Cynique

Hi Everybody, Yes, naughty girl that I am, - I've been sent to the corner. Can you believe that?? Seriously, I would just like to take this opportunity to thank Troy Johnson for bestowing on me the honor of re-naming this forum after me. I am very grateful and humbled. I guess persistency pays off, huh? I've been hangin’ around this site for years, ranting and debating and pontificating and, hopefully, informing. I’ve made friends and enemies and have also learned a lot from a broad specturm of regulars who have come and gone and who still offer occasional input. It’s been enlightening and stimulating and a pass time that has kept me young and viable, so I really appreciate this gracious gesture on Troy's part. I would also like to give Troy a pat on the back for the esteemed role he has played over the years, not only in promoting black books, but in facilitating the discussion and exchange of ideas by providing a black-oriented sounding board here on the internet. Kudos to this dynamic trailblazer who I am proud to call a friend! Now, I would like extend an invitation for other members to step up and express your opinions about whatever is on your mind. Keep this site going. Don't be intimidated or hesistant. No, this forum is not for the faint of heart - but then - why harbor a faint heart?? Here's your chance to be vibrant and assertive. Speak out and be heard! CYNIQUE

An interesting comparison. Going further you could say that while some African Americans are confined to an invisible zoo when it comes to their heritage, others are learning the laws of the jungle, running wild in the the inner cities. Also, zoo animals are nurtured and groomed and cared about, unlike America's black residents. Mentally speaking, it is important for Blacks to know about their origins, but preoccupation with the past is not going to be that beneficial for these uprooted natives because, in order to survive, they have to adjust to the environment of a different country that requires learning to stay afloat in the mainstream. History is one thing; economics is another. The assimilated descendants of slaves have to be able to cope with the present in order to thrive. We have to become a new breed that endeavors to provide for the future not linger in the past. IMO.

Thanks! I was so busy re-hashing the book, I forgot to mention that I intend to check the movie out, and I don't think me - or anyone else is obligated to provide an explanation or justification for going to see "The Help". I anticipate that it will be a rather entertaining picture.

The movie, "The Help", is opening this week-end, and it being an example of a white woman telling a black one's story, makes it the object of controversy. I have mixed emotions about this best-selling book, whose screen version has been much anticipated. I read it when it first came out and posted a mini review of it here. Then, as now, a lot of its story line didn't ring true to me because the author often sacrificed credibility for the sake of providing comic relief. And at the book's end, several issued remained unresolved. Other critics, many of whom are black female writers, say the approach to the book was patronizing, and that the treatment of the characters was emblematic, - with each one representing a stereotype. The fact that the debut novel of this young white female so easily gained acclaim while black female authors struggle for recognition was obviously one reason why the popularity of this book didn't sit well with the black literary community, especially because of the subject matter. Resentment over whether or not a white woman can tell a black woman's story, however, begs the question. We have to ask can a male author effectively portray a female character, and vice versa. Or can an adult write about a child or a young person write about an old person. Presumably a skillful writer should be able to convey human emotions that transcend race, sex and age. Or, - maybe not. In its defense, "The Help" didn't try to get inside the heads of the black characters, but was told from the point of view of an observer, who was a sensitive young white woman. She empathized with the black maids but she left it up to the reader to conclude why these beleagured servants endured what they did before liberating themselves. Still, I can understand the indignation of black female authors. I just wonder why they didn't think up this idea for a book first and beat a white author to writing it? Why didn't I, myself, do so? Living in the North, I was little aware of the degradation that was going on in the deep south in the 1960s. Yes, I knew many black women who worked as maids including my mother at one time. But if their working conditions compromised their dignity, these women had no qualms about telling off their employers before walking off the job. Whatever. To me, the most remarkable thing about this book was how these servile conditions in the South existed in the 1960s, almost a hundred years after the slaves were freed, and almost 10 years after the civil rights movement exposed racial indignities. But, as evidenced by the current political situation, we can deem that racism is a stubborn concept that refuses to go away. We have at the helm of our nation, a black president who is being held in bondage by plantation masters who refuse to relinquish their power and who have the wealth to enforce their will... And so it goes.

