Dr. Watkins Speaks On Empire/Media Propaganda (NEW)

[RickyGQ]

Seeing positive images of blacks via television is not going to do anything for our plight. The fact that we can't see a TV show simply as entertainment without trying to ascribe some life saving, cultural, or social value to it is indicative of a much, much bigger issue.........

We call each other c00ns when we portray stereotypes in certain genres, and give praise\accolades to non blacks who play the same roles.....

Plenty of Scorsese, Sopranos, Goodfellas, fans up in here...but if those casts were all black, yall would be ashamed of them.... you don't see the mental irony of that?

Non Blacks get their narratives about blacks from authority figures(government, police, courts, etc) and sensationalized social issues that are spinned via news outlets to promote and perpetuate an agenda....

A TV show full of fukkery is the least of our worries......

nikkas love Power though. I think the problem with Empire is how "low brow" it is.

 

[philmonroe]

I am doing my part and it's going nicely.

Whether or not you believe me is your problem not mine.

So damn emotional

So why you always sounding like somebody who on the outs and starving if your "part" is going so nicely. Me not believing you isn't a problem at all its just a view that don't do shyt at the end of the day. Just wish you wasn't always begging/taking without offering nothing or should I say coming off that way. I agree you are emotional.

 

[Momentum]

Anything that the majority of black people flock to (Scandal, Empire, etc) I stay clear of.

 

[DeVanteSwing]

didnt they build the "Empire" by selling drugs and killing people?

it gives off "the only way to be successful is by music" vibe

 

[*L*E*G*A*C*Y*]

Anything that the majority of black people flock to (Scandal, Empire, etc) I stay clear of.

I can't relate to any of these black tv shows...one of the reasons I stopped watching TV almost 7 years ago.

Now, I'm gonna fukk with your heads a little bit about entertainment, television, and media in general as it relates to the social fabric of American life. And how this relates to programs like Empire.

Media, shapes the reality of life, the way life shapes the media. The immaterial builds up the material.

With all of the overwhelming representation of whites on television, you can imagine that the amount of white people can find a character in one of those shows that the can relate to, that they can see themselves in, that they remind themselves of, or even look like. They might dress up like these characters for halloween, or whatever. All in all, it creates this idea of what is acceptable, and what is not acceptable in society...spoken or unspoken.

I feel frustrated when, in conversations/discussions, such as this one, that people have the nerve to say "white people do it too".

For every negative character, villain, antagonist, etc...there are more than enough positive characters on TV to offset it. Obviously, for those that can tell, if you watch TV and see characters that look like you, down to the skin tone, hair texture, etc...playing heros, being ladykilling casanovas, saving the day, being the funny guy...that would be very empowering and make you feel empowered.

Now, this is problematic when it comes down to the black experience on TV. In relation to the black experience in America.

What would you think of yourself, as a young black person coming up, if the only people that looked like you on TV were featured in mugshots as criminals and as murder victims on the news, as aggresive hypermasculine stereotypes in rap videos, as "hoochies", as "ratchets", as the token black character in a sea of white faces on a primetime TV show, and as athletes?

This was my problem with TV...growing up, as a black person coming up in a black family in the suburbs who wore glasses, people called me URKEL from Family Matters (it pissed me off all the time to the point where I was self-conscious about wearing my glasses for years)...where did that come from?

Representation matters y'all. Right now there are black kids out there that's self esteem is being wrecked because they have nothing to relate to in mainstream media...

 

[PhonZhi]

Yep, this is why media propaganda is so effective. Its creating and upholding stereotypes.

propaganda is very important, there are many white people who's only interaction with Black people is via a television screen.

Forget that we're only 13% of the country's population brehs.

Forget that there are towns in America with people that have never seen a black person in their lives brehs.

 

[Blackout]

So why you always sounding like somebody who on the outs and starving if your "part" is going so nicely. Me not believing you isn't a problem at all its just a view that don't do shyt at the end of the day. Just wish you wasn't always begging/taking without offering nothing or should I say coming off that way. I agree you are emotional.

You keep on telling me that you don't believe me.

I heard you the first time and I still don't care cuz I stIill have things in motion

 

[Blackout]

didnt they build the "Empire" by selling drugs and killing people?

it gives off "the only way to be successful is by music" vibe

White viewers of the show and white buyers of rap albums is why these things are popular.

They feed off of stereotypes

 

[Higher Tech]

Just because No Bammer Weed can cite white TV shows with dysfunctional characters...that doesn't take away from the fact that black people are generally portrayed in a ghetto/violent/unsophisticated light.

To the extent that a black show or actor is shown in a more reasonable role or theme, the shows tend to be moderately successful at best. And often short-lived.

I understand both sides of the coin. But imo, when there are "positive" images of blacks on TV, people critique every little thing they do. Especially here. As soon as the character or actor does something they don't agree with, folks are screaming about him/her being a c00n. It's rhetoric that repeats itself.

 

[Blackout]

I understand both sides of the coin. But imo, when there are "positive" images of blacks on TV, people critique every little thing they do. Especially here. As soon as the character or actor does something they don't agree with, folks are screaming about him/her being a c00n. It's rhetoric that repeats itself.

Being a c00n is not positive.

