Cynique

Are people really looking for book reviews? Everybody thinks the book they have written is a great read. What all authors are really looking for is a favorable critique. Those desiring reviews should be warned about being careful what they wish for because they might get it, - in the form of a one star rating.

The networks are also responsible for exposing Donald Trump as the fascistic rabble rouser he is portraying himself to be, something which has fueled the tremendous opposition to him, and drawn attention to the candidates who oppose all that he stands for. Bernie and the rest depend on the media just as much as the "villains" do. For politicians to criticize the media is to bite the hand that feeds them. From the way everyone scapegoats the media, it's reasonable to assume that people take it with a grain of salt. Everybody in this country isn't dumb and gullible. But you can't reject the hype unless it's aired. I don't think reality TV or celebrity worship will have a lot to do with electing the next president. His followers flock to Trump because, as we all know, he says what they want to hear, not because he was the host of The Apprentice. Journalism is the zeitgeist of a society.

The 2015 delineation is very fascinating and eerily insightful. IMHO, what's happening in the USA is inevitable. Nothing stays the same and time brings change. America no longer has a "national character" or a collective consciousness. It's almost like each state is a country unto itself We have become a population of strangers because the great melting pot rather than becoming a delicious soup has become an unappetizing mush. Democracy is not working, and Capitalism makes greed good It's all coming to a head and the future of this nation will be tested. It will either come to its senses or will enter the second phase of the disintegration process. Leaders will be challenged because the Pandora's Box they have all helped to open has unleashed a horde of discontented citizens and it may take a catastrophic event to bring everyone together again.

Well, the time is drawing near and I will soon have to decide who to cast my vote for in the upcoming Illinois primaries. My choices are represented by Clinton and Sanders. Everybody else is out of the question, particularly Donald Trump, that ego-maniacal, fascistic xenophobic, ignorant mouthpiece of the worst America has to offer. (Funny how when checking out the Wendy Williams show the other day, watching her toddle around in stiletto heels, almost pitching forward from the weight of her enormous implants, her glassy eyes peeking out from the drapery of her latest wig, lasciviously sharing gossip with her enraptured audience of giddy women and gay men all of whom hang onto her every word, nodding in agreement like bobble head dolls as she slams or schmoozes celebrities, delighting an audience thrilled to have found a fellow air head they can relate to, I thought how Donald Trump is like a political Wendy Williams. ) Whatever. One thing I am beginning to notice, is that there’s a thin line between the supporters of Bernie and "The Donald". Both are not only fanatical about their candidate, but passionate in their hatred for their opponents. "Feeling the Bern" is comparable to a religious experience. Bernie has become the messiah of the liberal anti-establishment crowd, a wild haired Jewish guy they believe will chase the money changers from the temple, and answer the prayers of anyone who worships him. Once in charge, when not walking on the waters of the Potomac River, he will exorcise the demons of Wall Street and feed the poor with a few fish and a couple of loaves of bread. And also forgive your student loans. If you’re a hapless Millennial who is still living in your parent’s basement or a black fast food worker, trying to get by on your minimum wage, he’s your Savior. If you’re a middle class taxpayer with a long memory, Bernie will reward your festering hate by banishing that spawn of Satan, Hillary Clinton! Hillary Clinton is viewed by her pragmatic supporters as the experienced and knowledgeable Darling of the Doable. She’ll sweep into the white house, tidy things up and give the nation a make-over. She has a to-do list wherein she has planned her work and is eager to work her plan. But none of this impresses the detractors that think she is a lying, scheming, vacillating bitch who was her husband’s partner in many crimes. Bernie accuses her of representing the rich special interests and of being on the wrong side in such things as the Iraq war and Obama-backed Trade agreements. The old guard of black Democrats are more forgiving, however, preferring to focus on the positive things she has done to combat racism and help women and children. To them, Bernie is a re-tread from the ‘60s getting by on his past reputation as they criticize him for patronizingly looking upon all blacks as being poor and helpless. In any case Hillary is the a woman whose ambition has always been to become the first woman president. She has accomplished all her other goals, and is rich enough to remove herself from the pockets of corporate America. We are now asked to believe that, if she wins, instead of using this opportunity to atone for her sins and nobly do what’s best for the entire nation, she will just ignore the rank and file who put her in office, and cater to the rich, thereby tainting any legacy that would earn her a hallowed place in history. But, - who knows. I do have a third choice when it comes to the Primaries and that is to just take a pass on them. Sad to say, I’m at the point where I no longer give a damn. I’m pretty much done with this country on all levels, in all areas, wondering if I’ll even be around to participate in the election or to witness America in the throes of a chaotic implosion that the outcome of the upcoming election might precipitate. Hummmm. Come to think of it, that might be something worth waiting for...

