Cynique

@TroyWell, this is a direct quote of what i wrote: "i like to think of the picture as more like an ink blot test, which is what you also compared it to." - so your props were given. And you don't have to convince me that this country is racist! I agree with everything you say in regard to this issue. My whole problem with this discussion was that it was critical of a black woman by black men who think she should present herself in accordance with their standards. As it turns out, Viola, herself, apparently had no problem with what was an artistic concept, aided and abetted by a black make-up artist. The whole controversy is on the verge of degenerating into a case of much ado about nothing. Everybody knows that the white media is either clueless or cunning when it comes to depicting black people, and that racism is insidious. The jury is still out when it come to dark-complexioned black women wearing red lipstick.

Well, that's what i meant by the power of suggestion. If it had been a black man hanging from a tree, the angry reaction would've been an immediate knee jerk reaction. But the reaction to a picture of a black woman grinning broadly is initially indifferent until someone injects racism into the mix. (Black folks can find racism in anything if they just want to.) I continue to wonder what Viola's thoughts are on this matter. i like to think of the picture as more like an ink blot test, which is what you also compared it to.

@Pioneer1 Any black leader could've done this. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Julian Bond. Black men are what made it successful, not the leader. Interesting that 20 years after this monumental gathering, nothing had changed among the ranks of black men - except that Farrakhn may have gotten a little richer and more long-winded.

Well, you guys were still off the mark when it came to your assessment of white reaction. Are you implying that because whites didn't think the picture was racist, that they are racist? Just because the respondents agreed with your racial paranoia doesn't vindicate you, it just makes you all ashamed of black women.

@Pioneer1 To me, America is a country, not a person! It is a nation founded by men who set standards they hoped would be observed and practiced - and this included designating slaves as 3/5ths of a human. Unfortunately, this land, which was stolen from its native aborigines, has never lived up to being a place where its ideas and promises of "liberty and justice for all" exists. From the beginning, immigrants and minorities were met with scorn. Yes, second generation immigrants were able to pursue and realize the American dream which included they, themselves, gaining the opportunity to practice discrimination, all of this occurring in an environment rife with white privilege and institutionalized racism. To this day, blacks are struggling to transcend the residue of slavery, which is still practiced in its more subtle forms. Immigrants no longer feel welcome in what has been erroneously referred to as the great melting pot. Instead of this country being the home of democracy, it is becoming a haven for oligarchy where the one per-center "haves" oppress the "have-nots", all at the expense of the put-upon middle-class. Its capitalistic zeitgeist thrives on the military industrial complex and corporate monopolies that pollute the economy. America has no distinct national character and is presently under the rule of an administration that represents the worst of the worst when it come to its citizens. Where is it written that i can't love my friends while hating where they live? i reiterate my sentiments of this nation being the best of the worst which amounts to it being a land of bigots and bull shit.

@TroyMale brains are wired differently when it comes to sex. So, yes, to them, it's initially all about physical gratification, and females are just receptacles for aroused penises. But i don't think it's the job of mother's to give their sons sex education. This is the job of an adult male in the family. Females, on the other hand, are sensitive enough to "fake" it so as to not damage the self-esteem of their partner. So incompatibility exists from the get-go and gets couples off on the wrong foot via the "men-give-attention-to-get-sex and women-give-sex-to-get-attention" paradigm. By the time this gets straightened out, women are approaching their sexual peak and men are on the decline. I'm assuming that for sexually active people, viagra is a godsend.

LOL. @Delano Everybody has flaws and prejudices and being true to ourselves involves acknowledging them because that's who we are. The true test is not being false to anyone by pretending to be something we are not. The final challenge is to not let our flaws have an injurious impact on others. @Troy I tend to think you subliminally injected the power of suggestion in the way the question was worded.You might have gotten different answers if you'd asked something more objective like "what comes to mind when you view this picture?" But i understand you wanted to compare your results with the feedback on the board to Pioneer's strong opinion.

i, myself, am a tad "street". i like a little edginess and danger. In my 30s, even after i was married, because me and my husband both felt that we deserved some respite from the humdrum of working every day and raising kids and paying bills, Friday was his poker playing and beer-drinking night and Saturday was my league bowling night out "with the girls". I had a good running buddy who had a little spirit of adventure like me. And after we'd be done bowling about 9:PM, we would go hang out in hole in the wall joints, sit at the bar and let guys buy us drinks, and engage us in conversation. I met some very interesting intriguing characters on these occasions. hard-workin dudes, rough around the edges, very shrewd and streetwise and sexy but who'd never go any further than you'd let them. By the time our midnight curfew came around, after we'd finished drinkin and smokin and doing the Bump and the Funky Broadway on the dance floor, me and my girl friend would take our leave. My husband never complained about this activity because after i got home, he'd reap the benefits of my vodka-primed missionary position.

