And your view strikes me as overly wishy-washy, naively optimistic, and insufficiently reflective. Any contingent "truth" in this is likely somewhere in between our positions.J T wrote:Wow, your view is so cynical to view him as an opportunistic parasite on a movement, rather than someone playing a part in that movement. That's so bitter and jaded. See, this is why I can't take that Spin article seriously as a piece of musical journalism. It's not music criticism, it's a negativistic fault finding mission. It's just the author ascribing self-serving intentions onto everything Macklemore does, like what would be done in a political smear campaign. It makes me sad really, not only as a Macklemore fan, but just as a human who cares about equality and civil rights issues. It is so hard to evoke any change in the straight white male majority not only because convincing the majority to give up their position of power is an obvious hard sell, but because when a majority member attempts change, all of his intentions are called into question and it is seen as insincere, self-serving, whitewashed, opportunistic, guilt assuaging, neo-liberal bullshit. Damn, I'm glad I'm not famous. I would crack under the steely eyed scrutiny of people that have decided to hate me.
At the end of the day, his music and his politics should both be subject to a thorough critique and interrogation, which is really all I see myself doing. Gay rights and race issues are not as neat and tidy as he presents them in his radio-ready music, and his popularity risks suggesting to many, many listeners that they are.
FWIW, almost all of the gay people I know (a sizable amount of mostly academics) can't stand his music or his message either.
