March 19, 2005

• Here's a good site for comparison shopping in the UK. Long live the purple tin. http://www.trampjuice.tk
• ...And your point, aside from the racist, cultural and linguistic stereotypes? Did I mizzizle somethething?
• This seems peculiarly out of character for js.
• Bravo!
• S.L.: Statements about marketing and gangsta rap are non sequitirs, the study had nothing to do with black or latino youth. I get the irony, but what if there was a way to offer these people help?
• The point was: A) there was a study that essentially concluded the obvious, that minorities are targetted specifically for a more potent form of liquor (with all the racist baggage that goes with that), and B) that Snoop Dogg is one of those rappers that specifically promote this 40oz culture. NIck: Out of character for me? I try to point out stupidity no matter where it's from.
• I try to be stupid no matter where you're from.
• Quid: Yo' mama.
• Well, sure it's stupid, but is it a good post? I mean, you ran an msnbc article through the shizzolater, so it's kind of like genetically splicing a newsfilter to a double post.
• One Million Bottlebags -- count 'em. Serve it to the homies they’re able To do without a table Beside what’s inside ain’t on the label They drink it thinkin’ it’s good But they don’t sell the shit in the white neighborhood Exposin’ the plan they get mad at me I understand They’re slaves to the liquor man
• Oh, my. I helped school Ricky Bluthenthal. JS, do you know him? I haven't talked to him in years.
• On reflection, no, of course you don't know him, or you wouldn't write this way. You also don't know shit about epidemiology. Ricky apprenticed to John Watters. (Here's one search for them both. Here's John Watters, my boss from 1990-95. John Watters was one of the only people who gave a damn that black people were getting HIV. He scored NIH money to study that, and Ricky was one of the first PhD candidates that came on board to assist John.
• Nick- Well, point taken. I'm chastened. Goofy- I don't know shit about epidemiology? I know a little. You, and the researchers, obviously don't know shit about black people, or malt liquor, if you think this was a necessary study. I can see them in the lab now... "Wait, you mean that hiring Billy Dee Williams is a move primarily targetting a black audience? But everyone loves Star Wars!" "And have you noticed that these 40ozers are both larger than a traditional beer bottle, and, according to the label, they have a higher 'proof'? Proof of what? Let's go get grant money to find out!" "Wait, wait... Perhaps there's some correlation between drinking more alcohol and being unemployed... I wish there was some sort of already established link... Like, perhaps something involving Native Americans and their high incidence of unemployment..." So, what they proved was that drinking more alcohol per serving increases the amount of alcoholism and social ills, and that this destructive trend is intentionally focused toward minority communities, both by manufacturers and by internal social structures? "We have also proven that commercial rap music tends to emphasize consumption and social values that are detrimental to communities! And that, often, rappers have a shorter career life than rock artists, and tend to spend their money in more profligate ways! And that they are often 'blunted!'" "Oh, and that though Sir Mix-a-lot has been most vocal in his preference for large posteriors, the general rap community is also similarly concerned!" "Yes, now if only we could prove that rain falls downward relative to the observer!"
• *is in awe of js' massive cranium*
• Paging mandyman to the thread...
• js, sure, you're chastened, but have you been flayed? do you know how to self-flagellate? until you've actually been flayed, i don't think justice has been served.
• If only there was an animated gif.
• Yes, it is a good post. js tried to give us something to think about and discuss. Haven't seen much thought so far, and discussion has wandered. Do you need a translation in to white english to focus? js tried to give you that. Do we not care that black and hispanic youths are being targeted for large, higher alcohol beverages? Do we not care that many of those targeted are under age? Do we not want to think about the effects? If not, why not? We don't care? In my view, there's kind of a lost generation out there. The one thing that js didn't address was the how they got lost, and that's a whole nother discussion. But the issue is on the table.
• js, take a look at my post and links. The study I helped Watters (and eventually Bluthenthal) with started in the eighties and had to do with black folks and HIV. Remember the 1980s? All the blame/attention/CDC grants were concentrating on gay men. Watters got a notion that some of those hard-fought-for federal dollars should go to studies of other blood-borne transmissions, paticularly needle-sharing. He knew that black folks would NOT get studied, and that's what he focussed on. He started with pennies from Haight-Ashbury Health Center and built up a team that helped pioneer syringe exhange, and eventually got into JAMA. It's not his or his team's fault (his team eventually included me) that our very meticulous studies didn't become policy. Who wants to be on the side of black junkies? Bluthenthal joined up maybe 1993. A young black PhD candidate doesn't find a home working for this kind of cause if he has ambition. And he stayed; he helped start a syringe exchange, and remains at the place that hired him over ten years ago. The latter I didn't know until he responded to my e-mail today. As for the obvious about black folks and malt liquor - it may not be obvious to people who make policy. Studies have to be done. I was thrilled to see this on a mainstream news feed. How often does that happen? Yet somehow Ricky was able to ally himself, and structure his findings well enough, that willfully ignorant people might recognize that liquor is aimed at black folks. I don't think that's bad. Painstaking. I like that my former colleague takes those pains.
• Snoop Dogg arrested after 'Tonight Show' performance Burbank police Sgt. Kevin Grandalski said the charges include possession of a gun, cocaine and marijuana. He also is accused of having a false compartment in a vehicle. The weapons charge is a felony. Damn, y'all!
• But it's Snoop! That's just shooting fish in a barrel.
• Wait I am not following here. People are alcoholics because they are being marketed this crap, or are they alcoholics because they are poor and this is the cheapest yield of booze? I don't see how cheap booze makes this all happen. People get marketed booze all the time, why does one racial designation make this booze more evil?
• "fish in a barrel" was the first thing I thought too, tracicle.