Nelly video offends some DC area students


Originally posted by Deuce
BILLBREW,

Yeah, we as a people do have "big fish" to fry, such as black-on-black crime, the exploitation of our sisters, AIDS and other issues to name a few. But what you don't realize is that these "big fish" have been feasting on, and fattened up by the very images that are displayed in these videos.

These videos that may seem like harmless entertainment are shaping the thoughts and minds of our young people and influencing their thoughts, thus influencing their actions. The glamourization of guns and violence, showing all black men as thugs and black women as "ho's", the emphasis on material things - are all feeding those "bigger fish" that you alluded to.

These images are also influencing how others perceive us, whether we like it or not.

These images are not just seen in this country, as I have said before, if you wonder why Asians, Hispanics and other ethnic groups come to this country with NO RESPECT for us, then look no further than your local video channel.
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Well you need to take that up with the artists. Don't fault BET for showing the videos, fault Nelly and others for making the songs. Once again, it wouldn't exist if there was not an audience for it, so apparently some of "us" are keeping these artists afloat. Hell, if your school-aged child is up watching Uncut at 3am EST or buying certain CDs with your money, then that is a parental issue.

Others have and will continue to stereotype us regardless of what is on television or in the media. These images came from somewhere. The "thug" persona wasn't just dreamt up by some rap artist and drug dealers and pimps were idolized in some Black neighborhoods long before the first rap record was even made. We need to clean up our own neighborhoods and stop trying to blame everyone and everything else for our own damn problems. If there were no "gangstas" there would be no "gangsta rap" and no one could speak on "pimps and hos" if there were no pimps or whores.

Long before a young man from Oakland named Todd Shaw decided to name an album "Born to Mack", there were movies posters for "The Mack" declaring "There is a new type of hero on the streets!". Long before The Notorious B.I.G., Jay-Z, Master P, etc. spoke of the drug trade in records people were watching and cheering the exploits of a drug dealer named Priest on the big screen. We can't blame BET, MTV, or other outlets for problems and issues that existed in the Black community long before they came around. We need to clean up our own front yards before asking others to clean theirs. If someone's mind is weak enough to allow a record, video, or movie to alter their persona or outlook on life, that is on them.

TO ALL: If you have such a problem with BET or other media outlets as far as their portrayal of Blacks, what are you going to do about it? That's right, you are not going to do a damn thing. You are just going to sit on the SWACpage, Black Planet, Black Voices, and other message boards whining about how they portray us. Where are the actual boycotts or protests? People are quick to get on the net and cry about how they hate this television show or that movie but it is all hot air. Nothing will ever be done if you are just going to sit in front of your computer and complain.


By the way, there is only one "L" in "BILBREW":)
 
Originally posted by BILBREW
. . . Don't fault BET for showing the videos, fault Nelly and others for making the songs.

. . . it wouldn't exist if there was not an audience for it, so apparently some of "us" are keeping these artists afloat.
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BILBREW,

If you go back and read one of my first posts on this issue, you'll see where I stated that NEITHER BET NOR THE ARTIST is to blame.

I said then, and I repeat, those of us who support this TRASH are to blame.

Just as you stated above "some of us are keeping these artists afloat". And that is precisely what I have a problem with.
 



Originally posted by Deuce
BILBREW,

If you go back and read one of my first posts on this issue, you'll see where I stated that NEITHER BET NOR THE ARTIST is to blame.

I said then, and I repeat, those of us who support this TRASH are to blame.

Just as you stated above "some of us are keeping these artists afloat". And that is precisely what I have a problem with.
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Hey, you can't stop people from buying what they wish to buy.
 
R American blax the only "group," if you will, that publicly demean their women? Well, hold on. The local hispanic channels do the same thing although I can't understand what the hell they be saying in their songs. lol

BET gone have every white man in America pushing up on sista's for some azz because of the way those women dance, move, dress on BET. lol
 
Originally posted by Justin
How bout this, DON'T WATCH THE ****ING VIDEO!!!
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True, but that is not an excuse to show an explicit video. My protest against BET is simply not to watch BET. BET is a totally differnt station from the days of Donnie Simpson and Sherrie Carter.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There is no excuse for showing all the white shows on tv that show white people, cursing, killing, Ho'in for husbands or wives, advertising NYPD BLUES upcomming nude scenes, etc, etc.

Why is it that any other race can do ANYTHING they want and we let it go like good little second class citizens.
But let a black make a legal video, shown at 3am, and it's the end of the black race. Forget the fact that these people made the choice, just like WHITE entertainers, to work in this job arena.

