With unsophisticated ignorance, he writes his curses in cursive.
After years of unhinged rants and oddly directed insults, it appears that rapper Kanye West has finally gone off the rails into deeper indefensible territory.
Finally dipping into expressed verbal bigotry, Kanye West tweeted he would go “death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE” on Oct. 8. It is assumed that by “death con 3,” Ye was referring to the Defense Readiness Condition 3 — a U.S Military term that means a threat is prevalent and action must be taken. The rapper most likely attacked Jews due to the infamous anti-Semitic conspiracy that extremely rich Jewish people run the world in a secret society. Regardless of Kanye’s intentions, the tweet had anti-Semitic implications and remains deeply offensive and unnecessary. Kanye was suspended from Twitter after already being banned on Instagram days prior for another anti-Semitic post.
Kanye’s mental health was thrust back into the spotlight as a result. The rapper’s battle with bipolar disorder has been well documented throughout his career and has served as a fallback option for Kanye sympathizers to defend him. While mental health is a valid issue and there are questionable actions taken by those who struggle with mental health issues, it is simply inexcusable to go on so many hate-filled rampages like his most recent one. Kanye is a grown man, and if he refuses the help he definitely has monetary access to, then there is no justification for his harmful actions.
The tweet also sparked thought on what free speech should entail on social media sites like Twitter. Regardless of public opinion, the legal statutes on free speech as it pertains to private sites are clear: corporations like Twitter have the ultimate discretion on what is acceptable in their domain. So no, Kanye stans, it was not a violation of West’s right to free speech when he violated Twitter’s terms of service. The bottom line is this: Kanye West and celebrities as a whole are not immune from criticism; one’s status as a high-profile figure in society is not a get-out-of-jail-free card.
After Ye’s routine vacation from the spotlight, his newest public rampage began with the sporting of a white lives matter t-shirt. Beyond the obvious irony, the message is an offensive and deliberate call for white supremacy in America. Yet this action has proven to be relatively standard for the erratic superstar. Kanye’s personal past includes being an activist on behalf of former President Donald Trump, loudly proclaiming convicted sex offender Bill Cosby’s innocence and causing comedian Pete Davidson to seek help through trauma therapy after weeks of harassing him on the internet. These events were just the tip of a horrid iceberg from Kanye, yet not many people could foresee his recent actions on Twitter.
It speaks to Ye’s actions that no one notable has defended him. Typically when a celebrity has a massive public failure, their biggest fans rush to their defense. It appears the rapper has managed to offend nearly every demographic within his expansive career, and this time he has alienated himself — justifiably so.
It is time that we as a society begin rejecting sentiments like Kanye’s and taking them for what they are at face value: unhinged comments with no factual basis. While this is not an endorsement of removing Kanye from the face of the Earth, it is an attempt to limit hurt by removing anyone on a public site who calls for harm against a demographic. Despite conservative support of Kanye’s free speech, when a person calls for bigoted violence or spreads misinformation that is damaging to the public, it is justified to censor them. This does not extend to just Kanye; this principle should be held to Donald Trump, Roger Stone and Alex Jones, all of whom have peddled dangerous, offensive information on Twitter.
It has been heartbreaking to watch the steady decline of one of my favorite artist’s mental health. I have had to convince myself that he is not his music and his music is not him. Still, it is extremely hard to not conflate the two. That being said, he is his own person and his mental health issues are his own if he refuses the help he needs.
Kanye’s actions are explainable to a degree, but they are nothing short of indefensible. His most recent controversy has been his most despicable. It feels as if each massive mistake the artist makes is worse than the one before. However frustrating it is, it has to be understood that this is ultimately on Kanye and his team to figure out how to fix these outbursts. This is not a “shut up and dribble” situation. Kanye can believe and say what he wants to say as long as they are not bigoted, baseless claims.
Jacob Ramos is an Opinion Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. He can be reached at jacobtr@uci.edu.