I Requested That Verizon Drop Their Deal With 1938media

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chalkboard3 I don’t think it’s a secret as to why I did it, but in case you don’t know, Loren Feldman of 1983media did a video last year entitled “Techn****”, which basically put black people in a bad light. He asked where were the African-American tech bloggers and then proceeded to put on a parody of a “gangster” tech blogger that perpetuated many stereotypes that African-Americans already face due to ignorance of a variety of things. No I’m not linking to his ****.

Matthew Ingram asked if that means his content shouldn’t be allowed on Verizon.

But does that mean his content shouldn’t be allowed on Verizon’s mobile service? No. I think when it comes to comedy and critical commentary of all kinds — satire or otherwise — we have to offer a lot wider latitude than we might otherwise. Freedom of speech shouldn’t be just a flag that we wave from time to time whenever it suits us. It’s an important principle. Loren should be free to make and distribute his content, and others are free not to watch it. Somehow I doubt that a mega-corporation like Verizon is going to see it that way, however.

While Feldman does have a right to Freedom of Speech, that doesn’t mean customers of Verizon should support it nor hear it or see it.

As a customer of Verizon, I don’t want to contribute to Feldman’s bank account and I don’t want Verizon to do so either. If other customers feel the same then guess what? “The customer is always right". While that quote isn’t true, in this case we have valid reasons for not wanting his filth on the network where it can be spread and promoted. It’s promoting stereotypes that are perpetuated throughout the world on various levels and one that I as a black female do not wish to see supported on any level.

The video was degrading. He was degrading an entire community and it should not be supported by Verizon nor its customers. It hit close to home and not necessarily because it was true on some levels, but because it was negative on every level. It was an ignorant video and one that mocked a small percentage of the African-American community. Yet, that particular part of the community is the most profile and we can all guess why. Everyone loves drama.

While there may not be a bunch of African-American tech bloggers, there are numerous prominent African-Americans in the tech community. I follow a few of them on Twitter and one of them happens to be a mentor of mine: Wayne Sutton.

Maybe next time Feldman will think twice about playing pranks on people, let alone entire communities. Maybe you can laugh it off because it doesn’t relate to you. Maybe you can shrug it off because you really don’t care. I can’t and I’m not willing to stand by and play possum to the effects that it has on one of the communities that I’m apart of and the one that has the most significant role in who I am and how people may initially perceive me.

In the end, I feel like he was trying to degrade me because I am a black tech blogger, not a n*****. You ask where we are? Well here is one.

  • http://eckenrodehouse.net n8k99

    i am totally with you, unfortunately there is a market for this sort of product, look at imus, stern; and verizon may indeed go through with it- however i trust that if this flaps up much more so tha it gets closer to the mainstream surface then verizon will have to think about their corporate image- thats the tricky part about coming in sidewys to the content business.

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  • http://mspixel.com bukolae

    Thank you for blogging about this Corvida. The videos were tasteless and Verizon should have done its homework before agreeing to distribute Feldman's content.
    Good news! It looks like Verizon has cut ties with 1938 Media and removed the content by Feldman yesterday according to TechCrunch. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/07/07/1938-media…

  • http://www.mapleleaftwo.com/ Tris Hussey

    There is a line, he crossed it, he's paying for it. While Mathew has a point, I think the right call was made here. It's a fine line and a gut feeling thing. Freedom of speech is a right, and one worth protecting, but as a society we can't tolerate a point being made in such a way that does more harm than good.

    We need more women in tech, we need more everyone in tech. It's about brains, savvy, guts and vision. I want my daughter to be just as accepted as I was.

    Good thing you've got all the above in quantity

  • http://www.krishworld.com/blog/ krishnan

    I am totally with you Corvida. Loren and people who justify his nonsense take the freedom of speech idea to an extreme. With freedom of speech comes the huge responsibility and if people don't exercise this responsibility, they should face the consequences. I am sure Loren knows about it and he may or may not care about it. The sad part is the attitude of a group in the tech community who encourage such nonsense. If we have to take the arguments of people like Allen Stern, then Freedom to hold guns will imply freedom to shoot anyone. Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom to insult people. Period.

  • John Row

    What do you think of Ali G? What do you think of the redneck comedy tour? Girl you are going to be busy writing letters with the precendent you have set here – lets hope you are consistant!

  • http://backtype.com/alwillis Albert Willis

    Corvida—way to represent! Keep it up.

