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Dec. 15, 2004 With the wake of the “Eminem War” that’s going on Useless-Knowledge, I feel that it is my duty to bring forth some interesting points outside the primary issue. I’ve read a couple articles regarding Eminem and his young fans who seem to be having problems with their life; namely their families, school, peer pressure, anxiety with growing up, sexual pressure, etc. It’s clear that the 13 year olds who emailed her do have some issues with their lives, but can we clearly say that it’s Eminem’s music that makes the difference in their life? Good or bad? I will admit I wouldn’t have my children listen to Eminem music at the age of 13 years old, but then again if you look at the other “pop icons” we have today, I don’t think we have much of a choice. Of course, I can’t really say I am an Eminem fan, I don’t have a problem with he or his music, I certainly can identify with what his lyrics are saying regarding screaming your anger out in your art rather than performing the angry lyrics on the record. The reason why I don’t want to say I’m an Eminem fan is I’m not a fan of rap music, although I have listened to Eminem before, and I know the general information regarding the white rapper. I even seen his movie, “8 Mile.” Is what Ms. Williams says true? That “Eminem fans are a bunch of crackheads?” The answer is obviously no. For someone who listened to Elvis and KISS, Megan Williams should understand the youth of today’s society more and how screwed up it can be in searching for yourself. When I was a teenager, I listened to Marilyn Manson, I still do. Wonder why? Because he was different than what was offered at that time. Manson was vile, vulgar, disturbing, offensive, sick, and intelligent all at the same time. I was attracted to how bold he was to go to Utah and rip away page after page of the Mormon Bible. I’ve never seen anyone with enough balls to do that in front of a Mormon state like Utah. Was it freedom of expression? Or going too far? Maybe a little of both, but did Manson really hurt anyone? He may have gave his patent middle- finger to Mormon’s by ripping away page after page, but remember when Christians burned Beatles albums because John Lennon said that they were bigger than Jesus Christ? I can identify with Eminem, even though I don’t necessarily listen to his music. I too used shocking and offensive material in my latest novel, “An Apocalyptic Dream.” A few months back I was a bit hesitant in using a certain word that not even Eminem uses. Of course I am talking about the word, “Ni__er.” Growing up, I’ve heard the word from many people, mostly white people, and it was used as prejudice. Not once have I heard that word come from a black person, unless it was on television. Having friends of blacks I was reluctant in putting that word in my novel. I don’t like the word. I think it can be offensive, but I also think that if you use the word in the right format, it can be deemed okay. I was very uncomfortable with using the word in my novel, until I bought the first season of the Dave Chappelle Show. The Dave Chappelle Show is a sketch comedy show by one of the funniest comedians so far in the 21st century, a black man named Dave Chappelle. Of course Dave Chappelle uses racially charged comedy to make people laugh, but he also makes it for people of all races to laugh along in seeing the world and even saying the word ni__er. I remember watching his greatest sketch, “The Clayton Bigsby Frontline Interview,” the sketch about a blind black man who is also a white supremacist. Where the black man is blind, he doesn’t know his true ethnic background in being a black man, and no one will tell him, because he is apparently a VIP to the Ku Klux Klan. In one part of that sketch, Clayton Bigsby, the black white supremacist, and one his white KKK friends pulls up to a traffic light where they pull along side a Mustang full of white kids who are listening to rap music. The funny part is Clayton gets angry and starts calling the white kids a bunch of ni__ers. Shocked the white kids look at each other and one of them says, “did he just call us ni__ers? Awesome!” The white kids were happy in being called ni__ers, which to this day makes me laugh. Is what Dave Chappelle doing freedom of speech? Or going too far? Whatever it is, it’s funny as hell. Clearly people like Eminem, Marilyn Manson, Dave Chappelle, and I have the right to say whatever we want in our art; whether it’s music, comedy, or literature. What is bizarre is this freedom comes with a price, the price is you will always have someone out there to shake their finger at you and say “this is bad, this is very bad.” Megan Williams you can lower your finger now, because it’s not going to stop us from saying what we want to say. ------------ About the author Eric Schomburg: An Apocalyptic Dream is now out for purchase. Check out both books at http://www.geocities.com/schomburg2002. Email: schomburg2002@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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