Still Ready To Protest For Ciara?

After word let out that BET might have banned Ciara’s video for her first single, “Ride,” many a stan and contrarian for convenience was ready to stage a twirk off right in the front of Debra Lee’s house in protest. How dare BET refuse to air Ciara kegel instructional video?! Such a move was considered a harsh stance against Ciara’s creative freedom.

The common argument was, “Well, BET shows every damn thing else?! Why not Ciara’s video in which she teaches us the art of humping?”

As I previously wrote I don’t feel strongly either way about the video, but I do share the fears of the person who emailed a clip of two very young girls reenacting the video (to view video, click the bold text), though.

That fear being Ciara’s video would find its way onto the eyes of the young and impressionable. It’s not Ciara’s responsibility to be somebody’s parent. Also, as unpopular a sentiment as this is, I have to say that a child singing inappropriate lyrics or doing certain dances that puts fear in the heart of Chris Hansen doesn’t necessarily mean she will grow up to be Kat Stacks.

I used to sing Kut Klose’s “I Like” all the time at the age of 9. To this day, I can remember being mad that my mama changed the station as it played while in en route somewhere in her Impala. Thank goodness she didn’t catch me rolling my eyes at her after she turned the station — otherwise my left eye might be near my kneecap.

Still, ultimately I found the song. Dubbed my sister’s copy of it. Sang that shit like I wrote it. Same goes for 12 Play (the whole damn album). And yet, I became regrettably prudish about sex in some cases later in life.

So, that said, the end might not be near for this little girl. But, if BET decided to run “Ride” all day, everyday,  it certainly isn’t helping the situation  — especially if she isn’t being raised to know certain things.

Hence, why so many people call on radio and TV and fashion and publishing to be more responsible to compensate for the parents who are anything but.

For many blacks, BET was the first on the list that was asked to change their ways. Yet, when they made a bit of an effort to people branded them hypocritical.

Thing is for years people have asked BET to change their standards and when they attempted to by way of not airing videos like “Ride,” they’re still faulted.

Oddly enough, in their post-Uncut life I’ve found BET to be one of the more conservative networks in terms of the videos they run. Sometimes it seems like they bleep out words for the hell of it. At random, you’ll hear words like, “the,” “biscuit, “Frisbee,” and “coupon” all muted. I’m not sure why that is, but hell, I don’t work in standards.

The problem with editing for any network is that they’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t. One of the reasons I became more selective about how I leveled my criticism is that I realized that in many cases, much of what we see on television is only a mirror of what’s going on everywhere else.

Yes, the music, TV, and film industries should be made culpable for the ways in which they influence culture, but at the same time we as a community have to take a step back and acknowledge our respective roles in allowing it.

This adorable little girl’s mother, cousin, auntie, granny, little brother, or baby sitter that needs to find a new calling taped this video and proceeded to upload it online. Because they think this shit cute; because they want attention; because they’re stupid as hell.

None of that is Ciara’s fault, but for the people who complained about “Ride’s” banning but still asked for BET to raise their standards (yes, there were many of you, I saw the shit on Twitter, Facebook, and random sites), what do you have to say now?

Hopefully it’s, “I realize I can’t have it both ways.”

Thanks to Codie for sending this. I pray this isn’t deemed child porn. I am so not down for being someone’s personal Beyonce in jail.

Edit: Yeah, I took that clip down. Better safe than soap dropping.