  • http://nathanrein.com Nathan

    I support you completely. Anyone with an ounce of brains should have picked up on the fact that blackface is not acceptable for white comics in 2008. Not as satire, not as “conversation-starter,” not as pushing the envelope. No way.

  • http://www.venturebeat.com Eric Eldon

    Yeah, Corvida, thank you so much for taking the time to help shut that bullshit down.

  • http://simonstudiotheatre.blogspot.com simonstudio
  • http://www.gregorylent.tumblr.com gregorylent

    i had no idea you were a black female, i live in a world where those terms have no meaning and actually indicate a kind of egoic ignorance … like if you think you are your body, not much i can say to you, you are addicted to limitation

  • http://www.gregorylent.tumblr.com gregorylent

    i despise political correctness. he is an idiot, but still, being pc is a disease … anything is acceptable in a mature world

  • http://realtech.burningbird.net Shelley

    There is no “freedom of speech” among corporations. The only way Feldman would be denied freedom of speech is if the government intervened and he was no longer able to publish his material.

    You pressured a corporate entity. Chances are, that entity wasn't overly enthusiastic about Feldman in the first place, and you gave the company the excuse to pull his material.

    In addition, it was the other organizations that protested his inclusion also helped get his videos pulled.

  • http://elliottback.com Elliott Back

    Loren's 2007 video which lost his Verizon partnership wasn't even on the Verizon network; rather they dropped him because others found his video distasteful, assumed his moral values were lacking, and that his unsavory reputation tainted Verizon's good name. So the “that doesn’t mean customers of Verizon should support it nor hear it or see it” bit isn't really the issue here.

    Continuing to promulgate racist stereotypes is no help to anyone, but censoring those who inadvertently do it doesn't help them learn from it either. Maybe I'm naive, but perhaps after this Loren and the online community will both learn something?

  • http://www.gregorylent.tumblr.com gregorylent

    some would say getting the boot from verizon is a promotion

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  • Alan

    I don't understand all of you
    Ever heard of the word “humor”? parody, comedy?
    Can't we joke about blacks, jews, chinese or white people! doesnt mean we'are racists

    come on!

    This is purely puritan american censorship!

    Wake up!

  • http://www.sheysmith.com Shey

    You summed it up well Corvida. Thanks.

    We can debate all day long on whether Loren should have the right to say things he said and do the things he did; but the bottom line is:

    When you do stupid crap, stupid crap comes back to haunt you. You reap what you sow.

    It's called Karma.

  • http://www.socialtimes.com Nick O'Neill

    Totally agree … thanks for posting this …

  • http://www.scribkin.com J. Phil

    I am totally, totally with you on this one. I didn't know about this particular set of videos until a few days ago.. but I have been following Loren on FriendFeed for a while. It's not just his videos that are shocking and tasteless. It's pretty much how he conducts himself online at all times.

    What he records on video in the name of art, humor, or free speech is complete crap; base at the best of times and shockingly offensive at the worst. Verizon saved themselves a lot of customer service grief and likely legal threats by dropping the deal.

    Glad to see you speaking out, Corvida.

  • Kim Hill

    I posted this at TechCrunch earlier this morning:

    Context: I’m a white guy, and not someone who worries too much about being “PC.” But I found Feldman’s “Technigga” video to be both unfunny and offensive, and I applaud Verizon for doing the right thing.

    How I see it:

    1) The n-word is a “3rd rail” – and a 4th & 5th rail, too. Maybe a white comedian could find a way to use it acceptably, but they’d pretty much have to be a comic prodigy, plus have intimate familiarity with/respect for cultural context – problem is, George Carlin is dead. Feldman fails on both counts – miserably.

    2) There’s a lot of debate about the n-word. But the Black community has cultural ownership of it now. Frankly & respectfully, I believe that the best option in that debate, for white people (and speaking as one), is to STFU, and let the Black community sort it out. I consider the STFU rule an excellent option – that’s my approach, and I’m sticking to it.

    3) Above & beyond his egregious “Ho-tracker” shtick, Feldman displays a lack of knowledge and/or a contempt for Black culture by mixing in anachronistic slang like “lordy.” I mean, who’s said that since Hattie McDaniel? And if you don’t know who she is, maybe there’s more you need to learn. Seriously, it’s such clueless stereotyping that it’s almost as painful as if he performed the whole thing in blackface.

    4) Feldman’s not a dumb guy. Best case is he thinks we’re in a position to afford a post-racial attitude towards this kind of nonsense – that it’s “edgy” humor, and you’re uptight if you don’t get it. As if the tech community might be progressive/hip enough to be somehow immunized. But it’s not, and Feldman is (best-case) completely tone-deaf.

