So, I've put entry this in my "I'm Mad as Hell and I'm Not Gonna Take It Anymore" section of my blog. Though, I'm not really irate, just really disappointed (yet again) and disturbed by this. I'm a fervent sports fanatic and I watch ESPN's Sportscenter and ESPNEWS damn near religiously. Every time ESPN reveals the details of another athlete's or coach's new contract, it absolutely perturbs me. The salaries for athletes, particularly in the three major sports (NBA, NFL, and MLB) are ridiculous. Check the numbers.
The average salary for a Major League Baseball (MLB) player is a shade above 3 million dollars.
Statistic provided by CBSSports.com ))
The average salary for a National Basketball Association (NBA) player is about 4 million dollars and is expected to increase over 5 million in the coming years.
Statistic provided by NBA Player's Association))
The average salary for a National Football League (NFL) player is nearly 2 million dollars.
Statistic provided by Plunkett Research) )
Now, anything over 1 million dollars is a hell of a lot of money and its completely unfair that these athletes make this much. Alex Rodriguez, a reputable and prominent baseball player of the New York Yankees, has a 10 year/275 million dollar contract. Lebron James, the most syndicated player in the NBA right now, recently agreed to a 60 million dollar contract. Peyton Manning, arguably the best Quarterback in the NFL right now, has a 7 year/98 million dollar contract. Rodriguez has to hit a ball, catch a ball and run over varying from 90-360 feet of dirt 166 days of the year. Lebron James runs and jumps at least 82 days/nights out of the year and earns 60 million dollars? Manning throws a ball for a living and his wages are over 90 million dollars? All the while educators, average medical practitioners, lawyers, civil servants, and law enforcement officials can only expect to accrue a shade of what these athletes are earning through the length of their lifetimes. Yay capitalism.
The census of this country, or at least those who rule it, is to award the people who entertain society for a living the highest of earnings. All the while teachers have been valiantly fighting the system to increase their yearly salaries from the nadir of the financial hierarchy that its in now. Doctors and nurses who train, learn and practice helping others or possibly saving lives make less than someone who plays with a ball less than half of the year. Definitely fair......
While the government advocates and stipulates for the citizens of this free country to pay taxes, they allow corporate and franchise owners to shell out ridiculous sums of money to people who haven't invested significant amounts of time in education or service. That definitely makes sense. While the despondent struggle to make ends meet, parents of potential superstar athletes salivate when they see their seed going for the dunk or throwing a touchdown because they have prescience about their financial future. This severely disproportionate distribution of wealth also affects the psychology of young people who are immersed in the impoverished culture of specific rural and urban areas of America. And one example is the urban black youth. When a young black male turns on his television and sees the glorification and lures of being a professional athlete, all the while experiencing the systemic quandaries of race and education, he will become steadfast in becoming a professional athlete only to acquire the lifestyle associated with it. I'm not suggesting that pursuing professional sports is wrong. It is the dollar signs that exacerbate the problem that I'm speaking of. This is why athletes don't understand that being a professional athlete is a privilege. They're being payed so much money that the idea of a rapid ascension through the socio-economic ladder affords them the mentality to act and behave as if they're invincible. And one can paroose the Sports section of the New York Times or any other reputable publication and find that professional athletes have proven to be susceptible to poor discretion.
To hell with the White Man's Burden or the Brown Man's Burden. I'm advocating for the Athletic Man's Burden. Indeed. Since they make so much money, they should feel obliged to help the working poor. I know that athletes engage in a lot of philanthropy, but they hardly ever give up significant amounts of money. Typically, they'll make an appearance, sign some cards or hand-me-downs, and lastly sign a check for 100 thousand dollars that won't be equally distributed and is probably hardly enough to accomplish the objective of whatever charitable organization they're donating to.
