A Little Chat
Featuring Jesse Cameron Alick & Kyle McAfee
Two High Con Editors Attempt to Have a Linear and Productive Debate about Eminem
(using Facebook chat)
Jesse Cameron Alick, East Coast Editor
KYLE: Jesse, I’m ready
JESSE: yo
KYLE: what up?
JESSE: sup nigga
KYLE: hahaa
JESSE: I’ve got a cold yo
KYLE: oh no luckily this isn’t audio
JESSE: Yeah, I’m sick and stoned.
KYLE: cause we wouldn’t want you all stuffed up, it’s hard enough to understand black people when they talk
Kyle McAfee, Music Editor
JESSE: fuuuuuck you
it’s not my fault you don’t understand english
KYLE: i’m just kidding
JESSE: oh sure, now you say that
now that you’re scared I’m gonna kick your monkey ass you say that
KYLE: no, i’m just testing out the racial boundaries when it comes to humor, I don’t know how it works
KYLE: Okay, so let me get this straight, not only do you personally not like Eminem, but you think he’s an irresponsible artist, morally and spiritually?
JESSE: yes, yes, morally, artistically, spirtually depraved and, even worse, boring. he sucks on so many different levels that it actual strains my mind to think about it. It’s just too many ways for one man to SUCK.
KYLE: How much Eminem have you listened to? Have your heard that song, My Name is?
JESSE: of course I’ve heard “my name is” – I don’t live under a fucking rock for christsake. (BROOKLYN – WHAT?) he, he
I’ve also heard his solo album – the first one
his work with dre also
KYLE: what, they’re all solo
JESSE: chronic 2000 etc
KYLE: dre was on his first album
JESSE: and he was almost decent on that album, I will admit
BECAUSE OF DRE
I’ll also admit this
eminem can rap – that is, he can say words quickly to a beat. but that’s not even one percent of what it takes to be good yo…
KYLE: well, i think he’s got some good concepts, follows stories through, has a punchline, a funny twist, while not altogether the most intellectual of sentiments, they’re spit in a cool way
JESSE: yeah – that would be where you and I differ in our opinons
JESSE: his concepts are actually simplistic and immature as hell – esp when you put it against better artists like outkast, jz, jean grey…
KYLE: okay, so who do you think has a better delivery + better writing + better self/socio/political awareness that’s working and putting shit out in the hip hop game right now
JESSE: if outkast is in college of hip hop, emminem is in kindergarten – making poop jokes with 50 cent
outkast – they break the mold – they tear apart ideas and concepts that are so far beyond their contempararies.
opps, that was backwards. he, he
hip hop is certainly about repping yourself, who you are, where you come from, and apologizing for nothing right?
KYLE: I agree, OUtkast has done amazing and innovative things, they are one of my favorite groups, but I think what Eminem does is different, he’s a rapper, his career is of a rapper, not of a group, and so you’re looking at some level of accomplishment for that…
plus if all groups were like Outkast it wouldn’t be that cool
JESSE: all groups don’t have to be Outkast
KYLE: okay where were you going with the apologizing for nothing?
JESSE: I was gonna say that you can still throw down that unrealistic, kinda silly “hip hop” machismo and flare and still not be a dick. jz is as arrogant and tough acting as the others
but jz puts himself on a throne
he’s the king of ny
and everyone calls that motherfucker that
good for him
he doesn’t brag about beating his wife or make gay jokes
KYLE: okay, but eminem puts himself on a kind of throne of disgust and horror and torment, just like a character in a horror movie, as a way to look at his life, which while fictitious, just as fictitous as jz’s throne is, it’s interesting
JESSE: do you like those saw movies?
KYLE: so what are the gay jokes that bother you with eminem?
i like the first one
JESSE: really? Okay, I’m gonna let that one go. he, he
KYLE: i like them for what they are
JESSE: eminem making gay jokes supports and encourages the oppression of a section of out society. How can you possibly defend that?
KYLE: what gay jokes?
like that he uses the word fag?
JESSE: sure – that’s certainly enough
KYLE: okay, so you don’t think that word has any other context beyond being directly aimed at homosexuals
JESSE: Oh I can’t wait to hear what other context you think it might have. Do tell.
JESSE: the audience is waiting…
KYLE: well i think dudes have grown up for years calling eachother fags, and saying ‘that’s gay’, and not meaning that it’s actually homosexual, that if they encountered an actual homosexual person they would be neither violent, nor hateful toward that person, that’s it’s just a thing amongst heterosexuals, to both diffuse the uncomfortability of that reality and to poke fun at eachother, i’m not saying it’s correct or morally responsible, but it exists.
