Opinion – Charles M. Blow: Self-destruction by Ye, ex-Kanye West, just makes me wonder: why did it take so long?

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Honestly, I never imagined this episode of the Kanye West drama would last as long as it did. I certainly didn’t anticipate that I would care too much about it myself. I thought I would speak up once on the subject and then move on to another.

“Excessive bravado undermines the career of a billionaire creator of ugly shoes and oversized coats.”

I thought that would be it and that’s it. But it was not. West’s adherence to anti-black, anti-Semitic and white supremacist discourse wasn’t the only thing that caught my attention.

I’ve also been watching the reactions to his downfall, which, in all its strange contradictions, are exposing unpleasant truths about power in the US: who can and will hold to account, how big corporations exploit culture and character until such time as that. it puts its profits at risk, as some people absorb and accept insults and give too long a leash to those with more money and fame.

I want to start by saying this: Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, should have become an outcast when he spoke of slavery as a choice, gloating over black ancestors whose suffering was anything but a choice. No one would choose rape for themselves, their mother, daughters or sisters. No one would choose the gallows or the whip. No one would choose to have their body torn apart by dogs or driven mad by hunger.

But Ye didn’t give up. He apologized unconvincingly, and people forgot what a hideous offense he had been. They sold out shows and bought their clothes. Big companies appeared in droves to associate themselves with his name.

Ye should have been an outcast when he lavished praise on Donald Trump in the Oval Office and said of his “Make America Great Again” hat: “I felt like a Superman with it on my head.”

But none of that happened. Business continued. The legend grew.

While he was a black man taking a stand in opposition to black interests, Ye was a phenomenon. It was counterculture. An agitator. He was beyond and above conventional thinking and labels.

But of course he wasn’t. Blacks have known for centuries what to name people like Ye, who claim to be the epitome of blackness but enrich themselves at the expense of defaming and commodifying black culture. There are many terms for what it is, but one that can be used without fear of offending is “sold.”

But the reality is even more complicated than that — given what centuries of exposure to the poison of white supremacy have done to black culture. The black people Ye offended the most didn’t have the power to cancel it; those with more power kept silent; the white corporate structure determined that there was still money to be made; and many black people were still impressed by Ye’s wealth and the way in which he had been anointed artistic and exceptional.

Ye had business deals with big brands and was making big money. She was defeating the system, many would say. He was a genius because he could manipulate the machine that works against so many black people, making it work for him. That was power. That was influence.

None of that. He was being used. And I was using you.

Ye has been transparent about her concept of economics. As she sang in “All Falls Down” (2004): “Drug buys Jordan sneakers, junkie buys crack / And the white man gets it all.”

He knew, and knows, that the purpose of fueling blatant black consumerism and even chemical dependency is profit; there is power in that, which white corporations can use to make money. Instead of trying to turn that table, Ye wanted to sit at its head. Rather than being disgusted by the economic arm of white supremacy, he aspired to be a part of it.

As he said in a recent interview, “I sympathize with the position of the straight white male, and part of the reason is that I know I’m heading in that direction myself.” Now Ye has boarded the wave of anti-Semitism and has simply gone too far.

He released an apology that is a verbal salad mixing God, samurai, Africa and “The Da Vinci Code”. It was a bit like his response to statements about slavery. But forgiveness and forgetting won’t come so soon this time—if there will be forgiveness and forgetting at all.

Ye is self-destructing.

The big companies finally said “enough is enough”, and with good reason. This raises the compelling question: what took them so long? Was disrespecting black people not enough? But I’m forced to ask many blacks the same question: Was Ye’s disrespect for her ancestors—and for you—not enough?

Ye shouldn’t have been able to wear a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt and defend her gesture. Perhaps the big companies figured they could keep silent because so many of us have.

And when Ye’s insulting words started to hurt his pocket, he came away with more apologies. He apologized for saying — contrary to evidence and eyewitnesses — that George Floyd died of a fentanyl overdose, not asphyxiation. As Ye said, his statements “offended black people”, so he wanted to apologize. “Because right now, through what Adidas and the media are doing, God has shown me; now I know what it feels like to have a knee on my neck.”

Even the apology is problematic and narcissistic. A rich man who is getting less rich as a result of his ignorance is not in the same category as the lynching of George Floyd in the middle of the street.

I’m not saying that people shouldn’t have the right to ask forgiveness for saying things they regret. I’ve done it myself. But the problem here is the degree of offense, the quality of the order, and the repetition of a pattern. The fact that Ye always repeats the same type of offense means that they are not slips of the tongue — it is his character that is revealing itself.

I know that in a world that oppresses and shoots black men, we never want to be in the position of applauding when a black man is tripped. But when this black man yearns to be part of the architecture that keeps you oppressed, you, for the sake of self-preservation, have a duty to turn a blind eye to it.

Jews and the world are right to condemn Ye for her anti-Semitism. That same energy should have manifested in relation to her anti-blackness. It’s not a mental health issue. Mental health is a very real thing and needs to be part of the discussion. But it does not make a person adhere to racist ideologies and anti-Semitism.

This is not some masterful strategy. He’s not playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers. He’s just playing himself.

And enough of saying things like “What if such a person…?”. The hypothesis that someone else was also offensive in the same way has no relevance to Ye’s guilt. He’s wrong. Full stop.

To all Ye apologists, and there are some, what I say is: stop pampering this ex-billionaire! Please.

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