A few months ago the great John Scalzi of Old Man War fame, and author of the new book Redshirts, generated quite a bit of controversy with his essay Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is. I am usually not a fan of working through the complex realities of race, power, and politics, via analogy. In my experience, such examples, when used to simplify complex social realities, flatten more than they reveal. That qualifier having been offered, John Scalzi's piece was quite spot on in how it discussed, in a novel manner, the realities of white privilege in post civil rights, Age of Obama, American society.
Yesterday, I took the bus to the casino in order to escape the heat afflicting Chicago. I love slot machines. I also love people watching on the bus. When done together, both bring me to a happy place...especially so if I end up winning a few dollars at the casino. This, the randomness of the slot machine, and learning to surrender to it, is a cathartic and zen-like experience for me.
When I returned home I looked online to catch up on the latest controversy of the day.
As a "black blogger" (I am still trying to figure out exactly what that means), many of the stories which are forwarded to me revolve around matters of racial injustice. Some of these news items are important and deserve more attention. As we saw with the Trayvon Martin murder, the Internet and the independent media/blogosphere can do a good job of shaping the public discourse towards a positive end. I am always keenly on the lookout for such moments, causes, and opportunities.
However, some news items where the topics just happen to coincidentally involve a person of color, as opposed to revealing something substantive about the relationship between the color line and power, just leave me shrugging my head in disbelief.
For example, the cause of the day is the shooting of Trevion Davis by the Atlanta police--while the former was robbing an innocent person's home. An important detail: this teenager was armed with a replica gun and pointed it at the officers before he was shot and killed. My motto here is a simple one: if you live a life of crime the wages of sin are death. It is readily apparent that given his life vocation, Trevion Davis was killed because he was a street pirate who just happened to be black, violent, criminal, and stupid.
[Who knows? Perhaps, my disinterest in such stories is a function of home training and common sense.]
I understand how a given public can be deeply suspicious of the police--this is especially warranted given how police authority has been used to harass, kill, wrongly arrest, and beat innocent people, many of whom are members of marginalized communities. Nevertheless, I can only respond with consternation at the excuse-making and denials by Davis' family in response to his death. As my mother says, you know what your kids are capable of; don't act surprised when the seeds you have planted bear fruit.
Those of us who are "race men" and "race women" have to be very cautious about how we expend our very limited political capital. Like any people, not all of our folks are noble, perfect, valorous, or good. We hurt ourselves by claiming tragedy and victimization where the matter is crystal clear, and is really about agency and personal responsibility. The infantalization of African Americans, be it by white conservatives or white liberals, or as in the Trevion Davis case by black opinion leaders, is damaging to our pride and dignity as a community.
This brings me full circle. As WARN has grown over time, I have become increasingly interested in the meta level rules that govern social media, the blogosphere, and online communities. By analogy, the garden variety racism chasing embodied by the faux controversy that is the Trevion Davis shooting, reminds me of the recent day I spent playing the slot machines.
There is really no rhyme or reason to winning at the slots. You put your money in, push a button, and win or lose. However, there are various strategies that can be used if one wants to be less unsuccessful and to maximize the return on their investment. Likewise, there are tried and true strategies that can be used to drive traffic, get attention, and rise in prominence online.
Let me be clear. I am not discounting the skill, ability, gifted sense of timing, and creative talent which distinguishes the best online writers and personalities from the vast majority of average players. I would never do such a thing. However, I am compelled to ask how do we balance the formula--if there is such a thing--for being "successful" online with a commitment to truth-telling, rigor, and intellectual honesty?
Thus my question: is racism chasing the slot machine of blogging?
Here are some suggested slot machine strategies. Do they parallel those used by successful bloggers and other online writers? If so, what does it suggest about the role of digital and social media media as a means of influencing and shaping public opinion?
****
Slot Machine Tip #1 - Each spin of a slot machine is entirely random.
Slot Machine Tip #2 - Slot machines pay out less than they take in.
Slot Machine Tip #3 - Don’t fall for slot machine myths. Slots don’t get hot or cold, and wearing your lucky red blouse isn’t going to increase your odds of winning. The slots don’t care how many times you play, what you’re wearing, or the temperature of the coins being inserted. They’re going to give you an equal chance of success or failure on each spin.
Slot Machine Tip #4 - Anyone who promises to share a winning slot machine system with you is either lying or delusional. There is no such thing as a winning slot machine system, because all slots are designed to take in more money than they pay out.
Slot Machine Tip #5 - Know when to stop playing. Before you walk into a casino, figure out how much money you can afford to lose. When that amount is gone, it’s time to call it quits for the day. If you lose your predetermined amount and still find yourself headed to the ATM machine or the Western Union office, there’s a distinct chance that you have a gambling problem.