JESSE: Well I’ll say this – I’m not just saying that it’s incorrect to use the word fag in any sort of derogetory manner in art – and I’m not just saying that’s its morrally irresponsible. I’m saying that it ACTIVELY supports the oppression and subjecation of a people.
Eminem, and all artists, are helping to train the brains of this country
it’s not a fair responsiblity
KYLE: dude you sound like a fucking robot, seriously
JESSE: I’m a writer – bite me. he, he. But dude, it’s true.
artists are responsible for their actions
more so than other people
by broadcasting, what IS a hate message – you will produce hate.
KYLE: that sounds like a charter of some crazy liberal group that leaves no room for people not intellectually enlightened
but hate messages are open to interpretation
JESSE: fine. I’m a crazy liberal then. hate messages are NOT open to interpre-fucking-tation.
by saying someone is a fag
or using those terms
we are insinuating that fag=lame=something bad – correct?
fag also = gay person
therefore gay person=something bad
it’s not hippy dippy bullshit – it’s word logic.
KYLE: okay, sorry
i guess I just don’t understand
JESSE: don’t apologize – this is a debate sir
JESSE: it doesn’t take intellectual enlightenment to not step on other people to make ourselves feel bigger. And eminem is a master of stepping on people to make himself taller.
KYLE: i just think people are free to be mildly hateful
JESSE: yes – okay
people are free to be however they want
JESSE: god bless america and all that
KYLE: i don’t think eminem is setting out to have people beat up gay people, or mistreat them
JESSE: I will accept that as truth.
with a BIG old BUT
KYLE: tons of people who listen to eminem treat gay people the same as not gay peole
people, tons of people who hate eminem also hate gay people
I know gay people who like eminem
JESSE: okay – first of all, I’d rather eminem be a nazi fag bashing extremist, then be a guy who just doesn’t think it’s a big deal and doesn’t know he’s supporting real physical violence. it’s okay to be hateful – it’s not okay to not be aware of what you hate. We should own our bigotry in this life.
KYLE: He is aware of what he hates, himself, his wife, his life, his mother, his father, haters, i don’t think eminem hates the gay population, and if someone asked him if he believed in physical violence toward gay people, he would not support it
he would say, that ain’t cool
KYLE: this isn’t that reggaeton crazy shit
JESSE: and secondly, on the topic of gays loving eminem – okay, well first of all we can find people that love everything. the world is big. it’s like saying that you don’t want your daughter marying a nigger and then saying “some of my best friends are black”
saying – oh, it’s okay for me to produce destructive shite because the people don’t know it’s awful is no excuse.
If eminem is this sociopolitically aware angel that you claim – he would realize the effects his words have.. It doesn’t matter if he says -oh, I don’t hate gay people. His art says different. the art is what matters.
and okay reggaeton – glad you brought that up
KYLE: i’m not saying he’s an angel, god no, his art doesn’t say that to me
JESSE: do you support Reggaeton’s freedom to produce their anti-gay work?
KYLE: i don’t listen to it, or buy it, or go to their concerts
JESSE: no no
KYLE: or whatever
JESSE: we’re not talking about how their music sounds
or if they rock or not
KYLE: I know that
JESSE: we’re talking about their FREEDOM
do you support their freedom to produce their music, with whatever lyrics they like?
KYLE: I know, I’m saying I don’t like the idea of listening to music that encourages you, literally to go and beat up fags
JESSE: are you saying that you don’t support their freedom of speech then?
KYLE: no, i’m saying i won’t listen to it, cause I don’t think that’s right, but they should be allowed to make it unfortunately
but I think it’s pretty different than what Eminem does
JESSE: fine – I agree 100 percent with reggaeton’s FREEDOM to produce their music. art is freedom. fuck yeah. but you must accept the consequence your art creates. reggaeton has a lot of lives on their head. I think we both agree on that.
the divide we are having is this
KYLE: okay, but I think that’s different than what Em is doing
JESSE: what is the difference between just casually using words that are used to oppress a people and ACTUALLY going out and doing it.
I would argue that there is no difference.
