---I submitted this to somebody condemning Same Love's popularity and his usage of the word "faggot", but she hasn't responded yet so I'll just post it because I want people to see.---
Firstly, I completely understand people's frustration about Same Love receiving so much momentum while other songs proclaiming equality written by queer and POC can barely get off the ground. I get it. However,the fact of the matter is, that yes, the United Stated of America is indeed populated majorly by heterosexual Caucasians, and yes, that facilitates media distribution. It's a problem, but as much as anybody complains, it's still a fact. My point is, isn't it still a win, whether it's target audience was majoritized or not? Same Love did exactly what any artist wants to do- deliver a message to a mass audience. Awareness and sensitivity reached the pop culture stage, and for the queer population, that is a huge and all too seldom victory that should be cherished and celebrated.
And a reminder, Same Love didn't even scrape the charts until months after Macklemore's first hit Thrift Shop. There's a possibility it never would have seen the light of day without it, so its unfair to say that his race, gender and sexuality were the ONLY reasons that it got popularized.
Secondly, I am severely discontent with people's outright contempt for his usage of the word "faggot". Going from your comments on the subject, it sounds like your censoring the term without consideration of, well, anything. In a literal sense, Macklemore is utilizing the word "faggot" in a historical/narritive sense, not in a personal one. Would you condemn a professor of queer history for using it in context of explaining the origin of the word? Do you condemn me for using it here in context to this post? That would be preposterous.
Context does indeed matter.
Your argument is that people are so ignorant about the historical weight of the term, its been let loose upon the world to hurt and offend the queer community.
Why do you think Macklemore threw that in there, for kicks? No. He and many of his listeners understand that gravity and pain behind the word so he inserts it by placing a negative perception upon a negative term, thus rendering it consciously antagonized for the introductory listener, while also evoking relatability with a queer listener.
I think people are just jumping on the white-majority prosecution bandwagon because it's one of the most visible problems out there, without considering intention, or sometimes, even completely ignoring it.
If after all of that, you mean to tell me that context and intent does not matter.
turnnoffyourmind
izzy806
kaledo-art
areudirty
2087
pixelskylines
tangentwithtanner
theartofmadeline
