Cynique

Oooh, break out the violins to accompany this maudlin yearning for the times when isolated examples of independent black enclaves bustling with commerce existed. These were hardly the idyllic good ol days as the dire fate of Rosewood testifies to. In this century, African Americans have been relegated to the consumer ranks because they obviously don't have the wherewithal to be manufacturers. It's further significant that most of the goods in this country are imported from China so the chances of small black businesses or even a black conglomerate becoming viable are slim. Other reasons black businesses can't get off the ground is obviously because they can't compete with the prices offered by the big box stores like WalMart and supermarket chains. And black stores that cannot offer the merchandize that status seeking black people who are preoccupied and impressed with labels prefer, will not be patronized. So let's hear it for the owners of soul food restaurants, barbershops and hair salons and hustlers offering rip offs of name brands. It's not like black people are not taking advantage of available opportunities. It's that America is a capitalistic country dominated by monopolys and corporations. As for black women, or ones of any other ethnic group including second generation Asians, pardon them if working 12-hour days slaving over a hot oven in a family owned restaurant is not their goal in life. Ambitious sisters eschew slave labor and work jobs that allow them to earn money and have the time to further the schooling that will enable them to move up in life. When it comes to middleclass black men who own homes in the suburbs, most of them are active in maintaining the neigborhoods in which they have a vested interest, and they are not a thing of the past. White people would be chastised and called racist for judging all black people by what innercity ones do. LMAO What whould I have to post about if I didn't have good ol harry brown and "what's-his-name" to bounce off of.

Yes,Troy, I tend to believe that their core personalities determine whether or not a person sticks to their convictions. I don't necessaryily agree that a person who is prudent and careful and oblivious is someone who outlives a feisty individual who did it their way. Luck and good genes also play a major role in longevity. Being true to oneself can also be a stress reliever. The wisdom that hopefully comes with age is the great equalizer because it involves a realization of what's really important in life. I agree that for the common good, lawless people do have to be judged to preserve and protect society. In our individual interactions we can question people's motives and disapprove of their actions but a person is entitled to their beliefs even if they are fanatical or detrimental and contrary to our own. We cannot impose our beliefs on others. We can just resist and protest when they aggressively act on their beliefs. We can't demand that people act in a way that we deem "right". We can just reject them when they act in a way we deem "wrong". America thinks democracy is right and should be a form of government that all countries in embrace. Who is to say that those who disagree with this are wrong?

Very interesting exchange. Old people are set in their ways. I am old. Therefore, I am set in my ways. Being set in my ways makes me opinionated. That's logic. My reason for being opinionated, in my opinion, is because of my beliefs. I come to this conclusion because most of these opinions are stored in my head and it's like they just manifest themselves through my expressing them, leading or - misleading me to think that what is stored in my mind is innate knowledge - or a knowing. This could be the avenue of self delusion. But many time my opinions rather being grounded in fact, are intuitive and are later proven to be true and I don't think this is an experience that is unique to me. Then there is the pit fall of specious arguments. These are superficial contentions that make sense, but don't hold up. All of this is mind boggling because it boils down to - who knows anything for sure. One person's truth is another one's falsehood. What we call chaos might be order in another environment. A fact is only an explanation of what we are aware of, not of what we don't know. Studies and research may contain the truth, but not the whole truth. Life is an ongoing mystery and, as Troy says, each answer spawns a question.

Where is "God" when we need him? When evil thrives, what's the incentive to do right, or keep the faith? The Republican zealots justify everything they do by quoting the bible, which is supposed to be god's word, and they are rewarded for their duplicity. Putting America's dilemma in the context of religion provides just one more reason to be disillusioned with what's going on here because "Satan" 's team is ahead in the game. All the praying cheer leaders are the beneficiaries of random luck when their prayers are answered. Why else would some people's prayers be answered, and not others; why is one person's prayer answered at the expense of another person's not being answered? Most of this country founders were Deists. They believed that god created man, then left him to his own devices, not choosing to intervene in man's affairs. God needs to re-think his strategy cuz it didn't work. It requires too much sacrifice and will power to tread the straight and narrow. Offering a heavenly reward for being angelic just doesn't cut it. Obama, like all the "messiahs" who came before him, is being crucified for his audacity of hope, Being consumed by the hellfire of Capitalism will be his fate. Meanwhile, the yin and yang cycle continues. Negativity will eventually complete its rotation, and positivity will have its turn. Time is the divine force that brings change. Ho Hum. zzzzzzzzzz

In the realm of ZEN we would say that the answer is in the question LOL

My theory has no more validity than yours, Delano, We are both trying to express our feelings about the mystery of ourselves. But as I contend, some things can't be put into words... But the poem below by Langston Hughes kind of does make an attempt. It is wise to suffer illusions, Delusions, Even dreams - To believe that in this life What is real May also be what it seems. What is not true May be - For you...