KYLE: you’re wrong
JESSE: I’ll explain myself then
when we use words – we are doing much more than just making noises. We are bringing ideas into life. it’s amazing. It’s powerful. dude, it’s the reason why I’m a writer.
words are power
KYLE: I know Jesse, I know that words are powerful
JESSE: who weilds the word, rules the world
KYLE: I’m not a nihilist or something,
JESSE: I know I know
I’m just building my bridge here
KYLE: but I do believe that there’s a power and an importance in deconstructing why certain words have the kind of impact they have
JESSE: okay – the black reclaimation of the word “nigger” for example?
KYLE: sure
like I used to hate both of those words so much, but then I realized that they can be used humorously
JESSE: this begs the question
who does the deconstruction of the words and their power then?
KYLE: whoever they hold power over
JESSE: is it fair to put the power of redefining words that have been used for hateful things in the hands of the people that used them?
white people could never have reclaimed the word nigger – they really barely can now a days.
KYLE: it’s not often, and I’m not even saying that eminem has acheived using those words humorously,
but i think I’ve listened to comedians using them in a funny way
it’s like laughing at death
gallows humor
JESSE: Yeah, but I’m saying Eminem doesn’t even have the right to use those words. reclaimation of a word MUST be acheived by the people who suffered under the word.
KYLE: sure reclaimation
JESSE: gallows humor perfect!
KYLE: yeah, sorrybut
JESSE: the man with the axe can’t use gallows humor – only the person’s whose head was going to be cut off…
KYLE: I think everyone uses it fuck, I just think that high-minded kind of ultra-socially aware stuff has it’s place, but how people interact
it’s different than that
it’s sloppier
plus I just think some of his songs are dope, and I never got down to eminem and was all like “shit, I really wanna kill some fags right now”
JESSE: people interacting is certainly sloppy. it’s also more intimate. take you and I – we’re beyond words as insults – but that’s cause we have a relationship
KYLE: yes, sorry I called you a fucking robot
I just like Eminem dude
he’s got some cool songs,
like the song Rainman
JESSE: I am a robot
I’m a big liberal robot of compassion
JESSE: yo
KYLE: what up?
JESSE: sup nigga
KYLE: hahaa
JESSE: I’ve got a cold yo
KYLE: oh no luckily this isn’t audio
JESSE: Yeah, I’m sick and stonned.
KYLE: cause we wouldn’t want you all stuffed up, it’s hard enough to understand black people when they talk
JESSE: fuuuuuck you
it’s not my fault you don’t understand english
KYLE: i’m just kidding
JESSE: oh sure, now you say that
now that you’re scared I’m gonna kick your monkey ass you say that
KYLE: no, i’m just testing out the racial boundaries when it comes to humor, I don’t know how it works
KYLE: Okay, so let me get this straight, not only do you personally not like Eminem, but you think he’s an irresponsible artist, morally and spiritually?
JESSE: yes, yes, morally, artistically, spirtually depraved and, even worse, boring. he sucks on so many different levels that it actual strains my mind to think about it. It’s just too many ways for one man to SUCK.
KYLE: How much Eminem have you listened to? Have your heard that song, My Name is?
JESSE: of course I’ve heard “my name is” – I don’t live under a fucking rock for christsake. (BROOKLYN – WHAT?) he, he
I’ve also heard his solo album – the first one
his work with dre also
KYLE: what, they’re all solo
JESSE: chronic 2000 etc
KYLE: dre was on his first album
JESSE: and he was almost decent on that album, I will admit
BECAUSE OF DRE
I’ll also admit this
eminem can rap – that is, he can say words quickly to a beat. but that’s not even one percent of what it takes to be good yo…
KYLE: well, i think he’s got some good concepts, follows stories through, has a punchline, a funny twist, while not altogether the most intellectual of sentiments, they’re spit in a cool way
JESSE: yeah – that would be where you and I differ in our opinons
JESSE: his concepts are actually simplistic and immature as hell – esp when you put it against better artists like outkast, jz, jean grey…
KYLE: okay, so who do you think has a better delivery + better writing + better self/socio/political awareness that’s working and putting shit out in the hip hop game right now
JESSE: if outkast is in college of hip hop, emminem is in kindergarten – making poop jokes with 50 cent
outkast – they break the mold – they tear apart ideas and concepts that are so far beyond their contempararies.
opps, that was backwards. he, he
hip hop is certainly about repping yourself, who you are, where you come from, and apologizing for nothing right?
KYLE: I agree, OUtkast has done amazing and innovative things, they are one of my favorite groups, but I think what Eminem does is different, he’s a rapper, his career is of a rapper, not of a group, and so you’re looking at some level of accomplishment for that…
plus if all groups were like Outkast it wouldn’t be that cool
JESSE: all groups don’t have to be Outkast
KYLE: okay where were you going with the apologizing for nothing?
