Growing Up With Racist Double-Standards

Growing up I had trouble understanding all of these social nuances. Often I found myself very frustrated at the double-standards of our society that let the black kids in my school call any white kid a cracker, but heaven forbid a white kid use the N-word in any context because that would make him/her a racist and a bigot. The truth of the matter is the social nuances were the problem and using such words in frustration to these rules did not make one a racist, but merely misunderstanding of how society dictates that the game should be played.

Now over the years I grown tremendously as a person. I have relaxed, I have become more confident, and I have come to learn more about these unspoken rules and how they will affect my life. I have also come to detest not only the N-word, but also any racially charged derogatory words such as cracker (I would say the c-word but that could mean a lot of things in the English language). I find that anyone treating others or even themselves differently based on race or ethnicity to be detestable. Everyone has there differences, many of which they cannot control.

Dr. Laura And The Huffington Post

I was recently reading an article in the Huffington Post about Dr. Laura’s recent spewing of the N-word on her talk show in which she repeatedly used the N-word when speaking to a black caller. In this article the writer, Keli Goff, a black man, goes into great detail on this problem that our society is facing. He talks with great wisdom and eloquence about how many in mainstream media and entertainment keep reinforcing the idea that the color of your skin dictates what you are allowed to say and do. Mr. Goff points out the many rappers that drop the N-word left and right in their songs, but then complain opening about racism in America.

Ending Racism In America Starts With You

I agree with Mr. Goff that this only contributes to and perpetuates racism in America. Its creating more of a problem, more frustration and anger, and is not at all helpful to the situation. These double-standards only serve to create tension when they come up. Either none of us can use these words or all of us can. This is one subject that we simply won’t be able to find a happy middle ground on. I vote that no one can use these words.

Until everyone understand this and treats others truly equally we will not be able to stop racism. We will only create more.

In this article, which I will paste in a block at the end of this post, we hear an endless string of lies and propaganda used to feed on the fears of the unemployed and the disenfranchised. This target audience, already shaken by presence of a black man holding the highest office in our land, is still reeling from the recession and is terrified about there future and thus highly suspicious of anyone in power let alone a well spoken black man. The author of this WSJ “article” is to be preying on the worst fears and paranoia of the populace, just to push his own political and professional agenda. This kind of fear mongering and blind, thoughtless rage must stop.

Now I responded to this email in kind and would like to share my response with you now. So without further adu:

Ok, do not ever send me disgusting trite like this again. First of all this trash is filled full of lies, misrepresentations, and delusional interpretations of events. It gives no real specific examples of any accusations and relies completely on here-say and paranoia. If you honestly believe all of this garbage then you have forgotten how to think for yourself and really examine each line in what is said here.

While I do not support everything Obama has done I also hold no pretenses both for the mess he was left by his predecessor and for the level of difficultly in both conquering our nations many problems and concerns and balancing the solutions with public opinion and GOP backlash. If you want to determine the cause of and slowness to respond to our nations problems then look no further than Congress itself. Filled with infighting, squabbling, and back-room deal making by BOTH parties we have been left with few solutions and little recourse. This while major media outlets want to point fingers this way and that when the problem lies mostly with corrupt politicians, stupid decisions, immoral lobbyists, and outspoken hypochondriacs from both sides of the fence.

If ever there has been a time of need for great upheaval in government and a disbanding of the medieval party system this is by far the most needing in the history of this nation.

Think before blindly forwarding trash written by the talking heads on TV and their ilk, otherwise known as sheeple.

Sincerely,
Patrick Thurmond

The next bit I must share with you is the article which my writing above is in response to.

“I have this theory about Barack Obama. I think he’s led a kind of make-believe life in which money was provided and doors were opened because at some point early on somebody or some group took a look at this tall, good looking, half-white, half-black, young man with an exotic African/Muslim name and concluded he could be guided toward a life in politics where his facile speaking skills could even put him in the White House.

In a very real way, he has been a young man in a very big hurry. Who else do you know has written two memoirs before the age of 45? “Dreams of My Father” was published in 1995 when he was only 34 years old. The “Audacity of Hope” followed in 2006. If, indeed, he did write them himself. There are some who think that his mentor and friend, Bill Ayers, a man who calls himself a “communist with a small ‘c’” was the real author.

