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{{Old AfD multi|date2=11 April 2006|result2='''no consensus'''|page2=Cool (African philosophy) (2nd nomination)|date1=28 December 2005|result1='''no consensus to delete'''|page1=Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/Cool (African philosophy)}}
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== Source == == source and a question ==


DCV, you might find the following helpful to adding to this content(I'd like to see it expand if/when its merged):
This article is not exactly what I expected it to be. While I aware that the concept of "cool" originates in from Black American culture, I'm a little unsure about the deeper background. It is a little disconcerting that the main source for this article is a 30+ year old art exhibition catalogue. ] 17:09, 14 November 2005 (UTC)
*] - Ubuntu is a sub-Saharan African ethic or ideology thats in many ways very similar to cool.


As a side note, the first essay I read(when I was much younger ) about Cool as an African-American invention: It's called ''Are Black People Cooler than White People''.
wtf is this shit?
It's written by Donnell Alexander, a black dude. He puts forward the view(which seems to be shared by ]) that cool stemmed out of slavery and oppression: "making a dollar out of 15 cents" and making the chitlins taste good even though they were nasty. My question is, why doesn't your article address this? It's all about nonlinearility and opposites existing in the same space and time-- but it doesn't address the view that cool is largely an ''African-American'' invention, and that it's about making something out of nothing. If this way of looking at cool existed in this african philosophy/aesthetic, I'd think that'd be very beneficial to the content.--] 15:54, 14 April 2006 (UTC)
:] is a nice article. It looks like a real, verifiable, specific thing, which makes it very different from this article. I think it's easily possible to write about specific, named African ideologies without being full of original research, as that article proves. One of the reservations I have about this article is 1) it seems to be lumping Africa together as one group, which is totally inappropriate, there are many cultures and languages there, and 2) it seems to be confusing African with African-American. These are vastly different things. I can't imagine how any competant scholar could make such obvious mistakes. I'm not sure it's appropriate to try to lump ideas from different cultures together and slap a new label on them- it seems like original research. I'd much rather see individual, verifiable articles like Ubuntu than this mess here. ] ] 16:05, 14 April 2006 (UTC)


== moving on ==
:Please ]. Also could you be less rude and more specific? ] 09:58, 7 December 2005 (UTC)


I didn't really think the afd would get consensus. So let's work on this. I actually do want to add to this. But I disagree with a lot of your assertions DCV. For example, you say that white folks try to get up when they're dancing. What about russian dancers? Also, I think you're forgetting that Africans in America are from West Africa-- where most of their cultural roots can be found. So, I think you're largely confusing West African culture with African culture.
::sorry, but this article really needs to have unbiased and non-specialist sources. aababab


Second off, there's another thing I'd like to hear you explain. Blacks (at least of my generation) in America are fascinated with luxury; lexuses, shit like that-- Western cultural product. Hip hop, which is the strongest voice for the new generation of blacks especially values luxury. How do you explain this?
I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this!


Peace, --] 10:00, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
1) 'Cool' being used as a word may be of African origin, but unless we actually are a linguistic expert (or are from the region of west africa where the word supposedly comes from) it is difficult and unwise of us to argue about it.


:Also, Africa as a continent includes the Arab countries — are they known for their cool? Perhaps sub-saharan Africa might be better? - ] 11:15, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
2) Cool might still be an African Origin word (it certainly seems to have emerged from slang terms used by African Americans. However it could still be based on the English word cool, but having the spiritual meaning associated to it that the original article writer was talking about.


:This is quite a good related article . To try and explain it in the degree that I figure you want would take a lifetime, probably each individual has their own specific motives - but there will be patterns. If you are talking about Russian ] dancers, are they ''really'' "White folks", not to put words into her mouth but I think DC is talking about Western Europeans and their descendents. Tell me to hop it if I'm becoming a nuisance... - ] 11:04, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
3) Cool in English originally meant being calm, controlled and level headed (e.g. Keeping your cool)


:Thank you, FT. :p Exactly. Still, though, ballet was simply an example. The fact is the European aesthetic ''generally'' expresses spirituality in terms of moving heavenward, soaring, flying. In the African sensibility, that paradigm is reversed. (And, '''again''', no, I'm not speaking universally.)
4) Nowadays however people use cool to mean something is ace, or wicked, exciting or arousing in general


:And, no. These are not ''my'' assertions; I didn't come up with them. And you don't need to remind me where many of my people's ancestors originated. But what's that got to do with the price of rice? Again, the cultural phenomena I've addressed occur across national boundaries. I am from Louisiana -- and the majority of enslaved Africans who were sent there were from the area then known as the Congo -- hence, the name Congo Square in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, and the name Angola prison. The slave trade reached much farther into the African interior than most people know. It was not only the African coasts that were systematically depopulated during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
5) Occasionally they still use the older meaning. (e.g. he played it cool)


:And about the "blacks of generation": I'm sorry to read that your circle of acquaintances is so tragically limited. Your experience is not mine. Your comments, however, are precisely what Madison Avenue- and record industry-crafted messages would have people believe: conspicuous consumption -- or at least covetousness and materialism, feeding the capitalist, consumerist society. In some foreign nations, they think all young African-Americans are all macho, depraved, gun-toting hoodlums or skanks and hoochie mamas/babymamas/ho's with fake nails and weaves. Same phenomenon. And it's such obvious drivel. Same kind of racist propaganda, different stable of stereotypes. But even the Lie were fact, it would have nothing to do with African cool. (cut-eye) ] 11:28, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
6) 'Cool' people are often those who keep calm in stressful situations, e.g. Steve McQueen in the great escape springs to mind. However, some people use the word cool to describe people who are attractive. In this sense an actor such as Russel Crowe might be considered to be cool, even though he is often reported as being very angry.


::You've completely missed my point about hip hop. The culture, not just the capitalist, mainstream part of it, values luxury. Rappers who aren't signed to labels talk about such things. The first rap songs were about bragging about one's wealth. It's impossible to deny how much Western culture is a part of hip hop-- perhaps you need to stop and realize that Public Enemy, and other political acts such as Dead Prez are just a ''part'' of a movement, which has generally "culturally appropriated" (as you would say) the western value of luxury.--] 11:51, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
7) The Sanskrit word 'Nirvana' has either been translated as 'extinguished' or 'cool'. In this sense it is referring to Buddhist philosophy, in which Nirvana is the cooling of the 'fires' of passion. Interestingly this is very similar to the older English meaning (keeping ones cool), as is expressed well by Rudyard Kipling 'If you can keep your head, whilst all around you are losing theirs'


:Actually, no. Early rap (at least what is commonly considered rap) was highly political/subversive. I'm talking when poppin' and lockin' and breakdancing were young, and the grafitti/burner craze and the rap and club scene were inextricably linked. Groups like Grand Master Flash, Melle Mel and the Furious Five: "Don't. Push. Me. 'Cuz. I'm. Close. To. The. Edge. I'm. Try-in'. Not. To. Lose. My. Head. It's like a jungle sometimes. It makes me wonduh how I keep from goin' unduh." Commercial interests saw the opportunity to make a mint, and rap was co-opted. Gangsta rap (rap's degenerate, decadent, misogynist, violent, shallow, materialist devolution) was what white record execs made a conscious effort to push, and hungry young "artists" desperate to get ovuh complied. Sold their souls for bling. As young black rappers became producers, they fell in line with the antisocial, destructive, counterrevolutionary elements of "hip-hop culture." What you call "cultural appropriation" is actually cynical, calculated co-optation and corruption.
Reference
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-coo1.htm


:And with regard to the "estern value of luxury" -- while the actual possessions desired may be Western, greed and materialism, unfortunately, are universal "values" -- or, more accurately, manifestations of a ''lack'' of proper values; material wealth/acquisitiveness in the face of moral/spiritual bankruptcy.
Signed Mostly Zen (sorry I don't know how to sign wikis yet! :)


:Again, the decadence of the current rap scene and pop-culture "cool" and machismo have nothing to do with elemental cool in the African context. Hell, rap is even a bastardization/corruption of its earlier self as it originally sprang from the black creative genius. Perhaps you need to get your facts straight before you presume to school me on "what need to stop and realize." ] 12:13, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
== a 3rd party comment on the disagreements involving this article ==


:::You don't have to be signed to a record label to be mainstream. But anyway this discussion isn't getting us anywhere with the article, should we make a subpage for interesting discussions that are not directly about the article in question? - ] 11:55, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
ok, i hope i can help end conflict here, check it out:


:Thanks for the offer/suggestion, but I don't really see the need. I don't intend to pursue this, uh ... discussion. It doesn't interest me in the least. ] 12:17, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
1.some people are mad because they see a universal concept being treated like an invention or commodity. even if cool was central to african philosophy, that doesnt mean that people weren't cool in europe even though they didnt have a word for it. just as someone can be a feminist or liberal without knowing the philosophies, the same goes with cool. and if you dont want a political example, consider that someone can be funky without knowing what the funk is(or without being black)


::Ok, np. Btw. I'd like to make the point for U's benefit that this musical phenomenon is not limited to rap or hip-hop. If all you'd heard was <s>]</s> ] would you think it started with ]? - ] 12:26, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
2.we should NOT deracialize this article. im white and i know that coolness was set as one of the major themes in our culture after the black slaves were taken to america. I read an article once which said that the slaves were cool because they made something out of nothing.


DCV, this is a subject where you're simply wrong. The furious five were the exception, not the rule. "The Message" was avante garde (a concept album, so to speak) -- most rappers were talking about partying and getting cars and money. DJ Grandmaster Flash and melle mel and all simply had a good idea to make it political. By the way, please note that this landmark political song came out ''almost a decade'' after the start of hip hop in 1971 with Kool Herc's hip hop parties. Political from the start? Wrong.
3.there are parts of the article that dont agree with each other. please source everything disagreed on, and dont make general statements needlessly.


