How Salon.com lost it's way

Since 1995, Salon has been a prominent website covering current events, social issues, pop culture, the arts, sexuality, and a whole bunch of other things.

screenshot from Salon.com

Salons logo

It has always been a predominantly liberal website, and has been my daily choice to check out the latest in center-left though.  

(For my daily choice to check the latest in center-right thought, I usually check Townhall.com. For my daily choice to check the latest in libertarian thought, I usually check Reason.com. I also check TheNation.com (far-left website) and WorldNetDaily.com (far-right website) on a usual basis. So yeah, I have a balanced diet of socio-political thought in my daily Internet adventures)

Back to the main topic of this blog post  ---- Salon has always had a mix of great insightful articles as well as cliche-ridden junk.

However, there has been more cliche-ridden junk than usual the last few months.

 For example, there is Brittney Cooper, who thinks that African-American dominated musical genres shouldn't be touched by "non-blacks".

For example, her analysis of the recent American Music Awards.

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/26/the_politics_of_rihanna%E2%80%99s_hair_her_ama_do_was_a_powerful_form_of_resistance/

The AMAs haven’t been particularly good on this point in a long time, which is why it is not one of the major shows that I watch. But last night, Justin Timberlake won for best soul/R&B album in a category that featured him, Robin Thicke and Rihanna, and Macklemore won for best hip-hop album, just as he did at the VMAs.

When Sarah Silverman made a quip about the category being dominated by two white guys and a Caribbean artist, Justin, upon winning, remarked that Silverman’s remarks constituted the first time that he had ever felt “racially profiled.”

Race analysis #FAIL, JT. Please don’t make it hard for me to like your music. It’s already hard to admit I like it, since your musical career has relied on the appropriation of a black sound and the requisite awarding of cookies because you are a white boy who does it well.

I know some folks consider it the triumph of multicultural America that white artists are now winning for making music in categories traditionally reserved for black artists. I am far less optimistic about this American post-racial project, and wonder if the dominance of Macklemore and Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke signal yet two more black musical forms that are about to go the way of rock ‘n’ roll.

Notice what I highlighted in  red. This is a bunch of racist garbage. But because Brittney Cooper is African-American, very few people will have the guts to call her a racist and a cultural segregationist. But she is!

Salon.com

Brittney Cooper

racist, cultural segregationist

Here is my responses to Ms. Cooper (with slight edits for grammar)

Britney Cooper is a racist prick! I mean what other kind of person would be upset at Macklemore winning an award in his own genre?

What other kind of person would be upset at the song "Same Love" winning an award? I would go as far as saying that I put "Same Love" at the same level as Grandmaster Flash "Message", Queen Latifah "UNITY",  2pac "Keep Ya Head Up" and "Dear Mama" as among the most powerful message songs in the rap genre. Anyone who doesn't understand that is either  a racist or a homophobe. I put Brittney Cooper as a racist.

 And for Britney Cooper to say this about Justin Timberlake "It’s already hard to admit I like it, since your musical career has relied on the appropriation of a black sound and the requisite awarding of cookies because you are a white boy who does it well" is EQUIVALENT TO A WHITE SUPREMACIST SAYING  "Tiger Wood gets too much attention for being a black man in a white game"

Britney Cooper is a racist prick, and we need more people to have the guts to say so!

I also wrote this

Britney Cooper, let's give you a true sense of context. The reason why Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke and Macklemore adapt hip-hop/R&B is THE SAME EXACT REASONS for the following situations

- 1800's Hawaiians noticing a bunch of Portuguese laborers playing a mini-guitar and think it's cool. The Hawaiians start playing that instrument and call it a "ukulele" (yeah, that's right, there were ZERO ukuleles in Hawaii before any Europeans came)

- 2000's era South Koreans winning break dance competitions and rapping along with EDM (German invention) and dancing like a cowboy (which by the way are what the Spanish brought to the Americas)

- African Americans in Louisiana playing European instruments (ie, trumpets, saxophones, etc) and starting a new genre called jazz!

- A whole bunch of European-Americans practicing yoga (from India) and martial arts (from East Asia) and practicing Christianity (from the Middle East)


These are all signs of GLOBALIZATION! Cultures influence each other! People adapt other cultural things to the point where they become a part of everyday life.