Couldn't go wrong with those names, Troy. "Zora", as in Zora Neale Hurston? "Maya" as in Maya Angelou? Is what you ended up naming your daughter pronounced Zo or Zoee? We are brainwashed about names. We think that white female names like Hannah, Abigail, Emma and Maude or surnames used as first ones like Taylor and Tyler and Morgan are acceptable names, but we ridicule and reject musical names that roll of our tongues like LaQueezetta or TaShanese. I'm guilty of wincing at some of these names that black folks come up with, too, but what's really in a name? "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Too bad that names nowadays are like a brand. Celebs can get a way with giving their kids crazy-assed names but black folks are penalized for their made-up names. Who'd ever have thought a time would come when "Mary" would be an uncommon name? My first name is a Spanish one: Consuelo . And I actually detect a subtle bias in my favor from HIspanics who see my name in the course of interacting with me. The last time I was taking a road test to renew my drivers license, the Mexican tester actually passed me because he was influenced by my name - and because I had a tattoo. Neither of which was a good reason for allowing me to get out there and drive at my age.( I was named after an aunt and how she got a Spanish name, I'm not sure.) I prefer short one-syllable names for boys. And as I have mentioned on numerous occasions, I really like the name "Troy".

I question as to whether the mind and brain are separate. I think the brain, the mind, the soul are a triumvirate, all co-dependant variations of a single entity which defies words. We are who we are, what we are, and why we are.

The only time I don't think about what I am watching or participating in, Delano, is when something strikes me as funny, causing me to spontaneously break out in laughter. As far as I am concerned, laughter really is good medicine and becoming amused by someone or something that is supposed to be serious, really cracks me up! I do a lot of laughing at myself, but I think about what it is that's tickling me I do chant regularly but while I'm chanting, I am visualizing what it is I want to energize. The disadvantages of overthinking is that it can stifle your creativity because it keeps you from getting in the flow of something. I attribute one of the regrets of my life to being too involved with deconstructing rather than just becoming one with a musical instrument and letting it play me... Which is why I admire taented musicians so much; especially naturally gifted ones who don't read music. This is also why I love to sing, because it requires no effort on my part.

The charismatic leaders of cults who exercise total mind control over their followers, to me, have hacked into the brains of their devoted followers These mesmerizing people have developed techniques which enable them to penetrate the mentalities of vulnerable people, and then re-program their mind-sets. In the process, they spread the virus of their tenets.

Hey, LiLi. Where you been, girlfriend? Welcome back. Jump right into this whirlpool conversation. Delano, as for you making a distinction between thinking and observing, to me, your decision to do this involves thinking. And even as you're watching, your mind is processing what your eyes are seeing, either forming an opinion, or deciding that what you are looking at doesn't interest you. What is your definition of "thinking"? It has occurred to me that a lot of what I ponder has already been dissected and incorporated into philosophies like Existenalism. Also I always heard so much about Henry David Thoreau's classic work Walden Pond but I have never checked out this book which I think deals with many aspects of what we are discussing. So I'm going to look into it.

I'm almost finished reading "Miss Anne In Harlem", and had Jane Critchlow been around during the Harlem Renassiance, she would've fit right in with the white women who fell under this Miss Anne category. I will be posting a mini review of this book which offers as lot of insight into the ongoing role white women play in America's racial paradigm.

Obviously the brain is an electrical device because thoughts send out wave lengths. I would consider mind conrol and the power of suggestion as forms of brain hacking. This video, itself, is sending subliminal messages because it is basically an ad for what it is promoting. The brain is not just electronic, it's a computer. As I've gotten older, I have a hard time remembering names. But if I feed into my brain everything I know about the person whose name is escaping me, my brain processes the data and, invariably, right in the midst of my thinking about something else, the name I was trying to remember, pops into my head! The brain sits in the middle of our skull just waiting for us to discover its miraculous powers.

Which brings up an interesting question: Is observing thinking??

Cause and effect is infinite. We do have to stay in touch with ourselves, even to the point of clinging to our identity lest it be dissipated in multiverses. The specter of whether we actually exist is always looming in the background. We just have to keep reminding ourselves of what Descarte declares: "I think; therefore I am".

