Sunday, November 1, 2009

Justified By Money?

Can one's action be justified by the money they earn for doing them?
"But Tyler Perry owns his own studio.", or "His movies make millions" are popular refrains from the Medea creator's supporters.
But is the money earned the only qualifier to determine one's "success"?
What about legality?

Natalie Dylan (above) was perfectly within her rights to sell her virginity at one of Nevada's legal brothels.
Does the one million dollar price paid (Down from an offer of 3.7 million dollars after that man was "convinced" by his wife to pull his offer.) justify her actions?

What about the Afghan Warlords who make 3-5 million dollars a year? (Reuters)
Not only do they make a good living, they also get to influence World policy.
Power and money - would you want that job?

What about being Joaquin-Guzman-Loera?
Would being a billionaire (Forbes) drug dealer be worth it?
Sure, it's not legal - but maybe Cali. will change it's mind and make the man a legitimate businessman.

Not to pick on T.P. too much - but does his money earned really justify his crappy work?

4 comments:

FreeMan said...

I always tell people to make money and don't try to justify it. Only when someone tries to legitimize it does one run into problems.

T.P should admit that he has a transvestite lady as his trigger to draw people into a moral story. But nonetheless it's a transvestite stereotype.

The girl selling her virginity is really a issue because its the ultimate between money and morals! She's nuts on that angle period!

Forbes just wants people to buy the magazines but the Kennedy's are a family of bootleggers so who knows what kind of benefactor this man might turn out to be!

Unknown said...

Sweet baby Jesus!!! Rap, hip-hop has eaten at our cultural soul for almost three decades and you whine about TP?

Tyler Perry has done less harm to the African-American community than the likes of Lil Wayne and all the other - stuck in adolescence, babies out of wedlock, anti intelligential rap/hip hop "artist" out there.

Tell you what, you get over TP movies and I'll get over
Vivica A. Fox movies. Because you see TP is not the only fish in the sea and if you don't like his work - don't go to see his movies.

uglyblackjohn said...

@ give peace - Rappers don't pretend to educate people.
And at least rap tells a story of doing better and not just saying, "That's good for a Black man" or "That's as well as we can expect to do.".

I'm no fan of today's rap - but I see the appeal.

T.P. v. Vivica Fox?
Pa-lease!
One is an actor while the other is hailed as the savior of Black cinema.
One is correct while the other is over-hyped.

Saying that one isn't as bad as someone else isn't the same as saying that one is good.

@ FreeMan - My problem with T.P. isn't that he represents us poorly to others - it's only that many see themselves only within these limited stereotypes.
How we view ourselves is of more importance than how others view us.

If our self perception is limited to these stereotypes - that's the (low) level to which most will aspire.

While others have some sort of balance - we are stuck with Medea, The Wayans anything on TBS.
The alternatives don't exist because the audience is satisfied with seeing itself only within the limited definition put out by media companies.

Blackface is not allowed.
Why?
Because Blacks stopped accepting this portrayal of them.
As soon as WE stop believing that we are only illiterate bafoons (and thinking that this image is "Keeping It Real"), this image will die too.

FreeMan said...

Maybe the media has won because I thought the public outrage is a sign that most of us don't like what's going on.

But as always the 85% love to make life imitate art. So maybe we want a new artist huh?

Maybe this time whitey didn't make this portrayal so it's harder to rally around what's wrong. It's like a Black mayor syndrome!