Mendacity in the Country

Astral Facts, March 2011

Astral: (Theosophy) Consisting of, belonging to, or designating, a kind of supersensible substance alleged to be next above the tangible world in refinement; as, astral spirits; astral bodies of persons; astral current.

Mendacity in the Country

In my freshman composition (English 101) class, students form groups and choose from a list of articles which they would like to teach to their classmates. Among them is a 1990 New York Times article written by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., “2 Live Crew, Decoded,” in which Gates defends the 1st Amendment rights of the controversial rap group.


Gates’ argument is that the content cannot be evaluated without first understanding the cultural background at its foundation. His point is that exaggeration and hyperbole are imbued in the culture, just as more mainstream cultural groups use the “tall tales” of the North to entertain. Due to the roots of slave oppression, African-Americans needed to create coded vocabulary to communicate among themselves while using what seems to be innocuous language.

These days, when the lyrics appear to cross beyond the innocuous, those in the mainstream culture can easily take the language content at face value, which Gates perceives as a problem at the receiving end. However, his commentary does not imply a blanket approval of the content, as he says,

“Still, many of us look toward the emergence of more female rappers to redress sexual stereotypes. And we must not allow ourselves to sentimentalize street culture: The appreciation of verbal virtuosity does not lessen one’s obligation to critique bigotry in all its pernicious forms.”

Obviously, he is concerned about the representation of the African American female stereotypes these lyrics portray, and back in 1990 he was anticipating a rebuttal to emerge from the community that is being misrepresented.It is now 21 years later and we might take a look to see what is happening in this cultural battlefield. Here is a posting by a group of young African American girls in response to content in the current music scene: (Although the presentation is by adolescent girls, expletives have not been deleted):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8nLCg6ZwjY&feature=player_embedded



Obviously, they didn’t post this up all by themselves, as the URL for a website does appear on the screen. (If you do go to the website advertised, you can find links to over 250 photos of women who would like to meet you!)


Those in the community do find it troubling:

http://www.bvblackspin.com/2011/02/15/profane-kid-video-demonstrates-the-need-for-our-own-revolution/


A ten-year-old’s letter to Lil Wayne:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu0SeTXjC74

But as one of the comments on the first YouTube notes, “kids will be kids.”

Walter Lowe

Astral Facts is a monthly presentation of Humanities Science, produced in the bowels of the Humanities Science offices.