Dear Kanye,
You probably don’t have many post-menopausal white women in your fan base. The only reason I know who you are is because I read US Magazine on the treadmill. For that reason, I know that you sort of ruined Taylor Swifts’s big moment at the Grammys and that you are Kim Kardashian’s Baby Daddy. I also know about your interview with Ryan Seacrest, because of Yahoo News.
Yahoo News is filled each day with items that have nothing to do with my actual world, like talking dogs and the world’s largest baby, and the fact that Will Smith’s 15-year-old son has gone public with his relationship with his 16-year-old girlfriend who is the daughter of Bruce Jenner Kardashian, I try to bypass these items, in order to get to my mailbox. But each day, at least one headline accounts for me checking my mail about 30 seconds after I intended to do so.
Today, I was sucked into your interview with Ryan Seacrest, in which you blamed “classicism” for your not being able to achieve all of your goals in life. I’m not sure what “classicism” is but if it means “lack of class” I’m on board with your statement.
You also said that no one cares if Michelle Obama Instagrams a picture of herself in a bikini. I completely agree with that statement as well. We live in a pretty fucked up world, Kanye. There are few things nowadays that give me any hope for the future. But I have to say that one of them is that the American public sees the First Lady as being more than booty.
I think maybe you are confusing popular culture with culture. Most of us love something about popular culture, whether it be following fashion or sports, or picking up the latest fare from some author of international thrillers to read on the beach. We watch reality shows and we vote for American Idols. We read everything we can about Wills and Kate. Popular culture is available to all of us. We don’t have to be talented or smart or wealthy to be fans.
Culture is something else. Culture is human intellectual achievement. It is what defines a society, the legacy we leave to the generations that will follow. When we look at the Roman Empire, Pharaonic Egypt and the ancient dynasties of Asia and the Middle East, we marvel at the feats of government, the arts and engineering that created nations from tribal societies. The internal violent and sexual shenanigans of many of the rulers of these civilizations is no doubt a fascinating sideline, but it in no way defines the civilizations that these people created and ruled.
Your girlfriend probably has more Twitter followers than the First Lady. Hell, she might even have more followers than the President. But our fascination with her is limited to the externals of her life: her face, her body and the clothes she puts on it. She is a fantasy, whether one’s fantasy is for giant booty or designer duds. The best you can say about her is that she has turned her ability to showcase her body parts into a lucrative profession, indeed.
The fascination we have for Michelle Obama has nothing to do with what she looks like or what she wears (although an attractive First Lady is always more interesting). When we look at Michele Obama, we think about her intelligence, her strength, her ideals. No matter your political affiliation, you have to admit that Michele Obama is a powerhouse. Your girlfriend reminds us of what one can do with the gift of outstanding good looks. Michelle Obama reminds us of what one can do with outstanding intellect and drive.
So Kanye, draw Kim and North close to you. Tell them that you love them and that they are the most important people in your life. And be grateful that you live in a society that worships celebrity to such a ridiculous degree that someone like you, someone who sets the bar ever higher for pretention and self-absorption, can be worthy of taking up space with talking dogs and giant babies.
A Simple Village Undertaker
October 30, 2013
Aside from Valentines day being three and a half months away, and not necessarily agreeing on your comments about the first lady, I love this article.
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 30, 2013
This is what happens when I am writing my post and thinking of something else at the same time. This is why I couldn’t learn to drive a stick shift or dance with more than one leg.
Barneysday
October 30, 2013
Actually, tomorrow is Halloween, and somehow that’s more fitting for West’s and the Krazy Kardashian’s! You nailed it, girl, and these two and others like them are living on borrowed time, and sooner than later they will be replaced by some other family even more outrageous than theirs.
Well done!
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 30, 2013
And that is exactly what happened when I was writing this. I was thinking that it would have made a great Valentine’s post and the words Valentine’s Day leapt onto the screen. I hit Publish and then realized what I did. Too late.
Barneysday
October 30, 2013
That’s just fine. At our ages, well at least mine, a slip of the Publish button is the least of my senior moments.
Great post
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 31, 2013
Thanks, Barney.
Kirby77042
October 30, 2013
Sounds like you’re as flawed and stupid as Kanye – lol
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 30, 2013
You bet. Only I know it.
This Sydney Life
October 31, 2013
I wish I was half as articulate as you. MOST excellent.
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 31, 2013
Wow, thanks. Maybe some of the articulate makes up for the loss in brain cells that now has me confusing all holidays.
theattitudequeen
October 31, 2013
LOL – loved this article and yes, very articulate. So Mr West lacks class – well, at least he has some insight (or was he complaining that other people don’t have enough class?) I have trouble pronouncing his first name so maybe I am one of the “classicistic” (is that a real word?) people who have hindered his achievements.
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 31, 2013
I think Kanye said that “rascism and classism” hinders him, which is mighty interesting since his entre into celebrityhood was via rap music, not brain surgery. And in the world in which he lives, class is determined by the labels one wears on one’s body, not by the character one posesses.
mimijk
October 31, 2013
I am fortunate – this couple rarely registers on my radar. But that which I see is enough to make me rue society’s fascination with train wrecks.
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 31, 2013
We do have that, don’t we?
