This is America

[MKnight82]

47 minutes ago, cddolphin said:

People have been talking about these issues ad infinitum, mostly into their own echo chambers or amongst peers who already agree with them.

What there hasn't been is actual civil dialogue between people, or groups of people, who disagree yet are both seeking positive change.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but even if they've been discussed before these problems still exist.  Continued discussion is necessary.  Donald Glove is an artist, he can use his celebrity status to bring attention to issues he finds important.  That's noble of him IMO.

[diamondbull424]

30 minutes ago, FourThreeMafia said:

Let me just say I thought the Direction and visuals of the video we're done very well.

 it's the message behind the video that annoys me. And before someone goes off the deep end, I'm not saying that none of the messages were relevant... but it ignores very real facts and paints a false narrative in the name of social justice.

For instance, without getting into much detail, it calls out how one certain group supposedly treats another, while completely ignoring facts and a much bigger issue. But that's what the mainstream media does... just bend everything to fit their agenda.

Is that what it calls out or is that what you see that it calls out?

[diamondbull424]

40 minutes ago, Starless said:

Reactionaries gonna react.

Non-reactionaries are never going to react.

Does that mean a cat is always in the hat?

If so, then how do we ever come to eat the green eggs and ham?

#This is America.??‍♀️

[Manny/Patrick]

1 hour ago, diamondbull424 said:

Non-reactionaries are never going to react.

Does that mean a cat is always in the hat?

If so, then how do we ever come to eat the green eggs and ham?

#This is America.??‍♀️

Stop quoting Dr.Seuss. You trying to get this thread locked?

[TENINCH]

Weird watching a midget run around with his shirt off making funny faces

[43M]

1 hour ago, diamondbull424 said:

Is that what it calls out or is that what you see that it calls out?

Well, it's hard to get into that without breaking the rules of the Forum, but some of the messages within the video are pretty clear.

[Calvert28]

2 hours ago, MKnight82 said:

I'm not disagreeing with you, but even if they've been discussed before these problems still exist.  Continued discussion is necessary.  Donald Glove is an artist, he can use his celebrity status to bring attention to issues he finds important.  That's noble of him IMO.

I gotta disagree with this. We see far too many celebs do this and more often then not it's them wanting to sound important and not actually present solutions, or even live by what they preach (Leo, Damon).

The only celebs I actually see trying to make a difference are the ones who have almost dropped off the map entirely because they spend just about all their time dedicated to their cause, those are the only ones I will believe are actually legit in what they believe in. Whether I agree with them or not.

[Tetsujin]

I feel like since Trayvon Martin and Sandy Hook, these have been the 2 biggest non-Trump issues everyone talks about consistently.

[Apparition]

Okay, so celebs are poor conduits for these messages. Fine. But I don't exactly see the people who harp on this point out there listening to the numerous activists and journalists talking about it.

Seems to me like it's the messages that they have a problem with, not the messengers.

[diamondbull424]

10 minutes ago, Calvert28 said:

I gotta disagree with this. We see far too many celebs do this and more often then not it's them wanting to sound important and not actually present solutions, or even live by what they preach (Leo, Damon).

The only celebs I actually see trying to make a difference are the ones who have almost dropped off the map entirely because they spend just about all their time dedicated to their cause, those are the only ones I will believe are actually legit in what they believe in. Whether I agree with them or not.

I disagree. Their are a whole host of celebrities that are on the grid, that speak their minds, AND make efforts to their cause. Most just don’t advertise it.

There is also a difference between a celebrity and an artist. People like Childish Gambino, Kanye West, and Janelle Monae express themselves through their art. Some more vocally than others. What’s more, being too “solution oriented” risks alienating people away from your message AND affects your bottom line both. Glover has learned from the mistakes of Kanye West and has thus decided to let his art speak for itself. Which is brilliant.

You say that this message is nothing different than what we always see, well why is this all over the news, all over YouTube with reaction videos, and all over media with philosophical debates? Clearly the message is relevant. For you? Perhaps not. But the again, you are in this thread debating its relevance. Clearly if it were nothing relevant you would be elsewhere entirely.

