Blacks Suffer While Whites Make Up Their Minds On It

A white "prince" - who will never have to work - and a black American citizen who (like every generation of her family) will, pretending they're similar (and he's charming) merely because he's grasped the meaning and flavor behind one of our cultural hand gestures

"We literally have two criminal justice systems in America - one for whites and one for blacks."

This blog started in a strange place: a black man loses his wife, career, and possibly his mind, to the influence of cultism in American society.

White women hate people taking advantage of others - except when it's them

Feminism is a part of that, one I flashed upon when reading P.J. O’Rourke’s recent piece on Lena Dunham and her TV show, Girls:

“Ms. Dunham is 28. I was under the impression that ‘girls’ is a demeaning term for adult women. The title must have something to do with this hipster ‘Irony’ thing, which I confess I don’t understand. The root of the word irony is in the Greekeironeia, ‘liar.’”

Whites are under the wrong-headed impression it's blacks who are making "progress"

Cultism, as I first knew it, was a so-called “spiritual” phenomena of the white Left. Growing up black in South Central, Los Angeles, voting Democrat was all I’d ever known. I started asking why; especially why Democrats were involved in the destruction that undergirds their ideals.

”One group of people in this country can expect the institutions of government to bend in their favor, no matter that they are supposedly regulated by impartial law. In the other, children, fathers, mothers, uncles, grandfathers, whole families, and many generations are swept up like rubbish by the hard, unforgiving hand of the law.

...Some people rationalize that it was unfortunate, but not altogether disturbing, that Michael Brown was put to death without due process because, after all, he allegedly took some cigarillos from a corner store. But who went to jail for the mortgage fraud that robbed his community and other black communities around the country of 50 percent of their wealth?"

"Imagine if one day you woke up and the sky was on fire, and the stars were out in the daytime,..."

Kids, like puppies and blacks, are poor and defenseless - you can kill them

I asked my questions as a man. I asked as an atheist. I asked as an American. This brought me a Right-Wing following online.

“Some residents think Knowles simply does not fully understand the problems Ferguson faces. One of them, Charles Henson, points to the mayor’s August comment that there was no racial divide in the city of Ferguson. (Knowles later walked back that statement.) ‘I’m just not sure he totally gets it all and understands exactly what needs to change,’ Henson says. ‘A lot of people are meeting . . . but the administration has to change as well — their position, ideologies, training, that kind of stuff.’”

Not much difference between Cheney's One Percent Doctrine and black's 5 Percent Cult

Trayvon Martin’s death brought laughter on the Right, drawing a bright red line around them, I will not cross. They, too, are liars - and also of the kind to destroy me, while shooting at shadows. Not only that, but their religious and political fanaticism easily surpassed the more sex-and-death perversions of the Left’s NewAge cultism, in the politics and person of Mitt Romney, leaving no doubt that, once again, I would be PTSD-repelled by the people around me.

"Mama didn't raise no victim"

The Khmer Rouge could've written this "uplifting" American's message

These folks, too, are whiter-than-white. My options, for living under white supremacy, were shrinking. And something was going on.

Their rise was inexplicable,...until someone admitted they sucked

“Both political scientists, Nyhan and Reifler have spent the past several years studying what they call the ‘backfire effect,’ or the idea that when presented with information that contradicts their closely-held beliefs, people will become more convinced, not less, that they’re in the right. In one study, when staunch conservatives read information refuting the idea that the U.S. found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, they tended to believe more firmly than before that it was true; the researchers saw similar effects in studies correcting the notion that President Obama is Muslim and the claim that ‘death panels’ were a part of healthcare reform.

From there, vaccination seemed like a logical next step in their research, Nyhan said: ‘Vaccines aren’t a partisan or ideological issue, but they’re controversial. They bring up issues of identity and tribalism that feel a lot like politics,’ he explained. ‘I have kids, and talking about vaccines on the playground is like bringing up religion,…’”

Over the years, this “backfire effect” has reduced the blog to no longer researching much of anything, but simply trying to navigate this unstable terrain of viciously backwards thinking in the modern world, for self-preservation - and we're losing. I’m cool with that: I don’t support what I don’t like anymore than anyone else will. But I still need facts.