But Britney Cooper doesn't understand that! Britney Cooper wants cultural segregation! She cries about  "Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, and Macklemore stealing my culture" nevermind the same exact s__t  she is saying was said about the Beastie Boys, Vanilla Ice, House of Pain and Eminem AGES AGO!  Their presence has NEVER erased the overwhelming African-American dominance of hip-hop so why does RACIST PRICK Britney Cooper think it will happen with the presence of Macklemore?

In another article, Britney Cooper complained about European-American feminists complain that Michelle Obama isn't pushing the feminist agenda hard enough.

My opinion is that Michelle Obama is less interested in pursuing gender grievances and more interested in promoting healthy eating and reducing the racial gaps in education.

But Britney Cooper played the silly race card game

 http://www.salon.com/2013/11/29/lay_off_michelle_obama_why_white_feminists_need_to_lean_back/

 And this is where it becomes challenging for me. I am not here for the facile arguments from white feminists about what Michelle Obama is supposed to represent for all women. Until these mainstream white feminists really grapple with the history of racism and the ways it has shaped all of our performances of gender, then, frankly, I think they should be quiet.

Those white feminsts Cooper is referring to (Michelle Cottle, Linda Hirshman) were criticizing Michelle Obama as an individual woman. OMG!!!

Here is my comment on all this

Britney Cooper is a racist prick who thinks that European-American INDIVIDUALS should refrain from judging African-Americans INDIVIDUALS on "content of character".

In other words, Britney Cooper goes against Martin Luther King's dream!

Because to Britney Cooper, people are not individuals, people are member of groups based on genetics.

And here is Linda Hirshman's response to Brittney Cooper's nonsense

Linda Hirshman

Hi, I'm the Linda Hirshman (no C in Hirshman)  who Michelle Cottle interviewed for her piece on the FLOTUS. I'll defend to the death Salon's right to publish any argument, however incoherent. There are two things that writers of any race or ethnicity, however, should not ever do.

One, mistakenly attribute a source's comment to the writer. I said Michelle Obama's situation was "treacherous;" Michelle Cottle did not say it. Professor Cooper, that's what quotation marks in a written piece mean. They mean the writer is quoting from the source, usually the one in the paragraph where the quote appears. That would  be me. "Linda Hirshman . . . she posits" would be a dead giveaway right before the "treacherous" quotation appears. Since you open your point about ME  with my failure to, and Cottle's merit in, recognizing  the "treacherous" spot Michelle Obama is in, the mistake is not trivial; it is central to your conclusion. In the future you might try to read the portion of a text you're resting your point on just a teeny bit more carefully before making the (entirely erroneous) point.

Two, misspell your subject's name. Misspelling the name of the person you're writing about bespeaks a certain loose relationship with facts in general. That's why professional journalists always make such a point about getting you to spell your name when they interview you.  See above point regarding who said "treacherous spot" for more evidence of same. 

Of course, under your ground rules, you should not be writing about me at all. After all, how would you know what a white woman knows about what it's like to be a black woman?

 Here is more race-baiting cliched nonsense that has been on Salon lately

www.salon.com/2013/11/25/katy_perry_offends_in_geisha_costume_at_ama_performance/

That garbage editorial complained about Katy Perry wearing a Japanese costume at a performance

And my responses

So, if a non-white person wears Western clothing, is that person being a racist?

Seriously, I AM TIRED OF THIS "if you wear another culture's clothing, you're a racist" NONSENSE!

and

"Cultural appropriation"? You mean like the time a South Korean vocalist used EDM  beats (a German invention) and  rap (African-American vocalist style) to make a worldwide hit!

Look, people, the world is getting more integrated! That means a South Korean guy is going to use EDM and hip-hop, and a European-American woman will dress in Japanese clothes! 

GET OVER IT ALREADY!

WORLDWIDE INTEGRATION FOREVER!

and more nonsense at

www.salon.com/2013/11/18/hip_hop_doesnt_need_another_white_savior/

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/14/lily_allen_responds_to_criticism_over_hard_out_here_i%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%99m_not_going_to_apologize/

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/18/lady_gaga_and_r_kellys_depressing_sex_show_on_saturday_night_live/

I have posted comments on all those listed articles.