Bottom line, professional athletes should not be getting paid the amount of money that they get paid while other hardworking people with demanding jobs in this country fall helplessly to poor salaries. Its a shame that the people we go to see and watch to entertain us for only 3 hours of a day have disposable income while people who give their entire lives fruitlessly to the workforce can only dispose of their dreams.
Parting Thoughts:
I'm going to buy a political book authored by a Conservative just so I can have something else to be pissed off about.
Jamaican Beef Patties are an archetype in my mind. All other beef patties are imitations.
I'm going with the Detroit Pistons (my team) to win the NBA Finals.
I still haven't read Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope. I'm slackin'
Grand Theft Auto IV is a beautiful work of art. That's my opinion.
I think it'll be much easier for me to get into UCLA than NYU for Graduate Film school.
Could I make it through the superficialities of La La land? Eff the culture, I'm trying to make a dream come true.
Oh yeah,
Confidence is the most sought after attribute in another person when considering attractiveness.
(Relative statement, but believe it!)
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Somethin' Like the Biblical Story.......or the painting.
Art Form: Film
Type/Genre: Drama
The Last Supper
Finally, I've seen a film that quenched my thirst to see creative and dramatic political narrative on screen. I absolutely loved this film. The Last Supper is a great movie for the over-indulging vagrant who marvels at their own philosophical prowess and scrutinizes others. It doesn't matter whether you're a staunch leftist, right wing, moderate, socialist, conservative, neo-liberal etc., watching this film will definitely challenge your views and possibly your methodology.
The film isn't stuffed with dense, dull, and verbose political commentary. That would definitely be a turn off. Contrastively, the film's storyline is innovative and engaging. The story entails a group of extreme idealistic pathological liberal graduate students who invite guests over for dinner and kills anyone who disagrees with their moral/ethical/philosophical/political ideologies after discussing specific controversial issues of the world over the meal. I thought the screenplay for this movie was great; probably one of the best I've seen or heard rather. The dialogue will engage and intrigue anyone who is well-versed in political philosophy. Also, the story isn't laden with meaty ideas that one couldn't interpret quickly as the movie goes on. That's what makes the movie good. It incorporates some of the most controversial subjects (such as abortion, war, the significance of J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, liberal methodology, radical feminism, abstinence, and homosexuality) but the dialogue is light enough so that the audience doesn't become frustrated with grappling with the ideas posited in the film throughout the banter and quarrels.
Two actors of good repute that you might recognize are Cameron Diaz and (probably less so) Courtney B. Vance who also played the husband of Whitney Houston's character, Julia: Reverend Henry Biggs in The Preacher's Wife. He's also a regular on Law and Order. Both of these actors play roles of two of the graduate students. These kids are absolutely insane. They kill anyone who disagrees with their ethics, which is actually completely unscrupulous. The irony. But here's the logic: Would you kill someone who you thought, because of their philosophical mores, would make the world a worser place if they stay alive? Yes or No? Well, the grad students in the film take the former. One of the examples that they use, and sorry for the light spoiler, is if you were in a pub Austria in 1915 and unexpectedly Hitler sidled next to you. Would you kill him knowing the potential of his continued existence? Two answers are given in the film. If you want to know what I'd do, watch the film and the last opinion given as an answer to that question is the option I'd take. And that option is a method that I think everyone in this world should use if they sincerely wanted to affect change, which is ultimately what I got from the film. Great movie. Stacy Title, the director, gets a few snaps from me for this film.
Parting Thoughts:
So, the Erykah Badu and The Roots concert was pretty good. I didn't think I would see The Roots actually opening a show for someone because that band is too good for that. But, Ms. Badu's performance (though some were strange but that's just Erykah being Erykah) deserved the privileged designation that the marquee alloted her. Great concert.
I'm sorry Common, a "conscious nigg(er)(a)" is an oxymoron. I still love "Southside" though, especially Kanye's second verse.
I want to give a shout out to all my North Carolina peeps for doing the right thing during the last Democratic Primary. Hey Chelsea, not your mama, we want Obama!
