no matter whom he interrupted. I must give Beyonce much credit for giving Swift her moment to speak and receive as well as give recognition. In the end, there is much to learn from this situation.
Celebrities must learn that no matter how popular they are (i.e. Kanye West) they are never immune to criticism. West’s reputation and fan base plummeted on account of this incident that could have been avoided if he would have simply stated his opinion in an acceptable fashion (i.e. through a blog entry). Everyone is entitled to their own opinion; however, this type of outburst has no place in our society. Celebrities feel that when they screw up, they will be given a free pass of acceptance. This situation shows that people not making responsible actions will see the consequences, whether it be through open criticism in the media or maybe even for West, fewer tickets being sold.
I must ask the question of whether this would have been such big news if West had interrupted a person of older age, who has experienced the limelight longer than an artist as Swift. I feel that purely by the way West’s outburst was stated, I would have felt no different about the man. Nor do I feel that if Dane Cook or Will Farrell (two white celebrities who are extremely popular) had sauntered up and done the same thing that I would feel any differently. Unfortunately, our society does have a very short memory for celebrities and sports figures who screw up. It does not seem too long ago that Alex Rodriguez was being criticized for using steroids. Ask someone in New York about A-Rod and they will give you his stats from last night’s game. I am unsure about what a solution is to this problem; however, we do have to continue to hold these popular figures to high standards.
In response to the racism being seen throughout Facebook and Twitter, I also feel that this is not acceptable. It saddens me that our society has gotten to the point where so many people do not think before they speak. We would not even be discussing this issue had, not only West, but the Facebook and Twitter networks, taken a moment to think about what they were saying. This problem has been magnified to me since arriving at Penn State. Our society has lost the ability to take a different perspective, and look at the situation from someone else’s point of view.
In the end, the repercussions of this single outburst are immense. The only thing I can say is that I hope that all of society can learn from this “mistake.”
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Ok, I would like to start off by saying that I like Taylor Swift’s music but I am not a fan of her. She is a better song writer than singer; anyone can sing her songs. Plus, my sister lives and goes to Belmont University in Nashville, the same school Taylor applied to about a year ago. Since Taylor says she is from Nashville even though she is from PA, a lot students that attend my sister’s school went to high school with her. The overwhelming opinion of her was that she was a total stuck up bitch. And my sister has met her and has confirmed this. With that being said, I truly believe that what Kanye West did was unnecessary, disrespectful, and rude. Even though I do not particularly like Taylor, he practically made the poor girl cry on national TV. I don’t care who won the award you just do not do that.
This is not even the first time Kanye has lashed out about who has and who hasn’t won awards. Basically he thinks he is god and his opinion should rule all. I really don’t think that the fact that he is a black man should matter. Black, white, yellow, red, orange, or purple, that type of action is absolutely horrible. He deserves to be called out for it and be criticized for it and to be kicked out of the awards show for it. But, I do not think that people need to use the word nigger when they are talking about his poor choices and actions. This implies that being an asshole and hating white people or white girls is how a “nigger” acts. That is not true. Kayne chose to act that way and the color of his skin shouldn’t make people angrier or make this situation a bigger one. I think that if Justin Timberlake got up and did that, people would still think it was disrespectful and rude as well.
When I saw it happen on VMAs I was like did that really just happen? Like who the hell does that? I thought it was so hypocritically for him to say “Taylor, I’m really happy for and I’m gonna let you finish BUT…” You do not say something nice and then end with the word but which lead to his real feelings and opinions. This just shows he was pissed off and again thought his opinions were better than the outcome so as a result he acted like a complete idiot. And to add on to his stupidity for the night, he said that Beyonce had the best video ever. Taylor won the VMA for Best Female Video and Beyonce won the VMA for Video of the Year so was there really any need for him to jump up on stage and be an asshole…. NO. I would like to commend Beyonce on how she handled the situation. When she won her award she brought Taylor up with her so she could have her moment since it was so rudely interrupted.
Ok, I would like to start off by saying that I like Taylor Swift’s music but I am not a fan of her. She is a better song writer than singer; anyone can sing her songs. Plus, my sister lives and goes to Belmont University in Nashville, the same school Taylor applied to about a year ago. Since Taylor says she is from Nashville even though she is from PA, a lot students that attend my sister’s school went to high school with her. The overwhelming opinion of her was that she was a total stuck up bitch. And my sister has met her and has confirmed this. With that being said, I truly believe that what Kanye West did was unnecessary, disrespectful, and rude. Even though I do not particularly like Taylor, he practically made the poor girl cry on national TV. I don’t care who won the award you just do not do that.
This is not even the first time Kanye has lashed out about who has and who hasn’t won awards. Basically he thinks he is god and his opinion should rule all. I really don’t think that the fact that he is a black man should matter. Black, white, yellow, red, orange, or purple, that type of action is absolutely horrible. He deserves to be called out for it and be criticized for it and to be kicked out of the awards show for it. But, I do not think that people need to use the word nigger when they are talking about his poor choices and actions. This implies that being an asshole and hating white people or white girls is how a “nigger” acts. That is not true. Kayne chose to act that way and the color of his skin shouldn’t make people angrier or make this situation a bigger one. I think that if Justin Timberlake got up and did that, people would still think it was disrespectful and rude as well.
When I saw it happen on VMAs I was like did that really just happen? Like who the hell does that? I thought it was so hypocritically for him to say “Taylor, I’m really happy for and I’m gonna let you finish BUT…” You do not say something nice and then end with the word but which lead to his real feelings and opinions. This just shows he was pissed off and again thought his opinions were better than the outcome so as a result he acted like a complete idiot. And to add on to his stupidity for the night, he said that Beyonce had the best video ever. Taylor won the VMA for Best Female Video and Beyonce won the VMA for Video of the Year so was there really any need for him to jump up on stage and be an asshole…. NO. I would like to commend Beyonce on how she handled the situation. When she won her award she brought Taylor up with her so she could have her moment since it was so rudely interrupted.
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I agree 100% that Kayne’s comments during Taylor’s acceptance speech were both uncalled for and extremely hurtful and immature. I also think that his apology was completely bogus in agreement with a lot of people’s thoughts. Personally, I think it was a PR move. Once again, being a PR major, this would give great publicity to all parties involved. Any publicity is good publicity is what we’re told, unless of course it revolves around a murder charge or something along those lines. There were Twitter, Facebook and Myspace updates about the incident the millisecond it occurred. Each party involved received practically nation-wide attention. Of course, Taylor was the victim. Kayne was the culprit. Beyonce was the third-party/mistress. Anyway, whether or not I think it was a malicious act or a staged one, this incident created a whirlwind of racism-accusing publicity.
As soon as that happened, I flashed back to when Kayne accused President Bush of not giving a darn about black people in response to the natural disasters down south. My first immediate thought was, “oh, so now MTV doesn’t care about black people?” I don’t necessarily think I had a racist thought towards him, but there were plenty and plenty of people who thought racist thoughts and let the world know about them. Do I agree with people publically bashing Kayne as a black man? Absolutely not. Do I agree with people bashing his ACTIONS? Certainly. There’s a fine line that some people chose to overlook and cross. People took it to the extreme by associating Kayne with the entire black population. That’s one person’s stupidity, not a race in entirety. If you look at it from the opposite perspective, being a white person, all of us white people could have very well been associated as stupid and airy after Jessica Simpson’s “tuna/chicken” blunder. Were we publically humiliated as white people as a whole after this whole thing happened? If I remember correctly, we weren’t; it was an isolated bash of Jessica Simpson herself.
I think this whole thing just shows how ridiculous some people are when it comes to mass media and using it to talk about personal stuff. If you’re racist, lame. But let’s not talk about it on Twitter. And if you’re heartbroken, sucks. But why portray that on Facebook for the world to see? Death threats and using the “n” word in reference to Kayne are seriously overdramatic. Seriously. Beyonce let Taylor Swift on stage when she got her award so Taylor could give her speech. She got to say her speech, all’s well in the MTV world. I honestly think this whole thing was a PR move, and an extremely brilliant one at that. It’s been how long since the VMA’s and people are still talking about it? That’s PR gold right there.
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I absolutely feel that what Kanye West did was incredibly wrong and uncalled for. I also feel that all of the racist comments are unnecessary and unwarranted as well. Kanye did something stupid, alright, get over it. Had a white man interrupted a black woman, I am sure that we would be experiencing the same situation, however, it would be black people calling the white man a racist. Kanye is going to receive enough of a punishment by being an internet meme for a long time to come. The meme he has become isn’t racist, but it does poke fun at him, which I believe is in order. If you do something stupid, you are simply being asked to be made fun of for a long time to come. However, once the racist and derogatory comments start coming out, something should be done.
As Harry Allen stated, people who say they are not racist but do nothing to stop others from being racist are not really against racism. Therefore, people should be condemning the comments made by Kanye West. I feel that issues like this are often blown out of proportion though. Allen posted some tweets of people who had a minimal following, which means he really went out of his way to try to find comments putting down Kanye West. If people are always trying to find racism in their lives, they are going to be able to find it, especially in today’s age of digital media being all around us and connecting everyone together. I wonder if Allen has a Twitter account, and if so, if he responded to these people’s tweets saying that he does not approve of what they were saying. If he did not respond, he is being hypocritical because he said that people need to be called out for their racist comments, therefore, he should respond to every racist comment on Twitter.
The other issue I want to address is the use of the n-word. I know we discussed it briefly in class, but why is it ok for people from one racial group to call themselves something, but when someone from another group calls them the same thing, they take great offense by the word. As Same said, black and brown comedians will throw around the n-word and people laugh. Now think about a white comedian in front of a black crowd. If the white comedian made the same joke using the n-word, no one would laugh; instead, the crowd would most likely be extremely offended and become extremely uncomfortable. It is this double standard that perplexes me. The only thing that can really be said to a white person to anger them is to call them a racist. Why this is the case, I don’t know. But if two white men, say Tom and Bob, were talking, and Tom called Bob a racist, Bob would still be offended, even though Tom is white as well. If anyone can explain to me this double standard, I would greatly appreciate it.
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Just like almost every person I’ve talked to about this issue, I most definitely agree that Kanye West is a jerk. I honestly think the most annoying part is that Kanye HIMSELF even admits to it: He tells the public that he is trying to be friendlier to his fans and he knows that people think of him as a self-absorbed, greedy superstar that doesn’t care about anyone or anything other than himself. It upsets me that he “claims” he wants to change his public image and then goes and pulls a stunt like this on national television. He truly thinks that he is the best thing that has EVER happened to the music industry and he doesn’t care about anything at all. We have all been putting up with his antics, for the most part, but after this I think he has pushed the limit and was completely out of line. It was Taylor Swift’s first VMA ever and Kanye ruined her moment. He apologized and stated that he was drunk but that does not justify his actions in any way. Taylor Swift has an enormous fan base, myself included, and now, without a doubt, they all dislike what Kanye West did to her. Now even though I will forever hold Kanye in contempt for what he did to Taylor I must point out the outrage I have for these anonymous web postings about the situation. Although I disagree with Kanye and his whole existence, I can’t fathom what causes people to post the things being said about him on a public domain. I understand that the controversy sparked a major debate on Twitter and other similar mediums but I don’t understand how it is okay for white people to completely lash out at Kanye and the entire black community. Since when is it perfectly acceptable to post the “n” word on a website that is so easily accessible by everyone with a computer? These comments do not only affect Mr. West but the words used, in general, are offensive the African American culture. Kanye wasn’t trying to insult white people, white artists, or white music. He was trying to recognize Beyonce’s hard work. I am in no way, shape, or form, justifying his actions but for the white community to lash out like this towards him is not only ignorant, but also stupid. People need to realize that language like this is not tolerated in our society, and it does nothing but cause problems. This situation at the VMA’s was not even an issue of racism. Kanye, although in the worst way possible, was just stating his opinion about Beyonce and her video. I really do believe that he was just being his arrogant self and not forming any racial comments whatsoever.
