In the wake of the Imus affair, MSNBC is airing an all-day discussion on the theme "What's OK to say?" Poet Maya Angelou appeared at 11:05 AM EDT, and in the course of her interview with MSNBC's Peter Alexander, had this exchange:Posted on 04/13/2007 8:52:36 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
In the wake of the Imus affair, MSNBC is airing an all-day discussion on the theme "What's OK to say?" Poet Maya Angelou appeared at 11:05 AM EDT, and in the course of her interview with MSNBC's Peter Alexander, had this exchange:
ALEXANDER: Dr. Angelou, you're an author and an artist. I guess the question is, is there a need for more censorship of our media and of our arts, are you comfortable with that? And if that happens, when does it end? What is OK to say?
ANGELOU: Exactly. I agree with that. I think the society decides upon the censorship. Each person censors himself or herself. Do you think, if any of these hip-hoppers, if they said about Mrs. Bush what they say about black women, do you think they would be given a microphone? Do you really think so? So we have to censor ourselves. And then, the society makes that decision.
View video here.
Leave it to Angelou, she who read a poem [YouTube here] at Bill Clinton's first inauguration, to drag partisan politics into it. What we do know is that Don Imus lost his microphone for saying those kind of things about the Rutgers basketball players. Could hip-hoppers say them about Laura Bush? I don't know, but just looking at Michelle Malkin's recent cataloging of rap lyrics, I see that George Bush is fair game [see lyrics from Unk].I'll venture the name of one woman who would almost certainly be off limits: Ms. Angelou herself. What do you think: could rappers rap Mrs. Bush and keep their gigs?
Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net
I’d suggest for Maya, the rare title of “poetrice.”
“Poet”: One who writes poetry.
“Poeter”: One who verbally slings poetry at someone.
Very good point.
She who tried to read a poem. I don’t think it was a poem and I don’t think she was able to accomplish the reading of whatever it was.
Excellent. And so true.
We live in an age of affectation, pretense, phoniness and contrivance.
I think you are 180 degrees out here. No matter how he was presented or understood to be by others, Chauncey Gardiner himself was the antitheses of "affectation, pretense, phoniness and contrivance". That's what made the movie.
However, those words describe Angelou and her lefty friends very well.
>> I heard on radio this morning that Snoop categorizes ‘hos’. In other words, the ones he refers to in his lyrics are no-count, not working, looking to take advantage etc. So, in his view, girls who are making something of their lives like the Rutgers girls, don’t fit the category. <<
I know, but my point is that “hos” are the only women he ever sings about; he may define what he means by hos, and he may truly only mean such women when he says hos, but he neither clarifies that in his music, nor offers any other examples; if every woman he ever mentions is a ho, then it’s natural to infer that he believes all women are hos.
Now, he SAYS that only some women are hos. Does he regard other women as better than hos? If so, isn’t he highlighting all the WORST elements of black society? Does he ever suggest that he wishes to be around women who aren’t such hos? He’s not saying, “woe is me!”; He’s saying “Cehck out what I got!” He exults his ability to revel in such hos. That suggests that a WORSE view of women: there are women who are fit to be used (hos), and those who are useless.
Call me Cup Crazy, but this is the first thing I thought of with this last sentence:
Everythings race....Stupid Winch!
Yes, I know about Chauncy being unaffected, but what I wasn’t perhaps clear about was that I consider Ms. Angelou and her general acceptance and accolades by the so called general public to be the epitome of the “age of affectation, pretense, phoniness and contrivance.”
Sorry for my poor writing and lack of clarity.
Those “lyrics” you posted by Eminem are atrocious. I could write better lyrics than that in less than an hour*. Angelou’s “poetry” may not be good but it’s a hell of a lot better than the idiotic garbage that Eminem and his moronic friends drivel out.
*I’m a part time musician and I get paid (sometimes) to write and play music.
You are right. Now imagine this: Sharpton says the music companies that contract with the rappers urge them to use the derogatory terms. Now Sharpton wants to go after the music moguls. I wonder if that’s true (that the rappers are urged to talk like that). What do you think?
KAte
I’m concerned that Sharpton is playing “blame the Jew.” For instance, his use of the word “mogul,” a very semitic sounding word. The truth is that the worst of the rap lyrics come from independent labels, owned by rappers, themselves. I will concede to him that Hollywood liberals helped create that culture, and conservative Christians opposed it, but I doubt he’d accept that concession.
She be lyin and she know it.
Didn’t the Clintoons designate her as poet laureate or something to that effect?
Yeah, I’d LIKE to hear you try to fit lines like that into a meter, or rhyme words like “monster” and “Kirkpatrick.” I’ve no doubt your lyrics are more socially constructive, but that’s not what Eminem is aiming for.
Put it this way: You’re searching for words which rhyme with “debating,” “operating” and “contemplating.” You’re wanting to express that you are paradoxically both angry, and instinctively attractive to others. And if you can demonstrate bawdiness, all the better. Do you think of “on the rag’nd’ovulating?,” which also perfectly matches a rhythm of BDCD (’) ADCD?
No. And don’t say, “well, I’d never SAY something like that,” because even if you wanted to (and I accept you wouldn’t), the point is, unless your brilliantly gifted, you couldn’t. It’s simply brilliant rhyming.
But I’d certainly welcome a sample of your writing, because I’d love to know how good you are, and, if you really are quite good, I’d simply enjoy seeing a sample of FReeper talent.
(Don’t worry about losing intellectual property; if you haven’t copyrighted your lyrics, posting them would prevent someone else from claiming your words are theirs’.)
Has the person who said awful things about NSAdvisor Rice and now SoS Rice been taken off the air?
I think Ms. Angelou is wrong. Horrible things have been said about various first ladies in the past, and it’s ignored by the money bags who control the airwaves.
Are websites part of the airwaves?
You can go read their bios at the Rutgers’ athletics’ website.
There are a number of scholar-athletes at state universities across the country. Check out the GPAs of the top college gymnasts. And then find out what they have done after college. I can’t speak for men’s football and basketball programs.
This reminds me of a thought I had earlier. Does anyone complain when male athletic teams are compared to thugs and the like? (not usually because it is often true.) In the Imus/Rutgers case, Imus has no basis for calling these young women “hos”.
Born Marguerite Johnson in 1928. At one point in her life she worked as a prostitute and madam. Although she has, in her later career, received several honorary doctorates, she never received a college education.
Do not post that here again. Thank you.
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