Nana's Rants on Subjects from A-Z: May 2018

The Beyonce Phenomenon: Appreciation or Exploitation

"Culture Vultures come in all shapes and sizes, and even those whom you least expect are doing just that, using another's culture and tradition to further their own gain."

Now let me start by saying that it is quite obvious that there are plenty of people who sing the praises of the Queen B. They shake, rattle and roll at her awesomeness and find her to be a great example for their daughters. Then over in a tiny corner, far from view are just a few people who are not so taken by her.

So, if you are in the larger community, the ones who praise and adore her, who are her Church Members who see her as a goddess, who imitate her and blast her songs in your car on your way to work or where ever you may be headed to, then you might want to turn off this video and go watch her instead.

If you are among those Beyoncé Church goers who have an open mind and would like to explore with me some of the kinks in her armor, then stay with me. And if you are the few in the corner, way over there who can barely get a word in edgewise due to the clamor coming from the crowd, you may find that you may agree with some of what I am about to say, and you may even have something else to think about when it comes to the "Beyoncé Phenomenon."

Anybody who comes to my channel and even YouTube who consistently demonetizes my videos, knows that I "think outside of the box" in my videos. I was raised by my Mother to be a critical thinker. She never accepted anything on face value, at least it seemed that way to me. Then after being indoctrinated for 12 years in Catholic school, I attended a Catholic college and there I learned what critical thinking really was, as ironic as that might sound. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time because the professors that I had, were not part of the status quo and they got flack from the administration because of it.

The "rave" reviews from the mainstream media as you can see here….

And the too many to count YouTube videos spin the top of the cult of personality, idol worship and the main agenda of those in the seats of power over the masses. Who could ask for anything more than the all out support from the fat cats?

But my mother taught me to question. She did that by telling me over and over again, "you are so gullible, you believe anything that anyone tells you." My younger brother used to pull all kinds of tricks on me to the point, that I was threatened with bodily harm if I ever, in life, fell for another one of his tricks. So I had to begin to think, and rethink and then think again.

Now, I am going to share my thoughts, it's my channel and until YouTube completely shuts it down, I will share what I feel and think on my channel. If you do not wish to hear what I have to say, then feel free to go, but please do not leave disparaging comments calling me a "hater" simply because I take another stance on this "Beyoncé Phenomenon." And throughout this video I am going to tell you why I have another stance, and it's not something that I have recently taken, I have daughters and while they are mature adults now, with daughters of their own, I also have sons who have sons. This Beyoncé Phenomenon" does not just touch on the girls, it touches the boys as well.

Now, folks may have thought that since Obama and Michelle gave Beyoncé and JayZ the red carpet treatment by presenting them at the white house, that made them pass the grade, but that means nothing to me. Beyoncé is not a good role model for young girls and JayZ is not a good role model for young boys, I don't care how many people say that they are.

They cannot sincerely believe that the violence and sexualization that goes on in their videos is a model for young people, with the explosive instances of police brutality against people of color when they ain't doing none of the stuff depicted in their music videos.

But in this video I want to focus on Beyoncé, I want to talk about the sexualization of the woman, I want to talk about how this sexualization of the woman is not appreciation but exploitation to the point that women who have been abused, seemed to be brushed off with the adage, "if she didn't want to be treated that way, she shouldn't wear them kind of clothes", yet, it's okay for Beyoncé and her team of soldiers to do so, or Hollyweird personalities over all. Why is it okay for those in Hollyweird to prance around half clad, barely clad, merely clad or in some instances, uncladded in the public eye, but those poor unknown victims of sexual molestation are considered hoes and told that they asked for it.

We have a rape culture in this country! I cannot speak about any other country but the US. So on the one hand we are bringing out the Weinstein's and the Cosby's and on the other hand we are lining up blocks and hours long, and spending top dollar to attend a festival, game or concert featuring "Beyoncé'" who in my estimation is acting like a whore on stage in front of the entire world!

Now you might want to get off this video right now, you Beyoncé Muppets, but I am about to get real right here and right now. My thoughts around Coachella have haunted me for days and days and even more days. Who remembers how incensed folks got when they saw Malia Obama at Coachella last year or maybe it was the year before, smoking weed and humping? That image and video went viral. People were appalled that Malia would be out there "acting" like that and she's the Presidents daughter, yet on the other hand the Obama's invited JayZ and Beyoncé to the white house. Michelle even said, she saw Beyoncé as a role model for young girls. How do you mix both things together?