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I’ve come to realize that what I thought Kanye was thinking when he did that maybe a week ago is still what I think was going through his head now. I feel like he said to himself “why are people giving this white girl who sings country any respect, fuck that Beyonce is better I’m bout o say something”. The ironic thing is that she Beyonce ended up winning the bigger and better award so there was no need to make a scene. Kanye just maybe felt like an idiot this time, considering he’s famously known for being a cocky dickhead. I personally never had anything against Kanye; other then that he has a part in the “new age” “funny voice” rap which I despise. Everybody on those twitter posts was saying things like he’s another black guy with a chip on his shoulder that racist and thinks he can pull scenes like that. The truth is he really might be just that. Given his past and where he grew up and considering how cocky he is now, him making the decision to go up there and interrupt Taylor Swift’s award speech probably was a racist act. I’m pretty sure no one’s ever done that in any award history. So for Kanye West to be the first one he really was asking to be permanently labeled, and he is now weather he regrets it or not. I think it’s really interesting to look at all the different twitter posts, Sam mentioned something to the extent of how people were so easy to say nigger and attach their name and twitter Id to the statement. I think it’s pretty bold and also wondering WTF were they thinking. The fact is they probably truly feel that he deserves to be called that after what he did. Once one of them saw that someone called him a nigger all the others probably felt more comfortable with calling him that among other negative things. If someone were to ask me if he deserves all the things that people said through twitter, I probably would say yes. Of all those things that people said, it doesn’t come close in my eyes to the reckless act of what he did to Taylor Swift. He obviously showed everyone he has no respect for others. In the end he knew he screwed himself because the people he thought would accept what he did, definitely didn’t. I heard he had a conversation with her mother, and then had to think about his mother who just recently died and what she would have though of him doing that to this girl and her family, friends, and fans. No matter the apologies, Kanye West made himself look stupid and Taylor Swift came out on top.
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Kanye West is an idiot. Plain and simple, his ego is so huge and he thinks that his work is so life changing that he has honestly lost touch with reality. Before this whole VMA and Taylor Swift outbreak, he has been a raging idiot for years. His comments and his interviews are actually funny. He thinks he is a gift from god, and his ego is fueled by the millions of records that he has sold. My point being is why do we think and adore this guy? He is a racist and a pompous asshole. But, after the whole VMA thing happened there was a Twitter outbreak and tons of people attacked him and used the N-word and said many racist things. I think it was just a way of people finally lashing out at him for all of his little outbreaks. Its uncalled to say the N-word, but after he comes out and says George Bush hates black people and then the Taylor Swift thing, people get fed up. Kanye’s supporters defend him saying that he was wasted and drank a 5th of liquor before he went to the VMA’s. Its even funnier to defend him by saying that everything is cool…he was drunk. I am very glad that Beyonce came out and apologized for his outbreak and I do not this she had anything to do with this. I just do not understand why people are so surprised that this happened. Kanye is racist, and millions of Americans are racist as well. Do I think its just as or even more ridiculous for people to use Twitter to come out and drop the N-bomb and lash out and offend all black people? Of course. Attach and rip on just Kanye. Don’t call him a word that will obviously fuel a lot of hate. But, that is probably exactly what they wanted. I can bet millions of people have looked at those blogs and Twitter pages just because they said that. I mean, I can bet more than a few hundred kids in SOC119 have looked at those pages. In the end. People are retarded and Kanye is an asshole.
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I think Kanye West is extremely full of himself and obnoxiously arrogant. I am not a huge fan of his music and that is mostly because I am not a fan of his. Regardless of that, I truly do believe that his problem with Beyonce not winning was a matter of race to him. Kanye has come out before in his infamous tirade against president Bush when he stated, “George Bush does not care about black people.” This was something that was a completely random attack against President Bush basically calling him a racist and for what reason? I personally am a democrat and I did not enjoy seeing Bush in the white house but I had no reason to believe that he was racist or that he did not care about black people. I think Kanye has shown before that he has a lot of anger towards everyone and that he expresses it whenever he pleases. What he did to Taylor Swift was humiliating and horrible and there was no reason for it. I think the only reason he did that was to make a stand for Beyonce because she was black. If the situation had been reversed and a black artist has won over a white artist, Kanye definitely would not have done the same thing or been as obnoxious and loud-mouthed about it. He claims to have been drunk, and that only adds to my point anyway. People tend to me much more honest when they are drunk, so I think it adds to the idea that he probably did feel some type of race thing was going on when Taylor won over Beyonce just because he thought Beyonce had a better video. Newsflash Kanye, your opinion is not the only one that matters. The overall idea is just so stupid especially because of the awards being given; it’s not like they were that big of a deal or that Beyonce not winning would affect her in any way. I do think that it was in a kind of racist nature that Kanye made those comments, and I understand people taking offense to that. However, I do not think it’s ok for people to make obscene racist remarks about Kanye. It’s like the whole two wrongs to not make a right thing. Yes, Kanye was really rude and really ridiculous in his actions, but at the same time calling him terrible things and being racist towards Kanye does not make what he did any better. It’s just repeating what already happened. I think while what he did was bad, it’s one of those things people just need to get over. Taylor Swift still won, and while she may be embarrassed I’m sure she’ll get over it. Clearly, there were a lot of people that wanted her to win, so it really doesn’t matter if Kanye agreed with them. I just think people shouldn’t get involved in something that really doesn’t affect them. Why make horrible comments about Kanye just because he insulted Taylor Swift. If you personally know Taylor them ok, but most people do not and so why say racist things over a situation that has no effect on you? It’s stupid and it makes people look terrible for the things that they say.
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During the 2009 VMA’s Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift’s speech and said Beyonce’s video deserved to win or something to that matter. Of course today in the age of facebook and twitter, everyone has something to say. That is perfectly fine. It doesn’t matter whether people think he is a jerk or not. I can understand why people would scold him for doing that. What I cannot understand is why people want to make this a race issue and start making racist comments. It’s downright distasteful and unintelligent to think or say something of that matter. It really infuriates me when racist white people take this opportunity to bash black people and say hateful and prejudice things
First of all, kanye west speaks his mind whether you like it or not. This is not the first time he has lashed out with what he was really feeling. It’s rather unfortunate that it had to happen to Taylor Swift who was nothing but humble to receive the award. But we all know Beyonce’s video was truly better than hers in all honestly. Kanye just expressed that at the wrong place and wrong time, not to mention that he was under the influence. It has nothing to do with the fact that he is black. It shouldn’t be open season for unintelligent racist to say things. Why characterize a whole race over one person’s action. I cannot express how much I despise dumb Caucasian racists. They are usually cowards who would not say anything like that to a black person in person but will right it all over their twitter, where it’s safe.
The VMA’s always has a shock component to it. Black and white celebrities alike have done something outrageous at the VMA’s. For example, I forget the name of the person but I remember a rock artist who climbed a structure on stage in the VMA’s while Fred Durst was giving his speech. That was more outrageous than Kanye’s incident but you didn’t see black people going to town with it and bash every white person. They didn’t relate it to race or anything. It was a big deal but it wasn’t as big a deal as Kanye’s moment. Why is this? Why is it that when black people do outrageous things on T.V it’s held at such high scrutiny and examination but when a white person does something like that, it’s not that bad?
I’m the last person to cry out racism but this right here has got to be some of the most passive racism I’ve ever encountered. I just want to give a word to those people that sit there and tweet bullshit and make racist comments on the internet. They should grow some balls and say that out in the real world.
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Kanye West’s comments during the MTV Video Music Awards, although kind of funny, were completely out of line. It was only funny because it was Kanye, who is a complete moron, and he gave everyone a good laugh. No one should be able to go up and ruin someone’s award speech. Where was security to stop him from doing that? If it was anyone else, they surely would have been stopped, and also thrown out of the awards. The reason why there is a racist connotation to what he said is because Taylor Swift is white and sings country music, and Beyonce is black and sings R&B and hip-hop. Country music is a white genre. Almost all the of the artists are white, and so is the audience. R&B and hip-hop is genre made up of black, African-American, and some Latino and other races. There are a few white artists, but they are minute minority. Kanye is also an outgoing racist. When he came to the Philadelphia area to perform, he was very outgoing in saying that if there are more white people than black people at his concert, and then he would not perform. He also has a bias towards the black music of hip-hop and R&B because he is black, and he is an artist of that genre. That is why his comments of Beyonce having a better video is racist because Kanye has a reputation of being an outgoing racist, and he thinks the black artist Beyonce got shafted by the white girl, Taylor Swift. Beyonce did do her best however to salvage the situation by letting Taylor speak during her acceptance speech.
The episode of South Park where Kanye West is ripped apart in summarizes the attitude of Kanye perfectly. He does not get it. He cannot accept that he is really not that sweet and is not the god he thinks he is. In the episode, there is a joke that spreads around the whole country and every in the country thinks its funny except for Kanye who does not understand the joke. He takes it way to personally. After the episode aired, Kanye said that he would cut back on the in your face act of him being better than everyone and thought it was funny. In the end though, he still clearly does not get it, and naturally Comedy Central and South Park aired the episode repeatedly that week.
About the Harry Allen Twitter guy, I somewhat agree with what he said, but not how he went about it. Using the n-word is unacceptable, (even if there is a huge double standard), but I do think there is an underbelly of white racists that are not really racist. It is more about the double standards that are everywhere, and how white people are blamed for everything. So when a black man is a moron, there are not many people to call him out on it do to fear. The excessive vulgar Tweets though should not happen. Besides Twitter is the world’s dumbest website and it is used by older people who think they are being cool. No one who is young and relevant uses Twitter.
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As I sat down to watch the Video Music Awards I really wasn’t planning on giving the award show my undivided attention. But things quickly changed as Kanye West really heated up the audience. I remember looking up at the TV after they mentioned Taylor Swift had won. I mean not that I am a huge fan of hers, but I wasn’t really surprised she had won after all of her hit songs this year. Jut as I was ready to look down I heard Kanye report to the stage. I immediately looked up since it’s not so common to see Taylor Swift and Kanye together on the same stage, but I don’t think anyone would have anticipated his public humiliation during Taylor’s acceptance speech.
Seriously, what the hell was Kanye thinking? We all knew he was an ignorant man but this was absolutely out of line. His actions were in no way justified and I feel absolutely terrible for Taylor whom did not receive the respect she deserved. Kanye’s actions were childish and in reality he should feel more embarrassed then Taylor did when he publicly humiliated her.
However, with this said I really feel like this was not a race issue. Sure Kanye’s actions were absolutely ridiculous, but what was even more ridiculous were those bloggers. Literally ten seconds after it happened I remember going on facebook and everyone had something to say about the issue, thousands of people had already uploaded the video to youtube, and it was instantly news all around the world. Even as a white woman, I find the “n-word” to be completely disgusting. It is such a horrible word and is truly degrading. First of all Kanye is ONE black man. He does not represent the whole race. His mistake should not be blamed on all of the African Americans. I find this very similar to how many blame all Arabs for the attacks on 9/11 when it was truly just a small group. Second I mean given what we already know about Kanye was anyone honestly surprised that he would pull something like this?