Slot Machine Tip #6 - Learn the rules of the game. Some slot machines can be confusing at first, so take the time to examine the rules printed on the machine. How many lines need to be activated? How many coins can be played on any given spin?
Slot Machine Tip #7 - Don’t play progressives.
Slot Machine Tip #8 - Playing maximum coins doesn’t matter in the long run.
Slot Machine Tip #9 - If you want to lose less money, play the lower denomination slot machines. You’re going to lose more than you win on any slot, but playing the lower denomination games means you’ll be putting less money in on each spin. While the overall return on cheaper slots is less, it’s still surprisingly easy to bust out while chasing a payout on a five-dollar machine. Stick with nickel or penny slot machines and you’ll be playing for hours.
Slot Machine Tip #12 - Play in casinos with the best payback percentage.
The next time you visit a casino, be sure to keep these slot machine tips in mind. While you may still end up losing money, the advice provided in this article will ensure that you’ll be able to play longer and smarter than those around you.
Slot Machine Tip #2 - Slot machines pay out less than they take in.
Slot Machine Tip #3 - Don’t fall for slot machine myths. Slots don’t get hot or cold, and wearing your lucky red blouse isn’t going to increase your odds of winning. The slots don’t care how many times you play, what you’re wearing, or the temperature of the coins being inserted. They’re going to give you an equal chance of success or failure on each spin.
Slot Machine Tip #4 - Anyone who promises to share a winning slot machine system with you is either lying or delusional. There is no such thing as a winning slot machine system, because all slots are designed to take in more money than they pay out.
Slot Machine Tip #5 - Know when to stop playing. Before you walk into a casino, figure out how much money you can afford to lose. When that amount is gone, it’s time to call it quits for the day. If you lose your predetermined amount and still find yourself headed to the ATM machine or the Western Union office, there’s a distinct chance that you have a gambling problem.
Slot Machine Tip #6 - Learn the rules of the game. Some slot machines can be confusing at first, so take the time to examine the rules printed on the machine. How many lines need to be activated? How many coins can be played on any given spin?
Slot Machine Tip #7 - Don’t play progressives.
Slot Machine Tip #8 - Playing maximum coins doesn’t matter in the long run.
Slot Machine Tip #9 - If you want to lose less money, play the lower denomination slot machines. You’re going to lose more than you win on any slot, but playing the lower denomination games means you’ll be putting less money in on each spin. While the overall return on cheaper slots is less, it’s still surprisingly easy to bust out while chasing a payout on a five-dollar machine. Stick with nickel or penny slot machines and you’ll be playing for hours.
Slot Machine Tip #10 - Always use a slot card (also known as a player’s card). While using a slot card doesn’t increase your odds of winning, it will allow the casino to monitor how much you play and possibly make you eligible for comps such as free meals and hotel accommodations. Registering for a free player’s card only takes a few minutes, and you can end up saving money in the long run, especially if you’re a frequent slots player.
Slot Machine Tip #11 - Stay away from video reel slots.
Slot Machine Tip #12 - Play in casinos with the best payback percentage.
The next time you visit a casino, be sure to keep these slot machine tips in mind. While you may still end up losing money, the advice provided in this article will ensure that you’ll be able to play longer and smarter than those around you.
47 comments:
What is damaging to our pride and dignity as a community is bloggers like you who view crime in a racial equation as a reflection of Black America.
Black folk are not inherently criminal .Crime is an independent variable and has nothing to do with one's DNA.
Crime is a political creation of a collective of a legislative body with a law making an act a crime there would be no crimes. All behaviors and activities of a people are. It consul unless defined as such by a political body.
After Roe vs Wade women were no longer criminals for having an abortion. This is true if any crime status no laws no crimes ...
Race chasing which bloggers like you and others engaged in tragically conflate criminal acts to race it is a twisted and undeveloped narrative which I will always object to in WARN..
What brings shame and indignity to our community is not the singular deeds of a criminal but the hate and contempt we share for each other .
Dude, I have to say that I'm surprised you enjoy playing slots. Academics tend to be very instrumental people, who enjoy working within a system of complex rules and relationships and making sophisticated decisions to achieve desirable outcomes.
Slot machines are the opposite of this: there is no strategy, no decisionmaking, no nothing. It is completely passive.
When I go to the casino, I love playing blackjack or craps, where there are standardized strategies one can use to maximize the likelihood of winning. These strategies are not so complex that they cannot be mastered, but not so simple (or non-existent, as with the slots) that you can just turn off your brain.
@Comrade. I know. That is why I avoid blackjack as I could so easily fall into playing it all the time. I love slots precisely for the reasons you mention. It is random, but random according to a pattern generated by the internal cpu. For me, the fun is trying to spread that risk across various machines. There are systems to do this; the better players (those who don't fall in love with one machine) tend to do much better.
