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Editor's Note: Laser Cub is a small, docile baby wolf celebrated for his political insights and ability to blast searing laser beams from his eyes. This is his first column for lunchboxing. CNN began asking its employees to use more hip-hop lingo a while ago, with mixed results. But a recent episode of the network's Anderson Cooper 360 -- a news program as informative as it is awkwardly named -- made me wonder about CNN's use of one particular piece of hip-hop slang. A recent segment about the president declining to appear at the NAACP's convention included the caption, "BUSH DISSES NAACP?" As I stared at the words at the bottom of the screen, I began to wonder: Does CNN use the word "disses" in a lot of its news coverage? Or just in stories about black people? Because if the latter is the case, where's Bill Cosby when you need him? 
I know, I may be an oversensitive little cub. But just to put my concerns to rest, I went to CNN's web site (my cave has cable and Internet) and did a search for "disses." I've already written this much, so I guess I'll share my findings. First, CNN uses "disses" mostly in entertainment stories. I didn't find a single hard news story on the site that used the word, such as "Nader Disses Pleas Not to Ruin Election." Of seven stories I found that used "disses," only three involved African-Americans. One was about feuding among American Idol judges, and the other two were about rappers. But -- and you might want to sit down for this part -- it wasn't the rappers who were doing the dissing in these stories. The rappers were actually the ones getting dissed. What does all this mean? To me, it means hip-hop slang has come full circle. Mainstream America has not only accepted hip-hop terms, but is open to using the words against the very people who created them. The French like to say revolutions eat their fathers, and I think the people at CNN would agree. Except they would say revolutions eat they baby's daddies. To learn more about American Politics through the eyes of Laser Cub, check out The Laser Cub's Den of Democracy Blog! It will enlighten and inform. |
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