Last night’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance (7.26) began with choreographer Mia Michaels apologizing for a jacket she had worn on the previous night’s episode. Apparently, it was a military jacket (USMC?), but with the insignias sewed on upside down.

Mia claims that she had been given the jacket by a designer-friend, and had no idea that it signified anything at all. I don’t think there’s any reason not to believe her, but I do want to come back to this, especially because Apostropha has an awesome post on a similar situation Cameron Diaz recently faced in Peru.

But back to SYTYCD. One reason Mia’s jacket garnered so much attention is because it appeared in the same episode as Wade Robson’s solo choreography, which in the package preceding its first rendition (by Jamie), he explicitly refers to as anti-war. Or more specifically, he refers to it as “about peace,” which he stutters into “anti-war.”

And the stutter seemed appropriate, because he must know that while he might have gotten away with “peace,” a term that has been emptied of any relation to feeling and action, “anti-war” does still actually say something. Friend and SYTYCD colleague Dan Karaty, however, has already spoken out against Wade, using the sort of vague, awkwardly “diplomatic” cliches that have become epidemic in popular discourse. After pointing out that his own brother is a Marine, Karaty tells USmagazine.com that:

“Everybody has the right to have an opinion,” he says. “Part of the reason our troops are [fighting] is that so we can all have our own opinion. We are given the freedom to do whatever we want conceptually and choreographically, which is a great thing. The producers of the show trust us,” he says, adding that he is unaware of a production policy of clearing routines and themes prior to air. “But,” he insists, “I don’t think So You Think You Can Dance is the right form to express political opinions.”

Karaty can’t quite stay afloat in this sea of borrowed discourse, a discourse that has become one of my pet peeves. I generally accept the claim that American soldiers imagine themselves as fighting for American rights. But I find it disconcerting how this claim has become a way of blocking people from exercising that very right, which of course nullifies the claim itself” “we’re fighting for your right to speak. So shut up.”

This is particularly sad coming from an artist, and Karaty’s self-contradiction reveals at least one of two things: he is pulled between being an artist and supporting the war, or he is pulled between being an artist and being a successful commodity. And, in today’s political climate, the latter term in each possibility is essentially equivalent to the other, in the sense that it doesn’t matter what Karaty actually thinks about the war. What matters is that he thinks it’s his duty to say nothing, to be a good cultural soldier– to never say anything that might jeopardize sponsorship (“The producers of the show trust us”).

Like many of his “hip-hop” routines, Karaty’s thoughts on the matter leave me feeling like I’ve been watching a little one trying to swim in the big kids’ pool– with a kickboard.

Thank god there were some adults on the stage last night! I was happy that Nigel stood up for Robson’s routine, actually appealing to reason by questioning what it means for a society to be up in arms about the words featured in the piece (each dancer wore a shirt with a “peace-related” term written on it: communication, understanding, etc.) The routine, Nigel pointed out, wasn’t anti-American or anti-troop, it was against troops being in Iraq.

And I must say; Nigel’s moment was a quick moment, but it was an important moment that was unfortunately rare for television. And I don’t quite mean this in an against the war way, but more because it was nice to hear anyone say anything– and mean it.

Ironically, the verse of the John Mayer song (“Waiting on the World to Change”) that Robson chose?

it’s hard to beat the system
when we’re standing at a distance
so we keep waiting
waiting on the world to change

now if we had the power
to bring our neighbors home from war
they would have never missed a Christmas
no more ribbons on their door
and when you trust your television
what you get is what you got
cause when they own the information, oh
they can bend it all they want

Well, we better not wait too long, ’cause it’ll all be over before we know it.

Oh, and I got this link via Blogging SYTYCD; it’s a note on the piece (on the “peace”?) on Wade Robson’s website.

But I’m also just interested in this selling books by video thing. Hmm. “Expanded books”? Maybe more later.

Terraforming: the transformation of one kind of space into another, non-native form. The intersection of material power and imagination. Manifest destination.

Arizona, Mars, Iraq–

“The terraforming (literally, “Earth-shaping”) of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, or ecology to be similar to those of Earth in order to make it habitable by humans. The term is sometimes used broadly as a synonym for planetary engineering in general. The concepts of terraforming are rooted both in science fiction and actual science” (Wikipedia).

Fiction and science. Where is Iraq again? Could you point to it easily on a map?

In “Terraforming v. 1,” I noted on the possibilities of maps as imaginative spaces. In Terraforming v.2, I enjoyed how one kind of knowledge might make others possible.

Is this Terraforming v. 3? What should its title be? “Shadowboxing w/o a mirror”?

Whatever, blame it on the youth. According to The Independent, it is our isolationism at work:

Traditionally, the US has bowed to the idea of isolationism, hoping that geography in the form of vast oceans can help act as a protection from other nations. But the survey suggests that such an attitude- both culturally and in terms of interest in overseas travel – is having a woeful impact on Americans’ ability to learn about the wider world.

Does this also account for Mississippi? Hmm. But hey UK: Pot? Kettle? Black?

Whatever.

May 26, 2007
Dublin, Ireland

Dear Democratic Congress,

Hello, my name is Cindy Sheehan and my son Casey Sheehan was killed on April 04, 2004 in Sadr City , Baghdad , Iraq . He was killed when the Republicans still were in control of Congress. Naively, I set off on my tireless campaign calling on Congress to rescind George’s authority to wage his war of terror while asking him “for what noble cause” did Casey and thousands of other have to die. Now, with Democrats in control of Congress, I have lost my optimistic naiveté and have become cynically pessimistic as I see you all caving into as one Daily Kos poster called: “Mr. 28%” [read the rest].