@anon. we have gone down this road before. many times in fact. pretending a problem does not exist will not make it go away.
When someone puts a gun to your head or breaks into your house and steals all of your belongings--and if you are black this person is much more likely to look like you--then you can lecture said perp all day long about how crime is a social construction.
Excuse making and acting lack a certain brigand class cohort in the black community are perpetual victims is a bad look for all of us. It is also against our self-interest.
CD,
Yes we have travel this tired road before and yet you still play the role of indicting our entire community for the singulars acts of a few..
On every measurement and base line your analysis of Black crime is wrong..The majority of our youth are not engaged in criminal activities why is this truth so hard for you to embrace??
I know being the good noble negro such a posture will negate your posturing demeanor in here but so what. You are just wrong about conflating Blackness with Crime..
There is no realtionship in any reality except the myopic minds of bloggers like you who post behind a mask..
Have you read the nonsense you have just posted?? You have invoked the tired vebaige of the right from inserting victimhood to creating the imagined Black thug with a gu to my head who is also a home invader..WTF
Stay away from the slots man!!! What is against our self interest is Black folks like you with a forum that is now a conduit for the myth and fiction of Black brigands roaming the streets and super predators( a term the right invented in the 90's for our Black youth)..WTF
Enough already!!
CD,
Please spare us the tired drama and fiction of yet another tale of crime you have pulled out of your ass to butress your hollow posts..
This is the truth NOT YOU NOR ANY of your inner circle of family and friends have been held at gunpoint by a Black youth and been a victim of a home invasion!!
Yet despite this up close and personal truth about your very own life experiences YOU post this tired bullshit about Black crime etc..
You have become a conduit of the fiction of Black crime. Blackness does not equal Criminal..
Yet I undrstand the mindset of a mask man like yourself a person who hides behing a pc and vomits self rightous propaganda about our youth..It makes you feel whole and organic to spit out this false nobility this hollow posturing of yours enboldens you in some twisted manner..WTF
Enjoy the 4th..Watch out for those Black Flashmobs coming to steal your BBQ..ha,ha,ha
@Anon. As you--I believe or one of the various anons who are all (save for one) the same person likes to say--yawn.
Engage what I offered. Drop the fixation on various other unrelated matters. What you seem to miss is that theory is one thing. Practice and reality are another. Thus, do we have a problem with black on black crime in this country? Are our young people, young men in particular, on the wrong track...especially if the incarceration rates are any indicator? Is there something pathetic about this young hoodlums family boohooing and crying like he is a "victim?"
I am onto something that you are either incapable of understanding, willfully in denial about, or just too hard headed to admit. The slots analogy is perfect for thinking about the logic and rules of writing about race online. It is spot on for the racism chasing subgenre of online writing.
Please tell me where the example does not hold. Why are you so invested in defending the foolish behavior of a small subculture in our community, these ign'ts and highwaymen? They would just as soon rob and kill you as listen to your lecturing on the structural realities of black crime.
@Anon2whoisthesameasanon1. Yes, I do know folks who have been victims of violent crime by black people. Myself included. You reach so much on these claims, why the cartoonish nonsense?
As I said, read what I wrote above and engage or not. Your call. Black on black crime is not a fiction. Open the newspaper and take a read. You do not need to live in a fantasy world in order to serve the common good and to want to better your community. Is this a reaction to some type of internalized white racism? A gross overcompensation for a feeling of hopelessness and loss?
CD,
Please let's stick to reality and not your fictional academic state of mind. The following facts should make me take all the winnings in here
1. I have never posted that our communities are free of crime
2. I have never posted that denial or avoidance is appropriate for this topic
3. I have yet to post that Black on Black crime is a fiction
4. Unlike you I don't need to read the newspapers to understand reality and the nature of truth regarding crime or anything regarding my community
5.It is you that lacks the logic and maturity of sound reason yet you continue to promote and be a conduit of disinformation and propaganda about crime and our youth
Your retorts simply do not measure up unlike I am not a teacher who inserts words over logic nor am I a student in your class genuflecting to your every utterance.
You are simply wrong on so many levels.
Fact 95% of the Black community does not engage in criminal activity
Fact 95% of our youth are not engaged in crimes or gang activities
Fact The Black population is 43 million less that 1% is imprisioned for violent crimes, most are for drug offense or pleas created by aggressive prosecutors eager to inflate guilt and convictions
Fact Most victims know their assailants, remote or stanger danger is just that quite remote
Fact You answered my query by claiming not YOU but your friends have victims of a crime BUT that was not my question. My question was direct how many of your family and friends were assualted with a gun to their head and victims of a home invasion? Yet even in your reply you made an admission that YOU were not one nor were any of your family or friends victims of the inflated fiction you posted about which was a Black thug with aa gun to thier head invaded thier HOME!!!
