South Park Muhammad Cartoon

The makers of South Park have recently received death threat from radical Islamists on www.radicalislamists.com. The Comedy Central show “South Park” has been one of controversy for a long time, and has been criticized on several occasions for its mocking of social problems, celebrates, religions, and world issues. But, it is unusual for the show to receive deaths that state "they will die like Theo Van Gogh" (Danish director brutal murdered for making a movie critical of Islam). The members and makers of the website claim that they were not sending a death threat but, a warning of would happen to the makers of South Park in the future. The Prophet Muhammad, who appears in South Parks 200th episode, was in fact censored due to the fact that it is blasphemy to portal any images of the prophet. But the only problem was that the makers of South Park censored Muhammad’s image by having him wear a bear suit. Muslim director Aryaan Hirsi Ali, who had worked with Van Gogh, believes that even though the bear costume may seem like a minor issue it is a serious offense to radical Islamists. Ali on CNN stated, “This is clearly a threat considering that the South Park maker’s addresses were posted on the website for any Jihadist to see”. She even went on to say, “Most Muslims don’t follow the scriptures that justify killing those that disgrace Allah or the Prophet Muhammad but, Van Goghs murder proves that even small extremists groups will take drastic measures for their beliefs”. Ali also, believes that Islam is not above criticism and that Radical Islamists are morally wrong in their Jihadists beliefs that disgrace the religion and its followers.

Greencorp Project

The Greencorp Project was hard at some points but, overall it was worth it. For our group just meeting was hard at times especially in the beginning. Our first member was hard to get a hold of and eventually he had to drop out and we got Jarred. Jarred was able to help us give a theme, name, and lyrics for our song “Go Green”. He also already had some beats for us to choose from which, made things easier because at that point in time we were behind on the project. When it came time to record the song unfortunately Jarred was not able to meet us due to some unfortunate turn of events. This left Francis and I with a problem in that none of us could rap to our own song or knew how to record it. Luckily, we were finally able to find some people on campus that could help us produce something adequate for our trip to the Greencorp base. Overall I feel that this project has helped me personally learn about the problems in New Orleans that our Greencorp members have to go through daily. Jarred’s situation for example was very unfortunate, however, we are meeting him Monday so we can record a song with him in it, which was our original plan and this will surely end our project on a better note.

A Soldiers Sacrifice

I thought the Soldiers Sacrifice video was superb and informing with many good points. The people that worked on it did a spectacular job interviewing and acquiring videos of what is going on in Iraq. I especially liked how they focused on lieutenant Watada and his fight to get an honorable discharge. He is the first soldier in United States to refuse to go into a war he does not support. I in fact, did not know about Watada’s case until I saw the video, which showed how intense this case has been. Only recently did Obama pardon Watada, but he still has not gotten an honorable discharge from the US Army.
Don’t get me wrong I totally enjoyed the movie but, I do wish they talked a little more about some of the reasons why it sticks to be a US soldier in Iraq right now. My Cousin was in Iraq not too long ago and he said “it did not feel right to go into Iraq as liberators and come back as so called persecutors.” He talked about how the people had wanted the US military out a long time ago and that the tensions between the Iraqis and the US have grown. He said the worst part about being in Iraq was trying to tell friend from foe, which the film did show in one scenes. Overall I think the film was important in its message of “why we are waging this war” and I feel this is something our generation should take notice for the future.

Protest and politics before the Modern Era

I have recently been reading a book that I find very interesting called The Saint and the Sultan by Paul Moses. It is about St. Francis and his visit with Sultan al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade. What I find most interesting about the book is that it portrays the untold story of how St. Francis was an influential counter-cultural antiwar advocate of his time. We usually don’t think about there being counter-cultural protesters during the Middle Ages and especially Saints. But, St. Francis was major opponent towards the main ideology of the time. He condoned war and all acts violence during a time when war was highly supported by the main ideology. He even went against the call for the Fifth Crusade, in 1217, to invade Egypt. Francis did not agree with the popular crusades propaganda that it was okay to treat the Muslims as less than human. Francis believed that all peoples were equal in Gods eye, including Muslims, and he was heavily criticized for his belief. In 1219 he met with Sultan al-Kamil of the Saracen Empire and tried to convert him, when the Fifth crusades were still active. He failed but, al-Kamil was impressed by Francis bold attempt, while the European Kings and even some Church leaders found his attempt repulsive.

