Saturday, July 26, 2014

At Which Point HBO's Bill Maher Channels Chauncey DeVega From Several Months Ago: Why Do Republicans Really Hate Neil deGrasse Tyson? He is an 'Uppity' Negro.


The ideas are out there floating in the ether. I do not always agree with Bill Maher's politics. I am also not above smiling and nodding when I hear him echo something on his HBO TV show that I observed several months ago.

I am transparent and honest.

Appearing on Real Time is on my bucket list. If the fates bless me, I would also love to have a to and fro with Rush Limbaugh. Borrowing from professional wrestling, I think that I could have a "good program" with either of them.

I am not suggesting that Maher is a "shark biter". What I am suggesting is that platform and profile can make less than novel ideas seem very compelling and new. The speaker effect is real.

Several thousand shares and comments later on Facebook, Alternet, and the Daily Kos, I pointed out the obvious: Neil deGrasse Tyson is hated by Tea Party GOP white conservative racist mouth breathers because he is black, a scientist, and smarter than they are. Moreover, the White Right's hatred of Neil deGrasse Tyson is a reflection of their hatred of Barack Obama, a black man who is smarter and better than the white Right-wing populist troglodytes who constitute the Tea Party GOP base.

My observation was greeted by much denial from folks elsewhere. It will be interesting to see how they now change their tune given that Maher has reinflated a balloon that I previously floated.

Alas, it is not the first time that I have been there the firstest with the mostest. I do hope that readers and friends of WARN acknowledge those moments and say, "we were talking about that on We Are Respectable Negroes months and weeks ago!"

I also hope that folks recognize the value in We Are Respectable Negroes and support the site during our fundraisers (and other times) when so able or inclined.

In addition, I also hope that the friends and supporters of our endeavor here on We Are Respectable Negroes make sure to correct those people they encounter both online and in "the real world", who want to trumpet the "novel ideas" which you read here first.

Please forgive me my necessary moments of self-promotion and self-indulgence. I am only human.

This is a Shaka Zulu moment: the dots are connecting.


We are approaching phase two here on WARN.

I hope that your weekend will be restful. As is our habit and new tradition, do you have any news items, discoveries, or related issues of private or public concern which you would like to share?

I will start off with a request. Now that I have a found Ipod to fill, I have been adding more southern rock into the rotation. One of the deficits in my musical education involves moving beyond the soundtrack to the great movie The Devil Rejects 2, in order to find some other gems that I was afraid to indulge during my coming of age Public Enemy hip hop black nationalist phase.

Any song suggestions?

24 comments:

D. Wright said...

Have you seen Purge: Anarchy? I haven't, but I heard it's more interesting than the glorified home invasion that was Purge the First as the premise is explored this time.

chauncey devega said...

I mentioned it in an earlier post. B movie sensibilities; very smart movie; there are great cameos too.


Purge is way above the radar of most viewers.

Buddy H said...

If the fates bless me, I would also love to have a to and fro with Rush Limbaugh.

Never gonna happen (as much as I'd love to hear it). Rush doesn't engage in to and fros with anybody. He's a monologist. He doesn't debate. You never see him on talk shows next to anyone with an opposing viewpoint. He won't even step in front of a live audience unless it's a republican fundraiser or other gathering of true believers. He made the mistake, early in his career, of attempting a live show, and he was heckled off the stage. If you want a dialogue, you'll have to fake your way past his radio call screener (it happens now and then).

I don't think this classifies as southern rock, but have you heard any of John Prine? I remember him from the 1970s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfwGkplB_sY



"Hello In There" from 1971 was his ode to lonely old folks... The most heartbreaking part of the song is the old couple remembering their son killed in the Korean war. Gets me every time.

chauncey devega said...

I know. He is so good at his shtick...and part of that shtick is that he doesn't have real conversations or dialogue. It was random when he gave me a mention last year. Too bad we couldn't follow it up with an actual "conversation".


I will seek him out.

joe manning said...

CDV thank you for educating this old white guy. Reading your articles keeps me way ahead of the curve, slider, and sinker.



I guess you know that the most popular southern rock band is Leonard Skynard. Their "Sweet Home Alabama" is a reactionary answer to Neil Young's musical critique "Southern Man." Honorable mentions are the Almond Brothers "Whippin Post," 38 Special's anti-gun song "Saturday Night Special," Marshall Tucker's "Green Grass and High Times," and anything by the smokin guitar band The Outlaws. I recommend Tom Hayden's article on tomhayden.com/home/kilcullens-new-urban-counterinsurgency-plan

Miles_Ellison said...

