On social media, fans of rap are blasted repeatedly with images of opulence and wealth, as rappers flaunt their jewelry, cars and shoes. On YouTube, videos of rappers buying tens of thousands of dollars worth of shoes gain millions of views. Popular perception among many is that rappers live the best kind of lifestyle there is.
In his essay “On Truth, Lies and Bullshit,” philosopher Harry Frankfurt writes extensively about lying and so called “bullshit.” He believes that the essence of bullshit is represented by an indifference to reality. In rap we see a perfect example of this indifference to reality.
Rappers often are not purposely lying about their lifestyle and finances, but rather they simply ignore the truth of their financial situation. Instead of tracking their finances, they use online technology to flex their supposed wealth and motivate their clueless fans to make poor decisions.
The way rappers portray their finances and lifestyles on social media is a particularly harmful form of bullshit and lying. False images of wealth and success lead some rap fans to attempt to mimic the lifestyle of their favorite artists. These attempts to replicate the lifestyle of a rapper will likely lead fans down their own path of financial ruin.
Harry Frankfurt writes that “the most irreducibly bad thing about lies is that they contrive to interfere with, and to impair, our natural effort to apprehend the real state of affairs.”
When rappers bullshit about their wealth and lifestyle, they impair their fans’ ability to apprehend the reality of those lifestyles. The reality is that spending more than one makes, especially on things like jewelry and cars, will lead to a life of poverty. Rap fans need to know the truth about their favorite musicians social media image and learn from their mistakes.
I read and enjoyed your original blogpost, and I see a lot of improvement here. To start off with, I really like the format and style of the photographs in this revised version, it really helps the reader to smoothly move from paragraph to paragraph. I also see a new picture, which also helps to illustrate your point. I noticed you also cleaned up some of the sentences in the paragraphs, they're more concise now while still relaying the original message. Overall I'd say you took the advice from the comments and were able to improve the quality of your blogpost. Good work!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how your blog post really hooks the reader in. Since Hip Hop is one of the largest genres in the world right now, it’s cool to read your take on the industry. In addition to that, I really enjoyed your use of pictures throughout the post, they really emphasize the point you’re talking about. I believe it would help your blog if you included more about the reading. You mention the reading at the start and at the end but there is not as much of a connection in the middle of the blog
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ReplyDeleteI found the topic of this post to be really interesting. As someone who’s always been aware of the negative messages that rap songs convey, I’d never thought of linking them to the subject of bullshit. I appreciate how you moved Frankfurt’s philosophy to the front to make your argument clear in the beginning. And I like how you managed to cut down some of the information of your case and put in more of your personal insights. I could tell that you have a strong understanding of the selected readings by seeing your own reflections following each quote. It seems to me that you have also improved the format of the post by rearranging the images. One thing, though, is that since in your sixth paragraph you mention that the attempts that fans make to replicate the lifestyle of their idols may lead to financial ruin, perhaps you could consider substituting the cash illustration with a screenshot of a news report regarding this kind of consequence to make your argument stronger. I'm sure there's many real-life stories about fans going bankrupt due to the reason suggested in your last paragraph.
ReplyDeleteI commented on your first version of this post, and I think you have improved it substantially this time around! I like how you brought up Frankfurt earlier in the post- this really helped integrate his opinion with yours. I also like how you began an insightful analysis of truth earlier on in the post, going into detail about specific cases later. Furthermore, I think your addition of another picture helps the flow of the article, breaking up blocks of text that may lead readers to click away. I do agree with Teresa's comment, however, that you could have brought up an example of people trying to mimic the wealthy lifestyles of rappers and celebrities. Without an example of this, your sentence about the possibility of fans experiencing their own financial ruin falls short. Overall, however, you made great changes, robustly analyzing an interesting example of bullshit under Frankfurt's definition.
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