I could care less ............. Don't like it, don't watch. We are real quick to condem and protest blacks doing stuff like this on tv, but a white show, that do the same thing will stay on for years and none of you will say one word about it. Hell -- most of you will watch like your lives depended on it week after week.

"Sex in the City" anyone ............. 5 white women, Ho'in their way through New York. Do this degrade all white women?

Damm ................ :rolleyes:
 
Hey Yall,

Forgive me for givin' a dayum about black people.

I don't particularly care what white folks are doing in their videos and TV shows. They don't have the same problems and issues that we have. They can afford to have a few negative images of themselves on TV because they have so many positive ones to balance it off.

And that is the main issue here. Balance. Our images on TV appear to be OVERWHELMINGLY violent, sexual or downright ignorant.

I just believe that we as a people are better than that, and we deserve better than that.
 
And shows like the one's I mentioned above are all american.

Everybody else can do anything, but we have to limit ourselves, even in the make-believe world of entertainment, to get the approval of people that will NEVER give a damm about us as a whole anyway.

Their are Plenty of positive examples in the real world and on tv for blacks to see. We just are not satisfied unless we are in the mindset of the "crab in a barrel" against anyone that don't meet other races standards.
 
Originally posted by jstate83

Everybody else can do anything, but we have to limit ourselves, even in the make-believe world of entertainment, to get the approval of people that will NEVER give a damn about us as a whole anyway.
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I just felt that needed to be stated again a little louder.
 
Jstate83,

It's not about meeting the "other races standards", it's about having higher standards for OURSELVES.

I'm not looking to get anyone else's approval, I just want to see a more balanced portrayal of the kind of people we really are, especially in videos because they are so powerful and so widely seen.
 
This is pointless. There are positive images of Blacks out there and we are all free to form our own opinions on what we wish to see or do not wish to see. It all goes back to a simple solution: If you do not wish to see it, TURN THE DAMN CHANNEL.

We can go in circles about this all day, but in the end the videos will still be there and people will still buy the music. Honestly, I don't have a problem with them at all.
 
Originally posted by jstate83
Why is it that any other race can do ANYTHING they want and we let it go like good little second class citizens.

We are real quick to condem and protest blacks doing stuff like this on tv, but a white show, that do the same thing will stay on for years and none of you will say one word about it.
Damm ................ :rolleyes:
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Lemme try to follow this logic----because white folk or any other group does any and everything on tv, music, etc. and no one complains, then black folk should feel free to do the same? and not complain? Oooooooooo.......k :rolleyes:
 



Originally posted by Deuce
Jstate83,

It's not about meeting the "other races standards", it's about having higher standards for OURSELVES.

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I understand what you are saying about "higher standards". But since when has the entertainment industry, (white black, asian, etc), given a dang about "HIGH STANDARDS" when it comes to content.

I sure blacks don't watch these videos at night, then go to the office the next day in a G-String dancing like a Centerfold's dancer for the staff. IT ENTERTAINMENT ........ THAT'S ALL. It may not be the kind you want to watch, but there is a market for it.

And Black women are not the only ones doing this ............. REMEMBER KID ROCK AT THE SUPERBOWL. CHECK OUT HIS AND OTHER WHITE VIDEOS THAT ARE PLAYED IN PRIMETIME --- NOT 3AM.
 
Originally posted by BILBREW
This is pointless.

. . . . It all goes back to a simple solution: If you do not wish to see it, TURN THE DAMN CHANNEL.
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It's only "pointless" because you're not getting my point.

For the umpteenth time, it's not about whether I want to see these videos on TV. I think it's pretty obvious that I DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM, AND I DON'T WATCH THEM.

But that is NOT THE POINT.

The point is that these videos should not be on TV AT ALL regardless of how many people want to see them.

There are all sorts of degrading activities that SOMEBODY would watch if they were put on TV, but that in itself should not be an excuse to show it.
 
Originally posted by FAB5
Lemme try to follow this logic----because white folk or any other group does any and everything on tv, music, etc. and no one complains, then black folk should feel free to do the same? and not complain? Oooooooooo.......k :rolleyes:
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oooooo.....k,

Limit ourselves.

Why don't they just quit making records or videos and go back to the cowboy day's of the 80's crack wars. They will be off tv and back on a street near you.

How's that logic.
 
