Loved this episode but the conversation was desperately missing a race analysis when discussing why Eminem is so popular and praised (awards). Perhaps a reason why Eminem is so popular as a rapper is because he's white in a Black dominated field - or a field dominated by POC at the very least. I know for myself, as a kid listening to music, I was only allowed Eminem because he was white. My mother and father said, 'Eminem is fine as long as you don't listen to like this episode. Long time listener and fan, but as a nonwhite autistic person I found this episode lacking intersectionality.
Hmmm thanks for the comment. I am familiar with this line of reasoning and critique about Eminem’s career but I don’t see how it fits with the narrative of this episode. The person of the episode was to analyze how his autistic traits affected his music and creativity. We explore Autistic culture so our listeners can recognize Autistic culture when they see it. Like the way we can recognize Irish culture or Italian culture.
When we look at Eminem’s pattern matching, echolalia, and monotropic focus we see some features of our culture. So while I agree there are major issues around race with Eminem that are fascinating, they just don’t really have a connection to the narrative of this episode in my opinion. I’m open to another perspective but the goal of this episode was not to do a critique of his work but a critique of how autistic culture is reflected through his work.
Feel free to expand on your concern in that light.
Loved this episode but the conversation was desperately missing a race analysis when discussing why Eminem is so popular and praised (awards). Perhaps a reason why Eminem is so popular as a rapper is because he's white in a Black dominated field - or a field dominated by POC at the very least. I know for myself, as a kid listening to music, I was only allowed Eminem because he was white. My mother and father said, 'Eminem is fine as long as you don't listen to like this episode. Long time listener and fan, but as a nonwhite autistic person I found this episode lacking intersectionality.
Hmmm thanks for the comment. I am familiar with this line of reasoning and critique about Eminem’s career but I don’t see how it fits with the narrative of this episode. The person of the episode was to analyze how his autistic traits affected his music and creativity. We explore Autistic culture so our listeners can recognize Autistic culture when they see it. Like the way we can recognize Irish culture or Italian culture.
When we look at Eminem’s pattern matching, echolalia, and monotropic focus we see some features of our culture. So while I agree there are major issues around race with Eminem that are fascinating, they just don’t really have a connection to the narrative of this episode in my opinion. I’m open to another perspective but the goal of this episode was not to do a critique of his work but a critique of how autistic culture is reflected through his work.
Feel free to expand on your concern in that light.