Accountability in Music • Page 681

Yeah, not only did I learn something but it's really nice to see an artist take notice and action when a community speaks. Imagine if this was how everyone handled situations like this. Very cool to see something positive in this thread!

 

her response time to this is admirable. some artists wait much longer to do something about a situation like this, but she was able to have the song changed, mixed, mastered, and uploaded in less than 3 days.

 

it's incredibly easy to do, wish we saw more of it.

 

Reading through the lyrics, I'm guessing it was spazz?

 

yeh.

 

Yeah, "I'm a spaz, I'm about to knock somebody out" was changed to "hold me back, I'm about to knock somebody out". Doesn't alter anything in the song at all, good looks Lizzo. I'm not disabled but was called that all the time growing up & I hated it, so that word hasn't been in my vocab. I never considered it being an ableist slur, but after this situation I've changed course

 

after using the internet for like two decades i found it so interesting that in the uk that's basically one of the worst words you can say, but in america for decades it was an acceptable colloquial expression for acting out, even though they ultimately have similar connotations

 

regardless i think this is a good course correction

 

It is really interesting to consider because it’s such a simple thing to do and it feels good. Why people are so dead set against doing a kind thing by admitting your own ignorance and making a change as a genuine gesture is just beyond me. On the one hand, you can make a simple effort and as a result you’ll probably even make some new friends/fans because those people see something in you and respect you for your choices and who doesn’t like making friends? On the other hand you can just keep being a dick. Like in the 90s/early 2000s people often said “that’s gay” in a derogatory manner, but now you wouldn’t catch most of those people doing that anymore. Why? Because I and so many others grew up and had experiences with the real world and now we’ve developed a new understanding and chose to see things from other people’s perspectives and the reflection on youth feels embarrassing. I mean shit, I didn’t even know until literally just now that the word “spaz” was a slur in the UK and thinking back on the context in which I used it in the past, yeah I mean I can clearly see how that word is hurtful. So you know, just…stop using it? Be kind? God this world sucks.

 

Yeah, like it is literally so easy to be the good guy sometimes. In cases like this, at least, by taking the right course of action, not only is the heat off of you, but you actually stand to gain respect from it. Really baffling the way some artists would push back or be a weirdo free speech warrior about it lol.

 

https://www.wmar2news.com/news/loca...corded-by-a-deceased-pikesville-music-teacher

Ex-drummer of War on Women.

 

I also feel compelled to post this (I think this is now the third time/forum I’ve posted it in so sorry for the repetition) due to the discussion last week about True Crime. Sorry to derail anything as I don’t mean to distract, I just felt a little bothered by some of the comments referring to criticism of True Crime as ignorant. I also want to preface this with the statement that I am fully aware that there are some genuine, good hearted people in said communities just looking to help. Nevertheless, I do feel the need to repost this so here we go again:

“In December of 2016 a family friend went missing and she still hasn't been found. I took to social media to defend her name from some of the slander I saw coming out of the woodwork from people who don't know her. One of those places was, of course, the cesspool that is Reddit (also the site WebSleuths). My username on Reddit was my real name because, when I first made the account (it was a few years ago), I wanted to force myself to only post things on Reddit that I wouldn't later regret having associated with my name.

That turned on me very quickly. Internet trolls took to "sleuthing" me, my friends, and my family members. I was accused of all sorts of heinous things from people I will never know or meet. They went through my Facebook profile (which was fairly open at the time but is now locked up tight) and found a terrible student film I made in 2009 about human trafficking. One of the actresses who had a secondary role in the short also happened to have the same name as the family friend who went missing. As a result, the trolls took to Reddit, Facebook and other forms of social media to smear my name. They claimed I was shutting down their inane theories because I was secretly hiding my involvement in the disappearance of said friend. Their claim was that the actress's name similarity and the thematic elements of my short film from 2009 implied I had harbored a deep obsession for this girl for years and then trafficked her. Naturally I thought this would blow over because it was so asinine. I was wrong. They reported me to the police, found my mother's phone number and called her, sent me messages telling me they were going to contact members of my family (one of them was my 80 year-old great aunt), and then, when other people on Reddit came to my defense, they began poring through my Facebook friends list in an attempt to link my friends to the people defending me. They stalked one of my friends (who was not on Reddit and had no idea what the hell was going on), found her place of employment and called her boss to complain about her and harass her. I had to message my family and friends to tell them to lock up their profiles tight because these people were nuts. When they weren't busy stalking me or the people I love, they sent me threatening messages and mocked my wife and son (who was not even two years-old yet). It was an absolute nightmare.”

