On M.I.A.'s "Born Free" Video: More Faddish Political Pastiche
Ha ha, made you mad.
It seems like the only thing people will get up in arms about these days is the misanthropy that makes them feel okay about doing so little.
I'm gonna go ahead and opt out of responding to the rest of your reply, since it's rhetorical nonsense. This was fun, though.
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On M.I.A.'s "Born Free" Video: More Faddish Political Pastiche
I'm not saying that even a substantial fraction of the people exposed to this video will give a shit, but one or five per thousand will. It's not idealism, it's just statistics. & The more the merrier.
I get it. It's fashionable to be cynical; it's fashionable to be blasé. But if you and the rest of the cool-dude ironists had their way, fewer people in this world would be politically minded. And that's something even you don't want.
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On M.I.A.'s "Born Free" Video: More Faddish Political Pastiche
I guess what I'm getting at is that yes it's unearned, yes it's excessive, yes it's cheap, yes it's glib, but any idiot can and will make the connection to the salient real-world analogues.
She doesn't need to make a statement here. You pointed it out yourself: to take any sort of stand or make any sort of statement against genocide would be stupid because it's redundant, like saying "bad things are bad."
This video is vacuous in the same that the word "there" in "There is a sheep in the field" is vacuous. If all you're saying is that something exists, you don't need robust syntax. And I think that's all this video needs to accomplish: "Genocide exists. Watch this doe-eyed child get shot in the head. Looks like your little brother, don't he?" It could have been handled more intelligently. It could be less heavy-handed. But this video obviously isn't about subtlety, and it gets the job done.
Is it bad art? Arguably, yeah. Is it politically impotent? Absolutely not. What most bothered me about Choire's post was that, to my (extremely marxist) mind, his anxieties about how money plays into this equation got misdirected into a pretty flawed assessment of the art itself, which is a very common result of what happens when participants in capitalist ideology (myself included) butt up against something unsavory in capitalism: the money issue gets ignored. Attention gets directed away from the money.
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On M.I.A.'s "Born Free" Video: More Faddish Political Pastiche
Just because this video (and MIA in general) is a manifestation of the commodifcation of political activism doesn't mean can't be culturally catalytic. That this video doesn't foist a specific interpretation upon the viewer doesn't make it politically incoherent.
In fact, the notion of coherence is a total red herring here. This is less a narrative than a snapshot of a pretty run of the mill genocide. That it takes place in an alt-universe dystopia where gingers are the victims and some vague totalitarian institution whose strong arm is mixed-race is nothing but Freudian distortion. If it'd been, say, a snapshot reenacting the Rwandan genocide, your gut reaction would have been even more violent repulsion. I'd say it's because you KNOW this video is going to help her sell records. This video is money in the bank for MIA and her label. That's what grosses you out.
But this video will jolt a few teenage ne'er-do-wells into a heightened sense of global awareness. Is this video superficial? Of course. Is MIA cashing in? Absolutely. Will more young Americans pick up and read the newspaper tomorrow because of it? I think so. For this reason, this video is, in some small way, a force for good. That some of these young Americans will end up buying a Che Guevara shirt from Wal-Mart is a separate issue entirely.
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On Let's Not Forget That Alexander McQueen Worked For Worst Industry Ever
a+
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On God, Doesn't The "Beer Summit" Seem Like Ages Ago?
"Gates in turn donated them to the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian."
And the award for least down to earth person of all time goes to...
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On Listicle Without Commentary: 21 Songs That Prove 2010 Has Been A Startlingly Good Year For New Music So Far
the clause, "2010 Has Been A Startlingly Good Year For New Music So Far" doesn't count as commentary? just sayin.