33 thoughts on “Hey P. Diddy — you Vote or Die thief!

  1. As far as I know, P. Diddy got neither premission nor permission from b!X. And he ain’t splittin’ any of his profits with him either. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Such is our Republican Amerika!
    I hope that P. Diddy’s fans (literate or ill-) do, indeed vote. And that they vote for Kerry/Edwards — who, I would imagine, P. Diddy is going to vote for.

  2. I think you people need 2 stop buggin. You anit gettn the money ,so forget it and stop startn mess cause you know he didnt steal nobodys stuff. You just haten on mah man. Stop haten and start apreciating*** ok good!!

  3. Iam not a fan of p.diddy but if he is getting people to vote that normaly wouldn’t thats all that matters bottom line. I also think that the comment writen on sept 16th by elaine of kalilily “I hope that p.diddy’s fans (literate or ill-)do, indeed vote.” That sounds pretty fuc*ed don’t you think. Why would that be something to say espesially about a black person when they did somany things in the past to keep people from voting like try and keep them illiterate so they could not vote. I think that was an ignorent thing to say even if you did not intend on it to be taken that way. I have never heard of you or this web site. I wen’t to the site to hear the hype and in the end because of what you said i will buy a p.diddy t-shirt . i guess iam more of a fan than i thought.

  4. Hmm. I don’t see that I indicated, anywhere, any racial associations with illiteracy. I’m assuming that P. Diddy’s fans cross racial lines, so my comment was referring to the particular individuals who think it’s cool to write and speak and leave comments in a dumbed-down vocabulary with inconsistent misspellings. Yes, indeed, please do vote. Hopefully, for Kerry/Edwards. And good for P. Diddy if he’s getting young people, illiterate or not, to cast their hard-earned votes. When it comes to buying the t-shirts, however, P. Diddy sure doesn’t need the money. But my very poor and unemployed son (who came out with the shirts five years before P.Diddy did) really does.

  5. Many people use our materials, sometimes they credit us, sometimes they even make money for themselves, but most important, they are getting the facts out: http://www.votewiththefacts.org.
    Take Farenheit 911. Bradbury was a writer I respected or at least enjoyed when I was young, he should have been proud of the use of the word Farenheit, instead he appeared as a … It’s our attachment to things, like oil that does not belong to us, power in the world, and things that don’t belong to us which really cause our pain. It’s hard to have our ideas used, but sometimes people actually come up with the same idea at the same time or don’t even know about your idea. NH has the slogan: Live Free or Die. Vote or Die is very close. Hope you feel better and Live Free or Die! Bless your heart for your work and Vote with The Facts!

  6. Votewiththefacts.org is an excellent site. You are right about people coming up with ideas at the same time. You are right about Vote or Die being similar to Live Free or Die. My son actually said the same things to me. But, unlike P. Diddy, he doesn’t have a PR person. I was simply doing some PR for my son’s shirts, riding the wash of P. Diddy’s waves.

  7. Whomever this slogan was originally penned by truly is not the point – in fact, the point is to vote because our voice or lack thereof does affect our lives. P. Diddy’s fans will be inspired by his words and hopefully will ride the tide until election time and realize the importance of their vote. It does not matter who we vote for as long as we do.
    On a sidebar, the illiterate or not comment was truly catty. Sean “P.Diddy” Combs is a black man which assumes that a large part of his fan base are black people. As many are aware, we are a very sensitive race because for every one of us that attempts to escalate ourselves there are several of us that choose to be consumed by the stigma’s of our race. In this light, when someone makes a comment as you did (and you seem to be too educated not to have noticed) it is insulting to insinuate about anyone’s illiteracy. However, I hope that you can realize this and turn your ignorance around and note that in order to exist some sensitivity towards everyone is expected. Because even if someone chooses to post a message to your site using “ebonics” at least they had the interest to vist.

  8. Vote or Die is nothing like Live Free or Die. The emphasis of voting these days is not so you can preserve your freedoms but so that you can be sure to get YOUR handout/tax break/corporate welfare/warm fuzzy feeling. Living Free and Voting have no direct relation to each other. They may occasionally co-incide, but for the most part Living Free means being able to do what YOU want wheras voting means making other people do what you want them to.

