Triage

Much of what is considered to be "Black culture" is really just the residual effects of having to settle for the scraps during more difficult times.
Of having to make due with what others have thrown away.
While a desirable trait in a state of emergency or when resources are limited - it can also retard one's progress towards gaining that which they really desire.
If we are willing to settle for the chitterlings, hog mauls and head cheese - we shouldn't be upset that others are enjoying a juicy porterhouse or rib-eye.

Many of the wounds suffered by those complaining of social injustices are self-inflicted.
Most of the problems were caused by poor personal choices and/or by the negative (or shortsighted) influences of those who surround any given individual.
But putting the causes aside - "who" and "how" do we help fix the shortcomings of our learned culture?

Maybe we need to just let some of the victims die.
Maybe we need to do some sort of triage for the hood.
Since resources are finite, maybe we should let a few die to save the many.
Maybe we need to use the medical model;

Levels of triage;
-Likely to live -regardless of care given.
-Likely to die - regardless of care given.
-Those for whom appropriate and timely care will have a positive impact on their outcome.

Maybe it's a harsh way to think about it, but maybe some people just cannot be saved from themselves and any attempt in doing so will only lower the possibility of a better outcome for the others.
Maybe we should focus on those most likely to survive.

Taylor Swift Fearless Tour 2009

Katie Price, aka Jordan showed off her rear as she arrived at a cowboy-themed party later on

The Most Hated Women In The World

After reading reports of Madonna being booed in Europe after her defence of Gypsies, and then looking into gingerism on the advice of Anon - I'm confused.
Who are the most mistreated women in the world today?

Is it the Mongols in Asia?

Or is it Black women the world over? (Well, maybe not in Africa.)

Maybe it's red-headed women.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6725653.stm

It seems that even if racism disappeared tomorrow - we'd still find a reason to hate one another.

Lindsay lohan, Beach Bodies 2008-2009

Lady GaGa strips off

Get Your Ish Together

The above image was taken after Hurricane Ike outside of Galveston, Texas.
Q; Which house is still standing?
A; The one that was built to withstand the storm surge that usually accompanies a hurricane.
Since Katrina, we've had four or five named storms hit the Gulf Coast between Galveston and NOLA.
But NOLA gets all the attention.

As I watch the coverage and read all the news stories and blogs about how the government failed the citizens of NOLA - I still ask "What could the citizens have done differently?".
The citizens were given notice that there would be a mandatory evacuation (Which means, if you decide to stay - be prepared to fend for yourself.) as far as a week in advance of the storm.
The use of the Superdome was intended as a last resort - not as one's best option.
The refugees didn't bring enough food or water. (People have been told for years to prepare a hurricane survival kit.)
The issue is often reduced to one of racial oppression instead of government ineptitude.

I know... it's the popular meme to turn white people into villains concerning the response to Katrina - but if it's that bad, donate or volunteer here;
http://www.makeitright.org/
or here;
http://katrinavictims.org/
Brad Pitt is the man. Doin' Angelina and rebuilding NOLA.

People often cite the story of white people denying refuge to Blacks at gunpoint in small towns along the evacuation route.
But this isn't only about race.
After Rita, many in my all-Black neighborhood stood vigil over our property with guns in hand.
Anyone who wasn't known was denied access.
It wasn't because those driving around were also Black - but because we were protecting our resources.
It was because we didn't tolerate looting.
The same could be said of those whites in the small towns.
It was more of a class issue than one of race.

Since our recent spate of hurricane damage - I've done a lot more voluntary restoration work.
The thing I've noticed is the dearth of Black faces at the rebuilding events in Black communities.
The question I'm often asked by young cousins (usually forced by me to help in recovery efforts) is "Why?".
The statements made by their sorry-ass parents and grandparents is; "Why is y'all doin' work for free?".

I've done work in areas where those who lived in the areas would sit beneath the trees drinking and watching as the mostly white volunteers were sweating to rebuild their neighborhood..
I've provided free housing to people while their biggest concern wasn't getting a job and starting over, but that of trying to figure out how to benefit from the next government program.
I've paid for my groceries while listening to welfare recipients proclaiming that "We need to have us a hurricane every month." while they were unloading scrimps (or strimps) and porter house steaks from their shopping carts and then paying for their goods with newly refilled LoneStar (food stamp) cards.
While picking up cousins in Fort Worth after our evacuation for Ike, I met a group of people from NOLA who were still having their bills paid and complaining that the government wasn't doing enough THREE YEARS AFTER KATRINA.

After years of trying to help those in need, I'm over Katrina and it's "victims".
After dealing with people who expect the government to solve all their problems and raise their families, I'm tired of the screams of "Racism".
Four years after Katrina and people still think that the government owes them a new house?
Ne-ga-ro please...
Just get your own shit together.

Kim Kardashian Leaving Fred Segal In Hollywood

Appendix

A few months ago, I was having pains in my lower abdominal area. At first, I though I had done too many crunches or that I lifted something with the wrong posture. But this was like no pain I had ever felt before. After a couple of days, I asked my doctor neighbor what the pain could be. He felt around and surmised that I needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible and that he thought that I could need an appendectomy.

Whoa... hold them horses. I hate being cut on. I looked up information concerning the appendix on the Internet and discovered that most in the medical community had no idea what purpose the appendix held nor the causes of inflammation.

