A nonbeliever's SECOND reading of the Bible

A nonbeliever's SECOND reading of the Bible
Hunc tu caveto.
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Thursday, January 12, 2006

A lot of people don't like gangsta rap, and to tell you the truth, neither do I.

However, the real reason we hate it is because it actually reminds us of our society.What do we think about when it comes to gangsta rap? What is our most common criticism of gangsta rap?
It's the degradation of women with the 'bitches' and 'hos' comments, it's the love of money and objects, it's violence from one individual ego to another, and to make it worse, almost all of the gangsta rappers are black. Let me spell this out real carefully.

Our nation was founded upon some really obvious injustices. We live in a patriarchal society, where men are taken more seriously than women and are generally thought of (and officially are) the authoritarians in society. All our presidents have been men up to this point, fathers stereotypically "bring home the bacon", "a man's home is his castle", you know what I mean. We live in a society dominated by men.

The gangsta rapper reflects this with his lyrics, relegating all women to mere 'bitches' and 'hos'.We live in a capitalist society, where money is god. We get all worked up about our cars (are they clean, what kind of cars, etc.), our homes, and acquiring STUFF. Shopping is a favorite pasttime because the goal is to GET MORE STUFF. We are very materialist, just like the gangsta rapper.We worship the individual.

Somehow the concept of "I" becomes more important than we. I can think of numerous examples of one person not liking another simply because some trivial ego conflict ("There's just something about him that I don't like"). In that way, we too are like gangsta rappers. (Let's shoot this guy because he lives over there). Not to mention that we also live in a culture of violence, where there is a tendency to believe that "might makes right".

What makes it worse, however, is that gangsta rappers are black. Another fundamental institution this country was founded on is racism. You see, it's not just WHAT these rappers are saying that is so repulsive (and it is), it's also WHO they are.

If you think about it, gangsta rappers are just a reflection of a white supremacist, capitalist patriarchy (thank you bell hooks), and they are black.