Rhetoric, Art, and Conflict--My Contribution

Impact of Communication and the Media on Ethnic Conflict

Steven Gibson (Northcentral University, USA) and Agnes Lucy Lando (Daystar University, Kenya), Eds.

Release Date: December, 2015. Copyright © 2016. 344 pages.

Description

Throughout the world, cultural and racial clashes remain a major hurdle to development and progress. Though some areas are experiencing successful intercultural communications which pave the way for peaceful negotiations, there are still many regions experiencing severe turmoil.

Impact of Communication and the Media on Ethnic Conflict focuses on both the positive and negative outcomes of communication and media usage, as well as the overall perceptions of these elements, within conflicting populations. Featuring theoretical perspectives on various intergroup interaction experiences within contemporary ethnic controversies, this publication will appeal to scholars, researchers, professors, and practitioners interested in ethnic studies, conflict resolution, communications, and global peace building.

Chapter 14

Art, Values, and Conflict Waged in Satirical Cartoons: The 10-Year Rhetorical Crisis  (pages 232-252)

Z. Hall

The first international art controversy erupted after the publication of satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten.

Chapter Sample PDF

See IGI website for full Table of Contents.

Impact of Communication and the Media on Ethnic Conflict is in the series Advances in Media, Entertainment, and the Arts.

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The Man Who Fell to Earth: David Bowie

Upon the world learning of the much too soon passing of David Bowie, my social media newsfeeds became inundated with posts about him. And I loved it!

Two facts did not escaped my notice:

1. Black folk  showed up for Bowie the same way they do with the passing of a black American icon
2. *Most* white folk who were showing up for Bowie (as they should have) I didn’t hear a peep from upon the passing of supernovae the likes of James Brown and Whitney Houston, you get my point.

• People, these were black folk who changed the course of entire music genres, if not the course of music itself! And Bowie, like most superstars, had his problems.
• So, yeah, he fell to earth, but so did the rest of us.
• But let's be clear, based on the interview below, I suspect Bowie did not speak of blacks in mixed company one way and differently in all white settings. He is clearly not posturing to obtain "diversity and inclusion" funding.

So ...

Dear White Friends and Black Friends Uncomfortable in the Fullness of Your Blackness,* I am taking a moment to say we need to do a better job as human beings of cherishing and honoring those whose art has made a difference to us and changed the world.

And, honestly, I believe Bowie would say this is the perfect moment to raise our consciousness regarding our national and international treasures!

::no apologies::

*I used to call such lilly-livered black and brown folk "pet niggas." But I've grown in my understanding and appreciation that living blackness is a peculiar and constant struggle. And that these folk are struggling with a failure of consciousness rather than weak-boned fortitude. Now I just call them lost.

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The Loud Silence of Sexual Violence

Between 150 armed terrorist taking over federal land (standoff) and a 12-year-old boy playing with a toy gun in a park (murdered); between state control of female reproductive rights and gendered self-actualization; between, between, between the incessant oppressions and aggressions that seep in through cracks in the wall and hit the roof like a felled tree.

Living while black and in possession of a vagina in America is one hard-ass nut to crack. The only reason there are any black women still walking and breathing in this country is 'cause there are millions of them who are hard-ass nut crackers. Ase!

Yet, yes, from time-to-time we gets real ty-yard.

I am exhausted by the cap-flapping for Cosby, employing any sort of twisted logic to justify denial and minimization of Cosby own admissions in his signed deposition. This by patriarchal men and their female allies.

On the one hand, there is the expectation of racial loyalty because this predator is black. The penal equivalencies argument that Cosby should escape punishment because his white counterparts guilty of greater or equal offenses have not be punished is feeble-minded and exceedingly immoral.

Then there is this: The notion that 50 women could not simultaneously remain silent for 30 years concerning the sexual crimes of a single predator.

Please, post the address of your rock (digital or analog) because there is an error somewhere preventing delivery of your mail and memos. This is the only thing that explains why you have no conception of the level of silence and secrecy that attends sexual violence.

I am not going to go into excruciating detail about the domains (workplace, interpersonal, home, school, etc.) and the relationships of trust (father, brother, boss, teacher, pastor, doctor, etc.) exploited to perpetrate sexual terror.

And, to quite honest, I am not qualified to provide the kind of therapy needed to truly raise your consciousness to the level necessary to grasp the threat women are exposed to routinely.

So, for you own knowledge and curiosity, do this: Ask your mother; wife, fiance, or girlfriend; daughter; niece; and very close female friends if they have ever been raped, sexually assaulted, or molested in any way at all.

On second thought, it may be wise to invest in professional therapy before you do that. Because, if you have a good relationship with the women in your life and they feel comfortable talking with you, you should be prepared for the unexpected.

Once you have talked it out with your therapist and the women in your life, go to those women and admit the occasion(s) when you have, on a "major" or "seemingly small scale" have crossed the boundary of mutual consent.

If you cannot or will not do these things, why you go hard in the paint for people like Cosby and R. Kelly, regardless of race, should be much more clear to you now. That is, if you can be honest, at least, with yourself.

Perhaps you are a sexual violence apologist. And like slavery apologists, identification with the practice does not stop at shielding others from accountability.

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