February 27, 2004
Debra Dickerson Puts the Blah in Blog
When I saw Debra Dickerson getting slammed left and right for her new book "The End of Blackness," I recognized her name from somewhere but couldn't place it. Then I remembered that she has a pair of blogs on her website, that someone showed me about a year ago.
If you're not aware of Debra's fondness for contradicting herself you might find it strange that this advocate of ending blackness has two blogs named "Black Cinderella" and "Black Catharsis", both featuring the dreadful tagline "we put the black in blog." (Note to Debra: when you use the "we put the _____ in ____" device, the first word is supposed to be contained in the second word.)
Sadly she has deleted most of her older entries, evidently so she can focus on spiking Amazon.com with fake reviews. Her instructions to fans are a blatant pitch for reviews from people who haven't read the books yet: "While you're there buying both books, post a positive review. Just follow the instructions on each page. Thanks." I know everybody plays this game nowadays but damn, can't we at least pretend to be honest, just a little?
Along with jabs at Halle Berry and Vivica Fox, the remaining posts also feature Dickerson's venomous tirade against a dwarf, who took her to task for using the word "midget" which many are not aware is considered a slur. The same woman who just called Vivica Fox a "silly 'itch" who "shoulda held out for a brain" lectures this guy for not being sufficiently polite in pointing out her own ignorance. Then she assures us she'd be willing to discuss the issue with a "reasonable Little Person" and proceeds to give the Little People a homework assignment: "Please include a discussion of these questions in your conversation: A) blah blah B) blah blah"
You can see a bunch of her older entries at archive.org, some of which are surprisingly cogent, I'll admit. It is puzzling, because she clearly sees the racism that remains in our society and doesn't hesitate to speak on it, but when others do the same she condemns them as "perpetuating their victimhood" and so on. I guess ideological consistency is too boring to land a book deal.
Posted by jsmooth995 at February 27, 2004 03:41 PM
cudn't you be just a little more literal minded? putting the black in blog is a joke, sweetie, but irony is lost on the literal minded.
i have never and will never put a fake review on amazon. guess it doesn't occur to you that other people are allowed to actually like my book (which clearly you haven't read if you think the title means I want to end blackness. again with the irony that is so far over your head). there's nothing wrong with alerting folks that don't know that they can post reviews on amazon -- given my politics, its clear to well, clear thinkers, that I meant folks who'd read it and liked it. its very obvious that most of the negative reviews there are from folks who haven't read the book --the best giveaway is thinking its first person.
you know, this is an incredible waste of time, but every few months, I just have to go there with someone like you. I just get so annoyed with muddled thinkers like yourself. its funny how you think its always the other guy who is contradicting himself. for instance-- the Little Person emailed me personally, I didn't email Viveca Fox personally. there's a difference. I wasn't trying to get her to change her ways, he was and insulting me is a bad way to do that.
one bad thing about the internet -- makes anyone who can type think they can think.
Posted by: Debra Dickerson at August 12, 2004 09:24 AM
Debra, thank you for taking the time to reply, but I'm disappointed to find your rebuttal so long on ad hominems and short on reasoning.
"there's nothing wrong with alerting folks that don't know that they can post reviews on amazon -- given my politics, its clear to well, clear thinkers, that I meant folks who'd read it and liked it."
On the contrary, you instruct people to post a positive review "while you're there buying both books," and unless you assume that most people read your book before they buy it, that would require reviewing the book without reading it. If you did not intend to elicit dishonest reviews, this passage was poorly written at best.
"for instance-- the Little Person emailed me personally, I didn't email Viveca Fox personally. there's a difference."
Yes indeed, the difference is he did it to your face, and you did it behind Vivica's back. Apparently you think that distinction gives you more license to disrespect. Suffice it to say we disagree on this point.
Posted by: Jay Smooth at August 12, 2004 01:48 PM
hook and bait taken! I need to try this trick.
But dag Jay...let her live. Everyone does that Amazon trick. I don't even take their reviews seriously because of that.
Amazon is making some improvements by the way. See: http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/7/23/20373/6375
Posted by: Hashim at August 12, 2004 05:28 PM
Nah, let her have it Jay, you sweetie!
Damn, she doesn't quit with that irony stuff does she? Or does she? Irony is my bitch like that! Um, actually it's called SARCASM, not irony. And that title "Put the black in..." is neither ironic NOR sarcastic (nope, not even facetious).
"one bad thing about the internet -- makes anyone who can type think they can think."
I'm not sure what you mean, although I don't doubt your ability to type.
One of the most valuable lessons my dad taught me is to watch out for the "opposite" meaning in people's words. Quite often, people will criticize others for a negative trait, when in fact it is they themselves who suffer from it.
Posted by: eric at August 12, 2004 06:39 PM
you know, I think that debra does have some problems with her consistency but you should check out her essay on Slate. her essay talks about how we often write off those who want to leave the hateful and destructive legacy of racism behind yet still struggle with assumptions about certain races - assumptions that stem from years of societal pressures. If you read it all the way through, she gets onto what will effect greater social change than focusing on race. She has an interesting point but she still does not solve the issue of a public with pervasive assumptions regarding each racial group. anyway, I guess I should read her book before I try to comment any more on her stuff. By the way, Jay I never did quite catch whether or not you read any of her books...
Posted by: will at August 12, 2004 07:07 PM
I have not yet read her slate piece, but I intend to. As I acknowledged in my original post I have found her somewhat clear-sighted on occasion, certainly a step up from the Ann Coulters of the world.
I haven't read any of her books, and do not intend to.. if you mean to suggest this discredits my comments about her, I'd have to disagree I since offered no critique of her books, and was specifically addressing her blog postings, which I did read.
Posted by: Jay Smooth at August 12, 2004 09:04 PM
i have read her work and i think it says a lot about character when a black woman can convince herself that she is white(her own words)and at the same time think the world is just as clueless. by that i mean why is it that she talks about having attended harvard and is not so open about the fact that she did not receive a degree from harvard? in that case, i have visited yale, does that make me qualified to write a book. it takes more than shock value to produce a good piece of work and it disgusts me when i have to defend my race in my poli-sci class because dickerson confirms every stereotype they had and some they didn't.
Posted by: erica at September 13, 2004 10:31 PM
I had the wonderful experience of interviewing Debra Dickerson for two hours on our internet talk radio. To say the least, it was like beating up on sombody's kid sister. She is a frightened and hurt little black girl in a grown woman's body. The greatest argument against Dickerson and her distorted perception of the politics of ethnicity is exposure of her own words. She actually got angry at me for reading excerpts from her book and asking her if she really believed this crap. She countered that I was taking "literalism" too far. The following url has a 3000 word response she wrote after the interview. It is a most reveailing exercise in psychotic avoidance:
http://www.debradickerson.com/blogs/cotton_picker_dujour.htm
I hope to have her on our radio show again...I guest I have a little bit of sadist in me. Heh, heh, heh!
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