Reverend Al was arrested after he and others protested the Sean Bell verdict. Could this be the catalyst to the second coming of the Civil Rights Movement? Ehh, probably not.
I'm tired of NYPD officers circumventing the law because of government special interest.
Diallo...........Bell........... who's next?
The maroon finished brick sidewalks of Chapel Hill put the dilapidated pavements of New York to shame. Dare I say the quality of life is better Down South? You damn right.
Shoutout to Brooklyn by the way. haha.
Oh yeah, Fight The Power and Revolution!
Thursday, May 1, 2008
The Rev.
I watched Reverend Jeremiah Wright's speech and final address, as the senior pastor is now stepping down from the Chicago Trinity United Church of Christ after a tenure of 36 years. He spent the length of his oration exclaiming the nuances of his church's faith, positions and actions in relation to social justice, and public service. More importantly, he aimed to profess the prophetic ideology of the Black Church by engaging in rhetoric that, to some degree, unveiled its history, traditions, theology and objectives.
I must say, I was impressed. Reverend White is undoubtedly well read and well versed. He made an interesting allusion by comparing the tradition and history of the Black Church to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. The senior pastor subtly suggested that the existence of the Black Church has historically lay dormant in the culture of this country and has imminently become non-existent in the eyes of the dominant culture. However, there are a group of sociologists, theologians, political experts, and denomination officials who will convene and collectively study the history and traditions of the Black Church. I find that totally eerie. The history and traditions have been void of any penetrating studies by outside authoritarians for centuries, and now the scholars of the "dominant culture" (meaning white) wish to study the Black Church? They finally want to study the Black Church when it finally shows signs of subversive ideology towards the dominant culture, with the most prominent and recent example being the edited comments of Reverend White.
In addition, the Reverend happens to be the pastor of a Black senator who is now showing a great possibility of inheriting the most coveted job in these United States. This is the same senator who, with all things that disturbs him about this country, has shrewdly evaded the label of the "Angry Black Man" and has used that elusiveness as a paradigm to secure his political position. But now his pastor is being stratified as an "Angry Black Man" by the same forces who aim to suppress and repress any dark, brown, or fair skinned human being who accurately expresses the sins, collusions, bellicosities, injustices, and vile actions that lay in the fabric of this nation's history. Totally not surprising.
Why are people so fearful of the "Angry Black Man" or the "Angry Black Woman"? Because those same people understand that that Angry Black Man or Woman has discerned the darkest parts of this country's history and customs with a level of impeccability that disturbs their conscious. And consequently they feel guilty. And this is why those people label the conscious Black person as "angry". It serves as a means to qualify that person as illogical. They deem the conscious black person as a human being who is consumed with fermenting emotion and lacks a necessary logic that could bring credence to whatever they're saying. That has remained palpable throughout history. Brother Shabazz is the perfect example. I read the great Malcolm X's book and I swear, that man typified what it meant to be analytical. He examined and critically assessed the problems of this nation with great poignancy and in the face of some his most ominous opponents. And what did they say? They said he was "angry". You damn right. He, as well as any other person who has begun to understand the terrible customs and history that underlies this country, has the right to be severely disturbed by what they have learned, found and seen. Malcolm X was not commercialized as much as Dr. King Jr. because Martin's ideologies were subtle opposed to Malcolm's who expressed an extreme undying disappointment in the history and wills of this country. The "angry" black person is the most feared human being by that abstract "they" I keep referring to. And you know I'm telling the truth.
This is great a time to integrate a Huey Freeman quote into this blog:
White teacher tells the young Huey that he would love to see his vision.
Huey's response.....
"My vision? My vision would turn your world upside down, tear asunder your illusions, and send the sanctuary of your own ignorance crashing down around you. Now ask yourself, do you really want to see that vision?"
Nuff said.
