Okay, so I did something I should have done earlier in this encyclic conversation: I finally watched the damn video.
Now, here's what I think (beyond the fact that Feldman's comic timing is far from sharp): I think it's possible that we're all missing the point. (Or, since there's no context provided for the video, "a" point.) And that point is: What if Loren Feldman is right? I don't mean right about what we've widely suspected is his routinely negative POV about African-American culture as a whole -- which would be the extremist suspicion about the motives behind making this video. I mean, what if what Loren Feldman is saying is: Why is the African-American culture so far removed from the technological discussion? Or, for that matter, the pop culture discussion? Or: why is everything ABOUT African-Americans in pop culture so damn negative in the FIRST place, and what do we do about it? By and large, the (negative) white estimation of black culture is that black culture purposefully celebrates anti-social, misogynistic, separatist ideals that conspire to create a detrimental sub-culture, which then defines African-Americans as self-imposed outcasts united as perpetual underdogs against the existing (read: oppressive, white-controlled) system. (Doubt it? Listened to the radio lately?) If THAT'S the source of the concept for "Technigga" -- and I'm not saying it IS, but it COULD be -- then what if the question that's REALLY being asked is: "What's it going to take for African-American pop culture (in general -- not just via technology) to step up and become a force for positive change, rather than reveling in all that's "controversial" and otherwise abrasive to a multicultural forward movement?" Caveat: I'm aware that the picture I painted doesn't represent ALL black culture. That's no more logical than saying all white culture stems from John Wayne's ideals, or that African-Americans don't contribute to the holistic multicultural experience every day; they obviously do. But you wouldn't know it if your entire media consumption was derived from MTV, Paramount and The Source... Caveat 2: It's rewarding to believe that all of this goes without saying, and that I might be pilloried for bringing up the obvious -- that everyone on this thread already KNOWS that black culture is far more multifaceted than pop culture would have us believe. But let's hop off our high horses of indignance for a moment and look at the bigger picture -- if WE know it, why doesn't everyone else? Can of worms, thou hast been opened.
