'We need more leaders like Ye, who are unafraid to tackle tough issues. Every problem in America isn’t about race or ethnicity, but saying there are no racial disparities in America is like saying the Earth is flat.'
Might be today, might be tomorrow. So here we go.
I initially wanted to compare Kanye West to Kurtz, the spellbinding, self-destructive madman from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
Kurtz, who’s portrayed as Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now, sees the world, in part, for what it is: A savage place full of tragedy leading him to a narcissistic downward spiral where he destroys innocent lives — a twisted Machiavellian approach — and ultimately ends with him losing his mind.
Kanye West is not Kurtz. He’s not mad.
He’s on the edge; erratic and has no filter, sure, but he’s not the villain that I’m reading, watching, hearing, and being told to unquestioningly hate.
It’s low-hanging fruit. Tempting. But it takes no critical thought. It’s like putting up a black square on IG for a group that used 50% of its funds to invest in real estate and the stock market.
“People would rather exist inside the pain of a lie than deal with the harsh realities of the truth.” — Kanye West
I really wanted to get a full picture of Ye, the man formerly known as Kanye West; I didn’t want to hear what Ari Emanuel thought, what Addidas thought, what Fox, CNN, or whatever Andrew Schultz thought.
I wanted to go to the source watching his Daily Mail interview, Piers Morgan debate, Lex Fridman interview, and the now-banned Drink Champs conversation. If I hated this man, or wanted to cancel him afterward, it’s because I went to the source, not because of what some talking head on television said.
And I don’t hate him. Here’s what I came away with.
Kanye West Vs. Jewish People
What I will say after watching Lex Fridman’s talk with Ye — arguably the best — is that he groups the corporate media and Hollywood oligarchy as the “Jewish Media” because of overrepresentation, based on their 2.4% population size.
This is unfair and bigoted, you might say.
Though, and I think it’s important to point out, in 2008 the LA Times published an article titled “Who runs Hollywood? C’mon.”
You would think it was Kanye who wrote the op-ed, but it wasn’t, it was a Jewish guy. The author writes, “Jews totally run Hollywood…And as a proud Jew, I want America to know about our accomplishment.” All of this isn’t crazy, Hollywood was founded by Jewish people in 1887. They founded it after fleeing persecution on the East Coast and Thomas Edison’s own film company; although, there’s always been a ubiquitous and unfortunate rejection of Judaism in Hollywood films despite overrepresentation.
To learn more read “An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood.”
That being said, does this mean Jews have a cabal and control the world?
Of course not.
But factually speaking, as a group, Jews are in many positions of power. This is what Kanye, albeit in a slightly inarticulate way, pointed out. Sure, a lot of entertainment is a meritocracy but you can see Kanye’s frustration if he believes Black people fuel the entertainment industry, yet have very little power or creative control. This is a legitimate grievance that has historical evidence to back it up. It’s the same way women are used up in the industry like a modern sacrifice to the Hollywood gods, and then tossed aside for the next 20-year-old that arrives on a bus from Iowa.
Or like when Larry David addressed on SNL that many of the men in Hollywood who were “#Me Too’ed” were Jewish, and some online Jewish publications agreed with him saying it was a big problem.
Pattern recognition is not racism or antisemitism, and I’m not sure when we started to treat it as such when it disagreed with our beliefs.
“I’m not your run-of-the-mill BLM negro, dont treat me like that.”
— Ye addressing Lex Fridman in a heated exchange
I’m not saying Ye is right — but goddamnit the man is allowed a first amendment freedom of asking a question!
His question should be like pointing out that the NBA has a lot of Black people, or that Harvard excludes Asians because they test too high, or as the NYT once wrote “Hollywood Is as White, Straight and Male as Ever.”
All these topics are greenlit ready to go.
You won’t get canceled for pointing them out, obviously.
Though, when it comes to the subject that Ye addresses, Jewish criticism, it does seem unassailable. It makes sense. Noam Chomsky, among other Jewish people, has criticized this very notion, saying that using anti-Semitism as a tool for obscuring legitimate criticism of Israel is unethical:
“There have long been efforts to identify anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in an effort to exploit anti-racist sentiment for political ends. It is now necessary to identify criticism of Israeli policies as anti-Semitism — or in the case of Jews, as “self-hatred,” so that all possible cases are covered.”
I can feel you cringing behind your screen.
It’s actually sad, on your part.
Uncomfortable questions make us squeamish, but maybe that’s the exact reason why they deserve to be asked! Questions like these:
- What can we do about systemic poverty amongst the White working class?
- What should be done about 93 percent of Black homicide victims being killed by other Blacks?
- And why was the world’s richest Black man, a person who had everything to lose — and just lost it — universally and ubiquitously unbanked and canceled for asking a question? Is it because we’re too PC now and many real conversations scare the shit out of people? Genuinely curious.
I think this is what that proud Jewish LA Times reporter meant by his story: that we can address controversial “taboo” topics without immediately lobbing labels like antisemitic, racist, sexist, or bigot.
We can add some levity to them. Air ’em out.
And I’m not tone death to the pain that Jewish people have been persecuted for centuries, and continue to be in many parts of the world. I covered two Jewish towns as a reporter in New Jersey. But that pain — like Black pain — is exploited and sometimes used as a cudgel by those who want to obscure the legitimate criticism of Israel, or Jewish people in general.
One example of this is when Trump’s border cages were compared to the holocaust, until it was inconveniently found out that Obama built them in the previous administration. Even Michelle Obama used the rhetoric against Trump to be a “ moral compass “ for the nation.
So, let’s have these conversations like adults, not children.
Let’s not shy away from the ugliness of history.