They said the same thing about Spike when he made his most controversial film, Do The Right Thing. They called him "angry". Why? Because that film unveiled the darkest truths about the race relations that existed in Brooklyn, and probably more so in these United States. I have definitely been called angry. And I'm pretty sure every time I open my mouth in class and suggest some kind of subversive theory or philosophy, I've been thought of in the minds of my conservative peers as either "angry" or "conspiratorial". Ha! And I thought truth was undeniable. And here we are again with the labeling of the angry black man with Reverend Wright. And what kind of subversive antics is he pulling that "they" don't like? It's the denomination of the religion to which he is proscribing to: Liberal Christianity. The Conservative Christian Fundamentalists probably hold the Reverend in the roots of their ire. Why? Because Liberal Christianity denounces all methods and ideologies of hate, discrimination, exploitation, injustice, marginalization, and oppression......things that Conservative Christianity fail to address and even reinforce or facilitate.
Now, I haven't exactly proscribed to a specific religion. But I must say I'd be leaning towards Liberal Theology. Any set of religious mores and principles that recognize and adhere to the fair treatment of people, I'm down for holistically. And I love what The Rev. is doing. He has that rare combination of unmasking the truth and rhapsodizing with seriousness and humor. While he was being facetious throughout the Q & A session of his address, he was witty and refuted every question with intelligence and accuracy. Yeah, The Rev's got that swag. If you haven't watched the address by Reverend Wright, I encourage you to do so. The Rev keeps it real. And thats the double truth, Ruth.
Parting Thoughts:
Who ever colluded to assassinate the great Malcolm X killed more than just a man. After reading him, researching and learning about him, I think they killed a powerful hope as well. Malcolm's ideology had profoundly changed towards the end of his life, and he began calling upon the leaders and the masses of Black people to aid him in his efforts to expunge the miserable condition that darkened this country. And his leadership skills were unbelievable...... Maybe if he hadn't died, the unification, enlightenment and the socio-economic upward mobility of the masses of black people, and possibly everyone in the African diaspora, wouldn't be just a dream.
Oh yeah, Make your ideas heard. By Any Means Necessary.
I must say, I was impressed. Reverend White is undoubtedly well read and well versed. He made an interesting allusion by comparing the tradition and history of the Black Church to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. The senior pastor subtly suggested that the existence of the Black Church has historically lay dormant in the culture of this country and has imminently become non-existent in the eyes of the dominant culture. However, there are a group of sociologists, theologians, political experts, and denomination officials who will convene and collectively study the history and traditions of the Black Church. I find that totally eerie. The history and traditions have been void of any penetrating studies by outside authoritarians for centuries, and now the scholars of the "dominant culture" (meaning white) wish to study the Black Church? They finally want to study the Black Church when it finally shows signs of subversive ideology towards the dominant culture, with the most prominent and recent example being the edited comments of Reverend White.
In addition, the Reverend happens to be the pastor of a Black senator who is now showing a great possibility of inheriting the most coveted job in these United States. This is the same senator who, with all things that disturbs him about this country, has shrewdly evaded the label of the "Angry Black Man" and has used that elusiveness as a paradigm to secure his political position. But now his pastor is being stratified as an "Angry Black Man" by the same forces who aim to suppress and repress any dark, brown, or fair skinned human being who accurately expresses the sins, collusions, bellicosities, injustices, and vile actions that lay in the fabric of this nation's history. Totally not surprising.
