I swear, ever since they gave Kissinger the Peace Prize. . .
Was going to make a joke about waiting for the good people at Vanguard News Network to review Undercover Brother, only to find out that they already have.
"Undercover Brother" was directed by negro Malcolm Lee, a relative of negro rabble-rouser Spike Lee. It comes as no surprise, then, that this movie is the most anti-White film I have ever seen (and there are a lot of them out there these days).
The biggest problem with the net is, it's almost impossible to tell honest, over-the-top stupidity from satirical, over-the-top stupidity.
tide70 isn't Microsoft's code name for their legal department, is it?
Fuck. They must have realized I'm using the dictation pad from the Speech SDK instead of paying for a real speech recognition program, or taking the time to get IBM's ViaVoice for Linux working properly.
I mean, I haven't done anything else that would annoy them. . .
(Heh. They named the recognition engine Doctor Who. Geeks. Except, if I got the reference, what does that say about me?)
[+]
"When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, our west coast became a potential combat zone. Living in that zone were more than 100,000 persons of Japanese ancestry. Two-thirds of them, American citizens. One third, aliens. We knew that some among them were potentially dangerous. Most were loyal. But no one knew what would happen among this concentrated population if Japanese forces should try to invade our shores. Military authorities therefore determined that all of them -- citizens and aliens alike -- would have to move. This picture tells how the mass migration was accomplished.
"Neither the Army nor the War Relocation Authority relished the idea of taking men, women and children from their homes, their shops and their farms. So the military and civilian agencies alike determined to do the job as a democracy should, with real consideration for the people involved.
"First attention was given to the problems of sabotage and espionage."
-- From Japanese
Relocation, ca. 1943
Producer: U.S. Office of War Information
Found at
Internet Moving Images
Archive: Movie Collection
Available as streaming video for broadband and dialup.
There was resistance to internment, although the documentary/propaganda film quoted above insists the evacuees submitted cheerfully.
Did I say internment before? Sorry, according to the War Relocation Authority, "relocation centers, however, are NOT and never were intended to be internment camps or places of confinement."
The barbed wire and armed guards were, in fact, for the evacuees own protection.
And why am I dredging this up?
No reason.
[+]
Rotten Tomatoes (works if you leave off the final `e' due to a public school education. . .) ranks Undercover Brother at 75%. Well, more accurately, critics included in their survey rank it at 75%. For example, Cynthia Fuchs at PopPolitics.com gives it tentative approval, noting that jokes have been "watered down for crossover consumption."
I'm embarrassed to admit I was surprised at how well-written the review in the Globe and Mail was (more love for Pootie Tang! A non-condescending reference to Spike Lee and Bamboozled!). Embarrassed, because there's no reason Canadians wouldn't be familiar with our pop culture. I mean, it's right there after all.
Peter Howell's review in the Star is pretty well-informed, too, noting the 'net origins of the material, and unsurprisingly mentioning that the movie was filmed in Toronto (these are the people who refer to the Space Shuttle as "the American Space Shuttle with the Canadian Arm," according to David Rakoff [or, as he's known to less obsessive This American Life fans, "not David Sedaris, the other one"]). Perhaps I should consider moving further north.
Meanwhile, here in the states (specifically, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel), Peter Bernard says the film, "dishes out a ton of laughs that everyone can enjoy."
Suppose I could spend the next several hours searching for a review describing a film with a mostly- or all-white cast as something "everyone can enjoy." But must tacky comments be well-researched? I think not.
[+]
Sweet lord.
"Generally when people start out with `As an X, I feel it's my duty' one expects the followthrough to be some ennobling exhortation to self-sacrifice and a stiff upper lip. The sheer cheekiness of following instead with `gonna get laid more' is wonderful -- I can imagine the sister, with a gleam in her eye and a curl of her lip, daring anybody to call her on it, and daring anybody not to notice that she is one hot chick who knows exactly how to use what she's got."
There's more, if you've the stomach for it, at Eric S. Raymond's blog, Armed and Dangerous.
A Soldier's Story (based on Charles Fuller's A Soldier's Play -- no clue how accurate the transition between formats was, I've never seen a live production) deals with the murder of a black sergeant in the South during World War II. It's also a mediation on race and representation in the real world, rather than in fiction. Except, you know, it's a piece of fiction.
Sorry. Liberal arts degree.
