Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Mea Culpa


RE: Allow Me to Retort...

Byron Crawford thought the infamous Rihanna picture was offensive, so that means that I clearly stepped over the line. That's right, Bol is my litmus test for offensive material. As you may have noticed, I've since taken down the photo that caused this mini-uproar.

It was done in haste, with little thought given to the reaction(s) it'd receive. I was inspired by some work I'd seen on DeviantArt, a style which I'd never experimented with on Photoshop (see here). Poor taste or cool gfx, it's your choice. Regardless of the nuance, the photo insulted and offended many more people than I thought it would. We have a nice following of readers and subscribers to the blog, but given that we don't get too many comments, I'm usually clueless as to what your reactions are to my posts. At least I know that this one certainly crossed the line...

Throughout the discussion, my support for Obama and the good-cause links listed on my sidebar (such as Stop the Violence) were brought up so as to demonstrate an alleged moral duplicity on my part. I hear the argument, and it's a fair one. But keep into consideration the fact that #1) my support for Obama began since before I started this blog, and #2) good-cause links have always been on our sidebar since day one (and over time, I've added more and more of them). Thanks to archive.org, I can prove it to you! This is what Hip Hop Is Read looked like back in June of 2007 (our first month):

My Democratic Debate Scorecard (Archive)

Memories... I've taken down the photo not only because it offended people, but also due to the fact that it contradicted the socially-conscious vibes I do my best to share and display on the blog. Kudos to the reader(s) who pointed out this clear err in unintentional hypocrisy. In summation, I ask that you please don't let a momentary lapse in judgment cloud your vision of the kind of person that I am. With that, I apologize for any offense taken to the photo I posted. An advance thank-you is in order to the folks that accept my apology. To those that do not, I fully understand. How can I make it up to you?

Sincerely,


P.S. If you'd like to discuss the matter further, please either leave a comment below, or hit me up with a Tweet or DM on Twitter. Thank you.