Hoooo. Leeee. Sugar Honey Iced Tea! I think I May Be On To Something Here.

Check this out: I was venting at a friend about how things have been with me lately, and how I've been feeling, and it turned into a conversation on how caste systems affect society, and what happens when you combine money. We came to the following conclusions.

Whether or not Americans want to believe it, this country runs on a combination of caste system and money. Here's how it works: In a work environment, you have the workers, bottom management, middle management upper management, etc. They all work on different pay scales. In a lot of cases the people in the higher rungs may think lesser of those in the lower rungs. All of this is subjective and can make or break a company, especially if it is small. Lets say you work for a company that is small, however the environment is toxic. You have a lot of bullying, passive aggressiveness and other foolishness between the workers, and on occasion the boss would dive right in and play the game as well. The boss refuses to fully train the workers for fear of one of them taking their job. The boss is arrogant and intentionally evasive when the workers ask questions on how to do their job. Lets say eventually, the boss moves to a different department, and a new boss is hired. This new boss is amazing! The boss works to establish a relationship with their workers that requires respect of all parties, and trains their crew to the point where they govern themselves while the boss is away. Now, no one is shorthanded because everybody knows how to do each other's job. This means that workers can schedule vacations without worrying about their job because someone else knows how to do it just as well. Pretty soon, the crew is happy, and will share the wealth. Word gets out that the new boss is awesome, and that boss is elected to spread their knowledge. Soon enough everybody on that level gets to work in their departments with a great boss.

However, this doesn't spread as far and wide as it could because there are still some people who adhere to the old way of doing things through intimidation, and resorting to underhanded attempts to create an establishment of a status that can't be attained by the people on the lower rungs of the ladder. These people feel they will lose their honor if they appear to like what the great bosses on the lower rungs are doing, so they adhere to the old way of doing things, and they do it willfully in order to keep their status because they are scared they will lose it in some way, shape or form.

Lets say someone from one of the higher rungs of the ladder decides to break from the norm and tries to follow the method of the boss with the good reputation. As a result, they get shunned from their original pack, meaning they may lose their status (or will be denied their raise) once word gets out. They will be considered an outcast, a pariah of sorts and no one would want to have anything to do with them because they dared to consider doing something the person on the lower rung of the ladder was doing and that it implied that such a person may have had the capability of being smart enough to have a good idea in the first place. Now all of a sudden anytime they deal with people from the pack, it will come with a cost because the pack has to defend their status to not appear weak. Now in order for the pack to appear strong, the person who was kicked out will have to give a lot more to the members of their previous pack in order to be given a shred of tolerance in the first place. In fact, they would probably be lucky if they even got that. The members of the pack will not have to work nearly as hard to receive acceptance with each other. It becomes an unspoken code.

Lets take a look at what happens when you throw money and America's caste system into the equation:

Lets say you have a person walk into a brand new market that appeared in their neighborhood. Lets say the shopkeeper and their family's ethnicity doesn't match the ethnicity of the customer. The customer looks around in the shop to find what they are looking for. The shopkeeper and their family are watching the customer's actions very intensely. There are no prices on the items. The customer asks how much a particular item is. The shopkeeper gives a price. That price is higher than the customer is used to paying for such item. The customer looks for another item, and asks the shopkeeper for the price. Again, the price is higher than usual. The shopkeeper doesn't know that the customer had done some homework before they attempted to make their purchase, and that particular shop happened to be the only shop that had the particular item at the moment. The customer leaves the store empty handed.

This situation matches the same situation I described with a corporate environment. There had to be some sort of caste system in place for them to decide to make their prices subjective. The shopkeeper's pack (people on the same corporate rung of the ladder) had decided which people get what price. Since the patron's ethnicity didn't match that of the shopkeeper, they were charged the higher price. I used this as an example because the same thing happened to me. I went to a computer store to find a CPU that had been slightly outdated. I wasn't looking to upgrade my computer, so I was hoping to settle for the outdated CPU at the moment.The location didn't have prices on their stuff, so the wife of the owner called her husband. They didn't know that I knew their language, so when she spoke to him, she looked up at me and said "Black" in her language. The price of the CPU was $30.00 MORE than was mentioned on Amazon.com, which was the cheapest site I could find. The other stores in the location said they could special order it for much cheaper than that, and were giving me the same quote that Amazon.com gave me. I decided I didn't need the CPU, and I was able to fix my computer without a new one.

I learned that if a person defines what does and what does not gain credit in a society, then they can change said society. In the corporate instance, the same tactics used to establish hierarchy were abolished, and a new society was born. This can be done with the shopkeeper situation as well. In the shopkeeper situation, everybody felt like they couldn't afford to change it, just like the other people in the corporate environment. They pushed against it so they can keep their status and so called honor. It seems that the boss who spread the knowledge was the one who felt they could afford to do so. As a result, the boss has a happy crew of people who want to come to work. The people who were so busy trying to maintain the status quo were the ones who were so busy trying to keep things the way they were. If everybody in each situation felt they could afford to drop the perceived status, they wouldn't need to keep score of what they feel that needs to be done to maintain their honor.

