Pioneer1

Troy I say "n*gga" quite frequently, almost on a daily basis...lol. Although I pronounce it with the "a" on the end instead of the "er". I admit it's a habit that I grew up with. But just like I believe in double standards for men and women, I believe in double standards for Blacks and Whites. Women can call eachother bitch all day long but a man dare not say it. As far as i'm concerned I can call my bruthaz a "nigga" all day long but I better not catch a White person doing it. I've actually had to tell a few on several occasions to not say it around me even in jest or in reference. I don't want them to get comfortable saying it around me. Black people have intuition when it comes to racism and we tend to know if somebody is using it casually and in an endearing way or if someone is trying to be slick and seeing if they can use it around you and get away with it. If you say it and then look at me to check my reaction, then obviously you know you said something you shouldn't have. My father told me that if they get used to telling racist jokes around you pretty soon they'll be calling you a n*gger and kicking you in the ass. I was a kid when he told me that and I'd laugh thinking he was joking or exaggerating. But like many things that my Pops told me that turned out to be as true as the grass was green....when I started working I'd see White dudes start off telling racist jokes and silly negroes would laugh at them and before long they're saying things like "what's up dawwg" with a sly grin on thier face, slapping them on the back and kicking them in the butt! As far as Fat Joe, I don't mind Black and Brown Latinos using the word. But White ones like Pit Bull and Ricky Martin wouldn't get a pass from me.

Troy No, not really. What good is speaking multiple languages if you aren't speaking them properly? She's 19 years old and just now getting out of the 11th grade. But it's not just her terrible command of the English language, but her overall demeanor. The average 14 year old wouldn't have acted the way she did in court.

As I go back and forth between threads and think about it, a good example of how feminine or masculine behavior can affect a woman's appearance would be our friend Rachel Jeantel of the Zimmerman trial: As much as I rode on her in the other thread about her ghetto behavior and silly statements....believe it or not I see her as a rather attractive young lady. She may not be what I consider beautiful like say a Jennifer Hudson or Kerry Washington.....but despite her looks and behavior she still acts FEMININE. Even with that "mean and fed up" look on her face, you can look at her and hear her and tell she's all girl....lol. Unlike the woman in the first post video who carries herself in a MASCULINE manner.

Cynique Actually it has. At some point in my mid 20s as I began to look around at the problems of society I stopped focusing on hanging out at clubs and trying to attract women and started focusing more on politics and social issues and in the process I became more "interesting" to many women. That, and the fact that I stopped eating junk food that I found didn't agree with my body type. Whether it's looks, intelligence, or even wealth....you may not be able to improve everything in your life but you do what you can and leave the rest up to God.

Cynique The only thing you've "exposed" in this thread was your "white underbelly". Your weakness is the FEAR that you'll appear weak You poooor poooor thing...lol. In other words.....you feed off of negative energy?

I don't know if this is in that video above. I haven't watched the video because I can barely stand to watch this young lady as she makes a mockery of herself and Black people in general with her statements and attitude. But as I was posting I caught a clip of her testimony on MSNBC where a lawyer asked her did people in her neighborhood routinely refer to White people as "crackers". This clearly has nothing to do with Zimmerman and HIS state of mind. The lawyer knows that the media is there and the nation is watching and I truly believe he asked that question just to see how ignorant and foolish this child is. ....and she sat up there with a little grin on her face and said "yes". ((shakes head)) On top of that she can't even speak standard English, the lawyers have to constantly translate what she's saying for the court!!! This is embarrassing. Pure ignorance going and coming......word is bond.

Speaking of the South.................. My mother is from the South and when I was a kid the family used to go down south quite frequently and to be honest, it seemed to me that the Whites down South were friendlier and less racist that the ones up in the North. I'm talking about the 70s and early 80s time period. I saw Blacks and Whites working together, partying together, sitting on the porches and in parlors talking to eachother. I didn't see that up in Michigan! I saw more confederate flags flying in Indiana and Ohio that I did anywhere in the South. The first time I drove to Chicago I saw more segregation there than ANYWHERE North, South, East, or West....lol. Infact, even today....I when I travel I see more Confederate stickers on the bumpers of trucks and hear more Country music playing in places like Nebraska, Wisconsin and Minnesota than I do in Georgia or the Carolinas! The only problem I had with and still have with the South is why they insist on calling cockroaches "water bugs".....lol.

