Even Snoop Gets It
Source: Why Snoop Dogg Is Urging Viewers to Skip Roots | E! News
It’s not often that I’ll agree with a guy like Snoop Dogg. Here’s a guy whose entire success in life is due to his glorification of the black thug life existence, bemoaning the popular media’s fascination with the black slave experience of well over a hundred and fifty years ago. Ironically, if he wasn’t black, he wouldn’t have anywhere near the kind of notoriety and fame that he’s achieved in life. A dope smoking musician who runs afoul of the law; he’d be just another Willie Nelson without the nasal twang. It happens that he is black and his hedonistic lifestyle is appealing to kids that identify with him.
But his essential point is valid and that is; enough of the moaning and chest beating. That period in American history when slavery was policy is well past. It has been documented, dramatized and institutionalized through commemorations of all kinds with reverence properly paid to the progenators of change. Why continue to recycle the past as if picking at old scabs? The answer lies partially in money. There’s plenty of money to be made in continuing to push the narrative of a racially divided country through media sales in video and music. In fact, to this day, many popular black rooted musicians play the race card during performances supposedly as a solidarity gesture towards their roots. They pander to their audiences. As far as I know, this is unique to black artists. I’m sure Bono never pushes his Irish bona fides at his concerts, nor Blake Shelton condoning ‘go whitey’ at his gigs. Andrea Bocelli has never shouted ‘go blind people!’ at his concerts.
Dogg is correct. The media powers that market entertainment have an agenda in creating products for a balkanized market. If you observe the offerings on cable and TV networks today, you can easily see this mindset in play. The Kardashian phenomenon continues to swoop in that constituency of vapid people who just can’t seem to get enough of that family’s grotesque lives. From Duck Dynasty to The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Big Brother and all of those dumbass derivative shows, media honchos will push whatever sells… the lower the common denominator, the better.
Society is lucky that in general, Jewish and Chinese mothers don’t have marketable music talent. You’d never hear the end of moaning and tales of woe then.