Kanye Did Nothing Wrong

"The truth is, in a world where witch-hunts are ongoing and intensifying, there aren’t a lot of people who are willing to stand up for those deemed to be witches. In fact, seeing them being targeted they’ll do the opposite. They’ll hunker down or conform in fear of being targeted and labeled one themselves; they well know the consequences of it."

A spectre is haunting our society again - the spectre of nazism according to some, and mental illness according to others. And the man to blame for it is no one else but Kanye West, a black American who's also a rapper, songwriter, and fashion designer.

According to the media Kanye’s pandering to white supremacists, he's a racist by proxy, extremists adore him, and this just came in: He's a self-identified nazi.

Oh my, my, my! That's so awful, so awful it's hard to believe. Can you believe it?

On the other hand, there are those who don't think he's a nazi - an anti-semite maybe, which I'll have you know is just as awful and basically precursor to nazism - but is instead mentally ill. Take Ben Shapiro for instance, who recently stated that Kanye is, I quote:

[C]learly suffering from a mental breakdown. It’s an act of cruelty to have him on the air at this point. He needs treatment, not a spotlight.

Or Will Chamberlain for that matter, who quipped: "Turns out Ye really needed his handlers."

This is quite interesting actually, especially in context. For those unfamiliar, Will is referring to Kanye's post showing an (alleged) message by his personal trainer/handler Harley Pasternak, where Harley gave him two options; the first one was to have an open conversation where "everything that's discussed is based in fact and not some crazy stuff that dumb friend of yours told you," or the second option where he allegedly said, to quote: "I['ll] have you institutionalized against where they medicate the crap out of you, and you go back to Zombieland forever. Play date with kids just won't be the same."

Will is such a treasure, no doubt, but I don't mean to digress: What exactly did Kanye say that brought about such widespread condemnation from "both sides" of our political spectrum, various political organization, and even from an ambassador of the American’s greatest ally, Israel? It’s this:

Every human being has something of value that they brought to the table.

Now that's awful. Isn't it? Surely it must be. After all, saying that every human being has something of value that they brought to the table, well... it implies that even some of the bad people had done good things. Worse yet, it implies that some of the bad people are, in fact, human.

And that's the crux of the issue. That's what all the uproar is about. Really.

Yes, Kanye has said more that, I won't claim that he hasn't - he's said that he loved Hitler, loved nazis, and even referred to himself as a nazi at one point - but all of this has context, and more importantly, it serves a specific point that he's trying to make, which is: he loves everyone and acknowledges their humanity. And that he's done with liberal morality that posits that some people, who've certainly done bad things in this world, aren't human, and haven't done good things as well. In fact, if you listen to the following clip he stated as much:

You can't say that this person ever did anything good. And I'm done with that.

He also said that he loved jews and zionists, but there's no uproar over that, because in our liberal society, jews and zionists aren't dehumanized, and they aren't deemed pure evil that's never done a single good thing in their whole life.

Certainly, Kanye has referred to himself as a nazi as well - and that's probably what you’ll hear the most about him in the future, but isn't knowing exactly what he said that's just as important? I think so, which is why I'll transcribe it briefly:

In the clip, Alex Jones says he isn’t a nazi, to which Kanye raised his hand and said:

"I am. I'm a nazi ... return to democrats at the MLK, JFK time. And we're told we're black, and they made songs that said say it loud, say it loud: 'I'm black and I'm proud.' Say it loud: 'I'm black an I'm proud!' And then crack came, and rappers started saying 'What's up my n*gga? I'm a n*gga, you a n*gga - Ok, I'm a nigga then."

"Wait a second, I thought n*gga was bad a second ago? No, n*gga is fine, that's what feds told us to call ourselves. And then, even Beyonce, we never thought she called herself a b*tch. Missy said I'm a b*tch, everyone says I'm a b*tch, okay now our black women are b*tches. So we're b*tches and n*ggas now, right?"

"So I wake up and look at my phone, and they say Ye is anti-semitic. So I said, ok. Well I'm an anti-semitic ... you said I'm anti-semitic. Get it? You understand what I'm saying?"

And the answer to his question is: No, most people don't. But his rather laborious point is in fact rather simple and can be split into the two following paragraphs: Whether it's terms like "n*gga," "b*tch," "anti-semitic," "nazi," or "racist," these are all terms that are manufactured, stigmatized, and promoted by the system, and imposed top down; they are utilized against people in one way or another, or were utilized as such at one point. Some of them, like "n*gga," "b*tch," etc were allowed to be de-stigmatized and re-appropriated by the people which were referred to as such; suddenly, the terms used by the system to villainize people now possessed positive meaning because of the very system; in fact, you can find many articles by the media talking about how powerful it is to reclaim slurs.

But some terms, like “nazi,” “anti-semitic,” or “racist,” continue to retain a particular purpose and function under our system - that as heresies and villains - and their "re-appropriation" can't be permitted, and Kanye is saying to the whole process: fuck that. I'm not anti-semitic, but media is calling me anti-semitic, so fine, fuck you, I'm anti-semitic. I'm not a nazi, but you're calling me a nazi, so fuck you, I'm a nazi. What's in a word anyway? After all, the entire meaning it currently posses, its function, purpose, and stigma, isn't because of the system that existed over half a century ago in another country and has no concrete existence in today’s day and age, but because of the system under which we live in right now; it’s no different than being called a witch in the middle ages, or diagnosed with faux mental illness such as sluggish schizophrenia which served to suppress dissent. In fact, it’s precisely what’s occurring here.

What's rather ironic, however, is that unlike using "n*gga," "b*tch," "queer," etc to describe oneself while the system backs such use, this is actually rather powerful (even if somewhat dumb): He's saying fuck you to the very system designating him as such, fuck you to those espousing faux morality while actively trying to destroy him for not conforming, and fuck you to liberalism that actively prevents even acknowledgement that bad people are human, capable of doing good despite the bad they've done, and worthy of love.

But our liberal, capitalist system can't acknowledge that. Hell, it doesn't even afford context to one of most prominent rappers in 21st century that's earned countless amount of dollars for those around him - people who are now nowhere to be found - and instead it’s actively trying to destroy him, whether through ending contracts with a company he had, freezing his money in the bank, accusing him of owing taxes and trying to get him imprisoned, or endless, relentless social and media harassment; and what for, really? Did he kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqians like Bush? Was he responsible for slave markets in Libya like Obama or the massive refugee crisis that followed?

No, because none of that is whatsoever heretical to our system; what he did was engage in verbal heresy. And that’s worthy of destruction, not because his heretical acts present a threat to the system, but because others might see it and dare to utter heretical ideas. And we can’t have that. Instead, he’ll be dehumanized, pathologized, and vilified, since that way none of what he’s (somewhat poorly) expressing has to be addressed. Isn’t that wonderful?

And he's standing alone. But he won’t be the first nor the last. After well, as he’s said, paraphrasing from memory: If they are willing to act like this towards him, to try to destroy him, just imagine what they’ll do to you or an average person if they ever step out of line.

What Kanye's been singing at the end of the clip provided above (and here again) seem fitting for the end of this article:

Bring in the clowns.

There will be clowns.