It was that moment where I found out this thinking may be the formula that could have the potential to solve racism.

Interracial Relationships: I said I was going to talk about it, so here it is.

I mentioned I would blog about this issue in a previous post , so I figured I'd go in on it now.  First things first, I'd like to preface this by saying that I have nothing against interracial relationships, but here's what I don't like. Please watch this video closely.




See, here's why I don't like that video. It implies that Black men are some 3rd world anomaly that lives in the United States. And like people in 3rd world countries, they need a White savior to make it ALL better. That's okay tho. Let a White woman come into the equation like that. As soon as they have a disagreement, they will call the cops and cry assault and battery. And when it's time for him to tell his side of the story, she will go all partridge family on him so the cop will take her side.

Put away the pitchforks, and let me explain myself:   I live in an area where there are a lot of interracial relationships that are based on bullshit. For example, I keep hearing the following from that random White woman: She  wants to have a Black baby because, " They are soooooo cute", but she won't take the time to learn how to do that baby's hair, so the baby ends up looking all kinds of crazy, with candy, gum , lint q-tips and car keys all up in their head. It seems the baby is nothing more of a baby doll for them to carry, and they'll give that baby some jacked up ass name like "Demarkrious" or "Shalaterria." And when they see Black people, they think they have a kinship with them so they pop off with something ignorant. For example, I met this White lady whose husband was Sudanese. She made sure to tell me that they do want kids, but she hoped the kid has "normal hair". I asked her what did she mean by "normal hair." And she said, "You know, normal, like mine, and not a mess like his." All I could do is think, "Man, This bitch is ignorant. I really hope they don't have kids." Don't get me wrong, I could care less about who is sleeping with whom, but this fetishization type stuff has got to go clean out of the window. Stop cosigning fake love based on bullshit. Guess what will happen in that relationship if it's based on bullshit like that? What about the kids? How would they grow up? The kids will grow up with a god knows how many different mental issues based on how they grew up and what happened after the parents broke up. To raise kids in such a relationship based on stuff like that can be damaging and selfish as hell. That being said, people can GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH THAT BULLSHIT.

Don't get me wrong. Love knows no boundaries, it's just that I get sick of seeing interracial relationships that are based on fetishes, or potential exotic conquests as if that person is only a potential check mark on someone's bucket list. Just because someone doesn't look like you doesn't mean they desire to be treated like a thing for one to possess or like their existence is to stroke your ego for the time being. This goes for all people, not just Black/White relationships.

All I'm saying is that if a person does decide to marry outside of their race, make sure it is for the right reason and they better be prepared to deal with everything that comes with it. And for gods sake, should you choose to have children, teach the kid about BOTH sides of their lineage and history. Ignoring it will set a lot of people up with a lot of unnecessary trouble. As much as people like to pretend, this really isn't a colorblind society. Stop playin' with that idea because it makes a whole lot of people look really stupid.

That is all.

Nikki Minaj's new video " Lookin Ass N!&&a" < The Rap Edition

I usually don't pay attention to a lot of mainstream stuff these days, but this was all over my feed. Apparently Nikki Minaj used the vigilant Malcolm X pic (where he's looking out the window with his gun in one hand and he's peeping through the curtains) for the title of her latest single.

I was very irritated about it to say the least. My first reaction was to say that she has definitely said some questionable stuff in the past (the Silly Hoe song comes to mind), so what do we expect to happen this time. I couldn't help but ask myself why things like this keep happening, especially when it comes to Black people. I think I figured out why. It's because we have been told to look toward the future and forget about the past. This has been drilled into the American psyche for many many years, and has been beaten over the heads of Blacks especially. This is why people fight so hard to look into the future and not really pay attention to the past. Its why people say, " It's (insert year here) and this mess is still going on?!" as if the calendar year really makes a difference when people have fought so hard to not learn from the past in the first place.  That being said, I'd like to bring your attention to the video attached to the image:

If I do say so myself, it's very provocative. She makes sure to show off her curves which definitely lend themselves to the title of the song. But here's where it gets interesting. After you finish looking at the video, turn the sound back on guys (jk) and listen to the lyrics.

My first reaction to listening to the lyrics was, "Shots fired".  She called out a looooot of guys in this video. It reminded me of that Boondocks scene where Riley was the king of his candy empire and he called out his competition. For those who don't remember, I'ma just let you watch it again.

