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The Woman Who Taught Cho To Write Hate Poetry; Nikki Giovanni
Topic Started: Apr 26 2007, 11:03 AM (556 Views)
TomK
HOLY CARP!!!

Front Page Magazine


Virginia Tech's Professor of Hate
By Steve Sailer
VDARE.com | April 26, 2007

Ever since South Korean immigrant Cho Seung-hui gunned down 32 people at Virginia Tech, there has been much comment that the university should have realized just from his two hate-filled and inept plays that the senior English major was a dangerous creep who needed to be taken away.

For a playwrighting class, Cho penned Mr. Brownstone and Richard McBeef (which, despite the Macbethian title, is a Hamlet-knock off about a young hero's lethal conflict with the new stepfather who murdered his real father).

Richard McBeef includes such sterling dialogue as:

"I hate him. Must kill Dick. Must kill Dick. Dick must die. Kill Dick."

Many have asked: "How could the English Department not recognize the horrific implications of these works?"

No one who wonders that, however, is familiar with the poetic oeuvre of one of Cho's own teachers, Virginia Tech's Distinguished Professor of English and Black Studies, Nikki Giovanni (for her website, click here).

Among the most celebrated figures of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and recipient of 21 honorary degrees, Giovanni has published poems strikingly similar to Cho's plays in both vileness and incompetence. For example:

The True Import of Present Dialog, Black vs. Negro, by Nikki Giovanni

Ni**er
Can you kill
Can you kill
Can a ni**er kill
Can a ni**er kill a honkie
Can a ni**er kill the Man
Can you kill ni**er
Huh? Ni**er can you
kill
Do you know how to draw blood
Can you poison
Can you stab-a-Jew
Can you kill huh? Ni**er
Can you kill
Can you run a protestant down with your
‘68 El Dorado
(that’s all they’re good for anyway)
Can you kill
Can you piss on a blond head
Can you cut it off
Can you kill
A ni**er can die
We ain’t got to prove we can die
We got to prove we can kill
[More]

Ironically, the author of these lines was asked to deliver the closing remarks at Virginia Tech's convocation memorializing the 32 slaughtered by Cho. For some reason, Giovanni didn't read The True Import.

The above poem is not an isolated example. Cho's old professor has had, for example, a Molotov cocktail obsession:

Also a company called Revolution has just issued
A special kit for little boys
Called Burn Baby
I’m told it has full instructions on how to siphon gas
And fill a bottle

And, then there's this:

and it occurred to me
maybe i shouldn't write
at all
but clean my gun
and check my kerosene supply

She switched themes from kill-the-honkies to confessional self-obsession as the market for up-against-the-wall poetry dried up at the end of the 1960s, and now laughs off questions about her Cho-like early work.

Still, in 1997 the poetess had "Thug Life" tattooed on her arm to honor slain gangsta rapper Tupac Shakur, who was gunned down in a long-running fatal feud with other rappers. Wikipedia explains, with deadpan irony:

"She has stated that she would 'rather be with the thugs than the people who are complaining about them.' She also tours nationwide and frequently speaks out against hate-motivated violence."

Giovanni also writes prose:

RACISM 101; Giovanni, Nikki; $20.00; This book indicts higher education for the inequities it perpetuates, contemplates the legacy of the 60's, provides a survival guide for black students on predominately white campuses, and denounces Spike Lee while offering her own ideas for a film about Malcolm X. [From a list of "Books On The African American LGB Experience"]

She also has composed bon mots, such as:

"A white face goes with a white mind. Occasionally a black face goes with a white mind. Very seldom a white face will have a black mind."

And then there's her insight, "The honkie's whole sex thing is tied up to land."

As an anonymous commenter rhetorically asked on my blog:

"I wonder how many times Cho heard the phrase 'white privilege' while he was in college?"

(Click here to see how often the term appears in the Virginia Tech website.)

Giovanni is one of those sub-doggerel "poets" who has such Important Things to say that she can't be bothered to take the time to say them well. As she herself admitted to Brian Lamb on C-SPAN's Booknotes, "I'm not a very good rhymer." When she tries, it comes out like Cole Porter gone gaga:

if it's gum we can chew it
I hope it's love so we can do it

Perhaps her best-known poem is Ego Tripping (there may be a reason why), a slab of Afrocentrist drivel from 1973:

I was born in the Congo.
I walked to the Fertile Crescent and built the sphinx.
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star that only glows every one hundred years falls into the center giving divine perfect light.
I am bad.

Indeed.

Of course, Professor Giovanni, an elderly lady of 63, is not personally a danger to other people, no matter how bloodthirsty some of her poems are.

(What impact she has had over the years on earnest, impressionable young people might be a different question, however.)

Instead, she is a minimally talented self-promoter who has exploited various ideological fads over the decades, such as black radicalism, feminism, and Afrocentrism, to secure herself a comfy sinecure at Virginia Tech and to spend her spare time traveling around to hear herself be praised. Her own website lovingly lists 124 "Awards and Honors" she has garnered.