With even one parent, nearby, a black *might* have had a chance

I’ve never had credentials for protection - just my fists. But defending myself is a crime, just as Richard Williams was “crazy” in white folks’ estimation. He defeated them all with his brand of crazy.

"You can't handle the truth" was the classic backfire effect

I've always found it rather amazing to hear respectable conservatives pining for the days of William F. Buckley, whom they see as the epitome of the sober conservative intellectual. This is hard for me to take. This is the same Buckley who backed segregation, backed Apartheid, and greeted the Civil Rights Movement by saying, "The great majority of the Negroes of the South who do not vote do not care to vote and would not know for what to vote if they could."

Here is the intellectual father of modern conservatism, standing athwart history. Black history.

The problem extends back to the Civil War, where conservatives have long enjoyed a cozy alliance with people who insist the Civil War wasn't about slavery, that it was prosecuted by a tyrannical Lincoln, and that black people fought for the Confederacy in untold numbers. It's telling that the Republican Party's idea of an alternative candidate was Ron Paul—the ultimate Lost Causer, who denounces Lincoln as a man who went to war to "get rid of the intent of the republic."

Among historians of the Civil War, the sort of views expressed on the right have zero currency. If you really believe, as Paul does, that the Civil War wasn't about slavery, you should expect about as much respect among the experts of the war as global warming denialists receive from those who study climate change.”

Realizing you're wrong - and admitting it - are two totally different things

Nobody, worth anything, pays them any mind.

Many men, in particular, have decided that low-wage work will not improve their lives, in part because deep changes in American society have made it easier for them to live without working. These changes include the availability of federal disability benefits; the decline of marriage, which means fewer men provide for children; and the rise of the Internet, which has reduced the isolation of unemployment.

Nobody else has to care, if you don't care about anybody else

Let them figure out where they went wrong. If they can figure at all.

“‘In 2012 the state supreme court struck down any law banning loud music,’ he says. ‘I knew that because it was a case I had actually studied in law school.’

Garzon grew angry, though, when Baldelomar told him that fact. He called over two other cops,…”

Burning civilization down only hurts those who deny it to others

I exist in a world, today, that - literally - has no use for facts. And that draws trouble closer for presenting them.

Zombie-love is a prelude to life without thought

”If a White House can get away with ordering torture and bragging about it, it can get away with anything.”

A life without love

Being in America makes no difference. All I’ve “learned” is whites - no matter what their political or religious affiliation - are not to be trusted.

A life without life

"John Yoo: Rectal Feeding, Sleep Deprivation Is Torture"

Too late

9-11 wasn’t “the end of irony”. The lying continues. It’s practitioners are the white, the rich, and the famous.

”One nation under Galt: How Ayn Rand’s toxic philosophy permanently transformed America

The ‘Atlas Shrugged’ author helped make the United States one of the most uncaring nations in the industrial world”

This is just sick. Dude who made 911 call just going on with his life.
— Ta-Nehisi Coates (@tanehisicoates) December 14, 2014

Everything else - and everyone else - can burn,…

Stop Being Black & Be American (Tried It - Didn't Work)

That P.J. O'Rourke is one pretty sharp dude. Except for not knowing the BB Gun ended production in 1960, he still sees what I do:

"We are the generation that changed everything. Of all the eras and epochs of Americans, ours is the one that made the biggest impression—on ourselves. That's an important accomplishment, because we're the generation that created the self, made the firmament of the self, divided the light of the self from the darkness of the self, and said, "Let there be self." If you were born between 1946 and 1964, you may have noticed this yourself. That's not to say we're a selfish generation. Selfish means 'too concerned with the self,' and we're not. Self isn't something we're just, you know, concerned with. We are self.

