these debates are pointless.
randomities, vol. 13: political theater is meme-worthy but not much else
Last night, the second debate of the Presidential season took place, and it was just as much of a clown show as the first. Kamala Harris talked glowingly of Joe Biden as if she didn’t just spend a year going at his neck. Mike Pence couldn’t stop going over time, and moderator Susan Page (who honored a Trump administration official in her home in 2018) freely let him.
After the debate, I saw an analyst commend Pence’s “performance” as “masterful,” saying something to the effect of “you learn in debate school not to answer the question, but use the time to say what you want.” It seems like Presidential debates, like every other American institution, isn’t at all what it purports to be. That debate wasn’t about enlightening undecided voters (who could be undecided this year anyway?), it was about mudslinging from dueling soapboxes. I doubt any liberal wants to hear that Biden supports fracking, which damages the environment and public health. But Kamala repeatedly extolled a platform flaw just to snip at Pence.
I feel like the American public engages in debates, State Of The Unions, and other political spectacles like we do award shows. These things are all about moments. We don’t remember who won what MTV VMA, but we remember Madonna and Britney Spears, Diana Ross and Lil Kim, and Kanye and Taylor Swift. Similarly, a lot of us didn’t care about last night’s political discourse. The immediate Twitter trending topics were about a fly, and “I’m speaking.” I guess liberals have a new hoodie to wear to the polls. That’s not to say that Twitter is our political compass, but I couldn’t help but be disheartened.
I’m not sure what to make of this dynamic. Is it that the confluence of consumerism, capitalism, celebrity, and social media have infected swathes of the American public so badly that we can’t even watch a discussion about policy without gravitating toward its most trivial aspects? Or do we have so little faith in the charade that we know that good SNL fodder is the best we can expect?
It’s probably a little of both. I have to blame the corporate mainstream media and their greed for the former. NBC, CNN, CBS, FOX, and ABC collectively normalized Trump during the 2016 election season because he meant ratings and ad revenue. Even as his mic time was spent galvanizing white supremacists and spouting one of his 20,000+ false or misleading statements, the media promoted him because they were making too much money not to talk about him ad nauseum. This carries on into his Presidency. We tune in to laugh, to gawk, to be disgusted. If we refused to watch a Trump debate because we know it will have nothing to do with policy, these channels would have poor ratings. But instead of refusing to watch, we’re drawn into the live outrage porn.
These debates exemplify lowered expectations. The VP candidates didn’t talk about immigration, families being broken apart at the border, or women being tortured in ICE facilities. Pence swerved a question about the police system and Breonna Taylor by condemning rioting. Kamala Harris refuted Pence’s claims that Biden would “pack the Supreme Court” by noting how many white people the GOP has appointed to the courts. Then it was time to go to the next question. It’s fitting that somehow, as soon as Pence’s hypocrisy (and America’s systemic inequality) was exposed, they had to switch topics.
I saw some supercut of Kamala’s skeptical reactions to Pence on Twitter. I’m sure that will rate as revolutionary for some of her “fans”, but we should be looking at both of them, and everyone else involved in this false menagerie, the same way. Everyone worked together last night to expose how shallow and ostentatious American politics are. The people didn’t matter. The moments did. But what could anyone have gained from this debate, except for some new memes?
quick takes
I saw an NLE Choppa interview on Hot 97, and the topics were ”Plants, Polygamy, Power Of The Mind + The Real Reason For Going Independent” — but didn’t discuss him allegedly shooting at his ex twice. His child’s mother has alleged that he shot at her while she was pregnant (he’s alleged she wasn’t pregnant when he shot her) and allegedly shot up her house with his own baby inside the home. This circumstance also illuminates how fake a lot of these “positive vibes only” people will be. For some that really means “I’m going to react violently if you disturb my positive vibes.“ They didn’t discuss that in the interview, only “positivity” (maybe that was a condition from his team). Subsequently, the comments were filled with people glowing about him having a good head on his shoulders. He’s been looking for good PR, likely to help his court case, and a (woman) member of rap media gave it to him by ignoring the elephant in the room. This is what erasure and myth-making look like. Curiously, I tried to find a story about the second shooting to link, but no major outlets have covered it either. But I’m sure they’ll be quick to post if he says something about 6ix9ine.
bars of the moment
A Written Testimony doesn’t deliver the one of a kind perspective that is “Letter to Falon,” “Better in Tune,” “Run and Hide” or “Life on Mars.” But it does show the exponential growth of a spiritual man who gained the world and had to juggle his identity against the expectations of who he is.
- Yoh, in Jay Electronica, The Tale Of Two Debuts & Which One Is Better piece
This interplay between celebrity worship, patriarchy and capitalism is not limited to hip-hop. But in hip-hop, Tory Lanez is no pariah; he is the standard.
- Ivie Ani, in Protect Megan Thee Stallion From Tory Lanez piece
people will say stuff like "freedom cannot be absolute," and you should never listen to them, because they cannot imagine freedom in a way that does not threaten them
- @keguro
Two unexpected album drops later, we don’t know the man much more than we did when we were asking what a Jay Electronica was over a decade ago. Perhaps, that is by design. Maybe he wants what great American writers from Bob Dylan to John Updike have: the ability not only to author great American myths but to live as one, too, to be far away and impossible to pin down, best understood through a body of work rather than a finite sequence of interlocking bones, tendons, muscles, and organs.
- Craig Jenkins in We’re No Closer to Knowing Jay Electronica piece
Abolitionist approaches ask us to enlarge our field of vision so that rather than focusing myopically on the problematic institution and asking what needs to be changed about that institution, we raise radical questions about the organization of the larger society.
- Angela Davis in Why Arguments Against Abolition Inevitably Fail piece
artifact
Speaking of Jay Electronica, did y’all ever see his convo with Benzino where they talked about Benzino’s fight against Eminem? It’s part of Benzino’s Arch Nemesis documentary, where he decided to talk about his career with a suit-clad Jay. The lighting, formal attire, and randomness of it all make this one of rap’s weirdest internet relics.
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Venmo: Andre-Gee