A couple of days I wrote about Kanye West and his ongoing virulent and violent anti-Semitic comments, and how the issue isn’t about Kanye West, but about the Republican Party which has not only been silent about it all, but has continued to back him and Trump’s own recent anti-Semitic rant.
I stand by that. But I do think Mr. West does deserve some attention of his own. (Quick side note: I know well that he’s now referred today as “The former Kanye West who legally changed his name to Ye.” But what he didn’t seem to bother to change was his Twitter account, for which he doesn't use "Ye," but still posts as Kanye West. So, if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me.) This comes because, after having been pummeled by his business partnerships, notably losing his deal with Adidas who he basically dared cut ties with him, and they did, he’s be acting very desperate lately. As I said before, Kanye West will be fine financially. If he loses 90 percent of his income, with the remaining 10 percent he’s still doing great. (Assuming he had a billion dollars – maybe more, maybe less – that still would leave $100 million.) That said, we don’t know his financial ties and if he’s leveraged and has outstanding loans, and how losses from other business cutting ties will affect his finances. What we do know, though, is that after Adidas dropped him, Forbes magazine almost immediately removed West from their billionaire's list, significantly plummeting his net worth to $400 million. That's a huge loss of wealth. It's also still a massive amount of money. Though whatever real-life problems it may cause him, I don’t especially care. Because this isn’t about money. It’s about a virulent, violent anti-Semite. But as much as I don’t care about Kanye West’s finances, he clearly does. The other day, he went uninvited into the corporate headquarters of Skecher, trying to get a new deal to replace the one lost with Adidas – and not only didn’t get the deal, but was escorted out of the building, getting the company to put out a press release explaining that they would not be working with Kanye West now or in the future, saying among other things, “Skechers is not considering and has no intention of working with West. We condemn his recent divisive remarks and do not tolerate anti-Semitism or any other form of hate speech." He's lost partnership deals with Adidas, Balenciaga, Skechers, TJ Maxx. His talent agency CAA dropped him as a client. The MRC Entertainment production company has shelved a documentary that already completed about it. Vogue has cut ties with him. Gap has said it’s removing his Yeezy Gap products and shutting down the Yeezy Gap website. Apple Music announced that while it’s not removing all his music, it is, however, removing the Kanye West Essentials Playlist some material, along with his biography. By the way, going back to Gap a moment, Kanye West put out a weird social media post yesterday – one of many, so that’s par for the course – that included a small comment that hasn’t gotten much attention: “As to Gap, the non-compete expires December 15, 2022. You own the Yeezy name and all trademarks associated with Yeezy.” He lost the name and all trademarks for Yeezy?? Well, that can’t be good. Most especially for someone who went to the trouble of legally changing his name to Ye. Also not good were all the social media postings he put out yesterday. The most notable one, though, was ostensibly sent to his former agency, writing – “ARI EMMANUEL "I LOST 2 BILLION DOLLARS IN ONE DAY AND I’M STILL ALIVE THIS IS LOVE SPEECH I STILL LOVE YOU GOD STILL LOVES YOU THE MONEY IS NOT WHO I AM THE PEOPLE IS WHO I AM" "The people is who I am." Just not all the people. Just not the people he wanted dead and to go “Death Con 3” over. And has been virulently attacking for many weeks, in fact months and perhaps years. (A news story yesterday told how in 2018 he apparently wanted to title his album Hitler. And had to be talked out of it.) Fun fact: Writing "love speech" doesn't make people (and business partners) forget one's hate. And that’s the point of this all. Kanye West can cry out that he’s all about love and The People, but his words and words and relentless words come tumbling out before him. He can’t claim his was misquoted. They were his own social media postings he himself wrote. (And never claimed anyone else did.) They’ve been his own relentless, ongoing words. And beyond his own virulent and violent words of anti-Semitism that have been picked up by white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups, he even has taken on his own black community, wearing “White Lives Matter” t-shirts and claiming George Floyd wasn’t killed by a now-convicted police officer kneeling on his neck for eight minutes, but rather died from a drug overdose. (A “claim” the Floyd family has sued him $250 million for.) That’s the problem he faces. Given all he’s said about Jews and even blacks and for so long, it’s very difficult to apologize and say, “Gee, I didn’t mean it. It was hurtful and wrong, I’m sorry.” Because clearly he did mean it, and meant it repeatedly. Bluntly. You don't accidentally want to title your album Hitler. Single “oops” statements can be apologized for with a mea culpa. But this is about core beliefs about who a person is. Such things require acknowledging who you are, explaining the hurt and harm it caused – giving comfort to white supremacists, understanding why it is wrong and why you have been wrong for so long and what you are going to do about the long process of changing who you are right now and for the rest of your life. And even that doesn’t erase what is on the long record of what you said. That’s the problem he faces. By the way, the added problem is that I don’t see most people, and most especially Kanye West, given who he’s showed himself to be his long public life, going through such a complete public cleansing of his past. And even if, for some miraculous reason, he did, it would likely be seen as being just an attempt to reclaim is lost partnerships and money, not a public rending of his soul. But