I have read several articles, watch several videos and the voice in the wilderness still continues to be little ole me. Why can't people see how perverted this is? Why are people gobbling up this type of performance with no second thoughts or even grievances? What is it about the Beyoncé mania that makes folks blind, deaf and dumb to what is being blasted in from of their faces? I am totally baffled by the support that she gets to get up on stage and rock her sacred space in the nearly pornographic manner in which she does. Has pornography become normalized now, and does an entire show of young ladies dressed in outfits that used to be only seen in "Frederick of Hollywood" become okay?

Now place that within the context of what just happened to Bill Cosby. What do I mean by that? What I mean is, I wonder how many people, who blame the women for "making" themselves available to Cosby so he could do what he did to them, support Beyoncé. I just wonder.

Now place that in the context of all the stuff coming out of Hollyweird, where women and in some instance men and children are being over sexualized, abused and other criminal acts being perpetrated against them. How in one breath can one say, they appreciate Beyoncé and in the other breath abhor the Hollyweird under belly of despicable and criminal behavior. People are losing jobs, being downgraded, being ostracized and criminalized due to their reported, not proven, inappropriate behavior while Beyoncé can flaunt herself and her female soldiers in the manner she does and make millions of dollars!

Is it because she donates to social causes? Does that give her a free ride?

BTW, I am not impressed with donations. I am only impressed if those donations are not marked as tax deductibles at the end of the year. In fact, that simply means the citizens are making the contributions because in some way, it will hit the pockets of every other person who does pay taxes.

Is the community saying that as long as she gives her money away, she can allow herself and her female soldiers to be exploited in the manner in which they were in this last show, and yes I did see it.

ZaZa Ali Live: Beyonce at Coachella, Cardi B & the Impact of Celebrity Culture

I would like to take a moment and give a shout out to ZaZa Ali. She painfully approached this subject, by consistently giving credit to Beyoncé's performance being impeccable when it comes to the work she had to put into it to pull it off. I think she did a fine job of tiptoeing over the haters who will come at her saying that she doesn't want another black woman to succeed in life. But what is the definition of success? And what is the cost of this success?

And yes, I am harping on Beyoncé and yes I know that other female entertainers have done the same thing, but like my mom used to say, just cause everybody is doing it does not make it right.

I did a video on the Cult of Celebrity. I also did a video discussing the sexualization of our children. Along with various references that I made to pedophilia and child sacrifice.

Nowadays, we may not be blatantly sacrificing our children by taking their lives in a bloody ritual, but we are sacrificing them if we allow them to sing some of the Beyoncé lyrics like "Suck my balls, Bitch!"

Is that what we want our young children and young girls to say while they are at school or in the play ground, in the gym or at a football game? To me, that was the straw that broke the camel's back, that hoisted me into the Beyoncé phenomenon at risk of losing friends, family and even a few foes.

Just take a look at this meme and tell me, how can any parent find this to be okay? Your child is impersonating Beyoncé and while doing so is causing disruption in the classroom and when they call the parent in, the parent is like well………………. What is your problem?

Along with the several "f" bombs in her lyrics why is she allowed to do this, and why are people supporting her and keeping her "rich and famous"? What is it about her mania that makes people blind to the fact that her shows are destructive! I really don't care how much time and effort she puts into her shows, how much practice and long hours, that same time and effort is put into making nuclear weapons and bombs that are created to be dropped on innocent men women and children.

To me, Beyoncé is poison, and poison can be created in a moment or it can be done painstakingly, but it will kill, and that is its purpose. I don't care about the symbolism that folks like to equate to Illuminati or some occult references such as the eye of Horus (Heru) or 3 sixes, those symbols have also been perverted and yet used by folks behind closed doors, the very folks who tell the masses to shun them. It matters not to me that those images and symbols are used in music videos. What matters to me is our children and they are our future. If we allow this exploitation of our children's mind, body and spirit, it matters not that these so called Illuminati symbols are being used. The actual behavior of these artists is more blatantly instrumental in their destructive effects than those symbols, believe me. It's the music, the imagery, the hypnotic trance that comes over the crowd, the acceptance of this low bar of morality and the continued cognitive dissonance that is most troubling in my opinion.

So we get this meme about how she demonstrated her "black culture" unapologetically. Take a look at this meme.

When in actuality, she never said that she was doing that at all. She just wanted to be "entertaining" and that was all. Where does it say that she is or ever has been about "black culture"? And if she presented that show as some have said, to show the mostly white audience what "black culture" looks like, to me she gave that audience a perverted version of it.

Are we to expect black women to be engaged with rocking their sacred space? Are we still expecting black women to be bed winches and is that the message that Beyoncé is giving to this predominately white audience who saw her and her female soldier wag themselves so suggestively it bordered on pornography?