In summary I do not have any slot game mentality like you do nor do I invoke tired fictional disinformation about crime in our community.
In summary unlike you I am not a conduit for Black fiction and the continued demonization of our community based upon your fictional examples of the Black Boogie Man with guns invading the homes of the innocent!
The question is yours to address Why are you invested in this twisted narrative about crime and Blackness?
The question is yours to address why did you create this cartoon fiction about Black criminals holding guns to the head of people when even in your own circles of life this has never happended!!
The question remains how deep is the depth of your contamination caused by the pathology of white racism which now has you making up fiction as a part of your current chatter class punditry??
WTF
@Anon. Tedious. You have reading comprehension issues. I have repeatedly explained that both I, and friends, and others I know have been victims of violent crime, with guns, at the hands of other black people.
I know all those stats and facts you are appealing to. But information without context is a dangerous thing to a middling and easily histrionic and upset mind such as yours. Again, that is aggregate level data which does not tell me anything about the crime we see on a daily basis in the black community. Read the newspaper, ride the bus, talk to people who live in fear of crime in these neighborhoods. Then try to reconcile your abstract theories with social reality.
As I have said repeatedly, when someone is going upside your head, robbing your house, stealing your car, or engaging in other nonsense then you can fall back on your high-minded theories.
But again, you never answer any of the basic questions I pose or frameworks I offer. That is unfortunate. You can't even muster up some consternation or sadness that brings you to ask some hard questions about the family of this street pirate and how they can be in such denial about his behavior?
Is their denial and excuse-making a manifestation of the deep tentacles of white supremacy? Did the racial state and disparate opportunity structures lead this teenager to rob someone with a fake gun, point it at the police, and then become a "martyr" for the cause of black victimization?
You are so afraid of calling a thing what it is in regards to black hooliganism. You are enabling this behavior just like Trevion's family. Very sad.
One other note all mothers of all races make excuses for the crimes thier sons/kids do..
From Ted Bundy to the Rosenbergs of course I have yet observe in your pitiful essays of late you demonizing entire motherhood of white, asian, jewish, moslems,youth criminals when thier offspring goes on the dark side...Now and then you will post a token obligatory essay on the crimes of poor whites but shit never will you go after jews, asians, and others who are racist and whose kids commit horrific crimes..Not a good look for an academic like you CD ...WTF it is always so much tougher to go after the usual suspects especially those fictional Black Boogie men the one with guns who are also home invaders...ha, ha, ha..
You remind me of Obama always quick to lecture and use the Black community as his doormat to posture on while ignoring the failure of other communities
Like Obama of course it is easy to scapegoat one's own community it is something we have tragically purchase as a minority aggregate on this soil..Beat dowm your own to cast an appearance of nobility and objectivity and being fair..WTF
I found this posture quite prevelant of course in the Black professional and academic circles..Always concerned about one's image ..WTF can't look to much like those negroes and colored folks..ha, ha, ha
Keep running away CD soon you will understand it is not a good look and more importantly running in cicles will give you a headache...ha, ha, ha shit plus that Black flashmob wil catch ya as well..ha, ha,ha
@Anonagain.
I know it is hot outside but you are ranting in an incoherent manner. Take a breath, turn on the a/c, relax.
I go after foolishness everywhere. I am especially invested in the well-being of the black community. As such, I do no favors or offer any assistance when I willfully lie about the conditions caused by a dedicated, die hard group of brigands and the "activists" and "parents" who enable them. Sorry.
Duh, of course parents lie to themselves about their kids. We have written about that here on WARN. Yes, I have pointed out many such narratives about white criminality; but, this does not mean that I am not especially concerned about what is going on in my own neighborhood and with my own people.
The deflection that "the white man does it too!" is of little concern to me. Perhaps such excuses are solace for you. I hold us to a higher standard.
Fictional black boogie men? Again read the newspaper, the dozens of black people likely to be shot and killed by ign'ts across this country during the heatwave would tend to disagree that these are fictive monsters made of ether and ectoplasm. They are real. I hope you or someone you care about does not encounter them, thus offering you an object lesson in how your misapplied theories about black victimhood and the conspiracy against young black men will offer you no protection in the breach.
CD,
You simply lack the balls to confront your shortcomings it is never you BUT always another who can't measure up....WTF
It is not my reading comprehension that is flawed it your hollow and underdeveloped logic and naratives which create my pedestrian assaults on your simple constructs..
Shit you have called me verything during this discourse of the past month now I am the author of "high minded theories"...WTF
How about you just employing some basic emperical truth in your analysis..