Amerville

The Amerville play was fantastic a truly will put together performance and fun to watch. It had a very talented cast that could set the mood of a scene from funny to startlingly serious. Even thought the play was full of hilarious scenes, such as the drunken Jean Lafitte and the Fire Arms Salesman, the play had a message that was very grave. A message that stated that even in the United States (the country of freedom) there are still many freedoms of the people that have been spoiled and we the people can make the country a better place. The play referred several times to the post Katrina situations that have been ignored for so long. People are still living in recovery mobile homes and the levies still have not been fixed. The play also sung songs about the hate and violence in the world and how blatantly stupid it is in actuality. For instance, the play described how the Jews (Israelis) and Arabs hate each other when in actuality they are very similar to each other (Like cousins as the actor said in the play). The play’s message in the end was magnetic in that the lyrics stated that these grave situations are not all FEMA’s or the government’s problem to solve they are our responsibility. It is us the normal citizens of the United States who should not be ignoring the real world as we sit in our homes watching survivor (a show that does not teach you how to survive) . We should be the ones making an effort to help make this country and the world a better place.

Zapatista

I mentioned last week that rapper Zack de la Rocha of RATM had been and even still is supporting the Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico. He even in the 1990’s took trips all the way down to the southern most jungles of Mexico to visit the EZLN’s or Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion National. The EZLN want equal opportunities and access to necessities for the native farming minorities of southern Mexico. Why this is such a radical move for an artist to be supporting a movement like this is because the Zapatista movement is a very drastic one.
It got started because the native minorities for a long time in Mexico have been neglected and left at the bottom of the social ladder for many years. The people believe that the neo-liberal government (who RATM believed was backed by USA) has done nothing to help them and has intentionally left them at the bottom as a cheap labor force. The native people in 1994 made non-violent but emotional marches of protest against the government in Chiapas. The protestors were pushed back by the federal authorities who used brute force on the civilians. Later in the jungle the natives got together and created the well armed Zapatista National Liberation Army which is named after Emilio Zapatista who was a famous Mexican revolutionary in the early 20th century and supposedly fought for the native farmers. When the government saw how much of an organized force the Zapatistas had become they began to come to terms with the EZLN’s who still even now are asking for more radical changes. RATM also made a song supporting the movement called the "People of the Sun".

Rage Against the Machine

“Rage Against the Machine” is the perfect example of a rock protest group. They are major advocates in social activist movements in the United States and elsewhere. Their albums like Renegade, The Battle of Los Angeles, and Evil Empire contain songs that stress deep feelings of protest and are magnetic in their message to get people to join their counter-cultural views. The majority of their political views involves making known the wage slavery that is going on in America (Wage slavery is when workers are paid low wage for hard laboring jobs that require long shifts). They too in there songs complain about the corruption in Americas capitalist system that Tom Morello and De la Rocha believe makes this country a still a not free country.

But to me what makes “Rage Against the Machine” a truly perfect protest group is that they are practically anarchists and go against every political system out there. Even though they seem to be leftists they claim they hate the two party systems and don’t associate to either political party. The reason I think most people see them more as leftists is because the band has had a strong hatred for the Fox News network who has criticized the band on several occasions. In their concerts the band has too referred to the Network as bunch of “Fascist *#8*%*@*$#$@^”. Also band member De La Rocha has been active in supporting the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Mexico which is a very radical move for anyone who is part of the mainstream music world.

Marilyn Manson

In this week’s blog I would like to talk about one of the most bizarre and interesting individuals in all of music history. The artist named himself after a famous actress (Marilyn Monroe) and an infamous murder (Charles Manson) hence Marilyn Manson. This guy has been selling records since the 90’s and has been considered by many to be the man at the center of the darkest genres of the counter-cultural world. He has been criticized for doing obscene things at his concerts, influencing sex and violence, distributing disturbing artwork, and has been accused of being a Priest of Satan. I used think of the guy as just another freak-show in the music world, but as I took a closer look at his personal life it seems that many of the negative assumptions about him and his music are misinterpreted. He does not claim to be a priest of Satan, he grew up with parents who were both Christians and for a time went to a religious school.
What too made think differently about Manson was when he made his appearance on The O’Reilly Factor a few years back. Most people who are asked upon to go on that show get frustrated with O’Reilly because all he does is try to make them look bad. From listening to the lyrics in Marilyn Manson’s songs I thought Manson would have flipped out on O’Reilly, but he did the opposite. He was very out spoken answered all of O’Reilly’s questions without any hesitation, frustration, arguing, or cursing. He was also very polite which totally dumbfounded O’Reilly who seemed to have just wanted to make him look bad. But, what I found most interesting is when Manson talked about how things in music can be misinterpreted which is what we have been talking about in class. Some of his songs have been criticized for promoting suicide yet; he claims his songs are about getting through suicidal situations. He also stated that he uses profanity in his music only to get his message out (which is uniform for most protest music today) and he disapproves of instances (like Columbine) when people use violence to get their message out. So while Manson still is one bizarre dude I don’t think of him as a violent Satanist anymore.

