    
Tiffanydavis
Newbie Poster
Username: Tiffanydavis
Post Number: 2
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 | | Posted on Monday, April 12, 2004 - 03:22 pm: | |
Response to AALBC.com board (part two)
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Soulofaauthor: The kids are in the house reading instead of other illegal activities¡Kfor now. My concern is that reading some books within the hip-hop fiction genre would lend credence to their desire to get more ends and live Big Willie style. When looking at NBA players, how many kids want to play professional hoops (as evidenced by the exodus from college into the pros)? How many kids say they want to be Tiger Woods? Those numbers are a lot higher than those who want to be doctors, lawyers, teachers, welders, etc. Life imitates art imitates life. The cycle has to stop somewhere.
Emanuel: Emanuel, Emanuel¡Kƒº
--my ¡§seemingly Judeo-Christian ethics¡K¡¨ : not that I ever mentioned my religious preference, but I suppose it is safe for you to assume that it is Judeo-Christian since I am black and the predominate black church is based upon these tenets. Are you implying that Muslims, or perhaps Jews, would have a different set of ethics? Perhaps they would prefer to read hip-hop fiction without finding fault in it? Also, the issues I raised are indeed societal issues, issues which the black society internalizes as a microcosm of said society.
--¡§it¡¦s not an author¡¦s job to raise society¡¦s children or shelter them from certain people¡¦s brand of ethics. It¡¦s the parents¡¦ job.¡¨ : You are absolutely correct. But when are parents around to shelter their children, when there is a significant number of single-parent homes in America, a trend which is glaringly conspicuous within the black community? Not to mention the current unemployment rate. There are parents who don¡¦t let their external circumstances curtail their involvement in their children¡¦s lives, and they are to be commended. But these parents are, unfortunately, a relative few. The others are too busy working to keep their children covered in basics and ensuring survival to be concerned with trivial matters such as what their children are reading, watching or TV, or who these kids are associating with in and out of school.
--¡§It¡¦s not a black thing. It¡¦s an ignorance thing.¡¨ : Again, you are correct. And if you were to revisit my article you would see that in the last paragraph I clearly stated: ¡§While equally deplorable subject matter exists in the mainstream, we as a people can¡¦t afford the hits taken due to hip-hop in its current form, whether literary or musical.¡¨ Thus, I did not state that poor editing and grammar usage are indigenous to black literature. However, being that BackList is concerned with black literature as is AALBC.com, that is what I am focusing on as well. What black people are reading those poorly edited books by writers of other races? Can you give me examples of such works (titles, authors)? The ones I¡¦ve read, whether the storylines grabbed me or not, all had one thing in common: they were edited out the wazoo. That¡¦s not to say that things don¡¦t get missed because the editors are human. There is just less error.
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