Why are we dwelling on his mistake and not focusing on the amazing thing Beyonce had done. She is an African American woman and new how obscene Kanyes actions were. She did one of the classiest things I had ever seen on television but yet we still are looking at Kanyes mistake. I guess the society we live in gets more of a thrill out of harm because this poor media should have been replaced by Beyonces class. It’s clear that we all don’t understand what the hell he was thinking, but what is clear to me was that this was not a racial issue. Our society needs to step back and see this situation for what it was, and that is not a black versus white, but rather a grown man acting like a complete child.
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The “Real Haters”? Or Old School Critique?
I found this blog, that mr. Richards posted, which was written by Harry Allen, to be a subject that truly raises a very interesting topic and is something that really has to be discussed with regards to our studies on racial ethics. That topic has to do with both, the use and the meaning of the word “nigger”. Now in the context of his blog, we see the word being thrown around about as recklessly and violently as we ever had, in reference to Kanye West’s “interruption” in the MTV Video Music Awards, via the trendy new mediums of Facebook and Twitter. Basically, there are three important components to this particular issue, and other related issues of this racial intolerance. The components include the actual event that happened, the medium of this racial critiques review of what happened, and the word being used.
As we are all well aware after about two weeks of continuous conversation about Kanye West, the global hip-hop icon surprised viewers all around the world when he interrupted the speech of the young country star, Taylor Swift, to insert his opinion about who he believed deserved the award. Now clearly this was an incredible rude and selfish act, one that no mother would even tolerate coming from their toddler, but it was also an act that creates an instant uproar with regards to the racial connotation the interruption held. (For those who do not know, Kanye suggested that it was the black female who deserved the award while it was the white artist that actually won the award). All throughout the country, the rant by Kanye West almost instantly hit the sensibility chords that aroused an awareness of a Racist remark being heard all throughout the country… Kanye West had actually said a few years prior at the Grammy’s the “George Bush hates black people.” Whether he liked it or not, he opened a whole can of worms with people ranging all the way from completely tolerate to violently racist. It’s hard to defend Kanye West in saying that he is actually not a violent racist.
Now on the other hand, while many people were happy to discuss this topic honestly and reasonably, Harry Allen notes that there were quite a few that used mediums such as Twitter to discuss is hatefully and cowardly. Within minutes, Allen notes, the entire world wide web was scoured with absolutely racist and hateful remarks, not only about Kanye West, but also about black people in general. This is a phenomenon that is bound to occur whenever the entire general public is in great dislike of a specific person of a certain race, especially with regards to a racial remark. The racist cowards in this world saw an opportunity to “bust their load” and say everything they could possible say about black people and took full advantage.
One blog I found interesting, has to do with the use of the word all these racists were using. I found it equally insensitive to the black Americans who have every right to shudder at the word, but one girl denotes the world “nigger” as a black thing. She says, “oh. By the way, you don’t have to be black to be a nigger. It is just a coincidence with Kanye.” Now what does this mean? I don’t know. I already wrote 568 words. I’ll skip the explanation and just state my opinion, being; I understand what this girl means, but it doesn’t make the word nigger ANY less racist and it is something that has terrorized and ripped apart black Americans for centuries. Its completely racist. But there is a little truth to that remark.
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At the 2009 Video Music Awards, Kanye West only cemented the idea into most peoples’ heads that he has an ego much too large for his celebrity. Kanye West is a good rapper, even great. However, his outburst declaring that Beyonce’s video was slighted and was “one of the best videos of all time” is a statement that, while maybe true, was not his to make. Sure, he has an opinion, but during the winning artist’s speech is not the time to share those opinions with the general public. I love Beyonce and I love Taylor Swift. If asked, I would probably say that I am a larger fan of Beyonce, however I thought Taylor Swift’s video for “You Belong With Me” was more enjoyable than “Single Ladies”. It didn’t spurn a dance craze or numerous SNL skits, but it has been one of the few times I actually wanted to watch a video. While I agree with the idea that Kanye West is an idiot for what he did and that Taylor Swift should not have that memory as the memory for her first Video Music Award, the Tweets and Facebook status updates on that blog are horrible. It makes us seem just as bad as Kanye West. Really, Kanye’s action is what pissed most people off. He told Taylor he was happy for her and said something nice to Beyonce about her video. The time and place was completely wrong, but the sentiment was one of Kanye’s better sentiments overall. The awed reaction by America is the reaction that should have happened, not the racist comments that were splattered across Twitter and Facebook. If Kanye West is bad, how does the rest of the population look by responding that way? I do not support either side’s actions in this case. What West did was very wrong, and I believe he should receive some crap for it. However, the slack he receives should not be in racist, degrading comments. I prefer President Obama’s tactic by just calling the rapper a “jackass”. The idea that the President feels that what Kanye did was wrong was translated through this comment. Also, it probably made West feel even worse because the President of the entire country, the candidate that Kanye was so openly supporting, said it. The President did not need to inflict racial slurs and comments in order to get across his feelings. We do not need to either. I feel bad for Taylor, I love Beyonce even more for being so gracious and handling the situation in the way she did, and it really makes me dislike Kanye West more, but not to the point that I need to say half of those things on the world-wide internet.
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As I watched the Video Music Awards that night with my roommates we were all so excited that Taylor Swift won best female video of the year! We all loved Beyonce’s video too, but we all expected it to win the overall best video of the year… which it did. The case is the same with all award shows, some people win that you think deserve it and then other decisions you think “how did they win?!” If I was in attendance at an event like the VMAs, and my favorite artist was beat by another for an award, I would be disappointed and mutter to my friends next to me. Never ever would I think that it was right to stand up at my seat and yell it to the whole venue. But never ever EVER would I think that a celebrity music star would jump up on a stage and announce his disapproval to the entire audience both present and watching around the country. Well, the unthinkable happened. And of course, it was Kanye West the loud-mouthed, disrespectful, rapper who thinks that the world needs to hear is opinion on everything. Whether its politics, and bashing George Bush making ridiculous comments that aren’t true, or simply jumping on stage to express that he disagrees with the award recipient he always has to be doing something to draw attention to himself. So what if he was drunk? That might have contributed to his actions, but it is certainly not an excuse. Who the hell cares if he thought someone else should have won? Oh really, you thought Beyonce had the best video of the year? Cool. Great. Oh guess what, she did get the recognition she deserved by winning the most prestigious award at the end of the night. I bet you feel like an asshole now, don’t you? Taylor was a good sport about it and everyone’s heart went out to her as she was publicly humiliated in that way. The whole thing was ridiculous and never should have happened. And I can totally understand the backlash that followed. But I do not understand why everyone had to turn it into a racism issue. Twitter is not the place I would go to read well thought out, grammatically and politically correct statements of fact. It’s a trendy social blog that won’t be around a year from now. Why that man Harry feels the need to draw attention to comments makes me think that he’s the insecure one that has problems with race. He should stop wasting his time reading through thousands of twitter posts and pointing public attention to them. The people who wrote those comments were angry and said things they shouldn’t have written online. Perhaps they should have chosen better words to describe him, but sometimes when people aren’t intelligent or articulate they say dumb things. End of story.
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After reading the article entitled, “The Real Haters or Old School Critique?” it made me wonder what would go through someone’s head to say that about another person. Especially when you’re a huge star and role model to many people like Kanye West and to do this on national television is ridiculous. After reading Henry Allens blog, I believe people were just being rude and acting in the moment after watching what happened. I believe since he was drunk he would have done that to anyone who won besides Beyonce, and probably would have still said something if she did win. The bad thing was it just happened to be a blonde hair, blue eyed, white girl who everyone likes that he interrupted and embarrassed. I think he just liked Beyonce a great deal more and did not know what he was doing because he was so intoxicated. I don’t know why you would go intoxicated to one of the biggest shows for the music industry which is being aired on live television in front of millions of people. However, he did what he did and now people have to get over it. He was drunk, said something stupid and apologized for his actions. Moments after it streamed live through the Television, everyone was twittering back and forth lashing out at Kanye, most of which calling him a “dumb nigger”. People had no reason to say this, but in my opinion I think its better they did. As we recently heard in class the more you say a word the more it just blends in with society. Like “Red Neck” for example, back in the day people took offense to someone calling another person a redneck. Now comedies like Jeff Foxworthy make a living off of jokingly calling people rednecks and its okay nobody cares anymore. I believe that if people keep using the n-word more often it will just become one more common word in our vernacular. The world will always be racist, no matter what things we do to try and stop it there will be one person or group that will feel differently about it. However that’s also one of the good things about living in a democracy and having the right to freedom of speech. In some countries saying offensive words about people can lead to prison or even death. People take that right for granted and say things they shouldn’t be saying. There is racism all around us and people have to get over the fact that the world revolves around them. We are becoming a globalized world and more and more cultures are coming together to help each other survive in the troubled and corrupt world of day.
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I’m really shocked at all the white people who can call Kanye West the n-word. How could you post that on Twitter or Facebook? I’m not saying that what Kanye did was right because what Kanye did was a dick move. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but not everyone’s opinion should be publicized. By this, I mean that certain remarks should not be publicly announced. Kanye had no right to say that on stage but calling Kanye the n-word is just as bad. I grew up never hearing the word until I was about 15 years old. Somehow a conversation was brought up in the car on the way back from grocery shopping about how some guy called a black person the n-word on the radio. I didn’t know what the word even meant. My parents just told me and my sister never to use that word. So in my mind, I don’t find it ever acceptable to use that word. I have never used it, nor do I plan on using it. I get that everyone is brought up differently, but it’s ridiculous that someone would say that, especially on Twitter or Facebook. I think that people should feel sympathy for Taylor Swift. That’s about the extent I think anyone should think of the situation. You can maybe even think it was a really stupid thing for Kanye to do, but name calling in such a manner is ludicrous. So I can certainly see where Harry Allen is coming from. Yet after reading his article, I can’t completely agree with everything he says. You already know I agree with him about white people having no right to call someone such a word, but he makes ridiculous commands. You can’t “clear a path for black people” just because you are against racism. Sure, if you claim to be against racism, you shouldn’t stand back and let it happen. But not every situation calls for that. Sometimes you aren’t in a position to do so. The best thing someone can do is educate the ignorant. But a person can’t expect someone to change in a day either. Sometimes, people won’t change at all no matter how hard a person tries. And to this, I also will provide a rebuttal to my own statements. I also see that Harry Allen is using persuasive techniques to get people to try to make a difference and to see their “wrongs,” or at least their wrong in calling Kanye West the n-word. Let me also close by saying this. What Kanye did was really stupid and it is natural to feel bad for Taylor Swift. But people need to get a life. If you don’t like Kanye West, don’t watch things he is in or listen to what he says. Don’t complain about how stupid he is. Also, let it go that he did something stupid. Everyone makes stupid mistakes because we are all human. Kanye is just an outspoken person and you can’t take everything to heart. And the statement was meant to compliment Beyonce, not to insult Taylor Swift. At least that’s how I took it.
