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Wednesday, June 16, 2021

The Insatiable Beast


Silverfiddle Rant!

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a talented La Tinks actor/writer/director of color with iron-clad progressive credentials. Now, the Neo-Maoists come for him. It appears he will survive the Struggle Session, learn from his shameful and humiliating mistakes, and go on to produce many intersectionally-correct productions that celebrate the Glorious People's Eternal Struggle.


From People Magazine:

Lin-Manuel Miranda Apologizes for Colorism in In The Heights: 'I Promise to Do Better'
"I'm seeing the discussion around Afro-Latino representation in our film this weekend and it is clear that many in our dark-skinned Afro-Latino community don't feel sufficiently represented within it, particularly among the leading roles."

Miranda continued, "I can hear the hurt and frustration over colorism, of feeling unseen in the feedback. I hear that without sufficient dark-skinned Afro-Latino representation, the work feels extractive of the community we wanted so much to represent with pride and joy."
Miranda's fellow running dog, Jon Chu, also quickly admitted fault and accepted his need for further education:
"Yeah, I mean I think that that was something we talked about and I needed to be educated about, of course," Chu, 41, responded.

"But I hear you on trying to fill those cast members with darker-skinned [actors]. I think that's a really good conversation to have, something that we should all be talking about," he added
.
The actress who starred in this shameful colorist nightmare also issued profound apologies, but it gets tedious, so you can go read it all for yourself.

The Horrors of "White-Passing"

A "Black woman of Cuban descent" who writes for a progressive propaganda sheet interrogated the filmmakers about the troubling "lack of Black Latinx people represented" in the film considering the movie's main cast "were light-skinned or white-passing Latinx people."

Never worry, Miranda is "Listening," "holding space," "learning, " and promising to "do better." No doubt he will:
"I'm truly sorry," he wrote. "I'm learning from the feedback, I thank you for raising it, and I'm listening. I'm trying to hold space for both the incredible pride in the movie we made and be accountable for our shortcomings. Thanks for your honest feedback. I promise to do better in my future projects, and I'm dedicated to the learning and evolving we all have to do to make sure we are honoring our diverse and vibrant community. Siempre, LMM."

Pardon the mixed metaphors, but the guillotine's thirst is never slaked.

85 comments:

  1. In the 1960s there was a great movement in this nation to rid ourselves of discrimination. I lived in Atlanta in those years, and was glad that we were having that movement. It made me proud of my nation.

    Now we are having a movement that not only advocates discrimination, but demands it on many fronts and excoriates those who refuse to engage in this vile practice. Discrimination against whites, discrimination against males, discrimination against "cisgender" people... If you do not deny jobs and fame to these outlawed classes you will be punished.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seems that half the US population now demands more government in their lives.

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    2. What outlawed classes? if any classes were outlawed in film or on stage it was minority classes.
      Now they are refusing to be locked out and the hypocrites are upset.

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    3. Okay, "disparaged" classed, "disliked" classed, "advantaged" classed... Please do not pretend you do not understand what I meant.

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    4. Jayhawk, Ducky rarely argues in good faith.

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  2. They need to remake the Benji movies with a Shar Pei.

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  3. I saw the movie... and enjoyed it.

    Regarding the kerfuffle with Miranda and director Chu, there's always more to this than meets the eye.

    One of the main characters, Benny, was played by an African American. Yet in the movie, he was essentially someone from a Caribbean island. I think it's a reasonable question to ask why the movie makers did not cast an actor from an Afro Caribbean background.

    I think people have a point too when they talk about how the great majority of actors came from the lighter skinned side of their cultures. Even some of the actors have commented on this and Director Chu should have been more aware of this as he had faced criticism over "Crazy Rich Asians" being set in Singapore yet lacking people representing the darker skinned ppl of that country.

    All that being said, I'm on the side of my African American wife in that folks have their knickers in a wad over small stuff. Here was a movie made with almost 100% ppl of color, celebrating a minority culture here in the US and portraying the people as good people. It was made for the masses, with a PG-13 rating, and folks left the theater smiling and happy.

    You'll never get everything right, but "In The Heights" should be celebrated for what it did accomplish by the naysayers.

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    1. West Side Story is pretty "un-watchable". There aren't enough ethnic Italians in the Jets gang.

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    2. I guess those ethnicities just aren't worth saving. The "melting pot" must be a "white" thing.

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    3. The Heights... all the "culture" of West Side Story w/o ANY negative stereotypes... All Dim sum w/o any Pi Dan.

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    4. The music of the islands, staving off anxiety, and preventing achievement of the "cultural melting point". No need to become Americans, you can forever remain "Hispanic/African/etc. - Americans.