Ho Hum

You're so stupid you can't even follow your own instructions. ROTFLOL

Nice of you and your girlfriend to pose for those pictures posted by Pioneer, Sara. Looks like you been feeding yourself, as opposed to feeding trolls. Your ego isn't the only thing that's inflated. And I can just imagine what your sweetiepie eats. You're probably her favorite dish. LMAO

LMAO On the sauce again, Sara? You are still fixated on me being anti-semitic but can never give an example of it or mount a coherent response; just a bunch of old recycled ideas that reinforce the fact that you are neither an original or critical thinker. Yawwwwwwwwnnnnnnnn. Sorry ,Troy. I shall now return to contemplating the mysteries of life, one of which is what Sara's fuck buddy could possibly find interesting about her. Guess hens of a feather, flock together and they're both obnoxious. OOOOOHHHHHHMMMM.

Since nobody seems to be on the same page in this comic book, my chapter lampoons characters like Sara who are nothing without attaching themselves to Africa. Anyone really interested in their heritage can trace their family trees for generations in this country. Sara and her ilk cling to Africa because it gives them a false sense of status, comparable to a German embracing the culture of Spain because both countries are in Europe. Totally irrelevant. Diversity is a dominant influence In the real world, (a foreign place to those who regularly use the term racism, but deny that race exists, ) People look, act, speak. differently. The human species is a mosaic. Black and white are terms that expand a description. Bad and good are also social constructs. It's more about the strong and the weak. The strong survive. Power rules. That's the scheme of things. Spring approaches and I have emerged from my intermittent hibernation and ascended a mountaintop where I will henceforth busy myself with contemplating the mysteries of life. OHMMMMMMM Language verbalizes, reality is silent. SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Why is her statement so shocking and hard to hear?? Her feelings are very common in girls her age. It's a subject that's regularly discussed on social media; it's a gateway to bullying.

I think what Pioneer had to say was honest. is that a problem??

The imperfection that make humans physically unappealing are comparable to the character imperfection that makes people embrace a beautiful appearance and reject an ugly one. But, nobody's perfect, so being judgmental about the preferences of others is an imperfection in itself. It's common knowledge that being gorgeous doesn't guarantee happiness. Just ask all the stressed out, misused and abused stars with eating disorders whose looks have propelled them to fame and fortune and - substance abuse. You never know. A non celebrity woman whose good looks scored her a devoted husband, a nice home, and perfect children, may be bored to tears because she yearns for an exciting life. On the other hand, if she has learned to like and be good company for herself, an unattractive woman who never acquired the popularity that would presumably provide her with an ideal existence, may turn out to be a liberated, contented person. What society deems to be assets ain't all it's cracked up to be. Life isn't fair. But winners play the hand they're dealt instead of wallowing in self-pity. Nina Simone has been the subject of discussion lately and, by certainly standards she would be considered an ugly woman. She was also an angry woman and I always wondered if her dissatisfaction with her looks had something to do with her fierceness. But because she channeled her anger into all the right places, she became a dynamic performer and a heroic social activist.

The Easter Bunny does exist; He is a stuffed animal, a costumed character, a chocolate marshmallow, a white rabbit.

