The United States and British governments killed Iraqi children today.
Eric Boehlert wrote a Salon article that looks at why critics are passing over Eminem's lyrics.
"Makes you wonder what it would take for music journalists to sit up and take offense. A song or two about lynching bothersome blacks, or gassing a few Jews? Even then, it'd probably be a close call."
The letters Salon recieved in response to this article.
If I could seperate form from content, I'd say that on the form side, Eminem is one of the more interesting and clever, if not brilliant, pop musicians to come along in a long time, and on the content side, his lyrics are more offensive and damaging than can be written off on his tongue-in-cheek format or self-deprecation.
Unfortunately, I'm not really sure I can seperate form and content, as many of the critics mentionned in Boehlert's article have tried to do. This presents a challenging subject to critique - ever more so because it concerns an artist with misogynistic and anti-gay content that is topping the Billboard charts. But with the kind of intimidated applause that this guy is getting, it doesn't seem like there's too much debate happening where lots should be taking place.
Interesting article on the damaging effects of privatization in New Zealand.
UN human rights body calls for lifting of Iraq sanctions
This week's debate became heated after Belgian's member called the sanctions "unequivocally illegal" which had caused a humanitarian disaster "comparable to the worst catastrophes of the past decades."