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    5. DAVE....liked your answer (for a change!) and admire your wife very much.

      FJ..it's true...First, in my humble opinion as a singer, West Side Story hasn't stood the test of time...the songs have but NOT the film...it's awful.

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    6. ...but regardless, WE, the producers of "cultural hyperrealities" will define the meaning of your subjectivity for you. You will be our ska consumer class. You will drink rum and vacay in the islands...

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    7. ...and while you'll likely be subjected to countless racist "micro-aggressions", we promise to never closely examine or ridicule the cultural practices which prevent you from gaining lasting social prominence or achieving the American dream. We promise to cancel anyone who attempts to do so.

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  4. HERE IS THE ANSWER "Sorry, I auditioned so many stars, all so good, and picked the cast because I knew they'd do my piece proud and please the audiences whose tickets cost so much these days! No racism, no sexism, no nothing...just good business and great art!"

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  5. Is there no possibility that Lin-Manuel Miranda agrees with the criticisms?

    ReplyDelete
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    1. What ever happened to the "death of the author"? Does that only apply to Homer and Shakespeare?

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    2. Shakespeare wasn't dead when he was directing shows and running the Globe.

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    3. Deconstruction doesn't apply to the pc? I wish that the Left would follow their own "theories" consistently.

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    4. Which Shakespeare? Francis Bacon? Chris Marlowe? Edward DeVere? Ben Johnson?

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    5. William Shakespeare was far too "common" to have written his historical plays... after all.

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    6. Point is, in the above quotes Miranda is speaking as a director (surely this is obvious).

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    7. Jez, Lin-Manuel Miranda has not choice but to agree, if he ever wants to "work in this town again."

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    8. No, the point is that liberals used to believe in a life "above the veil". Now, they drag everything into the Alabama mud.

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    9. I sit with Shakespeare, and he winces not. Across the color line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in gilded halls. From out of the caves of evening that swing between the strong-limbed Earth and the tracery of stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they come all graciously with no scorn nor condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the veil. Is this the life you grudge us, O knightly America? Is this the life you long to change into the dull red hideousness of Georgia? Are you so afraid lest peering from this high Pisgah, between Philistine and Amalekite, we sight the Promised Land?Footnote11 WEB DuBois, "The Soul of Black Folk"

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    10. How many plays do I have to sit through that has a black prince playing the lead in "Much Ado" or a black princess in an English Court? Must I chastise these Directors, too?

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    11. Jean Luc Picard as Othello... where's the "human"ity?

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    12. That's the thing about CRT, one can be trans-gender but NEVER trans-racial.

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    13. Quadroons and Octoroons will never be as intersectionally "good" (pure) as black.

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    14. Farmer, never fail to amuse me. You are a one-man intellectual tour de Force

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    15. All very entertaining, but I don't think it's in good faith.

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    16. My ideals, as represented by the classical liberalism and exhibited above, rather closely coincide with Kantian Categorical Imperatives of "universality" and allowing people to becomes ends unto themselves rather than means to an end. But perhaps yours are less likely to restrict interference of government and society in achieving a "positively" imposed social ideal.

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    17. In any context, "good faith" entails not misrepresenting opposing views.

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    18. All "opposing" views are filtered through the lens of ideology, in my case being of a utopian ideal desirous of an anti-fragile version of capitalism that isn't big government dependent and too big to fail. A government more "federated" in the pre-1865 America mode. So any "Misrepresentations" are likely done in a context pursuant to those ends. And no, I'm NOT looking to enslave or in any way disempower any minorities in any "return to the past".

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    19. As I've said many times before, I'm a radical progressive not enamored with economically progressive ideals such as increasing aggregate efficiencies. In fact, I oppose all such efficiencies performed on the "credit" of the American taxpayer.

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    20. Whatever. I'm gonna try really hard not to misrepresent your views, because I'm a better person than you. ;)

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    21. ...I'm sure that you think you're doing good. I'm more of an acta non verba type, so I'm much more likely to focus on results rather than any one's intentions.

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    22. Oooops. I gotta get back to my latest diversity initiative in celebration of the new federal Juneteenth holiday tomorrow... we'll talk.

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    23. I always wonder whether the Klan is as diverse as the other white nationalist organizations like the Proud Boys.

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    24. Verba actio incitare, especially political verba.
      And don't forget, in principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum. So don't write off the verba, it's powerful stuff!

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    25. Right... who needs procreation when you've got test tubes and beakers sitting around?

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    26. I wonder if LMM agree's that the US highways system is "systemically racist"... and that blacks aren't simply "bad drivers".