Because Jesus f-ing Christ, man, if you were a person who believed in the “Jewish conspiracy” before every celebrity, media institution, Fortune 500 company, and politician unquestioningly canceled Kanye, you must be feeling pretty good about yourself right now.
We all lose because of this by the way. Prejudice wins.
Kanye West Uses Violence Against Jews
Meanwhile, my big problem with Ye is that he uses blanketed bigoted statements against all Jewish people. Not cool. I have a few Jewish friends, not many, I admit. I did date this Jewish girl once — but she dumped me because I couldn’t commit, so that’s on me.
However, I do think the way Kanye talked about the “Jewish media” without separating the majority of the ethnicity was antisemitic.
So I have a question for Kanye:
Can any antisemitic person give a straight and logical answer as to why innocent Jews who do nothing wrong deserve to be punished for the crimes of a few?
Did Kanye have an answer for this?
Yes, yes he did.
In every single interview, Kanye unpacked his “Death con 3 tweet” and said he did not mean all Jewish people in that statement. Admittedly, he could’ve lied when he said this. Go watch and decide for yourself. But it didn’t strike me as a lie, especially when he ended the Lex Fridman podcast by telling Lex this:
“I’m sorry for hurting you as a Jewish person, I’m sorry for how that made you feel, and I’m sorry to the entire population of a race that I feel are my brothers; because I also feel I’m connected to Christ in that way. I’m an alien but God does not call me to alienate.”
Is this apology perfect? No.
Will it change the way you think about Ye? Not sure.
It does make me worry, however, that we aren’t confronting the opinions, facts, and people that we demonize and fear; we’re relying too much on second or third-hand sources.
I’m sure you follow me for somewhat rational, nuanced takes on important issues, but ultimately: Go to the source.
Don’t ever stop at what I, or Ben Shapiro, or Joe Rogan, or CNN, or Fox, or Chelsea Handler tells you (especially her). Go develop your own opinion of things that matter to you. I really do think that on the subject of Ye, and any subject that strikes a chord with you, it’s salient.
And if you still come away thinking Kanye is an asshole, good.
If you don’t, good.
Never stop researching and asking questions.
Ye’s Actual Agenda
Someone once asked Ben Shapiro why Jewish people are so successful.
He answered, “An extraordinarily high focus on education because cultures that focus on education do well.”
Behind all the antisemitic headlines that Kanye is getting this week, this is actually what he wants: He wants a better Black community.
This is because if the Black Community was a freight train, it would have derailed and exploded decades ago.
In the United States, the abortion rate for Black women is almost five times that for white women; furthermore, Black students spend less time in the classroom compared to their peers due to discipline; additionally, as economist Thomas Sowell points out, before the 1960s “most black children were raised in two-parent families” and now 79 percent of Blacks were born to single mothers in 2003; not to mention Black people have the least mean and median net worth in the country.
Moreover, the circulation of the Black dollar is almost non-existent compared to other communities. The dollar in a Jewish community circulates 80 times more than the Black dollar which stays in the Black community an average of 6 hours.
We are in a downward spiral, as West points out:
“I want my people to rise up like Jewish people, I’m jealous of the Jewish community, I’m jealous of how they don’t abort their people, I’m jealous that they stay with their wives, I’m jealous of the fact of how they do business together, I’m jealous of the fact of how they read their contracts, so I’m jealous of the Jewish culture.”
— Ye, Drink Champs Interview
Admittedly, Ye could have Tweeted a more pointed question like: “How do we as Black people become a successful community like Jewish people? How do we develop a culture, discipline, and attitude that glorifies success and education rather than a global Jewish conspiracy?”
Regardless he got us all talking.
And, ostensibly, Ye will have his Malcolm X moment.
Malcolm had strong criticisms of Jewish people too but came around after realizing that America was a battle of poor and middle class vs. hegemonic corporate power and banks, regardless of race.
That is the goal.
Final Thought
We need more leaders like Ye, who are unafraid to tackle tough issues.
Every problem in America isn’t about race or ethnicity, but saying there are no racial disparities in America is like saying the Earth is flat.
Moreover, ignoring or censoring these discussions definitely makes things worse. Let’s have conversations like adults instead of mounting a barrage of labels on somebody every time we are offended.
Statistics, demographics, and pattern recognition do exist.
It shouldn’t be “racist” or “antisemitic” to say so. Call a spade a spade.
And yes, I want there to be a day when we all look at each other simply as people, as Martin Luther King wanted, but to say that future is here right now is delusion, especially when many race-based issues do still exist. (i.e. Black V. Black crime, Asian discrimination in Ivy Leagues, Black women having highest rates of obesity, saying White men can’t experience racism).
“If you want a picture of the future imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.”
— George Orwell’s 1984
This bleak future will be us if we continue to think putting a Black Square on Instagram is social justice, if we continue to censor discussion (which is modern book burning) if we call everything racism, and everything antisemitism and everything hate speech, if we rest on our laurels of freedom while not defending it, and if we don’t start asking questions.
Kanye is giving us permission to do so. Will we take it?
Personally speaking, I try to love everyone and I don’t judge by group. But goddamnit, man, I’m not perfect. I’m a human being. I’m trying here.
This is all to say I took a risk with this article, I’m sure many people will interpret it in a negative way, it wasn’t my intention. I just want more conversations, more dialogue, and less censorship and less book burning.
And one final point on Ye, because I’m sure many of you will find listening to him difficult and unusual. Here’s my advice: He’s the type of speaker that will lead you on a discussion about a topic, but you will not know what the point of the discussion is for half of the rant. But if you can keep up, and listen through the entire thing, he ends up painting an entire picture that encapsulates his experience, his faith, his belief, his reasons, and the current events, all succinctly.
Anyhow, less serious articles are coming up! I know it’s been a funeral of a time on my page lately but I have some levity coming down the pipeline. Cheers!
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