Sometimes I just can't resist the sugar high that is The Wasilla Wonder.
Howard Stern's interview in Harlem with Barack Obama supporters is still my favorite demonstration of the dynamics of mass public opinion in America that I have ever witnessed. Stern's analysis of the song "Sarah Palin (Tea Party) Battle Hymn," is a close second. Here, Howard owns Palin with a commentary that sharply echos Richard Hofstadter's award winning book Anti-intellectualism in American Life.
Irony of ironies/random factoid: Did you know that The Battle Hymn of the Republic is actually based upon the abolitionist song John Brown's Body?
As I have said many a times here and elsewhere, Palin is the queen of a cult of mediocrity where stupidity is a clarion call under a Right-wing banner of false populism and "anti-elitism." Her supporters--as highlighted by the Sarah Palin Battle Hymn--are showing us who they always are and have been. Never forget: music speaks to a collective unconscious, a shared imaginary, and a common sense of symbols, signs, and meanings. We may be tempted to laugh at this homage to Palin, but it reveals the naked truth(s) of the worldview held by the New Right and aggrieved "real" Americans.
For your enjoyment, here are the Sarah Palin Battle Hymn's lyrics:
She's a cold blast from Alaska ingrained with common sense,
She's not a Harvard lawyer but she knew what the Founders meant.
A cold blast from the north that freezes Congress in their tracks,
With God and the Tea Party, she's gonna take it back.Sarah Palin, she won't listen to their bunk,
Sarah Palin coming South to hunt some skunk,
Sarah Palin – she'll throw 'em all in jail,
And when she gets to Washington, it'll be cold as hell.Sarah has the wisdom to walk through an open door,
She's stomping out the wretches where the evil lies in store.
She will scrub the floors and sweep the riff-raff into cracks,
With God and the Tea Party, she's gonna take it back.Sarah Palin, she won't listen to their bunk,
Sarah Palin coming South to hunt some skunk,
Sarah Palin – she'll throw 'em all in jail,
And when she gets to Washington, it'll be cold as hell.SPOKEN WORD:
Congress pats themselves from some new bill they just passed
I watch as my freedom slowly runs through an hourglass
They think they spend our money better than we do
But they can talk until they're blue and old
'Cuz if they ever gave us anything
They always wanted something in return . . . Sarah knows!OPERA-STYLE:
Saraaaaah's marching onnnnnnnn onnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
CLOSING DEDICATION:
I'd like to dedicate that to the Tea Party and all the patriots.
22 comments:
Howard Stern's lyrics 100% captured the subtext of the song. I can laugh at it now instead of being terrified.
I am thrilled to see that there are other acadmeics/intellectuals out there who will readily admit to being a fan of Mr. Stern. I stumbled across this blog somehow and I am really enjoying it, it's like a dose of sanity for a crazy world.
sorry, bad spelling. me write good one day.
Haha Howard Stern is hilarious. What a stupid song. Dumb, ignorant conservative hicks. lol!
I'm just shocked that Obama still has support in Harlem. Well that's right they did reelect Charlie Rangel.
We'd better pray that the Republicans nominate Palin or find some one just as crazy.
[quote]Irony of ironies/random factoid: Did you know that The Battle Hymn of the Republic is actually based upon the abolitionist song John Brown's Body?[/quote]
Mr DeVega:
Are you saying that Sarah Palin would be PRO-SLAVERY but for the present "inappropriateness" of it?
I was about to post a new blog entry entitled "The Progressive-Fundamentalist Hatred That Is Not - Their Use Of Stupidity As A Political Weapon".
I wonder how many Black people had better targeted by these same tactics?
I think Stearns is a racist but this is amusing...lol,lol,lol
How many black voters actually thought Sarah Palin was Obama's
vp?Love the blog but I don't get
your love affair with Stern.
I am actually of the camp that is a Stern fan. Whether you like him or not, he can make very cogent and precise points about our society. This was actually one of them, and I do not think that the earlier program in which the people from Harlem were interviewed were racist. It is indeed a sad state of affairs when people don't vote for issues, but for color or personality.