If you can't see the videos, I'm just going to sum it up by saying I think she pulled a drive by on certain men.  It isn't like  me to revel in this sort of thing but after listening to her lyrics all I could do is 

I remember how TLC's Scrubs had men losing their minds, and women were dancing on their faces. I didn't pay the whole thing any mind. I just shrugged it off and continued on my way. For some reason, this feels a bit different.

Now that I've got that out of my system. I'm tryna find out what kind of dialogue this is going to bring. Will people see her lyrics for what they are?  Will people break the lyrics down address and examine them? And at the very least, who is going to come out with a song to counter that?  I hope the former happens before the latter, however something tells me the latter may happen first. We'll see.

Wait a minute, I didn't say I was going to go out and buy her album on the strength of her single though. I still stand on how I feel about her material in general, I'm just curious as to how this will turn out. Would it get buried or will something come out of it?

Zimmerman is Worthy of Being Called a Celebrity Now?! GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH THAT!

I promised I'd stay off of social media for the month of February because all of the most stupid, racist stuff written or posted against Black people has a tendency to be blasted more than usual across the board in the United States. But I'm such a masochist, so I was hard headed and logged on anyway, fml, right? (-_-)   Anyway I'm sure you've already heard that Zimmerman is setting up a Celebrity boxing match, where any money he gets from viewers will be donated to charity, and DMX has agreed to fight him.  I've got a bunch of questions for dat ass. Here we go: 

Why aren't any White people speaking out against this mess? They need to check their boy because we all know that him using Hispanic as his ethnicity to absolve him of the killing of Trayvon was bullshit. That being said, why aren't so called Hispanics absolving themselves of this guy?

Where does Zimmerman get the idea that he is a celebrity?  The jackasses who look at this fool like that are a special breed to say the least. Him parading around like this is a huge slap in the face to all Black people. That being said, I hope Dmx destroys him and everything he exploited for ( to say this dude worked for anything is doing a huge disservice to all who work).  as of right now, DMX says he isn't ready yet and the thing isn't set in stone.  What if Zimmerman beats DMX's ass. I mean, DMX may not be in the best of condition to do so. Zimmerman is a bigger guy, which means he might be able to absorb more hits. DMX is looking a bit on the lean side to say the least. The impact alone could hurt him. But then again, just because somebody is bigger, doesn't mean they can fight (I mean, look at how Zimmerman did Trayvon, and Trayvon was a skinny kid). DMX says he's willing to break all and any rules to beat Zimerman, but talk is cheap.

Whatever happens, I won't be watching this mess or contributing to it in any way, shape or form. Whatever I find out would be just that. I just really hope that DMX smashes this dude. I mean, at least do it for all Blacks who have been killed by the guns of sissified White men with a hard on for killing them.  

If you'll excuse me, I'm off to go listen to Wise Intelligent's (the rapper from Poor Righteous Teachers) album titled "Killing U For Fun".  

Black History Month Post

I thought I wasn't going to post anything about Black history because we get the same old shit told to us each and every year. In fact, we get it so much that somebody came up with a Black History Bingo card and was generous enough to make a duplicate so you can play with a friend! Just print them out, get some pennies or something to mark off your "findings" and there you go! It's a fun game for everyone:

Here's hoping you have a brighter February.  Thanks to this card, I already am. :)  So far, I've got 3 of them :  fried chicken, "why can't we move on", and self segregation .  At this rate, by the end of the month, I may have a Bingo! [/sarcasm]

Russian Socialite Uses Naked Black Woman As a Chair, Calls It Art

It's been a long time. I shouldn't have left you without a dope blog to read to (In my Aaliyah voice).(Record Scratch)

 No?

 Okay maybe was reaching too far with that so I'll stop. But anyway, I'm back on my bs for the year 2014. Some strange stuff has been going on as of late, for example this article takes the cake so far. I guess it's okay to use women as furniture now as long as it's called "art".  Ok. I know what you're thinking. It usually starts with something like " Aw Hell Naw! What?! Is she serious?".   When I first saw it, I didn't know what to think. I was confused. Then again, I saw the messages conveyed in this piece. My first thought was that Black people seem to be used as accessories in the White world. This can be seen in the movies, where there is only one Black character which is portrayed as a background character that could be counted on for comedic relief, or when they want diversity.  Sometimes the Black person could be a helpful character, but in a lot of instances they say stuff like "Bitches be trippin, yo" and "Word", etc, and never offer anything of substance to the film. They are good for sprinkling dialect in a movie or for adding "variety" to a piece of media and nothing more. We must not forget the great Mileygate incident of 2013 In this case, I will refrain from linking to it simply because I don't want to be responsible for any extra views. I'll leave the research up to you at this point.

