N
nomadologist
Guest
Nonono, nomadologist is a cold, rational debating machine who doesn't feel emotions like us puny humans.
I just don't waste mine on "debating" (is that what we're doing?) on message boards
'you are what you own' - how rap just reinforces the status quo
- Thread starter gumdrops
- Start date
I just don't waste mine on "debating" (is that what we're doing?) on message boards
mixed_biscuits
_________________________
I keep my emotions in a box in the attic and only bring them down for special occasions.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
I just don't waste mine on "debating" (is that what we're doing?) on message boards
Oh come on, you clearly get massively worked up sometimes. As do I, it's all part of the fun.
Gavin
booty bass intellectual
What's interesting (at least moreso than nomad's level of emotional investment in her posts) is that violent crime in the U.S. has actually declined in the past 10-15 years, which almost directly corresponds to a) hysteria over gangsta rap and b) the acceleration of the prison-industrial complex through increasingly harsher sentencing (and perhaps c) the worst race riots the U.S. had seen in a generation?). You would think less violent crime would lead to fewer people in prison, but this doesn't seem to be the case.
It's probably rap's fault somehow though.
It's probably rap's fault somehow though.
mixed_biscuits
_________________________
Couldn't it be the case that the extra people in prison are the ones who would otherwise, being free, be violent?
N
nomadologist
Guest
No I really don't. At all. I rarely even remember what I said two minutes afterward.
But like Gavin says, who even cares?
N
nomadologist
Guest
This is a good point, but I've also heard (not that I know for sure) that some of the "decline" in violent crime is actually at least in part due to a new way of counting or categorizing crimes. At least in NYC.
If you compare NYC now with NYC in 1975, it seems pretty clear that some street crime and rape has gone down quite a bit. But I do think the drastic "decline" has to be partly a illusion based on "statistics".
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
On a related note, some people are saying that the extreme youth of so many of the perpetrators (and, of course, their victims) in the recent spate of killings in London is that Operation Trident has been so successful at putting away the proper grown-up gangsters that young kids are basically filling the power vacuum.
Gavin
booty bass intellectual
Yeah but most people are in for drug crimes (i.e. not able to afford a decent lawyer).
Maybe we could just lock everyone up and violence would totally go away.
"In 2005, about 1 out of every 136 U.S. residents was incarcerated either in prison or jail."
N
nomadologist
Guest
I wouldn't be surprised if that contributed to some degree in the states, but I don't think it would account for all that much. (re youth and the powervaccum created by incarceration, that is)
mixed_biscuits
_________________________
1in 136 seems fair - I know about 136 people and when one goes away, I don't seem to miss them.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
The number of people locked up in America for petty drug offences is ridiculous. The fact that it's even an offense to smoke a spliff in the first place is ridiculous. And I'm in generally favour of treatment, rather than imprisonment, for people with serious addictions. We're not much better on that score over here, either.
(lol, 'score')
(lol, 'score')
Gavin
booty bass intellectual
The more I think about it, the more ludicrous it seems. Violent crime (AND property crime) is on the decline in the U.S., but no one actually thinks that, and people still criticize rap music even though rap's predominance has coincided with a decline in crime. If we want to look at "correlations" as Tea did earlier, we might conclude that rap music (which doesn't strike me as very violent at all, especially compared to 10 years ago) is actually stemming violent crime.
Meanwhile an 11 year old is shot and killed in the UK and people talk about it for weeks. This seems almost quaint to Americans, not used to hearing about the children killed every day within our borders unless it involves a mass murder of white kids, and even then the news cycle is over within a week.
Meanwhile an 11 year old is shot and killed in the UK and people talk about it for weeks. This seems almost quaint to Americans, not used to hearing about the children killed every day within our borders unless it involves a mass murder of white kids, and even then the news cycle is over within a week.
N
nomadologist
Guest
In terms of marijuana not being legal here, the really ludicrous part is that law enforcement really doesn't give two shits about the casual (white) user, but if you're black or hispanic and have a half-ounce on you they will at very least book you. Even if I went up to a cop on the street and asked him if he wanted to buy an eightball, he wouldn't even blink. Or do anything about it. (This may be a little different in rural areas, but the point still holds.)The inequalities represented by the way law enforcement encforces the law are pretty horrifying.
Gavin provides a really good summary of the entire matter in that last post.
Gavin provides a really good summary of the entire matter in that last post.
N
nomadologist
Guest
But what is interesting is how pop culture out of the U.S. ends up getting blamed for so much.
When I was in Germany I remember the older generation there really being upset by MTV and the arrival of ever more American pop culture. They truly seemed to think it was going to cause massive cultural problems, like gang violence.
When I was in Germany I remember the older generation there really being upset by MTV and the arrival of ever more American pop culture. They truly seemed to think it was going to cause massive cultural problems, like gang violence.
Gavin
booty bass intellectual
Yeah, it would probably dampen my Anglophilia if they were.
What UK really needs to stem this violent tide is more rap music. I think the problem is your rappers aren't really intimidating enough. Quit the silly rapping about knives and move up to something real that shoots bullets, and quit it with the cutesy names like "Dizzee" and "Tinchy."
N
nomadologist
Guest
By the same token, kids should all be playing violent video games and women should be sure to have children before they graduate from high school. If they really want to lower crime rates.