@anon. No accounting for taste. But that is okay too.
@M. This is an entry point into discussing the overused phrase "racism." I agree. How would you define it, and why are folks so quick to throw it around carelessly?
I don't seek out anyone's approval or consent nor permission to indict another with the charge of being a racist..My father nor mother were never given that power over me I alone define what I seek to define..
Stearns is a white jewish racist I am not not nor will I ever be an apologist for a racist for any reason...George Wallace ate chicken in Black churches after he was shot and he was still a racist..Stearns is humorus 'no shit' and then 'so what"
Strom Thurmon had a Black daughter and he was still a racist...Mandela & MLK often spoke of their jailers in humane terms but they were all racist
As a Black jew like Jesus was I am often called a swartza( yiddish word for nigger) quite often because of my commentaries about racism in many jewish venues..
To often to man white jewish people want me to chase down the racism of WASPS and give them a free pass...
I have been in many heated conversations about Isreal and South Africa , Jesse Jackson, Black athletes, Agents, Lawyers, Rentals,Email about Obama and then get called a swartza
From my perspective as a Black man in America at end of the day white folks are white folks even the white folks that are jewish like me...Race trumps everything in America
@Thrasher. But can you define racism? Or is it one of the offenses in the we know it when we see it category?
CD,
I was anticipating your question Yes I can define it by inserting a number of conventional defintions However I always reserve the right to define reality from my personhood as a Black man in USAwhere the articulation of this offense does not have to shaped or fashioned using the paradigms of the ruling class ( read white folks or those educated and influenced by the ruling class)..
When Black folks rely on the lexicon and tools of engagement defined by the ruling class than we engaged in making excuses for racists like Stearns and others.. Tragically for some of us Unless we insert and employ their( ruling class) verbaige or tools our concerns are not acknowledged or recognized. I reject such an approach especially when racism is on the table...The legal profession inserts the rule of law to dismiss and negate legimate claims of injustice etc If these claims do follow the protocols of civil and criminal procedure as such in the eyes of those who operate our legal systems claims without standing are dismissed as if the injustice never happened..
This same paradigm exists in the field of race in America..When a Black person is unable to articulate racism within the framework created by the ruling class then these claims have no merit in that arena..Or interests can never allow others to define our existence and rules of engagement certainly never in America where legal aparthied existed..
Of course I give less than a fuck about the protocols of the privledge , ruling class, apologists and the hegemony of white cultural rules and regulations..Many Black folks like me don't ask for permission or the consent of the ruling class to register a grievance or complaint etc.
The question is then for those of us who are Free Black folks who do not agree to thier rules of engagement our mantra and manifesto is to define what is revelant and truth to us.. So when a Black person encounters racism I counsel folks never concern yourself with rules of evidence, protocol etc of how others define racism and evil it is your reference that defines the moment especially in America.
Racists like Stearns is to often given a immunity pass by Black folks because he shares a similar contempt for the ruling class Yet as I noted earlier as a white male he also employs and engages in racism, his religious station does not trump his racial station.. He is a white person and he will never surrender that privledge and he will call me a nigger in a hot swartza minute and then he will run for cover under the immunity of being a jewish an aggrieved minority like you and I which is a insult and offensive from my perspective as a Black man in America... Stearns has not encountered the 'one drop rule" or the holocaust we have encountered here in AMerica at end of the day Stearns has not been on the end of being called a nigger in yiddish..
In summary Yeah I can define racism in every culture and langage and incarnation in the universe not only know it when I see it but my cultural dna allows me to smell it, hear it, taste it, feel it yada, yada,yada.
CD, Can you define racism? or is it one of the offenses in the we know it when we see it category??
Your turn..
[quote]Strom Thurmon had a Black daughter and he was still a racist...Mandela & MLK often spoke of their jailers in humane terms but they were all racist[/quote]
Brother Thrasher:
Not to disagree or either amplify what you said but only to make a point.
In the year 2011 more Black people will be assaulted/murdered or mis-educated by people who's assault WILL NOT be considered "RACIST".