    Verizon probably did this as much out of corporate cowardice as anything else. But the result was the right one anyway.

    I’ll take that.

  • http://marshallk.com Marshall Kirkpatrick

    Brave of you to make this post Corvida, I'm real glad you did, someone needed to. I think you articulated yourself well and I agree with you.

  • http://cubelogic.org/act Ettore

    The video was satire, not comedy. There's a big difference. Satire, by definition, is offensive and it ridicules a person or a category of people. That's its job, that's how it has always been. (I'm not the one saying this, Nobel prize Dario Fo is.)

    The video discussed black tech bloggers and their presence in the blogosphere. The video to me is screaming a message that goes, “We need more black bloggers, we need more diversity among blogs.” It does so by playing with exageration and all the bad stereotypes (again, this is satire, otherwise it would be a speech), but so what? You never laughed at jokes about Italians and the mafia? That's also very derogatory.

  • http://basissap.com martin_english

    It's easy for white people to say “it's a joke, leave him alone” &tc (Aside: Ettore suggested it WASN'T comedy, it was satire… is that the new word for not funny ?).

    if you're non white or non male, you've been taking this crap for years. And it happens in the tech industries as well. Just because you'd THINK people would use logic rather than prejudice, doesn't mean they do.

    Above all else feldman was plain disrepectful. Not of one person, but of a whole race. Its the 21st century. Jim Crow should be long dead.

  • mollyfud

    Hmmm….I wonder if there will be a new puppet?

  • http://www.andydesoto.com Andy DeSoto

    When I saw this in my feed reader, I was about to ask if you wanted anyone else to back you up.

    Then I read the next headline (the announcement from TechCrunch). Guess you don't need me after all!

  • http://www.demo.com Mary Fallon

    Cordiva,
    Bravo. I don't believe Loren's attempts at satire are intelligent or edgy, just mostly mean and bigoted. Kim Hill laid out the reasons as well as I could. Verizon didn't do due diligence and as a customer I support its yanking Loren's commentary off its network. With the intelligence the tech community possess, you'd think members would rise up in protest. Glad to join you in yours. Mary Fallon, DEMO editor

  • http://yahoo.com Jay

    Many of us agree with what you've done. we're with you.

    Loren has now had fall out with

    1) PodTech
    2) Cnet withdrew from sponsorship
    3) Verizon now withdraws

  • ABlogger

    Great post.
    And the all the “i despise politically correctness” whiners miss the point.
    They have the exact same right as you do-to tell corporations such as Verizon how they feel about the content they provide. And Verizon can decide based on that feedback.

    I wonder how many of the whiners here bothered to contact Verizon as you did to voice their opinion? Or just went around bitching in the comments sections :p

    Well done!

  • http://www.scribkin.com J. Phil

    Err.. Ali G isn't a stereotype of a black person. It's a stereotype of a DJ. If anything, it makes light of wannabe white guys. Also, I wouldn't put Loren Feldman in the same ballpark as Sasha Cohen Barton. Heck, I wouldn't put them in the same city.

    As for the Redneck comedy tour — I think those guys are actually rednecks. They aren't making fun of a stereotype. They are stereotypical.

  • http://aiderss.com Melanie Baker

    Well said. The result of freedom of speech is that you are accountable for, and subject to, the consequences of what you say.

    Funny is pretty subjective, but there are always avenues that don't degrade entire communities.

  • http://nixonbyname.com Chris Nixon

    Ali G is a parody of a white guy who want's to be a “gangsta”. We're laughing at him not with him.

  • http://nixonbyname.com Chris Nixon

    When a professional comedian “crosses the line” he does so with skill, precision and most importantly of all, awareness of where the line is. He crafts to the joke to make sure we know he knows he crossed the line, but he knows we know he's joking.

    When some racist on the internet clumsily crosses the line, he's just an idiot doing it for page views.

  • http://www.onemoreidea.org Brij

    Way to go Corvida. It takes courage to stand up against this kind of stereotypes.

  • http://shegeeks.net Corvida
  • Cecily Walker

    Well done, Corvida.

  • http://www.andydesoto.com Andy DeSoto

    A good post! I meant by getting in touch with Verizon, though. I didn't
    know they had pulled his shows until I read the next article, I thought you
    just wanted them to!