Lastly its messages like this that serve to galvanize those that do serve towards passions in fields that directly impact problems. Sometimes seeing a macro-perspective is all you need to refocus your efforts on the micro-level. I’ve seen it all too many times.

[Tetsujin]

4 minutes ago, Starless said:

Seems to me like it's the messages that they have a problem with, not the messengers.

I think Twitter and social media aren't helping. They're turning big topics into drive-by commentary opportunities for everyone with an opinion and internet access.

[Apparition]

Just now, freak_of_nature said:

I think Twitter and social media aren't helping. They're turning big topics into drive-by commentary opportunities for everyone with an opinion and internet access.

Maybe so. But there's still plenty of intelligent discourse out there to be found if you're willing to actually look for it.

[43M]

2 hours ago, MKnight82 said:

I'm not disagreeing with you, but even if they've been discussed before these problems still exist.  Continued discussion is necessary.  Donald Glove is an artist, he can use his celebrity status to bring attention to issues he finds important.  That's noble of him IMO.

Oh yes... celebrities are so Noble, endlessly virtue signaling to the masses about a cause they don't even truly care about.

I'm not saying none of them care, but when I hear an idiot like Leonardo DiCaprio whining about global warming while taking private jets everywhere and vacationing on gas-guzzling yachts, that's just one very small example of Hollywood's rampant hypocrisy. And I won't even get into Hollywood sudden outrage about how women are treated in Hollywood. 

And if you're asking what this has to do with Donald Glover's video, it's just more virtue signaling, with no real action. That's what Hollywood in the mainstream media is all about... They want to cry about problems, but do nothing to help fix them.

[Jakuvious]

Like the video from a quality standpoint, generally a fan of the message, despise the music, but I don't really think I'm who would be expected to like that music anyways (not a genre I normally go with)

Doubt I could get into further detail on anything without stretching the rules, so I'll leave it at that.

[diamondbull424]

31 minutes ago, FourThreeMafia said:

Oh yes... celebrities are so Noble, endlessly virtue signaling to the masses about a cause they don't even truly care about.

I'm not saying none of them care, but when I hear an idiot like Leonardo DiCaprio whining about global warming while taking private jets everywhere and vacationing on gas-guzzling yachts, that's just one very small example of Hollywood's rampant hypocrisy. And I won't even get into Hollywood sudden outrage about how women are treated in Hollywood. 

And if you're asking what this has to do with Donald Glover's video, it's just more virtue signaling, with no real action. That's what Hollywood in the mainstream media is all about... They want to cry about problems, but do nothing to help fix them.

There is a difference between bandwagoning issues to increase your popularity as a celebrity and people that are consistently telling a message that they believe needs attention and do so in such an elegent and creative way to draw attention to the issue.

The artistic expression within this video and the previous artistry from this artist isn’t analogous to other celebrities. If those are the situations of hypocrisy that you would like to speak to, then do it as they pop up.

But in this instance, we’re talking about an artist who has talked about these messages from the very beginning. Have you listened to an entire album of his? If so which one?

You're attempting to deflate this artistic expression by using ignorant claims unrelated to this work. Stop it.? 

But just to comment on this nonsense, Donald Glover is tied to 3 charities.

1. Oceana- Health of the oceans

2. MPTAFF- Creativity in motion pictures

3. Community Connections- Adoption, Fostering, and supporting in struggling communities.

Again, it has nothing to do with this video or the artistic expression within. But this notion that the artwork is irrelevant because the artist is not “contributing to the solution” is not only disingenuous, but is flat out absurd and wrong.

Can you guys, if you have nothing to ACTUAL say about the topic, remove this to PMs or simply not post?

This sorry notion of, “I won’t speak how I feel or else I’ll get banned from the website for trolling a topic and talking about politics... oh well maybe just a little bit about how I feel.” Is absurd. I just have to ask again, what is the goal of the comments? To troll the topic? I understand everything gets off topic, but can we at least try to stay close to the actual artwork?