Without spoiling things too much for a film released in 1984, the victim wasn't killed for the reasons you might think, or by who you might think. It's well-acted (Adolph Caesar does barely-concealed contempt like nobody's business), if a bit static in direction (because, duh, originally a play), but well worth your time. If only for the reaction at the end to the incredibly foolish (in light of what we've just seen) line, "Black people aren't that devious."
All of which serves as preface to: Eric S. Raymond, for ignorance and arrogance above and beyond the call of duty, Uppity-Negro.com is pleased to extend this laurel, and hearty handshake, and confer upon you the title of Fucking White Oppressor.
I'd ask that you not disappoint us by failing to live up to this honor, but I'd actually kind'a prefer if you did.
[+]
Minor update to above: no, there's not a transitional paragraph missing between the quote (on gender) from Raymond and the material (on race) from me. Figure Otherness (in gender, race, class, orientation) are all aspects of the same phenomenon. I can add something if you want, but it'll just be trite mutterings about the male gaze and how implied use of sex as a weapon reinforces rather than transcends stereotypes -- I'm not a doctrinaire Marxist-feminist, but I play one on the Internet.
And I'm not saying the man is racist or sexist. Product/beneficiary/sustainer of institutionalized racism and sexism, definitely, but that's a totally different head. Totally.
Saw part of Blazing Saddles on broadcast tv, or maybe a free cable station. They kept "nigger" but bleeped/dropped every occurance of "shtupp".
Come to think of it, I think it was on CBN. . .
Why do people insist on making you feel guilty for exercising constitutional rights?
Guilty might not be the right word. I mean, someone saying, "How fortunate we are to live in a country where you can say such things" makes you feel slightly guilty.
"In any other country, you'd be arrested/shot for saying that," in contrast, sounds more like a threat than a rebuke. Like the person saying it actually kind'a wishes you were in another country, or that we could make an exception in your case.
Meh. Tend towards the reviled free speech absolutist camp myself. This means defending the speech of people you don't particularly agree with, which is the whole point.
'course, this position does carry the risk of, to choose some totally preposterous example, writing some banal little article on free speech issues, having it printed as the foreword to a book denying the Holocaust took place, and then having idiots spend the next decade or two hinting that you're a Holocaust denier as well.
But, y'know, that could never happen.
I'm not thrilled with the idea of checking to make sure any conservative who's suddenly gone all ACLU on Freedom of Speech issues when it comes to cross burning hadn't, in the past, been in favor of those semi-annual amendments banning flag burning.
So Jacob Sullum can say, in regards to torching crossed sticks of wood, that "there is no shortage of symbols and ceremonies that could be banned on the grounds that people find them `intimidating.'"
And I'll wait until the next time the Senate chats about burning bits of cloth to look to him for support.
In the meantime, I suppose black people could start lugging wooden crosses around, with little signs saying "Burn this one" stuck on. And maybe wear little crowns of thorns.
[+]
The other, vaguely free-speech related issue making the rounds is the I-ain't-even-linking-to-it editing of texts in the New York Regents Exam, which has elicited cries of "Bowdlerizing" from some quarters.
Right.
So, let's say there was a children's book that, to choose some totally preposterous example, featured "a tribe of 3,000 amiable black pygmies who have been imported. . . from 'the very deepest and darkest part of the African jungle where no white man had been before'", and who are kept "in the factory, where they have replaced the sacked white workers." You could understand why some folks might suggest changing that to something a wee bit less offensive.
But, y'know, that could never happen.
Gratuitous link to a profile of Roald Dahl's granddaughter. I'll spare you the discussion of body image, eating disorders and race. Don't say I never did nothing for you.
[+]
Professional Former Leftist David Horowitz (who I randomly saw on Politically Incorrect a few weeks back, an appearance where he somehow managed to tell fellow guest Paul Rodriguez to "stop playing the race card" and then immediately note that there were no people named Horowitz on the Mayflower -- which should have caused a Portal to swallow him) writes in support of the FBI lifting voluntary limits on their behavior:
"The 1972 restrictions were adopted by the FBI in the face of an assault on its practices by the political left. The issue was the FBIs `Cointelpro' program, an effort to counter massive civil disobedience and the growing threat from quasi-military radical groups who had gone from demonizing America to planting more than 1,000 bombs, committing acts of military sabotage and killing at least one innocent math professor in their campaign against the Vietnam War."