His political skills consisted of rarely voting on anything that might be deemed controversial. He went from a legislator in the Illinois legislature to the Senator from that state because he had the good fortune of having Mayor Daley’s formidable political machine at his disposal.

He was in the U.S. Senate so briefly that his bid for the presidency was either an act of astonishing self-confidence or part of some greater game plan that had been determined before he first stepped foot in the Capital. How, many must wonder, was he selected to be a 2004 keynote speaker at the Democrat convention that nominated John Kerry when virtually no one had ever even heard of him before?

He outmaneuvered Hillary Clinton in primaries. He took Iowa by storm. A charming young man, an anomaly in the state with a very small black population, he oozed “cool” in a place where agriculture was the antithesis of cool. He dazzled the locals. And he had an army of volunteers drawn to a charisma that hid any real substance.

And then he had the great good fortune of having the Republicans select one of the most inept candidates for the presidency since Bob Dole. And then John McCain did something crazy. He picked Sarah Palin, an unknown female governor from the very distant state of Alaska . It was a ticket that was reminiscent of 1984’s Walter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro and they went down to defeat.

The mainstream political media fell in love with him. It was a schoolgirl crush with febrile commentators like Chris Mathews swooning then and now over the man. The venom directed against McCain and, in particular, Palin, was extraordinary.

Now, nearly a full year into his first term, all of those gilded years leading up to the White House have left him unprepared to be President. Left to his own instincts, he has a talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. It swiftly became a joke that he could not deliver even the briefest of statements without the ever-present Tele-Prompters.

Far worse, however, is his capacity to want to “wish away” some terrible realities, not the least of which is the Islamist intention to destroy America and enslave the West. Any student of history knows how swiftly Islam initially spread. It knocked on the doors of Europe, having gained a foothold in Spain .

The great crowds that greeted him at home or on his campaign “world tour” were no substitute for having even the slightest grasp of history and the reality of a world filled with really bad people with really bad intentions.

Oddly and perhaps even inevitably, his political experience, a cakewalk, has positioned him to destroy the Democrat Party’s hold on power in Congress because in the end it was never about the Party. It was always about his communist ideology, learned at an early age from family, mentors, college professors, and extreme leftist friends and colleagues.

Obama is a man who could deliver a snap judgment about a Boston police officer who arrested an “obstreperous” Harvard professor-friend, but would warn Americans against “jumping to conclusions” about a mass murderer at Fort Hood who shouted “Allahu Akbar.” The absurdity of that was lost on no one. He has since compounded this by calling the Christmas bomber “an isolated extremist” only to have to admit a day or two later that he was part of an al Qaeda plot.

He is a man who could strive to close down our detention facility at Guantanamo even though those released were known to have returned to the battlefield against America . He could even instruct his Attorney General to afford the perpetrator of 9/11 a civil trial when no one else would ever even consider such an obscenity. And he is a man who could wait three days before having anything to say about the perpetrator of yet another terrorist attack on Americans and then have to elaborate on his remarks the following day because his first statement was so lame.

The pattern repeats itself. He either blames any problem on the Bush administration or he naively seeks to wish away the truth.

Knock, knock. Anyone home? Anyone there? Barack Obama exists only as the sock puppet of his handlers, of the people who have maneuvered and manufactured this pathetic individual’s life.

When anyone else would quickly and easily produce a birth certificate, this man has spent over a million dollars to deny access to his. Most other documents, the paper trail we all leave in our wake, have been sequestered from review. He has lived a make-believe life whose true facts remain hidden.

We laugh at the ventriloquist’s dummy, but what do you do when the dummy is President of the United States of America.

Now I spent a little bit of time trying to trace down the original article and had no luck on the WSJ website. However I did find some of it here: http://myrightwingdad.blogspot.com/2010/04/fw-wall-street-journal-sizes-up-obama.html

It goes without saying that the true origins of this piece are questionable and the blind coercion it tries to provoke is undeniable. I hope those that find this and the many other trash pieces floating around, both on TV and the internet, will take time to truly think about what is being said and whether or not it represents truth and reality. Don’t be a sheeple, become a thinking people.

