Idle Worshipping Got Y’all Looking Stupid (and Islamophobic).

Lupe Fiasco is a genius!

Something you might’ve said or heard someone say. Lupe Fiasco is a highly intelligent brother who tends to have something thought provoking to say in his music and in every day conversation. I agree that this cultured specimen is a genius, but being a genius does not mean one is always right, always saying something smart nor does it mean we always have to agree with someone we call genius. Y’all call Kanye West a genius for some reason and yet you’re voting for Biden, not him or Trump. If you’re smart enough to know not all “genius’” make statements you agree with then you should take that same approach when it comes to the other celebrities you call “genius.”

Lupe Fiasco does these livestreams on Instagram and on these streams he’s talking to fans/viewers about anything. Unlike most other celebs he’ll answer one or a few of your questions or respond to comments you’ve made no matter what it is because for the most part he’s not avoiding anything. I always catch these streams when he’s in the middle of saying something and the two that I caught this week were enough for me to want to speak on what I’ve seen and heard during both streams.

Sweden’s Taxes.

During one of the streams Lupe was talking about people from other countries talking down on America, particularly focusing on the horrible manner this country is handling the Coronavirus Pandemic. I’m not going to back in time to find direct quotes (because I can’t) but I know and remember what was said. “I seent it.” Sweden was brought up because someone in the comment section asked Lupe to speak on Sweden right after he made a comment saying he can say a lot of bad things about other countries that are just as bad or even worse than the bad things he can say about America. Lupe brought up Sweden’s poor handling of the Coronavirus, quoting the leader’s “herd immunity” stance right when the pandemic started. He also brought up Sweden having the highest tax rate in the world. Apparently they tax McDonald’s workers the same amount they’re taxing the uber-rich over there in Sweden. Someone made a comment alluding to the taxes going toward the healthcare there and not to the military. Lupe’s response? “It doesn’t matter. Still high taxes.” But it does matter.

I get it, high taxes are a bitch. I’m assuming of course, I’ve never been in any financial position in life to where I’d be paying the taxes Donald Trump should be paying (even though I still pay more than he does). Taxes in general suck, but I’d rather have my taxes go toward covering healthcare and education than going to funding wars and ultimately my destruction when/if this country wages another bloody massacre attempt on African Americans. Shit, you see what’s going on outside… Anyways, this is just one of the examples of Lupe not always being right. Love the guy, but give me “free” healthcare any day, any second of any year. If you have to tax me more for it, then so be it, as long as Donald Trump, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and the rest of them pay their part. And no I’m not for equal taxes. Makes zero sense to tax someone making 10K a month or less the same amount of money as someone making 500K a month or more. That’s just as dumb as herd immunity. Raise my taxes (if it means healthcare and education is covered) but raised their taxes (the 1%) as well. Hell, just tax them and leave the rest of us alone, fuck it.

Benevolent-Islamophobia.

Here’s where things get sticky icky. Yesterday I tuned into another Lupe livestream and catch him mid-monologue again. This time he’s talking about judging Muslims and how people shouldn’t be afraid to admit that they judge Muslims when out in public. He also made it clear that we shouldn’t judge them all and think of them as terrorist. He makes a the statement “we all do it” referring to people stereotyping Muslims. Back in high school, one of the deans name last name was “Alqumuri.” I’m sure I messed up the spelling so here’s the pronunciation [al-qum-murry]. Long story short, the man used to get on my nerves purposely because I was acting like the hoodrat that I wasn’t and he tried setting me straight a couple times by publicly shaming me in front of others students. My nickname for him was “Mr. Alquadamuri.” Most definitely the most islamophobic shit I’ve ever thought of and I wish my dark mind wasn’t genius enough to think of such a messed up nickname to call somebody who was actually a really nice guy who would let me get away with “minor” uniform infractions as long as I wore my Chicago Cubs jersey to school and took it off before I stepped in the building. Sure, my comment was only directed toward him and not the entire Islamic faith, but it was still wrong. It’s like calling one gay person a f*ggot, but justifying it with “I’m not talking about all gay people. Just him.” Derogatory words and statements hold weight and there’s a reason why you used that word toward a gay person and not some other word, whether that was your first time using it or not. My “Al quadamuri” joke didn’t last longer than freshmen year. Once my unjustified anger and distain for this Muslim man went away I was able to see where my faults were in everything I did, not just the mean spirited nickname. I share that story with y’all hoping whatever islamophobic thoughts you have you learn to do away with them because they are not justified at all. Even if the person is a dick. There’s bad people apples in every group. Don’t let those bad apples spoil the rot. Unless you’re talking about cops.

Idiots Idle Worshipping.

I’ll give credit to Lupe again, he did mention that it isn’t right for people to think that way about all Muslims, but he then went back to making comments that alluded to the religion being the blame for why people are stereotyping Muslims and are straight up islamophobes. People all in the comments agreeing and laughing face emojing Lupe’s statements that I could be taking out of context, but uh, I still think a conversation needs to be had. A more serious one because Lupe, although serious during these livestreams his commentary is much like mine during my podcast (and blog post). We sprinkle in jokes here and there to make some of our points and sarcasm is heavy because who the fuck wants to be so goddamn serious all the time? But even I know clarification, as tedious as it can be is a must sometimes because mothafuckas are just that stupid. There’s this thing people do whenever a celebrity speaks and that thing is latch onto every single word that celebrity says. Some people do a good job at discernment while others just take everything as gospel because of the celebrities stature. Lupe Fiasco is highly regarded as a genius, maybe a prophet to some folks and because of that you see people who will take everything he says, whether serious or not as “enlightened” or “prophetic.” Someone actually admitted that he was afraid of Mosque. His comment exactly was “I’m afraid of Mosque.” Am I the only one who can see how dangerous a comment like that is? I clicked off the stream after seeing that comment and briefly reading other ignorant islamophobic statements from people just trying to be seen by Lupe. Some of those statements may have come from people who were just saying shit to get a reaction from him while others may have been truly serious. Whatever the case is one’s love and admiration for somebody, celebrity or not should never cloud one’s personal judgement or get them to break character just to be seen by that person. That shit is wack and stupid. No group of people should have to be dealt with your harsh judgement of them just because you want a celebrity to read your comment and react to it. Is it really that serious for you to be out here putting down an entire group of people just to say “Lupe Fiasco read and reacted to my comment.” Replace Lupe with any other celeb and the same message applies.