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Branding entire populations based on the negative images portrayed by one small niche of their broader culture is intolerant and prejudiced at its core. A few loud, influential blowhards make enough noise to make it seem like they speak for the masses. It happens to many groups: Muslims, Jews, the Irish and Italians and ... African Americans. It is racism. Its focus shifts with every headline and sensationalized "news" story. It ebbs and flows, but racism persists.
Media coverage can put negative aspects of any culture on prominent display. Those who choose to get their cultural education through that narrow filter could see all Muslims as radicals, all Italians as Mafioso or all Blacks as Gangstas. These generalizations foster racism, so, to an extent, the media feeds the intolerance.
It's unfortunate that this discussion got hung up on the merits of hip-hop. I think the OP could have been the catalyst for some worthwhile discourse, had we all seen past a few buzz words.
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"Regret can be a harder pill to swallow than failure .With failure you at least know you gave it a chance..." David Howard
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