The Who

Sunday 8th 2010 was truly a historical day for both the World of Sports and New Orleans. The Saints, after over 40 years of only mediocre seasons, finally get to the Superbowl and win big for the once devastated city of New Orleans. Saints truly made their mark in history and the halftime show of the game was performed by one of the greatest classic rock bands of all time, The Who who have already made their mark in history.
The Who is most will known for their protest song “My Generation” released in 1965 and that same year it became the number 2 song in the UK. “My Generation”, written by Pete Townshend, is considered to be one the most revolutionary rock songs of its time and a prototype of the punk rock genre. It is one of the first songs to have youthful rebellious lyrics which supported the British Mods scene in the 1960’s. At the Superbowl they performed a 15 song melody that had some awkward transitions but, I thought it was pretty good. However, many critics say the bands performance failed because they were not near as crunk and as energizing as they were in the past. I believe the critics are over criticizing, because the band was too playing without two of its original members and the remaining members are in their sixties, so of course they will sound different. But regardless Saints won the Superbowl and that is all that matters and The Who is still in my opinion one of the greatest classic rock bands of all time.

Who Dat owns Who Dat?

I can’t believe the NFL tried to make Who Dat with association to the Saints a trademark, especially at a time like this when the Saints finally earned a spot in the Super Bowl after 43 years of struggle. The phrase Who Dat has been around for 150 years and got its origins from minstrel performances and early jazz musicians. Who Dat is now used as a chant short for “Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints” and the phase has in the past been used as a chant for several different college and high school teams as well. The phrase has obviously gotten its origins from New Orleans but, the NFL says that it still has the legal rights to the phrase when it is combined with the Saints (logo etc.). The NFL has sent many letters to New Orleans vendors demanding them to quite selling Who Dat shirts. In protest a handful of venders rebuked the NFL’s demands and claimed them to be unfair to small businesses. Louisiana Senator David Vitter aggressively opposed the NFL stating that he would make shirts that read “Who Dat say we can’t print Who Dat”. He also wrote a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodwell stating “Please either drop your present ridiculous position or sue me”. With the Vendors and the Senators complaints combined the NFL has backed down on the issue and has recently made an apology.

Moon Landrieu

At the New Orleans in the 60’s lecture last night I thought the most interesting person they talked about was the 56th mayor of New Orleans Moon Landrieu (father of Mitch and Mary Landrieu). Moon Landrieu grew up here in uptown New Orleans and went to college at Loyola with a baseball scholarship. He too taught accounting at Loyola which makes him all the more admirable. But, what I think makes Landrieu a hero and a pioneer for Civil Rights was his campaigns as mayor to do away with all the segregations laws in city that had been scorned by the Jim Crow Laws. This changed New Orleans forever and the openness to diversity that we experience in New Orleans today was born thanks to Landrieu. Landrieu desegregated a city that had been in the past divided amongst whites and blacks and even before that a port at the center of the slave trade.
Even before he became mayor as a representative Landrieu always voted against segregation in the House. During his mayor campaigns he was one of the first to go for the black vote and 99% of it. I too like how he helped minority –owned business and poor neighborhoods get their footing when before they were neglected by the city hall. Moon Landrieu was truly a big influence on New Orleans in the 60’s and I hope Mary Landrieu follows in his foot steps as a great leader for change.

U.S. Troops in Haiti

The Earthquake in Haiti is now considered to be one of the worst natural disasters in history. At this time, the death toll is at 70,000 and is estimated to rise to 200,000 rivaling the 2004 tsunami. Just today the US has sent 10,000 troops to help the relief effort and provide security. The French Foreign Minister and other UN official’s claim that the U.S. action to send the troops was impulsive and that the troops are just occupying Haiti rather than helping it. I believe that isn’t true and to be honest I believe to U.S troops should have gone in sooner.
Through last Tuesday to now Haiti’s stability as a country is fading with all the wide spread chaos caused by the earthquake (This is awful considering even before the earthquake Haiti was barely stable enough to be a country). With thousands off survivors hungry and desperate for water the looting and violence has gone out of control. The Haitian police, who have suffered many casualties from the earthquake, are not a large enough force to keep the peace everywhere. Because of the lack of security U.N. rescue workers, not to long ago, were attacked by a mob who threw stones at them while they were trying to rescue people. Also U.N. relief supplies have been decreasing at an alarming rate and I believe a large military presence is needed in helping provide aid for the people, and security for the rescuers and Haitians stuck in the chaos. The U.S. commanders have agreed that their main priority in Haiti is to help the people and rescuers. The U.S. troops have been very cautious and have been ordered only to use deadly force if necessary and as a last resort. The troops have too been giving large amounts of aid to the refugees as will. Even though the major violence right now is only in certain areas it might get worse overtime and a military presence is needed to keep stability. I do not consider the U.S. troops are in anyway trying to occupy Haiti (like Iraq) and are only there to help Haiti. I too strongly believe that we should make a large effort to help Haiti because Haiti is a near country of the United States. It would be a shame to ignore all the chaos in a country that is only a sea away from us.

Birdman - Rocket From The Cryp...

http://lala.com/zQYaI