I'm not sure what's up with the sneer quotes around Cointelpro. Since, you know, that's what the FBI themselves called it. As they say, you can look it up.
That link goes to the FBI's own site (don't worry, if you're here, there's already a file on you), rather than some leftist site offering a critical description of the program along with the documents.
Quick thoughts: some of the "massive civil disobedience" being countered was of the non-violent variety. Which is why that dangerous radical King was under surveillance. And why they sent his wife Coretta tapes alleging extramarital affairs, hoping for a messy, public divorce. And sent King himself a polite note suggesting he commit ritual seppuku (or whatever the Negro equivalent is).
And then there's what happened to Jean Seberg.
As for his line about "at least one innocent math professor" (what, were there a number of guilty math professors targetted for death?), former Senator Bob Kerrey recently, finally admitted to knowingly. . .
Actually, you know what? Comparing numbers of dead is going a bit far even for me. But I think we can all agree that Vietnam suffered more civilian casualties than "at least one."
(And I have no idea what to make of this line from Kerrey in that Guardian article: "I'm quite certain the majority of people in Vietnam want to go on with their lives.")
The point is, the restrictions were put in place for a reason. Glossing over that reason isn't particularly constructive, whether you agree with the things or not.
[+]
Cointelpro also covered actions against any Einstein fool enough to associate with socialist/communist organizations.
No, that's not a figure of speech. Literally, Einstein.
Christopher Priest (not the Enemy of Ellison, the other guy) expresses his dislike of Michael Mann's Ali, with particular disgust aimed at Mario Van Peebles. Nice to know I'm not the only one; he's the reason I never got 'round to seeing Panther a few years back.
There should be some bit here about talent not necessarily running in a family, Mario's dad Melvin, and Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, but I can't think of a way of phrasing it which displays any originality whatsoever. Yeah, I know, that's never stopped me before. Shut the hell up.
[+]
Morning Edition did a story on Undercover Brother this, um, morning. [Insert diplomatic silence here] Okay, it's got Billy Dee, and he's good in anything. On the other hand, Eddie Griffin.
[+]
Picked up a copy of Jessica Abel's unspeakably beautiful Artbabe, issue #5, at Shinder's for 99 cents American, only to realize when I got it home that a) I already have a copy, and b) at least one of the stories also appears in a reprint collection. I am dumb.
So, in the interests of proselytizing the masses, I'll send it free to the first North American reader to accurately explain why the plural form of the noun for "Keep Left" signs in Swahili is "viplefti".
Uppity-Negro.com, where arcane knowledge of East African agglutinative languages og der comics industri de gaar haand i haand.
[+]
"Nice legs. The goose bumps sort of ruin the effect, though." "They're all for you, Mike. How come whenever you praise a guy, you comment on his work, but when you compliment a female employee, it's always on her appearance?" "Guys don't dress like that." "Now I see why you hired Ricky. You guys can go out later and swap date-rape anecdotes."
-- Why I Hate Saturn, by Kyle Baker. I don't think Neil ever wrote in introduction for one of Kyle's books, but he did once send Kyle a note offering to, and Kyle printed that instead.
Or so I vaguely recall from Neil's SFRT message board on GEnie a zillion years ago. And yes, obviously I was lying when I said I was going to stop on Friday. This time for sure.
[+]
Always good to see young people taking an interest in politics, especially at the local level. So I'll refrain from taking the obvious cheap shots at hip-hop artists protesting proposed cuts in the education budget for New York public schools.
Hope they don't do a song about it, though. I still have nightmares about Michele'le talking during "We're All In the Same Gang". Great singing voice, but she really should use sign language rather than speaking. . .
Yeah, yeah, yeah, East Coast - West Coast, ¿Como se dice `shaddap' en su idioma?
[+]
Ok. Let's say, hypothetically, that you've given someone a ride to have a bridesmaid dress fitted.
And, maybe, the two of you get into an argument.
And, y'know, she's actually making some very strong points. But you dismiss her by saying, for example, "Like I'm going to listen to someone with a bow on her butt."
Would that justify her grabbing a convenient pin, waggling it dangerously close to your face, and threatening to go all Oedipus on you?
(Can you use Oedipus as an action on someone else, since the original use was self-reflexive?)
I'm thinking such a hypothetical action would be Wrong. And Bad.
Negro what? Negro where? Negro when? Negro today.
Son, wipe
your feet.
