Conservative = Racism

It’s no surprise that specific races are typically intertwined with political party affiliations. Exit polls and surveys have shown that blacks, Hispanics and those of other ethnic decent are more likely to vote liberal and whites commonly vote conservative. It could be historical reasons, preferences as a race, but whatever the cause, it’s the truth. There is no reason to assume anything by these facts, other than particular races seem to value many of the same principles and ideas. There are black conservatives, white liberals, and Hispanics all across the board. As much as I wish this idea was kept in the minds of every American, I take it with a grain of salt and remember that in anything done in society today, race is always a deciding factor.
The race card will be pertinent in some situations, and incorrectly used in others. Politics in my opinion is no place to cry foul or to cause the issue to begin with. Politics are about laws and rules for this country to abide by so that we all have an equal opportunity. I don’t see how involving race in any decision that would affect the entire nation could be beneficial to a people.
The elephant in the room these days is that we do in fact have a black president. He might be mixed, he might have another religion, whatever. The point is, Obama is black. This fact alone has put the entire country on its head and has driven a wedge into relationships, the government, and the way we interact on a day-to-day basis. My assumption as to how this man was elected president sounds racist, and it may be. It also may be a proven fact but that would take extensive research to truly figure out. I have to admit that I believe Obama was elected because a large number of blacks and ethnic groups came out to the polls to vote for him solely because of his ethnicity. The many times I saw women walking around the grocery store with shirts reading “The First Black President,” only convinced me more. It wasn’t “The President to Change This Nation,” or, “The 44th President of The United States.” The thing these shirts aimed to let everyone know was that there was a man in office and he was black.
On Election Day, a young black man stood in front of me in line. He had mentioned that this was his first time voting and they sent him off to a polling station. I walked into mine, began marking slots as usual, when the same young man poked his head out of his station to ask, and I say this verbatim, “Do we gotta vote for anything but the president if we ain’t know what it is?” If this man had not taken the time to inform himself on the issues on the ballot, I’m going to go ahead and assume that he didn’t do any research on Obama’s platforms either. This situation makes it very easy to establish his reasoning for coming to the polls if he both did not know anything on the ballot and did not care, and that his only interest in coming was to vote for the president, who is in fact of the same ethnicity.
I’m not here to patronize a culture for having pride, by all means there’s quite a bit of a lack of that in this country. But cultural pride and racism are of completely different natures. Since Obama was first announced as the democratic candidate for president, I have opposed. I always have and I can assure you I always will. I do not care if he is Muslim, if he is black, or if his middle name is Hussein. What I care about is his stance on political, economical, and social issues, with which none of them I agree. Yet since the day I voiced my opinion, I have been chastised, attacked, and labeled as a racist. I missed the part where my disagreeing with a political candidate caused an automatic hate for anyone other than my fellow Caucasians. I live in a mostly black community and I attended a mostly black high school. I’ve been surrounded by it. Why someone can’t accept my views for what they are baffles me.
What baffles me further is that I am a racist for not supporting the black candidate, yet those who only supported Obama because he was black, and yes there are some, are not considered the same. Denying a man of any other race a chance because you want to vote for someone of an ethnic background, is in my book profiling and racist. I didn’t write the rules. I won’t attempt to change them. If my solely voting against him because I’m white makes me a racist, then solely voting for him because he is black is racist all the same. I don’t get why negativity toward an ethnicity is prejudiced and racist, yet positivity solely for one ethnicity is not. I’m talking about giving people a fair chance. I’m asking that they’re considered, that they’re recognized, and that this country can focus on what’s more important than the blacks, the whites, the Asians, the Hispanics, the Native Americans and so on. What matters here is the nation, the whole, that is supposed to be under God, and indivisible, not confirmed or denied as racist by your party affiliation.