Second off, gangster rap was not invented by cultural robber barons, i.e. white record execs(although they did make a profit off of exploiting those who created it). No, it was invented by ] (a highly political rapper) and ] (a highly respected old school rapper). KRS-ONE would later lead the Stop the Violence movement, after his friend, Scott La Rock got shot. KRS-ONE continues to release independent albums, and is repping hip hop culture(breakdancing, graffiti, crews, everything) to the fullest. He's still hot and still respected in the community. Nice way to pretend something was invented by capitalism when it wasnt.--] 12:28, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
4.i dont think it Cool (African philosophy) should have its own article. We should have one article for cool. This is really UNCOOL to create your own article so you can have your own african philosophy area. Misplaced Pages is supposed to be about people contributing to each other's work, not about splitting up into seperate groups.


:I'll accept that. I can be wrong -- about the timeline, but not the nature of the phenomenon. :p But though KRS-ONE seems contemporaneous with the some of the earliest forms of "rap"/spoken word art combined with music for airplay, sounds like he was still in somebody's basement behind a makeshift mic when sister Nikki Giovanni came out with "Ego Trippin',"which hit the airwaves nationwide in 1968 'round about the time when the term "rapping" came in vogue in the street and at HBCUs. "Trippin'" had bravada, swagger ''and'' political consciousness, and took the black community by storm. It was probably the first poem many black folks memorized (beyond the stilted crap forced upon them in school). The legendary "Last Poets" also hit their stride in 1968-69; their cuts were in constant rotation on stations nationwide then, as well. You cannot speak of groundbreaking spoken-word art/rap without them. And before Giovanni and Guylan Kane, there was Baraka (when he was still LeRoi Jones) riffin' to jazz and drumbeats, and there was poet/playwright Clay Goss performing with the nationalist jazz group Nation here in DeeCee, and there was Ted Joans -- all highly progressive and politically conscious. The African-American oral tradition is deep and wide; it is a river. Like the music flowing and morphing from Africanized bands to ragtime, from gospel and jumping the blues to R&B, it is a continuum; no single person "invented" rap.
Be cool.--] 00:15, 19 December 2005 (UTC)


:"Party" rap and the usual machismo/bravado of the kind associated with cracking, ranking, etc., was simply an extension of the African American oral tradition. And it was something completely different from ''gangsta'' rap, which, as a discrete genre, came along later. And, no. I did ''not'' say it was invented by white execs. Try reading my post again. There was a conscious decision on the part of industry execs to push the more degenerate, violent, misogynistic, degenerate music: gangsta rap. Why? Because they knew the poison would sell to lots of impressionable youth with disposable income. Do ''not'' make the mistake, however, of generalizing such degeneracy and backwardness to all black youth based on media images. Nellie looks like a suntanned cliche from an old James Bond flick, his "Pimp Juice," a failed disgrace; Snoop Dog is a shill for Chrysler with Lee Iacocca; and Tupac, Biggie and a whole string of "gangstas" are rotting in the ground. Back in the day, the Panthers had a slogan for depraved, death-dealing mercenaries, but these days it seems these degenerates are their own worst enemies. They're overexposed and become parodies of themselves, are without real talent, and/or hell-bent on exterminating one another. Perhaps you need to widen your circle of acquaintances a bit, because I don't see what you see. From where I sit, a whole lotta black youth have sworn off swine. ] 13:57, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
=='''A response'''==


::I think that gangster rap was only stressed by record executives because it sells so well(white kids actually are much less likely to listen to it than blacks, if you're wondering). It would have gained popularity on its own, as it is more up to date with the times than the overtly political Public Enemy (who were surely influenced by Gil Scott heron, et. al). People actually do look at these "gangstas" like Jay-Z and they don't admire him for his drug-dealing past, so much as how far he made it by quitting that stuff and creating art out of his experience. It's just as much black music as anything else. The blues talked about prostition, sex, murder. If you're interested, here is a very informative piece that describes hip hop as the living blues, and could elaborate better than me why gangster rappers are indeed part of black culture, and not just negative stereotypes, but real artists speaking from experience.--] 14:55, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
I'm leaving Misplaced Pages and so will not be able to flesh this out as I had intended. Cool is, ''indeed'', an African philosophy. This is not about your opinion (or anyone else's, for that matter). Have you read Thompson? Unless and until you do, please refrain from such ill-informed commentary.


:Hah! How could I forget about GSH --"Whitey on the Moon" and "Home is Where the Hatred Is"? Sure, gut-bucket blues dealt with that kind of thing, but it didn't glorify it the way gangsta rap deals with killing people's kids over a stupid beef, referring to women routinely in the most despicable terms. Blues was about hard life, hard luck and hard times. Gangsta rap is just about being hard. And stupid. And violent. And depraved. Back in the day, there was an unspoken code: black folks did not kill other black folks. Southern rednecks already did too much of that. That's not to say it didn't happen, but it was an aberration; and it certainly wasn't a badge of honor to waste someone. That's what the dozens in part was about; you cut 'em with words and left the guns and knives at home. The songs of bluesmen and women made it possible to surrender to sorrow and hardship and, in that way, find some kind of solace -- and then keep gettin' up. Gangsta rap is not the same thing -- not by a long shot. It is degenerate at its very core, destructive and antithetical to black survival. Blues is cathartic; gangsta rap is just excrement. It's an expression of despair, rage, self-loathing and death. I have nothing but contempt for those who produce it.
Further, devoting an article on cool in an African and African-American cultural context does ''not'', ''ipso facto'', say such a philosophy/aesthetic is exclusive to these cultures. But the route of transmission, if you will, from Africa to African-Americans to American/world pop culture is a widely acknowledged one -- particularly among people who generally are outside the primary age demographic of Misplaced Pages. Most well-read/worldly people over, say 50 -- possibly 55 -- are well aware of how the African American jazz scene transformed American and, subsequently, world, popular culture. Before African-American Iceberg Slim/Stagga Lee/"bad-ass nigger" cool came on the scene, the general model of male virility and manliness that white folks strived for was a kind of squeaky clean, "Golly gee, aw, shucks, ma'am," Roy Rogers/John Wayne/Jimmy Stewart kind of persona -- what's, for better or worse, now pretty much generally perceived as cornball/lame. The African American jazz scene of the 1920's not only influenced beatnik culture, but earlier gangster/Mafioso "mystique", as well.


:And you're wrong. White kids keep gangsta (c)rap music going; they purchase the majority of rap music -- and a lot of the worst of it -- wannabes tryin' ta be "hip." ] 18:42, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
I have a couple of Thompson's books, one which I've had for 30+ years and another which I purchased with the express intent of working on this piece, and have another on order by another author. But it looks like I'll be reading them for my own edification only. I urge anyone seeking to edit this article to ''do your research'' first and put aside all preconceptions you may hold. Keep an open mind and report what you find clearly and honestly. I'm certain that what you read will bear out the assertions I've made herein. ] 00:29, 19 December 2005 (UTC)


::Are you really going to take the approach of conservative america and suggest that the music results in the killings, and not the other way around? The blues were an expression of what was going on then, and hip hop is an expression of what's going on now-- and as you said, the whole line of soul music throughout the history of america is connected down to the roots.
:Its impossible to say your edits on this article haven't been valuable. I just think that Thomson is one VIEW on the idea of coolness, and it shouldn't be accepted as given that everything he says is correct. There are many ideas on cool, and by calling this article Cool(African Philosophy) you have limited the sharing of ideas that is essential to wikipedia, where many different viewpoints can coincide. Also, you have to consider that action can proceed ideas. The philosophy of cool was not the result of theorization-- it was the result of observing "cool" people. It definitely is more an African American concept than Caucasian, but the fact that it can exist in anyone, and did exist before it was theorized, means that it should not be Cool(African Philosophy). As a sidenote, I was wondering why you're leaving wikipedia? It seems like you've been doing a lot of great work.--] 12:51, 19 December 2005 (UTC)


::White people in america purchase the majority of all genres of music. Why? Because white people are around half the people in the US. About 30 percent of gangsta rap is bought by blacks-- and thats not including bootlegs. If you do the math, then a black dude is twice as likely to buy 50 cent's album than a white dude.--] 19:03, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
There are ''lots'' of sources for cool in this context and the subject is rich enough and complex enough to deserve an article of its own. As I noted, the book I have on order is not by Thompson. I'm sure those wishing to write about cool in this specific context likewise can find numerous sources. After all, much has been written about African, African-American and jazz culture and beatnik and 1950s pop culture, etc.


:No doubt the "music", the videos which present/display a pathological culture of ignorance, crime, violence, misogyny, vulgarity and wantonness have contributed to certain destructive, antisocial, pathological behaviors on the part of some members of, particularly, the despairing economic underclass (across ethnicities). And then there is the added dimension of white supremacy (and, internalized among far too many blacks, self-loathing and projected outward as black-on-black violence). Yes, there is a point at which art can become determinative/contributory -- particularly in light of weakened matrices of family and community life; in light of pervasive, even intrusive, electronic mass media bearing these same perverse images; in light of failed schools; nonexistent copying strategies, cynicism and hopelessness on the part of youth; and limited, legitimate employment opportunities. One feeds the other and vice versa. Yep, the music industry is definitely on the hook for a lot of this crap. ] 20:11, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
Further, I disagree that the article as framed somehow limits or stifles input. If someone wishes to write about cool outside of its African/African-American roots and its offshoots from those cultural traditions, they are more than welcome to do so elsewhere. That's what disambiguation pages (one already exists for "cool") and "compare" and "see also" subsections containing links to other articles are for.


::The popularity of the music can't be blaimed on the execs who peddle it to the demanding masses. I agree that gangster rap is representative of a lot of problems in America's culture (both black and white, but specifically the underclass as you mentioned) and society. However, I disagree that it perpetuates that cycle. Most of the kids who I know as fans of ] (the most popular rapper right now) like him either because a) ] makes excellent, euphonic beats or b) he symbolizes to them someone who stopped messing around and worked for his dream. Kids who want to become journalists, architects, lawyers, politicians, teachers, they listen to this music and can relate to it and apply it to their life. Sure, it isn't overtly political, but it does capture the struggle that's essential to the music. Personally, I really wish gangster rap wasn't at the forefront of hip hop right now, but I recognize that its a sign of the times more than anything else. ] (who is my biggest influence when it comes to the raps that I write) says it better than me:
About me leaving? I'm bored and disgusted with Misplaced Pages. I'm tired of rehashing the same pointles arguments (like this discussion we're currently having -- no offense intended) and dealing with the intellectual biases of the ignorant, hidebound and vicious. I'm not embittered so much as aware that there are far more positive, productive and fulfilling ways to expend my time and apply my editorial skills -- ways that feed my spirit. The atmosphere at Misplaced Pages for black contributors is poisonous, and I choose not to expose myself to it any longer.


