Troy

Del I've been writing on these boards for 15 years. More than a decade of conversation are archived here. You'd have to look VERY hard to find an instance of me attacking, personally, another individual here. Now being accused of attacking someone is not the same thing as attacking someone. I found the sentence with the word "obtuse" to try to figure out why you thought I was attacking you as a person (one that I like) rather than your ideas or actions. I wrote: "Del when your answer is too obtuse to be understood by an educated person, it does not provoke discussion it is just confusing." I stand by the statement because I asked you a question and I not only did not understand your response I was left more confused. Sure I could have softened the statement, perhaps been less blunt. But I did not get the impression I needed to do that with you. I apologize if you took my statement personally it was meant to obtain clarity not hurt your feelings. Thanks for mentioning it. I did not appreciate that I was coming across that way to you.

I'd actually never seen Paula Dean prior to seeing these videos. I had no idea what she looked like and I have never seen her cooking show. My reaction to her use of the N-word was that people are over reacting. It just seems inconsistent to hold Paula to a higher standard regarding the use of the N-word in her private life than we hold a comedian or rapper who uses the word in front of thousands. I don't use the N-word or any profanity much today but as a teen and young adult I used the n-word all the time. Is was part of the way me and I peer spoke. However after seeing this video I can see how and why she would the n-word. Paul is clearly unsophisticated when it comes to speaking to the public. I don't suspect she is not very bright either. She apparently does not have a publicist who knows very much either. This interview with the times is very telling. Ever after viewing it I don't believe Paula is a bad person, just not the sharpest knife in the drawer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOOtHsYeEqg Here is a video Paula published a couple of days ago, "After spending all day soul searching and trying to figure out how to deal with what I did, I recorded a video trying to do the right thing. In the end, I felt that I needed to just be myself, say I am sorry and beg for forgiveness. What I said was wrong and hurtful. I know that and will do everything that I can do make it right. I am not about hate, and I will devote myself to showing my family, friends and fans how to live a life helping others, lifting us all up, and spreading love." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkwbyNKC9Kg I think the ratings driven media feeding frenzy has exacerbated the problem. I doubt many of us could meet the standard Paula was expected to make -- but none of use are losing our livelihoods and careers over it.

DT why won't you just share the press release here -- it would just save folks a step. As you can imagine you lose people with each additional hop.

I hear you. Are all the titles listed anywhere? if so please post a link.

As with all things, good and bad, there is a spectrum a range Good <-------------------------------------------------------------------> Bad Where killing Hitler would be on the "good" side, and raping and killing a infant would be considered "bad". Drive-by's, capital punishment, and all the rest would be placed somewhere along the spectrum. At the end of the day, however we want to justify it, killing another person is just wrong. Whether it is aborting a fetus prematurely, euthanasia, executing a mass murder -- whatever -- it is wrong. I think a major problem with our culture is that we have justified killing for so many reasons, so much so, that we can easily justify doing it. Murder is rampant is ghettos because we do not respect life -- even our own. It is built into the culture...

Cynique do you think a person who is truly and I mean truly does not think murder is wrong AND actually carries them out would be considered sane? If so, lets exclude the socio-paths or psychotic people. Now if we consider war, killing someone (a likely socio-path) in self-defense. I too believe this is wrong but not so wrong I don't think it should be done. I certainly don;t believe we should defende ourselves with no regard for collateral damage -- the way the 911 bombers were or the US is with Drones or with Nukes. Dropping a 2nd nuke the way the US did in WW II is completely wrong. We can argue about the 1st nuke but dropping the 2nd nuke is just beyond monstrous. I'm sure the 1st one sent the so called "message". We live in a country where the leadership is unable or unwilling to make the right moral/ethical judgements. They know what is right and wrong, they just do not care. Or rather they care more about power and money than people I doubt the nuts in charge today would have ended slavery.

Humm lets see http://aalbc.com/tc/index.php?/topic/2089-do-gays-really-care-about-roy-hibberts-no-homo-comment/. I say fine Paula $150K and call it a day. Jesse Jackson said he'd like to cut Barack Obama's balls off -- what is that worth? $50K. Came across a rap music recently. The word Nigger was used about 400 times. I guess we'd have to fine this fellas $400,000,000,000 dollars.

