Engaging in dialogue isn’t the same as whining. Deerhunter didn’t cause my problems. Yes, many lyrics weren’t the kind of thoughts I needed constantly on my mind, but I’m the one who chooses what to listen to, how often, and how to interpret it. I’m the one who made choices in my life. Musicians gain value (therapeutic, etc) from creating music, just as there is value to doing other hobbies. That doesn’t change, regardless of whether your audience is 1,000 or 2 people. So me not listening to Deerhunter isn’t an attack, like in condemnation of them making music at all. I really meant it as a side note about myself and not to be the main focus of my argument.
Focusing on looks over substance is cultural appropriation by definition. Over years of viewing Bradford’s and Deerhunter’s instagrams, like I said, I often saw tribal peoples in various states of undress and without any context provided by captions. One of the books highlighted was even labeled “Primitive Worlds,” but this derogatory aspect was not identified. At the end of the day, though, all I’m doing is contributing to dialogue by sharing my opinion. You’re free to disagree, as the identification of cultural appropriation (whether it even exists or not) is not a hard science.
I did once see an interview of his where he vaguely sounded British. And it influenced his music. If you hear nothing African about the “Rainwater Cassette Exchange” EP, then I don’t know what to tell you.
I believe that we do have to try to not make idols out of things and people. You’re not the only one who put up posters on walls of people or things deified. It’s what I, from my personal opinion, feel Bradford did and it’s what I did in the past, too. It’s not about the posters themselves but how you reflect on them. So yes, at the end of the day, idk what’s in Bradford’s head, but I’m not evil for taking a guess based off my own experiences and what I’ve seen others do.
I’m interested in self-growth, truth, justice, social connections, and positive energy. I’m pretty sure that those ideals don’t disintegrate societies. What about Fox News?
Why are you assuming my musical and film interests? We’re all the same race, so I have not cut things out on the basis of race (from a sociological standpoint), but in terms of how I relate to its content. I’m not going to stop listening to Perfume because they’re Japanese or not like Interstellar because most of its actors are white. I strive to look towards common values. Even your point about gift shops is mitigated by me only choosing to direct my physical currency towards objects I can relate towards common values. I don’t think that gunpowder is evil. It’s substances mixed together that can be used for evil.
Fair on your Bible point, but then what about in terms of science? By how you’re defining it, gender is flexible and self-defined. Sure, I can accept gender identity as much as racial identity from a sociological standpoint. However, science says that one is born male, female or intersex. Are you denying the science of XX and XY chromosomes? Are you also denying that there are indeed people, at varying degrees, who feel boxed in by gender stereotypes? I’m sympathetic to people in distress and want their distress to be ameliorated, but calling the science of XX and XY chromosomes a matter of opinion seems nonsensical to me.
I’m flexible in the sense of striving to love and understand people similar and dissimilar to me, but to say I lose credibility for stating that there are some absolutes in this world is also nonsensical to me. The scientific facts that heat rises and cool sinks or that plants produce oxygen neither influence my actions as an independent human nor yours. I admit that speculating about a person’s separate mind is dicey, but one can’t question if another is culturally appropriating (whether it exists or not) without having attempted to perceive things from their perspective.
I hope that my points make sense. You don’t have to agree with what I’m saying but I heard what you have to say and contemplated about it. Thanks for the discourse and please try to ease up on the emotional based insults next time. That’s exactly what the heckler did by yelling “fuck you,” that Bradford himself was against.