  • http://blog.infinitelymeta.com Brian Eisenberg

    Just adding my support Corvida.

  • b48

    i dunno, i think the video is lame and i don't like it. But, is there any difference from what Boing Boing did erasing comments and what happened here? Is this erasing somebody's voice? even if it sucked and is not right? When we do this silencing act or we sheltering and over protecting people? Is that media murder??? These are just questions, cause i'm not sure about this whole subject of erasing. But, i do agree that negative stereotypes suck.

  • http://nathanrein.com Nathan

    Seems to me, Corvida's not talking about some universal abstract principle here. It's the right of every American consumer to vote with his or her dollars. She was offended by Feldman, and she wrote to Verizon saying, in effect, if you support this individual, I won't support your company. Verizon apparently heard this enough times and pulled the plug. Who are you, John Row, to dictate what Corvida “should” now be offended by for the sake of your idea of consistency? If you don't like something a company does or doesn't do, you can feel free to deal with it in exactly the same way.

  • http://nathanrein.com Nathan

    You can joke about whoever you want, however you want, and people can conclude whatever they want from that. No one's stopping you.

  • http://philbaumann.com philbaumann

    Good for you. It's not censorship to ask Verizon to drop its deal. It's perfectly within the free market to do so; in fact, more of us should use such principled approaches to addressing these serious problems we still have going on. Censorship is when a governmental agency puts tape over your mouth.

    This is about social justice and I think that you're well within your rights to speak heartfelt power to that cause.

  • http://www.lynnedjohnson.com/diary Lynne d Johnson

    Corvida – I applaud your commentary here, as one who spoke out when the video first appeared last year (http://www.lynnedjohnson.com/diary/i_got_your_b…). In fact, in continuing a tradition of bringing a “Blogging While Black Panel,” to SXSWi, this past year, I introduced, “Where Are the Black Tech Bloggers?” there (podcast here: http://www.lynnedjohnson.com/diary/where_are_th…) that Feldman attended. He attended because he thought the entire panel was set up as a reaction to him, when in fact it was just another take on “Blogging While Black,” with an added mention of this particular video. Overall, his position there was pretty much the same that it had been on Valleywag previously (http://valleywag.com/tech/loren-feldman/technig…), in which he harped on the fact that he was an artist doing comedy. He also used his social media power to label the panel a hate fest, but I believe the podcast proves otherwise.

    What's interesting here though, is that now this issue is outside the confines of the tech community and fully thrust into the mainstream, even with various groups protesting Verizon's distribution of his content (http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/2008/07/group-ca…). And as @bukolae already mentions, the content has reportedly been pulled and the deal is over.

    While Feldman even expressed to me that he meant no malice toward any ethnic group per se, and created this video in the name of art, just as he has his puppets — because Google is forever, the creation of this one video may forever haunt him. Even if, as he has professed, this video is not the sole representation of his work. To a large number of people who have no other connection with his work but this video — it is.

    On another note, he has received so much more press from this now, and I'm sure overall interest, that even though Cnet or Verizon may have canceled distribution deals with him, it doesn't mean that some other company won't cut him a check.

    So there are some serious questions that arise:

    1. Already raised by Matthew Ingram's post about Freedom of Speech in the media (http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2008/07/07/pro…)

    2. And the other is about tolerance in the new age of media. On television, cable, radio, there are certain standards, all governed by the FCC. Does contest like this warrant a policing of the Web? And if so, doesn't it change the nature of things and the freedoms we come to expect as bloggers?

    I'm just asking.

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  • http://pixelbits.wordpress.com/ Mona

    Extremely well written, classy, and diplomatic. NICE

  • http://pixelbits.wordpress.com/ Mona

    there is something called TACT that was lacking

    ….but then again that's expecting too much from someone who says “Chinese” instead of “Asian” and “blacks”? Are you kidding me? What is this, 1960?

    come on! WAKE UP

  • http://thingsyoushoulddo.com juliemarg

    Congratulations. You and I have the right to express our opinions to businesses who want our money. Anyone who confuses this with free speech or the college political correctness police needs to review their civics lessons.

  • http://davemartin.blogspot.com Dave Martin

    Bravos, Corvida! Well said. My sense is those that play must be willing to pay. What Feldman has done in his lame attempt at humor/entertainment is clearly offensive, insensitive and tone deaf. In my opinion, the man is a hack. Should he wish to use his own funds or those of others openly willing to sponsor/fund his brand of so-called humor/entertainment so be it. In this case a responsible and responsive public company has served as the best arbiter.

