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and yet there remains a most curious paradox insofar as eminem mathers shady is the most creative and committed woman hater his genre has ever known he remains the only misogynist in rap to have written at least three songs against domestic violence from eminem s controversial video love the way you lie on first reading that seems a rather contrarian statement after all on 97 bonnie clyde he raps about dumping his dead wife s body on the unlistenably gruesome kim he kills her before our very ears and on the recently released love the way you lie he threatens to tie her up set the house on fire the fawcett society this ain t yet the shock of hearing those songs the controversy they caused and the concern about the effect these kinds of messages have on his young fans shouldn t obscure the fact that mathers succeeds in casting himself in the most despicable light whether it s the chilling calm and pathetic justifications of 97 bonnie clyde the unhinged breakdown of kim or the conflicted quasi apologies of love the way you lie the same characteristics creep out of the speakers constantly jealous insecure obsessive possessive resorting to violence every time he loses control and incapable of taking responsibility for his behaviour whatever else might be troubling about the messages mathers submits in these songs he makes one thing clear these are the characteristics of an abuser but these aren t reasons to lionise mathers indeed they place his less violent woman hating in an even more unsettling context further suggesting that his misogyny can t just be passed off as the ranting of his lunatic alter ego but drawn directly from his own dysfunction the impossibility of distinguishing between the good man marshall and the scoundrel shady is the reason that eminem s artistic value remains undefined contentious some see a man who highlighted savaged the hypocrisies of pop culture american society others see a bully who got rich off the back of the women and homosexuals he threatened with rape humiliation murder ultimately i suspect the final judgement will be a combination of the two an outrageously talented rapper a seriously flawed man who in the end just couldn t decide whether he wanted to be a cartoon maniac or a serious artist confessions of a community organiser august 22 2010 at 8 16 am posted in british politics new labour 3 comments tags fiction from the labour party just weeks after my endorsement i knew there was more to be done as someone with a zeal for progressive politics i voted lib dem in 05 because of the war and in 2010 when they promised a new politics the time had come to become more involved i wasn t sure about that preppy prefect nick clegg but it was still a huge disappointment when he fell into bed with the conservatives it was like watching lois lane fall for lex luthor all over again i did have reservations about joining the labour party after all it was labour who had saddled me with this student debt waged all those terribly terrible wars and made me smoke outside on winter nights instead in of the snug warmth of my sadly departed local was labour really the place for a progressive like me alas the stakes are too high to worry about that the next election will be important definitely more important than 2010 and probably as important as when we got rage against the machine to christmas number one as i told my friends it doesn t matter if you hate the song what matters is that we win that s kinda how i felt about joining the labour party all that was left was to find the candidate who would lead us to victory i researched diligently i visited their websites watched hustings online and read their essays for the fabians i was still none the wiser then one night i discovered a video that changed everything his supporters posted this inspiring professional promo set to a tune by boy meets girl who doesn t love boy meets girl packed with images of their man looking dynamic leaderlike and sticking it to the tories i soon made my endorsement public image by wef i support david miliband because he is a progressive i support him because he knows that we need to make cuts just by a few billion less than those other guys i support him because only he knows how to cut fairly cut progressively i support him because after 100 days of a condem government britain is crying out for change and that change is a return to everything we wanted to change in the first place the endorsement was my facebook status for three days within hours it had been liked by three friends i had to keep the momentum going i shared links to speeches david made his statements on the big issues i tried to show his human side too his sense of humour his sense of fun the responses were hugely encouraging only one ex friend blocked my facebook account and he was a no good abbottite anyway but i knew this wasn t enough that there was more to do after all did barack obama get to the white house through people just squatting in their bedrooms pasting youtube clips on their friends walls i knew that i had to step my game up to become the change i wanted to see then i finally took the plunge i decided to host a house meeting for david miliband my mind danced with opportunities i read saul alinsky and david plouffe downloaded powerpoint slides about community organising and drew mind maps for how i could sell david to my friends and neighbours could david ride a wave of grassroots support all the way to the doors of downing street could we really build an obamaesque movement for change yes we can or so i thought having never organised a community before i wasn t sure how to begin thankfully david had already thought of this he thinks of everything and he uploaded a handy how to guide on his website for a whole week before the meeting it became my bible the only thing standing between me and a disorganised community i quickly began acting on its instructions think of the people you want to invite first start with the local labour party members who you know are active in your local area this may include local councilors the constituency mp and other activists then think about other people in your community that could make change locally for example friends neighbours the school head teacher faith leaders in your area try to invite people who already have a following of others remember they don t have to be members of the party at the moment i was certainly relieved that invitees didn t need to be members yet of all my friends i knew of no one who was already a party member and i didn t fancy being alone at my own party my first targets were those who already have a following of others my best friend andy was first as he runs one of the most popular world of warcraft blogs in the uk if i impressed him david s name could soon spread like a contagion through the wow universe maybe even second life then there was diane a liberal art teacher who dressed like woodstock was the point at which fashion had reached its apex diane might occasionally be prone to some off message ideas like that teenage delinquency is a result of chernobyl but her ability to speak with intense sincerity about the most banal subjects suggested she would make a fine canvasser there was also emily emily didn t have any followers wasn t a member of the community i was organising and was of no importance whatsoever to mine david s movement for change she was also a bit too left to be progressive i gathered from her facebook