<pre>
If that doesn't answer your question, read my user page and follow the links. Peace. ] 16:45, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
We gon' get it together right? I believe that
Listen.. people be askin me all the time,
"Yo Mos, what's gettin ready to happen with Hip-Hop?"
(Where do you think Hip-Hop is goin?)
I tell em, "You know what's gonna happen with Hip-Hop?
Whatever's happening with us"
If we smoked out, Hip-Hop is gonna be smoked out
If we doin alright, Hip-Hop is gonna be doin alright
People talk about Hip-Hop like it's some giant livin in the hillside
comin down to visit the townspeople
We (are) Hip-Hop
Me, you, everybody, we are Hip-Hop
So Hip-Hop is goin where we goin
So the next time you ask yourself where Hip-Hop is goin
ask yourself.. where am I goin? How am I doin?
Til you get a clear idea
So.. if Hip-Hop is about the people
and the.. Hip-Hop won't get better until the people get better
then how do people get better? (Hmmmm...)
Well, from my understanding people get better
when they start to understand that, they are valuable
And they not valuable because they got a whole lot of money
or cause somebody, think they sexy
but they valuable caause they been created by God
And God, makes you valuable
And whether or not you, recognize that value is one thing
You got a lot of socities and governments
tryin to be God, wishin that they were God
They wanna create satellites and cameras everywhere
and make you think they got the all-seein eye
Eh.. I guess The Last Poets wasn't, too far off
when they said that certain people got a God Complex
I believe it's true
I don't get phased out by none of that, none of that
helicopters, the TV screens, the newscasters, the..
satellite dishes.. they just, wishin
They can't really never do that
When they tell me to fear they law
When they tell me to try to
have some fear in my heart behind the things that they do
This is what I think in my mind
And this is what I say to them
And this is what I'm sayin, to you check it
</pre>


Yeah.--] 22:01, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
:I really think you're isolating someone who largely agrees with you. I agree with most the points in the article. The thing is, its legitmacy of content doesn't make it fair to create an article seperately for this aspect of cool. It really takes away from the open-source element, and basically divides us into camps. While wikipedia isn't a democracy, it surely isn't tribalism. We shouldnt be dividing ourselves like this, even if the content is valid.


:Execs most ''definitely'' can be, and have been, blamed -- for pandering. I haven't read the text above; I hate reading rap lyrics; they're meant to be spoken. Just as there are lots of kids moving with purpose and discipline and vision, there are far too many lost kids out there who listen to that crap and take it to heart. The ubiquitous of "nigger," the constant referring to women as "b*tches" and ho's. The young girls who think showin' everything they've got and putting out are the only ways to get what they want. It's base, pathetic and disgusting. And it's an utter waste. I got no respect for the so-called "artists" who spew that garbage. Kids running around with their minds blown on that b.s. and no sense of dignity or self-respect. Stabbing or shooting someone oover dumb s*** because they've bought into the stupid, brutish machismo the songs and videos portray, some vacuous, ridiculous notion of "honor" and respect. Treating women with disrespect because they think that's what a man does.
:Sure, people can write all they like on the other pages on cool, but why should they have to. We are essentially giving up on varied viewpoints when we go off and make our own section like this.


:This exchange is tedious, and you're saying nothing I haven't heard before.
:I hope you can see that I'm not being vicious or ignorant, and I just want everyone working together, black and white, on this article, so that it can be contributed to by many parties-- instead of dividing into multiple viewpoints, like some other wiki's out there.


:Fact is I prefer to act rather than talk/write about change. (And this time is better spent elsewhere -- precisely why I haven't engaged you before. No offense intended; I simply have better things to do with my time. (Don't expect it again.) And right now, that means deadlines. I'm out. Have a productive evening. I know I intend to. ] 23:54, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
:Also, I don't see how the environment here is anti-black. Unless there's some systemic racism(which there may be-- but that results from our demographics), I don't see how viewpoints that oppose yours are anti-black. Not all black people hold the same views, and not all white people hold the same views. Perhaps some wikipedia users have been biased against you upon discovering that you are black, but I assure you that my only goal here is to improve the article by allowing many different viewpoints to address it.
::All right then, good evening. Please note that those aren't rap lyrics, but a little something he says ''before'' a rap. Anyways, productivity is good. Later, --] 12:32, 18 April 2006 (UTC)


== Merge? ==
:--] 17:01, 19 December 2005 (UTC)


Alright, I see the Afd was closed as a no consensus, but to me it seems clear that there ''is'' consensus for this not being it's own article anymore. Anyone have thoughts on merging? I'd be inclined to just make this into a redirect and let people who want to merge do it whenever they want, but maybe other opinions would be helpful here. ] ] 13:34, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
I'm not here to debate you. You asked me a question, and I answered it. You may be interested to know that, after much debate about cool being an African philosophy at all, users urged me to create a separate article from "cool" -- precisely for the reasons I've already stated. (You obviously haven't bothered to check the article or its talk page's edit history.) And doing so has nothing to do with "isolating" anyone. I have nothing else to say on the matter. ] 17:23, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
:I see the redirect was reverted with a summary advising that it be discussed on the talk page. Well, here's the talk page- I support the redirect, and apparently Zoe does too (since she did it). Also, the vast majority of those who commented on the Afd (counting those who said delete or merge) want this to not be a stand-alone article anymore. I'd say it's already been discussed, but the redirect was reverted. So, what's left to decide? ] ] 17:02, 17 April 2006 (UTC)


::The AfD was closed no consensus. I moved the article as suggested. If you want the page to be merged, put up a merge template, actually no, I'll do that, and we can discuss it here. - ] 17:27, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
About racism -- presumably, you're not black, so it's a good bet you're far less likely to be in a position to judge whether this site is racist or not. FYI, there is a Misplaced Pages project to combat the systemic racism that ''lots'' of people readily acknowledge afflicts and hamstrings the project. And, here again, I have nothing else to say on the matter. ] 17:25, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
:::A "no consensus" closure doesn't mean that ''no information'' can be gleaned from the discussion. But, I guess I'll say it again: This article is a POV fork and needs to be merged back into ]. Or, having a proper article on the history and origins of cool would be just fine, but not an article that presupposes one and only one correct origin of cool. If we're trying to properly source it instead, this is just foot-dragging. The article has had months and months to be made into something other than a POV fork, and it hasn't happened. I guess I'm not sure what's expected to come out of the discussion here that didn't already come out at Afd. Most people think this is a POV fork. Not having a seperate article for this particular idea of cool is the obvious solution, I think. ] ] 18:43, 17 April 2006 (UTC)


==Reasons/Explanation for Merger==
1.There is no article on being cool linked to by the disambiguation page. Why? Because the scope of the subject has been limited by the title of this article.


Out of 29 votes, only 6 voted for "keep". I suggest that we remove the unsourced assertions (they can be reinserted once they are sourced properly), clean up the broad generalizations and start the merging. ] 19:16, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
2.I am '''not''' disputing the factuality of this article. Merely the title, which disallows the many voices of wikipedia to take part and contribute.


==Sources==
3.The decision to make this into a new article was essentially an acceptance of the idea that because we couldn't agree, we should create seperate articles based on our beliefs on this subject. This isn't the way we should approach things at wikipedia.


If anyone is actually interested in sources, a search for "cool african aesthetic" on ] brings up 531 results. - ] 19:34, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
4.When someone enters cool into the wikipedia search bar, it should go directly to the article 'Cool'. The article should deal with the subject of cool, and include this information about cool as an african philosophy. In italics, there would be descriptions, and links to other related subjects(such as the ones that appear on the current cool disambiguation page).


:A search on ] brings up 5,970 results. - ] 19:36, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
5.If this proposal is not accepted, I am extremely willing to discuss alternatives, because currently the entire situation is very bad.


Gee, I dunno. Are you sure it's not due to some sort of mass hallucination? :p ] 19:46, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
6.If deeceevoices is correct, and cool is an african concept, then that can be established in the article, through the use of facts and quotes, and writing, as its supposed to be. What we've done instead is the very unwikipedian thing where we simply give up on the truth. We dont have an article called Hitler (Evil Dictator) or Freedom(Greek Philosophy), because both articles would limit the scope of their subject. If deeceevoices is correct about it being an african philosophy, that can be established, in the same way that its established that Hitler is evil. However, naming the article Cool(African Philosophy) is essentially giving up on the ability of wikipedia to sort out truth. ] 17:38, 19 December 2005 (UTC)


:Regarding item 1, that's due to recent vandalism. The reference and link have been restored. ] 18:43, 19 December 2005 (UTC) ::It must be really annoying that people just flat out refuse to actually read about a subject they clearly know nothing about. - ] 19:55, 17 April 2006 (UTC)


I've taken the liberty of ''typing out'' one example:
=='''Support for cool as an essential African philosophy/aesthetic'''==


:In a seminal work on African patterns of dance performance (with special reference to Yoruba style), Robert Farris Thompson provides information which suggests that this development of blues is perhaps not so much a departmure from the African pattern as a specialized development of one unique feature of West African practice. Thompson notes that a number of West African traditions exist in which there are songs and dances of derision that depart significantly from the modal pattern of the "cool" community-focused performances, a departure commonly occasioned by some special social problem calling for a licensed behavior.
The article should remain separate for the reasons expressed above. The most recent individual to suggest the article should be a catch-all, all-purpose one seems to suggest cool in African and African-American culture doesn't deserve a separate article. He's clearly wrong:
::...indigenous critics of art may characterize the dignity of ...expressions as "cool." When Tiv (in Northern Nigeria) dance satirically ... the flawless seal shatters... But in the aggregate, Western Africans dance with a mixture of vigor and decorum.
:: Multiple meter essentially uses dancers as further voices in a polymetric choir. The conversation is additive, cool in its expressions of community. The balance struck between the meters and the bodily orchestration seems to communicate a soothing wholeness rather than a "hot" specialization ... Call and response is a means of putting innovation and tradition, invention and imitation, into amicable relationships with one another. In that sense, it, too, is cool... the dance of derision sometimes breaks those rules in order to mime the disorder of those who would break the rules of society. Robert Farris Thompson, "Dance and Culture", African Forum 2 (1966): 98


From: "Traditions of Eloquence in Afro-American Communities", by Roger D. Abrahams in ''Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs'' 1970
'''Cool as an African philosophy/aesthetic (a very quick Goodle for those who care enough to do the tiniest bit of research, rather than push a POV)'''


- ] 19:55, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
*
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Yes, we know already that Thompson wrote about it (Thats why a number of editors recommended to turn this article into a book review).
And that's only online sources, and that's just for starters. There is no doubt that black African aesthetics are fundamentally different from those of Europe, and that an essential -- indeed fundamental -- element of African philosophy, the African aesthetic, is '''cool'''. Given the paucity of articles on this website treating non European -- and specifically black/African subject matter -- it seems clear that separate and in-depth treatment of this subject, which has implications for how and why black African peoples have certain values, comport ourselves, move and adorn our bodies in certain ways, why we create music and functional art and art objects the ways in which we do is sorely needed. Especially here. A quick look at the sketchiness of ] should tell anyone that pretty quickly. A thorough examination and elucidation of cool as an African philosophy/aesthetic would be an important addition to the project -- as a stand-alone piece, but also as a resource for informing other articles treating the indigenous cultural expressions of Africa and of the African diaspora.


