aka Contrarian

"anxiously awaiting your responses"?? It was several hours before I came back to your post after attending to the more interesting things I had to do. Just another example of how you distort and how totally oblivious you are to your own deviousness, and how you put your own spin on everything. In any case, you have gotten everything off your chest, not surpringly portraying yourself as the "hero" and others as the villains, taking no responsibility for the part you play in invoking the the response you get from Troy and me. Do you ever give any thought to the very valid challenges Troy presents to your opinions. Do you ever consider that you might be wrong about some things? No. You think you are omniscient. And you will resort to all kind tactics to substantiate your invalid points. In reality, your complaints about us are no more legitimate than ours are about you and your "I'm the smartest guy in the room" attitude . And, incidentally, you have also conveniently forgotten how you and Mzuri double teamed me back when she was posting, and posing as my friend. Whatever. It's obvious we have no common ground nor am I motivated to accomodate your need to be agreed with. So be it.

@Pioneer1I see you expanded your comments on your original post, or - I didn't see your "after thoughts" the first time around, and I must say that your attempt to play the victim, and your indignation over my not agreeing with your every utterance and your accusations about my being spiteful, strike me as pent-up grievances that stem from a bruised ego - and a short memory...I'm really curious as to why you think I have an obligation to pay homage to you. How you expect from me what you never extended to me. The only difference between the way I treated you and the way you treated me is that I m not inclined to sit around and sulk about your antagonistic behavior. (I'm not thin-skinned like you.) And I might add that half the stuff you post I don't even read, so being ignored would also seem to be a factor in your resentment. Man up, you big wuss. Bottom line, your heightened sense of entitlement apparently prevents you from not being able to take what you dish out.

Well, maybe you take yourself too seriously and your expectations are too high. Your being the control freak who likes to imagine and choreograph situations sets you up for the frustration you experience over not being taken seriously. Poooor baby. I suspect what you complain about can be attributed to how, away from this board, in your home base, you are surrounded by people who are quite different from the real world of this forum. tsk-tsk. btw, have ever conclusively proven yourself to be correct about say, - race being a social construct, or black men having bigger penises than males of other ethnicities? I can't speak for Troy, but as far as I'm concerned, I find it easy to disagree with a very opinionated someone who lacks objectivity when it comes to the negroid species and is, in fact, a black supremist. My first loyalty is to the truth.

@Pioneer1So, what's the problem? What difference does it make if I disagree with you? Do you have a need to be validated? I don't care whether others agree with me or not. And I don't think anybody else on this board does either. Your ego is showing Nor does It help matters that you make up lies and try to give the impression that I have a thing for you and that you have me "wrapped around your little finger". Get outta here. I have no reason to support your views or tolerate your lascivious attitude toward women and inflated braggadogio about black men. Puleeze. You personify all the things that to me are a turn-off especially at this stage of my life when I am cynical about men in general.

Troy and I have different opinions about a lot of things, but we do seem to agree when it comes to you and your assumption that you are always right, and the means that you resort to to try and prove this. And I don't go out of my way to agree with him. It has more to do with him simply making more sense than you do.

For once you agree that you are wrong, and my assessment of your overreaction to a movie is a "fairly accurate" one? Lol You mean you have finally realized that you are hyper sensitive about "Wicked", considering that the first "Wicked" movie, was when Cynthia was nominated for many awards including an Oscar, and that she won several of them. She also won a Tony for her performance in the Broadway production of "Wicked". I don't think she would agree with your take on the situation. And your opinion doesn't really matter. You're just a malcontent.

You really got a thing for Idris Elba, haven't you? He does kinda look like Cynthia what's-her-name with hair and minus the green skin. And I should've "let sleeping dogs lie" and not given you an opening to go into the typical routine you were just waiting to spring. (Probably tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep, trying to think of a sneaky way to make your point. ) I'm not impressed. How about you, Troy? Is this worth a good laugh, or what?

@Pioneer1Then why did you waste time posting the silly comments that you just made? Who cares whether or not you respond anyway? zzzzzzz

Some of you act like white women don't bleach their hair blond. Half the blondes out there of any race are "bottle blondes". Blond hair is a "style" that anyone can affect if they so choose, just like long or short hair. "Vanity, thy name is woman." You also act like skin color is the only race marker, and ignore the reality of blackness being a "state of mind" that is manifested in many ways. Self-appointed arbitrators of how "we" are supposed to look, are superficial themselves. Slave descendants run the gamut of skin color, and if they identify as black, then nobody else has the authority to say different. The same with mixed individuals. Who gave anybody the authority or credentials to designate who is "black". Melanin does not obliterate all other factors. Furthermore, If it makes a woman happy to lighten her skin and liberate herself from what she has undoubtedly experienced as a burden, then that's nobody's business but her own. Forget the "psycho-babbo" about the situation. Just cause "Malcolm said" something doesn't make it sacrosanct. He was not infallible. Nor dark-skinned. And I'm sure brothas are the main culprit in motivating certain sistas to want to modify their appearance. It never ceases to amaze me how empowered some people think they are when it comes to branding 39,000,000 people.