How about the O. J. Simpson Case????? Playing the race card helped get him off because the brutal treatment of Rodney King by LA cops showed the world that, when it comes to race in this country, there is no equal justice under the law, and Simpson's acquittal was payback for this because it influenced the mindset of the black jurors. Yes, killng your wife is a terrible thing but a husband is innocent until proven guilty unless he is black and she is white. The issue of race is also a contributing factor in why black boys are suspended in integrated schools more often than white ones are. This is what white privilege is all about. Black conduct is viewed differently from white. On campuses, black protesters are mobs, unruly white crowds are just overzealous kids acting up. The underlying issue is irrelevant. Breaking the rules is a fact of life. Everybody does it. But the tendency is to punish black perpetrators more severely for this. When the argument is made that ghetto people bring on their own problems, you are the first to claim that they aren't totally to blame for their situations, Troy, contending that they are victims of The System.. Yes, poor white people may be victims of The System, too, but if they try to get their act together, they have a head start toward succeeding because they have white skin.

I'd have preferred Zoe not made her version at all. There's already a documentary about Nina that just recently came out, and in it we get to see the real thing.

At first, Anthropologist divided Homo Sapiens into 3 stocks: Negroid(African), Caucasoid(European) and Mongoloid(Asian), and races were subdivisions that fell under these headings in accordance with their similar and dissimilar traits. (Native Americans were listed under the Mongoloid stock, because it was believed that they migrated from Asia to North America across land masses that eventually broke apart and were separated by bodies of water.) This is what was taught when I attended college 65 years ago. This has been revised over the years, but it still makes sense to me. In Utopia, we may be one and all, but in the real world, how Society views you is a large factor. Nobody looks at a Korean beauty supply store owner and thinks that she's a French fashion designer or a black tennis player. People are categorized by the skin they're in and the skin makes a bigger difference than the scientific claim that their internal organs are identical.

If she was of mixed racial heritage, she was a mulatto. Just because the enumeratior was sloppy doesn't change her racial make-up.

Therein also lies is the problem with phenotypes; they do not clarify things, they only muddle them. Even the definition of this word is convoluted and ambiguous.. At this point it might also be pertinent to remind that for centuries, the "either/or" dilemma was resolved by simplying referring to bi-racial people as MULATTOS! This is a label that was routinely used on CENSUS forms.

Why would anybody offer Zoe the role in the first place when there are so many black actresses who would've been more appropriate for the part. I think she actively pursued the role and because her name was big enough to get backers for the project, it went forward. At one time Mary J, Blige was being touted for the role and people were rejecting her despite the fact that she is a singer and bore a slight resemblance to Nina. Walter White was a prominent figure during the Harlem Renaissance, and back then, anybody who was light enough to "pass" and didn't, was nicknamed a voluntary negro.

Walter White was often referred to as a "Voluntary Negro". He was chosen as the face of the NAACP for fund raising purposes. Rich white philanthropists felt more comfortable providing financial support for an organization with an official who looked like them. As light-skinned Blacks used to respond to anyone who questioned their authenticity back in the 60s and 70s: "blackness is a state of mind". Whatever. To me, there was a certain vibe I picked up from the fair-skinned people I encountered who chose to identify themselves as black. They seemed secretly pleased by how much their choice surprised and impressed darker blacks. There's a very substantial community in America today who identify themselves as bi-racial .This is the term they prefer to be classified as, and there is a blank to check this choice on many applications included the Census form. "Zebras", what some bi-racials jokingly call themselves, apparently want to acknowledge the ancestry of both parents. Then there are those who simply refer to themselves as people of color. In any case, in this country, if you look black you are treated black. If Tiger Woods wasn't a celebrity, he'd be just another brown skinned male who could very possibly be stopped for driving while black.

Nina must be turning over in her grave. This casting is a travesty. Xeon mentioned award winner Viola Davis, the star of "How to Get Away with Murder" as being the ideal choice for this role. I agree. Zoe is too tall and wiry. I don't know whether Viola can sing but she could've lip synched to Nina's actual recordings, and just vamped for random snippets of her songs. Nina's voice is not that hard to duplicate because playing the piano was her primary talent. She was a song stylist who told a story rather than a vocalist who sung lyrics.

The sad thing is, that by playing dumb, Trump is sending a message to white racists and Klan members that he has no big problem with the Klan. And this will just make his followers more loyal.

