IF IT WALKS LIKE A DUCK AND QUACKS LIKE A DUCK…sometimes it’s not a duck

by Paco Villarino

Food for Thought...

How often have you stopped at a signal light and heard the car next to you, blasting a rap ditty, as the thunderous subwoofer reverberates with every beat of the deafening bass drum. As you peer toward the driver, trying to send a discrete telepathic message to cease their invasive presence, you realize that the driver is a 30-something white girl, deeply immersed into her rap-ditty-gangster-lean and lip syncing a flurry of obscenity laden homage to street life. Oblivious to her brief encounter with fellow travelers, the signal light turns green and off we go to the next stop light, expecting more of the same from this unassuming agent provocateur of contemporary hip hop artistry.

Or let’s examine Church on the Move’s “Dad Life,” a rap song personifying a dad’s struggle to cope using hip hop artistry to convey his storytelling.

And then there is MSNBC news anchor Ari Melber, frequently paying tribute to mainstream hip hop artists. He earnestly weaves political discourse with artistic vignettes from the likes of Jay-Z, Drake, and Snoop Dogg.

Similarly, the outward appearances of an accused can portray a hardened gangbanger or menace to society when jurors are fed strategically measured portions of scare tactics by overzealous prosecutors.

Yet in the end, ladies and gentlemen of the jury pool, if you believe someone walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, they may not actually be a duck at all.