Gang wars: Oakland on Discovery Channel

[Adi Shankara]

is stupid as fuck. I watch that show, and see how they glorify the gang life in Oakland, show off the white gang members in Latino gangs to appeal to whites who want "in on it", and show the sydeshows as if they're a big fun street party.

Even if they don't admit it, we all know these fucking shows glorify gang violence. Oakland is a sad, desperate city, (hell, the East bay is a sad, desperate [I]region[/I) and doesn't need the nation to watch about how "cool" it is that people are getting shot at in the streets. it's so fucking insensitive the way Discovery Channel treats these shows like some escapist game for those who can watch from the safety of suburban homes, I don't even know why they allow that shit on TV (and you just KNOW, the main demographic of that program is young vulnerable people who might potentially join gangs, and upper class suburbanites who watch this shit like a circus freak show)

okay. /rant

[GPDP]

Indeed, there's a very reactionary bend to a lot of shows on TV nowadays, which show the plight of the most oppressed members of society for sheer amusement. Hell, the entirety of the TruTV channel is basically one big show dedicated to this shit.

It's gotten to the point that I won't be surprised if George Carlin's satirical suggestion of an "execution channel" actually comes to be in this fucking country.

[Sasha]

Maybe you should go to an discovery office and make your ideas about their programming known ;)

[fa2991]

Maybe you should go to an discovery office and make your ideas about their programming known ;)

:lol:

[Dimentio]

is stupid as fuck. I watch that show, and see how they glorify the gang life in Oakland, show off the white gang members in Latino gangs to appeal to whites who want "in on it", and show the sydeshows as if they're a big fun street party.

Even if they don't admit it, we all know these fucking shows glorify gang violence. Oakland is a sad, desperate city, (hell, the East bay is a sad, desperate [I]region[/I) and doesn't need the nation to watch about how "cool" it is that people are getting shot at in the streets. it's so fucking insensitive the way Discovery Channel treats these shows like some escapist game for those who can watch from the safety of suburban homes, I don't even know why they allow that shit on TV (and you just KNOW, the main demographic of that program is young vulnerable people who might potentially join gangs, and upper class suburbanites who watch this shit like a circus freak show)

okay. /rant

This is well-known in most western countries that there is a certain fascination with "the other", beginning with the Red Indian novels in the 18th century. In those days, it was the "noble savage". Nowadays, its the "noble gangster". It is a fetischisation and an idealisation of the life of organised crime and its tension in conflict with bourgeois predictability.

[Adi Shankara]

This is well-known in most western countries that there is a certain fascination with "the other", beginning with the Red Indian novels in the 18th century. In those days, it was the "noble savage". Nowadays, its the "noble gangster". It is a fetischisation and an idealisation of the life of organised crime and its tension in conflict with bourgeois predictability.

Maybe a subconscious rebellion against the bourgeois state for being against human nature by default?

[Dimentio]

Maybe a subconscious rebellion against the bourgeois state for being against human nature by default?

Hahaha... possibly. I don't know. You shouldn't ask me about that.

I'm about as conventional you could get. As soon as there is a girl hitting on me, I'm starting to talk the weather or Florentine 16th century artwork, to not give the impression that I'm interested in sex.

[Stand Your Ground]

Maybe a subconscious rebellion against the bourgeois state for being against human nature by default?
Sounds about right, but gangs go off in the wrong direction.

I watched the one about the Imperial Klans of Amerikkka. It was actually surprising that they showed where their main 'base of operations' is.

[hemlock]

Gang violence in the modern popular form (crips, bloods, surenos, white gangs, folks and peoples) is a direct byproduct of the government using drugs to destroy revolutionary movements in the 60s and 70s.

By siphoning drugs into poor communities of all colors, you dramatically decrease their will to cooperate and unite against various social, environmental and property abuses carried out on the poor regularly due to competition for resources among drug gangs. You also maintain the ever useful "racial divide" among the lower class folk, which is food for elections and maintaining upper-class european empowerment in America.

The discovery channel is not different than the history channel IMO, which spends 75% of its air time glorifying either hitler, the confederates or the israelis. The old DC was about learning about other creatures and ecosystems of the world.

Now its all learning about the useless/defunct/damaging logging industry (ax men) or rural right wing truckers (ice road truckers) and alaskan fishers (most dangerous catch). They have basically 'foxed' out.

[Ele'ill]

Gang violence in the modern popular form (crips, bloods, surenos, white gangs, folks and peoples) is a direct byproduct of the government using drugs to destroy revolutionary movements in the 60s and 70s.

By siphoning drugs into poor communities of all colors, you dramatically decrease their will to cooperate and unite against various social, environmental and property abuses carried out on the poor regularly due to competition for resources among drug gangs. You also maintain the ever useful "racial divide" among the lower class folk, which is food for elections and maintaining upper-class european empowerment in America.

The discovery channel is not different than the history channel IMO, which spends 75% of its air time glorifying either hitler, the confederates or the israelis. The old DC was about learning about other creatures and ecosystems of the world.

