The Hip Hop Philosopher

To Pander or Not to Pander

emctab — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 00:39:22 +0000

To Pander or Not to Pander: The Hip-Hop Philosopher’s Take

From the Hip Hop Philosopher’s perspective, it’s fascinating how people actively crave pandering, even when they know it’s not real. It’s like vibing to a track with a killer beat, but if you break down the lyrics, there’s nothing there, yet people stay locked in, nodding their heads, fully aware that they’re being played. So why is pandering so powerful? Here’s how I see it!

Feeding the Need for Validation

First off, everyone wants to feel seen, understood, and respected. Pandering is all about hitting those emotional sweet spots, serving up exactly what people want to hear. It’s like the perfect hook in a song that’s so catchy, you keep replaying it, even if the substance is thin. It’s easier to accept a flattering lie than to face a hard truth that might leave you feeling invisible.

In the Hip Hop world, we’ve seen how artists pander to their audience. Take a mainstream rapper who constantly flexes about street life, but they’ve been living in luxury for years. Their fans know that the artist isn’t living that life anymore, but they still embrace it because it speaks to the fantasy, the grind, the hustle, the struggle. The pander isn’t about reality, it’s about feeding into the emotional narrative that resonates.

Pandering in Politics: The Oldest Trick in the Book

Politicians are masters at pandering, and the game is as old as politics itself. Whether it’s promising jobs, safety, or radical change, politicians know how to hit people where they’re most vulnerable. They craft messages tailored to what their base already believes, feeding into their constituents’ desires and fears. It’s not that politicians always believe what they say or intend to follow through, but they understand that voters want to hear things that confirm their existing worldview.

For example, a politician may campaign on the promise of economic reform, knowing full well that such changes might not happen. But to the voters in struggling communities, this message provides hope. It plays into their bias that the politician will be their savior, even if the track record says otherwise. The voters might even see the inconsistencies, but the alternative, accepting that the politician won’t deliver is too hard to face.

Politicians also capitalize on cognitive dissonance. For example, a leader may shift stances or contradict themselves, but their loyal base will rationalize these shifts. Why? Because accepting the truth that their hero may not have their best interest at heart creates discomfort. So instead, they cling to the pander, reinforcing their own biases. This is why you often hear the same empty promises recycled during election season. This is why a politician can tell a proven lie, over and over again, and their base stays strong. It’s a formula that works because it’s less about action and more about emotional validation.

And whats really crazy is that every election cycle you hear people complaining about the fact the certain politicians don’t pander to them at all, thats why the politicians always go to the swing states multiple times.

The Cognitive Dissonance Dance

Cognitive dissonance is the mental tug-a-war people go through when holding two conflicting beliefs. When someone is being pandered to, they often recognize that what they’re hearing isn’t entirely truthful, but they accept it because it’s easier. It’s like fans loving a rapper who talks about loyalty to the streets, and at the same time be up to their neck with corporations. Fans could call them out, but that would mean confronting the uncomfortable truth that their hero is playing a role.

This same mental gymnastics plays out in politics. Voters might know that a politician is lying or pandering, but accepting the truth would mean dealing with the discomfort of realizing that they’ve been duped. Instead, they go along with the lie, holding on to the myth because it feels good.

Biases and the Pandering Game

Bias is another key factor. Everyone sees the world through their own filter, shaped by their beliefs, culture, and experiences. And the truth is, most people don’t want to have their biases challenged. Pandering works because it taps directly into these pre-existing biases. Whether it’s a politician feeding recycled promises or an artist giving you that “real shit ” it’s all about reinforcing what you already believe.

In Hip Hop culture, where authenticity is constantly being questioned, we see these biases in action. Fans want to believe their favorite rapper is the realest, even when the evidence shows otherwise. But their bias towards that artist or their favorite politician allows them to overlook the contradictions. Pandering doesn’t just feed desires, it reinforces them.