Giovanni's fee for a personal appearance runs from $5,000 to $10,000. That's pocket lint compared to the $40,000+ demanded by Maya Angelou (who is ensconced down the road from public Virginia Tech at posh private Wake Forest), but it's a living.

Giovanni is a small town version of New York City charlatan Al Sharpton, You might think that the ringmaster of the 1987 Tawana Brawley hoax whose racist rhetoric helped incite the Crown Heights pogrom of 1991 and the Freddie's Fashion Mart mass murder of 1995 might, like Don Imus, have talked himself out of a job by now.

And, yet, Sharpton not only endures, but prospers—elbowing his way back into the spotlights as the moral arbiter at the center of the recent Imus brouhaha.

Being a race hustler apparently means never having to say you're sorry.
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Dave Spelvin
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Fulla-Carp
What an obnoxious article. Nothing but a smear. The school did notice that he was disturbed. And, in fact, he was adjudicated mentally ill by a court. How exactly is it the school's or this professor's fault that he killed all those people?
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TomK
HOLY CARP!!!
Dave Spelvin
Apr 26 2007, 03:20 PM
What an obnoxious article. Nothing but a smear. The school did notice that he was disturbed. And, in fact, he was adjudicated mentally ill by a court. How exactly is it the school's or this professor's fault that he killed all those people?

That isn't the point of the article.

The point of the article is that Cho's hate poetry and that of his teacher's is very similar. He might just have learned something about writing that style of poetry in her class.

Do you think?

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Aqua Letifer
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ZOOOOOM!
TomK
Apr 26 2007, 11:24 AM

That isn't the point of the article.

The point of the article is that Cho's hate poetry and that of his teacher's is very similar. He might just have learned something about writing that style of poetry in her class.

Do you think?

Maybe, but I don't care. The professor may have taught how to write disturbing poetry but he sure as hell didn't teach anyone to go on a killing spree.

So what, I says. Too many people trying to connect dots. Cho was mentally disturbed, it went unchecked, and he killed a lot of people and wounded a few more. The end.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
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LadyElton
Fulla-Carp
Cho had mental health problems throughout his life, not just when he went to VT. He was one very sick man.
Hilary aka LadyElton
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Dave Spelvin
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Fulla-Carp
TomK
Apr 26 2007, 11:24 AM
Dave Spelvin
Apr 26 2007, 03:20 PM
What an obnoxious article. Nothing but a smear. The school did notice that he was disturbed. And, in fact, he was adjudicated mentally ill by a court. How exactly is it the school's or this professor's fault that he killed all those people?

That isn't the point of the article.

The point of the article is that Cho's hate poetry and that of his teacher's is very similar. He might just have learned something about writing that style of poetry in her class.

Do you think?

That's what you think was the point of the article? Calling Sharpton a charleton and bringing up Tawana Brawley, sneering at the professor for listing 124 awards on her website - these things have to do with writing how? The writer is trying to tie the murder of 32 people to certain elements on the left. Don't you think?
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TomK
HOLY CARP!!!
Aqua Letifer
Apr 26 2007, 03:37 PM
Maybe, but I don't care. The professor may have taught how to write disturbing poetry but he sure as hell didn't teach anyone to go on a killing spree.

So what, I says. Too many people trying to connect dots. Cho was mentally disturbed, it went unchecked, and he killed a lot of people and wounded a few more. The end.

I'm not disputing that he was disturbed.

But, Cho's violent writings figured prominently in his persona as a violent person. Maybe in much the same way that pornography figures in the life of rapists. The lessons he learned at school--from this much valued and decorated poet--may just have had an effect on him.

After all, isn't that why people go to college?

Violence begets violence. Personally, I think Giovanni should be removed from her teaching post at VT.
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
That article was one of the most disgusting things I've ever read. Just how low do these revolting individuals need to stoop to try and smear those whose opinions they don't agree with?
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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TomK
HOLY CARP!!!
Dave Spelvin
Apr 26 2007, 03:47 PM
The writer is trying to tie the murder of 32 people to certain elements on the left. Don't you think?

Well, Nikki certainly didn't help, did she?
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TomK
HOLY CARP!!!
John D'Oh
Apr 26 2007, 03:58 PM
That article was one of the most disgusting things I've ever read. Just how low do these revolting individuals need to stoop to try and smear those whose opinions they don't agree with?

Wouldn't it have been better if Nikki had taught Cho a poem like this:


If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!



Instead of a poem about pissing on a blond girl's head.

And killing and killing and killing. :wacko:
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
The very same people denying the very possibility of even the faintest connection between the lack of gun laws in the US and a shooting such as this are now trying to pin the blame on *poetry*?

Give me a break.

Guns don't kill people - Iambic pentameter kills people.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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JBryan
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I am the grey one
Poetry doesn't kill people - People kill poetry.
"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne


There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it".


Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody.

Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore.

From The Lion in Winter.
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TomK
HOLY CARP!!!
John D'Oh
Apr 26 2007, 04:13 PM
The very same people denying the very possibility of even the faintest connection between the lack of gun laws in the US and a shooting such as this are now trying to pin the blame on *poetry*?