The Everyday Celebrity

Can anyone truly define “celebrity” today? A dictionary definition would explain it as “the state of being celebrated” or “a famous or celebrated person.” How about fame? Fame is “public estimation” or “popular acclaim.” The words fame and celebrity 50 years ago were associated with untouchable people. Movies stars, broadcasters, political figures that no one of lesser status could ever associate themselves with. Fame and celebrity today roll off the tongue like a dirty word, almost as if being associated with either is a bad thing. Whether we like to admit it or not, it’s a result of our own doing. These days, social status is everything but social status itself is losing its own worth.
It wouldn’t surprise me if you looked up those same words again and things like YouTube, MySpace, and reality television were listed. There is no trick, no recipe, and even no talent needed to call yourself famous. This decline in the worth of fame could be attributed to the internet, to the music industry, or maybe even to the human need to be entertained 24 hours of the day, seven days a week.
“Celebrity status” is no longer determined by your work ethic, your profession, or the talent you possess. It has become solely a popularity contest based on your ability to put your face anywhere in the public eye. We all see it happening, we all see people on red carpets, at Hollywood premiers and wonder how on God’s green Earth these people got here. It’s no surprise because the most ironic part about it is that we’re the people who put them there. No one will admit it, but we perpetuate the cycle. We make what we hate, and what we hate to see.
You can relate it to something we refer to as a “guilty pleasure.” You love to watch it, hear it, be entertained by it, but you’re too embarrassed to admit it. Those television shows that are too cliché to watch, the songs so manufactured and catchy you only sing in the shower; those are the kinds of things we don’t discuss. The attention given to all these forms of media is what propels these guilty pleasures into stardom.
There is always someone in Hollywood we love to hate. I don’t know that anyone can explain it, but it’s true. Usually that person earns a ridiculous sum of money from something so simple, anyone could do it. But the attention they get from us, from the public, and from the media is what causes them to be a household name. One of the biggest and most widely-known examples of this is Perez Hilton. The guy runs a celebrity gossip blog site, which in itself is the beginning of this problem. Why do we care so much who Is dating who and who went out to the club last night? We don’t know, but we care. Anyone can sit at home and blog about the “buzz” and the latest scoop, but Perez Hilton is now a superstar. He’s at premiers, he’s on the red carpet, and he’s judging beauty pageants for crying out loud. The guy’s flamboyancy and attitude beg for attention, and we give it all to him. The majority of people I have met can’t stand him, but I know they’ve all visited his page. He earns a celebrity status by doing what? Gossiping about celebrities. Now that’s ironic.
What about all the music superstars we have today? The pop queens, the R&B crooners, the latest dance crazes in the clubs started by the rappers and the manufactured beats; do any of these have real talent, something to last beyond the stages of a “trend?” Some do, and some do not. I think you all know what music I’m talking about. Artists Ke$ha and Soulja Boy. Ke$ha can’t hit a high C on a bar staff, and Soulja Boy comes up with the most moronic “dance” moves while talking his way through some beats a producer fed him. But we all love it! You can’t wait for their songs to come on the radio or hit the dance floor when the DJ turns them on. Then you turn around and wonder, how does someone like Soulja Boy make millions upon millions of dollars? What does he do? He doesn’t create music with lasting power for one thing, and the other is that the seizure-ridden dances based on sexual innuendos he creates are eaten up by the public. He makes money and blows up in the record industry with less talent than those of the people with pipes that are rejected time after time by the industry. We envy his money and fame for what he does, yet we are the ones who put him there.
Things like blogs, and YouTube, and any other medium that allows us to express ourselves has propelled the average Joe into “the next big thing.” People in home videos are used in music videos, millions of views on YouTube causes the next social uproar, and a few kids hitting the Jersey Shore for the summer cause an obsession with New York-Italian “guido” culture. They burst onto the scene, and make more money in a year than we can gross in a lifetime. We love it all; the reality television and the catchy music, while we sit back and scoff at their fame. There’s no one to blame but ourselves.