  9. I disagree that voting is a way to get people to do what you want them to do. That really is looking at the issue through a two-inch pipe that is connected to what seems like a very small brain and equally small heart. Many of us feel that voting for a non-Republican is the first step in getting rid of tax breaks for the rich/corporate welfare.
    AND I think the point was that the sound of the slogans is similar. You can put anything you want in front of “….or die.” “Dance or Die.” “Fight or Die.” “Love or Die.” Back in 1999, my son wrote an eloquent essay about the crucial importance of our responsibility to cast our votes. He titled it “Vote or Die.” I’m trying to get him to make it available online. It’s more relevant today than it was even then.
    AND, again, I never assumed that the individuals leaving those original comments were African American. I only assumed that they were American fans of P. Diddy’s who thought it was cool to use sloppy typing and communication skills — perhaps as a way of emulating their idol. It’s interesting that everyone seems to be making an assumption that I never made. I think I’m the victim of White stereotyping.

  10. I’m going to add this to these comments, since this is where the discussion is — even though I posted another piece on the issue here: http://www.kalilily.net/weblog/04/09/29/192648.html
    I was asked to consider how I’m coming across. I guess I must be offending not only the masses of illiterates in general, but also those who speak Ebonics in particular.
    Just let me say this: I spend three years in the mid nineties, as part of my job, working with a high school in Harlem trying to help the administration and the teachers figure out what they need to do get their students to be more interested in learning. (I remember the first time I got off the subway in Harlem and realized I was the only white face for blocks. I understood, for the first time, at a gut level, how the reverse must feel.) One of my messages was to make better use of the music and the art created by the students as catalysts toward learning other things about the world and themselves.
    Another piece of information in my defense of my embracing of racial diversity. When my son was living in San Francisco, he was mugged and badly beaten by three Black guys. That’s a fact. But it’s also a fact that what that fact means to me is that there were three bad guys who did a bad thing. That event didn’t make me believe that all Black guys are bad. People are people and they prove that they are bad or good depending on how they behave.
    My twenty years in education has given me some perspective about what has worked and what has not worked in motivating kids to care about learning and engaging fully with the world around them. I will post new pieces about my thoughts on that.
    But the bottom line is, online I’m the Crone, an ornery gadfly trying to poke holes in the flaws in our system and in systems of thinking. That’s who I’ve become at 64. I hope I’m making you all think and care.

  11. ehyo, Elaine: stop frontin like you better than errebody else, aiiighhh? It aint dumb downed language, it’s how alot of urban people speak, people from different places and backrounds tend to have differences in speach patterns and various slang, you dig? I work at a large high risk insurance agency that caters to EMS services and FireWatch services throughout the nation. All day I’m surrounded by people in very important positions, as I myself have an important position at the company as a policy analyst. But when the clock hit that numba 5 i breeze easy wit my crew an blaze up a dutch in one of my frienz tricked out whips, and say AINT enough times to prolly make yo ears bleed. What I’m tryna say is that it don’t matter if you always speak in proper english yo. Converse wit me on neuro-psych, world religions, history, classic literature, whatever, i’m on that shit. I’m well educated an I still speak street, cause that’s how i live. By the way i was kicked outta public school 3 times in 2 years, arrested at school, and 4 err 5 times otha places (not that i’m proud) an i juss did a bid in a correctional/rehabilitation center upstate. So don’t be judgin people from what you see or in this case hear on tha outside. I didn’t judge you by any of yo postings till I read your remarks wit racist undertones, intentional er not- many times people claim to have no bias against other races but racism is hidden everywhere and people, such as yourself, may have some type of learned racism that they’re not aware of. And your sons unemployed? Wow, that’s not common! Do you have any idea how many Americans are unemployed? I assume you do, you don’t seem stupid. An try gettin a job roun’ *here*, aiighh? My dad’s unemployed. Half tha peoples on my block is unemployed, there aint no jobs!!! Maybe thas why half the apartment complex next to me gotta sling crack to fiends for dough. Or my friend and his dad gotta deal weed to fill they fridge. Maybe thas why some black kid got fount in a laundry bag all chopped up an mutilated in a laundry bag in tha BK this mornin an his momma gotta come claim his hacked up body at tha morgue. Maybe thas why I work a full time job, a part time job, and sling on the side (yea i kno thas feedin tha fire, but we all do shit we dont wanna hafta do) to support myself an save up for some college classes, an you kno how hard it is to find work wit no High School Diploma? Aint like I couldn’t do that highschool shit wit ease, shit, I kno I’m smarter than 95% of them kids i was sposed to graduate wit. The streets is no jobs, no money, no food, no education, an the streets is EVERYWHERE, aint no specific area. We livin life 1 unemployment/wellfare check to the next. Bread an milk aint free, an neither is education. Beside you kno how hard it is to stay in school when you livin below tha poverty line wit gang colors an dope dealers straight up in yo face all day an ESPECIALLY all night. It’s a viscious catch 22. An thas why Ima excercise my new found voting right this november, I juss turnt 18 in june. And now I’m all heated so Ima be copin that P.Diddy shirt! Plus he motivatin the masses, he spreadin the word, he tryna educate an sure as hell way more popular than yo son, no disrespect to him or you, but people are goin to LISTEN to him. Anyways, I’ve said more than needed to be said about that little comment, but not more than you needed to kno.