Now its all learning about the useless/defunct/damaging logging industry (ax men) or rural right wing truckers (ice road truckers) and alaskan fishers (most dangerous catch). They have basically 'foxed' out.


:thumbup1:

[NoOneIsIllegal]

Isn't there a lot of left groups/branches in Oakland like PSL, ISO, AK Press, and others? I rather watch programming from such groups than gang-bangs.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Maybe you should go to an discovery office and make your ideas about their programming known ;)I just shit myself with laughter.


I watch that show, and see how they glorify the gang life in OaklandThis is not my problem with this show at all. If they are glorifying gang-life, then Hitler's rants were attempts at glorifying what he saw as the power of Jewish people to politically organize effectively and have good financial sense.

This show is promoting sensationalized racist myths about Oakland. While there is a serious problem with crime and violence here, it is not the "war-zone" described by this series. Trust me, I have white skin and am a daily pedestrian in one of the neighborhoods they talk about. There was a kid killed about 2 blocks from my house a year and a half ago, but within that same time, police have shot two people within a mile of my apartment. On a daily basis I am much more afraid of being hit by a car than anyone messing with me. And only once did anyone give me shit and it's because they were drunk. I work in Berkeley and have had many more near-violent interactions with drunk college students than people in my neighborhood where people know eachother and lookout for eachother.

The series originally claimed that a "handful of cops" [truth: the highest paid cops in California with a starting salary of $70k before benefits] hold back "10,000 gang members which even the police say is a huge exaggeration. The police say it's 2,000 gang members in Oakland and the series had to change its intro to replace the 10,000 figure with the 2,000 one. This show is not glorifying, it's fear-mongering and distorting - they don't treat it as escapism, they show people like they are "primitives" and treat the show like it's a nature documentary about Tigers or some shit. Tigers hunt because they do naturally... this show treats people like they join a gang "naturally", not like crime has anything to do with high unemployment, racism, and oppression.

P.S. what's wrong with sydeshows? It would be better if people were provided a space to do this, but instead its always used as a scapegoat and a way for politicians to demand curfews or more police. As long as I have been alive the media and politicians demonize weekend cruises and now, in Oakland, sydeshows. Funny how they glorify a cruise when it's white kids in the Bay Area in "American Graffiti". Yeah, sometimes someone gets into a fight at one of these or hit by a car doing a trick or someone shoots a gun... know where else that happens? Fights = every bar in the US. Hit by a car = well I suppose no one ever gets hurt at a rodeo either! Someone shoots a gun = a dance club, bar or rodeo!

[Os Cangaceiros]

Have you ever seen the documentary called Crips and Bloods: Made in America? One of the statistics in that was pretty fucked up, that being that 15,000 gang-related murders have taken place in LA over the last two decades.

[bcbm]

Now its all learning about the useless/defunct/damaging logging industry (ax men) or rural right wing truckers (ice road truckers) and alaskan fishers (most dangerous catch).

yeah who wants to watch tv about a bunch of fucking proles, god

[Os Cangaceiros]

Deadliest Catch does kind of piss me off, actually, because whenever I explain my former employment history, well-intentioned morons always say, "Oh, you mean it was like Deadliest Catch?"

No, it's actually not anything at all like Deadliest Catch. Although sometimes I want to say "YEAH! It's exactly like Deadliest Catch! I take my life in my fucking hands whenever I do as much as step foot on the deck of a boat!"

The guys on that show always seemed to get into fights in the bars whenever they docked in my town. :rolleyes: They're a bunch of pricks in general, as are many fishermen. I can understand why people find them TV-worthy, though...it is an interesting occupation.

[Adi Shankara]

P.S. what's wrong with sydeshows?

The fact that people die at these all the time; I was at one near the 2200 Ohio ave block in Richmond two years back, and it was ridiculous; I think I saw two people get fucked up badly enough to be sent to the hospital that night, and then near the liquor store later there was a chalk outline the next morning; people die at these, they are fun but fuck they're risky and almost always turn violent, probably 90% of the time.


As long as I have been alive the media and politicians demonize weekend cruises and now, in Oakland, sydeshows. Funny how they glorify a cruise when it's white kids in the Bay Area in "American Graffiti". Yeah, sometimes someone gets into a fight at one of these or hit by a car doing a trick or someone shoots a gun... know where else that happens? Fights = every bar in the US. Hit by a car = well I suppose no one ever gets hurt at a rodeo either! Someone shoots a gun = a dance club, bar or rodeo!

It's alot different at the sydeshows though. I don't know how they are in Oakland, but the ones I'm used to in Berkeley and San Francisco almost always turn violent since they're attended by rival gangs of different sets, and it always ends with someone going to the hospital, or if the police break it early, a fucking riot that ends with random looting and street races that endanger everyone, including the mostly black and central American local residents.