These are silly articles and  they are paranoid nonsense written by fools who allow their personal traumas to prevent them from looking at the world rationally! (like Brittney Cooper)


Those articles all show signs of the latest batch of Salon writers truly don't understand globalization and the mixing of cultures.

Social justice is NOT about getting pissy over "white people copy non-white styles" because ALL TYPES OF PEOPLE COPY OTHER PEOPLE'S STYLES!  

This is reality of the globalized world!

Sadly, the new Salon writers are not willing to understand such things!

----- 
And more garbage on Salon  

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/15/this_google_ad_doesnt_get_relations_between_india_and_pakistan

The author of this garbage is upset that a Google ad, which celebrated a reunion between an elderly Indian and an elderly Pakistani who were separated after the 1947 partition, wasn't realistically fatalistic enough. The author then asked a stupid question  --- Until then, however, just like India and Pakistan posture about making peace, one has to wonder if Google isn’t indulging a little fantasy as well.

My response

,QUOTE FROM THE ARTICLE:  "one has to wonder if Google isn’t indulging a little fantasy as well."

 MY RESPONSE: Duh, THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF MOST ADVERTISING OUT THERE! DUH!    DUH times a million

and 

The author of this article is one of those chumps who hates fiction stories with happy endings because to them "happy endings aren't realistic" and therefore should never exist in fiction.
Look, we all heard stories of friends/lovers who survived the Holocaust but never seen each other for decades until old age. Do most Holocaust survivors experience such joy?No, but THAT IS WHY THOSE RARE STORIES OF SURVIVORS RE-UNITING BRING HEART-WARMING JOY!  

 When people have extremely unlikely reunions, MOST OF US (except pessimist chumps like Hamna Zubair) ARE HAPPY FOR THE RARE PEOPLE WHO EXPERIENCE SUCH JOY!

 But the "realistic" killjoys like Zubair, nobody should be allowed to experience such rare joy (even in fictional ads) unless everyone experiences it! 

"Realistic" killjoys like Zubair thinks every FICTION story should have a sad ending! Well, screw that mentality!

And here's more comments  in response to the same article

Serai1 Nov 15, 2013

My gods, you mean there's a commercial that isn't realistic?  I'm SHOCKED, I tell you!  SHOCKED!

Also, India has just instituted on-arrival visas for Pakistani senior citizens.  So maybe you should do a little research before playing the authority on international relations.

 

muslimgirlpower

This ad has proved popular with desis (people of South Asian background) around the globe because it speaks to our desire to heal the rift of 1947. To reunite across borders. Google seems to have done its market research very well, to judge from the response that the ad has received from people who know very well about the difficulties in obtaining Indian visas for Pakistani citizens.  Humna Zubair, on the other hand, does not seem to have researched this article very well at all - even to the extent of logging onto facebook.

---------------

http://www.salon.com/2013/10/25/robin_thicke_really_is_that_gross/

The author of this garbage is upset at Robin Thicke for saying words that were obviously not meant to be taken literally!

Here are the great comments

TLow Oct 29, 2013

I will admit I am not exactly an expert in Robin Thicke's life and history of public statements, but I would like to point out that no actual, non-internet-justice-warrior human being in the real world would find any of the things mentioned in this article remotely "shudder worthy."
Oh gee his dad told him not to ogle girls when he was 12. Also, he used the word "had" to mean "slept with," which no one respectable has ever, ever done. Williams, please fan me a little before I faint.

Ellemm Oct 25, 2013

Oh, stop the presses! So he sounds like a creep; so do about 70 percent of stars like him. We wouldn't want to slut-shame him or deny him his *agency,* would we? Why do we care?

Trog Oct 25, 2013

@Ellemm Stud-shame him?

pablo wegesend Oct 25, 2013

Why does anyone take Robin Thicke's words literally?

Thanksgiving blog post

Tomorrow will be Thanksgiving!

I dont have time to write much here, since this is crunch time when it comes to my LIS classes at UH-Manoa. There are projects, presentations, web-pages and readings to finish up!

But hey, that's one thing for me to be thankful. I'm thankful that I am in the Library and Information Science (LIS) program at UH-Manoa. It gives me a goal, a motivation, a purpose in life! Plus, opportunities to learn new skills, new ideas, and meet new people!  Plus, I get to use their computer lab :)

Plus, being at UH-Manoa gives me an opportunity to enjoy the green scenery as well as campus activities.