Before us, self was without form and void, like our parents in their dumpy clothes and vague ideas. Then we came along. Now the personal is the political. The personal is the socioeconomic. The personal is the religious and the secular, science and the arts. The personal is everything that creepeth upon the earth after his (and, let us hasten to add, her) kind. If the baby boom has done one thing, it's to beget a personal universe. (Our apologies for anyone who personally happens to be a jerk.)"

"We should have had a cooler name, the way the Lost Generation did. Except good luck to anybody who tries to tell us to get lost."

 "To address America's baby boom is to face big, broad problems. We number more than 75 million, and we're not only diverse but take a thorny pride in our every deviation from the norm (even though we're in therapy for it). We are all alike in that each of us thinks we're unusual.

Fortunately, we are all alike in our approach to big, broad problems too. We won't face them. There's a website for that, a support group to join, a class to take, alternative medicine, regular exercise, a book that explains it all, a celebrity on TV who's been through the same thing, or we can eliminate gluten from our diet."

That's pretty much been it - disgusting NewAge "America":

75 million dangerous, delusional, gibbering idiots.

Forever "offering" these useless choices, forced on me from birth,...

 

Things That Don't Work (And Things That Do)

P.J. O'ROURKE - Irish Setter Dad:

The Ivy League is supposed to be good for success. Barack Obama went to an Ivy League school, not that he’s doing very well in his career at the moment. Let’s check on the most successful people in America. Sarah Palin went to the University of Idaho. Warren Buffet went to Nebraska. John Boehner went to Xavier. Glenn Beck didn’t go to college at all. And I’m not sure whether Justin Bieber’s mother even finished high school. Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates did go to Harvard but — doubtless this is somewhere on the “never allowed to do” list — they dropped out.

My kids fit the success profile.

Losers.
Self-Help Industry - From Sweatlodges to Landmark to Yoga:

I am a few hundred yards from the spot where three people died in October 2009. They were on a "spiritual warrior retreat" led by James Arthur Ray, a man with improbably white teeth who claimed he had been initiated into 12 shamanic orders. He had been a guest on Oprah and was featured in the best-selling DVD The Secret, and the nearly $10,000 weeklong course was his platinum self-help offering. On the last day of the retreat — the final chance to "play full on" — he harangued his pupils into staying in an overcrowded, overheated sweat lodge even after some of them had passed out and one had fallen into the glowing rocks in the center. The 55 participants, already weakened from a 36-hour "vision quest" with neither food nor water, suffered terribly in the sweat lodge, but the vast majority stayed. "You're not going to die," Ray told them. "You might think you are, but you're not going to die." He was only partly right. In the end, 18 were hospitalized, and three died from heatstroke or organ failure. Ray's manslaughter trial is due to begin March 1.

It is easy to judge — not only Ray's hubris but also the strange submission of those who elected to stay in the sweat lodge. Why would people want change so badly that they would overrule the violent protests of their bodies and wait for death? They seem like the most extreme disciples of a very mainstream American faith: an unofficial religion of personal transformation. The inner voyages of its adherents fuel a $10.53 billion self-improvement business spanning books, DVDs, courses, life coaching and retreats. They've turned an ancient meditative practice — yoga — into a $6 billion growth industry. They are swelling the ranks of the Landmark Forum, one of the country's largest personal-development workshops, which collects about $75 million a year training up to 200,000 students around the world.

These seekers are, to put it mildly, not my tribe.

I hear you. Not mine either.
Health warning - Organic food could make you fat:

It is the preferred fare of millions of health-conscious Britons. But eating organic food could make you fat, experts have warned.

A study has shown that people tend to assume that organic foods - particularly snacks - contain fewer calories that their conventionally-produced counterparts, so buy and eat more.

For those for whom buying organic is a treat, this is unlikely to have any major consequences. But people who decide to ‘go organic’, could soon find themselves piling on the pounds.

Well, at least then, their bodies will be in proportion with their heads,...

India - Should ayurveda doctors be allowed to practise allopathy?:

Would you rush to an ayurvedic, unani or homeopathic doctor in case of a heart attack? The chances are you would prefer an allopathic doctor.