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So this post is in response to the whole Kanye issue at the VMAs. I see it this way, Kanye was completely in the wrong for getting up on the stage and blowing Taylor Swift’s moment like that. The truth of the matter is that he had every right in the world to think that Beyonce should have gotten the award, but he had NO right to get on stage and publicly announce it in such a negative way. I’m 110% sure that there are millions of people out there that agree with what he said, but no one agrees with what he did. For him to get up on stage and interrupt her award receiving moment was completely and utterly disrespectful, but it was in no way racist. But now there is a bigger problem at hand. The fact that so many white people got on twitter and responded to the incident with such blatent racism and malice was simply unreal. Granted, I know there are a lot of racist people still out there, but even people who you would never think to be racist decided to use the word nigger so openly on twitter. Quite frankly, this is disgusting, and it’s horrible to realize that people can be so down right cold hearted and evil. The truth of the matter is, a lot of those people who tweeted about the incident, calling Kanye a nigger, actually agreed with what he said, just not how he went about doing so. This leads me to believe that white people across the country simply used this as grounds to finally say some of the racist things that they have had going through their minds. What Kanye did does not and should not reflect his race in any way, shape or form. I feel as though if it were a black person winning the award and a white artist would have stood up and said something similar to what Kanye said, it wouldn’t be such a big issue as it is now. People would have just been shocked, it would have received some media coverage, and then it would have been over. But I can almost gaurantee that you wouldn’t have seen the amount of racist comments on twitter coming from the black population that have surfaced from the upset white community. I will agree to the fact that black people would have been upset and responded negatively, but it wouldn’t have been a race issue like it is now. And it’s hilarious to me how so many white people believe that black people are constantly relating things back to their race, saying that a lot of things wouldn’t have happened if they weren’t black, but in essence aren’t all of these upset white people doing the same thing. Immediately jumping to the conclusion that this problem was one of racism and not simply just a dumb way to make a comment about one’s opinion.
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First of all, as I sit here and defend Kanye West, I do not want it to be thought that I think what he did was at all ok. I felt terrible for Taylor Swift at that moment in time. Although I do agree with Kanye West, which id odd because I do not ever listen to him but I listen to Taylor all the time. I do not know why all of the sudden people are lashing out in this racist way towards Kanye West. Surely over half the people that said the things they said were once his fan enjoying his raps, probably just the day before or even on the way to the awards. People probably do not know of any other way to say bad things about an obviously famous person that a lot of people like other than to say things about him being black. That’s pretty much the only thing a person can say about him to say something bad. I think it’s stupid to bring his race into this because I don’t really think it has anything to do with it. I also do not think that he likes Beyonce’s video better because she is black (or whatever race she is). I agree with Kanye that Beyonce’s video was better. Taylor Swift’s video was more like a cute love movie or something along those lines. Maybe she made it up or maybe she did not, I have no idea. I can see why Kanye West would be upset about this. Beyonce’s video required a lot of skill and I’m sure she put in a lot of hours learning that dance, a lot of sweat and hard work. While Taylor Swift just sat there looking like a dork in her video doing nothing in particular. It may seem that I am bashing on Taylor here but I am not, like I said I would rather listen to You Belong With Me before Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It). Taylor’s video hardly required the work of an artist; I could have been her in that video. I think Kanye West, being an artist himself just realized what I said and he just had to say something about it. I think that was wrong and I do think he should have just kept it to himself because I’m sure tons of others thought the same thing and you did not see them up there ruining someone else’s moment. I do think what he did was wrong, but people acting the way there are is just as bad.
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To start off, Twitter is stupid in the first place and people should find better things to do with their spare time then updating their status every second on their Twitter account. But that’s the least of our worries. The public insult of Taylor Swift was humiliating and I’m sure very hurtful for her, it was just completely unnecessary. She is young and handled herself well after the situation occurred when Beyonce invited her back on stage. If I would have been in her shoes I probably would have broke down on stage directly after his comment.
“Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all-time. One of the best videos of all-time!“ The words spoken by Kanye West on Taylor Swift’s winning at the MTV Video Music Awards. As for people claiming that this act was done out of racism, I completely disagree. Beyonce is well respected woman and very influential on others and I feel this is why Kanye did what he did. He felt that Beyonce earned the award and should have received it over Taylor Swift. The fact that Taylor is a country music star and young may have played a part as well. If it was any other white woman, such as Pink or someone, I do not think that he would have ever done this because they are older and he has more respect for them as artists.
After reading the blog entries on Harry Allen’s page, all I can say is wow. I agree that these comments should definitely go into the WTF Are They Thinking?? folder. By all means they are more than likely written by young, not so educated teenagers whose words are outrageous and offensive. I thought that what he did was wrong and unacceptable. Words from one of the blogs, “I’m gonna shove a moonman up Kanye’s ass. He’s clearly racist against white people so I’m gonna be racist back. HE’S A NIGGERNIGGERNIGGER!!!” I guess this person feels that two wrongs make a right in this case. This person stooped just as low as Kanye’s negative comment to Taylor by wanting to be racist just because they felt that Kanye only made his comment because he is racist against white people. I could not even imagine what would have happened if a white person interrupted a black person’s award.
I have always been a huge fan of Beyonce and decided that I liked her even more after she had Taylor come back on stage and give her speech when Beyonce was supposed to be giving hers. They both won an award, I feel that Kanye should have just waited and kept his comment to himself.
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When I watched the Kanye West vs. Taylor Swift videos on YouTube, I was dumfounded. A young twenty-year old girl was accepting an award, representing her achievement as a country artist at the Video Music Award’s on live television. Suddenly, Kanye West jumped on stage, snatched the microphone from her, and announced on live television that Beyonce’s video was the best of all time. Beyonce, an idolized celebrity who has performed in several movies, left Destiny’s Child to thrive in a solo career, generated hit single after hit single, and married Jay-Z, was nominated for 9 VMA’s that night. It is pure insanity for him to have done such a stupid, stupid thing. To me, it doesn’t make any sense.
I have heard people look at this act as a “racist” act against white people. I see twitter posts making racist comments towards West. Not once did I ever conceive Kanye’s action as a racist act. I simply saw a foolish, ego-driven lunatic snatch a microphone from a young innocent girl accepting her first, ever, VMA award. “Who does this man think he is,” I thought. “What an asshole.” Never did I perceive this as a racist act. Why are other white people stooping even lower by responding with racist remarks? I, personally, do not know Kanye. I’d like to think that his action was just a foolish stunt he pulled and not at all racist. However, perhaps Kanye is racist and targeted her because she is white. I don’t know. Either way, responding so openly (having your name tagged to the actual quote) while using racist words is even worse. The kid looks like an ignorant, closed-minded moron given too much power by having the ability to deliver his thoughts out to the world of cyber space.
I hope that other people are not like Harry Allen, and don’t believe there is an underbelly of whiteness. I consider myself white. I don’t produce such thoughts. I didn’t comprehend Kanye’s action as a racist act. I simply thought it was a stupid act. I don’t understand why somebody always has to bring up the race card. Whether it be black or white, people just love to have a race parade even if the incident was not intended to be racist. Disputes happen all the time between people. People do stupid things all the time to other people. It is unfortunate that if an incident occurs between a white person and a black person, the race card is always thrown out. Racist acts do still occur all the time. But honestly, it is the American 21st century. All people are supposed to be equal. People do all different things to other people. Why is it that when its between a black person and a white person, the race card must always be brought to the table.
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When I was watching the VMA’s and saw Kanye run up on stage and say that I was literally shocked. I am a huge Beyonce fan but also think Taylor Shift is a great artist. My first reaction to Kanye’s outburst was, “OMG did he really just run up stage and say that!” Honestly I agree with him when he said that Beyonce should have one that award, however Beyonce has won that award in the past and eventually later in the show she won the best video of the year award. Kanye claimed to be drunk at the awards but that gives him no excuse to act so immature and take away Taylor’s spotlight. I definitely think that Kanye feels bad about what he did and regrets it dearly. I am sure if he could take it back and just sit in his seat listening to his own thoughts, he would rather be in that situation. I don’t agree with all those twitter blogs and the n-word being thrown into all of them. It is funny that all these people are freely speaking their mind and dropping the n-word on twitter when in reality they would never have the guts or will to say it in person, especially to a black man or woman. I am white and don’t hate Kanye for what he said. I don’t agree with his actions and think it was very juvenile, but I would never even think to go and blog about it and call him obscene names. Do people just feel better about themselves by going on twitter and facebook and ranting about Kanye? Maybe these people just want to fit in with what everyone else is saying and see that other blogs have the n-word and feel that it is okay to say. I think the whole situation is dumb and that there are other, more important things to stress and worry about. Yes, Kanye ‘s comment isn’t letting us progress to a society of no racism, but by people reacting with the n-word surely isn’t either. Harry Allen’s comment doesn’t compare to the comment Kanye said at the VMAS. If I have this right, Kanye exclaimed that Beyonce should have won that award because she was amazing in it. What he said was rude without question, but he did not comment on white people or even say anything close to being racist. I cant say that Kanye is or isn’t racist against white people but I feel in the black community, their society likes to have ones back. Kanye might just really like Beyonce and respects the music she produces. All in all I feel that what Kanye said was distasteful and shocking but it doesn’t deserve the insulting blogs that include the n-word. What was said in lecture is accurate; if we overuse the n-word then it wont seem like such a big deal when said. However, I do believe its always going to seem like an immense issue when someone from the white culture says that word in a hateful manner.
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I think what Harry Allen is trying to say is completely ridiculous. Kanye West went up on stage during the VMA’s and made a complete ass out of himself for no reason besides the fact that he wanted to. I don’t think it had anything to do with racism. He may have been drunk or he may still be mourning for his mother who passed away two years ago. He went on the Jay Leno Show on Monday night and said the reason for his outburst was that he is still mourning his mother’s death. To be perfectly honest, I feel that Kanye would still have said that Beyonce’s video was better sober and in a perfectly calm state. Kanye is someone who will speak his mind no matter what and in front of whomever. Let’s not forget this is the same guy who went on national television and said that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” Don’t get me wrong, I think Kanye is a great music artist and performer but sometimes he says and does things that don’t always make me proud to say that I am a Kanye fan. I mean he is just a normal person and the fact that we put them on pedal stools and expect them to be perfect is wrong.
Kanye West did not mean to be a racist when he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech. Harry Allen is trying to say that Kanye was being a racist and that shows that he is an idiot and is just trying to make a big deal out of nothing. That also goes for all the people who posted blogs expressing similar thoughts. They all forgot that Kanye is a loud mouth who doesn’t care about anything and will always say what he wants. I think it is wrong for people to group all black people with Kanye in this instance also. Beyonce who is also black was the one who brought up Taylor Swift again to give her the chance to finish her acceptance speech that Kanye interrupted. I believe that Wale was defending Kanye because he is his friend and that Kanye may have also been drunk because he arrived with a bottle of liquor in hand to the awards show.
Basically, what I am trying to say is that Kanye is one of the cockiest artists and people we have seen in a while and that his “performance” at the VMA’s should not be that surprising. Anyone who take it the wrong way and say his actions were based on racism are incorrect and it’s absurd to think otherwise. I do not in any way defend his actions and think that what he did was completely wrong and incredibly rude to Taylor Swift. He always likes to make a scene, and well that is what he did.
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I’ll start out talking about the whole thing with the VMA’s and Kanye West. I’ve always disliked Kanye and his attitude towards everything. He is a very cocky man with only his best interests in mind. I thought it was extremely thoughtless and selfish for him to go up and ruin Taylor Swift’s moment. This was her first awards show and first award and he absolutely ruined it for her. Her face was just so blank when he was up there stealing the mic from her. She was utterly speechless and obviously hurt when he said Beyonce was better. I do agree that Beyonce is an extremely talented lady, but it wasn’t necessary for him to share his point of view in front of everyone at home and at the award show. It’s okay to have an opinion and share it, but the way he did was so wrong and disgusting. I thought Beyonce was extremely classy to let Taylor come up and finish her speech during her acceptance. It was a modest gesture and made Beyonce look almost motherly and honorable.
