Mail Mondays (11/21/05)

What a horrible day. This isn't about insomnia, this is about things not going right. But, because it's Monday, the problems will have to wait until tomorrow (or I may not talk about them. I don't know, I don't want this to be a blog about "oh woe is me." That just feels wrong).
As for mail, it's been a thin week. I'll respond to what I got.
Oh, and before I start, I want to apologize to Michele for not making it to the blogger gathering. I still owe you a drink.
Mail time.
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Leab,
Are you making fun of Mounties?
Our cops can at least catch the criminals.
At least we aren't jelly donut-eating idiots, eh?
You better be careful in the future.
A Loyal Canadian

ALC,
Sigh, I'm going to assume you're from Alberta. Many Canadians from Alberta seem to lack...how should I put this...humor. If you go back and look at the post, you'll see the whole thing was a joke. Can malls talk? No.
Look, if I really wanted to make fun of the RCMP, I would talk about Ren and Stimpy (Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen, anybody?), or I would talk about the fact that THE DISNEY CORPORATION USED TO OWN THE MOUNTIE IMAGE! Don't believe me? Here it is in black and white. To use the image, they had to pay Disney. Can you imagine?
"We need a few more cars, eh? How much is that gonna cost? I'm getting a skull cramp....Someone call Mr. Eisner and find out how much we owe...and get it in Canadian, eh?"
Ok, but seriously, I like the RCMP. When I was working at the Tobacco Document Depository, I was assigned to work with the RCMP. Apparently they were doing research for several cases up in Manitoba. Nice guys (and they were all guys). We ended up going out one night for beer. That's when I heard all about how Canadian beer is better than American beer (an argument my brother-in-law brings up almost everytime I see him).
I'm not knocking the RCMP. I just thought that a strip club called "Mounties" would be a great double-entendre. That's all.
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I.T.
Rap is crap. Period. You can't compare it to country music. All rappers care about are killing each other, taking their "bling-bling", and "bitches." At least country music has redeeming qualities.
Angry Country Fan
(Author's Note: I didn't put in the whole letter as the rest of it is just ripping on me and the site. Apparently, I'm an Un-American idiot with multiple problems...I love this country).

Ok, ACF. Let's get to the root of the problem.
I could easily start and say you're a racist, but that's not the point, and I don't think you are. I think the problem is that you are looking at two or three people and saying, "Wow, this is all of that genre. Everyone is like that." Yup, you're generalizing. I could do the same thing with country. There's a song, for example, called "I Wish I Were A Woman (So I Could Go Out With A Guy Like Me)" Hmm. If I generalize than I can say that all Country music is about gay men. A man wants to be a woman to date himself? Woman trapped in a man's body? Homosexual.
Do I really believe this? No, but you get the idea about generalizing.
Sure, there are some rap songs dealing with pimps, killing, etc, but there are also songs that are affirming. Country is the same way. We all tap our foot to the Dixie Chicks while they sing about killing a man. Sure he was a wife-beater, but it's still murder.
In all honesty, most rap fans couldn't care less about country and vice versa. Sure, you have guys like Big and Rich singing about, "bling-bling" (which to me is proof a word is no longer cool and probably dead when it's used in a Country song), but that doesn't mean you're going to have a ton of African-Americans at a Garth Brooks concert. Look at last year's NBA All-Star game. They had Cowboy Troy and Big and Rich perform. When they cut to the crowd, who was jamming to the music? The white folk. Who was looking around wondering what the hell was going on? Mostly the black folk.
It's hard not to generalize, I know, but we have to work on it. Otherwise I'm going to get called an asshole a great deal more.
Then again what do I know? I'm the ultimate villain in the world: A white, middle-class man (who likes all sorts of music). I could be wrong.
Tomorrow we'll have ramblings and a quick note for Wednesday, then...I'm off to the in-laws.