Thursday, February 11, 2010

Apologies...

I wish John Mayer would stop speaking,stop twittering his"clever" twat-like thoughts for a day or two. I need time to absorb the fact this musician who I listened to with my heart made a public omission his penis would lynch me if it could. Ok, maybe not lynch me but the words "White Supremacist" evokes a picture of a small pink penis erect with a pubic mustache and a mean look... Yes penises have looks.Anyway thats besides the point.

I just read that John Mayer apologized for his "clever" remarks.
...
...
...
*Sigh...

I read the entire Playboy interview. I read his confessions with regards to romance, relationships, high school, music and porn. I read as John Mayer the writer of "Your Body is a Wonderland" discussed that he likes to jack off...A lot and sometimes for up to 90 minutes with an array of internet porn to facilitate his fantasies about past lovers. I read as he described in detail about " the shot" hunt and looking for the one photo he could finish to...

I then watched his apology. of the five minute footage not even 90 seconds of it was apologetic or came off as sincere. This "apology" started with " Oh whoa is me" went into some "I am misunderstood" and ended with " Don't you like the black people who play with me? See they are still here."

I wonder how John's band members felt when they heard they allowed him a "hood pass" or "Nigger pass" by embracing him as a person. I wonder how his back up singers felt when they heard his penis looked upon their womanhood with disdain. I wonder what they are feeling standing before the world behind a man who just told them, despite their friendships at the end of the day he really thought they were niggers, nigga, his nigga, his nig - whatever the fuck the "Super Dope Fresh" slang is. IT SHOULD NOT BE USED.


Nigger Defined

nig⋅ger
  /ˈnɪgər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [nig-er] Show IPA
Usage note:
The term nigger is now probably the most offensive word in English. Its degree of offensiveness has increased markedly in recent years, although it has been used in a derogatory manner since at least the Revolutionary War. Definitions 1a, 1b, and 2 represent meanings that are deeply disparaging and are used when the speaker deliberately wishes to cause great offense. Definition 1a, however, is sometimes used among African-Americans in a neutral or familiar way. Definition 3 is not normally considered disparaging—as in “The Irish are the niggers of Europe” from Roddy Doyle's The Commitments—but the other uses are considered contemptuous and hostile.

–noun
1. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.
a. a black person.
b. a member of any dark-skinned people.
2. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a person of any race or origin regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc.
3. a victim of prejudice similar to that suffered by blacks; a person who is economically, politically, or socially disenfranchised

Source:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nigger

Regardless of the variations in meaning one thing is constant. This word cannot be erased from history. This word is more than a word it stood for and still represents a belief. The belief that a group of people are lesser because God blessed them with more in skin color. The belief that people weren't people if they didn't look the same. The belief that only a few had the right to live freely if at all.

I cannot embrace this word. I think of the men, women and children who hung from trees, were raped, who ran for their lives while the word Nigger sounded off a hunt, was said as a blessing before a violation or was used to condone the killing, dismembering and enslaving of black people. Black human beings.

I knew John Mayer was a risk. I could tell his "cleverness" and "wit" were edgy and quick. I felt that one day John would out "smart" himself. And he did. In all his interviews no matter how outrageous his ideas they were never delivered without intellect. But last night John fumbled through an apology as if he wasn't sure what he was apologizing for. I wish he would have just played his show. I wish he would shut up for a few days and really think about it.

Apologies are what people give to appease the majority. To fit into social norms. I am working on the forgiveness thing. In my experience I have found people only do or say to you what they feel they can get away with. In that action that they take towards you just take a moment to see what they have done. They have shown you what they think of you, they have acted upon you in a way they felt was theirs, an entitlement and they have ultimately opened your eyes to the truth.

I often don't accept apologies. Instead I thank for the truth. I thank that person for sharing what they really thought of me, for letting me know how they really felt and for showing me their true soul. Harsh? Maybe. But like John Mayer sang alongside Alicia Keys " Yes I was burned but I call it a lesson learned."

Maya Angelou has a quote I love. "When people show you who they are. Believe them"

I hope John Mayer takes sometime to think about his remarks and what they really mean to not only his sales or music career but to think about what they mean to John Mayer as a person.





It Was Only A Matter of Time...

I came into work today listening to "Edge of Desire" by John Mayer. I love his music. I like his look and I sort of like(d) his image/persona. With John Mayer I enjoyed his poetic words, his smooth voice and his smug humor but I always felt that sense of "buyer beware".

Sometimes people are too smart for their own good(myself included) and John struck me as the type. So today, I was not shocked when I read John Mayer. My John Mayer. The John who sings,"Say what you need to say" and "Gravity" with such emotion and conviction, the John who accompanied Alicia Keys on "Lesson Learned" and the one John I would have laid with given the opportunity...Well, it was no surprise when I read he used the "N" word...John Mayer pulled a Michael Richards...I can't watch Seinfeld and my calming lovers music has been tainted.