Thanks,

Pjerky

First of all research isn’t just about solving one particular problem. While there is always a primary goal, often research into one thing yields discoveries in other, often related areas. These discoveries often give us ways to improve the condition and reduce the suffering of those inflicted with the malady that is being researched. So while a “cure” may not yet have been found for, lets say AIDs, the research done into the subject has yielded drugs and methods to reduce symptoms, extend the lives of the infected, and significantly reduce the risk of spreading the disease. This could not have been done without this research, yet we still have no cure.

The next problem with this article is that ES is a very broad field with research into everything from diabetes and heart disease to spinal cord injuries and Multiple Sclerosis. To say it isn’t done yet or results are decades away is lunacy. There are too many areas of study for ES to be “done” yet. We will probably even be studying the field for thousands of years to come and still gain results. Granted at some point the results will become less and less frequent as we unlock more and more secrets, but that does not mean the information that we gain is useless. So far the study of ES has yielded much information into how the human body develops, how cancers work, how cells gain their position in the body, etc. This information has already led us to solutions and treatments for many different diseases.

Finally, I have a problem with someone whom knows little to nothing about research, save what he Googled in one afternoon, telling a wide audience of public (most of whom are probably just as ignorant on the subject) that Embryonic Stem Cell research is not worth the time, money, and effort put into it. Mr. Fumento, stick to subjects you know and stop spreading discourse about that which you are so ignorant, such as anything to do with science.

More and more over the next couple weeks you will hear about the brief, but powerful story of a young woman named Neda. According to reports coming from Iran she was attending a peaceful demonstration when a member of the Basij forces shot her as she stood next to her father. In the video you can see the young woman falling over and been caught by two men then slowly lowered to the ground. The older of the two men, presumably her father, starts saying her name “Neda” over and over again. As she lies on the ground you can see her eyes jumping about, confusion, suprise, and terror etched across her face. Then the worst starts to happen, blood starts running out of her mouth and nose, she loses conciousness. Within seconds her father realizes that there is nothing that can be done for her. Panic fills his voice as he starts crying and screaming her name.

This horrifying scene is difficult to take in, but it symbolizes the struggle and danger now facing any Iranians that are openly offended by the way the election was conducted and the results found. As the violence continues to escalate, the President Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are losing more and more control of the citizens of Iran. Protesters are chanting “death to the dictator”. Many forms of comunication are being blocked in Iran including most social networking websites, cell phones, and text messaging. Foreign reporters are barred from reporting on any news of the protests in Iran. But messages are still getting out. The world is listening.

I don’t know how much longer this can continue before the world reacts. We must put more pressure on the Iranian government to conduct themselves peacefully and actually listen to the concerns of its people. If they want another election and a real chance at a fair election then give it to them. Unfortunately events like this cannot be handled by outside forces using military action. This must be solved by the people of Iran, for now. We can only directly intercede at the behest of the Iranian citizens. This could quickly unfold into a new revolution or coup or possibly even a full-blown civil war.

The video has appeared on YouTube and several other websites, but it has been taken down from there. But it can still be viewed. To see it please follow the link below. I warn you it is VERY graphic and I would not recommend small children seeing it.

http://www.javno.com/en-world/video–young-iran-woman-shot-in-the-heart_266818

Our society has more and more become a nanny society with everyone but parents being blamed for the actions, morals, and attitudes of our children. Parents demand that schools teach their children about sex because they are afraid to, but then turn around and complain about how and what they are taught in sex education. Parents blame violent video games and movies and music for teenagers committing more acts of violence.

For once can our society get to the root of the problem, bad parenting? Stop blaming everyone else for not paying enough attention to your children and taking the time to educate them about right and wrong. To teach them about smoking and drinking and sex. To explain to them the cautions they should take, including moderation. Instead of attacking everyone in sight, how about we send a better message. The message about being a better parent and taking responsibility for your mistakes as a parent.