Wake Up Grammys! Talent is Knocking

I grew up sitting on my living room floor watching The Grammys every year in awe. I loved watching the uber-famous stars in dresses and spiffy outfits, performances I’d remember for years to come, and hoping for the most talented of artists to be rewarded for their accomplishments. It was a night of prestige. I sat in front of the television Sunday night in awe once again, but not for said reasons.

I was more or less shocked that I was even watching The Grammys. I picked up the remote checked the channel a few times, and attempted to restrain my need to throw it at the T.V. What I was looking at was more of a mixture of The Razzies and a Betsy Johnson fashion show. Where do I even begin?

I know we’re not talking about The Oscars here. It’s not all ball gowns and stuffy penguin suits. But is there any originality other than looking like you stepped out of an institution? Lady Gaga looked like a planet. No, seriously – a glittery planet in a yellow wig. Rihanna looked like a feather cushion after a pillow fight.

“But it’s runway! But it’s couture,” but it belongs in the trash.

Imogen Heap was dressed in a see-through petticoat with a studded, well, dog collar. Ciara rocked the feathers followed by a floor length dress of black mesh. Beyonce sat in the audience in a dress made of gold and silver chain link. That’s not trendy, just tacky. It’s not like we don’t expect off-the-wall fashion from some of these celebrities but how far can you go and have it still called fashion? It is an award show. Keep it classy, ladies.

Moving on now to what makes The Grammys prestigious. Of course I’m talking about the music, or so I thought. Many performances anymore are all about scandal, shock value, and the sex factor. This is where The Grammys held my attention and lost me all together. Since when did live acts become medleys? Half of these were carried by musical pioneers that came ages before them. There is a list of Grammys acts that made no sense to me. Beyonce sang an Alanis Morrisette song? The woman doesn’t have enough angst to carry a tune like that. Who can forget Taylor Swift’s act? She sang alongside Stevie Nicks, and the woman made Swift look like the amateur that she is.

There were three of the best combinations I’ve seen in quite a while. Elton John and Lady Gaga blew the roof off of the Staples Center. This is an exception to my dislike of medleys. Two terribly gifted pianists and vocalists, both advocates of equality in sexuality rights, and yet they are of staggeringly different generations. They melded together, while remaining in their own natural state to create an unforgettable act. Put Lady Gaga in front of a piano and the amazing talent she has is showcased. A true artist, with musical and lyrical skills, and shines the most live. I’d say that’s a lost art today.

Next in that list was the stirring duet from Andrea Bocelli and Mary J. Blige. An unlikely and seemingly incompatible pair, that is until they open their mouths. “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is a classic itself, and Bocelli is a musical wonder, but for Blige to hold her own against a famed opera singer shows some serious pipes and gumption. The duet was of course all for a good cause, in the interest of raising funds for Haiti, but I believe it will have a more lasting effect even after Haiti recovers.

Above all, done just as properly as it should have, was the tribute to the late, great Michael Jackson. Simple. Not smoke and mirrors, no rope tricks, no sex appeal, just pure voices in honor of one of the greatest artists there will ever be. Creatively enough, the effect of Jackson’s music was personified by the people chosen to sing in his honor. Bringing together generations, people of different genres and races underneath his music. This was more than fitting for the King of Pop.

The nominations and the awards are what baffled me the most about this year’s Grammys. I have no idea when the raw talent in the nominees was replaced with mixers, soundboards, and synthetic instruments. Today’s Grammy’s seem to honor more manufactured music than ability. Album of the Year sadly goes to Taylor Swift. The girl can write her own music and strum a guitar, but she can’t sing outside of a studio. I would like to think anyone thought highly enough of to win such a prestigious award can sing anywhere. The girl is “relatable” but I don’t think that justifies a Grammy. She now stands alongside legendary greats like U2, Frank Sinatra, Eric Clapton, and The Beatles. If that doesn’t blow your mind, I would have to assume you are musically inept.

Cheers to the 2010 Grammys having passed, and my television still being in one piece after the fact. Here’s to hoping The Grammys will wise up in the coming years and get back in touch with the roots of music and what it takes to be recognized worldwide as an outstanding artist.