It has become commonplace for the people that command our media platforms to shill opinions as facts. President Trump constantly spins his textual vomit in an effort to never seem wrong and validate his own ego.
Within the last month, Kanye West has made several statements that shun reality. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the two biggest narcissists in the country support each other. But the foundation of West’s Twitter resurgence, the concept of “free thought,” is a dangerous substitute for rational thought.
After meeting with West while recording the single “Ye Vs. the People,” rapper T.I. said he asked West if he knew what Trump’s travel ban was when he endorsed the president and spoke highly of the president’s personality. West asked T.I what it was, showing his general lack of knowledge about Trump’s policies.
Forming opinions without sufficient information is like eating food without nutrition. Without digesting factual information, we lack the proper energy required to make informed, valid arguments. That type of thinking leaves the mind bloated and incapable of doing the research to integrate valid outside perspective into one’s own ideas. In essence, West’s free thought has a quality of an opinion not substantiated by fact.
Informed thought backed up with facts is a productive form of discussion that can lead to action, while West’s free thought is corrosive. One thinks that they are doing something positive without actually doing anything at all.
West claimed that slaves chose to remain slaves for hundreds of years, without acknowledging the systematic oppression and violence that they faced, in a TMZ interview. West said that if he had been alive 148 years ago he would have been like Harriet Tubman. Yet, West has seldom used his platform to make considerable contributions to bettering impoverished and disadvantaged African-American communities.
His former best friend in the rap industry, Jay-Z, has his hands full in community outreach. He has bailed out imprisoned fathers for Father’s Day and produced socially-conscious documentaries such as the upcoming documentary series, “Rest in Power: The Trayvon Martin Story,” premiering in July 2018. West has not come close to the same involvement in improving the black community.
In an almost two-hour long conversation with radio host Charlamagne tha God, West diagnoses the fault in his communication. He explains that “a lot of times words can get in the way” of his innate feelings about ideas and concepts. This isn’t a problem exclusive to West. There are times in all our lives where if we do not understand a problem enough, words fail to fuel the point that we are trying to make. Yet for someone like West, who likens his influence to Harriet Tubman’s in this era of “mental slavery,” that is not an excuse when he has millions of people listening to what he chooses to say.
West has a propensity for aligning his personal controversies with the release of a new album. His new untitled album will be released June 1. A lot of his fans, including myself, know we will listen to it despite his demoralizing comments. That’s just the unfortunate result of not finding a way to separate the artist, as a person, from his art.
West demands attention like a pampered toddler and sacrifices reality to do so.