When did parenting in America become litigating and lawmaking? Grow up and place the blame where it belongs, on poor parenting.

The first story that leads me to believe this is one that has been around for a few months now. Apparently some teenagers in Italy filmed themselves attacking and abusing a mentally handicapped person. Then those kids posted the video on YouTube. Authorities in Italy found the video and used it to find and prosecute the teenagers. This would have been a great example of how the internet could be used to stop criminal behavior. However, the story doesn’t end there. Within a few hours of being made aware of the offensive content of the video, Google (owns YouTube) promptly took it down. But instead of praising Google for their swift action and cooperation with authorities, Italy has now charged several Google executives with criminal offenses for allowing this content to be posted on the internet on a Google-owned site.

This is insane. Not only did the team at Google comply quickly and professionally, but the video itself helped catch the perps. There is no reason for them to arrest the execs.

That was just the beginning. The authorities have been trying to implement a three-strikes law like France recently passed recently. This law basicaly says that if you are accused of even attempting to pirate media more than 3 times will automatically be banned from the internet. Then they added to that law by requiring all blogs to register with the government. Thus, making it easier for the government to monitor citizens. This is of course scary not only because it attacks anonymity on the internet, but it also sounds like the first steps to stamping out free speech online and arresting dissidents. Italy is considered a parliamentary republic, which is a type of democracy that doesn’t have a clear separation of the executive and legislative branches.

Then the owners of an online music site in Italy were thrown in jail because the Italian music industry body, SIAE, has accused them of copyright infringement. This is in spite of the fact that they did obtain a license to sell the music. Though apparently, according to SIAE and the IFPI site, not the correct licenses. Note plural, meaning they have to have multiple licenses in Italy to sell music. In fact one man even claimed that you need as many as 33 different licenses to sell music in Europe. Though some have disputed that number. Why is it that this is not simplified, seeing as how the countries of Europe have been slowly building one unified governing body known as the European Union. Doesn’t sound very united on this front. Another question, why is it that criminal charges are being filed for copyright infringement. This is not larceny, burglary, murder, or any number of other heinous crimes. It is simply a business dispute. It is barely even that because the owners thought that they had obtained all the correct licenses. If you keep changing the rules, how can you expect anyone to follow them?

It gets even better. The Italian government has decided that they want to be able to listen in on the calls made with the popular service, Skype. They want a back door installed so that they can listen into whichever calls they like. It seems the wiretapping issue has reached a whole new level. In Europe, Skype is a very popular tool. While it can be used for evil, such as coordinating terrorist attacks, it is generally used for private conversation to save money (over the cost of local phone services, which are generally high). There are a number of issues with this. The first that comes to mind is that the internet has no borders. What if they use this to listen in on conversations people in other countries are having with people in countries that are not Italy? The privacy warning radar is going nuts on this one.

Then finally, last but not least, the Italian government is also looking to entirely ban anonymity online. Opening up the prosecution flood gates. Everyone from annoyed citizens complaining about products, services, and politicians to everyday social network chatters and forum posters will become targets. This would become a lawsuit free-for-all. Plus, being that government does not give you the right to control the thoughts of your countrymen. This will definitely create problems for dissidents.

After reading all these stories I am starting to believe that the ghost of Mussolini has risen and started to regain control of the Italian government. These are certainly scary markers. Especially because the politicians are taking most of their queues from corporations that are trying to serve their own interests and to hell with everyone else. Europe is becoming colder and darker. Science and reason are sounding more and more scarce. Along with morality.

Look for unexplained disappearances and mysterious arrests in the future. Sounds an awful lot like the kind of things the Nazi’s did. I would recommend that anyone tread lightly in Italy.

This article is based off the one found at: http://techdirt.com/articles/20090504/0148494730.shtml

One of the most horrific results of these online acts of bullying are that several unfortunate young souls have taken their own lives due to the heart-wrenching torment that a few unscrupulous people have put them through. One particularly horrific case I personally remember is one from Missouri where a 13-year old girl hung herself after being befriended online by a boy named Josh. He turned out to be a fake person that was created by another woman to see what the girl was saying about her daughter. In the end the woman told the girl that the world would be better off without her. The girl promptly took her own life. The case ended in the woman being convicted of online fraud, the only charge that law would allow her to be prosecuted under at the time.