Most of the programs on the Science channel are reruns dating as far back as 2010. To elucidate further, the episode in question explained its theory and then focused on one participant in particular. I don't know when or if it will be rerun anytime soon. They usually run episodes 2 or even 3 times in one day and then go on with another rotation of past seasons. I think I watched this one on Wednesday. And, actually, this isn't the first time I've heard of experiments like this. Practictioners of the paranormal have long conducted these kind of sessions. But scientists previously dismisssed them as hokum. The whole idea is that being alone with oneself in the dark over a period of time can shift you into another dimension and enable your mind to produce visions and sensations; this is where the question of reality kicks in. Who is to say whether what people experience in a certain setting isn't real??? Scientists have also postulated the idea of a "god gene" which influences how human's brains are wired and that there is an innate primitive instinct for man to believe in a higher good and that this serves as a survival mechanism to buffer the tribulations of our stark existence This mind-set is stronger in some than others. Nirvana is a state of perfect bliss, achieved by totally clearing the mind, transcending the body, and becoming one with the universe. Chanting helps clear the mind which is one reason Buddhists do it. So with a great deal of discipline, some people apparently can make their minds a blank. I have tried doing it in experimenting with self-hypnosis as a tool for exploring reincarnation. Alone in the dark in a relaxed state, I was able to start at 10 and slowly count backwards and then sustain a period of concentrating on an open door to pass through in search of past lives. My mind wasn't blank but it was solely occupied with what I intended to fill it with. BTW, all that materialized was a vision of walking on a dirt road through a field of wild flowers... I still consider reincarnation a strong possibility. I definitely feel I've been here before and that a lot of my cynicism is leftover from experiences in another life. I live around the clock and tend to be a night owl, and this I do know: Darkness is a world unto its own. And as far back as I can remember I've always felt that I have an invisible companion who is my BFF. The mystery continues...

I never get enough of watching the Science Channel. I am really on its wave length. Their shows about the universe and everything that pertains to its origins and its forces and its mysteries just rivet me. The programs also venture into philosophical areas that pit science against religion. One such recent presentation really resonated with me because I have always harbored a personal belief that what religion has personified as a bi-polar old man in the sky keeping a eye on everyone, is really an entity with origins in the mind, and that the god power resides within us not, not heaven. Well, there are schools of thought which do, indeed, play around with this idea, and they postulate that there's an area in our brain which if electronically stimulated will trigger an awareness of an omnipresence that comforts, guides and empowers us, and that the main function of this presence is first to quell our anxiety about the inevitability of death and second, to help us cope with the obstacles that life is fraught with. The researchers who espouse this theory obtained these results by testing volunteers who considered themselves agnostics. These people were isolated and seated in a completely dark room and wired up with a helmet designed to probe a certain area of their brains. They were then instructed to just relax and sit there in the dark until their minds cleared. Their brain waves were being monitored and once they went flat, a certain area of their brain was stimulated via the helmet they were wearing. When later interviewed about what they experienced during these sessions, the subjects of this experiment typically reported that after they dissolved into the darkness and cleared their minds, they sensed a gradual emergence of this comforting non-judgmental presence which they felt was "there for them". It was also concluded that out of a need to believe, people can subconcsciously evoke this reaction independently of electrical stimulation and when they do so, they tend to put it in the context of an existing religion I have an open mind as to whether this is fact or belief but I find it an intriguing subject; just as provocative as the idea that life is just a series of random events.

SATAN DISTANCES SELF FROM HOUSE REPUBLICANS HELL (The Borowitz Report) - In a rare press conference today, Satan, the Prince of Darkness, aimed to put distance between himself and his longtime colleagues, the Republicans in the House of Representatives. "I know that a lot of people think I'm somehow responsible for what happened today," the visibly agitated devil told reporters. "But this thing isn't evil, it's just moronic."

Me, I'm such a procrastinator. I keep saying I'm going to send a contribution in the envelope they provide, but I've never gotten around to financially supporting the Disabled Veterans of America for the name and address labels they send me sheets of on a regular basis. I actually use these handy little items, some of which are very pretty. I'm going to do better in the future. To demonstrate my contempt for what this country has become, I'm also going to take the DAV's patriotic stickers with the American flag on them and throw them into the trash!