The GOP is so stupid that they don't even know what intelligence looks like anymore. The intelligence of Tyson and Obama doesn't even register. It's their blackness that's unforgivable.

chauncey devega said...

Thank you for educating this approaching middle age black guy :)

Miles_Ellison said...

As far as southern rock is concerned, you can't go wrong with Warren Haynes. His work with Gov't Mule and the Allman Brothers is stellar. There's a band called Five Horse Johnson that's pretty good.

Lkeke said...

I'm a huge fan of The Black Crows. I know some people don't think they're authentic enough, but I like them just fine and they are Southern. I'm also a huge fan of ZZ Top. They'e aaiight, too.
I'm going to second the fella above who suggested Lynyrd Skynyrd. Sweet Home Alabama (and every single remix derived from it) is one of my favorite songs.
If you like Rap with a Bluegrass flavor, Id like to rec Gangstagrass. It's a very, very interesting sound and a perfect marriage of two very different flavors of music.

Learning IS Eternal said...

I've said this long ago. Even before Touré started to name drop CDV on air that a lot of media goons channel this site but for the life of them won't acknowledge. Thieving like Elvis in a hole in the wall blues jook-joint. Maher is no exception and one of many.

Santana's cover of Willie BoBo's "Fried Neckbones and some Home Fries."

Miles_Ellison said...

I think Gangstagrass did the theme song for the TV show Justified.

chauncey devega said...

Toure is good folks. I appreciate his support. There is a fine line. Many ideas are out in the ether; but when I have seen on more than one occasion my own argument being channeled with the same claims, nuances, and ticks, I raise my eyebrow. Such is the business. Paying and paid dues. Now time to, fingers crossed, cash them in.


Your kind words are always appreciated.

chauncey devega said...

Absolutely. Imagine living such a simple but bigoted life.

kokanee said...

What is middle age for a black guy in Chicago?

kokanee said...

Forgive me but I find the comparison between Neil deGrasse Tyson and President Obama offensive.

kokanee said...

George Thorogood and CCR.

Nina Flowers said...

Yes it is the appearance of their skin tone that gets the wing nuts. Never mind that both have white mothers... I actually think that gets under their skin even more. Funny how I don't ever hear anyone going after Malcolm Gladwell for being half-black - unless I missed it!

kokanee said...

Open mic on civil rights:

http://www.popularresistance.org/the-collapse-of-black-wealth/

http://www.popularresistance.org/armed-resistance-in-the-civil-rights-movement/

Miles_Ellison said...

Obama's half blackness was downplayed in the initial euphoria of the first election. Then the crackpots came out of the woodwork. Nobody talks about Obama's white mother anymore. The discourse became all about his angry Kenyan Marxist father and his inappropriate anti colonialism. I must have missed the memo that said colonialism was a good thing. I don't know how some of these people say this stupid stuff in public with a straight face.

D. Wright said...

You've missed the memo that America is a White colonial society, and as such people who take up armed struggle against such societies are not appreciated in America, especially if they're Black/African.

chauncey devega said...

I do like CCR. Good stuff there.

chauncey devega said...

Good sharp observation. 18?

Shady Grady said...

As far as "southern rock", an appellation which Duane Allman hated btw, you couldn't do better than the Allman Brothers, though their best work is before Duane died. There is just as much jazz as there is rock and blues in their music, though some hardcore jazz heads would sneer at some of their music. Duane Allman was a fan of Rahsaan Roland Kirk and sought to play with him though Kirk declined. "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" is a very jazzy tune.


Many soul music fans don't realize just how many white musicians, including Duane Allman, were playing over hits by Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, King Curtis, and quite a few releases by Stax. The guitar riff and intro on Franklin's "Chain of Fools" was played by Joe South who later had a big hit with "Games People Play".


"Can't you see" by The Marshall Tucker Band is a great song.
"Things going on" and "Mr. Banker" by Lynyrd Skynrd are also worthwhile.


ZZ Top is more hit or miss -their first album was crap and most of their post Eliminator albums were also not very good, but they had a great run in the early to mid seventies. Check out the song "Avalon Hideaway".


Although he is not strictly speaking from the South, country-blues-rocker Lonnie Mack was a huge influence on everyone from Stevie Ray Vaughn to Dickie Betts. Mack's greatest notoriety is as a guitarist but he was singing "blue-eyed soul" before it was called that and actually supposedly got turned away from a few black radio stations when they met him in person.


And finally although he's more blues than rock, Roy Buchanan must be mentioned as a true original and one of the few white guitarists of his generation who I think deserves to be mentioned with people like Albert King and so on. Check out "The Messiah will Come Again" or "Five String Blues" or "Roy's Blues".

chauncey devega said...

Your knowledge is deep! Good sharing.