bell hooks Pt 1 cultural criticism and transformation

[coolkid818181]

HONEY BADGER

[alyaasi]

Thinking creativity can put you in a stage of people that think out of the box. Most of the people think in the same way. As a person I think creativity is to watch the other side of everything and start from a point that nobody could think about. To be honest, it is wonderful to be creative because you will be different.

[SubliminalMinded2011]

what separates Black students from poor neighborhoods and White students from priviledged suburbs is NOT knowledge,... its a sense of ENTITLEMENT.

"in a patronizing way, education just says all those people need is tools to survive, so they can get a job."

THAT right there is what I've been thinking, but just couldn't find the right words to articulate that thought.

[featheon]

Race is not a biological reality; it is a social reality.

[ZoltanKH]

@featheon That's why you can tell race from bone structure

[featheon]

@ZoltanKH Ignorant comment. That was a theory proposed by German nationalists in the late 19th century to try and use evolution to justify race prejudice; and it was subsequently discredited. Search any scientific journal archive (JSTOR), and then you can sit the fuck down. There is nothing natural about racial classifications. We decide what make them based on arbitrary cultural distinctions.

[SandrineSoprano]

Media people have much power than Politicians

[suddenlyitsobvious]

"Transform our lives" through "thinking critically"?

Please. We're obviously dealing with someone who has escaped her initial conditions, has "made it" and wants to inspire.

Does she even realize the system CAN ONLY WORK if only a tiny minority "MAKES IT"?

Transforming our lives...ONE BILLION PEOPLE STARVING in the world!

She obviously hasn't transcended her racial and background issues, sees it all in that ghettto-perspective.

It's not about blacks & education but EDUCATION full stop.

[suddenlyitsobvious]

"Popular culture is a site where there CAN BE an interplay..."

When she pronounced this @ 3.0, it became QUITE CLEAR the woman has no clue whatsoever about the scope of media- & Hollywood influence on the public mind, how these TOOLS are OWNED & USED.

Sure, we can look at how Hollywood, pop-culture portrays blacks, gays etc & this can be quite interesting.

However, if we don't include the notion of INTENT, ownership of media, social engineering, the exercice is shallow & misses the point.

[aminilu7987]

@suddenlyitsobvious "Popular culture is a site where there CAN BE an interplay..." When she pronounced this @ 3.0, it became QUITE CLEAR the woman has no clue whatsoever about the scope of media- & Hollywood influence on the public mind, how these TOOLS are OWNED & USED.

She's referring to cultural theory. OBVIOUSLY there are hegemonic cultural values but there is always interplay of power and values - otherwise we'd never have social change!

[suddenlyitsobvious]

@aminilu7987

"She's referring to cultural theory."

Why would you attempt to frame an explicit statement that stands on it own within some theoretical body of work like "cultural theory"?

The sentence "Popular culture is a site where there can be an interplay" is clearly HERS.

I find this tentative formulation VERY REMARKABLE. "CAN BE"?

[Mjhavok]

Good stuff from Bell

One point though; specific liberal white men? That isn't how I would categorise Mel Gibson. White and male yes. Liberal? No.

[sistaoutsider]

Fuck WMG censorship!

If you want to know why YouTube is muting videos

type:

"YouTube vs Warner Music Group (WMG) vs US, With new information"

in the search box

[robertwc82]

"what ever happened to fair use. oh yeah!"

-Duff Man

i have watched way too much Simpsons lol

[robertwc82]

@robertwc82 you can never watch too much Simpsons. the Simpsons played a big role in shaping my world veiw, it shows reality for how it is.

[Whatevah24]

BELL HOOKS!

[discursivity]

If you're tired of hearing about oppression, that's just too bad. You wanna know what society would look like if people WEREN'T talking about oppression (what you call "whining")? Look at North Korea.

[discursivity]

"My point is, just wait a generation or two, and you'll have a new top dog to annoy you."

Tell that to the thousands of black men who are wasting away in the U.S. gulag system (i.e. the prison industrial complex). They, and the rest of the world, can't wait. Perhaps there will always be some form of oppression, but the only, and I mean the ONLY reason our world isn't absolutely tyrannical is that people are constantly struggling against every form of oppression.