Give me a break.

Guns don't kill people - Iambic pentameter kills people.

You miss the point John. Look the Terrorists the took down the WTC, we're they crazy? Or were they taught their "crazyness?" They certainly killed a lot of people, because what they were taught. They were impressionable minds--and they were taught to kill.

Maybe, Cho had an impressionable mind, too--and ran into the wrong poet.

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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
Tom you are in great company.

Here's another guy who had something to say about "degenerate" art.


Posted Image
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JBryan
Member Avatar
I am the grey one
Godwin's rule is hereby invoked.
"Any man who would make an X rated movie should be forced to take his daughter to see it". - John Wayne


There is a line we cross when we go from "I will believe it when I see it" to "I will see it when I believe it".


Henry II: I marvel at you after all these years. Still like a democratic drawbridge: going down for everybody.

Eleanor: At my age there's not much traffic anymore.

From The Lion in Winter.
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TomK
HOLY CARP!!!
kenny
Apr 26 2007, 04:32 PM
Tom you are in great company.

Here's another guy who had something to say about "degenerate" art.

Posted Image

kenny,

You loose. :( :lol: :lol: :lol:
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AlbertaCrude
Bull-Carp
TomK
Apr 26 2007, 02:26 PM
You miss the point John. Look the Terrorists the took down the WTC, we're they crazy? Or were they taught their "crazyness?"

No Tom, they submitted to Allah and carried out his instruction to wage jihad against the infidel and apostates.

In short, they were *born again* fundamentalists.

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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
AlbertaCrude
Apr 26 2007, 01:01 PM
TomK
Apr 26 2007, 02:26 PM
You miss the point John.  Look the Terrorists the took down the WTC, we're they crazy?  Or were they taught their "crazyness?"

No Tom, they submitted to Allah and carried out his instruction to wage jihad against the infidel and apostates.

In short, they were *born again* fundamentalists.

But they are bad because they have the wrong religion.

Tom has the right one.
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AlbertaCrude
Bull-Carp
No Kenny, they were bad because they adhered to a tribal culture that embraced superstition.
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sue
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HOLY CARP!!!
John D'Oh
Apr 26 2007, 01:13 PM
The very same people denying the very possibility of even the faintest connection between the lack of gun laws in the US and a shooting such as this are now trying to pin the blame on *poetry*?


exactly.

How pathetic.
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TomK
HOLY CARP!!!
AlbertaCrude
Apr 26 2007, 05:01 PM
TomK
Apr 26 2007, 02:26 PM
You miss the point John.  Look the Terrorists the took down the WTC, we're they crazy?  Or were they taught their "crazyness?"

No Tom, they submitted to Allah and carried out his instruction to wage jihad against the infidel and apostates.

In short, they were *born again* fundamentalists.

So,

All seem the same sort of "kill people" crazy to me. Some more so than others. But maybe there is some correlation--or isn't it Politically Correct to discuss the idea of some sort of continuum?

And kenny--you lost, you're out of this one. Try doing something besides showing a picture to Hitler for people who disagree with you once in a while--you gay guys are supposed to be so creative.

You letting your people down. :biggrin:
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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
I like you Tom. ;)

Oh, and I don't have people.
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TomK
HOLY CARP!!!
kenny
Apr 26 2007, 05:23 PM
I like you Tom. ;)

Oh, and I don't have people.

I like you too, kenny.

I don't have people either. Groupism and all that. :thumb:
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kenny
HOLY CARP!!!
I'm not even human.

Speciesism and all that, you know.
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Red Rice
HOLY CARP!!!
kenny
Apr 26 2007, 12:32 PM
Tom you are in great company.

Here's another guy who had something to say about "degenerate" art.


Posted Image

Going off topic, but the Nazis had some fixed ideas about appropriate art. Their idea of "degenerate" did not include the realistic portrayal of nudity. In fact, like with most propagandist art, the beautiful nude was considered a source of inspiration. It was the "deformed" portrayal of the human form that one sees in Dada and Cubist art that the Nazis considered degenerate, and of course Dada embodied political values that Hitler despised. One thing Hitler definitely did like was the soft-porn portrayal of "healthy" Aryan girls, like this one by Ernst Liebermann, which, while unsubtle and definitely not great art, does have its own beauty:

Posted Image

(Sorry, I'm doing a paper about this stuff.)
Civilisation, I vaguely realized then - and subsequent observation has confirmed the view - could not progress that way. It must have a greater guiding principle to survive. To treat it as a carcase off which each man tears as much as he can for himself, is to stand convicted a brute, fit for nothing better than a jungle existence, which is a death-struggle, leading nowhither. I did not believe that was the human destiny, for Man individually was sane and reasonable, only collectively a fool.

I hope the gunner of that Hun two-seater shot him clean, bullet to heart, and that his plane, on fire, fell like a meteor through the sky he loved. Since he had to end, I hope he ended so. But, oh, the waste! The loss!

- Cecil Lewis
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