Different strokes for different folks. I'm a child of the staid 50's. Positions aside, back in the day, my across the bridge table consultants claimed that some women can be brought to a climax by stimulating the areole area on the breast. Also that the brain is the real sex organ and that porn is a great aphrodisiac.

??That's why i preferred the missionary position, not doggie style.

@Delano Thank you for clarifying the distinction between convictions and principles. All i know is that i believe there is life as it exists, and then there is life the way it is filtered through the eyes of the individual. Some people are more deluded than others. i keep babbling about the "truth" but is an abstract idea. The red pill and the blue pill thing in the Matrix kinda resonated with me. Trump's presidency has impressed upon me as to how the truth can be twisted and distorted and he and his crew have become expert at this and have created an alternate world made up of their lies. And this works for them because his gullible base remains solid and his detractors are so stunned by the boldness of his lies and contradictions that they are rendered ineffective. So lies can be powerful, i don't know that my sensibilities are upset by "baseness and brutishness" since as you may have noticed in my feud with the sara person, i engaged in a lot of lewd antics. But i always tried to be truthful whereas, to me, she was a pathological liar. When it comes to being romantic, however, i am turned off by what i would call baseness because i ain't a freak - or should say that i am a prude. i've always thought that the Missionary position was about making love, and all the other positions were about having sex.

@Mel Hopkins You are such a cosmopolitan, versatile, bright, well-traveled, well-read, unique person who has led such a fantastic life that you are a living embodiment of all that life has to offer. it's a pleasure to know someone as interesting as you. And you are so right about the window to the world that television provided back in its heyday. There was much to be learned by watching it especially as you say, when it came to American culture. Did you ever get a chance to see any of the old Oscar Marceaux black films that were shown back in the day? They were really treasures. This is why i chide Troy from time to time about his having such contempt for TV, There is much to be gained on the way to learning a little bit about a lot of things through watching television. Nowadays if you are selective in your viewing there is still a broad spectrum to be observed on television about the world and the life and times that we live in. I was particularly piqued in your remarks about Bugs Bunny which brought to mind my oldest grandson who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was shot down in a drive by killing at age 22. He was very attracted to the street life and tried to take on the identity of homeboy from the hood something that required him to adopt an alter ego and speak Ebonics in order to impress who he wanted to be his peers. Whenever he and i talked he always spoke the way he was raised to. Anyway he was introduced to classical music via Bug Bunny cartoons when he was a little boy and came to like it as much as gangsta rap. i always think of him whenever i hear "Spring Song" by Mendelssohm.

@Mel HopkinsThere's something weird about me remembering that Abbot and Costello schtick. How in the world do know about it?? In grade school, me and my friends used go around saying "slowly i turned, step-by step" and then add whatever we did or were going to do. Unbelievable! i looked up the year this picture came out and it was 1941!

Well, the latest controversy lighting up the media once again deals with the word whose power knows no bounds! No sooner has LeBron James appeared before the cameras to lament how no black man is immune to being called a nigger, than HBO talk show host Bill Maher takes the spotlight by inadvertantly referring to himself as a "house nigger" when the republican Senator from Nebraska he was interviewing, invited Maher to come work in the fields of his state. Everybody has an opinion about this and Maher who is considered a progressive and who put his money where his mouth was in donating 1,000,000 dollars to Obama's treasure chest, - and who is rumored to have a black girlfriend, has naturally apologized and many have noted that he didn't call a black person by the n-word but instead co-opted it in referring to himself as a "house nigga". i'm not gonna sweat Bill Maher because he has on any number of occasion honestly poked fun at himself for benefiting from white privilege and the racism inherent in this . And lately he has really shot down the Trump administration and chastised the wimpy Democrats and Liberals, making points that i agree with. I also agree with him about many other issues involving this country's worship of comic book superheroes and bratty kids reeking with a sense of entitlement, and the myth and hypocrisy of religion. So i forgive him and am glad HBO has no intention of firing him. I also agree with those who give comedians a pass when they push the envelop in order to provoke and deliver messages that require us to laugh at our foibles. i like edgy satirical comedy. People could cite me about resenting white folks using "nigger" when i, myself, use the world "nigga". To me, there is just a difference. "Nigga" is of the black street vernacular and is unique in that is just rolls off your tongue and has so many intricate nuances in its varied usage, all of which make it the sole possession of black folks. The term "nigger" is a hard word , one that literally requires your face to sneer when you use it, and white folks have perfected the art of infusing it with contempt. I also think blacks are just as guilty of empowering the word as whites are. But, that's just me.

@TroyPerhaps i have taken you for granted since you have named a forum after me and provided me with a broad arena to express my views, as well as promoted my book in your newsletter. I guess it is my shortcoming that i have never felt empowered by this because it doesn't really impact on my life or to my knowledge collectively uplift black women. i don't consider myself an inspiration to them or do i look upon myself as a successful author or outstanding forum moderator who inspires others. But i do appreciate and have always acknowledged that you are a well-intentioned black man who deserves admiration. Again i express my gratitude. This black man/black woman dynamic is just so complicated it's hard to sort out.