Cynique for the sake of this argument and my personal beliefs I'm taking the position that good and bad are NOT relative. I agree good and bad may not be intrinsic, built into our nature. Simply observing the behavior of man will tell you that. In fact one could make an argument that being BAD is intrinsic, part of our nature. But that does not matter Even mass murders KNOW killing is wrong. Also I'm not talking about aliens. I'm talking about humans on planet Earth, in THIS space time continuum, the one we are in right now. I believe there are actions that are universally good and bad. I don't mean to suggest there are no gray areas and that everything is black or white. I'm saying, certainly at the extremes, one can, or at least should be able to determine whether an action is good or bad. My guideline for making this determination is if your action hurts someone else or prevents them from exercising their freedom it is bad -- simple. It is not all that complicated. We ALL do things we know is wrong if we were raised properly. The best of us try to improve - constantly, throughout our lives; for some of us that might just mean trying to get through the day without killing someone.

Del when your answer is too obtuse to be understood by an educated person, it does not provoke discussion it is just confusing. Del it is obvious if something does not work, we try to fix it. If it is not within our capability we then get some help. Again this is all obvious. People usually fix things that are broken, not working or otherwise not meeting one's expectations. Improvement implies we are making something that already works better. If something is wrong you don't improve it -- making it better at being wrong you fix the darn thing. The 911 bombers were wrong by killing those people. Improving their technique so that were able to successfully navigate the other plane into the White House and killing more people would be an improvement even more wrong. I glad you believe the 911 bombers were wrong.

Wow, Del you can't answer a simple, rather trivial question. I did not inquire about eveyone else -- just YOU. All the stuff about facts, proof, whatever, are no relevant. I'm not asking you to be God or prove anything. No wonder you can't be reasoned with or understood. You don't have a perspective, a belief system (any choosing not to believe anything is not a choice but the avoidance of choice) Here is my response, "I believe the bombers were wrong because killing thousands of innocent people is evil and not just wrong, but horribly wrong. Similarly the US Government using remote controlled death machines, otherwise known as drones, to kill "enemies" and causing collateral damage (murder of innocent people) is wrong too." Simple. Why, pray tell, would you ask about self improvement if you aren't even clear when something needs improvement?

Terrance McKnight, the WQXR weekday evening host, served as the MC of the 1st Annual African Voices Literary Awards which honored Poet Tony Medina. Here Terrance introduces me. I helped honor Tony by explaining how Tony's work impacted both himself and his visitors. I even recited one of his poems, a very short one which is usual for a Medina Poem I actually don't appear in this video as I'm actually the person shooting it. As good as I'm an I have not mastered filming myself at events At any rate, I'm editing a video of highlights from the event which features Tony Medina, Asha Bandele and others. I'm only posting this introduction here because I liked it so much

OK Del lets try a simpler approach. Let me ask YOU, Del, a simple question: Do YOU the believe the 911 World Trade Center bombers were right? I'm not asking based upon some hypothetical anything is possible alternative universe thinking. I just want to know what Del thinks about this very specific activity.

Hey DT how many books have you actually written? Is you event schedule posted anywhere. I plan to attend some events in the south over the next couple of weeks. If I can connect with one of yours I will.

Del I gave you plenty of examples. But you are changing the parameters to make your point rather than understanding or even accepting mine. If you are going to say Donald is the perfect Trump because he is Donald Trump. Then one can argue EVERYONE is perfect as it is, including you or I. And that would be the end of the conversation. However your original subject was "self improvement". You then posed the question, "What do you consistently do to become a better person?" implying that you believe people can improve. My reaction was anyone can improve on any aspect of their lives -- an idea you have inexplicably rejected. However you admit your counter-arguments are unconvincing, a statement of the obvious if you ask me At any rate, you want to argue that the 911 bombers were right in the actions because they felt it was their religious duty. So killing thousands of innocent people becomes right because the mass murders felt it was their religious duty? Using that logic, NOTHING can be wrong. Again the conversation dead ends. Del, If you wrote, "To be charitable can be a religious imperative, but not doing so does not make one unethical". Sure that can be true but that does not negate anything I've written. Giving is just once aspect of some religions and one can make an argument that it is unethical for the wealthy not to give to the underprivileged. To summarizing your beliefs, as you've expressed them, people are perfect just as they are and nothing is universally wrong. Obviously I'm diametrically opposed to these positions.