Originally posted by BILBREW
This is pointless. There are positive images of Blacks out there and we are all free to form our own opinions on what we wish to see or do not wish to see. It all goes back to a simple solution: If you do not wish to see it, TURN THE DAMN CHANNEL.

We can go in circles about this all day, but in the end the videos will still be there and people will still buy the music. Honestly, I don't have a problem with them at all.
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True. True.

I'm having issues w/ it still. Of course, my young'un doesn't watch BET ever as I've permanently banned it from the crib. But still, I do wonder about those images and how they're perpetuated.

It's especially hard for me because I live and thrive in one world and look @ others in this other world that I really feel for. I can go weeks w/out seeing anyone of color (literally) between my work location and where I live and even attending church down the street from where I live. I care for people of color in this country and really have a hard time adopting a "if you don't see it, it shouldn't bother you" paradigm.

You all are right though. One of the rights that our forefathers fought so valiantly for was the right to exercise and have unlimited access to everything. That includes rights such as video production. :tup: All of that for a generation that as SOON as they open their mouth, I hear a bunch of BS, look @ a bunch of BS w/ sagging pants (including girls), are about a bunch of BS and don't desire to work for anything, etc... Not that all of them are like that, but, quite a few head down that path. That's quite a few too many to me.
 
Originally posted by Panthro
. . . One of the rights that our forefathers fought so valiantly for was the right to exercise and have unlimited access to everything. That includes rights such as video production . . .
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Panthro,

You've probably heard the old saying, "with rights, come responsibility".

I'm sure that as our forefathers (civil rights movement) marched, fought and died for our rights, they hoped that we would use those rights "responsibly".

I don't think we're doing that.

Our people didn't march from Selma to Montgomery so that our sisters could have the right to bend over in front of a camera. They didn't face water hoses and dogs in Birmingham so that one day we would beam images of ourselves as thugs to the four corners of the globe.

I could go on and on. But you get my point. Even if BILBREW doesn't.
 
I've enjoyed reading the posts on this thread. It's interesting to see the different viewpoints as it relates to BET's programming.

I have been critical of BET for some time now. As someone posted above, the network has changed drastically since the days of Donnie Simpson and Sherrie Carter. Personally, I watch as little of BET as I can. The only "decent" program they have is their nightly newscasts. As for the programming itself, I think it is destroying the minds of many of our young brothers and sisters. Shows such as Lead Story and BET Tonight were cancelled, while the network broadcasts rap videos over 90% of its programming.

Now, while many will say "well, MTV shows the same videos," they would be correct in that assessment. My problem with BLACK Entertainment Television, is that we should EXPECT a higher quality of representation of ourselves. After all, how long did we complain about the "images" of Black folks on tv?


There is a responsibility that WE ALL have to bear. The best thing we as consumers (who care about the images the network presents of us) can do is NOT WATCH BET AT ALL!

The next responsibility falls on the shoulders of those artists whose videos permeate the airwaves.
Many of these artists care only about the "bling-bling," that they can acquire by making these vulgar and obnoxious videos, so convincing them to do otherwise is almost a fruitless effort.


What we have to hope for is a "revelation." A revelation that reinvigorates our pride in our heritage, and respect for what our foreparents endured to get us to this juncture. A revelation that will remind us that BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL! A revelation that demands that our young brothers and sisters prepare themselves to be "movers and shakers" in business and industry, and not on music videos. A revelation that instills a sense of responsibility for how we presents ourselves to the nation, and the world!


That is all.
 
Originally posted by jstate83

Why don't they just quit making records or videos and go back to the cowboy day's of the 80's crack wars.
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Nobody said stop making videos/records...just clean 'em up and be creative. The 80's videos and music are nursery school material compared to what's out there now. Every video out today whether edgy or not has the same concept ---women shakin' it up and brothers wearing insane amounts of jewlery (rented most likely) and throwbacks. But, in the end live and let live i say, just don't try to cold cock lil' Shay Shay and her friends at her b'day party......for 5 yr. olds when they're droppin' it, bouncin' and grindin'. It's not their fault, they could've change the channel.:shame:
 
Originally posted by FAB5
But, in the end live and let live i say, just don't try to cold cock lil' Shay Shay and her friends at her b'day party......for 5 yr. olds when they're droppin' it, bouncin' and grindin'. It's not their fault, they could've change the channel.:shame:
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Ah .......................:idea: ......................... Fab5 .............

If Shay Shay and friends are "droppin it like it's hot" at a birthday party for 5 year olds then the only person that need to be cold-cocked is the >>>>>>PARENTS.
 
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