Pandering in the Digital Age

Social media has taken pandering to a whole new level by the use of algorithms. Algorithms are designed to keep people locked into their biases, feeding them content that aligns with what they already believe. If you click on a particular type of content, the algorithm floods you with more of the same, reinforcing your worldview. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Twitter aren’t here to challenge your thinking, they’re here to keep you engaged by showing you things that stroke your ego, all in an effort to keep you on their platforms.

This digital pandering creates echo chambers, where people only hear opinions that confirm what they already believe. The more you engage, the deeper the cycle of validation becomes, and the more resistant you are to stepping outside your bubble. You know deep down the content might not reflect the full truth, but it’s easier to keep scrolling than to confront the uncomfortable reality.

The Performance and the Real

In Hip Hop Culture, we’ve always navigated that fine line between performance and realness. There’s always been this tension between keeping it a 100 and selling the image. Artists, like politicians, know how to hit those emotional notes that keep people engaged. It’s why certain songs blow up, not because they tell the full truth, but because they feel true enough.

This is why pandering hits hard. People know, on some level, that they’re being sold a fantasy, but that fantasy is grounded in emotions they live with daily. A rapper may no longer live the struggle, but a track about grinding to get out of the hood resonates deeply with people who are still trying to escape those circumstances.

Conclusion: Lies Are Easier to Swallow

At the end of the day, people love being pandered to because it’s easier. It validates their beliefs, strokes their ego, and saves them from facing uncomfortable truths. In Hip Hop, we understand this dance between realness and performance all too well. We know that sometimes, the lie feels better than the truth.

Pandering isn’t just manipulation, it’s about feeding into biases and giving people the emotional hits they crave. As long as the lie feels more comforting than reality, people will continue to embrace it, whether it’s coming from their favorite rapper or their chosen politician.

— The Hip Hop Philosopher

An easily digestible eBook is coming soon

#cognitivedissonance #thhp #coffeeandcannabinoids #hiphopculture #hiphopphilosophy #socailmediaengineering #pandertous

New Post From Facebook

Fri, 04 Sep 2020 04:07:21 +0000

What’s Really Real about the Payroll Tax Holiday!

You gross $500 a week ($26k yearly) after the 6.2% increase (the amount that you have deducted from your check for the payroll tax) you’ll now keep an additional $31 per week.

To do the math for what you make, just add $6.20 for each hundred that you bring home weekly.

Now multiply that by how many weeks you have left in the year, sixteen as of today. And now you know exactly how much the Payroll Tax Holiday is going to net you over the coming months.

At $500 a week, that’s $31 x 16. So that’s $496 over the next four months!

But guess what, 44% of all Americans between 16-64 are grossing under $22k a year before taxes! That’s approximately $420 a week, so at the end of the day, we know that 44% of US citizens will receive less than the $496 that this executive order doles out, of you gross $500 a week.

Now to the good part. Next year when the tax holiday is over, your employer will then start to take double out of your check for four months to compensate for the money that you didn’t pay this year. So if you were grossing $500 a week and $31 was going to payroll taxes, then starting in January, you’ll start paying $62 a week. Plus you’ll still have to pay whatever taxes you owe.

How many cash strapped people can afford to lose an additional $31 off they’re paychecks if they’re barely making it by now?

So what’s going to be the solution come January? The Get Out Party will argue for a permanent tax cut. And lower income Americans will want to make it permanent so their paychecks won’t decrease.

The RepubliCons will argue that the Democrats want yo go up on your taxes, and a lot of these under-informed Americans will go with them on it because technically they will be a tax increase.

The thing is, a portion of the money from the payroll tax is used for social security. And if a payroll tax cut is made permanent, it will make social security go insolvent way faster than economists warned!

Do the research, RepubliCons have been trying to privatize the Social Security money for the past few decades, it’s trillions of dollars in the black! And they’ve been trying to get to it so they’re rich buddies can play with the money on Wall Street!

They’re trying sabotage it so it looks like it will go insolvent faster so they play up the reasons why it should go into the hands of the private sector.