I have destroyed your fictional examples of Black thugs with guns being home invaders.. Hell I have enterd your very sphere of life and defeated this allegation of yours with your OWN admissions!!
The only abstract nonsense here is your fictional tales of Black youth and crime..
Look at the false and hollow constructs you have invoke and now lean on..You have inserted trite themes like "matyr" to Black hooliganism to of course the usual cheap card of Black victimhood.. Fuck you forgot the mandingo and kitchen sink verbaige..WTF...ha, ha, ha
It is easy to observe you begin for credibility now..Amzing how a learned scholar and lose it so fast..ha,ha, ha
CD,
You have yet to perform any civic duty for our community..You have become a conduit for disinformation and the myths about crime and the Black community..
The newspapers in America are vessles of truth about the Black community..WTF...Are you sure you are a educator.I doubt you have tenure yet given your underdeveloped reasoning on certainly this issue...Of course I bet you also have flawed interpetations on other subject matter..
I do like your anger and tenacity CD I see it often in people like you with blindspots about their own shortcomings..
Of course I will not allow your underdeveloped maturation contaminate this very important issue..The image of the Black community and our youth has for to long been demonized and subject to disinformation from white scholars , pundits etc..
Observing you now purchase this narrative creates a duty on my part as a Black activist to defeat and object to your ignorance on this topic..
I love my community...
CD,
I tire of your circular denial and flawed reasoning which now has you invoking anecdotal fictional examples to butress your shallow talking points..
Anyone who reads our banter will clearly agree with me that you simply need to stay away fom the slots it has fucked up your ability to wage a logical arugment..
Enjoy the rest of the 4th..
@Anon. It must at least 100 degrees where you are; thus, i will give you a pass for not making much sense at all. In a few days you will come around to how clearly my analogy explains many many things.
We go back and forth on these issues about black crime. Funny thing, not once do you ever engage these perpetrators, their deeds, and levels of responsibility. Why is that? They are preying on other people of color, but you excuse-make, deflect, and in deny the obvious. That must take a good amount of mental energy. How do you keep your energy up?
Be careful of your habit towards self-congratulatory behavior, i.e. claiming "victory" online in discussions where you are your own judge of what counts as a "win." And who cares, what do these "wins" get you?
Why go to my expertise and credentials? I never tout expertise, or the like. I am a regular guy with not much to crow about and many deficits.
As a reversal, given the low level of engagement, critical rigor, depth of analysis you offer on this and other matters, I would be very careful and engage in some critical self-reflection. You also crow about being an "activist" often. That is like folks who describe themselves as "smart." When a person makes that claim be immediately suspicious.
Why do you need to fly your own flag? Such tendencies suggest that you may not be too accomplished in this regard; alternatively, you could just be one of those folks who build themselves up but have zero money or capital actually raised for projects, some business cards you made at home, and a title you granted yourself. But, you can talk about being an "activist" for what that is worth.
I hope not.
I have done a good deal for real people at both personal and professional expense regarding money, job opportunities, and the like. I hope to do more. Will I run around talking about it. No.
What have you done? I hope this isn't who I think it is, for that would sadden me as he would have then taken a turn for the worst these last few years.
Obviously we need more details, but I'm trying to understand how that happened one year ago and it never got blown up in the alternative media, particularly in the Black blogosphere.
Black Teen Jason Smith Killed By KKK, Family Speaks Out For Justice
http://www.kmjm.com/pages/thetonyscottshow.html?article=10163301#ixzz1zi0qAe6V
CD
You are full of it ...Does your ego ever have the capacity to revisit the words you post seconds after you post them WTF
On WARN you have boasted about appearing on radio show, blogging on Alternet and now you even brag about all the people you have helped but then you have the audacity to claim I am blowing up my ego... ha ha ha
Of course this latest attack from you has nothing to do with this subject matter wherein your underdeveloped thinking has equated Blackness with criminality.
I will never run from my being or my community. Unlike you I am an activist not a chatter class ventriloquist who resents dissent and critical feedback.
Your position on conflating Blackness with criminal behavior has brought disfavor to WARN your race chasing was tiresome and revealed the tragic limits of your skill set.
Nonetheless your surrender to mediocrity is your problem not mine nor other posters.
@Anon. I don't run about screaming about being an activist...whatever that is. I would assume it is based on some principle of selfless giving and action? No?
I am a self-interested actor. Thus, folks with a plan claim their successes--and this may be a revelation to you--find ways to facilitate other self-interested parties in contacting them. I have never claimed anything else.
What is your plan anon(s)? To what goal are you working? What does being a "community activist" mean to you?