  • http://allied.blogspot.com jeneane sessum

    so glad to read this. thank you for posting it.

  • najeeAli

    Great post !

  • swhitley

    All of the support is very encouraging. Nicely done, Corvida.

    When will white people stop trying to accuse others of being “PC” (with a negative connotation) just to shutdown a conversation? The “PC” argument is tired. It's about right and wrong. Feldman was wrong and he's never apologized (sincerely). I don't have a problem with Verizon's action.

  • swhitley

    All of the support is very encouraging. Nicely done, Corvida.

    When will white people stop trying to accuse others of being “PC” (with a negative connotation) just to shutdown a conversation? The “PC” argument is tired. It's about right vs. wrong. Feldman was wrong and he's never sincerely apologized. I don't have a problem with Verizon's action.

  • http://thejenntafur.tumblr.com Jennifer

    @Corvida – fantastic and eloquent post. I appreciate your sincerity in sharing with the community here.

    @Lynne D Johnson –

    Freedom of speech in the media especially in blog land is still in a quandary.

    With the issues of content at question it makes you wonder how can a platform such as blogger, sixpart, etc. could police so many blogs every day and then what is considered objectable-content?

    From my eyes as a black woman I see a lot of things I disagree with but I enjoy that I can choose not read it or not. However, I know some people have issues with my own content with is factual from the newspaper (and other credible sources) about incidents. So I do not know what is again “objectable-content?”

    I am curious to know what is going to happen these next couple of years as more bloggers share and challenge what is “objectable-content?”

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  • http://www.itsbeach.com beach

    hey corvida… just wanted to say that I am with you 100% on all of this. keep it up! You're doing great things!

  • billso

    Good work, Corvida!

  • Sally

    Well done and well said, Corvida! I had no idea the video existed until Louis Gray highlighted your post; I'm sorry you and others had to suffer that, it is mean spirited and uncalled for.

    I thought this kind of racist, bigoted stuff went out in the 1970's with Alf Garnett and Bernard Manning. It just isn't funny at all.

    Good for you for taking a stand, you go gal!

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  • http://thesimiandowntimeanalyst.com The Simian Downtime Analyst

    Sweet.

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  • Webferret

    Its about how its perceived and who is making the joke. Is it out of ignorance or understanding?

    Nigga Technology
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArgWxB-vSL8

    Boondocks: Martin Luther King Speach
    http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids….

    Nigga Moment
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqsDRQJesMI

    Nas – Fried Chicken (Nigger) (Untitled)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sU9zUPdOvM

    Nas- Be a Nigger Too *NEW* Music Video! (High Quality)
    http://youtube.com/watch?v=l0epSWX9GYQ

    Nas – N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave and The Master) 2008
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7OkjaO8Noc

    Bloods & Crips – Shooting
    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-909051…

    Bill Cosby SPEAKS OUT about BLACK PEOPLE!!!!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBZGMuBn4bo

  • http://www.cre8buzz.com/blog Keenan

    I am CEO of a Web 2.0 start up and black.

    As I watched, I began to panic. I started to wonder, maybe that is the problem. I'm not talking right. I didn't pick the right business model, Ho-Tracker.com, dang I should have thought of that. I never even thought about taking a hit of a good blunt before my day started. And, if I had thought to sip a little Gin and Juice through out the day, success might have come a lot easier.

    Where was this fool earlier, I could used his skillz. As a brother I had no idea, I have been doing it wrong for so long. Dang!

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  • http://www.fones.de Valerie’s Handy Blog

    Hi Corvida. I agree with you, the video was degrading. Don’t worry about him degrading you or any black tech bloggers; we are here to support you. I always love to read your blog because you make great and sincere posts. Keep it up!

  • http://www.globalracingschools.com Racing Schools

    I'm backing you up. In this time and year, there's no room for racists running business. We need to let people know their ugly side and ethics in running their business.

  • http://www.ezbusinessneeds.com Singapore SEO

    Why is there a need for racism? Loren Feldman should be at least mature enough to understand this point or should i have said that his family might not have invested the right efforts in bringing him up as a better person?
    Rif Chia

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    I better look at this development further.

  • http://www.jastalentsnmodels.com/ Singapore Escort

    Things are looking up I hope but signs are pointing to that direction. With the first black president in the US which is the most important position in the whole wide world, the wind of change will prevail. The mere election of a black president speaks volume about racism.

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    It's time the community stand up against the racists.

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