I’ll add to this that, when I first started posting on WebSleuths I was referred to as a “Verified Insider” simply because I knew the missing girl and, in order to confirm you’re not there to troll, the moderators ask you to confirm your identity with them with a scan of your drivers license and a phone call. So I did that because I was, again, being accused of some bullshit on their forum. I confirmed who I was and that only served to make it so much worse. Eventually one of them contacted the girl’s father to ask him to meet for lunch because they said they had important information for him. He went and they proceeded to tell him I was dangerous and informed him of my student film. He walked away from it disgusted by their behavior. He knew I was just trying to help. I had made a video for the family involving their daughter’s friends (I worked in the film industry at the time so I had the resources to help and wanted to do my part) and knew I could help them get more views on their page. It worked, but, again, it only gave the websleuthers more ammo against me. They claimed I was trying to profit off of her family and that I was trying to steal the film rights to her story so I could gain some personal success. I know that the “True Crime” genre has absolutely taken off in popular culture, but it is TOXIC AS HELL. I have talked to so many people who have experienced what I went through and I combed through various forums on other cases wanting to see if there were similarities and, yep, it’s stomach turning. Complete and total strangers will stop at NOTHING to rip your life apart because they think they’re detectives.”

Now I want to follow this up with the understanding that I, once again, know full well that said communities are full of good people who are not involved or interested for toxic reasons. There were plenty of good people utilizing their own gifts, tools, and resources to help. Tons of podcasts, people who provided donations, or even just kind words of support. The trouble from my perspective is that that’s how I viewed my contribution initially as well. I only meant to do a nice thing and try to help. The rate at which that turned on me was astounding and a very dark period of my own life. The screenshots I still have to this day of so much of it are incredibly triggering, scary, awful, and a reminder to me of why I ultimately had to walk away. I still support the family of course, but I will never involve myself in any way ever again. It was genuinely terrifying.

 

Yeah I was gonna add on more but didn't want to derail the thread, but honestly there are so many instances of stuff like this happening. The boston bomber stuff on reddit was abhorrent too. Not to mention Podcasters and web sleuths often have no background in this and have no idea what they're actually talking about which can spread harmful narratives and tropes. I was listening to a popular true crime podcast I enjoy for the most part, and the case they discussed went into an area I'm fairly knowledgeable in. They made so many assumptions and speculation on someone's behavior for being "suspicious" when actually none of the behavior was that suspicious and it was actually very typical and explainable for the situation. But they said it so matter of factly and so lowkey that it was easy to miss. And I only caught it because I have experience in that area. I can't imagine how many things like that happen and I don't notice because I'm ignorant about that area.

Sometimes the speculation reads like old Sylvia Browne grifts. They have an air of authority and profit off of baseless speculation and often take fairly straightforward cases or info and twist them to make them seem more mysterious and suspicious than it is. Then everyone jumps on the bandwagon and strikes. It can and has ruined lives and should be talked about more

 

Also regarding lizzo, not only is it awesome that she did that but it sends such a great message to her fans. When I was young, my fave musicians speaking out about stuff like this made a difference. People are easily influenced and she has a platform. She could've easily been defensive which would've encouraged her fans to get defensive and try to "protect" her by harassing the ppl criticizing. But by being kind and graceful, she sets a positive example. More artists should follow suit.

 

Good on Lizzo, but it's a little alarming to see people on Twitter immediate assume the worst about her intentions and attack rather than educate. I guess we're hardened to assume the worst, but she deserved the benefit of the doubt.

 

The only thing I have to add to the true crime conversation is I remember at the height of Serial, a radio station had a listening party in our area with drinks and such. It was packed. I remember mentioning it on here and people being like "That's kind of weird." And I didn't think about it that way until someone said it. It was weird that we were kind of celebrating this case and theorizing about it, etc., especially to the point where 100+ people were gathering in a room to listen to it. I think about that when I see true crime conventions and such.

 

Not necessary

 

Trying to trash a dead man as a “junkie” and transphobe, for a lineup he did not put together, is absolute loser shit

 

Big yikes asshole

 

No, because addiction is a disease and the losses attributed to it are tragic. To care about and want to understand addiction, there’s no place for calling victims of addiction “junkies” and tying them to problematic members of a tribute lineup put together after the person has passed. It’s inane.

 

WashedOut coming in with maybe the shittiest comment I’ve seen on this site in ages. What an absolute awful take to have.

 

Sometimes you really just don't need to have a "take."

 

Jesus Christ. People don’t wake up one day and decide to abuse substances. Like… how can you (washedout) not see that it’s a very long process with a thousand different factors for people to get to that point.

 

what a goddamn herb

also, last time i checked, someone enjoying the comedy of maybe the biggest comedian on the planet (who is definitely a transphobe) doesn’t also make that person a transphobe. so 0/2. fucking dipshit.

 

amazing to not see the difference between taylor hawkins and jonny craig. let me know when it comes out that taylor raped his ex at knife point and force-injected heroin into her, then maybe your shitty take can stand.