President Obama just recently returned to Chicago to attend the 50th birthday party that doubled as a fund raiser. 3 million dollars was the take and it will go toward a re-election campaign with the goal of giving him another 4 years to extricate himself from the failure that came with the territory he inherited. In other words he's becoming preoccupied with winning another 4 years to chase his tail. The claim is constantly being made that racism is what is thwarting Obama's effectiveness as President. I most certainly agree. Which is why he shouldn't run for a second term. It'll just be more of the same. If he truly cares about change, he should take on a different role and try new approaches. Forget all of the empty rhetoric and cliches about the abstract concept of "hope". Spread radical messages like telling poor people there's a correlation between being on welfare and them having more children than they can afford. Tell parents they are the best teachers in the world so by educating themselves they can take up the slack of bad schools. Emphasize how materialism can be as detrimental as racism. Remind black men and women that respect is at the core of a good relationship. (Think up new cliches to replace the old ones.) Unfortunately, Obama appears to be seduced by the semblance of power he thinks he possesses and is reluctant to confirm the obvious; that the noble experiment of a black president has failed because Corporate America, within the context of capitalism, will never cater to anything but the selfish interests of the rich white men who are in cahoots with the Republican party and its tea party faction.

Domestic violence crosses all color lines and there's not a whole lot that can be done about these crimes of passion or revenge. The individuals involved are usually dysfunctional and need counseling. Black-on-black crime is greatly enabled by the surplus supply of fatherless black boys who are destined to either be the victims or perpetrators of gang violence. Single young black women need to practice birth control and stop regarding "babymama" status as an asset instead of a liability. All the unmarried celeb moms and their mindless preoccupations with materialistic superficiality, along with their affinity for crazy-assed baby names are among the most terrible role models on the scene. Unfortunately like every other problem contributing to America's downfall, including the political fiascos in Washingon, the effect overwhelmes the cause, making matters worse. Change will come at its own pace and will result from the natural evolution of trial and error. Survival dictates its own solutions. The Oracle has spoken and will now give permission for everyone to turn a deaf ear.

Amiri Baraka met his match in Kola Boof. This 78-year-old fool ought to know better than to call a woman a "bitch" 7 times and think the "bitch" ain't gonna retaliate.

With everything that’s going on today, it’s hard not to wonder about the future of Planet Earth, in general, and the USA, in particular. Throughout the world, governments are toppling and those populations that are not protesting are the ones that are starving to death. Whether tropical or urban, jungles are crawling with violence and crime. The debacle occurring in Washington between 2 teams of grown men masquerading as responsible law makers is a disgrace. With all of them grandstanding, hoping their votes will ensure their re-elections, a mockery is being made of government while politics continues to be an unfunny joke. Making matters worse in America is the teetering economy and the ravaging weather that are having their own competition to see which one can be the most chaotic. Never has there been such an eruption of Mother Nature’s wrath. Heat waves and torrential rains, tornadoes and dust storms, droughts and flooding are all in a disastrous rotation. Employment is slumping, schools are suffering, housing is unstable. All of the pillars of our society like Social Security, the Postal Service, NASA, newspapapers and book stores are destined for oblivion. The infra-structures of our cities are crumbling, the carriers of our airlines obsolete and worn out, not to mention the inefficiency of the controllers who guide them. Then there’s the technical thrall people have fallen under, leaving them to finger their way through the gadgets and games that are the auxillaries to what they see and hear and say, turning them into electronic junkies. Turmoil rules, and what does it all mean??? Is there some kind of mystical connection between the paradigm of this July being the first one in 62 years where there have been 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, and 5 Sundays? What, if any, is the significance of how, without any exception, this year, on your birthday if you add the last 2 digits of your year of birth to your age, the answer for everybody will be 111. Is there any credibility to the religious fretting provoked by the assault on traditional marriage brought on by same sex union? Will 2012 really be the onset of Doomsday? Only time will tell whether all of these dire omens are a prelude to "armageddon". Even so, it’s not like there’s anything that can be done to stave off the inevitable. Except, maybe, to live in the moment and find some way to bring a modicum of joy to your own private world. Oh, well. Let’s hear it for booze and drugs and sex! And John Coltrane... http://youtu.be/xw4Hy6MtBLE

So what else is new?

Good for you! I'll probably get around to reading this book because I love satire. Also sounds like it might make a good movie.

The little guy in the video is Frank "Sugar Chile" Robinson who was a piano prodigy back in the 1940s. Wikipedia contains what appears to be an accurate bio of him and his career, and where he is today. During that decade, he was quite popular and that's why I remembered him. I am just a few years older than he and back then I was quite impressed by his talent and the fame that it brought him.