updates that when she wasn t dribbling over the deadbeat vegan boyfriend she considered ed miliband to be pretty cool for a nu lab still i m told that these events thrive on lively discussion and maybe her kooky irresponsible leftism would serve to highlight david s reassuring reasonableness that s the only reason she was invited i m hosting a house meeting as part of david s leadership campaign to bring people together in the community to discuss how we can be part of the movement for change at a local level it will be a chance to share stories build relationships and discuss what we would like to change in this area and how we can help make david leader of the labour party to take this forward i copied the email and just as david instructed invited 30 people from all professions and walks of life everything from doctors to decorators rabbis to gym instructors but the coup de grace the one david and i really wanted was michael knightley head of the local secondary school if i could get him to attend then i would really land in the big leagues of community organising what s more basingstoke would be david s for the taking with the invites sent and his campaign informed david his high profile supporters sometimes ring up during the events i followed david s advice and did some research soon i was loaded up on stories of his policy making heroics the work on social justice his time as labour s head of policy the sensitive pragmatic way he handled those accusations of torture i realised then that the comparisons with the obama campaign were grossly unfair when obama ran he had nothing but the audacity of hope compare that to david s 13 years of turning hopes into realities there really was no contest finally the big day arrived this of all days was the time to follow david s instruction manual to the letter get in from work give the place a quick vacuum and general tidy or not if you re not that type put the oven on and get the nibbles in if there are drinks get them chilling pick some music get labour party membership forms at the ready the spread was fit for a prime minister plates were stacked high with sandwiches samosas and onion bhajis there were sausage rolls fruit bowls and scotched eds take that little brother i even concocted a cocktail the milibomb out of strawberry schnapps when the guests entered the living room dubbed the cabinet office for the night that same boy meets girl song would be at the top of the playlist its title things can only get better a good 10 minutes after my meeting was due to start the first guest arrived andy apologised for being late explaining that he d just emerged victorious from a heated debate about the new world of warcraft expansion pack who s this i ask of the stocky figure stood behind him oh i thought i d bring a plus one this is gary he works for a trade union as he held out his hand i looked at him with apprehension and mistrust having a trade unionist there didn t just add pressure for everything going to plan it also doubled the competition i knew all about labour s problem with entryists and it wasn t going to happen in my flat this was my community i would be organising it and i would take the credit for making basingstoke a hotbed of milimania besides if david really cared about having trade unionists on board he would have asked them i left them to the drinks and nibbles while i stood by the window fiddling with the blinds and praying the passing cars carried guests in search of somewhere to park another 5 minutes passed before diane turned up with a tray of gluten free chocolate brownies oh well this is a nice size for a meeting she said sympathetically very exclusive isn t it i could just about cope with a low turnout i bet even david plouffe had his disappointments when he started out no it was what was still to come that brought an abrupt end to my community organising i was helping myself to another milibomb when the phone rang finally i thought someone who s on their way and in need of directions soon we ll have a proper gathering hello hiya this is cassie from the david miliband campaign i m just ringing to ask how your house meeting is going oh it s going great i lied before dreaming up an excuse for the poor showing there s a bit of a snarl up on the way into basingstoke so some guests are running a bit late but we ve still got a good crowd to start with i turned to the guests and raised a feeble thumbs up oh that s great david was very impressed by the number of notables on your guest list how many of those do you think are attending this evening for instance will mr knightley be there definitely i replied voice starting to quiver under the weight of the lie michael s just stuck in traffic he ll be here any minute excellent in that case you should expect to receive a phone call from david sometime between 8 and 9pm he d love to hear your ideas it was then that emily entered the room ushered in by the uninvited and possibly lecherous entryist who was clearly having no problem making himself at home i ll show him i thought that s great news cassie i turned to emily guys the right honourable david miliband is calling us later so we can share our ideas no pressure now i said my goodbyes and hung up the phone it was at once my greatest achievement and my biggest defeat the future leader of the labour party the future prime minister was about to ring me at home at an event in his honour an event which had four attendees one of whom wasn t even invited should i dance or scream and what would i say to him if he calls i poured myself another milibomb and retreated to the kitchen four guests i repeated in disbelief four fucking guests panic was setting in and that would do me no good at all this was a time for cool tempers and clear minds so i turned again to the miliband house meeting manual returned to the cabinet office and as per instruction played david s house meeting intro on youtube just as david instructed we went on to talk about the challenges in our areas everyone spoke about an issue close to their hearts andy got very exercised about broadband speeds diane found the new recycling system terribly confusing and the entryist his plate bulging from all the food he d helped himself to found a way to fit tories and cuts into every other sentence emily started banging on about her women s issues mentioning some refuge that d had its funding cut as she spoke i wondered quietly whether she might join my movement for change after all i would have to ask her at the end of the night 3 what frustrates you about the labour party and why how can we change that during and after david s leadership campaign oh don t mention the war joked the entryist his mouth full with scotched eds i tossed him my most studied scowl and moved the discussion along yes well we would all make better decisions if we had time machines wouldn t we now what about i was never keen diane interrupted on the way they seemed to like micromanaging our lives in what way i asked fully expecting a well meaning but endearingly daft response well they did seem to spend an awful lot of time telling people how they should live all those scary adverts about what we drink and what we eat and all that time telling people where they can and can t smoke it all just got a bit silly really when labour was in power i bet house parties even had instruction manuals hear hear andy replied too much of this nanny state i slipped david s instruction manual un...
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