Tuesday, July 1, 2014
BET Awards 2014: The bad and the ugly
It's curious how black people could complain about the negative way we're portrayed in culture and treated in society when we so vehemently promote that degrading stereotype when given the chance to reframe it. Often times, the only idea other ethnicity have of black people is the one they receive from mainstream media, and while there is reason to believe the media's depiction of black people has an agenda achieving underbelly, we are responsible for being the refreshing change we we would like to see.
So often we hear mentally blinded people cheering over all the progress our nation has made, and how it is such an achievement to see black people on television. I beg to differ. In most cases, when a black person is on television he is either stupid, conniving, drowned in emotional baggage, or branded with some other undesired adjective. How is this progress, to see our people on TV behaving in the way other ethnicity already expect us to? Blacks feel good because now they have a lot of money, completely missing the fact that the gold chain around their neck is just that, a chain, a symbol of their willful imprisonment.
They mentioned Jesus more than a few times on the awards last night, and a woman sang a gospel song somewhere in the middle of profanity laced, basically naked women gyrating as a man in dark sunglasses sang about big booties and alcohol. Ironically, this same man later mentioned how grateful he was to Jesus for his award, right in the middle of his participation in modern day Sodom and Gomorrah show.
One of the main events of the evening was the Civil Rights presentation wherein a slide show depicting black s being thrown on the ground, a white woman using the "n word" and other dark memories that shouldn't be focused on during a positive, celebratory event was played on the big screen. It was a not so sleuth way for the non black owners of BET to make sure the unsuspecting, materialistic, idolatry invested "celebrities" in the room didn't forget their place. In hindsight, it is actually funny how they showed all those dark scenes and used the n word and all the black people in the room didn't even notice that the joke was on them. Chris Rock made unfunny jokes, where many of his colleagues served as the punchline.
It was all very disgusting.
shame on skinny shaming
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Alcohol Kills, Cannibus Chills
The most common reason many are against the legalization of marijuana is because this natural substance is prominently viewed as being a 'gateway' drug, meaning that it encourages users to move onto harder, more serious, and harmful drugs due to it's mild yet extremely euphoric effects. However, statistically speaking- only one user out of 104 marijuana smokers turn to cocaine, and less than one user turns to heroin. Of course the possibility of a marijuana smoker trying harder drugs is there due to free will and personal preference, but there is absolutely no conclusive proof that marijuana leads to the experimentation of harder substances. Environment also plays a big role in this 'gateway' theory; many users of hard hitting, highly damaging drugs grow up and dwell in areas where these drugs are a prominent part of their everyday life, making it more attainable and commonplace; they also turn to these drugs in order to numb overwhelming emotional/mental pain. With weed, however, this is not the case; smoking marijuana delivers a pleasant feeling through the body, causing a feeling of extreme relaxation and euphoria, and although this feeling is amazing, it is not strong enough to distract one from deep pain and mental torment like cocaine/heroin are; this fact proves that marijuana plays no role in the use of hard drugs, if someone chooses to use drugs as an emotional pain reliever, they were going to use these drugs anyway; people don't smoke weed for that reason. How often have you seen someone say "Oh gosh, my life is falling apart, I need a joint!" More often a roll up of the sleeve accompanied by a needle to the vein is the more common scenario in such a situation.
Another common misconception of marijuana is that it is very harmful to your health; admittedly, this all natural plant does contain 420 different chemicals (hence 420, heehee), however, cigarettes contain over 2000! Remember the creepy commercial from a few years back with the old lady with the hole in her throat? Yeah, that was caused by cigarettes, not weed; amusing how that's legal. While the habitual use of marijuana can obviously irritate the lungs due to the practice of holding the smoke in your pipes, there is absolutely no proof of marijuana causing cancer. It has also been noted that smoking marijuana causes the heart to speed up, sometimes even up to 50%, however, as long as the user is free of preexisting heart conditions such as high cholesterol or blood pressure, this effect is harmless; and as we all know-the same thing cannot be said of cigarettes (proven to cause heart disease, lung/colon cancer, and subsequently-death). Never in my life have I heard of a person being killed by second hand marijuana smoke or 'high' driving for that matter. The fact that alcohol is legal while marijuana is not, is mind boggling. In year 2006- 13,470 lives were unjustly taken due to accidents caused by alcohol impaired drivers while not one fatal incident has been reported due to marijuana. Aside from drunk driving, alcohol is the cause of many horrific, unpleasant, and shameful events; from the alcoholic father that ruined his family's life in one way or another, the rape victim who's assailant wasn't charged because she had been drinking, to the valedictorian that thought it'd be fun to jump over a cliff just this once- only to never make it back up. Alcohol causes people to do and say all kinds of crazy things; while weed on the other hand, has a calming effect- one that often times fills the user with joy, relaxation, and peace.
How irritating are those 'Above the Influence' commercials, meant to exemplify the degradation and negativity that weed produces. "I made my mother cry today", a girl says gleefully. "I left my friends at a party", says a boy, the same doofus smile plastered on his face. Why not show the flip side, shall we? The girl that made her whole family cry because she died of alcohol poisoning; and what about the guy that remembered to take his friends home after the party and killed all of them because he was drunk? On that same note, when did marijuana ever make you mean? When did it ever cause you to forget your friends? Your IPOD or cellphone yes, but c'mon...whatever these kids are smoking, it's not marijuana.