@CDV
You know what I call him and what I think of him, but I'm curious to know what you make of Thrasher:
Sad Case?
Nut Case?
Poster Child for _______________?
@Cnu. I hope it isn't Thrasher as that would be very, very sad. Regardless, I would describe my dialogue with this anon as a "frustrating" case.
Why they can't admit the obvious about a brigand class of lumpen negroes is beyond me. Every race has this problem; I am not interested in cleaning up other people's problems however.
You have thought about these matters. Am I so off base here by pointing out that there are certain models for success in writing online, and that "racism chasing" is one particular sub-genre of such writing. I am all for being corrected with a "you are crazy."
But from my side there is a meta-game afoot here. I thing points 1, 2, 5, 6, and 10 are especially true.
"Poster child for very, very sad case" it is then.
I thought the piece was on point - particularly inasmuch as the overarching rule that the "house always wins" is a perfectly onto and apt description of the media's relationship to racial narrative and the orthodoxy which therein prevails.
Were it otherwise, we would routinely encounter a much greater diversity of black voices and opinions. Substantive diversity of black voice and opinion in the popular media has not existed since the demise of the negro/black digest - and on teevee - why is it univerally and categorically impossible to ever see/hear a brotha with at least bass left in his voice?
Amazing how so many posters on this site want me and my associates to be Mr. Thrasher ...WTF...clearly he made out a signature presence in here..
In our conversations he has never spoke ill of CD he did note that CNu was brilliant but also petty person envious of his parenting of successful offspring.
With regard to the theme about activists in denial or avoidance about black lumpen class that is such a dead end recycled dagger ..
In conclusion I think my mentor was right about both of you of course I did tell him that I dominated this theme...
Just sayin
@Anon. The same way you dominate your penis with your own hand every morning? You set yourself up for that one.
Still obsessed with Thrasher? Meeting in his hot basement? What was the topic of your "study group" this week?
Is that why you are so confused on these most basic issues of personal responsibility and black agency?
No I clearly hit a home run now you have sunk to crude sex jokes to attack those who register superior dissent to your marginal essays ..
You are still in retreat it appears so now you are framing my views as issues of black agency and personal responsibility .. WTF what 's next black impotency , failed negritude... ha,ha, ha
I am truly amused observing you so scatterbrained and desheveled when someone rejects you and your inflated nonsense... What a wimp you have become probably always been your true nature ... I love to interview your parents ..
Just sayin.,.. Ha ha ha
@Anon. This is fun. You really are not too bright. You don't seem to get the double meaning.
You are always claiming your own victories and that you "win" debates online. Pathetic. You are the equivalent of a baseball player calling his own strikes, balls, fouls, hits, home runs and the like.
Thus, my joke that you are like a man who claims to be a great lover but only indulges in onanistic delights. What is the sound of one hand clapping? Apparently, random anons who claims activist greatness and winning debates online and who join cultish study groups and sit in hot basements. Mighty radical of you and effective by the way.
@CDV
I see both Anon's and your view. Black on Black crime is a problem, but Anon is also right in that it's not more of a problem than latin on latin violence or white on white crime. Basicly it's all in the location of the crime. Home invasion or robbery in rich white areas are big news because they hardly happen but when they do are they called white on white crime? A meth lab or weed spot in nappa valley getting robbed is usually white on white crime. Compared to East St. Louis or Chi-town hood shooting will usually be black. The numbers are not out of balance with the rest of the world.
I know my hood, I know the families, and the people who deliver my paper and mail. When a teen is doing something questionable I let him know then I tell his parent/parents. It still takes a village to raise a kid. You want to feel safe in your hood? Become part of that hood. Watch groups, meetings, walking your dog, are all ways to join the area. They start conversations that don't happen when you block out the block.
Have I been robed, beaten up, shot at, stabbed, or whatever other crime you could think of? Sadly yes to most of those, but did I floss my ill gained wealth at the time? Hell ya and paid for the choices I made. I'm just lucky to get out of the hood (I knew men ten times smarter than I that couldn't leave the life).
Just don't sell our youths as these super killers that attack everyone daily. Crime stats just don't back that.
"Black on Black crime is a problem, but Anon is also right in that it's not more of a problem than latin on latin violence or white on white crime."
And that's the point Anon made.IMO. I for one am glad for the push back. Nothing CD said was untrue, per se; it was just an incomplete picture. Basically that is the same thing that racist propagandists do. Use a small segment of the population, the lowest and ugliest, to represent the black population as a whole but particularly the poor black male. There is nothing intrinsically black about criminality. There are some insidious culturally engineered demonizing forces at play here that CD completely overlooks. That's straight out of the white racist propaganda playbook. CD is beginning to sound a lot like CNu, painting all blacks, cept for hisself an a few others, with the same broad brush. BTW, I don't know how people have come to hold this notion, ad hominem does not add to the weight of your argument. When, I as an observer, partial or not see it, I don't count it in your favor. I charge foul. Point goes to the other side.
