Besides a lot of people finding the video offensive, uncomfortable, demeaning,
hurtful
etc.., very little (at best as I have been able to follow the thread) in the
way of constructive
criticism.
grabbing the bridge collapse to try to make my point. It took a catastrophe to
raise
awareness of the problem
Besides a better written skit with a clear message or stated purpose, What
could/should
have been done differently and still generated the kind of conversation this
video sparked?
A less insulting stereotypical caricature? No stereotype? A more extreme
delivery (think
Fight Club), Loren Feldman as MC Catastrophe spit'n out barbs against the
inequalities
still prevalent in our country today not just the net? As a Jew? Jewish Rabbi?
As Loren
Feldman the man or Loren Feldman the political commentator? Would it have
been
more powerful had he dropped the act and instead looked into the camera and
stated
Where are all the Black Tech Bloogers? and listed all that he might know and
invite
viewers to submit links and comments?
It certainly has me thinking again, not only about the meaning of the video,
but friends I
lost contact with. It emphasized just how different things are. It is much
easier for me to
locate white friends when I search the web.
I am still going back and forth with myself on this. I tried to see something
in the video
that was not stated, adding my own idea of what could have been done better to
parody
and satirize more effectively. I see parallels to the net today and the turn of
the last
century, especially the entertainment industry. That influenced my first
responses and
what I took to be his attempt to show what might be expected/feared/assumed in
the
minds of some.
Pretty wild, the timing of his video. Was it done this way intentionally? Done
to coincide
with the KOS convention? What the hell? http://tinyurl.com/2zz9sr
I look for the best in people and things, often to my detriment. I sure wish
he'd speak up
about his intentions.
D
...it became clear that only a handful of the 1,500
conventioneers -- bloggers, policy
experts, party activists -- are African American,
Latino or Asian. Of about 100 scheduled
panels and workshops, less than a half-dozen dealt
directly with women or minority
issues.
..Cooper is worried about generating more
inclusion, using the word no less than six
times in 15 minutes.
.I hate using the word 'diversity.' I don't
know what we use there. But what we definitely
need are voices from different communities, she
says. And the problem, she adds,
stretches beyond ethnic and gender inclusion.
There's a socioeconomic gap, too.
.Stoller half-jokingly says that the netroots
community is full of white liberal men,
It's also important to remember that this movement
is still young. It's still not that
advanced, it's still building coalitions, it's still
maturing.
Diversity of Opinion, if Not Opinionators
At the Yearly Kos Bloggers' Convention, a Sea of
Middle-Aged White Males
By Jose Antonio Vargas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 6, 2007; C01
CHICAGO, Aug. 5 -- It's Sunday, day 4 of Yearly Kos,
the major conference for progressive
bloggers, and Gina Cooper, the confab's
organizer-in-chief, surveys the ballroom of the
massive McCormick Place Convention Center. A few
hundred remaining conventioneers are
having brunch, dining on eggs, bagels and sausage.
Seven of the eight Democratic presidential
candidates have paid their respects this
weekend, and some 200 members of the credentialed
press have filed their stories. A
mere curiosity just two years ago, the progressive
blogosphere has gone mainstream. But
Cooper sees a problem.
It's mostly white. More male than female, says the
former high school math and science
teacher turned activist. It's not very diverse.
There goes the open secret of the netroots, or those
who make up the community of the
Internet grass-roots movement.
For all the talk about the increasing influence of
this growing group -- We are a
community . . . a movement . . . an institution,
Cooper said in a speech Saturday night --
what gets scant attention is its demography. While
the Huffington Post and Fire Dog Lake,
both founded by women, are two of the most widely
read blogs, the rock stars are mostly
men, and many women bloggers complain of sexism and
harassment in the blogosphere.
Walking around McCormick Place during the weekend,
it became clear that only a handful
of the 1,500 conventioneers -- bloggers, policy
experts, party activists -- are African
American, Latino or Asian. Of about 100 scheduled
panels and workshops, less than a
half-dozen dealt directly with women or minority
issues.
A panel called Blogging While Female, held
Saturday morning, was an aberration -- an
overflow room of about 75, mostly women, a few of
them minorities.
How many of the women in the