As for this Harry Allen and his rants about Kanye, I feel that he is justified to have an opinion and want to share it, but being as racist as the comment is, why would he want to blow that up and post it publicly? I honestly hate Twitter; I think it’s annoying and no one really wants to know what your thinking 24/7. It’s a site that is pointless and serves no purpose but to address stupid stuff publicly and for us to debate about the racist rants on this website. I really do believe in freedom of speech, but up to this degree is really intense. When it’s addressed extremely publicly with no regrets or remorse, it’s a big deal and stirs a lot of controversy as well as hate. I don’t think Kanye did that to be racist or to even appear racist in the slightest degree. I just believe that he really thought Beyonce should have won but was just too drunk and made a mistake of stealing Taylor Swifts spotlight. But this man on Twitter is obviously a racist and doesn’t care who sees or knows. It’s quite disturbing; it scares me to think just how racist people really are in this world and aren’t afraid to display it.
Harry Allen using the n-word on the Internet on his Twitter is uncalled for and unnecessary. It is one of the most derogatory words to African Americans and Blacks and to just whip it out like that is just wrong. Threatening to kill him is also an extremity that is uncalled for excessive to his point. Yes, what Kanye did was wrong, but it doesn’t that bad for him to be called the n-word and out to be killed.
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While watching the VMA’s just over a week ago, I was expecting music, dancing and overall entertainment from some of my favorite celebrities. What I never expected was Kanye West rudely interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech and all of the chaos that ensued afterwards. My instant reaction to the whole ordeal was shock and disgust at Kanye’s actions and also a loss of respect for him. I just couldn’t believe that he ruined Taylor’s first ever VMA award acceptance experience. Seconds later my friends and I went on facebook to discover an endless amount of status updates commenting on Kanye’s actions. Of the hundred or so statuses there were possibly two or three that agreed with Kanye based solely on the fact that the people who wrote them disliked Taylor Swift. The remaining posts all commented on the rudeness of Kanye’s actions and more often than not included some sort of derogatory remark towards him which I had been expecting. However, what caught me completely off guard was the appearance of such a large quantity of blatantly racist comments, many of which included the “n word”. The fact that people associated what Kanye did with the color of his skin is not only insanely racist, but it is also just nonsensical and unnecessary. If you disagree with Kanye’s actions that is all good and well because he should not have interrupted and embarrassed Taylor Swift the way he did. However, basing his rude actions solely on his race, and thus insulting all members of said race in doing so, is totally unacceptable. It’s over a week later and I still can’t even believe the intensely racist attitude towards the whole situation. I will be the first to agree that what Kanye did was wrong, and that the apology that he posted on his blog was less than sufficient. However, his disrespectful actions at the VMA’s have nothing to do with the color of his skin and I would assume that black people would find such a racist attitude, that has become so widely spread, highly insulting. Many people believe that it was Kanye himself who was being racist in highlighting the brilliance of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” video and they use the excuse of Kanye favoring Beyonce’s video because she is black like him to validate their obviously preexisting dislike for the celebrity through racial slurs against him and his actions. I was unpleasantly surprised by the horrible comments that I read in the blog but what I found really disturbing was the comment from a man’s twitter that said “Kanye’s a stupid racist Nigger somebody pop a cap in his ass please!” I couldn’t believe that people got so intensely upset over the whole scenario and furthermore that they had resorted to hurling racist remarks and even dared to suggest that Kanye should be killed for what he did. Correct me if I’m wrong but Taylor Swift is probably over the whole ordeal by now, or if not she will be fairly soon. It is obvious that she was embarrassed by what Kanye did but I highly doubt that she wants him dead for it. Drama comes with the fame package and celebrities all knowingly accept that they, just like any average person, will have good days and bad days. Kanye messed up and he knows it, there’s no doubt about that, but it’s the people who took such drastic opinions on the situation that should be ashamed as they took everyday celebrity drama and turned it into an opportunity to try and validate their own racist attitudes .
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After reading the blog about what happened at the VMA’s, I can see both sides to the argument. I witnessed what happened between Kanye West and Taylor Swift that night and I can personally say I was shocked at what came out of Kanye’s mouth. I didn’t know if it was a planned prank like last year with Eminem or if it was real? I understand where Kanye is coming from because Beyoncé did make an amazing video, but to go on stage and purposely ruin another singer’s moment is just rude. I wouldn’t have expected any less from Kanye however since he has pulled these types of antics before at the VMA’s. A couple of years ago whenever he didn’t win any awards, he went up on stage and tried to take a trophy from another artist. Could he act anymore like a selfish brat? He is only running his own reputation if he keeps acting like this. Some people are saying that this is just another reason for white people to bash black people and are being called racist. I personally would feel the same way if a white person got on stage and said those things to another person. It has nothing to do with race or skin color. It has to do with some lame, less than average rapper that thinks it is okay to run his mouth and hurt someone’s feelings. I don’t think Kanye would appreciate it if someone did that to him on stage when he would be accepting an award. From the other side of the argument isn’t pretty either. Some of the tweets about the situation are a bit extreme and no one should ever be called some of those names and people need to know that it is not okay. Everyone can make their own opinion on the situation and think of him however they want to, but putting it out for the whole world to see is very unnecessary. He was wrong for the way he dealt with the situation, but no one has the right to call someone those names and say certain things.
What I don’t get is previously in the week Serena Williams had a very public fight with a lines judge in the semifinals at the U.S. Open. Although it was all over Sport Center and newspapers, no one really thought anything of it. Many people believed that although her actions may have been over the top, in the certain circumstances, they were somewhat justified. It was in a very critical point in the match and every point counted so for someone to make a “bad” call she couldn’t contain herself. What bothers me is although both of these celebrities were wrong in their actions, why was the apology more accepted coming from an athlete and not from a rapper? And although both apologized to the other party, are they sincere in their apologies or it just to get the public off their backs?
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It is pretty clear that Kanye West made an ass out of himself at the VMA’s. He interrupted Taylor Swift while she was giving a speech for her first award! This was not a planned prank that was funny. What he did was horrible and unforgivable. Not only did he ruin the moment for Taylor Swift, but he embarrassed her on national television. This is not the first time he has done something like this, and I am sure this is not the last time he will make himself look like a jack ass. The problem with Kanye West is he said a lot of controversial things in the media and has an ego that can fill up the Grand Canyon. It is even possible that he is a racist, which many think due to what he said about Geroge Bush. In addition, the latest incident with Taylor Swift has shown the world his true colors. By interrupting Taylor Swift while accepting an award and telling the world that Beyonce should be on stage, not Taylor, he showed everyone that he is one of the rudest, inappropriate people of our generation. Even though all of this is true, this does not give people like Henry Allen the right to blog and “twitter” about Kanye the way he has been doing.
It is possible race had something to do with the award because Taylor is white and Beyonce is black, but I do not really think so. In my opinion, it was a combination of being friends with Beyonce, disagreeing with the fans’ choice, and the fact that he is Kanye. However, Kanye did not make his rant about race; he just voiced his opinion that resulted in a lot of backlash towards him.
In my opinion, what Henry Allen is doing is much worse than what Kanye is doing. I can understand a I hate Kanye page, but when you have a bunch of people blogging racist things about Kanye, calling him derogatory names, and dropping the N bomb, you really cross the line. No white person should ever say the N word ever! Furthermore, you bash Kanye and say all this bad stuff about him, but then you call him the N word? By doing this, these people are not only hypocrites, but racist. The only thing being accomplished by blogging about Kanye is just making you and your entire race look bad.
Unfortunately race is always an issue in our society and it seems like every week there is something happening that unleashes another wave of racism in our country. First it was the Gates incident, and now this. If people want to bash Kanye and make fun of them until they run out of ideas, that is fine, but leave the racism out and keep it to yourself. Kanye was wrong, but everyone becomes racist when they look at him as a black man acting like an idiot instead of just a man acting like an idiot. Race had nothing to do with his actions and he is only 1 black man of millions so cut the racism crap out and just get over it.
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I was waiting for a blog about the Kanye West, Taylor Swift incident. Personally I don’t like Taylor Swift or Kanye West. Kanye is a no talent rapper and Taylor Swift calls herself a “country singer,” but that’s neither here nor there. She was accepting the award for Best Female Video or something and Kanye just grabs the microphone out of her hands and says that Beyonce should have won the award, stating that “Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.” The poor girl couldn’t bask in the glory of her first VMA because Kanye interrupted her. At the time she was probably pretty upset but by now I am sure she is over it, and it is still all over the news and blog websites and the incident happened a few weeks ago. I could have seen all of these comments coming. People just get really upset by these sorts of things and they say some hateful things. The racist comments were uncalled for. To comment on another post; a comment said that someone should pop a cap in Kanye’s ass. Now if you think that the man should be killed for this you should be committed to an institution. It was extremely rude and ignorant but in no way shape or form did he do anything that he should be killed for.
People also post these racist comments as if it’s going to stop people from acting the way that they do. Just because you call someone a derogatory name doesn’t mean that they are going to act any different. They will keep acting the same way because they know that it pisses people off. I totally agree with the blog when it says that these racist tweets belong in the WTF Are They Thinking Folder. I also agree that these people seem to be way too comfortable with using the N bomb. Comedians like Chris Rock and Kat Williams use it in their act because they can, it makes their act funnier if they use it in a certain way and it is acceptable for them to use it. Some people of color do not approve of the word because it was used for hundreds of years to insult slaves. I personally feel the same way. It was used to insult slaves and it is derogatory to call one of your friends a “nigga.” It doesn’t look or sound good. So to sum this up, what Kanye West did to Taylor Swift was wrong, but he doesn’t deserve the racial comments made towards him. He didn’t do anything that wrong to warrant a death threat or any other threat for that matter.
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This whole Kanye fiasco really got to me when it first happened, but not in a racist way. I thought like what an asshole, and why would he ever do that, but never did the aspect that he was black come into play. After reading the article posted on the blog, my first reaction was “Okay people are calling Kanye a “nigger” because it is the most offensive way that white people know to offend a black person. And I really think that is what there intentions were, to insult Kanye and no be racist. They had Taylor Swift’s best interest at heart and they wanted to insult him the way he insulted her on public television. Also I do not think that Kanye going on stage and insulting Taylor was because he is racist. I think he truly and honestly believed that Beyonce (probably a good friend of his, since they are in the same genre of music and hang around with similar people) had a better video and deserved to win. I am not saying at all that it was right for him to do that on national television, but I don’t think he went into it with a racist mind set.
Now as I first said, reading the blog I didn’t think people were being racist when insulting kanye, but after reading the second link at the end of the article I changed my mind. The things people were posting on their blogs and twitters were downright racist. The one that stuck out me the most was the one named Womanface who posted “Ugh. There are black people, and there are niggers. I hate niggers. Kanye West is truly a nigger.” How can you say that? As offended as I might be that Kanye disrespected Taylor, I could never call him a Nigger. I think that a nigger is offensive to all black people in a sense, so saying there are black people and than there are niggers is wrong.
Other things that stuck out to me from the blogs were comments like “Kanye’s a stupid racist Nigger somebody pop a cap in his ass please!” I think people contradicted themselves when calling Kanye racist, but than also saying he was a Nigger. You are pissed that Kanye was being racist, but than you are being just as racist back to him by insulting him. I don’t understand why people would be mad about something and address it by doing the same thing. You are just being stupid.