Not since O.J. Simpson was aquitted has there been an uproar like this one following the "not guilty" verdict rendered in the Casey Anthony trial. And none are more outraged than the lynch mob of TV legal experts who have been trying this case in the media. Also calling for the head of Casey are the nation’s community of loving mothers who can’t imagine how any woman could harm her own toddler. Emotions have compounded the indignation because the public just can’t deal with how this case assaults the idea that parenthood is a privilege not a burden. To add insult to injury, party girl Casey Anthony was not only a bad mother, but she has been deemed a psychopath and a lying slut who doesn’t even know who her baby daddy is. Of all these offenses she is guilty. But, nobody’s perfect. In spite of the histrionics of cable tv’s favorite sob sister, Nancy Grace, without sufficient evidence to establish the victim’s cause of death, a jury chose not send this dysfunctional young woman to the death chamber. Good call. The prosecution unsuccessfuly tried to prove a negative. Casey beat the rap but chances are, she will be sentenced to life as an ostracized outcast. So karma will be served. Now all of these snarling mommies need to get over it and just go back to raising the brats who get on the nerves of everybody but their parents. It warms the cold heart of a cynic that in the wake of all this is that the best-selling book in the country is “Go the F**k to Sleep" by Adam Mansbach, a slim little volume airing the gripes of a weary Daddy, the audio version of which is read by Samuel L. Jackson.

The Internet has really become a catch-all for the whims and schemes of PC users. Every week there is a new viral video out there, attracting millions of hits. Almost as frequently, a new hoax apppears which a visit to the Snopes site will debunk. E-Mail scams are every day occurrences, concocted to steal your money or your identity. The cyber world is a parallel existence that doesn't necessarily coincide with reality or truth. There is a video currently making the rounds that claims to be Little Richard as a child. As soon as I saw this performance I knew it was a crock of misinformation because I recognized the piano prodigy as someone I remembered from back in the day, and after doing some research, I was able to confirm my doubts. The links I have provided below might be of interest to anyone fascinated with how "ignorance" can take on a life of its own. http://www.wimp.com/oldschool/ Now, enter this phrase into your search engine: The Video that is not Little Richard as a Child Performer, or, ...

This paradoxical science takes people out of their comfort zone. The bible and all of its variations are security blankets providing believers with simplistic lessons they can relate to. To paraphrase Karl Marx, religion, as we know it, is "the opiate of the masses". I'm inclinded to believe that the Christ figure was a mystic who practiced meta-physics. A recent, very extensive and sophisticated study programmed computers to be able to categorize writing style and word usage and come up with who wrote what biblical passages during which time, and the conclusion reached was that much of the bible is cobbled together lacking chronology and that believing it was divinely inspired calls for blind faith. Many get the most out of the bible when they read between its lines... Why does the bible endure? Because it has no competition. When free-thinking is the alternative, it's easier to just attribute everything to a Being in the sky.

Well, it depends on whether or not the media encourages sexual indiscretions or exposes them. You and many others contend that such behavior is nothing new and has always been going on, and that it's just the wide spread "outing" of it that's new. Do womanizers and sexual predators need inspiration to be what they are, or would they engage in their illicit activites whether they see such conduct being sensationalized or not? "Boys will be boys", y'all claim. If the media stopped glorifying the "baby daddy lifestyle", would this put an end to it?? Placing all the blame on the media relieves parents of the responsibilities they shun after having given birth to a generation of amoral kids who surrender to the peer pressure that produces a collective mind-set where there is no concept of shame. We are in deep shit for many reasons.

Actually, I did get that far in the book, and reading about these alleged homosexual encounters didn't really shock me because I attributed it to the "hustler" lifestyle Malcolm was leading at the time and such behavior came with the territory. The man in question was not a stranger to Malcolm but was an older acquaintance he was trying to manipulate and enlist as a patron to be there to bail him out of all the trouble he was always getting into. What was of more interest to me was Malcolm's complaints about the sexual demands of his wife who found him to be an unsatisfactory sex partner. But, again, this was something I had read about before.

