rant on the real

here's where theory becomes useful, in only the most pedestrian of purposes, yet still. as an institution (and i speak as part or maybe not) devoted to "social justice", our sympathies are or should be anything but focused in one place. we can utilize hurricane katrina as an example. in an ethics class, i attempted to make a point and floundered miserably. the point i was attempting to make was that in light of hurricane katrina, we have forgotten the impact of a similar event of even larger scale in where? what was it again? i knew what it was, but for some unknown, maybe the irony god of public speaking struck, i couldn't even recall the signifier! tsunami, man. TSUNAMI. yeah i remember, something like 200,000 people lost, it's coming back to me. i made a point in which my own forgetting the point was the point. we can utilize hurricane katrina as an example of the proliferation of intranational sympathies that works against an impetus of looking outward, of course to the rest of the world. even as i write this, animal planet is in the background and the heroism of the animal rescue in new orleans is being exalted. those poor, poor animals. the media explosion around katrina is crazy. and people speak with genuine concern. but i would never placate those concerns and sympathies outside the political, even in terms of human life. hurricane katrina didn't actually do a damn thing to my life but in terms of "american life," made a tremendous impact i.e. "the devastation of hurricane katrina." remind you, the tsunami happened a mere year prior.

a favorite recent riff of pop culture is from recording artist (yes, i'm not saying rapper), kanye west. you can watch it on you tube- http://youtube.com/watch?v=9pVTrnxCZaQ. now this can be argued a bunch of different ways. i've heard some of my friends talk about how as a "black celebrity", he seriously fumbled to say something "positive." i can respect such an argument, yet this is a perfect example of how the political plays off a discursive production, "the devastation of hurricane katrina." the look on mike myers' face is priceless. kanye certainly says something of some relevance. and i could give a shit less if bill o'reilly (even though, i like o'reilly's show) will attempt to circumscribe such a statement for the various reasons. perhaps, it is simply a brash outburst, maybe warranted yet meager and uneffective. to say: "george bush doesn't care about black people" made the hyperreal and its audience stand still for a moment. watch for yourself.