The Occasional Observer

Breitbart did a fabulous job putting a timeline to the "reporting" done on the Zimmerman trial by the MSM.   Misinformation, hyperbole, and slander were present a plenty, with each new bit of race-baiting built on the foundation of yesterday's falsehood.   Please give the Breitbart story a read here.

In this case, it is the loss of Trayvon Martin's life that is most tragic.  Prayers and best wishes to his family, who undoubtedly feel like the scabs have been ripped off these deep and still healing wounds.

That said, the public disservice done by the media in creating a fire storm, one that did not fit the facts of the case, may be the most disturbing.  One might even call it a high-tech lynching, available via streaming video and RSS syndication.    It went low-tech when Al Sharpton (of Tawana Brawley fame) led demonstrations that managed to intimidate the State Attorney's office into bringing charges the police had determined were unwarranted.

The press built this narrative one step at a time.  Rather than admit that there was no evidence as to who began the physcial altercation, the press "profiled" Zimmerman as a racist.   When Zimmerman said "these guys always get away,"  the press told you "these guys" meant "black people," not "burglars."

WARNING: THE BOTTOM HALF OF THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS HIP-HOP LYRICS RAW AND UNCENSORED. THEY ARE INAPPROPRIATE FOR EVERYONE, MYSELF INCLUDED.

This is an interesting little case study.

Step 1: Write an article that is purportedly about how hip-hop (and the hip-hop "community") will either be a boon or a millstone for Obama.

Step 2: Before answering the purported main point of the article, fire off a bunch of statements, in the guise of premises, which are of dubious truthfulness (see below, on the nature of hip hop). But since you're still waiting for the "answer", you aren't really paying attention yet.

Step 3: Having filled the reader's brain with false premises, conclude by never answering your own question. There is the hint that hip-hop is probably a boon to Obama, b/c the artists can "build his brand", but the author leaves it in the words of Simmons. Hence, nothing to argue with if you're on media watch.

My favorite part is the false premise, under the cover of a quotation, which has the double-whammy effect of painting those who don't like hip hop as racist, since they "don't udnerstand it" and must be assuming the worst for racial reasons:

"Hip-hop's public image makes it a hot potato," said Bakari Kitwana, of the Study of Race, Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago. "People don't know what it is so they equate it with hyper-sexuality, violence and drug culture."

Yeah. Don't know where I got that crazy idea.

Just to put Kitwana's theory to an unscientific test, I surfed over to BET.com and sampled from the first few hyperlinks that presented themselves to me. Behold:

Hypersexualized? Nah...
The first 20 seconds of Pitbull, who was #5 on their "hot 5" list. By 20 seconds in, he lets you know that he f**ks like a porn star.

Mike Jones w/ Hurricane Chris. Since I couldn't figure out what he was saying, I took the liberty of going to rap basement.com to get the lyrics. This man can rhyme:

SHE KNOW WHEN I GET INSIDE IMA F**K UP HER WALLS MAN...

NOW PUT YO RIGHT HAND IN THE AIR
PUT THE LEFT ONE IN YO UNDERWEAR
NOW TICKLE DAT CAT,TICKLE DAT CAT
NOW TICKLE DAT CAT,TICKLE DAT CAT
OOOOH SHE ACT A FOOL ON THE DICK
FOOL ON THE DICK SHE ACT A FOOL ON THE DICK
FOOL ON THE DICK NOW GET SICK WITH IT


Violent? Nah...

Here's my man Ace Hood (at least there's some truth in advertising):

eh knock knock, bang bang
where the cash at
if u ain't got it leave you bloody like a tampax
come up swinging at you thugs aflac
then i fall in the sway back may back
see im back for da money like i left dat
see i be runnin on the route where da cash go (where da cash go)
and any nigga interfering with the cash flow so he can get pumped on like Citgo
make his body bounce bounce like a 64
tall clips chrome lips see the big gold
im a duffle bag boy like i move coke big crack threw tha music so the flow dope
i keep my money ova bitches til da door close
i need money like a bitch need dick mo
im tryna c it like a muhfuckin castro rubber bands in my pants and a swift bankroll

Drug Culture? Nah...

Enter Huey with his "Tell Me This":

Committee, how we living, never tricking that’s a felony
I stay so hi-i-i-i-i-igh

The amazing part about pulling these lyrics is I didn't have to know a thing about hip hop. I went to BET, and checked out the songs they were featuring ON THEIR FRONT PAGE. Here are the dang screen shots.