We’ve seen what can happen when Wall Street runs a muck and if they get their hands on that SS money, and the markets crash, the whole SS system will crash with it, and there goes your safety net, that mind, you’ve been paying into your entire life!

And what’s really sad about this is that if the market crashes and SS becomes insolvent, guess what’s going to happen. The Fed is going to print more money out of thin air and the tax payers will be on the hook for it again, but our safety net will be gone.

A permanent payroll tax cut puts the money that you’ve paid into the system in jeopardy and it might not be there when you retire and need it the most..

And by the way 46.5% of Americans make less than $30k a year!

New Post From Facebook

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 19:41:54 +0000

The New Mass Incarceration Movement!

Over the last decade I started to understand that we, Black people, have been fighting battles in wars that we lost decades before.

Measures that we’re implemented in the 70’s gradually unfolded, until the 90’s ushered in the “tough on crime” Democrats. Then they delivered the fatal blow in 1994, in what is now commonly known as the infamous 1994 Crime Bill. The powers that be, had successfully won the War on Drugs.

Mass Incarceration was now the new supplier of Black bodies for the prison plantation system!

We didn’t know exactly why things were happening like they were back then, but what we did know was that the CIA had put the drugs on the streets, and it wasn’t until the 2000’s that we started to try to overturn parts of the 94 crime bill.

Then in the 2010’s we finally found out that Nixon literally started the War on Drugs as a War Against Black Men and our communities!

That’s when I came to the understanding that we were fighting battles, for Wars that had already been lost! They had started implementing policies decades before we began to fight back, therefore any victories we incurred we’re actually for naught.

The damage had already been done, the Black man had been ripped away from his family and the community!

So from the moment that I came to the revelation that we can’t win battles that should have been fought in the past, I had to shift my thinking, and I started to ask myself, what are they implementing behind closed doors nowadays that can successfully slow down Black Progress in the future?

And one of the answers is, the Coronavirus Relief Loan!

I caught this one in real time!

Really think about this; for some odd reason, (planning) the powers that be are allowing people to get massive loans without any safe guards in place. They’re doing this under the auspices of, real small businesses weren’t able to get money from the first round of relief funds because they had all the restrictions in place by the banks, so in order to get it to the people that really need it, let’s just give it to anyone that asks for it. No matter if they can prove they have a business with employees or not. Basically almost everyone qualifies!

Then all of a sudden out of nowhere, like a tsunami, we start to hear that people know how to get the new Coronavirus relief funds and you don’t even have to have proof of anything. Cats even charging from $1000 – $3500 to help people get it!

So right now, in impoverished Black communities across this nation, a new black market hustle has emerged, government loan fraud!

Do y’all really understand the implications of this! This can and will have long reaching reverberations because the powers that be are not going to just allow this to go unchecked.

The vast majority of y’all don’t even have a business, let alone employees! The powers that be, know that 98% of Black businesses don’t have employees, they’re sole proprietorships, and that’s in the business data!

So when they inevitably audit the loans, and then ask you for the documents to prove that your business existed and needed the funds, then what are you hoisin to do!?

#thhp
#2020Vision

New Post From Facebook

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 02:43:28 +0000

The Statue’s of Limitations

You know what I didn’t know until recently, that most of these confederate statues weren’t put into place until the Civil Rights Movement started!

It was the counter narrative to Black people standing up for rights in this country that spawned the open hatred that those monuments stand for. It was basically, “oh you niggers think you have rights in this country, well we’ll show you”!

That’s what happened right after slavery, through the reconstruction period, through us fighting in two world wars for this country, through our fight for Civil Rights, all the way up to after Barack Obama was elected as the First Black Man to become the president of the US. Y’all are in your, “I’ll show these niggers stage again”!

Let’s be real, if you know anything about the Black history of this country from 1865 to today, then it’s the same patterns being repeated. The losers of the Civil War have literally been trying to reclaim the US as a white mans (the slave masters) country!

Every time we make progress as Black people, racist white people try to find a way to reverse that progress, it hasn’t failed one time since then. We take 10 steps forward, y’all attempt to push us 100 steps back!

