Madonna scribbling

Warning: I get a little bitchy.

I have not really done much writing of Madonna on this blog The Old World Oracle, but I might as well start now -- especially because I do think that Madonna is a rather European character -- believe it or not -- as far as the United States is concerned. In fact, Madge might just be one of the most European pop figures we have ever really had here, that actually grew up stateside. She really set a train in motion that we weren't seeing beforehand, not just in terms of feminism ,or queer rights, but also in terms of a particularly urban flavor that she offered when no one else really had before her.

I first began to think I ought to write a document about Madonna when, just a few weeks ago, I got into an argument with a pretty feisty Peruvian lady who really did not like Madonna at all. Her reasons for not liking her were not what the conservatives reasons would be; if anything, they were the exact opposite: to the Peruvian lady, who now lives in Baltimore as an immigrant, and who speaks English, seemingly all of the time, Madonna was that god awful and rotten thing known as a "cultural appropriator".

 She has, I was promptly and rudely told, appropriated everything from gay culture to black culture to, yes of course, even Latin America/Spanish culture. I was bombarded by a slew of women who all told me in unison that Madonna has never been anything but a "cultural leech who steals from others and then claims it is her own." I was then, in addition, told that Madonna is "just one of many white artists who steal everything, because white people cannot make their own art.." Right...right...white people can't make their own art..right right.... the Sistine Chapel...Mona Lisa...were those appropriations?  Did Michelangelo steal that from someone? Who? Indians? Gays? Russians? Michelangelo, who'd you rob man?

What this feisty Peruvian perhaps should have said about "white art" (aka European art) is that it tends to be kind of somber and not too filled with, I guess you would call it, a "beat" a lot of the time. I will give you that. But here's the problem: What makes you think many of us whites even gave a fuck for the beat in the first place? Has it ever occurred to you that many whites see Madonna , just like they see, say, white men playing blues songs, as people who are polluting otherwise "authentic European music"? For all this lady knows, many whites in Europe were actually far happier with burning out all that other sort of music, and instead going forward solely with a classical sort of music. Perhaps they wanted to keep playing Bach, and advancing that type of style. He is quite popular, you know, my little Peruvian friend, and I am not sure that anything he ever created had so much as a single thing to do with this entire American continent.

 At any rate, this exclusion of Latin America and other cultures and styles of dance- - within the "white world" --  did not happen, because white girls like Madonna thought it would be cool to experiment with other cultures sounds and introduce their white friends to it. Sounds that, according to the Holy All Knowing lady, are to be BANISHED and MADE ILLEGAL for anyone except people born in Latin America. Lord.... doesn't that sound like something a nazi would do? Sure does to me! And this is literally the  exact sort of liberal who has basically burnt down the entire house.

Now, let me be very clear: I am by no means some colossal Madonna fanatic; but I was still rather shocked by this level of vitriol directed at her coming from people who are women and who are living in this country, speaking English, and on top of that, labeling themselves as liberals and "Activists" and all this stuff.  I was also, I think, kind of saddened by just how severe their level of cultural ignorance was when it came to this pop culture titan -- literally considered by many the most important woman of the entire 20th century, and perhaps one of the most famous who has ever lived. I could not believe that anyone in the liberal camp could possibly be this naive in regards to Madonna -- since she has really had so much to do with its modern incarnation as it concerns these United States. I also kind of couldn't help but want to inform them that, well, one would think, in a sea so void of women who are culturally prominent, this asshole Peruvian "activist" -- for that was all she was -- would realize she is a bit of a beggar when it comes to the Spring pickings as it were, and don't we all know that old saying about beggars? How does it go? Oh, yes, I remember....the little white male misogynist bird just burst into my room window to tell me..here is how it goes: "Beggars can't be choosers, you ungrateful brat." Madonna is one of the few women so respected as she is. She was one of the first to bring LGBT issues to national light. She was probably one of the first to appear in public and date a handsome black fellow like Dennis Rodman. But no.. none of this matters.