I think this whole situation got out played by the media and just surfaced racism as the problem when it truly wasn’t. Kanye never said anything about Taylor being white or than black people were better, so it doesn’t make sense why people are being racist. People would have the same pissed reaction if a white guy did this instead of Kanye and what would they say than? He is just jealous?
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As most of us know, the VMA’s is a huge night in music and is watched by millions of people. It is a time for viewers to get a chance to see their favorite solo aristis or music groups get awards for outstanding music throughout the year. I believe that in no way what happened between Kanye West and Taylor Swift had anything to do with racism whatsoever and was being completely blown out of proportion. Many of us know that Kanye West is an arrogant person who has no problem speaking his mind and saying what he thinks and that night was no different than any other time he chose to voice his opinion. If you recall, he made comments about George Bush hating black people and jumped at the chance to speak out when he believed he should have won a VMA for one of his videos. I don’t think Kanye West was being racist when he chose to embarrass Taylor Swift after winning her award, and I wonder how people would have reacted if it would have been a white man or woman who acted in the same towards Taylor Swift. I think it would have gotten attention as well but I don’t think people would have reacted the same way. Kanye West and his past reputation also play a major part in it as well.
The comments made by people on Twitter are completely uncalled for and unnecessary. As a Caucasian person, I still would not think about using the “N” word in any way and whether or not people said it out of anger, it still is not necessary. We have made progress towards racism but it is incidents like these that make you wake up and realize that it still is so strong throughout the world and is occurring right in front of us. No white person should ever think that they can freely throw around a word when they really have no idea how it would feel for such a word to be directed to them not to mention they really have no idea where the word even stems from. The way Kanye West acted was wrong however when you put it into perspective, I think he could have done a lot worse. He did also admit that he was suffering from issues concerning the recent death of his mother and he also admitted to being drunk during the awards. Everyone has their own opinion and can choose to believe whatever they want. I don’t think it is an excuse but it might have played a part in it. What occurred at the VMA’s was ridiculous and uncalled for, but the aftermath and people’s comments posted on Twitter and other blogs are definitely worse. It makes you ask yourself who really is wrong in the situation, Kanye West or the people who commented after it happened?
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After reviewing the article entitled, “The “Real Haters” or Old School Critique?,” I am just absolutely shocked at the entire situation. I mean when you look at the situation entirely I find that all of this is very foolish. First off, this is the MTV VMA AWARDS! ENOUGH SAID! Many people only watch the VMA awards because they know something regardless if it is Britney Spears, Lil Kim, or Jennifer Lopez showing up half naked, or drunk and high rappers, and rock stars, or the action that occurs when the cameras are off…the point is the VMA awards has always been a mess and known for it (case in point-just tune in to MTV sometimes and you will see the 20 most outrageous VMA moments which I bet this will be number). That’s first thing first.
Secondly, when it comes to Kanye West’s actions I also do believe they were uncalled for. In the context of him getting on stage interrupting Taylor Swift speech was FOOLISHNESS! Now, from past incidents with Kanye West I honestly believe one of the reasons why he possibility did it was because Kanye West was not awarded any awards this year and probably knew it beforehand therefore he was upset about it and wanted some limelight (like he did at the Grammy’s). Also, Kanye has made comments about how he believes Beyonce is the best artist of our generation (not to mention his boss is her husband). Now please understand I am in no way trying to justify Kanye west’s actions because they were out of line and again imprudent.
Yet, the response about what Kanye did was absolutely out of line as well. Now I can understand if one says that Kanye took advantage of getting on the stage and saying what he said because of the fact that Taylor Swift won rather than someone that is well established within the industry (since she is a new artist in the industry), but to go as far as to call him racist was invalid to me. Also, for people to go beyond that point and call him a “nigger” and say thing like he needs to be killed is pathetic. I agree with Sam I think it just shows the true colors of the people who posted the Facebook messages and twitter comments and it just goes to show that American still has to work to do about ending racism within America. I mean even when you scroll and look at the people who posted them were young adults…the future leaders of tomorrow and by the looks of it the cycle of open and silent racism continues. When we will stop looking at people’s faults, issues, and problems and get in front of a mirror and change the image that is front of you?
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After reading Sam’s blog “The ‘Real Hater’ or Old School Critique, I was not surprised to discover the hatred that the public displayed towards Kanye West. After watching the VMAs, I was also shocked and annoyed with Kanye West’s actions. However, after reading Harry Allen’s blog, I was even more surprised at the reactions by people on Twitter. Even though, I did not agree with Kanye West’s actions, I do not condone the use of racial slurs and the requesting of murder. Racism is a dormant feature in most of us, and it remains hidden until a group of individuals decide to show their true colors. Most of these individuals would never characterize themselves as a racist; however, they will take certain opportunities to attack a person’s character based on his race. If that is not racism, I do not know what is.
In the constantly changing world of entertainment, I could not believe that about six months ago Kanye West was on top of the music industry; however, in one moment he fell into a bottomless pit of scrutiny. What disturbed me the most was that rather than attacking his character and his actions, people began attacking his race with the use of derogatory terms. After reading Harry Allen’s blog, I was disturbed to discover that every Twitter post displayed by Harry Allen defamed Kanye West as a “dumb nigger”. Several posts go beyond the issue of calling a black man a nigger and request that Kanye West should be murdered and lynched. For example, I was disturbed to read a post by Amber Adamson, which said, “Kanye is a backwoods nigger who needs to be lynched by the KKK”.
Being a long-time Kanye West fan, I overlooked many of his questionable actions through his past such as his anti-George Bush rant on the Hurricane Katrina Special, and considering himself the true King of Pop after the death of Michael Jackson. Compared to these instances, his actions during the VMAs were minor and insignificant; however, I was annoyed with Kanye West because of his character, not his race. I was shocked to believe that a grown man would go out of his way to embarrass himself and a teenager on national television. I did not understand how his actions stirred such an issue of race, or I guess I am naïve to think that our country does not struggle with the issue of racism. What if rather than Kanye West, Justin Timberlake interrupted Taylor Swift? Would we still of had such a big problem, and would we be posting racial white slurs on Twitter?
I agree that Kanye West’s actions deserve to be placed into the “WTF were they thinking folder”; however, the Twitter posts by many individuals should not be forgotten.
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Back in the 1960s when the Civil Rights Movement was occurring, it was unheard of and disrespectful to hear a black person referred to as the “N” word. In today’s society and in the media, the word is everywhere! Take, for instance, a slew of rap songs that are on the radio today. I never use the “N” word; it’s not a part of my vocabulary. For a lot of other white teenagers, however, they don’t view it as a big deal. You see black rappers in their songs calling each other that word, and I think a majority of whites automatically think that it’s okay to use the derogatory word because black people use it to refer to one another. I honestly think that might very well be why a large amount of those tweets used the word in such a blatant and blunt manner, with no regard for others’ emotions or perceptions.
Now, onto the topic of Kanye West: That man is a public relations representative’s WORST nightmare. How many times has he generated bad publicity for himself and belittled other people? I know I can remember the “George Bush hates white people” comment. When Kanye came to the Tweeter Center, a concert arena near my house, he said that he “would rather a black man be shot than have twelve white girls attend” his concert. The irony of the situation was that he was touring with Rihanna and almost all of my primarily white high school attended the show.
I think if a white person acted the same exact way, the same response would be generated from the public. I don’t know if I would necessarily call those reactions racism. I know the “N” word was used, but I think people were just speaking out of anger. I also don’t think the fact that Taylor Swift was white had anything to do with the response from the public. I think people were so quick to defend her simply because of her reputation as the good girl next door. It was a completely unwarranted situation and stole away from Taylor’s accomplishments as a young girl in the music industry. Her fan base is also primarily teenage girls; we tend to be the biggest hot-heads in existence.
I agree with the fact that some of those Twitter updates are completely uncalled for and unnecessary. A majority of the people who tweeted about Kanye didn’t need to use the terminology that they used, it was certainly avoidable. But, as I said before, the term is so common in today’s media that maybe they didn’t think they were doing anything wrong.
If you don’t agree with me, and you think white people are on a tear about Kanye West, I’m gonna close with something for you to think about. If the responses from the public in regards to the whole West-Swift debacle are racist, then do you think Barack Obama is racist for calling Kanye “a jackass?” It’s just a thought.
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I think that Kanye West’s actions at the VMAs were completely shocking and uncalled for, as are the racist comments about him on Twitter. I think that Kanye’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech was very rude and inconsiderate. I think that she is a young, talented and kind singer who deserved to have award moment to herself. However, from what I know of this situation, I don’t believe that Kanye West was acting racist in his advocating of Beyonce Knowles’ video during Taylor Swift’s speech. I think that the people who are writing on their Twitter and Facebook pages that he is racist are speaking inaccurately. I believe that this event, in which a black singer interrupted a white country singer in order to advocate another black singer, was simply used as a platform to discuss blacks being “racist.” Rather than discussing the organic facts of the situation, that a singer in his 30s rudely interrupted a 19 year old singer’s first VMA speech, people are focusing on race. By throwing racist comments toward West and calling West a racist for interrupting Swift, these people are, in fact, fueling racist attitudes and racist actions. I don’t believe that racist actions are okay by any means. However, I don’t believe that West’s actions were fueled by race; I think they were fueled by stupidity and a lack of consideration.
The racist comments about West on Twitter are examples of how the internet makes it much easier to bash people, in more than one way. For instance, as Harry Allen points out, people who post this on their Twitter pages may think that they are doing so anonymously, in that they will receive no backlash because it is online. Also, people are inclined to post bolder or inappropriate statements online because they feel someone like West would never be able to reach them. For these reasons, the internet can be a dangerous place that can fuel negative societal actions such as racism and can cause a lot of hurt and disrespect.
I thought that what Allen mentioned about the “secrecy” of racism and white people covering for other white’s racist comments was very interesting. Although I cannot say I am not guilty of not reporting all racist comments that I hear, I think that this secrecy concept is definitely an igniting problem. In a way, ignoring racist comments made by others can be seen as a racist act in itself. Racism will certainly spread at a quicker rate if those who make racist comments are not reprimanded or these racist comments are not questioned.
Overall, I feel that the racial backlash against Kanye West’s actions at the VMAs was greatly uncalled for. The fact that much of this backlash is occurring on the internet highlights the dangers of a world of “anonymous” online interactions. Bringing up the issue of race in this case when it is completely unrelated only fuels the spread of racist attitudes in our country.
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I have never watched the MTV VMA awards. I remember I didn’t even know when they were on TV and I was in my room studying with my roommates. I took a break and signed onto Facebook and my entire newsfeed was filled with comments such as “f*** kanye west” and “I love taylor swift” and “I can’t believe he did that”. None of them were as derogatory as the tweets shown in the post, but they all had strong opinions about the situation. All of my roommates and myself were so confused and had no idea what was going on. Since none of us knew the VMA’s were on, we couldn’t even figure out where this was all coming from. Finally, after some time, and some more explanations via Facebook, we found out what had happened.
My first reaction was confusion that everyone cared so much. Come on, we’re over 20 years old. Why are we caring about what happens on a VIDEO MUSIC AWARD show?! Does anyone personally know Taylor Swift and feels bad for her because she’s a friend? No. That being said, I agree that what Kanye did was completely out of line. Who in their right mind would run up onto a stage and interrupt a person to tell them they are undeserving? Look at it this way – if it wasn’t Kanye, but instead a random person, they would have probably been escorted and arrested. Just because Kanye West is a public figure does not mean he can be exempt from rules. Yes, I know he was asked to leave the awards show but I feel there should have been some other form of “punishment” besides just the public out lash.
