Tuesday, April 14, 2009

SIZZLA, Drag Queens + Babylonian Intervention - UPDATE

Call me jaded, socially irresponsible, or self-hating, but I just can't get over how dancehall artists are targeted so hard internationally for being homophobes. Sure, some of the lyrics are questionable, but what are the purposes and intentions of those fighting against these artists? Are they trying to santizie the genre or help gay Jamaicans? See cartoon below, via d.hall mobi:




If I was Sizzla, denied the opportunity to perform in Canada because of my refusal to censor my content, I just might come back to JA even MORE PISSED at gays and not want to recant my message because of clumsy Babylonian intervention.

Are these international censors guarding lives or feelings? I question any force of globalization and homogenization, and think that the Western Cultural Industry doesn't have the answers to "solve" Jamaican homophobia, considering it is responsible for this "epidemic" in the first place.

Embargo is not the answer: denial only breeds hostility - discourse needs to be opened, not silenced.

Now, in the service of active disidentification, assorted videos of Sizzla and reggae/soca faggotry












now this wise commentary on the subject - no blood, no foul - my take on ish:



and then there are these faggots who need to stop: read their own comments and see how quickly anti-homophobia transforms into blatant racism





UPDATE: D.H.Reggae forum posting on the issue here

2 comments:

Unknown said...

First of all, really excited about your current internet presence. Hold tight kingdom for the referral!

Wanted to add to the discussion on Rastafarian homophobia by saying that Rastafarianism is, in more ways than one, a sect of orthodox (even evangelical) Christianity.

So do we ban american christian rock bands from playing cities because they represent ideologies of Otherness? While these sentiments may not be in their lyrics, what's at issue here, lyrical content or musical content? I hope it's musical...

NEON CHRISTINA said...
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