Yeah, you might want to try that,...jeez.

The Northern Iowan - Alternative medicine is not medicine:

You may have heard about a branch of "medicine" available to people who want to get away from all of those icky unnatural substances that greedy pharmaceutical corporations put into medicines designed to produce drug dependency with no real benefit. It's for those who want to return to a more natural, alternative way of living.

Of course, all of the above is complete nonsense. As comedian and musician Tim Minchin wryly quipped in the middle of a beat poem called "Storm," "by definition alternative medicine has either not been proved to work, or has been proved not to work. Do you know what they call alternative medicine that's been proved to work? Medicine."

Alternative medicine, like homeopathy, vitamins and minerals, herb-based therapies, crystal healing, faith healing and most "eastern medicine," is usually based on historical or cultural practices – time-tested traditions that people have long known to be effective, even though conventional medicine hasn't gotten around to scientifically verifying, bottling and commoditizing it yet.

Alternative medicine claims are all based on anecdotes – stories about their success that are usually either wholly fabricated or confuse correlation with causation. In either case, alternative medicine is fundamentally unscientific. It's not evidence-based and shouldn't even be called medicine. The term "alternative medicine" presupposes that it's a legitimate alternative to real medicine, when it's clearly not. If you want to sell people vitamins and herbs, that's fine, but don't call it medicine, and don't tell people that it works.

You're wasting your breath - they can't help themselves - makes 'em feel important.
Life Beyond Blue - Faith and the Inner City:

The failure of the blue social model to solve the problems of the underclass in America’s inner cities was one of the great tragedies of the last thirty years. Hundreds of billions of dollars were spent; tens of millions of lives remained blighted, and a culture of violence, degradation and despair has taken hold among some of our society’s most vulnerable and needy people. Generations of children are growing up in gangs; our scarce financial resources are being consumed by a grotesquely overbuilt prison system; whole segments of our population are unable to cope with even the simplest demands of modern life.”

Thanks, Democrats!

The Wrong People, The Wrong Time: We're Not Supposed To Be Here (And That's The Truth)

Here is the evidence of what we've been saying, for years, about homeopathy and cultism. It's been up, in this post, for over 48 hours.

Depressingly, only 7 people - out of thousands - have actually looked at it.

So we've got a question:

If you're not clicking the links provided, what do you geniuses use the internet for?


We went to two business offices yesterday. In the first was a notice on a door, inviting the employees to a health insurance scam promoting the "spiritual aspects of health".

In the second, laying on tables in the lobby, were magazines promoting the Yoga cult.

Considering that, is it any wonder why Slavoj Žižek said "New Age 'Asiatic' thought ... is establishing itself as the hegemonic ideology of global capitalism"?

Is it any wonder, also, why global capitalism is doing so badly?

Hey, Champ - cheer up - here's some News You Can Use:

Men don't exist to serve women's desires.

Please make a note of it.

And finally, according to cult leader Arianna Huffington, conservative satirist P.J. O'Rourke single-handedly dismantled she and New York Times columnist David Brooks in a debate. We watched and she was right. (We stopped watching about half way through, merely because we couldn't take Zsa-Zsa's Greek-accented gerbalism any longer.)

Shouldn't AOL be wondering why it would give such an idiot a dime? Shouldn't the public be wondering why it reads and trusts The New York Times?

Wait - answering either of those questions would require thoughts and feelings beyond the superficial.

Nevermind.

Can You Hear Us: We Hear You (Loud And Clear)

"Right-wing rage has returned. It was up at my place for the weekend. But it's back, and it's not like right-wing rage ever really went away. It didn't, as you would say,...'move on.'"

-- P.J. O'Rourke, showing he's up on the NewAge lingo - and how stupid it's so-called meaning is - though it ain't part of The Weekly Standard.

P.J. O'Rourke On Brains, Trains, And Automobiles

Quite a good talk on what's important, what's not, and how people get the two confused. Watch the whole thing.