even if – beyond even miracles – his words and actions are so profoundly powerful that they are seen as deeply heartfelt to the extent that he’s gone through a personal conversion…those words he’s long said still live on. And though people at that beyond-miracle point could forgive him, it would still be hard for businesses to want to risk being associated in any way with those early and relentless, hate-filled, violent words. And hoped-for album titles. To be clear, I think it’s possible some people, maybe many, would be able to forgive Kanye West and keep listening to his music, and would want to buy his products if they could find them being made and sold somewhere, even if he only gave a moderate apology. The hurdle for West is that it’s hard to see he has even that in him. And further, while it might be enough to win some or many fans back, it wouldn’t be enough to bring businesses back. He’s much too toxic to the corporate world for just a mild “I’m sorry if I offended anybody” apology. And his business deals are the core to his wealth now, not his music. And music trends are short shelf lives. The public often can forgive egregious, but simple transgressions, however those tend to take a while, let’s say five years. The music world in five years (let alone more) may not likely have much place for a Kanye West, other than in the Oldies bin. And the fashion world is even more fickle, often changing from season to season. And now make it, what if the mea culpa comes in 10 years? I’m not saying Kanye West won’t be able to turn around how he’s crashed and burned his life. Or that he will be impoverished by his actions. Financially, he should be better than fine, just perhaps at a less-grandiose scale. And depending on how he chooses to respond to everything, he may stop being a pariah. But “should” and “may” are tangential terms. And they come up against a monumental wall and onrushing tsunami that he himself created. That he himself created, and then dared Adidas to do something about it. Not recognizing the obvious that his world revolved around so much more than just Adidas. Who, in the end, had utterly zero interest in understanding that it was far more in their corporate interest to move to higher ground. There are so many biblical quotes one could throw around here, starting with “Pride goeth before the fall.” But it’s one other that most stands out -- We have not yet reached the point where this deeply-ironic biblical phrase has taken on brand new meaning, but it’s up to him to avoid it: Abandon all hope Ye who enter here.
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I completely understand the well-deserved focus on Kanye West ongoing barrage of anti-Semitic and violent comments, reaching a peek with him basically dismissing any threat that Adidas would cut ties with him.
Indeed, Adidas was put in a somewhat tricky position because Adidas isn’t his sponsor, but his business partner and an important one. And so, they risk losing business if they’re even able to end the partnership. But then, they’re also risk losing business and credibility if they don’t end their relationship with him and remain partners with a virulent, violent anti-Semite. Made all the more pronounced when White Supremacists draped banners on a 405 Freeway overpass in Los Angeles in support of West, saying that he’s right about Jews. Not really the kind of association one would think Adidas wants, whatever the financial cost of finding a way out of their contract. And West appears to have kicked in the Law of Unintended Consequences, as another partner, Balenciaga dropped its relationship with him. Which also not only shows Adidas that a company can break ties with West, but puts pressure on them to do so. And then yesterday, his talent agency CAA dropped him from their roster. And Vogue broke off their relationship with him. And production company MRC is not releasing a completed documentary on West. And now, this morning Adidas did cut ties with Kanye West. (Go figure, he was wrong, it turns out there was something Adidas could do about it...) To be clear, it’s not like Kanye West will be financially hurt much if at all by any of this. If he doesn’t earn another nickel in his life, he’s still doing great. (After Adidas dropped him, Forbes magazine already removed West from their billionaire's list, significantly plummeting his net worth to $400 million. That's a huge loss of wealth. It's also a massive amount of money.) That said, we don’t know his financial ties and if he’s leveraged and has outstanding loans, and how losses from other business cutting ties will affect his finances. So, it could be a problem for him. But not only do I doubt that, in terms of real-life "problems," I also don’t care. This isn’t about money. It’s about a virulent, violent anti-Semite. If he wants to buy the far-right, extreme social media company Parler, and post his hate-filled rants, he has that right to become a human pariah surrounded only by White Supremacists for support. And others have the right to demean him as much as possible. But like with Trump, this isn’t about Kanye West. It’s about the near-total silence of the Republican Party, whose leadership has shown cowardice in action and putting its own racial hate and anti-Semitism front and center. It was silent went Trump went on his anti-Semitic rampage about Jews and Israel. And it’s silent about Kanye West. When a Hollywood talent agency shows more morals than the Republican Party – or most anybody – you know you’re scraping the bottom. Once more, Trump is at it again (not that he has stopped) with the far-right anti-Semitic rant on his social media site, this time about Jews and Israel. He always loves saying -- as he did here yet again -- how much evangelicals love Israel, even more than American Jews do (because if there's anything Trump knows about, I'm sure, it's what Jews anywhere think...). But what he always ignores explaining is why evangelicals love Israel so much: it's because, to evangelicals, Israel is where End Times will occur, and Jews who don't convert will die in flames.