Then other say, but she came back, after having 3 children, blazing, strong and resilient. And my response is so did our Ancestors working in the cotton fields! They did that with no money, no fame and a whip on their backs carrying their babies all the while. Why does she get a pass for doing that?

And what really broke my heart was to see Blue Ivy, sitting there in the audience, watching her mother exploit herself in that manner. I hoped that maybe the pyrotechnics distracted Blue, but she probably have seen some of those rehearsals, so yeah….

I want a show of hands of how many of you out there, listening to my rant, would love to see your mother get herself in tip top shape and then get on stage and do what Blue's mother did? Would you not be just a tad bit embarrassed by that show of vulgar vagina humping by your mother? What about your father? Would he sit there in the audience with the whole family and applaud?

I remember the other meme and viral story about the "Smith's who were at a show where Miley Cyrus was acting completely out of line, and the shock on their face was quite telling. Why and how did Beyoncé get a pass?

So they say, she was showing off her culture. So that is what black culture looks like? That is what African culture looks like, that is what spiritual culture looks like?

Excuse me, but I am missing something here.

But, after all of these flash points came, the YouTube tarot reader saying, Beyoncé has Oshun with her, and that she is very spiritual and I was like, wait a second………

Now they are adding to the mix a perverted version of Oshun? The goddess of love? From Nigeria west Africa? And so that gives her a stamp of approval?

So we go from Black panther at halftime, Oshun at the Grammy's and now Nefertiti at Coachella, and folks are drinking and slurping and praising her exploitation of all three, not reading the lyrics, not paying attention to the hypnosis, and certainly not belying the truth of any of these representations.

Yet in the same breath say she is daring to show the world African culture, black culture and the black experience in America. The dangerous normalization of these stereotypes will replicate and imbed "unconscious bias" towards blacks.

I am appalled that they would even bring Oshun into it, without knowing what she represents.

She is a sacred Goddess, the Goddess of love, and to equate what Beyoncé is doing and has done in her performances with Oshun to me is an outrage. Forgive me, but to me she is presenting a perverted version of Oshun. Understanding the many roads of Oshun, you must first understand the tradition and just because she looked like Oshun does not mean she is representing her, to me she looked more like the statue of liberty, but that's just me. However, the road of Oshun that she is presenting on stage with the blatant sexuality and sexualization is the road of Oshun that people who know about this goddess tend to avoid or tend to keep under raps, rather than blasting it on the big screen.

Besides, even if she was trying to represent Oshun or Erzuile Freda, could she stand before the Goddess and look them in the eye after she had exploited their legend and misrepresented them in front of the entire world? And how does being connected to either of these goddesses forgive the exploitation of her femininity in that way. And by the way, why aren't the so called feminist coming out against this sordid display of femininity. Are we of the mind that femininity in the feminist movement and exploitation of the female body are one in the same? She should be able to do whatever she chooses with her body in a public arena because she has a body to do that with?

Then let me say this, what if it was a 300 pound woman scantily clad on stage doing the same thing?

Of course that would never happen in this culture, a 300 pound woman does not fit the profile. So what are we saying here? Are we saying that only certain women, with a certain physique and status should be allowed to flaunt their stuff on stage, while the other more comely and not so attractive women should dress modestly?

And if you do fit the profile and you dress and act like that, it's your fault if you appeal to the "lower" nature of men? Zaza Ali mentioned this point as well in her video. She also mentioned how she cautioned her son to be very circumspect about being around such young ladies who may lure him into a trap. Another women on Dr. Boyce Watkins' channel said she had to have a talk with her husband, about having private lunches with women in order to steer clear of any allegations of in appropriate behavior.

Additionally, the so called "Me Too" movement should have been outside protesting. Women are being denied jobs as a result of this movement for fear the establishment or members of it will be drawn out in some high profile allegations of sexual misconduct. And yet, we have this and all the praise that goes with it. How do we have it both ways?

Are we saying that it's okay for the rich and famous to do certain things that your regular Joe or Jane cannot do? Why do we continually give them a pass to do whatever they wish and then throw down the gavel and sentence the average person to a life of scorn and skepticism? By giving them a pass, aren't we enabling them to continue to exploit us? We buy their records, watch their movies and share their tabloids. Aren't we saying that it's okay for them to do it when we support them? Where is critical thinking, what happened to it, and will it ever return?

I have personally always had a problem with double standards. And I must give my mom credit for that to, cause she used to always say, "Do as I say, not as I do." And that would enrage me. Because by the same token she would say, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, Now I didn't know what gander was as a young child, but I surely knew what the saying meant. So what are feminist saying about this, how are they weighing in on this? Where is their moral compass or their compass of equality I should say. Where is it and why is it okay for Beyoncé and yet, the old lady down the road better keep her

butt in the house, wearing those daisy dukes like she's 20 years old.