African Americans are disproportionately represented in the arrest and victimization reports which are used to compile crime rate statistics in the United States. The data from 2008 reveals that Black Americans are over-represented in terms of arrests made in virtually all types of crime, with the exceptions of "Driving under the influence" and "Liquor laws". Overall, Black Americans are arrested at 2.6 times the per-capita rate of all other Americans, and this ratio is even higher for murder (6.3 times) and robbery (8.1 times)
@Bruto. I appreciate your engagement on this point; and your community is better off for your actions. But, I have one question/observation. You wrote:
"Have I been robed, beaten up, shot at, stabbed, or whatever other crime you could think of? Sadly yes to most of those, but did I floss my ill gained wealth at the time? Hell ya and paid for the choices I made. I'm just lucky to get out of the hood (I knew men ten times smarter than I that couldn't leave the life).
Just don't sell our youths as these super killers that attack everyone daily. Crime stats just don't back that."
So you should limit your ability to enjoy the fruits of your labor because some brigand wants to take what you have earned? I don't know if I want to limit my citizenship rights in that way. We have struggled too hard and too long. Black on black crime rates are disproportionately high. Black people are more likely to kill and murder each other than they are members of any other race. That is the heart of the matter for me and why I keep returning to the foundational concept of internalized white racism and "niggerization." They are real and explain much--even the excuse making I call out here.
@S. Look through WARN and also my pieces on the Martin case and the "Black Flash mob" meme. I understand the right wing framing on this issue. I also understand the structural elements at play. Here is an observation that I have yet to receive a fair response to when I have made it: given all of the structural reasons and how the racial state has criminalized poor people of color, I would expect more violent criminality and property crimes from black folks.
I would suggest that our crime rates are in fact much lower than what one would expect given the circumstances.
Also, it is a small percentage of thugs and lumpen who are behaving badly. The vast majority of people, despite the structural encouragements towards criminality, are doing the right thing often with great difficulty. Thus, why go to such lengths and leaps of faith to protect a criminal class that preys on people like you?
Any answers?
I think it's complete and utter bullshit to just say, well, he was guilty, he had it coming.
If he were white, he'd probably still be alive, gun or no gun.
The police give white folks every opportunity to hold hostages, have standoffs, talk them down.
They simply do not afford black people the same opportunity.
We must stop giving the police the latitude to act as judge, jury and executioner when it comes to our children.
lol, spoken like somebody who watched an awful lot of bad television during the 70's and the 80's - cause that's the ONLY place that any "talking down" has ever happened.
The policy is to go home alive. You brandish so much as a butter knife at the popo nowadays, and you're guaranteed a body bag.
http://www.voxunion.com/how-to-survive-and-develop-in-an-urban-society-the-blueprint/
http://www.voxunion.com/new-qualitative-indices-for-urban-america/
http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/04/19/black-crimes-against-black-humanity/
@anon. Like clockwork "the mentor" appears. This is really weird. Do you run around with his little red book in your pocket? Stand on your own two feet.
Selective quotations can always be framed as you would like them to be. If you can't see the obvious truth of what I am suggesting so be it.
CD,
So in others words you continue to lack any constructive or substantive arguments or talking points to defeat my take down of your hollow and more importantly underdeveloped narrative which now has you reeking of surrender and retreat...
I have basically made you impotent on your own site up close and personal..
Just saying..
BTW I argued with my mentor about why he thought so highly of you...I am frustrated with his opinion of you..I think you are a chatter class pussy..
Just saying..ha,ha,ha,
@anon. I entertain your silliness because it is great material for comedy improv or a play. Tell me more about your mentor? What does he teach you? Are you incapable of independent thought and need a life coach? why the childish barbs?
I do hope you understand that I could care less about what you think of me as it is irrelevant given that you are one level above a troll with no ability to help me on my direction. But, I must ask, what pleasure do you get out of being so antagonistic and juvenile?
Again. You have not answered any of my reasonable questions. That is expected.
You have not answered your own shortcomings ..you are in retreat I love observing your slide ...
Btw...how many names do have for me... Now I am a uber troll...wTF
Interesting how CNu is down low on flashmob ass kickin teach is getting here...Old fuck ... Tee Hee
@CDV
Interesting. While Thrasher is clearly a poster child in a class all by itself, I'm curious to know whether you find his futile efforts to coerce ideological/political compliance typical of racial partisans in general, or, unique to old-head negroes online?
CNu
My mentor is dedicated to the elevation and development of our community he is not interested in your nonsense..