Your quote states:
This subject was discussed at length before. The proposed merger tag should be removed. And ASAP. ] 18:03, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
''"a '''seminal work''' on African patterns of dance performance (with '''special reference to Yoruba style'''), Robert Farris Thompson provides information which suggests that this development of blues is perhaps not so much a departmure from the African pattern as '''a specialized development of one unique feature of West African practice'''."'' The article states that is is a broad and general "African" concept. While Yorubas are West Africans, not all Africans are West Africans or Yorubas. This has to be corrected in the article. Feel free to use your search results to source and correct the other assertions in the article as well.


BTW, a search on ] brings up:
:Like I said, you are correct in saying the connection is very well established between cool and african american culture. However, you are wrong in saying it deserves its own article. It is obvious that the content of this article is not really an open forum, and has become a way for us to seperate ourselves on wikipedia.--] 19:39, 19 December 2005 (UTC)
cool american aesthetic 15,800 results
cool european aesthetic 10,900 results
cool african aesthetic 5,970 results
cool asian aesthetic 3,540 results
cool "african american" aesthetic 2,880 results ] 20:07, 17 April 2006 (UTC)


:<s>Why don't you fix the article. You change it to state that it is a Yoruba aesthetic or whatever. You're complaining about lack of sources, not me. I was just pointing out that there are plenty of sources out there if you actually bother to look. Instead of being critical, try being constructively critical. Or hell, try actually working on the article. - ] 20:23, 17 April 2006 (UTC)</s>
== Reasons for huge deletions ==


::Sorry for being blunt, its just frustrating when there is obviously information out there and the people who are complaining can't seem to be bothered to look. - ] 20:27, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
This entire thing relies on secondary sources. If you are going to cite sources, feel free to use Thompson's book as a tool, and to help explaining things. However, this is written like an essay that relies on secondary sources. If you want to prove a point about cool, please cite AFRICAN literature or AFRICAN griots. Using a secondary source is unreliable, for such a long article to rely on.


IMO, no need to apologize. My sentiments exactly! Will return to this piece in a couple of weeks. My schedule is just too crazy at the moment to be of much assistance -- but thanks for your energies and efforts. ] 02:57, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
--] 22:10, 19 December 2005 (UTC)


==Redirect==
:Hi. On what Misplaced Pages policy do you base that assessment on? Please expand on your rational, in general. Thanks in advance. Regards, ] 01:46, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
The final result of the AfD was a clear consensus for either merging or deleting, not keeping. A keep of this article is not appropriate. Since the delete did not carry, then the merge has to be carried out. Please don't leave this article in place, as that was not the final result. ]|] 01:54, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
:I have to concur with Zoe here. The burden of proof is on those that want to do something other than redirecting. ] ] 02:10, 18 April 2006 (UTC)


Not appropriate. Reverted.
::No response. Hopefuly one is fourthcoming. In the meantime, you may wish to review and/or comment on the ]. ] 05:37, 21 December 2005 (UTC)


consensus
==On the use of secondary sources and that (now removed -- again) tag ==
(noun) 1 a : general agreement : UNANIMITY <the consensus of their opinion, based on reports... from the border -- John Hersey>; b : the judgment arrived at by most of those concerned <the consensus was to go ahead>; 2 : group solidarity in sentiment and belief . ] 02:54, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
:An assertion that it's not appropriate and a dictionary definition are the best you can do to explain your reversion? Geez. The opinion so far is definitely leaning toward this not being its own article. ] ] 03:06, 18 April 2006 (UTC)


What the hell? Another reversion? With an edit summary of ''Rev. The decision of the administrator was made. No authority to merge''?!? This demonstrates an extreme lack of understanding about how Misplaced Pages works. You don't need authority from an Afd to decide what to merge or not to merge. I'm going to put it back to a redirect until some plausible reason not to do so can be provided. ] ] 03:09, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
Note: This response was copied from my user page, because due to ANOTHER collateral-damage block, I was unable to edit this page.


Not appropriate. The rationales were provided. ] 03:11, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
:I've been blocked from the article talk page (typical collateral damage crap), which is why I haven't responded sooner. Here's what I have to say about your comments.


:A prior Afd does not bind our hands on what to do with the article. Especially when it's closed as just a "no consensus". See ]. ] ] 03:13, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
:Your yardstick for what constitutes authoritative sources is arbitrary and inappropriate for a topic such as this and is based on a European cultural model which is does not easily lend itself to the study of traditional West African culture. Scholarly secondary sources are perfectly legitimate, and there are certainly other articles where there are subheads left open for further development. To do so in this case does not mean that future contributions necessarily will include only information by Thompson. (Again, see Internet sources provided above.) And as I've already stated, there are certainly other monographs also available which treat cool which also can be used to flesh out the subheads. If your arbitrary requirement were applied universally to all subjects treated on Misplaced Pages, a lot of articles would be gutted. Robert Farris Thompson is a respected scholar in the field and, to my knowledge, his research on this subject has ''never'' been called into question by his peers.


You're just edit warring. I give up. ] ] 03:16, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
:I'm no longer actively involved in the writing of this piece. My latest contributions are merely to keep people like you, who are obviously unfamiliar with the subject matter, from screwing with it, perverting it into something it should not be -- some sort of catch-all piece for this and that culture. ( now see the merge tag you'd applied earlier has been removed -- only to e replaced with a ridiculous one about secondary sourcess, which I've removed again, first after providing you this explanation on my talk page.) I've provided links to possible online references on the discussion page. I'll leave further development of the piece to those who are seriously interested in the subject matter and who are willing to do the necessary research to flesh out the article in an accurate manner. Again, the scholarship is there. But the fact is West African culture historically and typically does not do the sort of navel gazing and academic examination of itself to which Europeans are prone. I have a few books on African spirituality/religion written by a well known West African author (whose name escapes me at the moment), but they are not written in an academic fashion, but from an experiential standpoint. There's nothing out there of which I am aware written by Africans specifically on the subject of cool. If other interested parties know of such information, then perhaps they'll contribute it.


==Deleted==
(But your insistence that secondary sources are illegitimate sources is wholly inappropriate and inaccurate -- particularly in this case. That is like saying a study of voudun by an anthropologist is worthless because its author is not black and not a practitioner him or herself. And that's just plain garbage.) ] 04:03, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
Since Deeeceevoice and her coterie won't allow the redirect to remain, I have deleted the page. If you put it back, I will redirect and protect. ]|] 03:25, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
:Some of that stuff was probably worth merging here. This would be easier if it weren't deleted. How about restoring, turning it into a redirect, and protecting it that way? Then the history would be available. ] ] 03:30, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
::I can do that. I could also just leave it unprotected to allow Deeceevoice to violate 3RR by reverting again. ]|] 03:34, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
:::i don't think she'll revert -- she's busy with "deadlines". ] 04:44, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
=== Recreation ===
Hmm. Looks like the article is being recreated under another name: ]. ] ] 21:53, 18 April 2006 (UTC)


:Not any more. ]|] 23:52, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
'''I've removed the secondary source tag -- again -- because I believe it was affixed in bad faith, given that it was not fully discussed on the talk page before it was slapped on the article.''' Also, please see my comments above. In subject matter such as this which treat third-world cultural/anthropological matters, primary sources often are not available. It is, in a way, saying no article treating San culture has credibility unless we can find an authoritative text written by a Bushman. Ridiculously eurocentric and absurd. ] 04:50, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
::Huh? I never said a bushman needs to write a thesis. I said you could quote griots and stuff like that too. tell me, how did this thomson write a paper without primary sources? huh? did he make a paper out of thin air? unscientifc. Please answer these questions because they are the most important at hand in the point im making.

:Look, you're missing the point. First off, I'm not gutting your article at this point-- I know that doing such would just result in another quick revert. I'm simply making it clear that it relies on a secondary source. Because of this secondary source, the article is the equivelant of a book review.

:Second off, African culture doesn't need to examine itself for this article to work with primary sources. I'm not asking for african cultural self-examinations(AKA SECONDARY SOURCES). I'm asking for primary sources, actual examples of African oral history and writings. Obviously this guy came to his conclusions based on research of such primary sources. if he is scientific, as the article seems to suggest, then he must have used primary sources, and you should use those as well. if he does not rely on primary sources, then he is unscientific, merely a guy enjoying the riches of african culture.
:--] 04:57, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
:P.S Please look up secondary sources, because you seem to understand the definition as sources coming from the same area, when the real defintion pertains to direct quotes from the subject itself(in this case griots and writings and sayings would work well). Until you get these your article is unscientific, and these tags will stay on it.

