Whether or not you're a big Dave Matthews Band fan( who can deny that they've made some classic music in their band history? 'Live at Luther college.'..classic!) there is a really, really great article up on cnn right now (no, I'm not kidding).
It's an interview of Dave Matthews himself, and while he starts off giving his opinion of racism, Obama, and Joe 'shrieker' Wilson, the interview continues onto media criticism, as well as bits about DMB band and his charity.
Excerpts below the fold (if you're too lazy to click on a hyperlink)
They ask DMB what he thinks of Pres. Carter's statement about racism and Obama. Being from South Africa, Matthews has a diverse perspective on racism in America, and racism period, given that he's witnessed it in our country, which is majority-white, and south africa, where blacks are the majority.
CNN: President Carter said he thinks that a lot of the animosity directed toward President Obama is race related.
Dave Matthews: Of course it is! I found there's a fairly blatant racism in America that's already there, and I don't think I noticed it when I lived here as a kid. But when I went back to South Africa, and then it's sort of thrust in your face, and then came back here -- I just see it everywhere. There's a good population of people in this country that are terrified of the president only because he's black, even if they don't say it. And I think a lot of them, behind closed doors, do say it.
Maybe I'm paranoid about it, but I don't think someone who disagreed as strongly as they do with Obama -- if it was Clinton -- would have stood up and screamed at him during his speech. (Shakes his head) I don't think so.
South Carolina, as we all know, has quite a history of congressional misconduct, whether it was caning a Northern senator in the head in the 19th century, or Strom thurmond, or Wilson. While we can debate for weeks about the EXACT academic quantity and quality of racism in america...what's important is YES, racism is PREVALENT in America, it's tied to the class social structure, and is evident in social demographics, police brutality/arrest rates, and the Drug War as well, obviously.
What makes this cnn article really good, however, is that they published matthew's comments on the media, which are obvious observations to those of us in Reality, but surprising to see from CNN-which prizes controversy over news every day.
Matthews: I think a lot of it has to be on the press. We give the podium to a lot of people who shouldn't have the podium. The message that's delivered the loudest and in the most entertaining way is the one that we're going to put on because that's what we want. We want ratings more than we want to deliver information. That's just where the culture's gotten.
There's no way that Walter Cronkite, as a young journalist, no way Ed Murrow would be hired to do news today. Not a chance.
CNN: Because they're too low-key? Because they're not bombastic?
Matthews: Because they're thoughtful, and they're patient, and they're tying to tell you a truly balanced story. They're trying to impart information. I don't think that's the goal [now] because it's not a good business plan. ...
Everyone's outraged all the time. Why are you outraged? There's war -- there's always been war, as long as most of us have been alive. There have always been people being abused, there's always been horrible things in the world. Why are we outraged? We should just be quiet and figure it out, and work it out together. ... There's no solution in Washington as long as people are shouting like that.
Other highlights of the article would be a reference to 'funny cigarettes' at a DMB show (healthier for you than 8$ shots of likker at the House of Blues), and matthew's comments on his charity work, and family-tight road crew.
why are you still reading my lame diary? Go check out the article.