Even though I think Kanye was wrong, I have NO REASON to believe that it was out of racism. I think it is just coincidental that Taylor Swift happened to be white, and Kanye and Beyonce happened to be black. Kanye is friends with Beyonce and Tayor Swift happened to win the award instead. I really don’t think he had an intention of being racist. Throughout his career he has been cocky and self-promoting. That doesn’t make him a racist. I mean, I don’t know. He could be. But all I’m saying is that we can’t say he is just from this incident.
I think that all of those racist tweets are completely out of line. I think everyone’s taking a lot of liberties through the Internet since they don’t have to show their face and say those words out loud. However, they are not completely anonymous. Their names are still attached which makes me wonder why they would say things like that. This public outrage is an embarrassment.
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Reading some of these blog entries on Harry Allen’s website makes me a little bit angry to be perfectly honest. I am not black, brown, purple or orange, just an average white person, whatever that means. I have been blessed with many of these privileges that came along with white skin, although I did not really start to notice them until I took this class. The stuff that these kids are saying though is ridiculous. I am sure that many of these people would be appalled if anyone called them racist. Likewise, I am sure that all of these people would not be blurting out these pure racist, ignorant comments without the protection of their computer screens. Let’s face it, if we throw “jusme66” into a predominantly black area and he will have some very politically correct stances on African-American relations with correspondence to Mister Kanye West. Not bad right?
With that being said I am going to go ahead and say fuck Taylor Swift. So many people are really taking this little outrage by Kanye West to heart. I hear so much of “She is only 19, she doesn’t deserve to go through that. She is so talented, how could Kanye do that…” Taylor swift is 19 years old and making millions of dollars singing songs that she probably didn’t write. I think somehow, someway, she just might to be able to get through this heartbreaking experience. If anything I feel bad for Kanye West. He messed up and he knows he messed up but he won’t live this down for a while. That sucks. How many times have we (especially here at Penn State) gotten drunk and done something stupid? I am not saying this is an excuse but everyone makes mistakes. What Kanye did was wrong and he knows it and so does the rest of the country. Imagine making an ass of yourself in front of the whole country. Imagine the president coming out publically and calling you a jackass. You don’t feel even just a little bit bad for Kanye?
I look at this issue as a positive for Taylor Swift’s career. Did you see how cute and innocent she looked when big bad Kanye West ripped the microphone out of her hand? I wanted to go out and buy her CD right there and then. Everyone knows that Kanye West is a dick. This is no secret and honestly he has done much worse in the public eye than embarrass a singer winning a VMA. If it was a Grammy then it would be a different story. I say that sarcastically but I don’t even want to go into how pointless and irrelevant the VMA’s are.
At the time I am sure that what Kanye did was absolutely mortifying for Taylor Swift. I do think it was wrong, rude and ignorant on his part. However, Beyonce let her come up on stage and finish her acceptance speech, Kanye apologized a thousand times and everyone in the country is on her side. I think she’ll be just fine. This year’s VMA’s just helped us all see how sweet America’s sweetheart really is. God bless MTV.
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Unfortunately, I did not watch the VMAs so I did not actually see what happened between Kanye West and Taylor Swift. I did, however, hear detailed accounts of what transpired. When I heard that Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift during her award acceptance speech and said that he thought Beyonce should have won instead, I thought that it was extremely rude of him and I was appalled by his behavior. I also felt badly for Taylor Swift. I can’t even imagine how embarrassed and stunned she must have felt. While there is no doubt that what Kanye did was wrong and childish, I think that he was not trying to put down Taylor Swift. I believe instead that he was mainly trying to recognize Beyonce. Now today, after reading this blog entry about the Twitter messages that various individuals have written, I am completely appalled but this time not by Kanye. This time, I am appalled by the Twitter messages that people have written about Kanye.
The people on Twitter used the word “nigger” several times. I found it completely ridiculous that the same people who were using the word “nigger” were trying to blame Kanye West for being racist. Those people were being racist themselves by bringing up that he was black. Just because Kanye West happens to be a black man, does not mean that he interrupted Taylor Swift because she is white. Maybe Kanye just likes Beyonce’s music better. Kanye’s thoughtless actions also do not mean that all black people would act in the same way that he did. This is obviously not the case because Beyonce is a black person, and she made the kind gesture of bringing Taylor Swift back on stage so that she could have her moment. When I was talking to my boyfriend about the situation with Kanye and Taylor, my boyfriend said that that is just how Kanye West is. He is conceited and overconfident, not racist.
The Twitter comments on Harry Allen’s blog were way worse than Kanye’s rudeness. There is no excuse for using the word “nigger.” If we ever want to get closer to a world without racism, things like these Twitter comments must not occur. The people on Twitter were upset that Kanye offended Taylor Swift, but by writing racist comments on Twitter, those people were doing exactly what Kanye did. They were offending other people as well. The Twitter comments made it sound like the reason Kanye said what he did at the VMAs was because he is a “nigger.” That is totally appalling. It is a shame that there are people in the world today who would have the nerve to say things like that.
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After the VMA’s this year, there was so much uproar and controversy over Kanye West’s interruption during Taylor Swift’s acceptance of her first VMA ever for best video. As Taylor was accepting her award Kanye said that Beyonce’s video was the best insinuating that Taylor did not deserve it. As soon as this happened and I went on facebook and almost immediately my friends and me commented on how many people changed their status to anti-Kanye remarks. Nothing that I saw was racist but everything was against Kanye. I don’t think Kanye West’s actions were racists he obviously thinks very highly of Beyonce but his actions were insensitive and arrogant. People probably are just saying Kayne is racist because he has made anti-white remarks in the past. Kanye has said that former President George W. Bush didn’t care about black people while Bush was raising money for hurricane Katrina victims. He has also made negative comments about bi-racial babies saying that there would be no video girls if it weren’t for them. He also makes plenty of racist’s comments on his blog. In 2008 before he performed in Philadelphia he said he would rather kill black babies than perform for white suburban kids. So the one incident at the VMA’s doesn’t constitute him being a racist but all of his other comments and this one on top I can see why people lashed out the way they did. I support Kanye West as an artist I think he produces and makes good music but as a person I cannot stand by the things he says or does. Whether or not Kanye West is a racist or not doesn’t give Harry Allen a right to be a racist back. In class the other day we talked about using the N-word. I agreed with what Sam had to say in class that if black people use the word among themselves it starts to gradually have less meaning. As someone said in class he didn’t really care if white people used the word because at this point the word has so little meaning. I agree the word has lost its effect over time before it is used more and more often; on the radio, on the tv, in conversations. People these days are so quick to jump on someone’s case. Harry Allen is wrong in calling Kanye a “racist nigger” because by doing so he is being racist himself. We live in a society where everyone is racist and no one acknowledges when someone does something right like when Beyonce gave her acceptance speech time to Taylor Swift. But everyone always has something to say about the negative. Hopefully one day we can live in a world where reactions aren’t passed on negatives thoughts and rather comments are going around about positive things that have affected our lives.
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Apparently I was one of the few who did not watch the live showing of the Video Music Awards. However, as soon as I opened an internet browser, news of the event between Kanye West and Taylor Swift was plastered everywhere. It seemed that everyone had something to say about it, whether it be yelling at Kanye for being a jerk or sticking up for Taylor. So of course I had to look up what had happened, which was simple to do seeing as how everyone had videos of it posted. It seemed to me that Kanye was clearly intoxicated (or on something) that made him act so unusually. It is very uncommon for someone to interrupt another’s acceptance speech, but the manner in which he did so was rude. I do not know if his comment was meant in a racist scope, but it certainly came across that way: A black man, interrupting a young white woman, to praise another young black woman’s work. Not only is this racist, but there were many people who looked up to Kanye West as a role model, and now he has shattered their views of him and alienated fans.
I think the backlash of comments on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs should have been expected. While not always portrayed or viewed in the best light, people are going to react to such a huge example of unusual conduct. I do, however, believe that the racist comments were too much. Perhaps Kanye did not meant the comment to be racist. People have different tastes, so perhaps Kanye simply enjoyed Beyonce’s video more than Taylor’s. I believe the general public to this opportunity to reveal their racist thinking by condemning the entire black race for the actions of one intoxicated man. Had the person Kanye interrupted been another black woman, no one would even dare to bring race into the discussion.
Many of the tweets or postings put up by people include extreme curse words and horrible language. They are not even providing an argument or a valid viewpoint to which another could respond. Their rants and explicit language only serves the purpose to further spawn more anger and filthy language than in turn leads nowhere. In regards to the word nigger, it was clearly overused because Kanye is black. In my racism and sexism class we have extensively discussed nigger and nigga and the different uses and meanings for each. Many people view this word as extremely racist and hurtful, while others use it in common conversation. It can be compared to the modern “bitch” and “biatch”. Do these have different meanings, or is it simply a different pronunciation? Bitch and nigger have angry undertones, whereas, in my opinion, biatch and nigga have been transformed to have a less serious, more casual feel. Everyone has a different opinion of these words and of what is racist and what is not, but perhaps we view racism differently based on our own inner racist views, whether we fight them or embrace them.
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For Journal #4 this week, I decided to write about the blog about Kanye West in regards to his actions at the Video Music Awards earlier this week. A “Tweet Update”, courtesy of Twitter, said “Kanye West, yet another nigger with a chip on his shoulder! Go back in the slime pool u crawled out of. BANG! BANG! CYA!”. When I first read this Twitter, I couldn’t believe my own eyes. Regardless of whether Kanyes actions were warranted or not, having Kanye being called a nigger is an insult to Black people everywhere.
Something that struck me in the blog that was written by Sam Richards was the second-to-last paragraph where it says, “Back to Harry Allen, who trolls the Web and finds tweet upon tweet of insulting and racist comments about Kanye and asserts that these tweets represent the underbelly of whiteness — public faces of respectability and politeness followed by sudden bursts of racist ranting when one of their/our own (in this case, Taylor Swift) is publicly insulted by persons black or brown.” I agree with the statement in general. The pair of words that particularly struck me was underbelly and whiteness. I first started laughing, but then soon realized it was the truth. What made me wonder after thinking about how Kanye reacted, and Taylor Swift being white, how would things be different if Taylor Swift was Black and Beyonce, the woman who Kanye West believe should have won, was white.
These Twitter updates clearly go into the WTF were they thinking folder as Sam Richards had stated. To call someone a nigger because the person believed a certain way was a completely unwarranted action. Kanye’s actions were not even that serious, and Taylor Swift still got the award. Clearly this person was a Taylor Swift fan. Regardless of what the person was thinking at the time of this Twitter post, it truly is amazing, as Sam Richards had put it, that white people feel as comfortable attaching their name to the word nigger as easily as black comedians (who use it in almost every skit but that’s a another story for another time).
When I told somebody about this story, he told me, “Well if Black people don’t want to be called niggers, why do they call themselves niggers?” I’ve heard this excuse far too many times. Not all black people call themselves niggers. People in general like to attach a whole race to a select handful of people, when in actuality, a few people do not speak for the race. Black comedians almost always use the word nigger when they are doing their stand-up comedy. But it doesn’t mean that every Black person in the world finds the word humorous.
In conclusion, the main gist I received from this article is that people can tend to overeact to simple situations. We have had numerous incidents of racist remarks towards Black people in this country especially, so it’s nothing unusual to read this comment. However I feel that this country has to find an end to these sorts of remarks.