I think Paula Deen has some racial prejudices like most people of her generation. But based on the limited amount that I know of her, I don't think she's a racist. Actually I don't think it's Black people who are making this a big deal. The media is making it a big deal by constantly showing her crying and pleading and apologizing....essentially making HER look like a victim. Her corporate sponsors are the ones dropping her, not Black people. I heard either Barbara Walters or Anderson Cooper earlier today asking the question "When is enough enough....how many times does she have to say she's sorry before she's forgiven?" I'm thinking to myself.....uh...exactly who is beating up on this woman? I haven't heard about Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton holding any rallies or telling people to boycott her products. No one is persecuting this woman, she's just losing money.....but the media seems to be portraying her as a victim of political correctness. I predict in a few years this will be all but forgotten and she'll be back to making money just like Dog the Bounty Hunter, Mel Gibson, and that guy who played Kramer on Senfield.....all of whom used the word "nigger".

Yeah, yeah, yeah...... Well...I'm sorry, but yall know what....facts are facts. And you're not going to change human nature through "political correctness" For thousands of years men of ALL RACES have found certain features attractive in women and neither Black women nor Asian women nor Hispanic women will get a "pass" to look like or act like men just because of historic discrimination. I'm not trying to talk down on this woman. I'm saying this as a man who isn't the best looking man in the world and has been called ugly on several occasions. I've learned that at some point you have to accept reality as it is, not as you WANT it to be. Only then can you change it. Most men like FEMININE WOMEN. When I say feminine, I'm not talking about being light skinned or White or acting like a White woman. That's an excuse too many of our people use as a way to excuse not acting as they should. By feminine, I mean delicate features, soft voice, feminine mannerism......features found in women all over Africa. African woman have NO PROBLEM being dainty feminine women and are just as if not more feminine that White American women. I have to stress this because.....too many of our sisters in America are hurting and they need help. They know something is wrong and they aren't sure what it is and too many people are bs'ing them. You don't help people out by telling them that what's wrong with them is actually "ok"...or really "beautiful". Telling them what they want to hear to make them feel good while the world is secretly laughing at them behind their back. You help them by offering them solutions to their problems! For nearly 4 decades many of our people America have been VICTIMS of very poor diets, poor healthcare, lack of proper physical education in the public school system, ect... This combination has essentially made FREAKS... GENETIC FRANKENSTEINS out of many of them. It has made many of them grossly overweight, sick, genetically deformed, intellectually below average, low energy and lazy, and even in some cases making the men look like women and the women look like men because of hormonal disruption. If you look at how many of the young men are switching and snapping and how so many of the girls are growing facial hair and ighting eachother on television and in the streets like wild dogs.....it's almost undeniable that something is wrong. Instead of "embracing" this pathology.....we should see it as something terribly wrong and look for a solution before it gets worse.

While colorism is an issue, I think "featurism" is more of an issue in the AfroAmerican community than colorism, especially when it comes to women and attraction. I say that because a lot of times I hear women who most men may consider unattractive complain that they are being looked over because they're dark skinned when in actuality it's not thier complexion or shade, it's thier features (nose, eyes, mouth, hair texture, body shape) that men may find unattractive. Cynique Now you know good and doggone well that Black people can be just as violent and bloodthirsty as Whites. Whites just tend to be "smarter" in how they commit their acts of violence. For example...... White men in Europe will organize to invade a nation and rob and kill it's inhabitants for resources and bring those resources back home to build up their own country. Black men in and African community even after being colonized and enslaved for 400 years by outside invaders will still go to war with eachother over little to nothing wiping out entire villages plundering through and taking what's left for their own personal enjoyment and leave the women and children back home with nothing. Both committed murder and robbery, but one was "smarter" in how they pulled off their crimes and how they used the spoils. Just like a man who steals millions from his company's pension fund is just as much of a thief and robber as one who robs a liquor store.

I think her testimony really damaged the case. As if rolling her eyes and acting ditzy and ghetto wasn't enough......... "creepy ass cracker" ?????? The boy was 17....what kind of 17 year old even uses the word "cracker" today? Even if those were his actual words, allowing that statement in the court gives the defense as well as those in the public following the case the opportunity to "flip the script" so to speak and make Trayvon look like a racist instead of Zimmerman....the lawyers should have known that. I can't believe the Prosecution put her on the stand without properly prepping her first. Maybe they tried the best they could....in any case....she should have just stayed home.

Cynique The only reputation you should attempt to escape (and it would probably be futile) is being known as one who routinely takes the original subject of a thread and turns it into another of an entirely different nature. Talk about a "game changer".

Cynique To start with...... My patience in dealing with YOU should be considered a marvelous display of self improvement as well as self control, lol.