Snoring Dog Studio
October 31, 2013
What brilliant writing! Loved this. We live in a world of ego-maniacs, living to shove aside other ego-maniacs and remain in the spotlight until they’re well past whatever little bit of fame they might have deserved. And we have the ever-faithful and fawning media eager to keep insignificant fools like these in the spotlight because other shallow people seem to demand it. It’s a perpetual motion machine.
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 31, 2013
Sadly, all too true. I keep thinking this is what it must have been like at the end of the Roman Empire, minus all the reality TV shows.
Snoring Dog Studio
November 1, 2013
Good point. It’s scary.
mritan55
October 31, 2013
Brilliant analysis of the stupidity of celebrity. I’d like to put this on a lot of billboards. Well said!
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 31, 2013
And I wish you owned a lot of billboards. But thanks, anyway.
Betty Londergan
October 31, 2013
Happy Valentine’s Day, Renee! I am thrilled to see somebody else (besides me) makes that kind of mistake — and I am beyond happy to hear that somebody as intelligent, thoughtful and hilarious as you, Renee, gets equally lured in by the crap on Yahoo News and clicks through to inane celebrity profiles…. and then has to read about Kanye’s stupid histrionics. BUT — it was almost worth it yesterday when I read (on yahoo news) about Jennifer Garner using Kanye’s tweet-rant hashtag “#nodisspecttobenaffleck” in her daily conversations with hubby. http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/jennifer-garner-mocks-ben-affleck-hashtag-5665514?ref=rss — #noclassicismheredude
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 31, 2013
Thanks so much for pointing this out to me. I love it. Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are part of a minority of Hollywood-types who are genuinely talented, minimally self-absorbed, and who seem to care more about each other and their families than all the trappings of their success. Methinks they don’t hold anyone but themselves accountable if, for some reason, they don’t reach a goal they might have had.
pegoleg
October 31, 2013
So true about having to brush aside Yahoo “news headlines” to get where you’re really going. Sometimes we can’t turn away from the graphics like we can’t NOT look at a fatal car accident – morbid curiosity?
What she said, Kanye!
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 31, 2013
Today I saw a photo of Pamela Anderson’s new short haircut and a video on something I can’t even remember. It’s pop crack.
benzeknees
October 31, 2013
Really I wouldn’t have given Kanye, Kim or North this little bit of extra publicity by acknowledging they are a waste of human space.
Life in the Boomer Lane
October 31, 2013
You have a point there.
jlheuer
November 1, 2013
Hear! Hear!
Life in the Boomer Lane
November 1, 2013
Thanks, but I don’t think we will!
jlheuer
November 2, 2013
I was whole heartedly agreeing with you.
Life in the Boomer Lane
November 2, 2013
I know. I meant to write “he” meaning Kanye. It was a bad joke anyway. Someday, I will start editing what I write before I push “send”
Joyce Bell Kramer
November 1, 2013
This is so on point! Love it!
Life in the Boomer Lane
November 1, 2013
It’s so rare that I deign to give space to such self-absorbed people. But this one really got me going.
Catherine Hamrick
November 2, 2013
You go! You could turn the cover of People magazine upside down (though I no longer recognize most of those people; all I see are Crest White-Strip smiles).
Life in the Boomer Lane
November 2, 2013
Thanks, Catherine. Wow, I’ll hold out hope that you will one day be the editor of People. On the other hand, then you’d have to know who all those people were. That magazine looks more and more like a celeb rag, doesn’t it.
Sienna (@datingseniormen)
November 3, 2013
Those old money people are just not, not, not fair to young people of amazing talent. Superstars like Kanye West and Miley Cyrus are all about profundity, and they could teach those Park Avenue fossils a thing or two.
Like, classism sucks, nowhamsayin?
Life in the Boomer Lane
November 3, 2013
Reminds me of the 60’s, only without any of the redeeming features.
William
November 7, 2013
The thing you completely miss is that Kanye West *is* an artist and does create culture beyond “pop” culture.
Obviously his music is not your cup of tea, but he has created some of the best, most creative and most self-reflective music of his generation.
Yes, his public persona is larger than life, and he’s totally narcissistic, but he has the artistic chops to back it up. Remember, John Lennon once said he was bigger than Jesus, this is not a new phenomenon.
Life in the Boomer Lane
November 7, 2013
I never said that Kanye wasn’t talented. I also never said that I disliked his music. My issue with Kanye is his arrogance, his ego, and his statement about his not being able to achieve his goals due to classism. Kanye has had advantages that many of us have never had (my mother wasn’t a teacher. she had to leave school in the 11th grade to support her family). But I still stand by my pop culture vs culture statements. And, yes, many people in the arts are probably egomaniacs. But he is also dismissive of others. Interesting for someone who raises the classism flag. Ugh, I’m getting tired of writing about this.
eclectic_GRITS
November 9, 2013
Unfortunately, I think you missed the point about classism. Listen to the entire interview. The brief quoting from the interview does little to explore the point he was making. Thing is, because it’s Kanye, people assume he’s not right. Forget about his alleged arrogance and ego…focus on the argument about classism. I posted a response to your letter on my blog if you’re interested in reading.
Life in the Boomer Lane
November 10, 2013
I’m enjoying the give and take with you on your blog. –R
hisgirl11
November 15, 2013
Wow. Amazing. Loved it.
Janie
November 28, 2013
Well said. I’m applauding from the sidelines.