Before I moved in with my daughter in the adjoining town, the house where I previously lived was right in the path of the daily afternoon exodus of kids from the nearby high school, which was about 75 percent Black and 25 Hispanic. Whenever I sat on my porch and watched this homeward bound, rag-tag parade of scruffy, loud, unruly students, my impression was that these kids came in all shapes and sizes. Just as many were tall and skinny as average. Only a few were actually obese. The basketball team which is the main source of pride for this school is, of course, made up of lean, lanky giants. A true conspiracy was exposed when the tobacco companies were outed for increasing the nicotine content in cigarettes in order to addict smokers, a large number of which are concentrated in the black urban areas. There were also claims of there being an overload of billboards glamorizing alcohol consumption in the inner cities. Maybe there is, indeed, a plan afoot to gradually put these poor denizens of the ghetto out of their misery by making hazards to their health habitual. But weight-conscious young white kids, girls in particular, also pay for their obsession with being thin. They either become the victims of eating disorders or the objects of ridicule and bullying for not fitting the desired image. White teen-agers are also more into recreational drugs than their black peer group. America is so screwed up on so many levels. Rome wasn't built in a day, or did it fall in a day. The decline was gradual, appearing right before the eyes of its citizens who had become so inured in the decadence that they didn't realize the empire was on a collision course with ruination. In the political arena, the crazed Republicans, aided and abetted by the dazed Democrats, are leading the nation down the path to doom. The "United" States will become a misnomer, and America, rutted by the schism of race, will implode. I'm weary. I don't really care if these predictions come true or not...

You have reason to be a proud father, - unlike Will Smith.

As usual your attempt at humor falls flat since you took it upon yourself to post a link to an actual picture of me before trying to switch up.

Puleeze. Trying to save face, this from a wimp, who flew into a apoplectic tirade, spewing insults and begging for an apology because he couldn't take what he was dishing out. A paper tiger so steeped in his inflated sense of self esteem, that he thinks he's untouchable. Actually he is untouchable in a way. But not because he's sacrosant; rather because he's a mental leper. He laments that "organizations should not be ran by women." Blatant incorrect grammar, ignoramus. Should be: "run" by women. Google "Matriarchies in Africa", Pionerd and you'll get page after page of data confirming that this family dynamic does and did exist all over Africa, along with female warriors and powerful queens. These references encompass a broad spectrum of studies and conclusions. Whether this family dynamic did or did not originate in Africa, - the cradle of civilization where everything originated, doesn't detract from your bogus attempt to portrary Africa as an exclusively patriarchial system that should be emulated by African Americans. As usual you're grasping at straws. Your anecdotal arguments disparaging female leadership qualities are so irrelevant it's not even worth pointing out their inconsistent discrepancies. As a pouting, myopic, insecure, chauvinistic male, you express nothing of substance to make a case against women being able to lead. All you do is confirm that you, yourself, with all of your resentments and biases are not somebody capable of being an effective leader. Nice of you to include a picture of your girlfriend. Is she the head ape in your polygamous harem of submissive females?

Where is the documented evidence that you and Troy would be attacked if you asked young brothers to pose for pictures with you? It's an assumption you make. Confronting a fear doesn't have to have anything to do with it being as viable threat. It can be about an irrational misconception.

There's a whole community out there of young mothers who think vaccines administered to babies are what's causing the high incidence of autism, and they are opting out of having their kids immunized. But this is a double-edged sword because these vaccines keep children from getting dangerous diseases like measles, typhoid fever, whooping cough and diptheria, not to mention polio and small pox. So it's a no-win situation because there are also reports that these sicknesses are making a comeback. Another argument being made is that autism has always been around but wasn't diagnosed, because in the past, children suffering with it and other behavior problems like hyperactivity, bipolar disorder, and ADD were all relegated to the "retarded" or "mentally unbalanced" category. The high incidence of asthma among urban blacks has been attributed to the environment. One patient recently being interviewed on TV said she suffered with the alllergy because it was too dangerous to go outside to escape the dust and mold of her stuffy apartment. Another thing going under reported is the heroin epidemic among white teenagers, Troy. One of the expressways leading into Chicago from the burbs has been nicknamed the "heroin highway" because it's the route taken by all these kids driving into the city to purchase this cheap but potent drug. Bill Mahr had as his guest last week end, Dr. Carl Hart, this black professor who just wrote this book debunking the myths about drug use. He claims not all people who use drugs become addicted, that they can stop taking them any time, but continue to be users because they are bored with their dead-end lives. ???? He claims, contrary to popular belief, crack does not addict you after one hit. He reached these conclusions after extensive research.....