Also, I've found a key element in improving oneself is having a PROPER EXAMPLE of who/what is better. Sometimes you don't even know you need improving until you see someone else doing better or being more successful in a certain area then you realize you're a little sloppy with your game and gotta tighten up. Sometimes someone needs to hold a clean glass of water next to the dirty one you're drinking out of to know you need improvement.

This young woman is obviously articulate, intelligent, and may have a good heart while trying to convey a positive message. However..... When I look at how she stands, carries herslf, and expresses herself....it's definately not feminine. It's what I call "manish". This has nothing to do with Black girls accepting themselves, it's about her acting and dressing in a masculine manner and wanting society to accept it. And in my opinion she shouldn't be the one to call herself beautiful. When a person has to resort to constantly saying, "I'm smart and beautiful and everyone likes me" .....it is a sure sign of low self esteem.

Although I haven't always been successful, I can remember TRYING to improve myself since I was a little kid. Working on improving my handwriting. Working on improving my drawing of cartoons like Donald Duck Working on cleaning up my room I believe, self improvement is in the very nature of some people whether they're successful at it or not. I think SUCCESSFUL self improvement though involves 2 major things: 1. The acknowledgement that one has faults that need to be improved. 2. A motive for that improvement Like an alcoholic you first have to acknowledge that something is wrong with you before you can move on to a cure. And in our society, getting someone to admit that something is wrong with them is almost like getting them to admit that they have a weakness. Also, unless you have a strong motive to better yourself, often times your attemps at self improvement will fail because it doesn't pay to go through the effort. I believe this is one of the biggest problems with Black men in our society. Most Black men are getting all the coochie they want and most can manage to scrape and hustle up enough money to do what they want to do in life so there is no real drive or motivation to improve themselves mentally, physically, or morally. If your only goal in life is to find someone to live off of and/or pimp the system so you can get your daily supply of liquor, blunts, and the occasional "bj"......what motive do you have to improve yourself? Your expectations may be low, but you're still getting all you want out of life anyway so why go through the effort to improve? Cynique You just couldn't resist could you......lol. It's funny you should bring that up because on CNN Anderson Cooper (who is gay) has been doing a piece the past few nights on some evangelical group who has officially stopped it's program for turning gay people straight. They said it led to too much emotional turmoil and had a very low success rate. But it all depends on HOW they changed and for what reason. If a person changes themselves voluntarily through for their own positive motives like gaining new insight on their condition, or desiring more success, salvation, ect.....then it's usually a good thing. But if they don't really want to change themselves but are being FORCED to change through threats of violence, intimidation, abandonment, ect..... Not a lot of good will come out of it and as soon as the pressure is off people often go back to their old habits. This is one of the reasons I don't support a "theocracy". You can't really FORCE people to be righteous, they have to want to be. You can institute laws that keep the public safe and protect people from eachother as well as provide them with proper information so they can know HOW to improve themselves....but ultimately the decision is up to them.

Cynique Thank you Cynique. WE ALL know that's your way of apologizing.....lol. Troy I will when I catch up with her. But just to clarify, she's not MY student....lol....she's A student at a university. As far as my posts. It's always better to think ahead and be safe than sorry. In this age, you never know who's monitoring your site looking for information to use for or against you. Think of all the people who read your posts and then tweet to you about what you've said. In another thread, Nah'sun talked about his "lurking days". Think of the hundreds if not thousands who just read and remain silent forming thoughts in thier minds but not expressing them which would give you the opportunity to clear up any misconceptions.