Douglass also divorced his black wife and married a white women, but his black wife was apparently okay with this because at some point all 3 of them lived together in the same house. A good ol sista putting her man's needs before her own??

Silly me. i was all up there in the philosophical realm where convictions are so noble and altruistic that they require courage to be true to them and a willingness to die for them. I wasn't thinking about clinging to something that is just an outlet of a personal prejudice that is so petty that it requires no courage to keep. But those are convictions, too. So i don't know what i'm talking about. Are convictions and principles the same? Christians pride themselves in being faithful to their convictions but usually their convictions are not at the level of what it takes to emulate Christ because that would require them to be courageous. In my search for the truth i have to ask myself what my convictions are. And this required me to wrack my brain for an answer. The best i could do was to question what i have told been told, in light of what i have observed. i have over and over noticed that experts are not infallible and just because they tell me something, doesn't mean i have to believe it. There are many prominent figures who are getting by on undeserved reputations they have acquired because self-appointed critics have anointed them with an excellence that does not resonate with me: in academia, entertainment, art, and politics. I guess my conviction is to maintain a healthy skepticism. What little courage this takes is to not care if people accuse you of being negative and inflexible..

You get high marks for your sincerity, Troy. Let me just say, black men love their mothers. Probably their sisters. Most assuredly their daughters. But the one area where they have fallen short and which how, time and time again, when so many of the brightest and best of them raise the hopes of black women ready to stand by their side or accept their support, is the disappointment that occurs when their black heroes turn out to be married to white women. This has always been considered the ultimate betrayal, whether it is a justified perception or not. Of course there are millions of exceptions to this pattern, but it remains a specter in the relationship between black men and women. it has nothing to do with social media. It is something that is ingrained in the slave mentality as it exists in modern society. Black women shared the burden with their men and strove to hold the family together but that was all they were good for and what their role was. What better reward for a black man's struggle and achievements than the ultimate prize that all men desire: a white woman. If black women could be elevated to this level, this would bolster their collective morale and improve their collective image.This is not something that black men can bring about because they have no influence. Black women have to wage this battle alone, armed with self love.

@DelanoPeople should have the "courage of their convictions" whether they are tested or not, because they are ideas we hypothetically believe in. Some convictions are best not tested because the consequences could be dangerous or even fatal. Especially if they involve the "by any means necessary" sentiment when trying to eliminate a perceived threat. Assumptions very often take the form of examples or are anecdotal rather than factual but they help in trying to advance one's point in a discussion. As you know, there are very few absolutes except in math or science.

@Pioneer1 You're so in love with Farrakhan maybe you should have your credentials checked. You continue to aggrandize him and sing his praises but have yet to reinforce your extravagant claims with anything other than one puny example of the "countless" women he has uplifted to - the level of still being under the thumb of their menfolk, including their domineering patron, Farrakhan. Accept the fact that i do not share your slavish devotion to this religious chauvinist, and dry your tears. What did i say that would lead you to believe that i love Alvin Ailey? As opposed to you who can't gush enough adoration for Farrakhan. Accomplished, sensitive gay men who create opportunities for women are just as worthy of being credited as self-serving masculine ones who exploit women to make themselves look good.

@Pioneer1Why do you keep asking these silly questions? My distaste for this country has nothing to do with my fondness for my friends. i am able to separate the person from the place, even if you apparently cannot.

@Pioneer1 NO, I DON'T LOVE THIS COUNTRY. AND DON'T THINK I EVER HAVE. IT'S THE LAND OF BIGOTRY AND BULLSHIT. ANYMORE QUESTIONS?

@Pioneer1 I'm not holding my breath. We'll be fine. Too bad in the year 2017 it's necessary for you to send such a message. At my age, i'll leave the optimism to Mel who keeps hope alive. Thanks for your words of "encouragement". @Delano Alvin Ailey is worth mentioning. He has given hundreds of black women a stage for their dancing talents which include classical ballet a field where they had not previously been show cased. I'm not familiar with the other name you offered.

Whether i am or am not a citizen is of little importance to me. i am a resident of amerika and an observer of what it has become and how its present state has come about. I am a truth seeker and the truth is what i pay homage to. And the truth of this is that my truth may not be someone else's truth. But that's life.

@Pioneer1Don't twist my words to elevate yourself. What you said about LeBron James was not "reasonable and balanced", it was slanted and patronizing because the good that you see in America is aligned with an Oreo mindset wherein black people must be grateful to the country who subjected them to 4 centuries of enslavement from which they have never recovered, - and who must imitate white people so they can be accepted by them. That's your prerogative but, as i have said, i have no love for this country and what it really stands for.