JESSE: I was gonna say that you can still throw down that unrealistic, kinda silly “hip hop” machismo and flare and still not be a dick. jz is as arrogant and tough acting as the others
but jz puts himself on a throne
he’s the king of ny
and everyone calls that motherfucker that
good for him
he doesn’t brag about beating his wife or make gay jokes
KYLE: okay, but eminem puts himself on a kind of throne of disgust and horror and torment, just like a character in a horror movie, as a way to look at his life, which while fictitious, just as fictitous as jz’s throne is, it’s interesting
JESSE: do you like those saw movies?
KYLE: so what are the gay jokes that bother you with eminem?
i like the first one
JESSE: really? Okay, I’m gonna let that one go. he, he
KYLE: i like them for what they are
JESSE: eminem making gay jokes supports and encourages the oppression of a section of out society. How can you possibly defend that?
KYLE: what gay jokes?
like that he uses the word fag?
JESSE: sure – that’s certainly enough
KYLE: okay, so you don’t think that word has any other context beyond being directly aimed at homosexuals
JESSE: Oh I can’t wait to hear what other context you think it might have. Do tell.
JESSE: the audience is waiting…
KYLE: well i think dudes have grown up for years calling eachother fags, and saying ‘that’s gay’, and not meaning that it’s actually homosexual, that if they encountered an actual homosexual person they would be neither violent, nor hateful toward that person, that’s it’s just a thing amongst heterosexuals, to both diffuse the uncomfortability of that reality and to poke fun at eachother, i’m not saying it’s correct or morally responsible, but it exists.
JESSE: Well I’ll say this – I’m not just saying that it’s incorrect to use the word fag in any sort of derogetory manner in art – and I’m not just saying that’s its morrally irresponsible. I’m saying that it ACTIVELY supports the oppression and subjecation of a people.
Eminem, and all artists, are helping to train the brains of this country
it’s not a fair responsiblity
KYLE: dude you sound like a fucking robot, seriously
JESSE: I’m a writer – bite me. he, he. But dude, it’s true.
artists are responsible for their actions
more so than other people
by broadcasting, what IS a hate message – you will produce hate.
KYLE: that sounds like a charter of some crazy liberal group that leaves no room for people not intellectually enlightened
but hate messages are open to interpretation
JESSE: fine. I’m a crazy liberal then. hate messages are NOT open to interpre-fucking-tation.
by saying someone is a fag
or using those terms
we are insinuating that fag=lame=something bad – correct?
fag also = gay person
therefore gay person=something bad
it’s not hippy dippy bullshit – it’s word logic.
KYLE: okay, sorry
i guess I just don’t understand
JESSE: don’t apologize – this is a debate sir
JESSE: it doesn’t take intellectual enlightenment to not step on other people to make ourselves feel bigger. And eminem is a master of stepping on people to make himself taller.
KYLE: i just think people are free to be mildly hateful
JESSE: yes – okay
people are free to be however they want
JESSE: god bless america and all that
KYLE: i don’t think eminem is setting out to have people beat up gay people, or mistreat them
JESSE: I will accept that as truth.
with a BIG old BUT
KYLE: tons of people who listen to eminem treat gay people the same as not gay peole
people, tons of people who hate eminem also hate gay people
I know gay people who like eminem
JESSE: okay – first of all, I’d rather eminem be a nazi fag bashing extremist, then be a guy who just doesn’t think it’s a big deal and doesn’t know he’s supporting real physical violence. it’s okay to be hateful – it’s not okay to not be aware of what you hate. We should own our bigotry in this life.
KYLE: He is aware of what he hates, himself, his wife, his life, his mother, his father, haters, i don’t think eminem hates the gay population, and if someone asked him if he believed in physical violence toward gay people, he would not support it
he would say, that ain’t cool
KYLE: this isn’t that reggaeton crazy shit
JESSE: and secondly, on the topic of gays loving eminem – okay, well first of all we can find people that love everything. the world is big. it’s like saying that you don’t want your daughter marying a nigger and then saying “some of my best friends are black”
JESSE: saying – oh, it’s okay for me to produce destructive shite because the people don’t know it’s awful is no excuse.