Admin You're right. I found out in my early 20s that some people are "manager" types who like running things and telling people what to do. But they tend make up less than 15% of the population. Most people are "worker" types who want as little responsibility as possible and just want to do their job, go home, and have a beer. I've also found that these classifications really don't depend much on intelligence level as there are some stupid people who still hate being told what to do and want to run things as well as very intelligent people who hate telling others what to do and would rather take orders than accept that responsibility. Although I wasn't in, they say the military is a good place to find out what type of person you are and what your true talents are. No we definitely aren't the same, and I've found that out in more ways than one trying to work with other Black people on various projects that I thought we should have all been on the same page with. But there are some similarities between most of us both mentally and physically. For example most adult AfroAmericans are lactose intolerant nor do we tolerate alcohol the way most Caucasians do. These 2 things alone should affect our social habits and make us adjust them in a way that would allow us to be more successful in society instead of trying to "fit in" by imitating others. True again. Most people don't know that not only are their different races among "Hispanics" but racism is alive and well in the Hispanic communities here in America as well as abroad. But the truth be told...these communities often group THEMSELVES together when they come to America. They may hate eachother in thier native countries but just like the White ethnic groups of the East Coast (Irish, Italians, Jews, Polish) who had their own gangs and neighborhoods and fought eachother like cats and dogs and even refused to marry eachother.....when the Blacks and Puerto Ricans came up they somehow FOUND a way to put thier differences aside and focus thier anger and opposition on the new people. Cynique Precisely! I see you've learned SOMETHING during out numerous exchanges.....lol. One point again. I've said for years that we can have a MULTI-RACIAL nation and still remain strong and united. But we can't have a MUTLI-CULTURAL one and remain that way. While we should be able to practice numerous little "sub-cultures", America needs one DOMINANT culture that unifies the nation and keeps most people on the same page. This dominant culture used to be (and still is for most of the nation) the White Anglo Saxon Protestant culture of Western Europe. Problem is, much of that culture of force monogamy, drinking lots of alcohol, and eating lots of greasy and starchy foods doesn't work well with people of African and Native American descent. We need a more universal dominant culture that allows most people of every racial background to be successful and feel welcomed. For example............ Although I'm not fluent in it, I personally think a Spanish/Espanol based language would be the best national language for America because Blacks and Native Americans tend to learn and speak it better than English. Most Black people whether they are from America or Jamaica have to "chop up" English into a type of "Ebonics" in order to speak it and express themselves because the language wasn't designed for our genetic speaking patterns.

AfroAmericans lack a clearly defined goal as a people. Now that we've gotten most of our civil rights, there is no more "prize" for most to keep their eyes on. When our people are given clear goals and plans, we are so busy building and being productive we don't have time to fall into the mischief and immorality that shiftlessness and idleness brings. The military knows this best and this is one of the reasons Black people do so good in service. You take a kid from the hood with no discipline who's always getting into trouble and looks hopelss and after 12 weeks of Marine bootcamp he's a totally different person. He's in shape, speaks properly, and carries himself with respect. He was offered a clear challenge, and met it. He accomplished something. Our people need something to do.....a goal or dream to work toward in order to keep moving forward.

Cynique Maybe in the 70s and early 80s, but things have changed since then. What government agency that you know of...federal, state, or local....still refer to Hispanics as "Brown" or "Chicano"? I would actually agree with this statement. So Kim and J-Lo are both Caucasian women. Well if I "AIN'T NO" more of an authority....lol.....and since we know a double negative is a positive. I positively thank you for acknowledging the insight and clarity I bring to this subject. And there's a big difference between the dark skinned thick lipped Wesley Snipes and the light skinned green eyed Terrence Howard too...but they're still of the same race. All that proves is that there are variations within races. I wonder how psychiatrists would classify people who only hallucinate when they are sleepy? KARDASHIAN (not Kardasian....lol) is definitely not an Arab name, it's clearly of central Asian origin. Again, Armenians are a central Asian Caucasian people related to Russians with SOME Arab ancestry because of Arabs conquered and ruled their land for centuries, but they are definitely not Arabs. They are actually more similar to Albanians and Macedonians.....a Slavic people. Troy It comes from the....compared to our own....convoluted racial classification system in Latin America. Historically in English speaking nations like America and Canada, one drop of Black or Native American blood would make one Black or Native American. But in Spanish speaking nations like Cuba and Mexico, historically speaking any Spaniard ancestry would make one officially a Spaniard. Only people of pure African descent are considered "Black" in most Latin American nations, which explains their low "Black" population as compared to the United States.