So basically here is my opinion on this activist and her vitriol concerning Madonna: If you really wanna get down and dirty, woman, then here's what I think you ought to know: Madonna, I hate to tell you, would have been famous with or without the few, scattered homages she did to Latin America.  She also would have probably been famous, especially at that time in the middle 1980s when she really rose to fame, without a single nod towards the gay culture or any of it. In fact, just to be blunt, Madonna probably could have ridden a seismic wave of fame right into the middle of the 1990s whilst kicking gay and Latin American folks in the face, making public declarations that all music from Latin America absolutely sucks, and still been considered captivating for the American public of that time. Because, I'm not sure you remember oh Holy lady, you all knowing queen, but the American culture that Madonna initially grappled with  -- and somewhat "manipulated" as she rose -- was a decidedly queer hatin', pistol whippin', women beatin' white boy wild land.  Oh but I guess you forgot that, right? 

Here is the real truth on it, folks: If you actually look at Madonna's initial rise, you'll see it all had far more to do with a rather traditional Marilyn Monroe-esque femininity and "bubblegum" style song of cuteness that she did which then, afterwards, not so smoothly (at times) segued off into a rebellious style, where she began to explore different avenues of "minority art" -- and also European art (which I pointed out first thing in this piece). But the fact is that Madonna's initial exploration of all of that stuff , which she did completely inside the public eye, was, at the time, a RISK, and not something that was necessarily going to spell REWARD.

In fact, Madonna's experimentation can all be heavily associated with what Mariah Carey, another diva, began doing years later in the late 1990's, when she started to feature black rappers on some of her bubblegum pop songs. These days...it sounds like nothing... "wow big deal" ...but back then that was an enormous risk, and Mariah-- just like Madonna -- had no idea how it might play out. For all these women knew, they could have accidentally torched their entire careers. Maybe even been black listed. The fact of the matter here is that Madonna did something no one else was doing, and though you might want to call it "cultural appropriation", you also perhaps have to accept the next unsettling fact: Without Madonna's massive voice, all of this other stuff may very well have never even been discovered by the American public -- who buys it all up and makes people fabulously rich.

 Like, basically, no one on the national level would have given a single fuck about it. What Madonna did was, again, just what Mariah Carey did: She gave something a stamp of approval that then caused floodgates to open. This is also even what, I hate to say it, Eminem did, in terms of black rappers as well: Most white folks simply were not interested in rappers at all, prior to Eminem. Biggie and Tupac, two rappers that pre-date Eminems arrival, were fairly mainstream, but they were not as successful as 50 Cent, and they certainly weren't approaching billionaire status like Dr. Dre (Eminem's closest ally) now is. The real fact here is that Eminem picked up the old rap records and then convinced the masses, and then the entire Globe, to take an interest in them. Dr. Dre was smart enough to realize the advantage Eminem gave him and exploited it. The activist is apparently just a bit of a moron, cutting off legs and arms she ought not cut off. Which is now what leads me to make my next declaration: This lady poses as though she is some sort of ally to the LGBT community;  but if you ask me, she is no such thing.She wants to say Madonna is a fraud and a fake? Sorry, hun, you are the fraud and the fake, because you are pretending to pose with the LGBT community and you are ANTI IT. 

 For how can one be allied with a culture like the LGBT one, in the United States, whilst simultaneously hating and I mean really hating on Madonna, as much as she did? Again, Madonna is essentially one of the first people who ever shined a light on the LGBT community here. I can understand not digging her music, or maybe even despising the music itself. I get that. But to go as far as to say you hate her, and that shes evil, and that she was worthless, and all this other very mean stuff... is to me a declaration that you are an enemy of the LGBT community. Hating on Madge is like someone saying they adore the black community -- but they hate Martin Luther King., Jr. Sorry - it does not work that way. Sometimes, when you are in a certain culture, or, like this asshole, trying to be in one, you have to shake hands with certain figures, or else your message gets polluted and doesn't make any sense. Madonna really is  -- in terms of the American and maybe even, to an extent, the global LGBT community -- just like MLK was for black Americans. You can criticize him to an extent, maybe, but for the most part, can't you just fucking enjoy what was one of the only good things to have ever happened??

Apparently this asshole cannot. Ungrateful brat.


.