So...yeah, I can see why evangelicals looooove Israel for that reason a whole lot more than Jews do. "I love Israel so that it can be destroyed in a burning conflagration" With friends like that... To be clear, this isn't just Trump. He spews his hate when he knows there's an audience in the GOP base. And, of course, it comes on the heels days earlier of Kanye West's anti-Semitic and violent comments about going "death con 3" on Jews -- to a notable lack of criticism from Republican officials. I wrote about this yesterday on social media, and I was surprised how many people "liked" it -- 150 (so far) with 40 retweets. What should not come as a shock is that I got a few responses trying to explain that, well, yes, Trump is right, we must all repent and Jews must do so first. (It should also not come as a shock that after as politely as I had it in me, I told these respondents off and then muted them, before blocking. Because, y'know, that whole "Life is too short" thing.) One of the things I did point out is that hard as it may be for evangelicals to accept, not everyone in the world is actually Christian -- nor is even half of the world. But I did at least thank them for proving my point that the reason the anti-Semitic Trump keeps mentioning evangelicals' looooove of Israel has absolutely nothing to do with loving Israel and supporting it, but is about waiting for its destruction. But then, most of these are the same people who were waiting for Trump to be reinstalled last year as president with the dead JFK Jr. as his vice-president. So, consider the source.... The other day, online Christian preacher Mike Winger said, "If God tells you to kill someone, yes, you should."
What I suggest is that you find another God to follow. Or consider that maybe God is testing you, since after all He did command, "Thou shalt not kill." Furthermore, at the very least you should consider that perhaps He is just checking to see if you actually have read any of the Bible and remember that time when He tested Abraham this way. And even sent an angel to make sure Abraham did not slay his son Isaac. (As in "not.") You can't miss it -- it's near the very beginning. Or find a psychiatrist to talk to first, before just going out and murdering because you say you heard God telling you to kill. Ultimately, it's not surprising that he also says about this, "Well, I’m going to say something controversial that will absolutely delight atheists. ... I don’t care. ... You’ve already hated me anyways. It’s not like anything changed. If anything, I’m just glad people, like, hate-follow me. Like, at least that’s there. You know, maybe they’re hearing the Gospel." Or maybe they're hearing a flim-flam charlatan who likes to hear himself dangerously pontificate. By the way, when telling people from your online pulpit that you should kill if you hear God tell you do, it's my belief that you should 100% absolutely, no-question, rock-solid certain about that, rather than saying "maybe they're hearing the Gospel." Maybe?? As in, "But, y'know, I could possibly be wrong about this." Because if one of your online parishioners kills someone, there's no do-over to reconsider. Interpreting the Bible is a long, valued tradition. But it's generally done with studied support of your words, rather than just playing God and pulling opinions out of your various orifices. After all, I'm not aware of anywhere in "the Gospel" where God says, "If you hear Me tell you to kill someone, go ahead." I don't want to draw a connection between this online Christian preacher and all Christian preachers today, including those pontificating from the pulpit that Trump is a demi-God and delivering Jesus's teachings. But I will say that it at least addresses the point that whoever your minister is, whatever your faith, it's always good to remember that as much as you think they are your direct link to the divine Word of God, those words is being delivered by a man on earth. You can find the full RawStory article here. As we finish Yom Kippur, which starts tonight at sundown, I thought I'd get this in under the wire. It's the song "Avinu Malkeinu" which comes at the very end of the service. This was one of my mother's favorite songs for the High Holidays, and it's sung wonderfully here by 13 cantors from around the world. I find some of the visual editing a little distracting, but not the singing. Avinu Malkeinu means "Our Father, Our King," and the prayer itself is basically one of supplication, while also asking God for compassion whether or not it's deserved. It can be recited throughout the year, though the prayer is an important part of 10 days of the High Holidays starting with Rosh Hashanah and notably sung at the end of the service atoning at the start of the new year. Or something like that. There are many variations, and even verses, whose order I think maybe can even be flexible, and the different denominations handle it their own way. A parent has pulled her pre-school child out of school after a video surfaced of the teacher leading her 4-5 year-olds in an anti-Biden chant.