Cynique I'm pleased to see that you've made the wise decision to remove your slanderous accusations, or atlest the MOST slanderous of them. Now, as we continue.................. Since you removed the offending post, an apology....would be nice...lol...but won't be necessary. Actually removing the post is much better as I believe prevention is usually better than cure. I'm neither intolerant nor a hypocrite. For the record, I have a lesbian student in my group who is not only open with being homosexual but brings her girlfriend to meetings sometimes and has announced her desire to "marry" her if Michigan ever makes same sex marriage legal. She knows how I feel and I know how she feels and we respect eachother's opinon. If I were in any executive political position I wouldn't punish or even berate homosexuals for who they are, but I will not hide my views on the issue nor alter my morality just so it lines up with an ever changing highy fluid "public morality". YOU do.... What woman doesn't find a man who stands by his beliefs "stimulating", lol. Troy You wouldn't be the first! Years ago when I used to wash dishes at a resturant I got the same response from my boss when I handed him a letter demanding a raise, lol. ((Pioneer lays back in his chair, kicks his shoes off, puts his feet on his desk and crosses them)) Believe it or not I wasn't angry at Cynique's accusation. Although it was offensive, I wasn't offended. There are certain things that DO offend me and make me angry but I try not to broadcast them publicly so as not to let people know what buttons to push. Actually, Cynique wasn't too far off the mark when she says my response was a PR move. Many of my views are controversial enough, I don't need them distorted to further piss people off. I like people to know EXACTLY where I stand on very sensative issues. I see homosexuality as a sin and perversion, but I don't want to see harm come to someone because they are gay and I resent anyone even inferring this. I don't even believe in the death penalty.....even for convicted murders....let alone killing people for thier sexual practices. This is a GLOBAL forum where people all over the world are watching and reading and people have various methods of processing information. As one who is used to dealing with the public I'm sure you're well aware that a person can SAY one thing but people often HEAR something else based upon thier personal experiences and political leanings. As an AfroAmerican, a Republican can SAY "profiling" but I HEAR "watch the niggers" regardless of all the back pedaling and explaining he may do to try and convince me otherwise. For those already turned off by my position on homosexuality, reckless rhetoric like that not only tends to DISTORT their perception but often AMPLIFIES their distorted perception causing mistrust and could jeopardize opportunities for well meaning people to work together for greater common causes.

Cynique Well, in order for me to confirm or deny you would first have to stop thinking about me naked, lol. Then clarify (as best as YOU can....) what you mean by this "god" you're constantly displaying with a lower case "g" and in quotations. Because my God and your "god" may quite possibly be 2 separate E/entities.

Like Professor Griff of Public Enemy used to say, "Ignorance is at an all time high". People need to be educated........... ((PIoneer pushes his deep dish pizza box to the side and dusts off his hands)) Cynique I believe I EDUCATED you before on the matter. HISPANICS ARE NOT A RACE...nor are they of one color (e.i.."brown") Like Arabs, they are an ethic group made up of people who share the same culture and can be of any color or any nationality. Not all Hispanics are brown, there are White Hispanics like Ricky Martin and Black Hispanics like Sammy Sousa. Do I need to go to the closet and bring out the dunce cap and stool again? Because you know I'll do it if you make me, lol. When it comes to race or anything else biological.............. *It doesn't matter what they checked for the census. *Nor does it matter what "White America" considers them. *Nor does it even matter what they call themselves. The only thing that matter is what THEY ARE. You don't get to choose your biological make-up. They both are WHITE WOMEN with varied backgrounds. Having people of color in their distant ancestry doesn't make them any less White than me having White and Native American in my distant ancestry changes the fact that I am a BLACK MAN.

Cynique No...not really. Someone on your level couldn't manage to even SPAWN a web strong enough to trap me, lol. Yes but the congregation only shows up to hear ME speak, not you....lol. So that should tell you something. Garbage, garbage, and more emotional garbage based on delusions and projections. With foolish bets like that..... You're probably as lousy at gambling as you are at logic LOL!!

Fred Sanford Cynique That's the problem with your little theory of the origins of the spirit." You think it's a matter of "thought" or "self realization. The soul of a human being exists regardless of their level of spiritual development. And the problem with you, Cynique.....is that your cranky ass should take a nap before you post, lol. I haven't said any of the garbage you just attributed to me, it's more of your projections and misinterpretations. Troy 2 Reasons........... 1. Exposure The United States and most of the Western Hemisphere for that matter gives most people only 2 choices in religion. Be a Christian or be secular.2 Outside of Judaism (which doesn't propagate) most Americans aren't exposed to other religion material with which to compare it to the Bible. This material is certainly available in most libraries or on the internet, but unless they are a scholar most people aren't going to go in depth to compare religious scriptures....most learn new things through social settings. 2. Emotional attachment. Most Christians believe that the Bible is from God, therefor they don't see the need to "prove" it against other material. They are also afraid that if they find other material more attractive that it may pull them away from their faith so they avoid even considering it. It's like a married man who says he loves his wife and she's the only one for him. Would you ask him to prove it by sleeping with and trying to form emotional relationships with other women in order to TEST his love and PROVE that his wife really is the only one for him....lol? Now that's actually a logical way of proving how much you love your spouse and testing to see if they are indeed the only one for you to love. But because of the emotional attachments to eachother, as well as the unintended consequences it may bring (like finding out that your spouse really ISN'T the only one for you) very few people are confident enough to put their relationship to a test like that. It's the same with the Bible. Most Christians are too emotionally attached to it to experiment and compare it with other scriptures and asking them to do so would be like asking a person to have extramarital affairs to test their own marriage.