The reality is that they have been feeding us crumbs and poisoning some of the pieces by making them do c00n actions

 

[gho3st]

Will Smith has been in the industry forever and in his latest role he's a criminal/thief/con artist teaching a clueless white girl how to become a better pickpocket as he's the master of the "art"

bruh....

How many thief/con artist movies featuring white male actors tutoring inexperience white female characters have their been? a gang of them.

-----
Dudes love complaining about how there isn't enough diversity in primetime shows and the moment there's one thats successful, dudes still find another sht to bytch about. There's great show called Black-ish featuring alot of positive sht that you nikkas demand from tv networks but I'm willing to bet the majority of yall dont watch it.


And who gives a fukk what Boyce watkins, Tareeq or any other conscious hustler have to say about a particular subject?

 

[Momentum]

I can't relate to any of these black tv shows...one of the reasons I stopped watching TV almost 7 years ago.

Now, I'm gonna fukk with your heads a little bit about entertainment, television, and media in general as it relates to the social fabric of American life. And how this relates to programs like Empire.

Media, shapes the reality of life, the way life shapes the media. The immaterial builds up the material.

With all of the overwhelming representation of whites on television, you can imagine that the amount of white people can find a character in one of those shows that the can relate to, that they can see themselves in, that they remind themselves of, or even look like. They might dress up like these characters for halloween, or whatever. All in all, it creates this idea of what is acceptable, and what is not acceptable in society...spoken or unspoken.

I feel frustrated when, in conversations/discussions, such as this one, that people have the nerve to say "white people do it too".

For every negative character, villain, antagonist, etc...there are more than enough positive characters on TV to offset it. Obviously, for those that can tell, if you watch TV and see characters that look like you, down to the skin tone, hair texture, etc...playing heros, being ladykilling casanovas, saving the day, being the funny guy...that would be very empowering and make you feel empowered.

Now, this is problematic when it comes down to the black experience on TV. In relation to the black experience in America.

What would you think of yourself, as a young black person coming up, if the only people that looked like you on TV were featured in mugshots as criminals and as murder victims on the news, as aggresive hypermasculine stereotypes in rap videos, as "hoochies", as "ratchets", as the token black character in a sea of white faces on a primetime TV show, and as athletes?

This was my problem with TV...growing up, as a black person coming up in a black family in the suburbs who wore glasses, people called me URKEL from Family Matters (it pissed me off all the time to the point where I was self-conscious about wearing my glasses for years)...where did that come from?

Representation matters y'all. Right now there are black kids out there that's self esteem is being wrecked because they have nothing to relate to in mainstream media...

This is why I exclusively watch sports. I got to see black people doing something constructive or I can't watch it.

 

[PhonZhi]

All of this. We tend to pass it off as merely "entertainment" but media really does shape our everyday living. We see this alot in hiphop. What these rappers say and do are mimiced by millions of ppl. Phrases like "thots" and "yolo" become apart of our language. Fashion trends are set. Yall are actually not giving enough credit to how influential and powerful the media is.

I can't relate to any of these black tv shows...one of the reasons I stopped watching TV almost 7 years ago.

Now, I'm gonna fukk with your heads a little bit about entertainment, television, and media in general as it relates to the social fabric of American life. And how this relates to programs like Empire.

Media, shapes the reality of life, the way life shapes the media. The immaterial builds up the material.

With all of the overwhelming representation of whites on television, you can imagine that the amount of white people can find a character in one of those shows that the can relate to, that they can see themselves in, that they remind themselves of, or even look like. They might dress up like these characters for halloween, or whatever. All in all, it creates this idea of what is acceptable, and what is not acceptable in society...spoken or unspoken.

I feel frustrated when, in conversations/discussions, such as this one, that people have the nerve to say "white people do it too".

For every negative character, villain, antagonist, etc...there are more than enough positive characters on TV to offset it. Obviously, for those that can tell, if you watch TV and see characters that look like you, down to the skin tone, hair texture, etc...playing heros, being ladykilling casanovas, saving the day, being the funny guy...that would be very empowering and make you feel empowered.

Now, this is problematic when it comes down to the black experience on TV. In relation to the black experience in America.

What would you think of yourself, as a young black person coming up, if the only people that looked like you on TV were featured in mugshots as criminals and as murder victims on the news, as aggresive hypermasculine stereotypes in rap videos, as "hoochies", as "ratchets", as the token black character in a sea of white faces on a primetime TV show, and as athletes?

This was my problem with TV...growing up, as a black person coming up in a black family in the suburbs who wore glasses, people called me URKEL from Family Matters (it pissed me off all the time to the point where I was self-conscious about wearing my glasses for years)...where did that come from?

Representation matters y'all. Right now there are black kids out there that's self esteem is being wrecked because they have nothing to relate to in mainstream media...

 

[Higher Tech]

Being a c00n is not positive.

The reality is that they have been feeding us crumbs and poisoning some of the pieces by making them do c00n actions

My point is they're usually not c00ns. It's just a buzzword at this point that people use when they disagree with someone's ideas or train of thought. It doesn't really matter who's on TV, they'll get nitpicked until they aren't good enough.

 

[philmonroe]

You keep on telling me that you don't believe me.

I heard you the first time and I still don't care cuz I stIill have things in motion

That's cool I never asked you to care did I? You still don't have shyt in motion unless you typing while driving though that's all.