      Black Americans are 3.5 TIMES more likely to visit the ER for car crash injuries than white patients, CDC report finds

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  6. Apparently, Tom Hanks has fallen short of what is now required in this Era of Wokeness:

    Tom Hanks Is A Non-Racist. It's Time For Him To Be Anti-Racist.

    Other "non-racists" in Hollywood also fall short.

    Excerpt:

    ...Over the years, he has starred in a lot of big movies about historical events, including Saving Private Ryan, Greyhound, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Bridge of Spies and News of the World. He has served as a producer or executive producer on even more films and TV shows based on American history, including Band of Brothers, The Pacific, John Adams and From the Earth to the Moon. He was an executive producer of documentaries such as The Assassination of President Kennedy and The Sixties on CNN.

    In other words, he is a baby boomer star who has built a sizable part of his career on stories about American white men "doing the right thing." He even played a former Confederate soldier in one of his latest films, News of the World, standing up for a blond, white girl who had been kidnapped and raised by a Native American tribe.

    But the stories often leave out Black contribution

    He's not alone. Superstar director Steven Spielberg has a similar pedigree (notwithstanding occasional projects such as The Color Purple and Amistad). And fellow director Ron Howard....


    More at the above link.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. You must unceasingly strive for redemption, while the lords of the new church tell you you are irredeemable.

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    2. AOW, as I said in the post, the guillotine's thirst is never slaked.

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    3. I must go and "struggle" with it some more....
      *struggle* *struggle*

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    4. I don't hear any knives or guillotines getting sharpened for Tom hanks. Linked article was full of respect and admirations.

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  7. Academy Award-winner Rita Moreno has come under attack from a left-wing cancel mob after she defended Lin-Manuel Miranda against accusations that the movie In the Heights engaged in “colorism” by marginalizing Afro-Latinos.

    The 89-year-old star is being accused of harboring prejudice against dark-skinned Latinos and having “white adjacency supremacy.” She is also facing accusations of hypocrisy, with people noting her skin was darkened for her Oscar-winning role in West Wide Story.

    On Tuesday, Moreno appeared on CBS’ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert where she stood up for Miranda, saying the criticism of In the Heights “really upsets me.”

    “You can never do right, it seems,” Moreno said. “This is the man who literally has brought Latino-ness and Puerto Rican-ness to America. I couldn’t do it. I mean, I would love to say I did, but I couldn’t. Lin-Manuel has done that, really single-handedly. And I’m thrilled to pieces and I’m proud that he produced my documentary. They’re really attacking the wrong person.”

    She added: “I’m simply saying, can’t you just wait awhile and leave it alone?”

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    1. *struggle* *struggle*

      Rita Moreno is backtracking on her highly-publicized defense of Lin-Manuel Miranda after he was accused of sidelining Afro-Latinx actors in his movie In The Heights.

      Just twenty-four hours after the veteran actress and star of West Side Story told Stephen Colbert that critics were 'attacking the wrong person', Moreno, 89, issued an apology in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

      'I'm incredibly disappointed with myself,' she declared Wednesday evening. 'While making a statement in defense of Lin Manuel Miranda on the Colbert Show last night, I was clearly dismissive of black lives that matter in our Latin community.'

      Moreno went on: 'It is so easy to forget how celebration for some is lament for others.'

      She then explained: 'In addition to applauding Lin for his wonderful movie version of In the Heights, let me add my appreciation for his sensitivity and resolve to be more inclusive of the Afro-Latino community going forward. See, you CAN teach this old dog new tricks.'

      On Monday, Miranda had promised to 'do better' in a message posted to Twitter that acknowledged the validity of the colorism criticisms.

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    2. Poor Rita lost the Intersectional struggle for maximal victimhood.

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    3. ...but at least an old dog learned a new trick.

      Oh wait, what's new about bowing to a perceived power structure.

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    4. Alinsky, "Rules for Radicals": RULE 1: “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.”
      ...

      and where does that perception of power come from in the Social Media Twitterverse?

      "Legitimation by paralogy" roughly means "manufacturing 'truth(iness)' through (forcing) consensus," or, in simpler language, creating social enforcement of lies that must be believed. Lyotard rightly recognized that this is a disaster (he wrongly believed everything is that).

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    5. Good people automatically apologize to someone feeling offended. This implies that the offended person was "in the right" and that the offeror of the apology sincerely regrets their statement.

      And so the road to Hell gets paved....

      ...and the regular social power structure inverts...

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    6. ...and post-modernism "crises of authenticity" rolls on.

