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Received this comment yesterday from "Anonymous"
"What would this show do that Three Six Mafia hasn't already done? Personally, I'm sick of the argument about positive images versus negative ones. Black people spend too much time being offended and not enough time creating significant commercial art (this coming from a successful black television comedy writer, and no I'm not some knee-jerk conservative).
I seriously doubt the show is offensive (let's not talk about how "offensive" is a relatively pointless word, less useful than even "obscene"... and we all know the definition for that one). It's probably just bad. Just like "Flavor of Love" is bad and "House of Payne" is bad and "Two and a Half Men" is bad.I can't wait for the day we stop acting like victims and feeling we've been done harm. Of course, by then we'll probably be demographically insignificant to the point where no one will care anyway (12% of the population and falling...). "
From Invisible Woman: Interesting. In all honesty, I get tired of the protests too, believe it or not. But what I'm more tired of is no quality black programming. If you still feel the same after viewing this clip link below of what is to be on "A Hot Ghetto Mess" Anonymous, well, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I truly welcome them all.
All ya'll, check this ISH out-an actual segment for "Hot Ghetto Mess"(MUST SEE...NSFW!):
http://www.jumpoff.tv/thejumpoff.php?bcpid=474419195&bclid=491212975&bctid=490688445
4 comments:
Yes, it's base, but so are "Girls Gone Wild" and Japanese game shows.
I think for the most part we're on the same page. Images matter. The attitude of Sudanese refugees toward African-Americans in the recent documentary "God Grew Tired of Us" illustrates this point clearly. If boys who grew up in a refugee camp think black Americans and criminals and gangsters, what is the rest of the world supposed to think?
Still, it's only a symptom of the real problem. The Hot Ghetto mess "controversy" has already been written about in the NY and LA Times and I'm sure there's more media coverage to come, but none of it will draw real attention to the disease (the war on drugs, the prison culture, the dissolving black family). And I believe its this constant appeal to image by the middle class that is, in part, diverting attention from creating a true, and much needed social movement to address the particular situation of the urban poor (no jobs, bad schools, etc.) This should be a civil rights issue, but it's not, because there's split focus.
We live in a world were porn's a mouse click away and millions of people tune in to see if they're "Smarter Than a Fifth Grader". "Hot Ghetto Mess", to me, just seems like our contribution to a lowest common denominator culture. The problem arises when Jesse, Al and the boys use those media moments to address their concerns, rather than tackle what really are difficult and socially progressive agendas. It's far to easy, and relatively self-indulgent, to get offended. To cure the disease, rather than the symptoms, well, that's going to take more than being offended.
P.S., great news about Giancarlo Esposito, he's fantastic. And again, enjoy reading the site.
Like you i'm tired of the complaining. Black people are quick to sit back and not do anything and get mad that nobody is doing anything....then when someone does something they get mad because they didn't do it right. yes the show might be bad and ridiculous, but how many of us are actually going to sit there and watch the show, and tune in every week.....let me tell you, the same people complaining are going to be the same people watching it religiously........I know i will it might not get blog time but i'll watch
I hear you invisible woman. I guess the thing we need to remember is Black Entertainment Television is not black owned. Viacom is the one dictating how we are represented on the BET network. Viacom is not acting in the interest of the black community at large. BET only represents a very small percentage of black entertainment. Our culture is multi-dimensional...BET has yet to even scratch the surface. "Hot Ghetto Mess" is a mess indeed. And I am quite sure that Charlie Murhpy is going to provide insightful social commentary...not!
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