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[Ryosuke]

ded said:

I seek out Japanese bands so Ryo will like me...I'm disappointed he hasn't commended me on listening to World's End Girlfriend yet. Is that guilt or am I gay for Ryo?

I pray that it's the latter. I hate to think that people here love me just out of guilt.

[kool]

ded said:

I seek out Japanese bands so Ryo will like me...I'm disappointed he hasn't commended me on listening to World's End Girlfriend yet. Is that guilt or am I gay for Ryo?

According to PEW's twisted logic, you're a homophobe.

[Kensterberg]

White guilt ... yeah, there's such a thing. It's normally invoked to explain why a minority performer meets with greater success than his/her white contemporaries. "White guilt" is accordingly a way to further minimize minority success by saying that the performer is only succeeding b/c of white guilt rather than on their own merits. You could make a case that Nat "King" Cole and Lionel Richie, by minimizing their own "blackness," exploited white guilt in order to maximize their chart success. (Even here, the concept is inherently degrading and minimizes minority agency as it implies that these artists would be doing other things but for white guilt). But James Brown as the beneficiary of white guilt to explain his success? This is just nonsense.

Think about it for a few minutes: JB consciously chose to alienate much of his white audience and to explicitly play to his blackness. "Say it loud: I'm black and I'm proud!" wasn't exactly the way to win the white man's (sexist terminology here as well, BTW) dollars in the late sixties and early seventies. Indeed, JB's refusal to play by ordinary white pop rules undermined his standing on the white constructed and dominated music charts of the day. Look also at where Brown's legacy is strongest: you don't hear young white bands covering Brown much these days, but even now his grooves provide the basis for much of hip-hop. Brown's legacy isn't large among white America -- he never sold as many albums to Euro-America as did Earth Wind and Fire or the Commodores, for example -- where he's really a footnote. James Brown was a proudly and resolutely black artist.

Finally, I've got to direct a couple of comments directly to the blog post that started this discussion. It's an offensive and racist tract, with no basis in fact. PEW resorts to belittling Brown via numerous insults in this post, and implies that it was only white guilt that enabled the man known as "the hardest working man in show business" to succeed in entertainment. He also states without reservation that JB's legendary live shows were fueled by illegal drugs and not by the man's considerable talent. PEW attempts to marginalize Brown by making his accomplishments the product of white guilt rather than the man's own achievements. This is plainly ridiculous.

It appears that loudaab is either PEW or has adopted this position as his own. Either way, he's embracing an ignorant and racist stance. This is just another way to try to keep minorities from having an equal place with whites in American society.

Glad no one else here has fallen for this crap. And reading the blog comments, looks like it hasn't found many takers elsewhere either.

[Ryosuke]

I listen to American bands because I still feel guilty about Pearl Harbor.

[kool]

Yeah, that 'drug fueled' remark is one of the dumbest things about that post. Like, if anyone can snort a couple of lines of coke can put on one helluva stage show.

[Kensterberg]

Does Justin Timberlake sell records in urban markets b/c of "black guilt?" You know, "he can sing and dance pretty good for a white boy, let's help the kid out" kind of thing.

Maybe Germans love David Hasselhof b/c of Deutchegilt? ;D

[Kensterberg]

ryosuke said:

I listen to American bands because I still feel guilty about Pearl Harbor.

I always suspected this.

I watch Godzilla movies for the same reason. I call it "Hiroshima guilt."

[kool]

Eminem has made millions because of 'black guilt' too. Hell, I think we can trace 'black guilt' all the way back to Elvis Presley.

[Galactus]

ryosuke said:

I listen to American bands because I still feel guilty about Pearl Harbor.

I think only white people can feel guilt about other races.

[Kensterberg]

But since Ryo was largely educated here in the States, isn't he really "white"?

I mean, PEW says he understands the black man b/c of his experiences growing up in Chicago, and Ryo seems to me to be a lot more "white" than PEW is "black."

[Kensterberg]

kool said:

Eminem has made millions because of 'black guilt' too. Hell, I think we can trace 'black guilt' all the way back to Elvis Presley.

I feel guilty about Vanilla Ice. He was white AND from Texas (though he tried to tell people he was from Miami).

But on behalf of all white folks in Texas, I just want to say that we're sorry for letting Vanilla Ice out into the world.

[Galactus]

Just think about what the Beatles or the Stones...or even Bob Dylan could've done if they'd had drugs too.

[Kensterberg]

Can you imagine what Keef could've come up with if he'd been taking drugs in the late sixties and early seventies?

Or if the Beatles had just been turned on to psychedelics before they made Revolver and Sgt. Pepper? Boggles the mind, it does ...

[rockysigman]

kenholzman said:

But since Ryo was largely educated here in the States, isn't he really "white"?

I mean, PEW says he understands the black man b/c of his experiences growing up in Chicago, and Ryo seems to me to be a lot more "white" than PEW is "black."

PEW grew up in Pekin, which is 95.8% white according to Wikipedia.

[kool]

Pew just changed his screenname to Edward. The cat is out of the bag. Who woulda thought?