On the video, the teacher asks the little children, “Who’s our president?” When they all answer together, “Biden,” the teacher then asks them, “What do we want to do with him?” And in unison the pre-schoolers yell back, “We want him out!” And just to be sure to little kids learned their lesson for the day, the teacher repeats the question and gets the same answer, only yelled back even louder. The mother became aware of this when she picked up her child. "The first thing she said to me when I picked her up was 'We want him out,'" Christina McFadden said. "That was the great message she learned that day. Her first history lesson." The school is a private religious-based institution, Turning Point Christian Church. Some great values there. The video was originally posted on the school’s own messaging app (yes, really), until it was taken down. Some great values there. Turning Point Christian Church is in Norco, California, which is in Southern California, about 25 miles east of Los Angeles in Riverside County. And just to add a fun fact to it all, this all took place on Presidents Day! Reports say that “The school has issued an apology.” However, the school’s idea of an apology differs from mine. I feel pretty confident in saying that it would get an “F” from the American Institute for Apologies that Nell Minow and I co-founded. “Earlier today a video was posted that has since been deleted as it did not share our school and church philosophy of honoring and respecting authority including those in government position. “We are sorry for any misunderstanding this could of (sic) created. With courtesy towards the families of our campus and the children in the classroom I am asking you to please not share with others or post the video on any social media platform,” Personally, I don’t see the word or even the concept of an apology there. Mostly regret that it was found out and made public. And a desire to bury it. What they did say, though, was so weak that it suggests the school and church’s “philosophy” do, in fact, share the same sentiments as the video. Among other things, there’s no indication that the teacher wasn’t even reprimanded, or put on suspension, let alone fired. In fact, Ms. McFadden has said that the school told her the teacher would be allowed to keep teaching because she was “repentant and has learned from her mistake.” Hallelujah! She repented! (For all we know, what she learned was just not to send your video to 14 sets of parents.) And again, to be clear, there is no apology there at all. Furthermore, on the school’s website they don’t even have the statement (I won’t call it an “apology”) posted on the News section. It’s like it doesn’t exist. They just want to bury it, even after it’s become national news. Some great values, there. Despite the request by Turning Point Christian School officials to hide the video, Ms. McFadden posted the video on both Facebook and TikTok. She said on her Facebook post that she thought was important other parents in the school were aware of what was being thought. She wrote that she wanted to bring awareness that “there are currently zero standards or guidelines of any kind that are being enforced in early childhood education classes. Zero.” And added that “This video was planned, practiced, recorded and the teacher was so comfortable with it she sent it to 14 sets of parents, She was so proud of this content what else did she teach my child this year?” I’ve intentionally not embedded the video here, but if you want to see it – and read Christina McFadden’s full Facebook statement, you can find them here. [UPDATE: The Facebook posting appears appears to have either been taken down or limited to select people. But you can see the video here.] One wonders if other parents will pull their kids out, which – given that it is a private school – could have a major impact. Ms. McFadden’s child started in her new school in February. All the more reason the lack of a serious apology stands out so much. However, the school officials must think that this video comes pretty close to sharing the school and church’s philosophy, and that the parents will be fine with it, given that the teacher sent it to 14 sets up parents. But then, if the school wrong about that, it could be a big problematic turning point for them… |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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