Well, I've plowed through about as much as I can on the massive Malcolm X. bio and I'm not encouraged to go further. So far, I've learned nothing new about him, having read Alex Haley's book on him and seen Spike Lee's movie, and checked out excerpts from the other works about him and, above all, having been around during Malcolm's hey day, I was able to remember how he rose from obscurity to national fame. I don't know how many times I saw him on TV talk shows back in the 60's, doing his mesmerizing schtik, winking his eye at other Blacks as he ridiculed and destroyed his white and black detractors. How can I forget what I was doing when television programming was interrupted to report his assassination?? Not surprising that he has become a legend, thanks to the spin put on the personal history that follows his rise from petty criminal to Muslim minister. In any case, Malcolm X was, indeed, a monumental figure and deserves the accolades if for no other reason than they compensate for the way he was eventually betrayed by so many that he trusted. Unfortunately, his wife, Betty, emerges as less than stellar in his life story. IMO. Manning Marrable, to be sure, deserves recognition for having compiled this latest saga on a black man who had such a great historical impact. But, for students of history and well-informed people, the book represents nothing more than a re-hashing elaboration of Malcolm's life, stripped of much of the romanticism that Alex Haley imbued his collaboration with, and which subsequent truth seekers have already debunked.

Listening to Obama's press conference this afternoon, it was good to hear him give the Republican-controlled congress hell. You don't have to be a flaming Liberal to be fed up with those idiotic assholes. Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin are having a contest to see who can be the most ignorant when it comes to American history!

You're deluding yourself if you think that once Blacks help Obama get re-elected they can make demands on him. Being a second-term president relieves him of the obligation to honor the expectations of his suppporters since he can't run again anyway. It's a lost cause but be my guest in your quest to dare to dream.

I spent a leisurely week-end checking out a marathon of "Through The The Worm Hole" episodes, a series that has been running on the Science cable channel and that is narrated by Morgan Freeman. After trying to wrap my brain around all of the scienfic theories that attempt to explain the origin of the universe and the creation of life and the nature of reality, and the existence of time, I came to the conclusion that the answers to these mind-boggling questions lie in the mind of a supreme, omniscient, omnipotent intelligence and the explanations are beyond the comprehension of human beings. Christianity and Judaism and Islam attempt to personify this force and to condense physics into a religion of fables and parables and prophets, making a distinction between good and evil. But it's not about good and evil it's about about dark energy and light energy, - action and reaction and randomness. This is why I, personally, relate more to the Eastern disciplines which encourage mind expansion in order to merge with the universal wisdom. Life is, indeed, a mystery, but it does seem to be eternal; in one form or another. IMO

I think it's rather ridiculous that you exhort us to revitalize our enthusiasm for a "disappointing" candidate who throwing our support to will amount to nothing more than voting for the lesser of 2 evils. What if an independent candidate appears on the scene who doesn't espouse the platform of the Republican/Tea Party candidate but who vows to pursue the agenda that Obama has abandoned?? Nowadays, does one black person really have the right to tell another one to work like a dog and pound the pavements for a candidate just because he is a half black man masquerading as a liberal??

I'm getting ready to take on the epic biography of Malcolm X, the recent release of which coincided with the death of its author, Manning Marable. I am anxious to discover what new truths are revealed about this icon, and I will probably do my version of a review of the book.

Yeah, "boys" is the operative word here. Because an adult male would be mature enough to foresee the consequences of reckless behavior and realize that, in the end, caving in to infantile temptations is never worth the risk. It's easy to make the media the scape goat, but sensationalism doesn't absolve rascals. Just like wayward males have always catered to their primitive urges, the media caters to the wanton curiosity of the masses who are hungry for scandal. The more sophisticated the media, the more accessible is the ongoing luridness that it exposes. We are a decadent society, the perpetrators of our own doom. Religion has failed because hypocrisy permeates it. Money and materialism rule supreme, even as sex intoxicates. We are on a collision course with the fate of ancient Rome. We'll screw ourselves into oblivion if the rampaging weather doesn't get us first.

With the latest headline-making scandal involving men in high places who succumb to the primitive gratification of forbidden fruit, I can't help but to again ask myself what possesses men to risk everything, - their careers, their family, their marriages, their reputations, just to indulge their sexual urges and fantasies? And are these high-profile men the exceptions, not the rule? I wonder. Gettin caught doing wrong seems to be the chief deterrent, as opposed to doing the right thing. Apparently, the penis is not satisfied with a good "hand". It prefers to trump the brain and gamble on winning. Women are still the big losers, whether they are the ones being betrayed or the the ones being used. No wonder marriage is in trouble.

Don't discount the possiblity of Cain making an ideal vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket. He could attract disgruntled black voters and would pose no real threat because the vice president wields very little power. Politics makes strange bedfellows, you know.