::Since I seem to be invisible, I'll reiterate. Why the insistence on primary sources? What are you disputing that requeires this? ] 05:01, 21 December 2005 (UTC)
:::I'm insisting on primary sources because currently the article is written from the POV of the book, without any backup. It's just an opinion article with one source. If deeceevoices thinks that Thompson's writing is provable through science, then she'll quote his primary sources to show that his writing is grounded in REALITY rather than opinions made out of thin air. Also, she removed a tag that stated it was primary sources, because apparently she thinks the rules don't apply to her. It's not an issue of debate-- there are no primary sources used. It's not grounded in reality. Even if thompson is correct, which he very well may be, I'm asking that she grounds the article in reality. She's deligitmazied a template which has never even been to vFd on grounds of eurocentricity. Ugh.
--] 15:07, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

First, you assume that, since Thompson is so far the only source quoted, that the article is a "book review" and based solely on Thompson's scholarship, and that is simply incorrect.

Second, I find it curious that you would question Thompson's methodologies, assuming that he writes without primary sources. That's ''your'' erroneous assumption. Forget about reading his works. Try reading anything about the man and you will find he's spent ''decades'' studying black African culture first-hand and, indeed, consulting primary sources. You continue to write from ignorance. ] 05:25, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

And no. It was improper for you ''alone'' to unilaterally decide to affix such a tag without discussion, and it is ''particularly'' improper since, at the moment, you are clearly outvoted. It goes, and should stay gone until the matter is discussed further. ] 05:25, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

You're not even being logical at this point. I said it's the equivelant of a book review ...then again book reviews are based on primary sources, so I suppose this article is a step behind a book review when it comes to sources. The difference between the right word and the wrong word is important when quoting someone.

I scientific work can't be written without primary sources. A scientist needs to methodologically analyze something. If he has no primary sources, he has no methodology. Basically, it's his opinions on art, right? Please. It's not methodological, it's simply a guy with an opinion. He HAS to have a primary source to even be talking about anything. Why can't you provide anything that he talks about? Your only even remotely reasonable argument here is that I'm eurocentric. Even if I was, you can try and change wikipedia's policies to be more afrocentric. I'm not gutting your article, simply using the tag as it's supposed to be used. If it weren't used in cases as obvious as this, it would have no purpose. I'm going to request a vote soon on this, if you still can't see the obvious logic.

Allow me to lay it out quite simply once again:

He has to be talking about something. Please show me what that something is by using that content in the article.
--] 15:01, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

== I've read some thompson ==

I've read some of his stuff, to guarantee objectivity in this article. He is simply observing patterns in african art. Art is subjective. This article is written objectively. Please don't revert my attempts to point out the subjectivity.
--] 15:40, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

== contacted the real guy ==

I have contacted Mr. Thompson himself and I will soon have his reply on the objectivity of this article.--] 16:11, 21 December 2005 (UTC)

== AFD result ==


{| class="messagebox standard-talk"
|-
|]
|
This article was nominated for ''''']''''' on 28 December 2005.
The result of the discussion was '''no consensus to delete'''. <!-- please do not add bolding to '''no consensus to delete''' here: this breaks many places where it is already specified -->
An archived record of this discussion can be found ].

|} --] (]) 17:02, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

==Draft only: Do not quote or cite without author's permission==
This source contains a request, "Draft only: Do not quote or cite without author's permission". She gives an email address, have you contacted her? I wonder about using a source that even the author considers unfinished. 17:39, 26 January 2006 (UTC)
:Very well. I'll find a new source.--] 17:48, 26 January 2006 (UTC)
::A marginal source anyway, which trades on a different definition of cool. ] 20:19, 26 January 2006 (UTC)
:::I thought of a better way of showing how unscholarly established it is: a dictionary. So I'll look the word up in the meantime. Thanks for pointing that out by the way Fred(The disclaimer on the source).--] 11:12, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

== page move ==

This page should be moved to Cool (Black culture). The idea the coolness is a African-American creation is somewhat common in academic studies, but the idea the its related to some pan-African philosophy is held by (at most) 2 or 3 professors. Can I have a second opinion on this? Thanks.--] 16:48, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

==Adequacy of references==
This passage:

"This latter principle is evident in the ] and ] complexity of West African music and some ] (and, to some extent, in African American music), and is an essential characteristic of an element of ]: ] {{ref|uwm}}. This is in marked contrast to the traditional European approach to music, which is structurally linear and rhythmically regimented {{ref|djcs}}. In this sense, the traditional African ontological approach is the opposite of that of, for example, ], where Light and Darkness are warring concepts {{ref|wsu}}. In the African understanding, there is no struggle, no antagonism; there is cohabitation, balance and communion."

Is supported by these references:

===Footnotes===
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<div style="font-size: 90%">
# {{note|djcs}}
# {{note|wsu}}
# {{note|uwm}}
# {{note|guardian}}
# {{note|thompson1974}} Robert Farris Thompson, ''African Art in Motion.'' Exhibition catalogue, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (University of California Press, 1974)
# {{note|soul}}
# {{note|dictionary}}
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===Analysis===
http://www.djworksmusic.com/smarter_kids.html supposedly supports "the traditional European approach to music, which is structurally linear and rhythmically regimented". The page is a blurb for an album by the artist Deborah Johnson written by an unknown author which, citing experimental work by Rauscher and others of the University of California, Irvine which measured performance on a test which measures spatial IQ compared to control groups found improved performance. Supposedly listening to the album ''Classical Spice'' will "make your kids smarter", the ], see http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/mozarteffect2.shtml for an extended discussion. There is some language in the blurb which somewhat resembles the supported language "Rauscher stressed that all classical music that is highly structured and complex has the same effect.", but there is no further discussion. ] 20:00, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

"This latter principle is evident in the ] and ] complexity of West African music and some ] (and, to some extent, in African American music), and is an essential characteristic of an element of ]: ]" is supported by a passage from http://www.uwm.edu/Course/660-102/ClassThree.html which follows:

====West African musical style (continued)====
The texture of the music is often complementary layered patterns
This is sometimes referred to as polyrhythm or polymeter (multiple rhythms and meters occurring at the same time – particularly 3-against-2)

===Further analysis===
The principle in question, under the heading "Ontological framework", is that embodied in "Traditional West African ] " set forth as:

"Traditional West African ] does not devalue one fundamental aspect of existence in relation to another. It is an intuitively ] acknowledgement and acceptance of the duality of ] and the balance of forces&mdash;of, for example, feminine and masculine, physical and spiritual, seen and unseen, of the living and the ancestors. These forces are not separated, but conjoined; and, in fact, interact continuously and with fluidity in aspects of everyday life&mdash; in the natural world, in religion and philosophy, in visual art, in folklore, in music and dance.

Apparent opposites, or countervailing constructs, not only meet&mdash; as with the ], a sacred, underwater line of demarcation where the worlds of the living and of those passed on reconnect and interact&mdash; but can and often do inhabit the same space, conceptually or literally. Sometimes, one element inhabits the interstices of another in time and space."

The ontological principle is contrasted with that of traditional Persian culture: "In this sense, the traditional African ontological approach is the opposite of that of, for example, ], where Light and Darkness are warring concepts. In the African understanding, there is no struggle, no antagonism; there is cohabitation, balance and communion." The ontological principle of traditional is sourced in http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MESO/PERSIANS.HTM which does contain a brief outline of Zoroastrianism and its ontological principle, "All of creation, all gods, all religions, and all of human history and experience can be understood as part of this struggle between light and dark, good and evil."

===Jazz and sunglasses worn at night===
in http://www.guardian.co.uk/saturday_review/story/0,3605,555860,00.html an excellent on ] in the Guardian there is a passage, "I put on horn-rimmed sunglasses at night." This would seem to support the language in the article, "For decades, African American jazz musicians and, later, black-power activists in the 1970s were known for wearing sunglasses, even indoors and at night." A further conclusion "The dark, impenetrable lenses of a pair of "shades" help to mask emotion and, thus, "cool" the face." is unsupported.

===The ice man===
http://www.soul-patrol.com/soul/jerry.htm contains material regarding ] which more or less supports 'Another example of cool in African American culture is the intensely emotional vocal style of soulful crooner Jerry Butler, delivered with trademark, inscrutable composure, which earned him the moniker "The Ice Man"', but not explicitly, there being no information on his demeanor, "trademark, inscrutable composure".

:Easy enough to verify. I did it in less than a minute at www.askjeeves.com. :p ] 07:19, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

===Hip===
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=hip is put forth as a source for "African American use of 'cool' has evolved to include related meanings. In addition to indicating an absence of conflict, 'cool' also is used to communicate agreement or compliance and to describe something 'hip' (from the Wolof word "hipi," meaning to open one's eyes, to be aware ) , meaning fashionable and current; as well as something desirable, aesthetically appealing, or something of sublime or understated elegance." from an entry in ''The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition":

#Keenly aware of or knowledgeable about the latest trends or developments.
#Very fashionable or stylish.

which does contain the language:

""

Wolof is a West African language, see ].

===Summary===
*Brilliant original research ] 20:41, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

::What you term "original research" is merely the synthesis/analysis/explication of information -- which is what any good (well-informed, talented) writer does. "Brilliant"? That's your call, but thanks. ] 08:03, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

*References given support isolated passages, not the framework of the article as a whole. Robert Farris Thompson's work is not considered, as the book is not at hand. ] 21:56, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

:Hey, I was the one who added the recent references. The original article (before the trimming) was (in my opinion) much better than the article after the trimming. I was attempting to provide citations to support this. ''You can add sources even for material you didn't write if you use a source to verify that material. Adding citations to an article is an excellent way to contribute to Misplaced Pages.'' (]).

:I didn't write this material, and I have no special knowledge of African-American or Black culture, I just think it is rather harsh when some text is removed without a basic effort to try and cite it, especially when the user in question removing the text does not make some effort to find citations and does not appear to understand the subject matter. This may seem ''bass ackwards'' to people, but I really think that if you look for references they will be forthcoming. I spent maybe ten minutes attempting to find references, which does not seem to be a long time and may explain the poor quality of some of them. I'm not saying all of the article is supported, but I believe the majority could be. You are correct that I don't have access to Tompsons book.