So if your narrative today is that these monuments are a part of your heritage, then you willfully admit that your heritage is tied to the racial terrorism that these men stood for, and if you believe that we’re infringing on your Civil Rights by demanding that they be taken down, touché!

– THHP://
#BeingBlackInAmerica

New Post From Facebook

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 02:43:28 +0000

Show Some Respect and Wear a Mask, “Patriot”!

People have been waking up every single day over the past 4 months going to jobs that were deemed “essential”, so that the entire US economy wouldn’t go to shit and crash.

They risked their lives to make sure that we could have a semblance of normalcy during a time where most of us thought that this new virus could kill us, or our at risk family members.

And the thing is, they’ve been REQUIRED to wear masks for most of that time!

These people have to work 8-10 hours a day wearing masks and some of your entitled asses feel like it’s an infringement on your constitutional rights because you have to wear a mask for a a few minutes while you’re in the store where they’re REQUIRED to wear them for their entire f’ing shift!

All this talk about being Patriots and doing any and everything to help this country, but you draw the line at wearing a mask when stores require them, even though their employees have to wear them tells us exactly where you stand!

You won’t sacrifice 15 minutes to an hour of your time wearing a mask, yet you claim you’re a patriot, GTFOH with that bs! 😐

#thhp

New Post From Facebook

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 19:43:46 +0000

I’ve said in a few posts and I’ve responded to people in a few posts about 2020 being a year of reflection because of the various understandings related to that number.

On one hand we have 2020 vision, which means that you have perfect vision and you see things very clearly.

What are we seeing clearly right now that we were hesitant at believing before?

Then we have the saying Hindsight is 2020, which means looking back at things you can clearly see what went wrong and what went right.

What should we be looking back on at this moment in time to see it from a clearer perspective?

And The Nation of Gods and Earths (The Five Percenters) give numbers 1 through 0 meaning and value. Each number has its own meaning and understanding.
2 equals Wisdom and 0 equals Cipher/Completion so it comes out to Wisdom Cipher Wisdom Cipher!
Basically this breakdown means use Wisdom as the Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding of this time has been Completed.
They also break all numbers down to a single digit, so 2 + 0 + 2 + 0 = 4, and that means Culture and Freedom!

So under Five Percenter understanding, every thing is pointing at the fact that we have completed our learning phases and we should be able to see more clearly now, on how to advance our Culture and Freedom!

In numerology the significance of the number 4 (2+0+2+0) points to Strength and Efficiency!

On Tarot cards it means the Emperor!

In Astrology it points to Cancer, and it strives to create security, it is dedicated to its home and the protection of its Loved one’s!

2020 is also the year of the Rat, and it’s about being clever and thinking quick!

We are in the Information Age, the Age of Enlightenment, and this year is waking up a lot of people to what really is going on and who our true allies are, use this information wisely!

#BEAT
#BlackEvolutionaryActivismTank
#THHP

New Post From Facebook

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 19:43:45 +0000

I think the playbook is working!

Phase 1: create a reason to keep people under self quarantine (Covid-19 released in Chinese wet markets, then act like its no big deal in the US to make sure enough people contract it) ✔️

Phase 2: create a reason to deploy the National Guard, and a reason to use Eric Princes security firm (Academi, used to be called Black Water of The War on Terror fame) because the police are overwhelmed and can’t protect everything ✔️

Phase 3: declare Martial Law if the civil unrest continues and cancel the November elections

A few months ago the current administration talked about limiting constitutional rights during the pandemic, but the question that they needed to answer before they could do it was why?

Why would they have to implement Martial Law?

What would have to occur in order for them to move into Phase 3, so they can suspend our constitutional rights?

The answer; civil unrest, riots and looting right before states are lifting their self imposed quarantine measures!

Now all of a sudden over 20 states have activated their National Guard, and everyday new cities are joining in on the protests, you do the math.

