by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Jay Smooth’s dead-on critique of BET’s show Hot Ghetto Mess, or We Got to Do Better, or whatever they decided to call it in the end. It was booooooo-ring!
Also hilarious was his description of Misshapes as “Hot Hipster Mess.”
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of New Demographic, a diversity education firm. Her perspectives on race and diversity have been featured on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, USA Today, and The New York Times.
Racialicious! is a production of New Demographic.
© 2004-2007 New Demographic. All rights reserved.
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Karen wrote:
It was dead on….
I have nothing to add…
Posted 14 Aug 2007 at 2:35 pm ¶
Ciji wrote:
Did you say, “Exploitative,” my good man? Really? Hello pot, this is kettle… you’re black.
But I must agree… your assessement was spot on!
Posted 14 Aug 2007 at 6:47 pm ¶
Jenny Jingles wrote:
Haha, “boring-ass boringness”….
Posted 15 Aug 2007 at 4:34 pm ¶
Michelle wrote:
I felt embarassed when I watched the first episode of this show because I saw quite a few jamaicans on there. even though tackiness isn’t limited to one race or class of people it’s not elistist to feel embarassed when someone is far less than presentable in public. and what is this talk of ‘noone says anything about white people on misshapes?’ that is bull, I’ve seen numerous posts on blogs dedicated to laughing at these fools on LJ
Posted 15 Aug 2007 at 6:57 pm ¶
Wendi Muse wrote:
Michelle,
jay smooth is not saying that white hipsters are not made fun of for their fashion choices. he’s saying that their behavior is not considered indicative of their class level or place in society in the same way that hot ghetto mess would like for us to assume about the blacks with tacky style choices featured on the site and show. “we’ve got to do better,’ as the slogan, in conjunction with the message from the creator, demonstrates that the site and show are supposed to be evidence of the downfall of a certain group of people (read: poor blacks (who spend their money on tacky clothing, jewelry, and hair)) and a call to arms to get away from such behavior…whereas hipster-ridiculing sites like blue states lose just make fun of people in the pictures with no social agenda other than the side effect of maybe compelling the youth of america’s major cities to dress a little better.
as per usual, considering that hgm deals predominately with the black and the poor, as well as espousing a message….and then considering poor blacks are already shown in a pretty negative light without the help of sites like hgm….the politics there are kind of endless…and little can be said on the sam note in relation to hipster hater sites…
Posted 15 Aug 2007 at 7:25 pm ¶