In a second post, written yesterday, she elaborates:

I have come to some heartbreaking conclusions this Memorial Day Morning. These are not spur of the moment reflections, but things I have been meditating on for about a year now. The conclusions that I have slowly and very reluctantly come to are very heartbreaking to me.

The first conclusion is that I was the darling of the so-called left as long as I limited my protests to George Bush and the Republican Party. Of course, I was slandered and libeled by the right as a “tool” of the Democratic Party. This label was to marginalize me and my message. How could a woman have an original thought, or be working outside of our “two-party” system?

However, when I started to hold the Democratic Party to the same standards that I held the Republican Party, support for my cause started to erode and the “left” started labeling me with the same slurs that the right used. I guess no one paid attention to me when I said that the issue of peace and people dying for no reason is not a matter of “right or left”, but “right and wrong.”

I am deemed a radical because I believe that partisan politics should be left to the wayside when hundreds of thousands of people are dying for a war based on lies that is supported by Democrats and Republican alike. It amazes me that people who are sharp on the issues and can zero in like a laser beam on lies, misrepresentations, and political expediency when it comes to one party refuse to recognize it in their own party. Blind party loyalty is dangerous whatever side it occurs on. People of the world look on us Americans as jokes because we allow our political leaders so much murderous latitude and if we don’t find alternatives to this corrupt “two” party system our Representative Republic will die and be replaced with what we are rapidly descending into with nary a check or balance: a fascist corporate wasteland. I am demonized because I don’t see party affiliation or nationality when I look at a person, I see that person’s heart. If someone looks, dresses, acts, talks and votes like a Republican, then why do they deserve support just because he/she calls him/herself a Democrat? [read the rest]

“The aftermath of a car bomb explosion today in a popular market in Amil district in Baghdad.” (NYT)

G-Unit: rap emptied-out, having its new emptiness revealed. Wrong things in wrong places, or random things in right places; uncanny symmetries.

The Uncanny: “a Freudian concept of an instance where something can be familiar, yet foreign at the same time, resulting in a feeling of it being uncomfortably strange.” Mine but not mine. But if not yours, then whose? Many dead.

[Jay-Z]
Ma, I ain’t gotta tell you but it’s ya boy Hov
From the U.S., you just, lay down slow
Catch ya boy minglin’ in England, nettlin’ in the Netherlands
Checkin’ in daily under aliases
We rebellious, we back home, screamin’ leave Iraq alone
But all my soldiers in the field, I will wish you safe return
But only love kills war when will they learn
It’s international Hov, I been havin’ the flow
Before Bin Laden got Manhattan blowed
Before Ronald Reagan got Manhattan blowed
Before I was cappin’ it then back before
Before we had it all day, poppin’ in the hallway
Cop one offa someone to give you more yey
Yea, but that’s another stor-ay
But for now mami turn it around and let the boy play

– Panjabi MC f/ Jay-Z, “Beware of the Boyz.” Or sample it as “Mundian to Bach Ke”

Now you are ready to rewind back to 2003, South Asianified/Middle Easternized beats are all over hip-hop.

Patel in “Bhangra Over Bombs Over Baghdad,” Village Voice, gives us this:

This isn’t like DJ Quik’s “Addicted” or Erick Sermon’s “React” because that’s just hip-hop jackin’ for beats wherever them beats is found. This is jumping on a bhangra track intact, giving a shout to the Neptunes, dropping your BK hustle, and coming out clean on the other side. This is rhythmic dialogue where duplicity indeed exists. And for all my brown folks on the fringes of musical exoticism—the Punjabi Wall Streeters on line at SOB’s, the Sikhs parading down Broadway, the Sean Pauls who DJ over bhangra riddims, and the Lenkys who make them—this is cultural validation.

But then Tina Chadha, also reporting at the Voice, gives us this, “Mix This: Young South Asians’ Love-Hate Relationship with Hip-Hop’s New Indian Beats”:

“Some hip-hop artists don’t give a shit about Indian people,” says Vidya Murthy, a 23-year-old in marketing at an entertainment magazine, reacting to the belly dancing and harems in videos for songs like Truth Hurts’ “Addictive” and Erick Sermon’s “React” that clearly sample Indian music. Sunaina Maira, author of Desis in the House, a study of second-generation Indian Americans growing up in New York, says that for young Indians these images bring back memories of growing up unrecognized and of confronting racism.

But then we finally come to this. Hope? Timbaland at the end of the Chadha article:

“People getting into the beats now don’t know the history. They play-toy with it,” says the Grammy-nominated producer, who researches the culture. “These people have a voice that needs to be heard. We’re trying to make ‘world hip-hop.’ ”

Tim says he doesn’t think this sound is a passing fad: “It’s different enough to last.” Even Truth Hurts, who initially didn’t know India was in Asia, is sticking with the Indian rap game. “I think us just sampling Indian music and trying to make it our own gets cheesy after a while,” says Truth. “That’s why I’m working with the new U.K. bhangra producers, the Krey Twinz. And I’m definitely going to have Indian people in my video and show the culture.” She’s even set to appear in an “America meets Bollywood” film. Sermon, who says he didn’t know his song was offensive until now, promises next time he’ll be more aware. “With Panjabi MC’s song there is going to be a surge of people asking questions and learning more,” he assures.

Hmm. My sense of hope in culture and cultural difference is improved (though my upcoming Angelina Jolie post might put the kibosh on that!)

It’s too bad it’s time for me to stop, because I wonder where Shakira fits into this.

But I do think that if I am to continue this post, which I might later in the week, I want to go back to where I began, back to the death, and to the politics of the global uncanny.