The Kanye Controversy: The Concept of Choice
Ive been going at it with my High School & College Classmates on Facebook about this Kanye Commentary. Its gotten so bad that I had one fraternity brother threaten me with harm because he was under the impression that i was "disrespecting the ancestors". This discussion has revealed to me that many dont understand Philosophy and Logic. Certain things must be taken into consideration when going down this rabbit hole.....whats slavery, whats free-will/Free-thinking & whats Choice.
SLAVERY is pretty self explanatory, but in America it was exceptionally cruel. Not only was it cruel, but slavery in America was a matter of legislating any african and his/her descendants to a life of servitude. In order to maintain control over the masses, seeing that slaves often out numbered their masters, used psychological terror...such as whippings, castration, tar & feathering, cutting off hands and feet, physical torture, hangings and a myriad of other cruel actions.
The Concepts of free will/free thinkinf were highly explored during the age of the enlightenment. It explores the question if man is an independent and free.
If a man can truly think independently and make decisions according to his/her own self interest. Is it possible that a man can be controlled or by nature is he inclined to make choices for himself.
Lastly, the concept of choices. A choice is simply an act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities.
So lets revisit what Kanye said.
Let me be clear...slavery was never a choice. To me, its more a condition. But when he made the comment "400 years..." it started to make me wonder eventhough they were slaves, did they have a choice. Ive concluded that they did. I dont place any judgement on their choice, but the existence of people like Harrriet Tubman, Nat Turner & Frederick Douglas are prime examples of slaves who made a choice.
I guess what id say gives my argument legs is the notion that all humans are born with Free-will. Eventhough black folk were dealt a bad hand being born into slavery, I still believe that slaves had choice. Those choices varied based on your proximity to freedom. Freedom was probably more conceivable to slaves such as Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman being Maryland slaves in contrast to Nat Turner who was in Virginia. For Harriet & Frederick, freedom was merely a matter of less than 250 miles. Slaves in the deep south faced odds less favorable.
So depending on the matters that would keep a slave on a plantation....slaves were often weighing freedom against retaliation on loved ones, whippings, castration and lynching.
Now, if you assume a slave is incapable of free thinking, then I truly get all the indignation. But being the descendant of slaves and knowing the history that is my family, there is no doubt in my mind that slaves exercised choice. Crappy hand...horrible odds, but they had choices: therefore, I conclude that if you take all the emotion out of the debate, what youll find is that Kanye aint that crazy. Maybe he is trying to force people to reconsider alternative possibilities. Maybe hes trying to spark a debate.....all i know is that slaves made choices.....all in the effort to be free and or to survive to see if there would be better choices tomorrow.
To show you appreciation for alowing me to voice my opinion on your platform (your page), I upvoted your post with @sureshot
Most of power is delegated to the bot, and I wish I could give you a better upvote. So I used the bot to upvote your post.
I love this debate. I talked about it on the smart media group discord server with my peers there. First i’d like to say, I love kanye. Kanye and all his antics.
Ok slavery was horrible. Its also in the past. My people that still cry and weep when you bring up slavery are (in my opinion) [to be nice i’ma say] silly. We have brothers and sisters killing each other every day. People of color kill themselves more than any white klan, or police force. I think the “black lives matter” campaign is a joke. We rally when a white male in a blue suit kills one of ours but we wont snitch when Tyronne killed Damien. Really?
Black men in America have always been cowards. This continues till this day. Watch this
They had a choice. Point blank period. How many times we hear “you’d have to kill me before I do that”? You’d literally would have to kill me and my entire family before I obey and call another human “master”. I just simply wouldve refused to live that hell. And for it to continue for 400 years... Somewhere along the line you simply lose all hope, why even let it continue? The suffering, the pain, the embarrassment. Thats not life. So I would’ve tried to get free or die trying.
Yeah......i cant run with that black men are cowards business.
Like I said in my post, who am i to place judgement on their choice, but the last thing i can say is black men are cowards. I cant even co-sign that notion at all.
Like theres this part of me....who is like...how dare you have the audacity to say that on the page of a black man?
Lol...where they do that at?
Im a person of color in america. I identify as black. I grew up in the hood. I was raised in marcy projects brooklyn ny.
Not all of out people are cowards. I know i’m not. But out ancestors, the majority, acted as cowards for not standing up for themselves and making he right choice. Watch my brothers hassan campbell’s videos. He makes a lot of sense.
Our people have been acting like cowards and folding to the white man since the beginning.
after looking at your page....whats positive about that post?
Whats negative about it? Its my opinion. If you my mans, and you did something and acted like a coward. Ima call you a b!tch. No disrespect to your page and your post. Excuse my language but its real. If my boys did something that I feel was lame or whack, ima let you know. Kanye offened our people because he spoke the truth. In his words and in his own presepective. He is absoultely entitled to his opinion. The sad part is that his opinion was real, truth that offened some because they dont like (or cant handle) the truth.
excuse my tone....i was just taken back. you have a right to your opinion. i just dont agree.
Thats the beauty of free thought. You dont have to agree. You are entitled to your own opinion.
Come by the server and talk with us sometime https://discord.gg/f7kQavk
will do
Read this article by @dollarvigilante? Of course, they tell he s crazy...
And btw, slavery wasn't a white men's "privilege" only. The Islamic empires of those days were even or maybe worse, but this is rarely communicated in public.
Bro, I get what you are saying. I am not sure how I feel about it.
There's a quote in the film Django that essentially asks the question: why were there so many slaves in so many positions to overthrow and kill their masters but never did?
I've never been black and I've never been in chains (well, except for the occasional freaky romp) so there's no way for me to understand the mindset that slaves were conditioned into.
I have however felt fear, and been a fugitive.
Seeing your friends and families abused, raped, beaten and killed must instill constant fear into a person. And fear clouds judgement to the point that many of the little daily decisions we take for granted seem impossible.
So to organize a revolution of people in this condition that couldn't write, didn't have access to rapid safe communication, would necessarily be an impossible task.
Maybe I am wrong man, I'm definitely not wise yet but it still feels to me like slaves are often born into a world where to an outsider it might seem like they have a choice. But if they are never told of it, do they really?
Good post. I'm curious to hear your response 😊