Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

Ah, seems my ad blocker was doing it's thing a little too well, opening in a new window works.

 

#127384 of cancelleable offenses now includes using the wrong accent. Be careful out there folks!

https://deadline.com/2022/02/awkwafina-addresses-blaccent-aave-criticism-1234927325/

 

The use of AAVE by non-black people bringing up discussions about cultural appropriation is not new

 

I've noticed through this "cancel culture" panic of the last few years that there seems to be a major failure to distinguish "this is a new crazy thing that people are offended by" from "this is a thing people have been offended by for decades that I'm just now hearing about because the internet"

 

On the contrary, it's because people of good will can distinguish between actual injustice (as defined by our Classical Liberal heritage) and manipulative/unhinged "identity politics" that such things are seen for what they are.

Meanwhile, just over the mountains the tanks/artillery of Fr. Bliss are fire training again, shaking my house with 15-25hz rumble. This begins third week in a row. Since I lived here 14 years, they have never practiced more than a handful of days in a row that I can remember. Wonder if they are doing it for the Russian satellites. I understand even CNN/MSNBC (don't watch them myself) are giving the warhawks lots of screentime. What happened to the left in this country?!?

 

Yeah, I don't buy it. People are just inclined to be offended by different perceived injustices, "actual" or not, regardless of how "good" their will is.

 

Good and evil, particularly when it comes to the human will, is certainly a hard sell to nihilists. The irony of nihilists talking in terms of "justice" is not lost on most folks of good will

 

I feel offended by people who feel offended by me not caring about this whole gender cancel thing.

 

It was said in jest (hence the ridiculously long number). I know it's not new.

 

Well, CNN and MSNBC giving airtime to hawks and various, er, "defense community figures" isn't that new. If you tuned into CNN during the Afghanistan withdrawal, you got to hear some, uh, very innovative pitches from a combination of defense industry figures (who weren't described as defense industry figures) and human right NGO types about what, exactly, the purpose of the US military is. Pretty much 24/7, too.

MSNBC is one thing, but I would hesitate to describe CNN's politics as "the left". They're certain very far off in a direction, but it's not on that axis. The unmistakable horror on the faces of certain of their anchors when anyone mentions anything that might personally cost them money should give a hint.

 

I'm waiting for Trump to have a beautiful perfect conversation with Putin!

 

Thanks. Now I know what AAVE is. So... I guess the whole hippy lingo of 60s had it's roots in AAVE? Man?

Very difficult to know what to think about cultural appropriation. That may be because I'm white. Hah... nobody ever needed to appropriate white culture: we forced it on them for free!

If, in UK, I dressed like I do every day in India, I'd probably be accused of cultural appropriation... by white people. In India, nobody cares. In fact, a foreign guy in a doti or a woman in a sari gets praised.

 

They are essentially pushing for war. It is enough that Trump would be very reluctant to start the war, so they must have it.
To the point that the president of Ukraine Zelensky went public saying in diplomatic language to the American media "can you please shut the f**k up, we are not in a war here". At this point MSNBC/CNN are working for Putin. If he wants to speak to the Russians about the NATO thread, he only needs to put CNN feed in Russian airports.
I have direct info from Poland and the government media, and defense analysts are very calm about the situation. And this is the country that should be and would be alarmed.
Some of Putin demands are reasonable, do not include Ukraine in NATO, some are unacceptable and he knows it. His positions is simply to drop those demands for the NATO declaration on Ukraine.
And expanding NATO to directly face Russia is in nobody's interest, and Europe will resists it.
I am from the part of the world that do not trust Russia with anything but the fact that the US decided to make Russia the main enemy in the face of Chinese threat is so idiotic that, if done for one party political gain, is the ultimate example of the corruption of the American political class.

And Biden is not a negotiation partner for someone like Putin, that's a real problem.

 

I too have a significant connection with Ukraine. I think it's important to remember that here in USA, both parties gain from playing the Russian Bear card, and they both play it in more or less equal proportion. Both parties are beholden to the military industrial complex, and thus having the American taxpayer fund an American Army/Navy/Air Force for Europe (aka "NATO"). Both parties are also beholden to China, our de facto industrial base, and so are only reluctantly pivoting that direction.

Just throwing this out as I know nothing of "Awkwafina", but perhaps she did not want to live a lie?

 

Personally, I don't have any issue with Awkwafina's "blaccent" or use of AAVE. She definitely plays it up in some of her performances, but there's a difference between character choices that make sense (and that obviously come in part from her actual life, interests and experiences) and something that strays into the territory of being an insulting caricature. This is largely an issue now because a lot of Black Twitter found her nomination for an NAACP Image Award to be unwarranted, so I suspect it will mostly blow over for her.

 

Pretty much. Back when living in NYC I met plenty of people who weren't black speaking in AAVE (including a lot of second gen Asians). Unless you were one of those white liberals who had problems with AAVE when no one else was looking, nobody gave a shit.