:The article ''does'' have an ''original researchy'' tone to it. This is a result of the style of the prose rather than anything else. I would encourage any competant editors to reword the examples and prose to make it more encyclopaedic, however rewording does not involve removing whole swathes of text. If you think that I have been rash, not followed policy or not made a worthwhile contribution to this article, feel free to revert. I would however encourage you to read around the subject for a number of hours before coming to this conclusion. Thanks :) - ] 00:33, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

::I like Deeceevoice's work, I suspect she is quite well read, but doesn't have the patience to look up sources again. ] 01:59, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

:::As stated, I was in the process of gathering additional information from disparate resources, scholarly and otherwise (including a transcript of the Gumbel/Travolta intu on the "Today" show), to beef up, document and complete this piece. But I just got tired of the crap. Let someone else do it -- if they can. Good luck finding someone with the requisite depth of knowledge/understanding of African/African-American culture (and the willingness to deal with the politics, pervasive biases and simple-minded antagonism -- as evidenced in the repeated RfDs targeting this piece) of this place surrounding topics treating people of African descent) to do so. The rampant cultural appropriation/nearly complete assimilation of the African/African-American cool aesthetic (as with other African-American cultural contributions) into American and world popular culture has led people -- particularly the youth, who have no real knowledge/memory of the jazz era and the beat generation and jazz's pervasive influence -- to assume that "cool" as discussed in this article is some universal phenomenon with diffuse roots. The fact of the matter is that "cool" as it is commonly referred to and known today is ''distinctly'' African in origin -- and ''imminently traceable'' back to the Motherland. ] 07:29, 28 January 2006 (UTC)
::::Based on what I find in the original edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, I believe you are correct. While the meaning was not entirely unknown in 19th century English usage, it is a minor definition which is restricted to remaining cool under hot circumstances, cool under fire so to speak. Editing Misplaced Pages is something you should do only if you are enjoying the experience of sharing knowledge. Our mutual loss if it has not been fun. I hope you will reconsider as you mull over the matter. One way of avoiding your informed work being considered original research is to work from your contemporary reading, whatever you happen to be reading. As the source is at hand it is relatively easy to include sourcing in the relevant Misplaced Pages article. ] 17:13, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

== removed paragraphs ==

I removed the following paragraphs:
:*Traditional West African ] does not devalue one fundamental aspect of existence in relation to another. It is an intuitively ] acknowledgement and acceptance of the duality of ] and the balance of forces&mdash;of, for example, feminine and masculine, physical and spiritual, seen and unseen, of the living and the ancestors. These forces are not separated, but conjoined; and, in fact, interact continuously and with fluidity in aspects of everyday life&mdash; in the natural world, in religion and philosophy, in visual art, in folklore, in music and dance.

:*Cool is feminine energy; it is stillness, calm and strength. Cool is composure, dignity in being and comportment and a practiced stoicism. It is a way of being, a way of walking in the world. Cool abides. Heat is masculine energy, strength and movement; it acts. Both elements assume co-equal values in African movement and dance, in African music and art. The cool aesthetic permeates traditional West African cultures and ] culture, as well&mdash; in ] artistic and ] expression, in the hitch in the "]" strut of urban, African American men; in African American dress and adornment, demeanor and speech.

:*This dualistic ontological perspective, of motion and stasis, of tension and tranquility, of juxtaposition and coexistence, of heat and cool, grounded in the interplay of opposites, helps form the framework of the mask of the cool.

:*The intrinsic value of cool in West African cultures lies in the fundamental belief that a certain detachment from one's surroundings is emblematic of spiritual centeredness and strength. This value of "the mask" resonates deeply in and pervades African American culture. In displaying cool, one also ''possesses'' it; thus, cool is both a means and an end. Cool manifests and conserves energy, as well as personal and spiritual, or psychic, power. In the ], an often ribald African American oral tradition in which two opponents take turns "signifying" or otherwise insulting one another's family line, the ultimate failure, the ultimate disgrace in this contest of wit and self-possession is not the failure to return a "snap" (insult) with a more cutting or side-splitting one; it is to "lose one's cool." Paradoxically, it is in the inscrutable mask of cool that the dualism of cool as a philosophical construct is, perhaps, most readily apparent. Physical composure under excitement or duress exercises strength and mental toughness (masculine energy); but as well manifests serenity, spiritual vitality and stillness (feminine energy).

:*One meaning 'cool' shares with ] is an absence of excitement in a person, especially in times of stress. However, in African traditions, the cool aesthetic encompasses concepts of luminosity of motion, rebirth and reincarnation, healing or a state of ], calm, general well-being, and harmony &mdash; an absence of ]. Some of these meanings have resonance in African American culture today.

Why? Because the standard at wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. Although it may be true that "cool is feminine energy", you can't verify it. However, you can verify that a notable scholar holds this view. My attempts at rewriting it as such have failed so far, as DCV has simply reverted them and refused to continue discussion. I don't want an edit war, but if you don't discuss this issue and reach consensus, your edit has no value-- both by policies/guidelines and by failure to reach consensus. If you are willing to talk this out with me, you'll find I'm just a rational person trying to enforce wikipedia's policies, and I can be swayed by reasonable arguments. Thank you,--] 16:54, 28 January 2006 (UTC)
:You are correctly following policy, but also removing interesting material. But my perspective is a minority one. Misplaced Pages is responsible for the consequences of its established policy. ] 17:17, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

:He's simply throwing a tantrum. :p And this is Misplaced Pages. ] 17:21, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

::I agree with Fred that the research is interesting, well compiled, and really good writing. That's why I want it to be verifiable. If you could do this, DCV, this article wouldn't go through circuitous edit wars. Thanks.--] 17:26, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

Your ongoing, ill-informed hostility toward this article is ''precisely one of the reasons why'' I'm ''not'' doing it. You've challenged the very existence of it, disputing even its fundamental premise from a posture of abject, but opinionated ignorance. I have better things to do that fight with people who don't know anything about a subject -- but refuse to allow a contributor the time to develop a piece without constant antagonism. One such case: you've challeneged me to provide documentation that "cool" is considered a feminine attribute, challenging the notion because whites commonly associate it with black men. The association of female with quietude, passivity, even the moon; and of male with energy, aggression, the sun is pretty much universal. I can cite sources which reinforce that, and was fully prepared to do that. But, again, I am no longer contributing new information on this site; it's a wasted exercise. In your ignorance, antagonism and obtuseness, your approach to this article has been to deconstruct it, to gut it, rather than to contribute to it. If that's your idea of contributing to Misplaced Pages, then have at it. I couldn't care less what you do or what you think; IMO, it's par for the course. ] 05:01, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

Latest revision as of 14:24, 27 January 2020

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source and a question

DCV, you might find the following helpful to adding to this content(I'd like to see it expand if/when its merged):

  • Ubuntu (ideology) - Ubuntu is a sub-Saharan African ethic or ideology thats in many ways very similar to cool.

As a side note, the first essay I read(when I was much younger ) about Cool as an African-American invention: It's called Are Black People Cooler than White People. It's written by Donnell Alexander, a black dude. He puts forward the view(which seems to be shared by Fran Lebowitz) that cool stemmed out of slavery and oppression: "making a dollar out of 15 cents" and making the chitlins taste good even though they were nasty. My question is, why doesn't your article address this? It's all about nonlinearility and opposites existing in the same space and time-- but it doesn't address the view that cool is largely an African-American invention, and that it's about making something out of nothing. If this way of looking at cool existed in this african philosophy/aesthetic, I'd think that'd be very beneficial to the content.--Urthogie 15:54, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Ubuntu (ideology) is a nice article. It looks like a real, verifiable, specific thing, which makes it very different from this article. I think it's easily possible to write about specific, named African ideologies without being full of original research, as that article proves. One of the reservations I have about this article is 1) it seems to be lumping Africa together as one group, which is totally inappropriate, there are many cultures and languages there, and 2) it seems to be confusing African with African-American. These are vastly different things. I can't imagine how any competant scholar could make such obvious mistakes. I'm not sure it's appropriate to try to lump ideas from different cultures together and slap a new label on them- it seems like original research. I'd much rather see individual, verifiable articles like Ubuntu than this mess here. Friday (talk) 16:05, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

moving on

I didn't really think the afd would get consensus. So let's work on this. I actually do want to add to this. But I disagree with a lot of your assertions DCV. For example, you say that white folks try to get up when they're dancing. What about russian dancers? Also, I think you're forgetting that Africans in America are from West Africa-- where most of their cultural roots can be found. So, I think you're largely confusing West African culture with African culture.

Second off, there's another thing I'd like to hear you explain. Blacks (at least of my generation) in America are fascinated with luxury; lexuses, shit like that-- Western cultural product. Hip hop, which is the strongest voice for the new generation of blacks especially values luxury. How do you explain this?

