J-Mac and the culture of destruction

It occurred to me, whilst listening to the slammin beats of Jesse McCartney's new song on the way home yesterday, how completely right on Inga Muscio's observation of our "culture of destruction" is.

When I mentioned to a friend that I had no idea that this song was written by the afore-mentioned J-Mac, his response was one of quite surprising vehemence. He told me, immediately, that my one true love (I do hope you realize that is sarcasm.. a little..) was "just trying to be Sean Kingston."
Ahem.
My response to him was at first to be offended, because I knew that Jesse had taken two years off of his music career to really connect and try to grow up with his music and his style in a way that reflected the personal growth he had experienced, going from a teenager to a guy in his 20's (with which I most certainly identify. Except the male part). I tried to explain it, but he said that you could HEAR Jesse's (obviously) futile attempt to be the Caribbean R&B singer in sections throughout the song. Honestly, I didn't care. What I like about this song has nothing to do with whether or not Jesse McCartney wants to BE a black R&B singer. It has to do with a fun, smooth song that's easy to listen to and basically talks about a guy saying he could treat a girl better than the guy she's with who, one can assume from the chorus and bridge, makes her cry. I've been in that relationship, and if J-Mac came up to me and sang this song, I would have been leavin' fo sho.

So. On the way home from my friend's house last night, I heard the intro to the song and cranked it up, windows down, in the dark. It was fantastic. As I listened to the music, I actually did try to detect Sean Kingston-isms in his singing style, and I didn't notice any. But, it was as I was doing this that I realized where my friend's response came from. He was breaking Jesse down to build Sean up. Culture of destruction. Why, I thought, can't Jesse McCartney just have this new song that's really fun, that people who listen to Sean Kingston can also enjoy? Why was it such a personal offense to my friend for this pop singer to decide to try on a new style? Why are people so pissed off that Barack Obama might LEARN FROM HIS OPPOSITION and change a few things? Isn't that called an informed decision? Why can't Jesse McCartney's new song just be fun?

Because. If our culture is built upon success, which seems to be socially defined as being the best, then we cannot allow others to share in our good fortune. We must break them down to remain on top, in our lives, in our music, in our politics. In our culture, today, we must destroy others to be the only one standing.

I don't know about you, but that is NOT what I want governing my life and the world around me. A culture of destruction leaves no room for diversity, or this is how it seems to me. And then, like a lightbulb coming on in a darkened closet, I suddenly understood how it got to be this way... in a white, male, heterosexual dominated society.