To me this shows how SOME Black people would rather deal with issues that are better able to draw out passioned emotion rather than deal with the shark that has our body in his mouth at the knees and ready to release his grip so he can take another gulp, grabbing us at the waist.
Sadly some people are better at triggering "Congregational Unity" than they are at MANAGEMENT.
Stearns and friends latest contempt for Black folks..
http://www.bvblackspin.com/2011/01/26/joan-rivers-calls-michelle-obama-blackie-o/
So funny..ha,ha,ha,
@Thrasher: I don't seek out anyone's approval or consent nor permission to indict another with the charge of being a racist..
Ok, so Howard Stern is now formally indicted by you as a racist. Now that he's been endowed with the medal of honor, what's the punishment and how do you intend to mete it out?
Oh Crap,
Of course I am not obligated to follow your protocols on anything ..
Unlike you I don't viewed my opinions about Stern as being a formal indictment,nor giving him any medal of honor, a punishment, nor do I have to mete out any sentence for him
So now that I have dismissed your views about Stern from my perspective..
I have already posted on this issue please revisited them on this site as I noted " I don't seek out anyone's approval or consent nor permission to indict another with the charge of being a racist....
@Thrasher, the language of indictment is yours alone. The question was, ok so you indict Howard Stern as "a racist".
Hooray, yet another person labeled Howard Stern "a racist", stop the presses and sing we shall overcome. So... what's supposed to happen, next?
If the answer is nothing and that it's simply a mechanism to help you feel like part of the legacy of racial uplift for a hot minute, that's fine. If you don't have an answer, that's fine too, but it's a question begged by your own use of the terminology.
Oh Crap,
Your point is what? You don't want me to call Stern a racist? Sorry I will continue to do that..You are upset that many more Black folks will also view Sterns now as a racist?..You are jewish and upset and I have called another jewish person a bigot and racist? Sorry but your anguish is not my concern..You don't want people to understand that objecting to racist people, or having people ignore the support of bigots and racists who have commerical enterprises is a way to diminished their racism and attack on an ethnic group? You don't have the courage and integrity to publically call Sterns a bigot like I can without hiding behind an alias ? Sorry again your lack of integrity and intellectual cowardice is not my concern yet again..
As I have posted many times in here I don't seek out anyone's consent or permission to indict another with the charge of being a racist...I have no problem posted that everytime you want me to remind you when Sterns and other white jewish racists and bigots surface and offend folks especially Black people like me..
@Thrasher, Your point is what? You don't want me to call Stern a racist?
You have missed the point, COMPLETELY. How, I'm not sure, because it's been stated using plain English.
The point for several posts has been, so you're emotinally invested in calling Stern (pls get the spelling right) a whatever, who cares?
So Stern gets the label "racist", just like every other dumb white bigot. So, what's supposed to happen, next? If you do not have an answer to what comes the name game, that's fine, too, just say so and I can stop asking.
You are jewish and upset and I have called another jewish person a bigot and racist?
Lol, unless I have some G or K in my DNA chart, I'm not Jewish. (I got my initial test done at Afrigeneas, which should provide you with a key clue to help cure that cluelessness problem.)
But so what if I was? It would be irrelevant to your silly screeds. You get to disagree with Stern. Any one else gets to laugh at your brittle, ideological rigidity. And so it goes.
Oh Crap,
You are an intellectual coward you post under an alias and you want me to validate the nonsense that you post sorry but not now or never..
You lacked the skil set to articulate any clarity so please spare me the role of being a villain because of youer shortcomings..I have already posted many times the value of indicting racists yet again no doubt becuase your an intellectual coward you continue to run from this truth.. You cannot handle certain truths so you deflect and then try to shit on Glenn Ford as if he mattered to any chatter about Sterns..( BTW my genius never is concerned about spelling and trival stuff like that)
Your DNA concerns are not mine I am not interested in your backstory I am sure you know that by now..
You have zero credibility with me remember your an intellectual coward that posts under an alias...
Now stop obessing over me...The beat goes one..
Post a Comment