-----

As for other things I am thankful for in my life (ie. family, work, etc.), here is a repeat from last year's Thanksgiving blog post

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/11/thanksgiving-blog-post.html

1) Family


This year, I felt I had greatly improved relations with my family


In the past, I held a lot of anger some of the bad decisions my parents have made when I was growing up.  However, in the past few years, I have written them letters on how their bad decisions have hurt me in a negative way. 

This is something I encourage all you adults to do ASAP, before your parents pass away.  Some of the false prophets of wisdom will tell you to "just let it go", but "letting go" without telling your parents how you truly feel is NOT a sign of wisdom, it's a sign of cowardice!

But now that I pretty much told them everything that has been annoying me all these years, my relations with my parents have dramatically improved!

By truly communicating how I felt, my parent got some important feedback. And I have learned that their past bad decisions was more of good intentions gone wrong instead of bad decisions on purpose.

But the main thing now is that I have been getting along with my parents great this year. 

I do recognize that in many ways, my parents have done more to help me than they really needed to.

I also recognize that other people had a worse family upbringing than mine.

I was lucky to have both parents raising me, while others have been abandoned by deadbeat parents way too early in their life.

I was lucky to have parents who were employed, while others had parents who were unemployed (or under-employed) and therefore struggled to provide the life's neccessities.

I was lucky to have parents who understood the importance of education and had books in the home, whereas others had parents who were totally negligent on their kid's education.

I was lucky to have parents who valued cultural diversity, whereas others had parents who are bigots.

I was lucky to have parents who valued spirituality without forcing a religious belief on me, whereas others had parents who are religious fanatics.

I am also lucky that I had parents who learned from their mistakes, whereas others had parents who acted like they did nothing wrong!


I can now say my parents are good people who have "bailed me out" during the times I was struggling to find work. 


And also, my family always have plenty of food for Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings!  :)  :)    :)    :)

I sure can't wait :)    :)   :)   :)   :)


2) Employment

I may not be a millionaire, nor am I even anywhere close to an upper-middle-class lifestyle.



My main job is working as a substitute teacher, with both the public and private schools.

(2013 note: this is a great job to go along with being a graduate student. You can choose from the available sub jobs and skip on some if you need study time. Plus, it does pay more than most "student jobs" on the UH campus )

Some people have a hard time finding a job.  I know people who said they've been unemployed longer than the 99-week limit for unemployment benefits! YIKES!!!

So I'm grateful to have a sub teacher job as well as finding some side jobs.




3) Having basic neccessities

Being employed as allowed me to have basic neccessities such as shelter, running water, working toilets, food, electricity and a bus pass.

Millions of people worldwide (and even some here in Hawaii) don't even have access to basic neccessities.  

Even worse, some people are living in war zones, which makes it even harder for food and other supplies to be shipped and readily available.

Right now, there are wars going on in Congo, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Sudan, Gaza and Syria. It is hard for me to imagine living under such conditions.

So anytime I'm feeling stressed and annoyed, I have remind myself that those people would love to trade places with me.


4) Some luxuries

I'm definitely not living the life of  mega-luxury.

However, I'm grateful for having such minor luxuries like a bike, cell phone YMCA membership, a stereo system, a matress and 2 bookshelves.

I also have access to public services like the bus and the libraries.

(2013 note: plus finally having a smartphone! My BlackBerry Q10 is one of the most under-rated gadgets of all time. check out the post  http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2013/10/adventures-on-my-new-smartphone.html

5)  Living in the Internet Age

And with the Internet Age, I have easy access to information.

And not just with Google and Wikipedia.

I can use YouTube to listen to old speeches and classic songs.

I can use my social network to find some pretty cool information.

I can keep in contact with former classmates, former co-workers and  distant relatives with Facebook.

And of course, I am thankful for Blogger, which has allowed me to express my thoughts to the world.   With my blog, I can tell everyone my side of the story and  share it with my facebook friends :)

(2013 note : and now that I got a smartphone, I can easily access internet information when I'm outdoors, on the bus, or at home. )


I'm sure I got more to be thankful for, but time is running out for me!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

And good luck to those who have to work tomorrow.