Peace, --Urthogie 10:00, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Also, Africa as a continent includes the Arab countries — are they known for their cool? Perhaps sub-saharan Africa might be better? - FrancisTyers 11:15, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
This is quite a good related article . To try and explain it in the degree that I figure you want would take a lifetime, probably each individual has their own specific motives - but there will be patterns. If you are talking about Russian Cossack dancers, are they really "White folks", not to put words into her mouth but I think DC is talking about Western Europeans and their descendents. Tell me to hop it if I'm becoming a nuisance... - FrancisTyers 11:04, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
Thank you, FT. :p Exactly. Still, though, ballet was simply an example. The fact is the European aesthetic generally expresses spirituality in terms of moving heavenward, soaring, flying. In the African sensibility, that paradigm is reversed. (And, again, no, I'm not speaking universally.)
And, no. These are not my assertions; I didn't come up with them. And you don't need to remind me where many of my people's ancestors originated. But what's that got to do with the price of rice? Again, the cultural phenomena I've addressed occur across national boundaries. I am from Louisiana -- and the majority of enslaved Africans who were sent there were from the area then known as the Congo -- hence, the name Congo Square in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, and the name Angola prison. The slave trade reached much farther into the African interior than most people know. It was not only the African coasts that were systematically depopulated during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
And about the "blacks of generation": I'm sorry to read that your circle of acquaintances is so tragically limited. Your experience is not mine. Your comments, however, are precisely what Madison Avenue- and record industry-crafted messages would have people believe: conspicuous consumption -- or at least covetousness and materialism, feeding the capitalist, consumerist society. In some foreign nations, they think all young African-Americans are all macho, depraved, gun-toting hoodlums or skanks and hoochie mamas/babymamas/ho's with fake nails and weaves. Same phenomenon. And it's such obvious drivel. Same kind of racist propaganda, different stable of stereotypes. But even the Lie were fact, it would have nothing to do with African cool. (cut-eye) Deeceevoice 11:28, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
You've completely missed my point about hip hop. The culture, not just the capitalist, mainstream part of it, values luxury. Rappers who aren't signed to labels talk about such things. The first rap songs were about bragging about one's wealth. It's impossible to deny how much Western culture is a part of hip hop-- perhaps you need to stop and realize that Public Enemy, and other political acts such as Dead Prez are just a part of a movement, which has generally "culturally appropriated" (as you would say) the western value of luxury.--Urthogie 11:51, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
Actually, no. Early rap (at least what is commonly considered rap) was highly political/subversive. I'm talking when poppin' and lockin' and breakdancing were young, and the grafitti/burner craze and the rap and club scene were inextricably linked. Groups like Grand Master Flash, Melle Mel and the Furious Five: "Don't. Push. Me. 'Cuz. I'm. Close. To. The. Edge. I'm. Try-in'. Not. To. Lose. My. Head. It's like a jungle sometimes. It makes me wonduh how I keep from goin' unduh." Commercial interests saw the opportunity to make a mint, and rap was co-opted. Gangsta rap (rap's degenerate, decadent, misogynist, violent, shallow, materialist devolution) was what white record execs made a conscious effort to push, and hungry young "artists" desperate to get ovuh complied. Sold their souls for bling. As young black rappers became producers, they fell in line with the antisocial, destructive, counterrevolutionary elements of "hip-hop culture." What you call "cultural appropriation" is actually cynical, calculated co-optation and corruption.
And with regard to the "estern value of luxury" -- while the actual possessions desired may be Western, greed and materialism, unfortunately, are universal "values" -- or, more accurately, manifestations of a lack of proper values; material wealth/acquisitiveness in the face of moral/spiritual bankruptcy.
Again, the decadence of the current rap scene and pop-culture "cool" and machismo have nothing to do with elemental cool in the African context. Hell, rap is even a bastardization/corruption of its earlier self as it originally sprang from the black creative genius. Perhaps you need to get your facts straight before you presume to school me on "what need to stop and realize." Deeceevoice 12:13, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
You don't have to be signed to a record label to be mainstream. But anyway this discussion isn't getting us anywhere with the article, should we make a subpage for interesting discussions that are not directly about the article in question? - FrancisTyers 11:55, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for the offer/suggestion, but I don't really see the need. I don't intend to pursue this, uh ... discussion. It doesn't interest me in the least. Deeceevoice 12:17, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
Ok, np. Btw. I'd like to make the point for U's benefit that this musical phenomenon is not limited to rap or hip-hop. If all you'd heard was Blink 182 Avril Lavigne would you think it started with Crass? - FrancisTyers 12:26, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

DCV, this is a subject where you're simply wrong. The furious five were the exception, not the rule. "The Message" was avante garde (a concept album, so to speak) -- most rappers were talking about partying and getting cars and money. DJ Grandmaster Flash and melle mel and all simply had a good idea to make it political. By the way, please note that this landmark political song came out almost a decade after the start of hip hop in 1971 with Kool Herc's hip hop parties. Political from the start? Wrong.

Second off, gangster rap was not invented by cultural robber barons, i.e. white record execs(although they did make a profit off of exploiting those who created it). No, it was invented by KRS-ONE (a highly political rapper) and Schooly D (a highly respected old school rapper). KRS-ONE would later lead the Stop the Violence movement, after his friend, Scott La Rock got shot. KRS-ONE continues to release independent albums, and is repping hip hop culture(breakdancing, graffiti, crews, everything) to the fullest. He's still hot and still respected in the community. Nice way to pretend something was invented by capitalism when it wasnt.--Urthogie 12:28, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

I'll accept that. I can be wrong -- about the timeline, but not the nature of the phenomenon. :p But though KRS-ONE seems contemporaneous with the some of the earliest forms of "rap"/spoken word art combined with music for airplay, sounds like he was still in somebody's basement behind a makeshift mic when sister Nikki Giovanni came out with "Ego Trippin',"which hit the airwaves nationwide in 1968 'round about the time when the term "rapping" came in vogue in the street and at HBCUs. "Trippin'" had bravada, swagger and political consciousness, and took the black community by storm. It was probably the first poem many black folks memorized (beyond the stilted crap forced upon them in school). The legendary "Last Poets" also hit their stride in 1968-69; their cuts were in constant rotation on stations nationwide then, as well. You cannot speak of groundbreaking spoken-word art/rap without them. And before Giovanni and Guylan Kane, there was Baraka (when he was still LeRoi Jones) riffin' to jazz and drumbeats, and there was poet/playwright Clay Goss performing with the nationalist jazz group Nation here in DeeCee, and there was Ted Joans -- all highly progressive and politically conscious. The African-American oral tradition is deep and wide; it is a river. Like the music flowing and morphing from Africanized bands to ragtime, from gospel and jumping the blues to R&B, it is a continuum; no single person "invented" rap.
"Party" rap and the usual machismo/bravado of the kind associated with cracking, ranking, etc., was simply an extension of the African American oral tradition. And it was something completely different from gangsta rap, which, as a discrete genre, came along later. And, no. I did not say it was invented by white execs. Try reading my post again. There was a conscious decision on the part of industry execs to push the more degenerate, violent, misogynistic, degenerate music: gangsta rap. Why? Because they knew the poison would sell to lots of impressionable youth with disposable income. Do not make the mistake, however, of generalizing such degeneracy and backwardness to all black youth based on media images. Nellie looks like a suntanned cliche from an old James Bond flick, his "Pimp Juice," a failed disgrace; Snoop Dog is a shill for Chrysler with Lee Iacocca; and Tupac, Biggie and a whole string of "gangstas" are rotting in the ground. Back in the day, the Panthers had a slogan for depraved, death-dealing mercenaries, but these days it seems these degenerates are their own worst enemies. They're overexposed and become parodies of themselves, are without real talent, and/or hell-bent on exterminating one another. Perhaps you need to widen your circle of acquaintances a bit, because I don't see what you see. From where I sit, a whole lotta black youth have sworn off swine. Deeceevoice 13:57, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
I think that gangster rap was only stressed by record executives because it sells so well(white kids actually are much less likely to listen to it than blacks, if you're wondering). It would have gained popularity on its own, as it is more up to date with the times than the overtly political Public Enemy (who were surely influenced by Gil Scott heron, et. al). People actually do look at these "gangstas" like Jay-Z and they don't admire him for his drug-dealing past, so much as how far he made it by quitting that stuff and creating art out of his experience. It's just as much black music as anything else. The blues talked about prostition, sex, murder. If you're interested, here is a very informative piece that describes hip hop as the living blues, and could elaborate better than me why gangster rappers are indeed part of black culture, and not just negative stereotypes, but real artists speaking from experience.--Urthogie 14:55, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
Hah! How could I forget about GSH --"Whitey on the Moon" and "Home is Where the Hatred Is"? Sure, gut-bucket blues dealt with that kind of thing, but it didn't glorify it the way gangsta rap deals with killing people's kids over a stupid beef, referring to women routinely in the most despicable terms. Blues was about hard life, hard luck and hard times. Gangsta rap is just about being hard. And stupid. And violent. And depraved. Back in the day, there was an unspoken code: black folks did not kill other black folks. Southern rednecks already did too much of that. That's not to say it didn't happen, but it was an aberration; and it certainly wasn't a badge of honor to waste someone. That's what the dozens in part was about; you cut 'em with words and left the guns and knives at home. The songs of bluesmen and women made it possible to surrender to sorrow and hardship and, in that way, find some kind of solace -- and then keep gettin' up. Gangsta rap is not the same thing -- not by a long shot. It is degenerate at its very core, destructive and antithetical to black survival. Blues is cathartic; gangsta rap is just excrement. It's an expression of despair, rage, self-loathing and death. I have nothing but contempt for those who produce it.
And you're wrong. White kids keep gangsta (c)rap music going; they purchase the majority of rap music -- and a lot of the worst of it -- wannabes tryin' ta be "hip." Deeceevoice 18:42, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
Are you really going to take the approach of conservative america and suggest that the music results in the killings, and not the other way around? The blues were an expression of what was going on then, and hip hop is an expression of what's going on now-- and as you said, the whole line of soul music throughout the history of america is connected down to the roots.
White people in america purchase the majority of all genres of music. Why? Because white people are around half the people in the US. About 30 percent of gangsta rap is bought by blacks-- and thats not including bootlegs. If you do the math, then a black dude is twice as likely to buy 50 cent's album than a white dude.--Urthogie 19:03, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
No doubt the "music", the videos which present/display a pathological culture of ignorance, crime, violence, misogyny, vulgarity and wantonness have contributed to certain destructive, antisocial, pathological behaviors on the part of some members of, particularly, the despairing economic underclass (across ethnicities). And then there is the added dimension of white supremacy (and, internalized among far too many blacks, self-loathing and projected outward as black-on-black violence). Yes, there is a point at which art can become determinative/contributory -- particularly in light of weakened matrices of family and community life; in light of pervasive, even intrusive, electronic mass media bearing these same perverse images; in light of failed schools; nonexistent copying strategies, cynicism and hopelessness on the part of youth; and limited, legitimate employment opportunities. One feeds the other and vice versa. Yep, the music industry is definitely on the hook for a lot of this crap. Deeceevoice 20:11, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
The popularity of the music can't be blaimed on the execs who peddle it to the demanding masses. I agree that gangster rap is representative of a lot of problems in America's culture (both black and white, but specifically the underclass as you mentioned) and society. However, I disagree that it perpetuates that cycle. Most of the kids who I know as fans of 50 Cent (the most popular rapper right now) like him either because a) Dr. Dre makes excellent, euphonic beats or b) he symbolizes to them someone who stopped messing around and worked for his dream. Kids who want to become journalists, architects, lawyers, politicians, teachers, they listen to this music and can relate to it and apply it to their life. Sure, it isn't overtly political, but it does capture the struggle that's essential to the music. Personally, I really wish gangster rap wasn't at the forefront of hip hop right now, but I recognize that its a sign of the times more than anything else. Mos Def (who is my biggest influence when it comes to the raps that I write) says it better than me:
We gon' get it together right? I believe that
Listen.. people be askin me all the time,
"Yo Mos, what's gettin ready to happen with Hip-Hop?"
(Where do you think Hip-Hop is goin?)
I tell em, "You know what's gonna happen with Hip-Hop?
Whatever's happening with us"
If we smoked out, Hip-Hop is gonna be smoked out
If we doin alright, Hip-Hop is gonna be doin alright
People talk about Hip-Hop like it's some giant livin in the hillside
comin down to visit the townspeople
We (are) Hip-Hop
Me, you, everybody, we are Hip-Hop
So Hip-Hop is goin where we goin
So the next time you ask yourself where Hip-Hop is goin
ask yourself.. where am I goin? How am I doin?
Til you get a clear idea
So.. if Hip-Hop is about the people
and the.. Hip-Hop won't get better until the people get better
then how do people get better? (Hmmmm...)
Well, from my understanding people get better
when they start to understand that, they are valuable
And they not valuable because they got a whole lot of money
or cause somebody, think they sexy
but they valuable caause they been created by God
And God, makes you valuable
And whether or not you, recognize that value is one thing
You got a lot of socities and governments
tryin to be God, wishin that they were God
They wanna create satellites and cameras everywhere
and make you think they got the all-seein eye
Eh.. I guess The Last Poets wasn't, too far off
when they said that certain people got a God Complex
I believe it's true
I don't get phased out by none of that, none of that
helicopters, the TV screens, the newscasters, the..
satellite dishes.. they just, wishin
They can't really never do that
When they tell me to fear they law
When they tell me to try to
have some fear in my heart behind the things that they do
This is what I think in my mind
And this is what I say to them
And this is what I'm sayin, to you check it