What Troy just posted is on point. And, the demograph for the "Wicked" franchise is not black people. Young black girls are not flocking to theaters to see this latest film fantasy. Nor is there any great interest in it by the black population in general.To them, it's just another Disneyesque Hollywood fantasy like "Sleeping Beauty" or "Shrek". They ain't paying no money to go see it. Pioneer overestimates the gullibilty of black folks as well as the deviousness of Hollywood whose primary goal is profit; not promoting racism. Attributing racial overtones to this movie's subliminal message is a stretch saturated with paranoia. Cynthia and Ariana have admitted they have an affectionate, gender based, non binary relationship. So what else is new? In today's social climate this is not an eyebrow raiser. Who cares if this is their "thing"? Hollywood has always been a freak show. But, as usual, the Strawman has to manufacture a hysterical scenario in an attempt to substantiate his far-fetched argument characterizing some bald headed green skin character as a racist surrogate for a black person. For the person with a hammer, every issue is a nail. Much ado about nothing.

Nobody, including the media or police officials in their press conferences, or the street ministry spokesmen, ever talks about gangs in Chicago. The black ones seem pretty fragmented. Old leaders are either dead, imprisoned, or neutralized and no young brothas seem to be stepping up to replace them. The Hispanic ones stay in the barrios they control. Guns and their availability are the big problem because they are instrumental in the personal beefs and individual confrontations being settled by bullets. Whatever. As previously mentioned the break-ins in business districts are possibly orchestrated by sophisticated outsider burglary rings. In any case, the Nation Guard presence here didn't seem to have much of an impact. Kids were/are still dying from sporadic gunshot incidents. I don't know whether they were, but Guard members should've been riding along on the trains and subways to protect passengers from the nut cases.

As far as Chicago is concerned, the Nation Guard serves no purpose because it has no way of knowing where the next crime is going to occur since most of it involves personal disputes such as road rage and murders and opportunistic robberies. Trump had a good time, going on camera, bad mouthing the situation here and calling Illinois' governor a "fat slob" in the process. smh.

@ProfDProfD Enjoy your special day and may you celebrate many happy returns. May you also enjoy the traditional holiday that allows you to gather with your loved ones and give thanks for your blessings. The upcoming meeting between the DA BEARS and the Eagles should be an interesting game. I'm just enjoying the ride, loving how my team finds a way to win!

This post was started by Troy last June, and here we are in November, caught up in the "the more things change politically, the more they become the same" theme,( Marjorie Taylor Greene's announcement of her plans to retire from Congress in January after having an ephiphany about Trump, being the possible exception to this trend. ) But the perennial conversations on this forum, continue. Same tune, different lyrics. Democrats bad, Republicans worse, white supremacy alive and well, racism subtle and entrenched, marathon dialogs bringing to mind images of black folks chasing their tails, made dizzy by the exercise. While recently scrolling through my phone. I checked out some reels of Neil de Grasse I Tyson, which gave me pause. I'd heard this theory before but it sunk in a little more this time around because of where I am in my earthly journey. He said, in essence, that time is an illusion, that everything has already happened, that the past, the present, and the future are one, and we are just moving forward. He said that to exist was a privilege because there were "those" for whom life never came into fruition. ??? And that dying was proof of having existed, and nothing more than that. Another outre thing he said was that the human species does not adapt, that some of them are intrinsically equipped to survive changing conditions, while others aren't, and simply die out... These were just a few of the extraordinary claims he made. Of course, we have no way of determining whether he, himself, knows what the hell he's talking about, but his glib explanations are thought provoking and at this point, my priorities have changed when it comes to the issues I ponder. America in general, and black folks in particular no longer command any great involvement on my.part. "Whatever will be, will be," and if we are to take Neil de Grasse Tyson seriously, - "already is". And the beat goes on... zzzzz GO BEARS ! Enjoy your turkey.

...I meant besides dreaming improbable dreams. You got it right, the first time. And Frankster confirmed it. "A long time ago, it was realized that because they are going to die anyway, humans are expendable. Therefore, it makes most sense to profit from their existence." "We do not live in a civilization....but in a death cult - Barbarization." In the Game of Life, there can be no winners without losers. Black folks win when it comes to losing. And so it goes... zzzzzzzzzzz

Follow the money, but talk is cheap. After all of this nihilistic verbiage, what is it that "black folks need to do" to stop being perennial losers? Abandon their futile quest to abolish racism - and get with the program? Life is a big joke.

Nature putting on a show via the northern lights, reminding Earth to not sweat the small stuff.

Life goes on. Utopia is a pipe dream yearned for by idealists. The strong will survive. Bye-bye to a sign of the times. RIP.

@ProfDEverybody knows da BEARS are just a mediocre team, but their games are exciting (and exhausting) to watch! My goal is to still be around to see if they'll still be around at playoff time. Thanks for being such a good sport and humoring me.

@ProfD

Lol. Sez the resident pontificator.

Stfu. The more you say, the more foolish you sound. (At least I have a family.) Gotta watch Da Bears now. You'll just have to wait till I come back.

And you been sitting around all morning, just waiting for me to respond because you obviously have nothing better to do. I only come here when I have free time. I have other passtimes.

All of your aforementioned is really just an exercise in anecdotal rambling, sending a message that reeks with the "I'm right and nobody else knows what they're talking about" mantra that you live by. Get a life.

@Pioneer1A "loser" is in the eye of the beholder. It's also a term obviously applied to anyone who does not win, when it comes to subduing an opponent or adversary. In your case, it's a term that inspires the use of diversionary tactics to take the focus off yourself. Yes, social media can set the stage for demoralizing people. Then, there are those like you who rely on stock photographs and a facility for verbal distortion, all with the intent to ridicule and belittle others. You seem clueless when it comes to realizing how guilty you are of the things you accuse other of. You lack self introspection;too preoccupied with the world as it exists in your imagination. Watta loser.