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    7. In summary: Postmodernism stems from a "Crises of Authenticity" and the death of the meta-narrative.

      Authentic people have "character" and risk putting their real identity on the line in all their social interactions (but must constantly fight to resist social pressure) unlike inauthentic people who instead project an artificial external image [as in schizoid personality disorder] and most frequently submit to and conform with social expectations and norms.

      A nostalgic desire to "return to the past" is a symptom of this crises of authenticity (especially for internet influencers like Travis Scott.)

      Source of Marxist thought (ie - Michael Foucault)... People with deviant desires and who are forced to conform to societal and moral norms have a pent up desire to "expand potentialities of being" so as to change society in a manner which allows them to reveal their true "authentic" selves publically and not be subjected to these formerly oppressive social and moral norms (through guilt). They rationalize their own pathologies through their idealized theories.

      So the question becomes, "What is the authentic experience of the oppressed person?" Is "blackness" today a more-real-than-real (hyper-real) social paralogy? Why can't Kanye wear a MAGA hat (because to do so would be considered "inauthentically black") If you don't vote for Joe Biden, you ain't black (or at least the paralogy of blackness as defined by the MSM monopoly). All black conservatives considered by the standards of the media monopoly are "inauthentically black", because those standards have been legitimized by paralogy (media consensus).

      The problem is that these media created hyper-real identities (of what it means to be minority x) seek to define an individual's "authenticity" through identity categories reflecting a victimhood of historical oppression having nothing specific to do with the individual's character (thereby replacing the real with the hyper-real). And what "oppression" are these minority groups being subjected to? Hyper-real "micro-aggressions" (not even REAL oppression).

      Wokeness is a media manufactured theoretical identity substituting for authenticity. Authenticity is being who you are when you aren't trying to be anyone. It cannot be faked. You can't "fake it 'til you make it (ala an "Internet Influencer")

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    8. She, also, might be earnest. What reason does she have to pretend? She's 89 and is presumably free from worrying about her future career.

      I change my mind sometimes, you should try it. It's a sign of growth.

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    9. I'm sure that Rita sincerely regrets her comments and will be showing up at the closest tanning salon to demonstrate her deep commitment to black-lives colourism.

      Now forgive me as I return to my regularly scheduled spectacle broadcast on my social conformance enforcement televisor box.

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    10. ...but before I go, I should attempt to gain some social credit points by first genuflecting in the direction of "pride month whilst simultaneously apologizing for the "lightness" of skin tones in my tribute when compared to societies favoured darker images.

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    11. btw - Isn't Rita Morena still considered a "celebrity"? And when she issues an apology, do you think it is coming from "Rita" or the Rita "brand"?

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    12. Rita Moreno's back pedal was disappointing. She is in a position where she doesn't have to bow and scrape. She is bulletproof. People like her need to firmly and politely stand on their perfectly innocent and defensible remarks

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    13. ...and she probably looks forward to getting next year's Oscar gift bag.

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  8. Oscars Announce New Inclusion Requirements for Best Picture Eligibility.
    Don't count on films to be anything as they were before....deaf, disabled, etc must be represented....must have the right percentage.

    the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday new representation and inclusion standards in order to be eligible in the best picture category.

    For the 94th and 95th Oscars ceremonies, scheduled for 2022 and 2023, a film will submit a confidential Academy Inclusion Standards form to be considered for best picture. Beginning in 2024, for the 96th Oscars, a film submitting for best picture will need to meet the inclusion thresholds by meeting two of the four standards.

    https://variety.com/2020/film/news/oscars-inclusion-standards-best-picture-diversity-1234762727/

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    1. New Images are needed across the consumer universe. We can leave no potential consumer out. A new breed of influencers is coming, in ALL their diverse and mass-identity-represented "idealized form" perfection!

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    2. It promises to be quite the Spectacle. Don't expect anything "new" or culturally "novel" though. Just spin-off of Streetcar Named Desire with actors of colour in fat suits...in a location meant to represent Alaska's north slope.

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  9. ** PUBLIC SERVICE REMINDER **

    If you respond to cut-and-paste bots, your comments will be deleted when we zap the bot's comments.

    Joe said...

    Biden's a joke and politics, as a means for generating solutions to society's problems is dead. Politics jumped the shark in 2016/2020 and will never recover. The years of looking to Washington experts for solutions, and not the creation of BIGGER PROBLEMS, is dead. After the coming economic collapse, western civilization will regain its' economic anti-fragility.

    Joe Said...

    ReplyDelete
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    1. You don't have to save my responses... I'm not insulted if they get deleted, too. But thanks for the thought.

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    2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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