Re: (idm) OT EMINEM DEBATE RAGES ON

From wells
Sent Tue, Jul 27th 1999, 18:30

On Tue, 27 Jul 1999, ChairCrusher wrote:

> Well, without getting into how to define 'serious' I'd say that what
> he does is portray a character whose action, speech and behavior is
> true to life.  The fact that this character slim shady rings true raises
> the question of what does it mean that there are people like this
> in society?  Why doesn't slim shady give a fuck? That is a serious
> question.

This "question" would perhaps be important if even a slightly significant
percentage (say, 1%) of his audience understood it. Point is, they don't.
MTV is not pushing his videos and music ad nauseum to promote
enlightenment and a social consience among today's youth. They're doing it
because he is mindless entertainemnt aimed at an audience who is equally,
if not more, mindless. 

> No. He doesn't make a mockery of those subjects, he just gives voice to
> what domestic abusers, or drug abusers would say IF THEY WERE BEING COMPLETELY
> HONEST WITH THEMSELVES AND OTHERS. To do so with humor only increases
> the impact.

So you're saying that real-life domestic/drug abusers are out there
questioning which Spice Girl it is they want to bang, or how much they
masturbate, or trying to quantify how much malt liquor they can consume.
The fact that he is approaching such critical social questions with humor
only helps to make them laughable.

> Evidentally! How can you make such a blanket dismissal of an artist when
> all you've seen is a couple of videos on MTV?

I've heard the entirety of his Slim Shady LP and I can safely say that the
majority of it is "shock humor." Of all the people I know who enjoy him,
thankfully a slim few, do so because he's "funny." He's not pushing any
intellectual or social envelope. If anything, he's helping to reduce the
importance of issues such as poverty, etc to a level where all the
upper-middle class white kids in America can laugh at them.

- wells, questioning the idm content in this post