Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Take on the Hot97 morning crew

There have been all of these billboards in NYC for the new/updated/old Hot97 morning/afternoon/evening team. I have never listed to this crew so i will make all my judgments based solely on the billboards.
The reason I even mention it is because the billboards plastered around the city calls the trio "The Black, The Puerto Rican and the Jew". Obviously I get that the are desperately trying to widen their audience and I always appreciate anybody who shuns the concept of political correctness but what is how it sounds coming out of my own mouth.
I am not sure what it is but there is something very different to me when I say "the Puerto Rican" or when I say 'the Jew' or 'the Black'. One sounds like a very sensible descriptive term while the other have me look over both shoulders before I utter them around proper company.
I have been trying to draw a distinction and feel like it comes down to a nationality vs other description. People have pride in their nationalities and feel being described as that is sensitive while race and religion are still items obviously not allowed to be discussed at the dinner table

For example there is something very different to saying. "My sister in law married a Brazilian guy' than saying "my sister in law married a black guy"' even if her husband is both black and Brazilian. Now I don't imply anything more with my statement than pointing out a fact but one of them sounds completely wrong coming out of my mouth. I think by taking the preface of 'a' and replacing it with a descriptive 'guy' behind the word black it does soften it somewhat but still feels more harsh than 'a Puerto Rican' or 'a Brazilian'
But the Jew line is even worse, there just is no way to spin that to not make you sound anti-semetic and it's ridiculous. Maybe it's because it's a religion vs a nationality but why would one be an acceptable description while the other makes you look out for an American History X reference.

So in short, I am a bit interested in this show although I am sure the most provocative thing will have been the billboard
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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