I write poetry, stories, madness. I transcribe my life into words. Beauty can be found anywhere and I guess I'm here chasing after my muse. Yet again. To contact: fizzlicious@gmail.com
So far, I’ve been having a wonderful time in grad school. I’d heard that it was going to be terrible so I was initially prepared to weather the worse but I was pleasantly surprised to find that rather than the hectic classes everyone said to be ready for,…
The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious” Black poor person
May 7, 2013Charles Ramsey, the man who helped rescue three Cleveland women presumed dead after going missing a decade ago, has become an instant Internet meme. It’s hardly surprising—the interviews he gave yesterday provide plenty of fodder for a viral video, including memorable soundbites (“I was eatin’ my McDonald’s”) and lots of enthusiastic gestures. But as Miles Klee and Connor Simpson have noted, Ramsey’s heroism is quickly being overshadowed by the public’s desire to laugh at and autotune his story, and that’s a shame. Ramsey has become the latest in a fairly recent trend of “hilarious” black neighbors, unwitting Internet celebrities whose appeal seems rooted in a “colorful” style that is always immediately recognizable as poor or working-class.
Before Ramsey, there was Antoine Dodson, who saved his younger sister from an intruder, only to wind up famous for his flamboyant recounting of the story to a reporter. Since Dodson’s rise to fame, there have been others: Sweet Brown, a woman who barely escaped her apartment complex during a fire last year, and Michelle Clarke, who couldn’t fathom the hailstorm that rained down in her hometown of Houston, and in turn became “the next Sweet Brown.”
Granted, the buzzworthy tactic of reporters interviewing the most loquacious witnesses to a crime or other event is nothing new, and YouTube has countless examples of people of all ethnicities saying ridiculous things. One woman, for instance, saw fit to casually mention her breasts while discussing a local accident, while another man described a car crash with theatrical flair. Earlier this year, a “hatchet-wielding hitchhiker” named Kai matched Dodson’s fame with his astonishing account of rescuing a woman from a racist attacker. But none of those people have been subjected to quite the same level of derisive memeification as Brown, Clark, and now, perhaps, Ramsey—the inescapable echoes of “Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife!” and “Kabooyaw,” the tens of millions of YouTube hits and cameos in other viral videos, even commercials.
It’s difficult to watch these videos and not sense that their popularity has something to do with a persistent, if unconscious, desire to see black people perform. Even before the genuinely heroic Ramsey came along, some viewers had expressed concern that the laughter directed at people like Sweet Brown plays into the most basic stereotyping of blacks as simple-minded ramblers living in the “ghetto,” socially out of step with the rest of educated America. Black or white, seeing Clark and Dodson merely as funny instances of random poor people talking nonsense is disrespectful at best. And shushing away the question of race seems like wishful thinking.
Ramsey is particularly striking in this regard, since, for a moment at least, he put the issue of race front and center himself. Describing the rescue of Amanda Berry and her fellow captives, he says, “I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway!”
The candid statement seems to catch the reporter off guard; he ends the interview shortly afterward. And it’s notable that among the many memorable things Ramsey said on camera, this one has gotten less meme-attention than most. Those who are simply having fun with the footage of Ramsey might pause for a second to actually listen to the man. He clearly knows a thing or two about the way racism prevents us from seeing each other as people.
Now that you know this is a thing, please stop sharing these memes. Poor Black people speaking candidly about various serious incidents isn’t a hilarious joke.
(via obsessionreflection)
Okay. Let me clear the fuck out of this shit, because it is REALLY pissing me off.
Psy was an extremely well-known, well-respected musician WELL before Gangnam Style was even fucking thought of. He’s one of the senior musicians of Korea and he gets a lot of respect for his fearless stages and the way he writes songs to say whatever the hell he wants and believes, regardless of the Korean public’s extremely judgmental eye. I’m so sick of the way he’s being treated all around the world ever since Gangnam Style went viral, he’s just being called here and there to do the dance and whatever and then being sent off like he’s just a comedy dud. When he came on Ellen, she didn’t even bother fucking introducing him, he had to interrupt and ask to introduce himself. He came out on stage and she literally just asked him to teach the dance before he even said anything. Like that is so flat out disrespectful are you kidding me.
Point being, before you ignorant ass little fucks decided he was the new laughingstock of the world and decided all on your own that he was just some annoying, talentless little comedy figure, get your fucking facts straight. Learn some respect, especially to the people that deserve/have already earned it.
SOMEONE FINALLY UNDERSTANDS PREACH IT
ugh, that bold though… white folks stay using POC as puppets to entertain them, then when they’re “annoyed” or bored with you, try to disregard you and throw you out like trash. Also, Billy Joel has a lot of nerve calling someone the ‘herpes’ of anything.
The bolded. It really, really, bothered me that Ellen did that. Like it was so wrong. She’s like, “dance for me funny foreign man”- quintessential whiteness. Nothing other than that.
YES! When Tiger JK lost his shit about it I totally understood where he was coming from. Gangnam Style at its inception was a biting social commentary on the shallowness of the rich living in Seoul. Then the west turned it into the parody it is today. Psy has already made his name and doesn’t need the white world to validate him.
(Source: tumblingmusical)
The folks at Islawmix did the required digging and found that the entire story of the Emirati men being deported from Saudi Arabia was entirely false. Not even close to true.
Oh, I’m set, I had a disclaimer. Regardless, I hope to be more careful in what I post, before coming to conclusions that fulfill certain stereotypes we hold against the Arab world.
(via obsessionreflection)
Transparent by Natalie Whipple (review)
Paperback, 368 pages
Expected publication: May 21st 2013 by HarperTeen
Source: EdelweissSynopsis:
P…
Ever wish you could just turn off your brain and just be for a while?
Me too.
You Don’t Know Me by David Klass (review)
Paperback, 352 pages
Published August 1st 2002 by HarperTempest
Source: LibrarySynopsis:
John (“My…
Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain #2) by Amanda Carlson (review)
Paperback, 320 pages
Published April 23rd 2013 by Orbit
Source: Net GalleySynopsis:
It hasn’t been…
if you ever think mythology is boring or serious business or whatever shit
just remember that cerberus, the hell-hound and guard dog of the underworld, comes from the root indo-european word ḱerberos, which evolved into the greek word kerberos, which got changed to cerberus when it went from greek to latin
ḱerberos means “spotted”
that’s right
hades, lord of the dead, literally fucking named his pet dog spot
(via yoshi-09)
The Shambling Guide to New York City (The Shambling Guides #1) by Mur Lafferty (review)
Paperback, 368 pages
Expected publication: May 28th 2013 by Orbit
Source: Net GalleySyopsis:
Becaus…
The Sweet Dead Life by Joy Preble (review)
Hardcover, 244 pages
Expected publication: May 14th 2013 by Soho Teen
Source: EdelweissSynopsis:
“I…
Guys, I have completed my Goodreads 2013 Reading Challenge. I set it at 150 books and last week, I managed to complete it. You’ll ask me why I set such a low number when I can easily read twice that and there is a reason for that. I am going to be…
