What's the Difference? - part 1

Y'know what has consistently gotten me in trouble over the years? There are things in this world that are almost the same as one another, that are considered different due solely to baseless prejudices and petty hairsplitting. I, in my lifelong pursuit of truth and honesty, have frequently said that I don't see much difference between such things. To which, the inevitable response is [imagine an annoyed 14 year old girl] "(sigh) No, they're tewwwwtally different. Guyyy!". Well, folks, I've got a forum now for whatever crap leaks from my over sized melon, and I no longer care that making spurious connections between unlike things is a symptom of schizophrenia. Here, then, is the first in a series of columns about things that are supposed to be different but really aren't.

Part 1 : Cowboys and Homeboys

Country Western music and Hip Hop are the same thing. Or rather, they are the same phenomenon, serving the same psychological purpose. Here's a test: Which one am I describing?

A popular music form, dominated by males, designed to reinforce the status quo of a specific racial and economic demographic, originally written, performed, and appreciated only by the poor and disenfranchised but recently absorbed by pop culture and multinational corporations, now often performed by millionaires, and appreciated by even the upper strata of society, whose subject matter consists of delusions of grandeur, acquisition of sex and material possessions from a formerly impoverished state, simultaneous celebration and lamentation of substance abuse, jingoistic us-against-them sentiments, lamentation of failures, celebration of meager accomplishments, boasting about circumventing the law, loving descriptions of firearms, and the celebration of one's vehicle of choice.

So which one am I describing? If you said both, you would be right. So what's the difference? Black and white (or rather brown and pink), urban and rural. That's all. Pretty petty distinction if you ask me.