Terry McMahon's Awesome Blog

I'm predisposed to like Kanye West, because he's the second rapper (after Eminem) I've ever gotten into. But Kanye's one of those guys who keeps coming through for you in the clutch. Let's look at NBC's press release after their telethon last night:

Tonight's telecast was a live television event wrought with emotion. Kanye West departed from the scripted comments that were prepared for him and his opinions in no way represent the views of the networks. It would be most unfortunate if the efforts of the artists who participated tonight and the generosity of millions of Americans who are helping those in need are overshadowed by one person's opinion.

As you can see, he doesn't fuck around. What did he actually say? Quoth the AP:

Appearing two-thirds through the program, he claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible."

I'd call him 1 for 2 on that one. I suspect in his heart of hearts that our unpopular president genuinely wants poor people and black people to do well. I also think that the president has yet to make the connection between his politics not actually doing anything to help those people, and those people staying in their socioeconomic positions. In other words, it's hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you don't have any boots.

As for his second comment, that the country is designed to help the less well-off as slowly as possible, can anyone disagree at that point? Whenever a disaster is oncoming, it's always the people without cars, without family members in other cities who can take them in, and without a heavy-duty TV/radio/internet communications network who don't get out in time. And when they don't get out in time, they're the ones who get to stand in neck-deep sewage water until they die, get stored and shoved around like cattle, or get shot by roving gangs of desperate criminals. The government's preparation here is obviously appalling, but will any of this be fixed for the next big disaster? Does anyone really think at this point that there's a plan for what happens when Los Angeles falls apart in a massive earthquake?

People like Kanye West have every right to say outrageous things. They're pissed, and they should be. The big question is whether George Bush is pissed off too.