JESSE: If eminem is this sociopolitically aware angel that you claim – he would realize the effects his words have.. It doesn’t matter if he says -oh, I don’t hate gay people. His art says different. the art is what matters.
and okay reggaeton -
glad you brought that up
KYLE: i’m not saying he’s an angel, god no, his art doesn’t say that to me
JESSE: do you support Reggaeton’s freedom to produce their anti-gay work?
KYLE: i don’t listen to it, or buy it, or go to their concerts
JESSE: no no
KYLE: or whatever
JESSE: we’re not talking about how their music sounds
or if they rock or not
KYLE: I know that
JESSE: we’re talking about their FREEDOM
do you support their freedom to produce their music, with whatever lyrics they like?
KYLE: I know, I’m saying I don’t like the idea of listening to music that encourages you, literally to go and beat up fags
JESSE: are you saying that you don’t support their freedom of speech then?
KYLE: no, i’m saying i won’t listen to it, cause I don’t think that’s right, but they should be allowed to make it unfortunately
but I think it’s pretty different than what Eminem does
JESSE: fine – I agree 100 percent with reggaeton’s FREEDOM to produce their music. art is freedom. fuck yeah. but you must accept the consequence your art creates. reggaeton has a lot of lives on their head. I think we both agree on that.
the divide we are having is this
KYLE: okay, but I think that’s different than what Em is doing
JESSE: what is the difference between just casually using words that are used to oppress a people and ACTUALLY going out and doing it.
I would argue that there is no difference.
KYLE: you’re wrong
JESSE: I’ll explain myself then
when we use words – we are doing much more than just making noises. We are bringing ideas into life. it’s amazing. It’s powerful. dude, it’s the reason why I’m a writer.
words are power
KYLE: I know Jesse, I know that words are powerful
JESSE: who weilds the word, rules the world
KYLE: I’m not a nihilist or something,
JESSE: I know I know
I’m just building my bridge here
KYLE: but I do believe that there’s a power and an importance in deconstructing why certain words have the kind of impact they have
JESSE: okay – the black reclaimation of the word “nigger” for example?
KYLE: sure
KYLE: like I used to hate both of those words so much, but then I realized that they can be used humorously
JESSE: this begs the question
JESSE: who does the deconstruction of the words and their power then?
KYLE: whoever they hold power over
JESSE: is it fair to put the power of redefining words that have been used for hateful things in the hands of the people that used them?
white people could never have reclaimed the word nigger – they really barely can now a days.
KYLE: it’s not often, and I’m not even saying that eminem has acheived using those words humorously,
but i think I’ve listened to comedians using them in a funny way
it’s like laughing at death
gallows humor
JESSE: Yeah, but I’m saying Eminem doesn’t even have the right to use those words. reclaimation of a word MUST be acheived by the people who suffered under the word.
KYLE: sure reclaimation
JESSE: gallows humor perfect!
KYLE: yeah, sorrybut
JESSE: the man with the axe can’t use gallows humor – only the person’s whose head was going to be cut off…
KYLE: I think everyone uses it fuck, I just think that high-minded kind of ultra-socially aware stuff has it’s place, but how people interact
it’s different than that
it’s sloppier
KYLE: plus I just think some of his songs are dope, and I never got down to eminem and was all like “shit, I really wanna kill some fags right now”
JESSE: people interacting is certainly sloppy. it’s also more intimate. take you and I – we’re beyond words as insults – but that’s cause we have a relationship
KYLE: yes, sorry I called you a fucking robot
I just like Eminem dude
he’s got some cool songs,
like the song Rainman
JESSE: I am a robot
I’m a big liberal robot of compassion
Big ups Jesse. Current music blaring from my man’s ride? Some rendition of a hip hop “pussy, money, weed” which to me, is a perfect description for the basic essence of the hip hop movement…while I am blessed to have all three, and my own feminist reclamation of “pussy” allows me some personal liberation from all the bullshit I am constantly accosted by through music- it still exists as a form of massive oppression.
Societies are most maleable post-crisis and at the onset of building up from nothing. South AFrican kids have sure latched on to western hip hop. While SA hip hop has been previously very racially based, describing the struggles towards freedom, the cats have as of recent gotten more on an MTV vibe envoking the sights and sounds of the JZ, Eminem and Kanye revolutions respectively. I would wager that in many ways the misogyny enacted through hip hop DOES have a massive impact on the cultures that dig the music. Music lovers are NOT for the most part creative intellectuals (yes, you are a minority kyle) and most people are so impressionable… basically, these sexy mother fuckers over here in South Africa believe that to truly be HIP HOP then the commodification of women is that simple…”pussy, money, weed” each is a commodity to be purchased or owned…and the PUSSY exists on the margins waiting to be FUCKED by the dudes at the mic.
big ups for this discussion…but we must remember that the majority of the world simply cannot think for themselves, which is why there are so many social epidemics, and why the state of American politics has been totally paralyzed by “partisan politics”. The rugby team battle…conservatives versus liberals, republicans versus democrats…people seem to be following the team they started on…(a raiders fan doesn’t change teams because the boys had a “bad season!”)In this way, people don’t want to think, they want to know from someone smarter how they SHOULD think. Scary state of affairs, but we want dem commodities.
aaaaweee.
