In Closing: My Response to Ben’s Response to My Response to Ben’s ‘Rap is Crap’
by Tim SlagleMy friend Jane’s church has two services every week. The Sunday service is called the Seeker Service. It’s light, and the focus is on music and the positive aspects of religion. Sometimes they even have an entertaining play as part of the service. The Wednesday service is when the fundamentalist gospel happens; the hardcore stuff that might chase away new converts still questioning their faith. The concept has been hugely successful and these churches boast millions of members nationwide.
I look at Big Hollywood as a Seeker site. We are here to attract people questioning their politics, and welcome them into the philosophy we call Conservatism. We want to be a political home for those strays: people who are uncomfortable with all the flags and Greek columns that the Left has recently embraced. We want to support the new stars of Hollywood, those who have suddenly found themselves in a tax bracket they never thought they could reach, and are suddenly questioning the injustice of a progressive tax code. We want to comfort those who have grown tired of being called a racist for simply questioning the wisdom of putting a community organizer into the most powerful office on earth.
Let’s assume you are right. Let’s assume rap is awful, and nihilist and destructive to the African American community So for the sake of argument, I agree with you. Rap IS crap. Now what? Exactly what is the role of a political party now that we have such information? Do we work with the FCC to keep it off the air? Do we boycott stores that sell it? Do we file class action lawsuits against the producers of rap, on behalf of the ruined urban communities? Do we prosecute rappers for conspiring to crimes? Do we BAN it?
You see, that is the problem. All these tactics are different levels of censorship; something we, as sworn guardians of the inalienable rights of man, are supposed to abhor. There is no political solution to rap. Taking on popular music, marginalizes ourselves further from the mainstream. There should be a corner of our tent where rappers feel welcome.
If you had to create a list of reasons why people in Hollywood do not like Republicans, I’m fairly certain that right near the top would be a fear that Republicans want to censor art. There’s a rumor on the Left we are intolerant and want to muzzle free speech. The ironic truth, is the Left is far more active towards political censorship, with their speech codes on college campuses and support of the fairness doctrine. But as far as art, the Left is pretty tolerant.
It is that atmosphere of artistic freedom that finds most artists at home under their tent. And as long as we appear hostile to art, that is never going to change.
And don’t try and tell me that rap is not art. The passions that have been wakened on either side of the argument here, are ample evidence that there is something about the form, that stirs quite a bit of emotion-which is nearly a textbook definition of art.
50 Cent had conservative leanings,. He thought Kanye went too hard on President Bush and is an admitted capitalist. Now there is some serious common ground.
[Ed. Note: previous posts on this subject below]:
Ben Shapiro: Rap is Crap
Tim Slagle: Response to Ben Shapiro’s ‘Rap is Crap’
Ben Shapiro: Response To Tim Slagle’s Response To ‘Rap is Crap’
Michael Wilson: My Contribution to the In-Fighting: Rap Isn’t Crap
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14 Comments
Well said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYmhcnC9WdQ&fe...
This is an example of Old School Rap that I consider to be positive and fun.
In the days before the B-word, the N-word, the H-word, guns, drugs and gangs when the art form was fresh. We can get back to this and still be fresh.
Shave and a Hair Cut should be your first single, Man!
Worse than that it's not Scottish
just testing to see if trying to post here gets me the same lame message about "a connection error "
which stops me from posting in response to a different story
Amen. Leftist art exists in an ideological straightjacket so tight that it permits expression only in the direction of decadence.
As for 50 Cent's statement about Obama being assasinated by whites, it's far more likely that he might be offed by his own king-makers should his numbers drop too low. He'll be of no use to them as a living embarassment, but think of the mileage they'd get from a dead Martyr
I checked it out… seems a little dodgy to me….it's a consumer tax… on EVERYTHING. Mortgages, cars, rent… and, that consumer tax is 23%. But wait, there's more! It's actually 30%! The below taken from:
http://weakonomics.com/2009/03/25/fair-tax-%C2%A0...
"You are familiar with seeing the price of an item ($100) and calculating in your head what the sales tax would be ($5 at 5%). The $100 is known as a tax exclusive price. $105 is the tax inclusive price. There are two ways to state what the taxes are in this case. You could say the sales tax is 5% of the price of the item tacked on, or you could say it’s 4.8% of the total price you pay at the register. That is to say $5 is 4.8% of $105. So your state could advertise that your sales tax is 5% of the tax exclusive price or 4.8% of the tax inclusive price. In the interest of public relations, it would appear the proponents of the fair tax quote the equivalent of the 4.8%, which is the 23% number discussed already. When you convert the 23% tax inclusive number into the exclusive number (like 5%, a number we can actually relate to) the actual Fair Tax rate is 30%."
The current system is messed up, I'll agree… but I'd pay more money with the so-called 'fair tax.'
And, yes, I did look at the fairtax.org website.
The rich would pay even more because they spend more… sound familiar?
To some extent, what you say is very true. A friend of mine tells a story about her father-in-law, who is a flaming Liberal, and a respected artist who paints portraits in a Classical Realist style. He is derided in the Arts community as a CONSERVATIVE, because his paintings look like real pictures.
However, I believe that we need to one up the Left, by supporting all Art. Let's make ourselves the party where real tolerance exists.
Ya, I am now a retired rapper. They say the average person has like 10 jobs in their lives. I just wasted one!
Thank you, you're to kind. Really, WAY TO KIND!
If we have no intention of doing anything about Rap, why are we even bringing it up? Why are we concerned that it might be destroying neighborhoods that we don't even live in?
There is no sense in identifying a disease, that you have no intention of curing.
And I believe, in the case of Rap Music, the cure is far worse than the disease.
First off your link doesn't work, so if you were citing a source, you'll have to do better than that. The 30% argument is wrong for this reason. When you no longer have corp taxes, payroll taxes and the like you can then take out all embedded taxes. This is why the Fair Tax would work. businesses do not pay taxes. They just pass them along to the end user. Here's an example of how the 23% national sales tax would work and keep goods at the same cost they are now. If you have a widget for $100. If you take out the 22% embedded taxes the cost is then $78.00. Let's say for argument sake, this is the wholesale cost of the good. When you add the Fair Tax the good is now $95.94. Opponents to the Fair Tax try to fudge it so it looks sneaky. B/c when you add 30% to the $78 it takes it back to $100.00. Some suckers fall for it hook line and sinker. Unfortunately Mccain was one of them.
Also to your first comment, everything we buy, own and use are already taxed, whether you see the tax or not. The Fair Tax only taxes NEW, look at it again, NEW goods. That means you would only be paying taxes on a brand new house or if you build a house. And you pay that tax only once. Or a brand new car, not used or preowned.
Please read the actual bill and on Fair Tax.org there is a letter that was sent to Obama by 80 economists explaining how this would be great for everyone and the economy.
Everyone knows that McDonald's is bad for you. But lots of us eat it anyway.
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