Here we go again. Another rapper puts stuff about faggots and rape in his lyrics and somebody really old and obtuse gets really mad and accuses them of creating an “environment of hate” or some other irrational bullshit concept.
Except this time, it’s 30 year old yawn-rock masters Tegan & Sara VS “Chocolate ICP” Tyler the Creator.
I’m wondering...
Is it possible that while us 28-34 year olds have been cleaning up the multi-generational, toxic psychological residue brought on by the shitty values and traditions instilled into us by our parents (and other boomers); that the psychology of our youth (17-23) has changed to a point where even we- the post-X generation- fall into the same moors of dismissive-ness in not only trying to understand our little brothers and sisters but even trying to address them?
While some pop-culture laymen didn't too much care for Tyler's reply to Tegan & Sara's open letter, I actually found the reaction perfect for a post-modern (socially irregular) teenager. It was indicative of a boy born in a steaming gruel of gratuitous violence and sex images, rendered powerless by a social system that will never work for them (or anyone) and often forcibly made inarticulate by an educational approach that simply does not lean towards creative intellectual thought (the kind that lacks the dogmatics of the status quo).
These kids, black, white, gay, straight flock to forums like 4chan.org & 7chan.org to spend hours in front of the computer alone, to call each other faggots, niggers and masturbate to .gifs of non-consensual anal sex & shemale on female pornography. --In this light "Hit me up for hard dick." was really fucking tame. We now live in an era where nothing really matters and he/she who whines that loudest about it always (always always) loses.
I think anyone with an analytical brain can look at Odd Future and their fans and safely assume that we're not dealing with some nu-culture of homophobia ala Eminem (Skaters aren’t the most aggressive or masculine or socially relevant group). And If Sara Quin or whoever wants to compare the two-- then all this really calls for is a pacifying Elton John duet!
Then “alls coo", Right? I mean, last time GLAAD got this mad at a rapper.... absolutely nothing happened. Nothing changed. The world didn’t wake up and realise how much the word “faggot" hurts other faggots’ feelings, just like no one down south in the 60's realized how shitty it made a “nigger” feel when you called him “nigger.” And after the smoke settles I'm sure that a level headed Teagan & Sara will realize that it's not the inarticulate suburban teenagers (read: Tyler's / Teagan & Sara's fanbase) who are holdin' the gay community down, it's the highly religious, exceptionally wealthy and notoriously white that continues to do so. It is something that has been institutionalized by people who wield more power than Tyler the Creator could ever dream of. So why not attack them instead of this little shit?
When Teagan & Sara and all of queerdom and every oppressed individual is ready to hit Newt with a face full of glitter or risk facing a reign of rubber bullets or mace for their beliefs then maybe I'll see this as more than a blatantly obvious PR stunt to get some fire back into a band waning in popularity. Right now, it looks like nothing more than two self-actualized, worldly and knowledgeable snarky faggots in their 30's guffgawing at the immoral actions of some little teenage nigglet.
(For the record: I don't consider either of these "artists" to be particularly talented.)
