The Parkus Empire wrote:Weaver wasn't using dog whistles in the 1940's, a period of segregation. Where he is being simply racist he is overt about it. To say his criticism of jazz is simply about racism is to dismiss the entire preceding part of the chapter. His conclusions about jazz are entirely consistent from where he's coming from. Indeed, to not have such conclusions would be jarringly inconsistent with his treatment of Western music in general
To detach such sentiments from his racism is to ignore the effects that one's thoughts have on one another. Our worldviews are intricately interconnected, and it's difficult to meaningfully argue for a separation of his racism with the way he characterizes the 'negro' form of music called jazz.