My Dear Friend Chauncey DeVega:
I am going to take a week's vacation with two goals in mind:
1) Clean out my garage and basement store room
2) Print, March Up and ANALYZE various submissions on your blog - NOT from a "Political" perspective but from a PSYCHOLOGICAL perspective.
I am listening to the video from the 15 child lady that you have posted.
In my assessment of you, brother, you suffer from a massive complex in which TRANSFERENCE provides you with a bit of mental comfort.
You are such a prescient man that, upon seeing "Incomings" in which you can detect that WHITE CONSERVATIVES will have a field day about "Black Characters" that are presented in the media that you act PREEMPTIVELY.
Now Mr DeVega - you must understand. Those of us who are WATCHING YOU see this pattern but those of us who are a bit more "ahead of the game" are left wondering: WHAT DOES CHAUNCY DEVEGA BELIEVE ABOUT THE SITUATION?
WHAT ARE HIS STANDARDS? WHAT IS HIS SENTIMENTS WHEN HE SEES SOMEONE WHO HAVE VIOLATED HIS STANDARDS?
We know what you think about the WHITE CONSERVATIVE, brother DeVega.
The more interesting viewpoint resides with what MR CHAUNCEY DEVEGA feels on the inside when his 5 senses take in stimuli from the real world.
If you don't mind, sir, I would like to volunteer to be your "Adjuster" but, unlike Tom Cruise and "The Scientologists" I have no electrodes to motivate your "adjustment".
(I still havent forgotten about your video and post featuring the house fully of young Black males smoking blunts and vibing to the music. Just been very busy. I want to devote the full attention to my analysis.......................OF YOU. Along with my dear friend Mr Thrasher from Demby High as well.)
Mr.CF
I am in a think tank with Mr.Thrasher he is quite an iconic figure here in the D but he does speak for me nor do I seek his approval on anything I do.
Please by all means rip another hole in CD's canoe of late it is sinking fast..
[quote]Please by all means rip another hole in CD's canoe of late it is sinking fast..[/quote]
Dear Anon From The D:
I wish NO SUCH HARM to my dear friend Mr DeVega or any of his personal property. He no doubt has a civil rights lawyer that would attempt to take me for everything that I've got.
You see, my friend Mr DeVega doesn't take too kindly to forces that put him on the natural defensive.
My goal is to take in all of his frustrations and to eek out a trajectory that would allow him to achieve his goals - all while saving face.
His GOAL IS NOT to get into perpetual fights with White Conservatives. This is but a front that allows him to hide his inner pain.
His GOAL is indeed to help Black people (and/or "The Least Of These"). He is merely too easily distracted by untoward criticism against those he believes are too weak to fend for themselves. Thus he spends too much time FIGHTING and doesn't quite quite appreciate the OPPORTUNITY COSTS that this expends unnecessarily.
@Constructive. I look forward to your analysis. Given your many mental health issues I am sure you have great expertise on these matters.
My Dear Friend Chauncey DeVega:
I only ask that you note that I had the opportunity to "Throw You Under The Bus" in response to "Anon In The D".
Since you are a beloved friend of mine I chose to avoid sinking your canoe.
You may need it to catch some of those flying carp fish that are making their way up to Lake Michigan.
Say - have you ever thought about getting a contract by which a crew of brothers are employed to run their motor boats up and down the Chicago River, provoking the fish to jump up and then netting them?
They could sell this fish in a new wholesale market - BRINGING Dr Claude Anderson's VISION of Black people corning the "Wholesale Fish" market.
We are going to be good friends one day, Brother Devega, once you remove yourself from that box that you confine yourself to.
You are simply NOT acting as if there is a present emergency, worthy of a systematic emergency response for THOSE WHO WISH TO BE SAVED before the roof collapses.
Make that the Illinois River
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb8OmEr7VqI
I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY, Mr DeVega
Don't know much about Thrasher, and don't agree with everything of his that I've read, but I thought he did a good job of needling the profoundly-irritating David Mills, aka, "Undercover Blackman", the late, ungreat, compartmentally-self-hating Octoroon "The Wire" was using as a beard for its D.W. Griffith-style jive. I used to drop in on "UCBM" because the music wasn't bad, but I always assumed the site was run by an endearingly-clueless white suburban MFA with a Negro fetish. I always winced when The Wire was mentioned... and two mentions in a row could keep me away for weeks...I had no idea the deluded quasi-Brother had *writing credits* on that atrocity until after Zeus snuffed him.
Anyway, credit goes to Thrasher, because everybody else in the "UCBM" comment threads was a craven celebrity-sucker who'd give rapturous golf-clapping whenever Mills so much as picked his racially ambiguous nose. So: qualified props to Mr. T.
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