As you’re pointing out, the whole argument is based on something that is factually incorrect. Many rappers have been and continue to be the target of people, particularly women, seeking “social justice.” The Wikipedia article on misogyny in hip hop culture even has a section about the responses, though the section doesn’t cover nearly the whole history of criticisms.
Part of the problem is that the mass media isn’t very interested in black women or men criticizing misogynistic rappers, so the stories of people criticizing misogyny get relatively little coverage.
Perhaps Unreconstructed Man is living under a wifi-equipped rock, unaware of, say, Tipper Gore’s crusade against 2 Live Crew in the eighties, and similar attacks on misogynistic rap and hip-hop ever since. He might genuinely think that the Social Justice Movement consists primarily of Anita Sarkeesian and the other recent targets of the Gamergate trolls, not realizing that it’s a centuries-old movement that’s mostly happened offline.
If he’s talking specifically about stuff like articles at jezebel.com, then yeah, he might find that young white women tend to complain more about young white performers who are played in primarily-young-white dance clubs. This should be a pretty obvious point. But it speaks to provincialism, not to racism. People complain about what they know about, ignoring what they’re ignorant of, just as the OP appears to have done.
Two points. Firstly, I didn’t imply that these two songs are equally significant in pop culture. I merely said that Rick Ross, among others quoted, was “a mainstream hip-hop artist”. That’s undeniably true. He may not be as big as Robin Thicke, but he’s big enough.
Secondly, all YouTube viewing statistics show is how many people watch a particular video. They don’t tell you why people watch it. Blurred Lines was at the centre of a furious online controversy which lasted for several months. Do you think that could possibly have had an impact on the viewing statistics? Perhaps if the people who so strenuously objected to Blurred Lines had made similarly vocal objections to Gunplay, the disparity would be smaller.
But hey, maybe you’re right. Maybe Rick Ross is too small-fry to be a valuable example. How about Lil Wayne? He’s had more entries on the Billboard 100 than any other musician of any genre in history, including Elvis. Regardless of the lyrics in his biggest hits (whatever they may be) his oeuvre is cluttered with lyrics so aggressively misogynistic they make Robin Thicke look like Mrs Pankhurst. Here’s some more:
“Money over bitches, bitch I’m coming for the check. Vampire living, bitch I’m coming for your neck. Raw! I’m sharp, my swagger like an X. I’m a motherfucking monster. I rap like I’m possessed. Call me Mr. Still Smoking, smoke it in a paper. The game is a bitch, hold her down and rape her” - Lil Wayne, Inkredible Remix.
"“Bout to put rims on my skateboard wheels. Beat that pussy up like Emmett Till.” - Lil Wayne, Karate Chop.
Lil Wayne is, by the very same standards of the people who caused such an uproar about Blurred Lines, a repeat offender. So why has he escaped similar censure? I can’t believe it’s just because he’s canny enough to leave his most rapey, belittling lyrics on his B-Sides.
Pharrell co-wrote the song and features prominently in the video. Y’know, the one with 373,000,000 views? And you’re telling me he was…what, overlooked?
I think you’re making two errors here. The first is that you’re conflating advocacy of violence against women with actual violence against women. To the best of my knowledge, Lennon, Clapton, and Presley never wrote lyrics as overtly misogynistic as the ones I cited in my OP. Secondly, you’re comparing apples and oranges. You cite Lennon, Clapton, and Presley, but they all committed their abuses decades ago, before the age of instant communication, and in, frankly, somewhat less enlightened times. Their offences were easier to hide and harder to publicise, condemnation was more difficult to sustain, and the distressing impact of their actions has been blunted by time. None of these things are true about Brown, McDonald, and Peterson. Hence the disparity in levels of condemnation.
Imagine if Elvis was alive today, as popular as he was in the 70s, and was caught on videotape knocking out his girlfriend in a lift like Ray Rice was. I find it hard to believe he’d be subject to less censure. A better example of a white man committing domestic violence and being roundly and very rightly condemned was Mel Gibson. That was in the news for months.
Another point is that I’m completely willing to concede that when it comes to actual violence, there is no noticeable difference in the extent to which black offenders and white offenders are condemned. This is a different issue to the one in my OP. When it comes to condemnations of misogyny in lyrics the difference seems pretty stark.
In all seriousness, I can’t think of a single white musician (apart from Eminem and Thicke) who is anywhere near as misogynistic as someone like Lil Wayne.
I’m aware that Social Justice extends beyond Gamer-gate. Bear in mind I was trying to explain the concept to someone who admitted he didn’t know what it was. I chose people who I thought would be both recognisable and relevant to this specific conversation. That’s why I didn’t mention people like Gandhi (great man but also a deeply creepy misogynist) or MLK (another great man but also a serial adulterer). I didn’t think they were germane to this very specific topic. Sarkeesian and Valenti, being modern day and widely publicised critics of rape culture, both are.
Big enough for what? I’d like you to cite a single song by Lil Wayne that’s gotten, let’s say, half the airplay of Blurred Lines, and then we can look at the response to that song.
Over the last eight months or so, online misogynists have been attacking women and those who stand up for feminist ideals by calling them, “social justice warriors” - as if that’s a bad thing to be. It’s a gender-based equivalent of the phrase, “nigger lover”. The “social justice movement” is not an organized group or movement or any kind of real thing. The OP is just using it in the sense of a collective noun, as in, “a bunch of social justice warriors”. Sarkeesian and Valenti are both feminists and have been major targets of the online hate mob, which is why they get name checked here, even though neither of them is involved with discussing the music scene, as far as I know.
Yeah, this. Nobody self-identifies as a “Social Justice Warrior.” The primary value of the term is the amount of light it sheds on the actual motivations of the person using it.
Yeah, this. Nobody self-identifies as a “Social Justice Warrior.” The primary value of the term is the amount of light it shed on the actual motivations of the person using it.
You’re misrepresenting me. I specifically said in my OP that I identify “As someone who believes in social justice”. I specifically said in post 24 that I name checked Sarkeesian and Valenti because their work is relevant to this particular topic insofar as they’re both critics of rape culture. I used the term “Social Justice” because, while the term “Social Justice Warrior” is pejorative, a great many progressives who campaign for social justice refer to themselves as advocates for social justice.
Shodan was asking what the social justice movement was, not what a social justice warrior is. I was answering the former, you were answering the latter and then imputing motives to me that I don’t hold.
I’ve heard many who freely identify as “Social Justice Warriors” (and how could such an identifier be a bad thing?) criticize misogynistic and homophobic song lyrics sung/rapped by both white and black singers/rappers.
A term that’s so broadly defined it can mean almost anything effectively means nothings.
I’m also not sure how many people actually know either of those women. I would be genuinely shocked if even 2% of all people had heard of either woman much less were fans of them.