The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum

"None of this is the fault of the left. After the events of the 20th century--national socialism, international socialism, inter-species socialism from Earth First--anyone who is still on the left is obviously insane and not responsible for his or her actions."

-- P.J. O'Rourke, once again making conservatives feel good about being right - even when everything's gone wrong - in The Weekly Standard.

Blogging Bill Maher

The thing that strikes me about this first segment is how seriously unfunny Bill Maher is. I didn't laugh at one of his "jokes" if you can even call them that. One of my best friends is a comedian, and he's funny, even in casual conversation, but Bill Maher? Hardly. Also, there's this: He bags on Mitt Romney, because Romney bagged on France, and then he makes the observation that Romney lived in France (as I did) yet he doesn't consider that a good reason to listen to Romney when he says we don't want our country to go in the same direction as theirs. Which is just putting-my-fingers-in-my-ears stupid. My conclusion about the first segment: Bill Maher is weak - and not funny - and, yea (being a punk) I'd wear his Bush t-shirt just to piss people off.



On this segment, Maher starts off by naming his guests - mostly Republicans - but then he casually disses the Republican gathering Amy Holmes is reporting on, CPAC. Which, for me, raises the question: If Republicans are such bad people, or so stupid, then why has he invited a bunch of them on this segment? The conversation about McCain goes well, giving some pros and cons about the man, at least from the Republican perspective. The panel discussion starts off as a bust, without much said that was worth the time.



This segment becomes revealing when Matthew Dowd stops Maher's conspiracy theory about terror alerts and gets booed for doing it. It says a lot about Maher's audience that the truth isn't something they want to hear. Much better (I guess) to hate the president, by stoking their anger on their own ass-backward beliefs, than for anything Bush actually did. What losers. Hurting all of us - our standing with each other and in the world - just because they want to believe nonsense. Such people are dangerous. Overall, the cynicism on this program is galling. Here's my message to Maher fans: Being cynical doesn't equal "edgy" but just equals "dark" - like you're viewing each day as though you can't pay your rent - and who needs that? (I certainly don't, so, damn it, donate to this site.)



O.K., here, Bill Maher's nuttiness just gets the better of him and he even admits it ("You're all looking at me as though I'm crazy") as he starts going off on an anti-medicine rant. It's obvious the man is filled with silly conspiracy theories but, incredibly, this nut job is actually taken seriously, by the Left, as a thinker. That's the most hilarious thing about the show. (I like how Jonah Goldberg just sits with his head down most of the time.) Next Maher starts defending Sexy Sadie by refering to him as a spiritual leader - which forces P.J. O'Rourke to add, "Or so he said." - throwing Bill Maher's so-called atheism into high relief. (He's such a NewAger: Everything about these segments say the guy's a fucking flake if ever there was one.) Goldberg's perspective on the waterboarding discussion is kind of informative and, considering the crowd, probably needs to be said. Goldberg's certainly the smartest guy up there, being the only one willing to freely use the words "idiots" and "whackjobs".



"I love liberals, but they are so sensitive" Bill Maher says, completely missing that no one minded the fat joke just before the crack that prompted his reaction. ("The line should be "I love liberals, but they are such selectively PC hypocrites".) The talk about Obama had good stuff in it. And, of course, that was naturally followed by more talk about Bush being simple minded, which is really just too simple minded for comment. Actually, I'm glad that brings the program to a close: It's not nearly as smart as I'd been lead to believe, by a long shot.

Ho, Ho, Hos

"I have only one firm belief about the American political system, and that is this:

God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat.

God is a stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal and a great believer in rules and regulations. He holds men strictly accountable for their actions. He has little apparent concern for the material well being of the disadvantaged. ... God is unsentimental. It is very hard to get into God’s heavenly country club.”

“Santa Claus is another matter. ... He’s nonthreatening. He’s always cheerful. And he loves animals. He may know who’s been naughty and who’s been nice, but he never does anything about it. He gives everyone everything they want without the thought of a quid pro quo.”

“Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one:

There is no such thing as Santa Claus.”

- From P. J. O’Rourke’s Parliament of Whores