Obama should be criticized for the use of drones in Pakistan, the lack of real corporate sector reform and magical thinking around poverty in the US and his failures to even imagine a real re-organization of the manner in which US economic, social and political culture arraigns itself. But this shit above? This shit above is insulting to anyone that once looked to Dr. West for insightful meditations on the nature of US society. Cancel Christmas because those days are over! There are more reasoned, engaged, credible and mature ways to engage in political debate and criticism. However Dr. West seems to be ramping up the Black authenticity debates of the 60s by accusing Obama of a "fear of free black men and the like. This shit is childish and beneath people that want to engage in a real criticism of centrist neo-liberal policies. What Dr. West is doing is the opposite and his slinging of dated, nationalist provocation is beneath rationality. I am almost waiting for West to start talking about whose has the bigger afro and the longer penis. (F*** the flourishes) Dr. West You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself.
I agree with West's criticisms, however, I disagree with his approach. West and Smiley should concentrate their efforts in assisting Left-oriented organizing initiatives in building a movement around say, a revamped Poor Peoples Campaign or a movement to transform the Prison Industrial Complex. A movement would allow West and Smiley to be able to speak from a base with some power behind it. King was effective because he was part of a movement from Montgomery onward. The problem is that West and Smiley are not organizers, but a scholar and talk show host. Their ideas are noble and bend the arc to justice, but their plan to action is limited and reflective of their professional positions as public intellectuals, disengaged from the dirty work of organizing. I say this not to point fingers and to ridicule, but to point out a critical flaw within the world of the public intellectual whose reach is limited. Again, its the difference between the Garvey movement and DuBois. The latter lost the "debate" because he was unable to claim an organization of 5 million strong globally.
ReplyDeleteWell there is no reason why they can't be organizers, they could probably garner huge amounts of support based on their fame. Somehow they are not, but that is another conversation. However, I am not completely impressed by the easy dichotomies of scholar/organizer. There is a role for publicly engaged scholars, I just think that West (I don't mention Smiley because I don't/never have taken him seriously)is functioning as a public intellectual and doing it poorly. Arguably if he sees himself as functioning in a Jeremiah like role than he is doing that poorly. My critique of West is the non productive and seemingly petty nature of his discourse. If you mean to critique policy don't make "blacker than thou" arguments. If you are going to critique tactics than do so, don't engage in testosterone contests ,"Free Black men". I thought Khalid Muhammed was dead. Utilizing quasi racist iconography against another man of color who simply is a centrist, not a member of the SS (sic) or Mobuto's personal security force or a commander in the Ton Ton Bacout (sic). West, in one fell stroke has lost an amazing amount of credibility by choosing to avoid doing what he once was heralded for, utilizing his massive intellectual capacity in reasoned and consequential debate.
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