This case and many others has spurred parents and lawmakers into action to help protect children and teens against this different type of online predator. The desire for true justice and real significant punishment for the offenders is understandable. I, myself, have a sense of personal attachment to this subject and my emotions tell me to demand justice. To demand that these monsters be locked away and flogged daily and in general be forced to feel the same torment that their victims felt. But then my mind always has to remind me that we have to understand the scope of the laws we write and the cost-benefit ratio of it. I don’t mean to be cold or calculating about the subject at all. However, while we try to protect ourselves and the ones we love from new threats and dangers we must also remember that would could be creating more problems than we solve.

Take this case in West Virginia. Ars Technica writes about a new law being sent through the state legislature that would make it illegal to post online any false statements about others. A quote from it specifically says that it would apply to “untrue statements about another person which are false and designed to entice or encourage other people to ridicule or perpetuate the untruth about that person.” And at first glance this sounds flawless. As though this were a direct victory for victims everywhere. But there are several problems already with the broad language. As pointed out in the Ars article, it doesn’t specify that the person must know that the information is false for them to be guilty of the crime. While this is already a gaping hole in the law I also see a few other problems.

The first of which is that the broad language makes the murky grey area between opinion and passing information as fact a large target for lawsuits. An opinion can be false information, but the point of an opinion isn’t facts but expressing ones feelings. If this law were to pass then everyone would have to start being meticulously careful about anything they say on the net because one small slip up could become a horrible lawsuit. I am already envisioning the droves of lawyers salivating over this loophole. This makes anything up for grabs.

It also takes a stab at a cornerstone of the internet and that is anonymity. In line a(2) it states that it is illegal to “Make contact via the internet with another without disclosing his or her identity with the intent to harass or abuse”. Almost sounds like a shot at cyber-stalking, which on a whole would not necessarily be a bad thing, but I worry about the precedent this would set. This may lead to other laws that quickly erode at anonymity and the protection that brings online to dissidents and outspoken protesters. It is common practice in law to use prior precedent to make decisions in other cases and write new law.

Another problem I see with this law is that it is specific to the internet, yet lawmakers seem to forget that there are other means of electronic data transmission, such as SMS, that could also be used for bullying. What is more is that if the harassment occurs on a high school or college network and the crime is only committed on those intranets then the language that specifically says “the internet” could become another loophole for the law as long as the communication stays on that network. This seems like a big oversight and should be addressed.

Overall I think that lawmakers are stepping chest deep into an ocean they know very little about and are hardly qualified to fully understand the ramifications behind the laws the pass around it. I cringe every time I hear about a new law being worked on or passed that has anything to do with technology because it seems that lawmakers are generally older and uneducated in the ways and intricacies of technology. I worry that we are slowing losing more and more rights and are becoming larger and larger targets for greedy lawyers and corporations because of it. This law in particular seems to create more problems than it solves and I for one would like them to go back to the drawing board on this one.

Full text of this law can be found here: http://www.legis.state.wv.us/bill_status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=SB740%20SUB1.htm&yr=2009&sesstype=RS&i=740

-Pjerky

The researcher is Jay Keasling, a chemical engineer and a self-described idealist. His creation is genetically modified yeast microbes that turn sugars into artemisinin far quicker and more affordably than the previously used method, which involves extracting it from the sweet-wormwood plant. The drug, artemisinin, has a 90% cure rate of malaria. Usually when such a great new advancement happens in pharmaceuticals occurs the technology is immediately patented and then highly guarded by the creators of it. However, this situation is different because Mr. Keasling patented the drug and then worked with his university and the big pharmaceutical companies to make sure that no one, not even him, could profit from it. He wants and has ensured that his new production method will be used to produce the drug at a low cost and will be sold at cost to the poor.

I find it to be a relief to be able to occasionally write about altruistic men and women that use their talents to help others.

If you would like to read more, just follow this link: http://www.newsweek.com/id/176340

-Pjerky