  12. oh an 64 years of livin can’t teach you shit bout these circumstances we livin wit till u livin wit that shit one on one. your son got mugged for havin money. i got the shit beat out of me, thrown out into traffic, and spit on in the face solely for bein of mixed race, which by the way was when i was 13 after my first day of 7th grade, dig? you eva got harrased, embarressed, beat, an dents in yo pride for bein white? It’s arighh tho, that was the past, shit like thats hardened me, an let somebody try an pull some shit like that on me now.

  13. ‘Can’t argue with that. And that’s just why so many of us are still fighting to change our country so that those kinds of things stop happening. And, don’t forget, it wasn’t me who did that to you; just as I assume that it wasn’t you who did that do my son. There are so many fundamental problems in this country that have been here for such a long time, and intolerance and violence are two of them that seem to merge into one. I didn’t get on P. Diddy’s case because of his skin color. I would have posted the same original post if it had been a white female entertainer or anyone else for that matter.
    Of course my experiences have been different from yours. But I try to do the best I can with what I have and to try to do the right thing. (And, in this case, the right thing was to point out that my son had created and been selling Vote or Die t-shirts since since 1999. And knowingly or not, P. Diddy copied the idea to do that. My bringing it up had nothing to do with race; it had to do with the truth.)
    We all have our own truths. My heart goes out to you.
    But let me add that communicating in Ebonics puts a bigger rift between those who do and those who don’t. If that’s what you want, go for it. But if you want tolerance, support, and understanding, if you want more White Americans working even harder to make your life (and the lives of all of the disenfranchised) better, using the common language of a unified America might help a little. Doing so forges a connection rather than a barrier. Just a thought. (Unless, of course, the point you want to make is that we are so very different that there’s no way to meet on common ground. Language is power — power to divide or power to unite. Making Ebonics your first language just puts up another barrier to us all feeling that we can have a unified America, all working toward the same goals of equal distribution of wealth. equal justice for all, and caring support for all regardless of skin color. Just my opinion, of course.)
    Oh, and by the way, my son got mugged because he was a poor White Boy living in the Hood. He had his last 40 bucks on him and they took that. The truth is never really simple is it?

  14. Look P. Diddy is actually using this slogan in a positive way to get youth to come out register and change the vote for the better, and you people sit up here and put it down if anything you should be supportive. So stop your boo hooing suck it up and deal with it Becuase I like his shirts better!! Besides who’s ever heard of Khalily anyway. And Elaine instead of posting your pointless opions on this page go find some help and get a life because you be talking real dumb and thats all the time. And if anybody gotta problem with anything I siad get at the gurl!!!!