Boy this shit was hilarious! Also quite interesting. I LOVED READING IT. Sooo, The Eminem Show is dope… Some quality rage. Being one ‘dem simple folk, I was always way stoked on The Eminem Show’s ‘anti-pop culture pop culture.’ It was both bad ass and entertaining. ‘White America’ is just so rad. Also, its funny to me to make fun of Moby. Not that Moby isn’t totally dope as hell, he just ain’t gangsta. I’m laughing right now listening to My Name Is. “Can’t figure out which Spice Girl I want to impregnate”? I’ve only had that conversation with myself about 100 times. And is there any hetero male in this world who hasn’t daydreamed about hooking up with Cristina Aguilera? So, while Eminem’s impression on the heavily impressionable could be VERY VERY BAD, creating piles upon piles of fake-thugged-out mini gangsters getting shit faced drunk and hauling ass in their cars, and then smoking crack or blowin coke until there is no turning back, to me his funny shit is FUNNY AS HELL! I also think that the ‘Eminem concept’ was a pretty genius way to get rich. This pisses me off, but is still pretty impressive. Good discussion. Jesse, you were VERy persuasive in ALMOST making me feel bad for listening to Eminem, even though I NEVER listen to Eminem any more anyway… But back in the day getting ripped and listening to the Eminem show in my car rollin down dirt roads with a hangover was sweet as hell. I also, growing up in a small town and remaining to this day fairly devoid of any culture but my own, always thought the whole Eminem thing was pretty blown out of proportion and subject to SOOOO much unnecessary scrutiny by EVERYONE… but then again, being so unrelated to all of his subject matter, there was really never any reason for me to be offended by him. Soooo… He’s bad news, but sometimes it’s fun to embrace a little cynicism in life, even though its ‘bad’ and ‘negative’. For example: every time I hear that new jay-z song with alicia keys about New York, I WANT TO BASH MY OWN SKULL AGAINST A CONCRETE SIDEWALK and listen to Big Pimpin’ until I bleed out.
also both of you guys have some totally rad portraits
Bro D – I’m pleased to hear I ALMOST made you feel bad. Next time I’ll blame you for killing a puppy or something and I will succeed in making you cry. he, he. On a sidenote: the JayZ/Alicia Keys song frackin rocks – mostly cause it’s about NYC. And anything about NYC rocks. It’s just a law of nature – like gravity. Or the fact that Kyle is lame.
I love that song. I should also note here that I love modern R & B, especially the dream, so unfortunately I’m not a very good source for quality music, I guess I shouldn’t mention those things as music editor of this site. Thanks for your comments guys, except for you Jesse.
We own words; not the other way around. They would be nothing without us. Two words that have taken on multiple meanings over the years, depending on who is giving them power, are ‘gay’ and ‘faggot’. For example, ‘The day was gay, as the night was long.’ or, ‘Quiet down, faggot, I’m trying to read.’
Neither sentence has anything to do with homosexuality.
Songs can be just songs, but they can also be stories. We wouldn’t tell a screen writer or novelist that they couldn’t have one character kill the other or steal or call the other a faggot, because bad shit really happens and art is reflective of that, and thank whatever god you believe in, because stories would be weak without sin and villains. And music would be boring if every song was promoting a positive message; that’s not reality. Take away all of the musical artists spouting off different ‘offensive’ words, and reality will still be there, prejudice included. In fact, the problems we do have would be resolved quicker if we stopped blaming art for our reality. Regardless, banning a word with multiple meanings because one of them is derogatory gives all the power to that meaning and the people who support it. Like verbal terrorism. Just because Eminem has gotten as big as he is, doesn’t mean he should feel an obligation to shape his lyrics around what is socially acceptable. Censorship is the devil; words are ours. And. . . scene. For an interesting, hilarious take on fags, watch South Park’s “The F-Word.”