Elephant Gunn

Academy head insists the Grammys don’t have a race problem like the Oscars. He’s wrong.

To the ears of so many fans, artists and writers, hearing Faith Hill call Adele back onstage to receive the Grammy for album of the year over Beyoncé’s Lemonade, was a death rattle: the sound of the Grammys’ credibility choking on its last sip of split pea soup before the life support machines kicked in.

“If we have any respect for albums, Lemonade is the album of the year,” wrote Win Butler of Arcade Fire, a former album of the year winner. Even Adele found it unsettling, asking “What the fuck does [Beyoncé] have to do to win album of the year?” at her post-Grammys Q&A.

In trying to explain the decision, racism was one of the first places many artists and writers turned to. “There have only been two black winners in the last 20 years for album of the year there have been over 200 black artist who have performed,” Solange wrote, pointing out a very telling balance of power in the way the Grammys appreciate treat black artists in since-deleted tweet. 

However, Neil Portnow, president of the Recording Academy, sees no issue here. He rejected the notion that the Grammys have a race problem in an interview with Pitchfork, published Tuesday. “No, I don’t think there’s a race problem at all,” he said, citing Chance the Rapper’s best new artist win as evidence.

Portnow too is incorrect: The Grammys do have an issue recognizing talent of color. They have for years, and unless steps are taken, there’s no reason to believe their voting will get any more representative. Read more (Opinion)

Anonymous said to berniesrevolution:

I thought Bernie was a liberal

Anonymous said to berniesrevolution:

Protip: don’t say the whole “left” thing. Bernie is a progressive and wonderful person. Applying simply “left” to him is not a good discription. It kind of fucks both parties here.

Anonymous said to berniesrevolution:

Is a liberal now like a neo-liberal? Sorry, I’m confused by all the terms now…

We have had a few of these recently, so I figured I would address them all at once. 

There is a problem with using the term Liberal in politics, especially in the United States. Two facets of any ideology are Social and Economic policy. In the United States, we have had an odd arrangement with our political parties. Prior to Clinton, the Democratic party had Liberal Social and a more Conservative Economic Policy. The Republican’s, since Reagan, have had Conservative social and Neo-Liberal Economic Policy. Since Clinton, the Democrats have been pushing Liberal Social and Neo-Liberal Economic Policy. 

See how confusing that is? When you say “Liberal” context is important. Are we talking economic issues, social issues or the amount of cheese on nachos? 

It can become very confusing. 

That being said, here are some basic definitions to help you out:

Neoliberalism is a policy model of social studies and economics that transfers control of economic factors to the private sector from the public sector. …Neoliberal policies aim for a laissez-faire approach to economic development.

Liberalism (political) is a political philosophy or worldview founded on ideas of liberty and equality

Liberals (international relations) believe that international institutions play a key role in cooperation among states. With the correct international institutions, and increasing interdependence (including economic and cultural exchanges) states have the opportunity to reduce conflict.

Progressive are those who focus on using government power to make large institutions play by a set of rules

Leftist is a general descriptive terms for any of several otherwise quite varied political ideologies (socialism, communism, social democracy, welfare statism, contemporary American liberalism, some versions of anarchism, etc.) that join in denouncing the extent of economic and social inequality in the present order of society and advocate the adoption of vigorous public policies to reduce or eliminate these inequalities.

Hence why Bernie is a Leftist, a Progressive and a Liberal.