Why are people so fearful of the "Angry Black Man" or the "Angry Black Woman"? Because those same people understand that that Angry Black Man or Woman has discerned the darkest parts of this country's history and customs with a level of impeccability that disturbs their conscious. And consequently they feel guilty. And this is why those people label the conscious Black person as "angry". It serves as a means to qualify that person as illogical. They deem the conscious black person as a human being who is consumed with fermenting emotion and lacks a necessary logic that could bring credence to whatever they're saying. That has remained palpable throughout history. Brother Shabazz is the perfect example. I read the great Malcolm X's book and I swear, that man typified what it meant to be analytical. He examined and critically assessed the problems of this nation with great poignancy and in the face of some his most ominous opponents. And what did they say? They said he was "angry". You damn right. He, as well as any other person who has begun to understand the terrible customs and history that underlies this country, has the right to be severely disturbed by what they have learned, found and seen. Malcolm X was not commercialized as much as Dr. King Jr. because Martin's ideologies were subtle opposed to Malcolm's who expressed an extreme undying disappointment in the history and wills of this country. The "angry" black person is the most feared human being by that abstract "they" I keep referring to. And you know I'm telling the truth.
This is great a time to integrate a Huey Freeman quote into this blog:
White teacher tells the young Huey that he would love to see his vision.
Huey's response.....
"My vision? My vision would turn your world upside down, tear asunder your illusions, and send the sanctuary of your own ignorance crashing down around you. Now ask yourself, do you really want to see that vision?"
Nuff said.
They said the same thing about Spike when he made his most controversial film, Do The Right Thing. They called him "angry". Why? Because that film unveiled the darkest truths about the race relations that existed in Brooklyn, and probably more so in these United States. I have definitely been called angry. And I'm pretty sure every time I open my mouth in class and suggest some kind of subversive theory or philosophy, I've been thought of in the minds of my conservative peers as either "angry" or "conspiratorial". Ha! And I thought truth was undeniable. And here we are again with the labeling of the angry black man with Reverend Wright. And what kind of subversive antics is he pulling that "they" don't like? It's the denomination of the religion to which he is proscribing to: Liberal Christianity. The Conservative Christian Fundamentalists probably hold the Reverend in the roots of their ire. Why? Because Liberal Christianity denounces all methods and ideologies of hate, discrimination, exploitation, injustice, marginalization, and oppression......things that Conservative Christianity fail to address and even reinforce or facilitate.
Now, I haven't exactly proscribed to a specific religion. But I must say I'd be leaning towards Liberal Theology. Any set of religious mores and principles that recognize and adhere to the fair treatment of people, I'm down for holistically. And I love what The Rev. is doing. He has that rare combination of unmasking the truth and rhapsodizing with seriousness and humor. While he was being facetious throughout the Q & A session of his address, he was witty and refuted every question with intelligence and accuracy. Yeah, The Rev's got that swag. If you haven't watched the address by Reverend Wright, I encourage you to do so. The Rev keeps it real. And thats the double truth, Ruth.
Favorite Rev. Wright Quotes from Speech
1.Question: Could you explain what you meant in your sermon when you said the United States had brought the terrorist attacks on itself, quote, “America’s chickens are coming home to roost”?
After the Rev. asks, she admits that she didn’t hear the entire speech.
Answer: So…. You haven’t heard the whole sermon. Well, that nullifies that question. Let me try to respond in a non-bombastic way.
(claps from the audience)
First of all, if you heard the whole sermon you heard that I was quoting the ambassador from Iraq, that’s number one. But number two, to quote the Bible, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked. For whatsoever you sow, you also shall…. (crowd ends his sentence) Reap.” Jesus said do unto others as you would have them do unto you. You can not do terrorism on other people and expect it never to come back on you. Those are Biblical principles, not Jeremiah Wright bombastic divisive principles.
Parting Thoughts:
Who ever colluded to assassinate the great Malcolm X killed more than just a man. After reading him, researching and learning about him, I think they killed a powerful hope as well. Malcolm's ideology had profoundly changed towards the end of his life, and he began calling upon the leaders and the masses of Black people to aid him in his efforts to expunge the miserable condition that darkened this country. And his leadership skills were unbelievable...... Maybe if he hadn't died, the unification, enlightenment and the socio-economic upward mobility of the masses of black people, and possibly everyone in the African diaspora, wouldn't be just a dream.
Oh yeah, Make your ideas heard. By Any Means Necessary.
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