Yeah.--Urthogie 22:01, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Execs most definitely can be, and have been, blamed -- for pandering. I haven't read the text above; I hate reading rap lyrics; they're meant to be spoken. Just as there are lots of kids moving with purpose and discipline and vision, there are far too many lost kids out there who listen to that crap and take it to heart. The ubiquitous of "nigger," the constant referring to women as "b*tches" and ho's. The young girls who think showin' everything they've got and putting out are the only ways to get what they want. It's base, pathetic and disgusting. And it's an utter waste. I got no respect for the so-called "artists" who spew that garbage. Kids running around with their minds blown on that b.s. and no sense of dignity or self-respect. Stabbing or shooting someone oover dumb s*** because they've bought into the stupid, brutish machismo the songs and videos portray, some vacuous, ridiculous notion of "honor" and respect. Treating women with disrespect because they think that's what a man does.
This exchange is tedious, and you're saying nothing I haven't heard before.
Fact is I prefer to act rather than talk/write about change. (And this time is better spent elsewhere -- precisely why I haven't engaged you before. No offense intended; I simply have better things to do with my time. (Don't expect it again.) And right now, that means deadlines. I'm out. Have a productive evening. I know I intend to. Deeceevoice 23:54, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
All right then, good evening. Please note that those aren't rap lyrics, but a little something he says before a rap. Anyways, productivity is good. Later, --Urthogie 12:32, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Merge?

Alright, I see the Afd was closed as a no consensus, but to me it seems clear that there is consensus for this not being it's own article anymore. Anyone have thoughts on merging? I'd be inclined to just make this into a redirect and let people who want to merge do it whenever they want, but maybe other opinions would be helpful here. Friday (talk) 13:34, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

I see the redirect was reverted with a summary advising that it be discussed on the talk page. Well, here's the talk page- I support the redirect, and apparently Zoe does too (since she did it). Also, the vast majority of those who commented on the Afd (counting those who said delete or merge) want this to not be a stand-alone article anymore. I'd say it's already been discussed, but the redirect was reverted. So, what's left to decide? Friday (talk) 17:02, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
The AfD was closed no consensus. I moved the article as suggested. If you want the page to be merged, put up a merge template, actually no, I'll do that, and we can discuss it here. - FrancisTyers 17:27, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
A "no consensus" closure doesn't mean that no information can be gleaned from the discussion. But, I guess I'll say it again: This article is a POV fork and needs to be merged back into Cool (aesthetic). Or, having a proper article on the history and origins of cool would be just fine, but not an article that presupposes one and only one correct origin of cool. If we're trying to properly source it instead, this is just foot-dragging. The article has had months and months to be made into something other than a POV fork, and it hasn't happened. I guess I'm not sure what's expected to come out of the discussion here that didn't already come out at Afd. Most people think this is a POV fork. Not having a seperate article for this particular idea of cool is the obvious solution, I think. Friday (talk) 18:43, 17 April 2006 (UTC)


Out of 29 votes, only 6 voted for "keep". I suggest that we remove the unsourced assertions (they can be reinserted once they are sourced properly), clean up the broad generalizations and start the merging. CoYep 19:16, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Sources

If anyone is actually interested in sources, a search for "cool african aesthetic" on JSTOR brings up 531 results. - FrancisTyers 19:34, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

A search on Google Scholar brings up 5,970 results. - FrancisTyers 19:36, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Gee, I dunno. Are you sure it's not due to some sort of mass hallucination? :p Deeceevoice 19:46, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

It must be really annoying that people just flat out refuse to actually read about a subject they clearly know nothing about. - FrancisTyers 19:55, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

I've taken the liberty of typing out one example:

In a seminal work on African patterns of dance performance (with special reference to Yoruba style), Robert Farris Thompson provides information which suggests that this development of blues is perhaps not so much a departmure from the African pattern as a specialized development of one unique feature of West African practice. Thompson notes that a number of West African traditions exist in which there are songs and dances of derision that depart significantly from the modal pattern of the "cool" community-focused performances, a departure commonly occasioned by some special social problem calling for a licensed behavior.
...indigenous critics of art may characterize the dignity of ...expressions as "cool." When Tiv (in Northern Nigeria) dance satirically ... the flawless seal shatters... But in the aggregate, Western Africans dance with a mixture of vigor and decorum.
Multiple meter essentially uses dancers as further voices in a polymetric choir. The conversation is additive, cool in its expressions of community. The balance struck between the meters and the bodily orchestration seems to communicate a soothing wholeness rather than a "hot" specialization ... Call and response is a means of putting innovation and tradition, invention and imitation, into amicable relationships with one another. In that sense, it, too, is cool... the dance of derision sometimes breaks those rules in order to mime the disorder of those who would break the rules of society. Robert Farris Thompson, "Dance and Culture", African Forum 2 (1966): 98

From: "Traditions of Eloquence in Afro-American Communities", by Roger D. Abrahams in Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 1970

- FrancisTyers 19:55, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, we know already that Thompson wrote about it (Thats why a number of editors recommended to turn this article into a book review).

Your quote states: "a seminal work on African patterns of dance performance (with special reference to Yoruba style), Robert Farris Thompson provides information which suggests that this development of blues is perhaps not so much a departmure from the African pattern as a specialized development of one unique feature of West African practice." The article states that is is a broad and general "African" concept. While Yorubas are West Africans, not all Africans are West Africans or Yorubas. This has to be corrected in the article. Feel free to use your search results to source and correct the other assertions in the article as well.

BTW, a search on Google Scholar brings up: cool american aesthetic 15,800 results cool european aesthetic 10,900 results cool african aesthetic 5,970 results cool asian aesthetic 3,540 results cool "african american" aesthetic 2,880 results CoYep 20:07, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Why don't you fix the article. You change it to state that it is a Yoruba aesthetic or whatever. You're complaining about lack of sources, not me. I was just pointing out that there are plenty of sources out there if you actually bother to look. Instead of being critical, try being constructively critical. Or hell, try actually working on the article. - FrancisTyers 20:23, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
Sorry for being blunt, its just frustrating when there is obviously information out there and the people who are complaining can't seem to be bothered to look. - FrancisTyers 20:27, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

IMO, no need to apologize. My sentiments exactly! Will return to this piece in a couple of weeks. My schedule is just too crazy at the moment to be of much assistance -- but thanks for your energies and efforts. Deeceevoice 02:57, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Redirect

The final result of the AfD was a clear consensus for either merging or deleting, not keeping. A keep of this article is not appropriate. Since the delete did not carry, then the merge has to be carried out. Please don't leave this article in place, as that was not the final result. User:Zoe| 01:54, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

I have to concur with Zoe here. The burden of proof is on those that want to do something other than redirecting. Friday (talk) 02:10, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Not appropriate. Reverted.

consensus (noun) 1 a : general agreement : UNANIMITY <the consensus of their opinion, based on reports... from the border -- John Hersey>; b : the judgment arrived at by most of those concerned <the consensus was to go ahead>; 2 : group solidarity in sentiment and belief . Deeceevoice 02:54, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

An assertion that it's not appropriate and a dictionary definition are the best you can do to explain your reversion? Geez. The opinion so far is definitely leaning toward this not being its own article. Friday (talk) 03:06, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

What the hell? Another reversion? With an edit summary of Rev. The decision of the administrator was made. No authority to merge?!? This demonstrates an extreme lack of understanding about how Misplaced Pages works. You don't need authority from an Afd to decide what to merge or not to merge. I'm going to put it back to a redirect until some plausible reason not to do so can be provided. Friday (talk) 03:09, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Not appropriate. The rationales were provided. Deeceevoice 03:11, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

A prior Afd does not bind our hands on what to do with the article. Especially when it's closed as just a "no consensus". See prior talk page discussion. Friday (talk) 03:13, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

You're just edit warring. I give up. Friday (talk) 03:16, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Deleted

Since Deeeceevoice and her coterie won't allow the redirect to remain, I have deleted the page. If you put it back, I will redirect and protect. User:Zoe| 03:25, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Some of that stuff was probably worth merging here. This would be easier if it weren't deleted. How about restoring, turning it into a redirect, and protecting it that way? Then the history would be available. Friday (talk) 03:30, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
I can do that. I could also just leave it unprotected to allow Deeceevoice to violate 3RR by reverting again. User:Zoe| 03:34, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
i don't think she'll revert -- she's busy with "deadlines". Justforasecond 04:44, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Recreation

Hmm. Looks like the article is being recreated under another name: African aesthetic. Friday (talk) 21:53, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Not any more. User:Zoe| 23:52, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
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