In traditional African culture there is what is called "rites of passage" for boys and for girls. During these right young boys and girls learn about what it means to be a man and woman in the community. They are given specific customs, dances and implements to help them to move up into the position of man and woman in the society. Many of these dances would be perceived as suggestive to the European onlooker. In fact, part of the process of colonization of the African was to demonize their sexual expression and draw them away from their customs. Ever since, Africans have been presented has overly sexed to the point of being a fetish for European men and women. They expect the black woman to have a high libido and the black man, along with a high libido, to have a long schlong. How can the show that Beyoncé had at Coachella, change that image?

After the Grammy's of Article written by CC Saunders entitled "Beyoncé- A Win for White Supremacy" was featured in Kushite Prince article date February 16, 2017.

I wish to present to you a few quotes from that article.

The praise following Beyoncé's long overdue “consciousness” demonstrates that the bar for black allies is impossibly low. Beyoncé as a black activist demonstrates that one or two acts fulfill the necessary requirements to deem someone a black leader. The black collective witnessed this behavior with former President Obama who would often place a single stream of consciousness in his speeches, a consciousness that he would counter with the following sentence. Yet, the allegiance he had for five seconds, overshadowed lesser deeds carried out in the majority of his actions and behaviors. Beyoncé's praise functions in a similar manner, as her seemingly “overnight” enlightenment supersedes past behavior that aimed to present Beyoncé, the black woman as a crossover artist.

Beyoncé, a black woman who gained fame and international stardom for her fair skin, blonde weave, and jezebel-like performances, personifies the height of white male imagination. She embodies what many black women wish they were, conventionally beautiful with full features, fair skin, a curvy yet slim body, an accent that is slight enough to suggest a humble sweetness but a work persona that screams boss. She’s a wife, a mother, businesswoman and all-around superwoman. But she is a fantasy.

Beyoncé exists as a means to control the black female demographic. For example, I can not help but notice that weaves became a more versatile and a more prominent tool in black female hair styling as Beyoncé's popularity grew. The desire for long, full, hair personifies what I like to call the “Beyoncé effect,” an effect mirrored in every popular black female image from reality stars to singers. Beyoncé's power manifests in her ability to generate styles and standards of beauty, and in her losses and wins.

I feel compelled to mention that I reference Beyoncé as a brand and not an individual, as the chief component of Beyoncé's popularity is that she encompasses a larger than life figure– a human canvass of desirability curated by white male imagination. Beyoncé becomes a figure of influence due to a black female collective that largely exists vicariously through their blonde-haired heroine.

Beyoncé personifies what many black females think black female perfection is. As a physical manifestation of black female thought, Beyoncé acts as a pawn to dictate what we do.

Carter B. Woodson conveyed the following excerpt from The Miseducation of the Negro:

"If you can control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his action. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one."

Thus, Beyoncé is not an activist or conscious member of the black collective. Beyoncé is the literal and figurative back door of which the black female collective enters into a white male gaze. She is a prevalent form of contemporary inferiority veiled as black excellence. Furthermore, Beyoncé functions as an on-going win for white supremacy, functioning as a string that puppeteers the black female psyche by veiling the poisons of white supremacy with pseudo black femininity.

And finally, let me just add, that while women seem to be the brunt of all types of descrimination and exploitation, every single solitary human has come through the loins of a female, boys and girls are birth through her sacred orafice and to have that orafice defiled in the manner in which it has become customary in Western culture says a lot about the respect that it has for the Feminine Energy, and explains how this culture and defile the planet upon which we all must depend.

MORE LINKS OF INTEREST:

Beyoncé Live Coachella Performance HD | 2nd Week | Coachella 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90-zeTVfgUw

Beyonce Coachella 2018 Weekend 2 - WorldWide Entertainment TV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY9vewLFBPs

http://national-church-of-bey.tumblr.com

Beyoncé Has Her Own Church?

Atlanta, GA — It is very true. “The National Church of Bey“, an organization that recently formed the new religion called Beyism (based on pop star Beyoncé Knowles), based in Atlanta, Georgia. Although Beyoncé herself is not believed to be a part of it, she is the foundation of it and has so far not made a statement denouncing it.

https://paranormaville.com/beyonce-has-her-own-church/

People Are Going to Church to Worship Beyoncé in San Francisco

http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-news/san-francisco-grace-cathedral-beyonce-mass

Church of Beyonce, New Religion Called "Beyism" Based on Beyonce Being Goddess?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TuLe-4CvqQ