[Thelookout]

She's affable and smart, but it just seems like she's basically whining about things. So "Braveheart" was about a white hero produced by white men. Big deal. There have been plenty of black hero movies produced by black men, just not as much. In 80 years, when whites are a minority group, there will probably be less white movies, will that suffice? One day white men will not be at the top of the social heirarchy. Someone else will. And then you can complain about him.

[merhaba234]

I see what you mean, but I disagree... I think that it's a real concern that blacks are notoriously portrayed as the foes and women are portrayed as useless whores. That was the point of her argument - not that we have more films produced by white *men* as opposed to black.

[Brooklyn1919]

Name the black hero moives produced by black men smart ass.

[Thelookout]

The insult wasn't neccessary, but I'll indulge you. Now i don't know if the produccers were black, but ultimately, it's not important, because the heroes were. The black swim team movie, The Great Debaters, Finding Forester, A slew of Denzel W. movies, Spike Lee movies, Will Smith movies, Wesley Snipes, Drum line, etc. etc.

[Thelookout]

But the black hero movies is not the point. She is just complaining that white men are at the top. We've heard it all before. White priviledge is bad, and must be exposed and ridiculed. My point is, just wait a generation or two, and you'll have a new top dog to annoy you.

[mysignifier]

At the opening of the video, hooks describes the importance of analytical thinking, particularly in relation to popular culture. I think that's her key argument. If we begin to view popular culture through an analytical lens, we'll start to recognize the race, gender and class tropes, and by discussing them, can perhaps work toward ridding ourselves of this institutionalized racist and sexist structures that produces a sort of neurotic superiority/inferiority complex in the populace.

[mysignifier]

Cont. from my previous post. I'm too wordy apparently. I don't think hooks is advocating (or believing in) a reversal of racial or gender hierarchy. She's talking about exposing the dominant power structure so we can discuss ways to balance it, not simply replace one exploitive system with another. Two other quick points: she's talking about centuries of oppression. A few generations can't wipe that out. Also, she's not discussing individuals (she's not blaming any one person) but a system.

[TonyKaku]

I didn't hear her criticise the film. In fact, it sounded like she was supporting it iin terms of its effect on raising consciousness surrounding imperialism (though she strangly mixed the Irish and the Scots there). Her point, which yours doesn't disagree with, is who in this society has the power to bring such a story to so many.

[jennaow]

thanks for the post!!!!

[adamu1978]

To get to the heart of the matter, less emphasis should be put on those and more on how we are taught that it is noble to solve our problems through violence, and how we owe our allegiance to a higher authority. Those are the main issues that should be addressed.

[adamu1978]

Limiting the discourse of analysis to quaint representations of gender and race is reductionist.

[washu2002]

tell that to everyone I interact with as a black man in new york city. tell that to the majority of the people who "moderately to strongly prefer white over black" on the Harvard IAT study. Tell that to the majority of employers who will pick a white convict over a black man with no criminal record (according to a recent Princeton study). Shall I continue? You should be telling white people to stop "playing the race card" because, quite frankly, you people invented it.

[Somethingreallycool]

@washu2002

You're dead on.

I don't think people like the person you were responding to really realize how much evidence is staked up against them. Basically, they are modern racists-- they deny the racism is there and constantly try to claim that our society is an egalitarian one. That's just not true.

These people want you to believe that all the prejudice from pre-civil rights have been erased. It isn't true. Racism is alive and well, it's just implicit-- not explicit.

[mavenfly]

um... and you're not a bigot...?!

[msbsevensixseven]

You'll have to show me the specific definition of "bigot" that you're using. I don't see any specific issue with what jovent1979 said.

[life0130]

Refreshing, excellent post. Thanks leocine.

[kokobeng]

Thanks for uploading. It's a very important video. It was really disturbing for me to watch some of the scenes though, so I will flag it.

[fyneagain]

I was surpised by more than the f bomb. Excellent vid. She is very critical and well articulated, bravo! I've watched them all and ty for posting them!

[washu2002]

a black man is brutally beaten on screen and you're worried about a curse word?

[atypicalguy]

wow the f bomb caught me by surprise there, interesting vid

[washu2002]

a black man is brutally beaten on screen and you're worried about a curse word?