Immediately, I started a regimen of fruit juice, activated charcoal tablets and yogurt (with active yeast cultures) in an effort to stabilize my dietary system. I switched from the occasional (Well, since being in the South - more than occasional) high fat/high calorie diet (links, ribs, fried everything, smothered everything else) of my current locale back to the healthier diet of my Cali. days. A huge salad every morning for breakfast, a small portion of chicken or fish and fresh veggies for lunch, another huge salad for dinner, and fruit, nuts or yogurt for snacks.

After about two weeks, I was fine. But what if I had listened to the initial reaction from my neighbor (and subsequent advice from other nurse neighbors)? I would be without an appendix. Now there is a story saying that the appendix does have a use; http://news.aol.com/health/article/researchers-say-appendix-has-uses/637211

Maybe we each need to do our own research before taking the word of someone whose livelihood depends on us being ill.

Like Asking A Barber If You Need A Haircut

We must be more stupid than we look.
Why?
Because we often ask those with the most to gain from our choices what those choices should be.
We listen to military men explain the value of warfare.
We listen to politicians explain the validity of their side of the story.
We listen to Big Oil explaining the scarcity of petroleum.
We listen to Big Pharma/HMOs/Big Insurance explaining the need to keep the health care system in it's generally failing state.
We listen to news sources telling us how bad things are only to ensure their ratings.
We listen to Wall Street explain how an electronic economy is better than a credit based economy, which was better than a cash based economy, which was better than a precious metals based economy, which was better than a work based economy.
IMO - The only thing these experts are expert in is ensuring their future pay checks.

Anne Hathaway shows off her long legs

Victoria Beckham swapped her figure-hugging dresses

We Tend Toward The Average

The only people who are really concerned with their looks are;
Ugly people,
People whose looks dictate their pay scale,
Or good looking people who've failed to develop a marketable skill.
For most others - looks are just a tool to quickly gauge one's threat level or one's (possible) reproductive level.

Good hair/bad hair, light skin/dark skin, tall/short, fat/thin, and so on...
The truth is, we tend toward the average.
Shakara Ledard is more often favoured over Alek Wek - not because she looks more white - but because she is seen as closer to the average between all races, nationalities or ethnicities.
(C'mon ladies, don't hate. Who would you prefer to look like? Honestly.)

I wonder if the same applies to Zhang Ziyi and Sonia Couling?
Sonia (Second photo) seems less Asian (more rounded eyes, tan, soft features) and more marketable in the West.
Is she more attractive?

Tilda Swinton has the green eyes, pale skin and thin lips generally associated with being "white" - yet Angelina Jolie's Asian eyes, full lips and tanned skin are viewed by many as the white ideal of beauty.

Salma Hayek is just baad.

Por que?

Is it because she is really close to the average of all groups?

Scientia Gnosis

Okay... one's Latin and the other Greek - but you get the point.
It seems that the biggest failures of mankind can be traced to our inability to properly understand the relationship between science and religion.

Usually, we have attempted to reconcile the differences by making up religious mythologies that line up with our current understanding of the sciences.
But this methodology seems backward.
Maybe we need to align our scientific understanding with that of religion.

At about 606 B.C.E.,
Daniel 1:4 states - "Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learnings and the tongue of the Chaldeans."

Apparently, there was no problem with the early Biblical figures having an understanding of the sciences.

But learned men like Aristotle (Between 384-322 B.C.E.) somehow pitted "knowledge" against religion by making ridiculous claims that lacked the rigour of scientific proof.
Since Aristotle was considered an academic all-star - his opinions were often viewed as facts.
But this made as much sense as Michael Jordan trying to play baseball.

Among Aristotle's more "brilliant" musings;
- He didn't believe that plants had male and female counterparts.
- He didn't believe in inertia.
- He believed that the Ptolemaic view of our Solar System was the correct view. (Later, supported by the Catholic Church even after Copernicus and Galileo could prove it wrong.)
- Thought that heavier objects fell faster than lighter objects.
- He disagreed with his contemporaries (Democritus and Hippocrates) in thinking that the seat of human thought, intelligence and emotion emanated from the heart.
"The brain is an organ of minor importance, perhaps necessary to cool the blood." - stated Aristotle.
(Although recent evidence seems to ad the bowels or digestive tract to the mix - and possibly adding greater insight to Isiah 16:11, Jeremiah 4:18, etc.)
- He dismissed Democritus' concept of our physical world being made up of tiny pieces of matter, which he called atoms.

But even during the time of Christ (and shortly after) - scientists were active in taking part in religious events.
The Magi (possibly descendants or associates of the favoured Jews of the Captivity in Babylon) were called to bear witness of the Messiah's birth.
Collossians 2:8 states - "Believe lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit"
Timothy 6:20 states - "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called."
Maybe Paul had read some of Aristotle's observations.

Now String Theory and Unification Theory are sounding more and more like the Big Bang was the same thing as God creating the Universe(s).
What did the Gnostics know?

Angelina v. Halle

Halle and Angelina are pretty much interchangeable - both look good (If that's your type.).
But is Halle just a Black girl with white features,
or does Angelina's sexuality come from her ethnic features?

Beyonce, Coco and Kim Kardashian all have the thick juicy bodies generally preferred by ethnic men.
Are these women only considered attractive because of their (traditionally) non-white features?
It seems as though the new ideal is shifting towards a more curvaceous body type.

Take A Good Look At A Monkey...

"A Monkey has thin lips,
A Monkey has straight (In this case, blond.) hair..."
-Paul Mooney