[Jimmie Higgins]

The fact that people die at these all the time; I was at one near the 2200 Ohio ave block in Richmond two years back, and it was ridiculous; I think I saw two people get fucked up badly enough to be sent to the hospital that night, and then near the liquor store later there was a chalk outline the next morning; people die at these, they are fun but fuck they're risky and almost always turn violent, probably 90% of the time.

It's alot different at the sydeshows though. I don't know how they are in Oakland, but the ones I'm used to in Berkeley and San Francisco almost always turn violent since they're attended by rival gangs of different sets, and it always ends with someone going to the hospital, or if the police break it early, a fucking riot that ends with random looting and street races that endanger everyone, including the mostly black and central American local residents.

It's the same in Oakland, though I don't think people die all the time at them. But my point is that things like this have gone on for as long as cars have been around and in Oakland, politicians cracked down on them to make a name for themselves and used the media hype about sydeshows to try and pass curfew laws and so on. When I was in high school, it was all about scapegoating the near-by cruise.

Cruises, sydeshows, scraper-bike stuff, backyard wrestling, stock-car racing and so on is just people having fun and there are two ways that our society usually handles it: crack-down and scapegoat the participants, or provide a space for it to be done in a more safe way. Ghostriding is considered stupid, but stock-car racing is considered sport! Running with the bulls is considered a party! Rock climbing, cave-diving, cliff-jumping, rafting, base-jumping, hang-gliding... all of these are dangerous, but not of major concern to politicians and the media.


In the US alone, there were more than 20,000 reported injuries last year alone, making cheerleading the world’s most injury-prone sport in the world for women.


The Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) Race is a motorcycle racing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_sport) event held on the Isle of Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Man) and was for many years the most prestigious motor-cycle race in the world.This race has cause over 231 deaths which means more than 2 per race on average.

[TheCultofAbeLincoln]

The east bay region in general is not a sad, desperate region. I enjoyed living there quite a bit though granted I lived in contra costa county. I'll let jimmie higgins defend the rest of the region, just saying.

[Jimmie Higgins]

The east bay region in general is not a sad, desperate region. I enjoyed living there quite a bit though granted I lived in contra costa county. I'll let jimmie higgins defend the rest of the region, just saying.Except for Alameda. Or as a resident there I know calls it, the "A-hole".

Just kidding. Yeah the area has problems - but violence is they symptom, the causes are unemployment, ridiculous inequality (from the working class flatlands you get to look up at the multi-million-dollar homes on the hills two miles away), heavy-handed police, racial profiling, poor housing, an education system where teachers are the lowest paid in the state (Oakland school district) are the real source of problems, but the politicians and media only give this lip-service when they aren't ignoring it.

Personally, to me, hyphy, sydeshows, scraper-bikes, all remind me of the punk scene when I was younger... it's working class creativity (the bikes and hyphy movement) and also just an escape for people. We live in a dumb culture, why not let our hair down and get stupid dumb and hyphy sometimes? For me it was being in mosh pits, drinking a 40oz and a half (that's all I could ever manage) and a joint and all that, for our British comrades it was probably dancing in a club while on E all night (a scene which had it's own bad rep for violence in places like Manchester from what I understand), but it's all the same idea.

[bailey_187]

They try do these shows in the UK sometimes. They are also shit. All they do is get some kids on camera to talk nonsense then talk to some police and families.


You should watch Jersey Shore instead. Thats shit is funny. TV about rich italians partying and being stupid and funny>>>>>>>>>docs about lumpen prole kids killing eachother.

[Pirate Utopian]

Is hyphy still alive?, it's good music.

[bailey_187]

Is hyphy still alive?, it's good music.

lol well i aint hear DJ Semtex speak about it i dont think, and he used to be pushing it hard

[Jimmie Higgins]

Is hyphy still alive?, it's good music.Well Mac Dre isn't.

The cultural aspects of the "hyphy movement" are alive and well in Oakland, but the music seems to be dropping off somewhat in the last couple of years. But I could be wrong.

Also since "tell me when to go" came out there has been a proliferation of hipsters mocking or ironically adopting hyphy, which is elitist and sucks. People complained when white kids began dominating hip-hop shows and CD sales in the 1990s, but I have to say, it's much worse now that white hipsters reject hip-hop and mock it all the time - at least that's what it seems like in the Bay Area.

[Adi Shankara]

Well Mac Dre isn't.

http://www.jezebelmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/mac1.jpg

I really was saddened to hear of his death.

[synthesis]

"It's all about survival / but jealous rivals make it hard for us to do this / so everybody got a gun, but when we was younger / our only weapon was our two fists."

I thought the media's treatment of ghost-riding was completely ridiculous. Many of the same artists who rapped about ghost-riding also rapped about drugs and violence - but affluent white people (usually) don't die doing that shit. If suburban white kids were "breaking bottles over the heads of models," Mistah Fab would be on Fox News, apologizing for that.

A song I like.
(http://mistahfab.bandcamp.com/track/if-if-was-a-5th)