  15. What a waste of life. “God bless micheal moore” f*ck you!! A disgrace to the freedom of speech, and all of us who fight for it. Anyone who is as gullable and naive as you is a sad sight. Watch what you wish for. VOTE BUSH 04

  16. Ah, I only ask those like Patience who don’t think I have a life, to stop making unfounded assumptions and go to my home page and read some of my many other posts. I actually have several lives, and the life of a thinker/writer is but one of them. And you might find it interesting to do a little research to find out who Kali is and who Lilith is (Kalilily, right?); what archetypes are; what metaphors are; and the role of the crone in ancient cultures. It’s a big world out there — big, diverse, complex, and intimidating. The more we can find out about each other the better. Weblogs offer one way to find out about each other. Why don’t all of you start your own weblogs and send me your URLs. I promise I will take the time read them and find out more about who you all are, what you’ve experienced, and what you hope for. You can get a free weblog by going to http://www.blogger.com and signing up. It’s risky, of course, because you might get some nasty comments tacked on to what you write about. But open and public communication is often risky. It’s also enlightening. It’s what eventually will bring us together as citizens of the same planet. Go for it, kids.

  17. P.S. I guess I can’t expect that commenters here who don’t even leave real emai addresses would be willing to put themselves out there in public weblogs. (I tried to send them emails and got my message bounced back because the emai addresses they left don’t exist.) Let’s talk about courage of conviction, you guys. Let’s talk about the cowardice of hiding behind anonymity. Google Kalilily and you’ll find out who I am. Who the hell are all of you????

  18. look why somebody gotta hate on a person because he makin change dang can someone do somethin without someone tryin ta hate on his fame and money and the person who said he copied of of bix well he did get permission to do so and maybe u should check some ya facts before u start hatin and anyway p diddy made alot more people start votin now so i dont care if he took a logon off someone shirt he made a difference in voting so back off and chill and if they have a problem with it then let them deal wit it aint none of your bussiness anyway holla back yall and we need ta stop hatin peace ps ya gurl 3c’s (candy cane crook)

  19. Hate? Who said anything about hate? Not me! Disagreeing with someone doesn’t translate into “hate.” At least not in the English language I use. And, for the last time, P.D. didn’t get permission from b!X, and I’m not sure that he had to, anyway. I was just pointing out the fact the b!X’s came first and it would be great if he could get some credit and profit from his idea that P.D. copied. And it IS my business because b!X is my son. You know, family and all. Certainly more my business than yours.
    Definitely, vote. Not because P. Diddy says so, but because of this: http://www.kalilily.net/weblog/04/10/06/131256.html (notice the 1999 copyright date)

  20. I think it doesnt matter whether he got the ok to use a slogan.I say people need to get over it.He is doing all this to get young people to vote.People who would not listen to b!X will hear what P. Diddy has to say.It’s all for the same cause so lay off.

  21. Ya’ know, the worst thing you can say to a Crone is to lay off. That only stokes the fire. But rallying young people to vote is a most important cause, indeed. So, having made my point and spoken my piece, I will let this go. Learn the facts. Vote. Vote for Kerry/Edwards.

  22. look does it really matter about the shirts and who gets the credit. alot of things in this world arent fair, and A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE do things astronomical and dont get credit it for it. this site is just stupid to have. who cares who came up with it. hell who cares who gets the credit. voting should just be the issue. hell if we didnt have shirts would this shit matter or would you still vote. even though i will probably buy a shirt from Diddy, (because that are more conventional and all around look better) i dont give a shyt about Diddy or your son for that matter. they wont be the ones deciding where my tax dollar goes or whether my gas will be $15 dollars next week. so drop the comments on the shirts. just let it be known that if indeed Diddy did get this phrase from your sons previous shirts in 1999 Diddy has made it rise again as a phoenix to carry on a message of voting. Diddy is driving this more towards african americans because a lot of us dont vote but it is now the time. i can attest to it because i am guilty of it. i am voting not because Diddy put it on a shirt, or because your son came up with it but because it is my right and duty as a us citizen. i have come to realize people have fought hard for women and blacks and other ethnic races to vote and i took it for granted but things are getting serious so as i said before your son or Diddy dont have the power or the influence to make ANYONE do ANYTHING. it is up to that person. neither of them are God. HOLLA!!!
    Editor’s Note: I did not delete this comment, even though I now have a policy about deleting comments left by individuals who are too cowardly to leave legitimate email address along with their comments.
    However, even though this commentor is beating a long-dead horse, he (I assume that it’s a he) is right, of course, about the importance of African Americans getting out to vote. Please do vote, armed with the facts and informed about the consequences. Vote or Die. That goes for us all.