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Just as black people don’t want to be judged by Kanye’s actions, I don’t want to be judged as a white racist because of some ignorant comments on the internet. I have not nor will I ever use the n-word and I despise people who do. All white people are not racist and would not blast someone based on the color of their skin. Kanye West’s display at the VMAs was despicable but I do not think he did it because Taylor Swift is white and Beyonce is black. People constantly turn a situation into a race issue where we are back in the early 1900s fighting against each other. This unfortunate event was most likely a media stunt from a man who has referred to himself on several instances as “the second coming.” He is just screwed up regardless of what race he is and that is something everyone can agree on.
What makes me upset about the blog posted by Harry Allen is that it makes it seem like I am racist because I won’t go onto Twitter and give each and everyone of theses people a verbal lashing for using that term. Does he realize what an impossible task this is? Chances are that if these people would use such an offensive word to try and hurt someone then they were probably racists to begin with and while I do feel the urge to yell at them, I would just be stooping to their level. These are ignorant people who live their lives in bubbles and don’t want to see the world as it is but as they have been told to see it and while I would say something if they were right in front of me, it is a much different fight over the internet.
Fighting issues over the internet is a constant uphill battle. The internet gives people the impression that they are anonymous and whatever they say can not be traced back to them which usually leads to very harsh things being said. This includes racist comments, sexist comments, and constant religious bashing. Ignorant people write ignorant comments and a fight over the internet with someone they have never met before is not going to change that. I don’t believe that makes me a bad person or a racist.
One thing I d believe that Harry Allen was at least half right about is that who Kanye chose to humiliate had a lot to do with this media uproar. Swift is a white teenage female and because of this is looked at as fragile and innocent. I don’t think this would have been that big of an issue at all if it had been someone like Justin Timberlake who is a thirty something white male. This has more to do with age and sex then with race. People should stop using race as a crutch to say horrible things and really see the situation as it is.
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For years the MTV video music awards have been known to spark a controversy. It was no surprise this year when one of the top rap artist of today cause a huge scene during the awards show. Taylor swift was given the award for best female video, and of course she was running against one of Kanye West’s favorite girls Beyonce Knowles. When Taylor went up to get her award, Kanye stopped her right in the middle of her thank you speech to tell her she shouldn’t have received the award and Beyonce should have. Of course I felt like Kanye was out of line even him being one of my favorite rappers. There should never be a reason to make someone feel like they don’t matter. But like always Beyonce saved the day when she received the vma for video of the year, and let Taylor finish her speech. It was almost like it was all set up at first until you started seeing pictures of Kanye on the red carpet with a bottle of Hennessey. Like Jamie Foxx says “Blame it on the alcohol”.
As for the fact that Kanye was called a nigger on twitter I think that is absurd. Although we all knew there would be a huge fuss as soon as a black man interrupted a young white girls speech, there is no reason for someone to be called a nigger on a huge website that millions of people see a day. Yes the outburst was definitely a form or racism, but was it blown out of proportion? Of course later on we all found out Kanye was under the influence but did this make a difference in the eyes of the public? Obviously the answer is no. Jay Leno let Kanye know how the population felt about him on the Monday night after the award show. Making him feel like crap and asking him “How would your mother feel about your outburst at the vmas?” Answering the question that the late night host asked, basically left Kanye in tears. He also made a public apology to Taylor Swift and took all on himself for the way he acted. If Taylor forgave him the next day, why couldn’t the public? Because people revolve their lives around twitter, facebook, myspace and any other site where they can talk about people and make sure everyone can see. I agree with the fact that people were upset with the way Taylor Swift was treated but I don’t agree with what he was called and the tweet “Kanye West, yet another nigger with a chip on his shoulder! Go back in the slime pool u crawled out of. BANG! BANG! CYA!” was just uncalled for.
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This blog was downright ridiculous. I am so sick of people calling all white people racist, this time for literally doing nothing. No matter what we do, we are considered racist by some. This is by no means the majority and is likely just a vocal minority, but I believe they are simply trying to stir up racist sentiment so they can continue to generate anger and hits for their blogs or other publications. I even feel guilty by dignifying the post with a response. I could do the same exact thing for any other race if I was to look after a major event such as this. If Kanye had just won an award, and Taylor Swift ran on the stage to say that another white artist had one of the greatest videos of all time, there would be massive media uproar of the racism of Taylor Swift. Now, white people who literally DID NOT DO ANYTHING are being vilified in this man’s blog. He does not even take the time to address the fact of the downright rudeness of Kanye, instead just passing it off as if it was a normal everyday occurrence to interrupt a person’s acceptance speech of a hard earned award.
To be perfectly honest, I did not watch the Video Music Awards. I do not watch MTV, and I do not listen to the radio so I am behind on what is “popular” in today’s culture. I only became aware of the situation through Facebook (yes I realize the clash of statements by saying I am not involved with today’s “popular” culture and then saying I got my information from Facebook; I meant today’s popular music and television) where about ninety percent of my friends, a few of them black, insulted Kanye for his rude and arrogant behavior. I wonder if the author of this blog would consider my black friends who insulted Kanye “on the inside” of the plan for eventual white supremacy? Maybe they figure that by working for us now, they will be able to avoid the eventual bloodshed and massacre that will come when the whites rise up to exterminate the blacks and reinstitute slavery. It is people such as this author that cause a backwards slide in the healing of racism. While it is highly likely racism will never be fully cured, we can try our best to relegate it to the most backwards portions of society. At this point already, if you are known to be a racist, you are vilified in the community, unless you surround yourself with other racists (which they naturally tend to do). Saying that white people are racist for literally doing nothing is one of the most outrageous statements I have ever heard, and I must again emphasize my displeasure of dignifying it with a response.
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I was shocked when Kanye West came up from behind Taylor Swift and “stole her thunder.” I found it to be very rude and disrespectful, but very Kanye-like. Kanye West is notorious for his public and outlandish outbursts and although I think he is a talented artist, he left a bad impression of himself at the VMAs. I definitely think that Kanye was rude, inappropriate, and in some ways it did seem like a racist act, or maybe more of a music feud. For the simple reason that Kanye called out young white country star, Taylor Swift, by stating that Beyonce Knowles, a black hip-hop artist, deserved the award more than she did may have made it seem that Kanye was playing for a certain racial team. Another take on his rational could be the feud between hip-hop and country. The VMAs predominately recognizes pop and hip-hop artists with the rare country star, so for Taylor Swift to win a huge award over so many other popular artists was shocking. Even Taylor admitted that she was surprised that she won such a huge award stating that “I am just a country star.”
Okay so we are all on board with the fact that Kanye was totally out of line. Seconds after the confrontation occurred everyone’s facebook status had something to do with Kanye being a jerk, stupid, etc. None of these status’s that I saw were really that bad, but when looking at the twitter comments made about Kanye I was blown away. I have never seen the “n-word” used so easily, blatantly and hurtfully. I think that what Kanye did was wrong, but people when it comes down to it its just pop culture. I don’t think that what he did was ammunition to start a race war via twitter. It seems to be a common theme that people don’t think that other people can see what they write online and that it won’t come back to haunt them later on. I don’t have a twitter and I don’t really understand the lure of “tweeting,” personally I don’t think people really want to know your every move and I’m not sure I want them to know either. Twitter displays your name and location, why would put something that offensive for the world to see? Maybe I just don’t get it cause I was never taught to say the word. Just think of the way it sounds, its hard, almost like a slap and feels foreign. I think in this instance people used Kanye’s insulting Taylor Swift as a reason for hashing out their true racial feelings towards that black community. Not only was I really appalled at how easily the word was used I was also introduced to a new community of people, who use a word I thought was archaic to my generation, in such a negative way.
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While in the halls of my dorm building on the night of the VMAs, I suddenly heard several people come out into the hall from their rooms and ask if anyone else had just seen what had happened. They were all referring to this incident between Kanye West and Taylor Swift. Kanye West was rude and disrespectful in his actions towards Taylor Swift. He insulted her by saying that Beyonce had the best video of all time, while Taylor had just won the award for best female video. Beyonce looked embarrassed, Taylor looked shocked and embarrassed and Kanye looked like a major jerk. As a fan of all three of these artists, I found myself upset at Kanye, and a feeling of shock rushed over me. In my opinion, he was acting ignorant. I believe there was proof that Kanye had been drinking that night, maybe a little too much. He was most likely intoxicated when he did this. There was a situation a while back when he accused George Bush of hating black people. It was probable that he was intoxicated at the time of that incident as well.
That same night on facebook there was an overwhelming amount of people commenting and putting up statuses about the incident. While I did not see and racial comments, there were many, many people tweeting and commenting about the situation, calling Kanye racial names such as the “n” word. What I don’t understand is why these people feel the need to bring race into a situation like this.
If Kanye West was a white man, I do not think it would have affected his choice of words and actions. Some white people are horribly making racist comments about and towards Kanye. The comments he made and his actions had nothing what so ever to do with race. I find it ridiculous that people would bring race into it. I am not naïve; I know that some people in our world today are racist. I find it so stupid that people can’t just say why they are upset with Kanye. They just have to bring race into it.
Something interesting is that white people have demonstrated that they basically have no problem calling blacks racist names. It is one thing for a black to call another black a racist name, but for a white, it just seems ignorant and rude. I personally do not think that I would be offended if I was called a racist name like “cracker” or something like that. As we discussed in class, it is thought by many people that the only thing you could call a white person that would offend them is calling them racist. I somewhat agree with this, but who wants to be accused of being racist?
The bottom line is that Kanye West’s comment to Taylor Swift had nothing to do with race and people should not bring race into it at all.
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What Kanye West did at the VMAs was totally uncalled for. It shows a lack of respect to Taylor Swift and a lack of respect towards the actual show. I didn’t actually see the event as it occurred, but when I heard about it, my first thought was, “Wow, I think I hate him now.” I am an avid Kanye West listener and I think his music is great, but when a person acts the way he does, I lose all kinds of respect for that person. This is not even the first time Kanye West has made a debacle out of himself. When Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans area, he was on that telethon show with actor Mike Myers of Austin Powers fame. When it was their turn to talk on live TV, Kanye West said, “George Bush hates black people.” It’s as if Kanye thinks everyone has something against him and African-Americans.
The issue of racism in the United States will be an on-going issue forever and that is unfortunate. From the tweets that I saw on Harry Allen’s blog, it is pretty safe to say that some of the people’s views on African Americans are very negative. The n-word was posted all over the place and one tweet even said that Kanye West should by lynched by the KKK. In my opinion, that is taking things a bit too far. America’s history with racism and segregation is a history that people wish never happened. If people think that they can freely use the n-word in such a negative way then those people are stupid and need a reality check. Today’s America is one about equality for everyone, no matter what color skin you are. Just because an African-American person does something stupid, it doesn’t give any white person the right to call that African-American person the n-word. The tweets that Harry Allen presented in his blog were ignorant and very offensive. How can a person think and feel such a way? I don’t think there is any situation in which I would want a person lynched or killed by the KKK. The people who tweeted these very offensive gestures are very closed minded and need to open their minds.
Kanye West really doesn’t matter in the big picture. He’s just another outspoken person who feels the need to be heard. The big picture is how people react to one person’s actions, in this case, reacting in a very racist manner. People need to understand that the issue of racism is still here in America and that things like this will only make the issue worse. People in this country should get away from the black and white issue and focus on more important things, rather than caring for an ignorant person who needs to be heard. The same goes for those ignorant people on twitter.
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