This is the problem. John Mayer has been running with black musicians for the past few years, ranging from R&B singers to Rap Stars. He has strummed his guitar in studios with the Black Americans who are rhyming and priming North American ears for the latest trend in "Super Dope Fresh". Unfortunately in the last decade the word "Nigger" has been adopted as such.

John Mayer is not without blame. But if you play with fire in front of a child they will play with fire too.
If you show another man you can go to the moon, he will eventually learn to go too.
And if you stand before a person who has very little insight into your culture/race and condone, glorify or announce certain behaviors or words, well that person may just very well perpetuate that behavior, glorify that thinking, announce those words too.



Very few people in North America have a real empathetic view into the lives of others. I will never know what it is to be a white male in corporate America or a Latin beauty queen. I will never see the world through the eyes of a mother from China or even through the eyes of a black man in Europe. I do however, empathize, I am aware and I do try to understand cultures that I have not been exposed to. If I feel a "racist" moment coming on I think it through. I try to find the root and honestly racism, generalizations, stereotypes and that sort of bias is all ignorance.
My experiences with people has shown me I really have to take each individual as they come. I really have to look at a person for who they are not what I think they are based on their skin, hair color or facial features. I have been lucky in the sense I have been exposed to many different people, cultures and races and the wonderful human beings I have met have demonstrated to me that people are people. Just as God intended. I believe not everyone will think that my skin color and their bias towards it - is the sum of my being but I am aware when it happens.

John Mayer, while he is intelligent, creative and deep. He lacks(lacked?) the empathy and insight to see what he was exposed to for what is was. It's as simple as that. He is a white guy who has heard this language (which should not be used no matter what race you are) and he repeated what he heard. He was in the midst of the latest "Super Dope Fresh" trend and wanted to say " BLACK PEOPLE LIKE ME!" but lacking forethought,empathy and choosing not to use his intelligence he reverted to the most primal un-evolved human form of thinking and spoke ignorance.

John Mayer on Black People...

MAYER: You have to show that you don’t take yourself seriously. Once you do that, people will say you’re cool: “You know what? I gotta say I never liked him until he made fun of himself, and now I like him.”


PLAYBOY: If you didn’t know you, would you think you’re a douche bag?

MAYER: It depends on what I picked up. My two biggest hits are “Your Body Is a Wonderland” and “Daughters.” If you think those songs are pandering, then you’ll think I’m a douche bag. It’s like I come on very strong. I am a very…I’m just very. V-E-R-Y. And if you can’t handle very, then I’m a douche bag. But I think the world needs a little very. That’s why black people love me.

PLAYBOY: Because you’re very?

MAYER: Someone asked me the other day, “What does it feel like now to have a hood pass?” And by the way, it’s sort of a contradiction in terms, because if you really had a hood pass, you could call it a nigger pass. Why are you pulling a punch and calling it a hood pass if you really have a hood pass? But I said, “I can’t really have a hood pass. I’ve never walked into a restaurant, asked for a table and been told, ‘We’re full.’"


PLAYBOY: It is true; a lot of rappers love you. You recorded with Common and Kanye West, played live with Jay-Z.

MAYER: What is being black? It’s making the most of your life, not taking a single moment for granted. Taking something that’s seen as a struggle and making it work for you, or you’ll die inside. Not to say that my struggle is like the collective struggle of black America. But maybe my struggle is similar to one black dude’s.


PLAYBOY: Do black women throw themselves at you?

MAYER: I don’t think I open myself to it. My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I’ve got a Benetton heart and a fuckin’ David Duke cock. I’m going to start dating separately from my dick.

PLAYBOY: Let’s put some names out there. Let’s get specific.

MAYER: I always thought Holly Robinson Peete was gorgeous. Every white dude loved Hilary from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. And Kerry Washington. She’s superhot, and she’s also white-girl crazy. Kerry Washington would break your heart like a white girl. Just all of a sudden she’d be like, “Yeah, I sucked his dick. Whatever.” And you’d be like, “What? We weren’t talking about that.” That’s what “Heartbreak Warfare” is all about, when a girl uses jealousy as a tactic.




So...yea.I will continue to bootleg his music because thats the least I can do...I may even hear "My dick is sort of like a white supremacist. I’ve got a Benetton heart and a fuckin’ David Duke cock. I’m going to start dating separately from my dick." in the background of what was my fav song "Edge of Desire".

I can't fault John,even the most educated man still has much to learn...And of course in life, we all know ignorance is bliss.

Read More of this riveting Playboy Interview

Playboy Interview

Way to get Publicity John.