  23. I am a BIG fan of P-Diddy and I think he is doing a great job of getting the people more involved in voting and speaking thier minds. So I hope he keeps doing what he do.

  24. Instinctive distinction
    This is the right time for poetry
    This is a young man with a pen
    This is the outskirt of fellony
    It is a world of trend
    This isn’t what you earned
    This isn’t what you pend
    This isn’t what you learned
    it is a blend
    More like the raining days
    Under the pillars
    More like the spectacles
    In the cinemas
    When the winds blow North
    And the South steared
    When the East pretend
    Can the wise tell?
    If you missed my birthday
    You can guess my age
    But if you missed my poetry
    You are not my friend
    Copyright* Oluwasegun b. oke
    21st of May 2005
    I won’t waste your precious time
    my names are: Oluwasegun Babafemi Oke(a.k.a segnis)
    Location: West Afrtica, Lagos, Nigeria
    Sex: Male
    Age:22 Years
    The only reasons I’m sending this to you is to fore you to help me publish my “poetry book” or rather my anthology.
    I have written over 21 poems, and most of my friends @ poetrypoem.com have published theirs. I want us to share the sales profit by 40 to 60 %.
    USAGE OF MY MONEY:When the time is right, I want to use my part of the money to the first Nigeria online poetry insitution.
    Which i had named, segnis poetry club. The website features would include:
    *Haiku
    *Membership registration
    * poetry contest
    *Poetry publishing and more.
    I have a blueprint to convincing some private and public sector to sponsor the project, but right now,I don’t have any poetry educational degree.
    so, to cut a long story short I want to divert my portion of the money to acqiure a one,two years or more poetry course Degree or Certificate in the United states.
    I believe this will equip me with more skills and confidence to reduce mediocrity on my path when to yield the maximum Result.
    Having concluded my High school in 2001,my father has been singing the Medicine tunes to my hears, this has cost me 3 years, 2002,2003 and 2004 respectively.Now , I know my strenth, because poetry is the only reason i’m happy today,” it tells me i’m not a failure aterall”.
    This is the fight
    This is my crime
    This is my sacrifice
    This is the time
    Please, weather Yes or No!
    Make every effort to reply this mailSend your reply or question to:segnispoetrystudyabroad@fastermail.com
    and i shall send you the rest so that you can search online to know the poetry book publishing cost and more.
    In the fulture want to become Nigeria Poetry ambersador.
    Above all, this is nothing like a scam.
    Because i’m serious, so if you are really serius like i’m, you can either mail me: segnispoetrystudyabroad@fastermail.com or contact me by phone:+2348033926688
    Never too late to die
    Ask a nonagenarian his life tales
    His new collections
    The bubbling sparkles in last cocktails
    The Globe is under pleasantries
    Take time to share
    It is not fair
    After a warm bathe in the morning
    Another Noon, another Lunch
    Another season to wander in the lounge
    When the Moon seems to high to clue
    Take time to peer
    It is not fair
    While reminiscing the last Family re-union Barbecue
    In the midst of friends and sundries
    She saw glowing spectacles of in harmonious cluster
    The mind is a pile of Memories
    Take time to dare
    It is not fair
    When the body toughened
    Because time is sincere
    When the muscles stiffened
    In the course of pretence
    The legs wobble as sight impairs
    But as the Doctor calls?
    Take time to hear
    Find time to spare
    Take time to care

Leave a Reply to Elaine of KalililyCancel reply