I clicked on the article and I noticed there were two other pictures: A White mannequin woman on all fours with a glass table top placed on her back, and another White mannequin fashioned as a chair, just like the Black mannequin was used in the first photo.  After reading the article, I came to a conclusion. In this culture, women are used as accessories in general. In American culture, the term "trophy wife" comes to mind. It's a wife whose purpose is to look good on a man's arm and nothing more. This term is usually reserved for rich older White men.  This art indicates that women in general are used as accessories in a male dominated world.  Even when women were allowed to work, they were used as an accessory in the office. They maintained secretary positions and often couldn't break past the glass ceiling (unless they did a little 'something extra' to get there in some cases).

That raised another question for me. What about Barbie, the United States based doll whose image has been held responsible for so many distorted images of femininity and beauty? Barbie has everything she could wish for. She has money, friends, a big house, very nice car, and a boyfriend.  Her world looks amazing, and I'm sure a lot of girls (and women) would want a taste of that lifestyle. Let's look at her world a bit closer shall we? We don't know much about her boyfriend do we? He usually comes with an outfit, maybe a comb and that's it. He exists solely to look good in Barbie's car, and we know his name is Ken. Where are Ken's friends? Where is his car? Where is his house? He seems to be the one tagging along in Barbie's world. Barbie has friends with names and a family. Her wikipedia page looks like she has an entourage.   Ken has Allan and Brad as friends, but no family, and his page looks like a short blurb. Why is that? It seems to me that Ken is treated as an accessory in this scenario.

American culture seems to be fixated with finding a way to use people as "things" or a means to an end. Who said this was okay? Who decided which type of person should be used? Why should people be used and how should they be used? Sure the woman who created this art was Russian, which begs the question, Is this representative of a male dominated culture in general or is it limited to whatever country one resides in?  I don't know.

Now I did see the following in 2013. Here we have an American  Black man wearing a White woman as a scarf and he called it art. He said that White women are looked at as a status symbol in this country. Hmm. So we have Black woman mannequin being used as furniture by a White woman (speaking of such, why did she choose to sit on the Black woman chair and not the White one?) and a White woman being used as a scarf to represent status. Real White women being seen as "trophy wives"by White men, Barbie using Ken as an accessory, and White women also being used as furniture. Holy sugar honey iced tea. I think I may have solved the relationship between Black and White men and women in the United States.

White woman+Black woman = accessory

White man +White woman+ money= trophy wife or status (The White man can be an accessory if you include age difference and/or money) Roles are interchangeable in this situation. The person with the money could use the other as an accessory, and the broke person could be using the rich person as the status symbol)

Black man + White woman+ money= trophy wife or status  (this can work with or without money) These roles are also interchangeable between parties. A White woman can see the Black man as a sexual conquest and vice versa. In that case either party is an accessory)

White man + Black man = accessory

White man+Black woman+money= accessory (see Black man+White woman+money equation. White man can see Black woman as sexual conquest)

Now hold on. This is about to jump into interracial relationship territory. I don't care who you sleep with. That is not my business. I am not against interracial relationships nor do I have a problem with them, however I do have a problem with how people see them and what ugliness can potentially reside within them, and that's a topic for another blog.

Stay tuned.

Obligatory New Years Post

Happy New Year you guys. For those who are reading this blog, or paying attention to the news in general, you know it's been a rough year. To be honest, I have no idea what this year brings. So far some good things have happened. Gay people can finally get married in all 50 states, and marijuana has been made officially legal in all forms in Colorado. Utah has an attorney general who is willing to spend two million dollars to fight this thing as if the world will end if two men or two women marry each other. I'm sure there are people who are pissed at him for wasting their money on such a trivial subject. I'm sure the schools are in such great shape that the state can afford such luxuries. But anyway, you already know I support gay marriage, so I'll just leave it at that. Back to Colorado though. Maaan! They are going to make sooo much money. There will be Colorado weed tasting tours, smoker's clubs (kind of like cigar clubs), and people will be able to buy a pack of joints. I see them treating it like cigarettes and alcohol, meaning that they won't be able to smoke them in restaurants, or public areas. I'm sure a person could become subject to getting a DUI if they drive while stoned,or get stoned while driving. However I did hear that some employers will still drug test employees and fire them if they come up positive.   Wouldn't that be counter productive? I could see them doing a zero tolerance policy, meaning a person can't smoke while on the job, or show up high. Plus marijuana stays in the system longer than alcohol. That means if a person decides to unwind after work by smoking a bowl or joint,and they get tested two or three weeks down the road, they could still lose their job. Hmm. I wonder which employers would choose to do that. Wouldn't the companies gain a high turnover rate? Wouldn't that make it harder to find a job in general?  I can definitely see an exodus to Colorado happening very soon once they get the kinks worked out of the legalization process.  The standard of living could skyrocket. All I can do is wait and see. I might just venture over there once they have all the bugs sorted out. Who knows.

Anyway, this year brings 2 positive things so far. We'll see what else happens. Hopefully there will be more positivity to come.