Up until President Truman ordered the armed forces integrated in 1950, the Navy was considered the most racist branch of the military and the consensus was that Negroes in the Navy could never expect to serve in any capacity other than menial positions such as Aides or Sewards or Cooks which was what Dorrie Miller was, the heroic black sailor made famous for grabbing a machine gun and joining his crew mates in shooting down Japanese planes during the raid on Pearl Harbor. During World War II, my brother joined the Navy and quite a few people, a lot of whom were his friends, couldn't understand why, considering how prejudiced it was. Everybody else just waited to be drafted into the Army. I was just a kid then and I don't remember the reason he gave, but I think my father advised him to do so, something about enlisted men having more options(?). I do know that he scored very high on the tests given and was eventually assigned to the USS Mason which was the first vessel manned by an all black crew. I also remember him recounting an incident when he was stationed in Norfolk, Virgina, and was coming back from leave waiting for a bus to take him back to the base. When the bus arrived and he tried to get on, the driver told him the bus was so crowded that there was no room in the back of it which was where Negroes were expected to sit in the south, so he couldn't board it. According to my brother, what the bus was crowded with was a bunch of drunk sailors who became indignant about a fellow sailor being told to get off, and they rushed forward, threw the driver out, and one of them drove the bus back to the base. Later in the 1980s, my son joined the Navy and served on the USS Eisenhower, an aircraft carrier which spent 90 days on alert in the Indian Ocean during the Persian Gulf hostage crises. He never reported any racial incidents among the crew of about 2000, but he was among the great numbers of sailors and navy vets disgusted with the decision to integrate the sexes in the arm forces, something which resulted in women being assigned to the Eisenhower. He couldn't believe they'd allow females to trespass on this hallowed ground of male exclusivity!

Semantics do figure into this debate. A word is just a word; an uttered sound and an arrangement of letters. To put things in perspective, this is a question that should be asked. Which came first? The definition of race or the external physical variations that exist among human tribes? Human diversity came first and the word "race" was used to verify this. In time it was decided that the term "race" should be discarded. But this didn't change the reality that groups could be distinguished from each by the way their members look. Saying that race doesn't exist proves nothing except that this word has lost its meaning. Scientists can't erase reality, they can just speak or write words, and who is to say that what they express, carries more weight than what the eyes see? There are extreme obvious differences in appearance among homo sapiens but, when applying their standards, scientists arbitrarily dismiss such differences as superficial. Other people "think outside the box". Laymen look at a diminutive, slant-eyed Japanese man, a husky, blond, blue-eyed Swede, and a tall, slender, dark-skinned, Afro-wearing NBA hoopster and the words that come to their mind are: fuck science. Seeing is believing. It is what it is.

I didn't say anything about obesity. White people got okra from us? I wouldn't know, since I hate it, which I guess tarnishes my African credentials. BTW there is a new field of medicine that is using ethnicity as a marker in determining whether to administer traditional or specialized treatment for diseases. And of course Sickle Cell Anemia discriminates by race. as well as Cystic Fibrosis and a fatal disease that only Eastern Jews are victims of. Xenophobia is fear of strangers. Your family members are not strangers. ergo, They didn't put you on alert(?) And have you informed the xenophobic followers of Cruz and Rubio andTrump that they are anachronisms? The reason humans look so different is um... why? I never got that straight. And does the answer carry over into the animal kingdom, making wildebeests and lions brothers, prone to fratricide? And does the information about Nigeria validate or void who the ancestors of America's slave descendants are? And what difference does it make? Jazz, our premiere form of music, also has European influences having to do with music theory. Sooooooo, what I can derive from your info is that humans are one big family, able to transcend xenophobia while simultaneously singing Kumbaya and rattling sabers. And how does the survival of the fittest phenomenon and blood types figure into all of this. I don't offer my comments as rebuttals to your explanations which I do wonder about because some don't make sense and science is always correcting itself, revising what was previously thought to be fact. That's why Pluto is no longer a planet and quantum physics have been redefined. Actually, none of this is a big deal to me because I faithfully watch the Science channel and I'm convinced we are all descended from Aliens.