So there's two things. There's the thing the conversation is about -- ie: What it is we agree we're talking about, and here that might be social class. That's what is supposedly linking Hopper with Abebe, social class and also kinda this multicultural discourse. So Hopper is arguing that Vampire Weekend are participating in this class; they're colonizing African music, they're using WASP'y signifiers, etc. And then Abebe comes back and says, no, they have legitimate identity claims you're ignoring, they aren't simply participating, they're critiquing, etc.
But then there's the second thing, which is kinda what the conversation could be about, or what it's about for the individual participants. For me, it's about my Jewish identity - and the claims I have to being Jewish as opposed to being simply White. And that's what's REALLY going on in the conversation, even if Hopper + Abebe might not see that themselves. It's not totally unlike your comment about knowing what Dylan meant even better (or differently) than what Dylan meant. So when I say that Vampire Weekend is partially about a history of Jewish relationships to old WASP wealth, I know that's really what it's about. So there's a certain relativism there, you could say.
In the end tho, I think Abebe is really arguing not necessarily for the specifics, but arguing that you should be willing and able to make the second kind of argument. You shouldn't come in deciding that the band is really about being bourgeois or whatever. You should come in and as the evidence moves you, maybe the kind of argument you're making changes too.
no subject
But then there's the second thing, which is kinda what the conversation could be about, or what it's about for the individual participants. For me, it's about my Jewish identity - and the claims I have to being Jewish as opposed to being simply White. And that's what's REALLY going on in the conversation, even if Hopper + Abebe might not see that themselves. It's not totally unlike your comment about knowing what Dylan meant even better (or differently) than what Dylan meant. So when I say that Vampire Weekend is partially about a history of Jewish relationships to old WASP wealth, I know that's really what it's about. So there's a certain relativism there, you could say.
In the end tho, I think Abebe is really arguing not necessarily for the specifics, but arguing that you should be willing and able to make the second kind of argument. You shouldn't come in deciding that the band is really about being bourgeois or whatever. You should come in and as the evidence moves you, maybe the kind of argument you're making changes too.