#BEAT
#BlackEvolutionaryActivismTank
#THHP

New Post From Facebook

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 19:43:45 +0000

I’ve been observing things over the past week, not saying much, just looking at how things unfold trying to figure out the next move, because if we end this, and things go back to the same, then all of this is for nothing!

By now you all should know how I feel about this type of incident, from Ferguson to now, but for those that don’t;

1) I Am Black, I have 4 Black boys, a Black wife, Black mother, Black sisters and brothers, and black nieces and nephews!

2) I Am not the person that will go and march and protest, or riot and loot, I Am methodical! My solutions always revolve around taking deliberate actions!

3) If you harm one of the people that I love in my life, you will get exactly what you gave them!

I do not care if you are a COP, you don’t get to harm people just because you have a badge, I do not respect your badge as a position of power over me, or anyone, if you do not respect mine or their rights as citizens!

If you’re not here to serve and protect, what you’re mandated to do, then quit and do something else!

Now with that said!

I Am vehemently against burning down our communities to stop racist cops from doing what they do? It does not help, it only hurts us and it will not stop their racism!

Although I’m against burning down businesses in the community, I don’t care about the looting! Why, because store owners can get new equipment and goods, their insurance pays for that. But burning the stores down creates a void that can’t be filled for a long time because they have to rebuild the stores infrastructure!

Be more deliberate and channel your anger at the right things, like when they burnt down the police station, that’s the energy that they were not expecting!

#BEAT
#BlackEvolutionaryActivismTank
#THHP

New Post From Facebook

Sun, 22 Mar 2020 23:11:27 +0000

Just saw a trailer for a movie on Showtime called Mary Magdalene, and if you grew up in a Christian household you will probably be moved by the trailer and want to watch it, which is understandable.

But cmon now, Joaquin Phoenix as Yahshua, really! But y’all threw us a bone by casting Peter as Black, 😐

It’s 2020, historical accuracy is a must, if your claim is that Yahshua was a historical figure, we can’t continue into the future with this type of imagery. The common retort is that no one really knows how they looked back then, but that’s a lie!

We know how they looked and you know how they looked, they were darker skinned people’s, but that doesn’t fit the American narrative!

If you have a problem with what I said please just do this simple google search for me, “black paintings and sculptures of the Virgin Mary and child” and explain to me why these paintings and sculptures are found in Caucasian countries and date back to before western civilization created their version of the Indian cast system!

Why would non-Black people decide to portray the mother of their savior and their savior as Black people? That’s not how the mind works, unless the truth was more important to them than this modern day lie!

I said all that to say this, I can’t watch it because all it does is serve up the same bs narrative that we’ve been fighting to overturn for centuries! But what can we really expect from a group of people that know for a fact that Christopher Columbus did not discover America but it’s still in every history book as fact, 😐

*I took this picture in Barcelona in 2015, and there are hundreds more like it across Europe!

New Post From Facebook

Sun, 22 Mar 2020 15:18:15 +0000

I know this, there will be a lot of innovation coming out if this lockdown, and a lot of people are going to wake up to the fact that this current capitalist structure needs to change. It doesn’t need to become full on socialist, but it needs to change nonetheless.

We need to put more safe guards in place to prevent this type of thing from happening again on this scale.

I’m not a socialist but what’s crazy is that saving these companies has been socialized, while they’re profits haven’t been.

A decade of record corporate profits, trillion dollar companies and a stock market that ran rampant but wages barely increased and most of America is in record amounts of debt, and as soon as it looked a little like the poorest of us and the middle class were about to start seeing better growth, this bs happens!

They say hindsight is 2020, we need to remember who we needed the most in this crisis, and we need to reward them with better wages and protections in the future.

This November, this election will tell me where your priorities are when it comes down to helping those less fortunate and building on the policies that started under the Obama administration!

And at the end of the day, we will not allow you all to lie to us about not being able to pay for the social programs that progressive politicians have been pushing, anymore.

If you all can find trillions of dollars to bail out multi-billion dollar corporations, then you can find billions of dollars to pay for these programs!

Notice has been given!

#thhp #theboycottlobby #theuspolicyinstitute