While this is a great way to check out a book before making a purchase. Or even pulling up on your tablet device and enjoying it with your child, without having to buy the book at all. It does seem like copyright infringement. The idea that the person who took the time to read the book and produce the video is is hidden behind an a silhouette avatar and the name "OU93" clearing indicates that the person is not interested in revealing their identity. At this stage of the web's development I don't think anyone should be able to do anything and remain completely anonymous hidden behind a fake name, but that is a conversation for another post... At any rate, I guess one can argue that this is a really old book and who cares. Or that what is the difference between having the book read to you on-line and going to Barnes & Noble and reading the book with your child there? Isn't it amazing how many people pull up into a B&N superstore with children in tow, spending hours reading books to their children -- without buying a thing? But I digress once again. Suppose someone posted a YouTube video of someone reading a novel aloud, would that be cool? I'm sure the person downloading the video to the Ipod and listening to the book like a free audio book would think it is cool. But I suspect the author, publisher and whoever had the audio rights would disagree. I have yet to look for a song on Youtube and not find it. I can find music on Youtube that I can't find on Itunes. Again anyone can download all this music and listen to it for free. I understand that most teens simply do not buy music. Maybe that is why concert tickets are so expensive. The New York Daily News ran an article with an image from one of my Youtube Videos, the Daily News did not even bother to attribute the image to me. It seems to me that Youtube, a great platform, but also seems to be one of the worse offenders of copyright infringement, in the history of the legal concept and is making tremendous amounts of money in the process. Indeed I can even profit (a little, very little) by showing videos like this on my website, enhancing my website's content -- all for free. The author and publisher never have to be paid and or even informed. This model seems to be screwed up. But hey, what the heck do I know?

Aunt Flossie's Hats (and Crab Cakes Later) by Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard and James E. Ransome (Illustrator) Age Range: 5 - 8 years Paperback: 32 pages Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (February 1, 1995)

Cynique as we used to say, "WORD!"

Interesting story Cynique. I started Syracuse University during the Summer of 1980. At the time, I had no idea what a fraternity was. The following is an exchange I had in July of 1980. I'm walking with a Brother, I just met, from Rochester New York. We were both Black but he seemed very different than myself. He was certainly more civilized in terms of his behavior. Tony, the Brother from Rochester asked, "Troy you goin' to the Alpha party?" I looked at Tony, not really sure what he just asked me, and replied, "What?" "Are you going to the Alpha party this weekend?" I was always down for a party, but I had no clue what an Alpha was. "What's an Alpha?" "What's an Alpha? You, mean you don't know what an Alpha is?!", Tony said, almost incredulous. I knew alpha was the first letter in the Greek alphabet but I knew that is not what it meant in this content. So I asked again "Yeah, what's an Alpha?" "It is a fraternity." Ok now I'm becoming more confused, because I know I'm no dummy. In the 5th grade, I was reading on a college level, but this Brother managed to drop two words in a causal conversation that I did not know the meaning of. Too astonished to make believe I knew what he was talking about, which is standard protocol for my hood, I continued with the questions, "What's a fraternity?" "You don't know what a fraternity is?" Completely unashamed of my ignorance and anxious to get up to speed I responded, "No." With much more patience than I would have shown him, Tony said, "Well, the Alpha's are a Black Greek letter fraternity." At this point, I'm completely lost and have no idea what Tony is talking about. I had actually seen the the 1978 film Animal House one of my favorite films at the time. But at that moment I failed to draw a connection between Animal House and the Alphas. Tony contiinued, "Just come to the party, you'll see." I did indeed see. Ultimately, Tony would pledge Alpha, but would leave school soon after crossing. I saw what pledging and hazing was like and I had less than zero desire to go through the process. The Que's used to brand themselves. That just seemed crazy to me (still does -- all due respect to my Omega Brothers). The benefits did not seem to warrant the punishment. I attended the fraternity parties, I had no problem getting a girl and I had plenty of friends -- some of them even members of the Black fraternities. My mindset in college was very similar to the Brother in the video. I almost got into a fight with a Alpha at Cornel University. I was making fun of him by mocking the stomping of feet called "stepping". Stepping was something completely new to me at college. I'd never heard of stepping or seen it before. Years later I learned I have many relatives in Black Greek letter organizations. I don't think any better or worse of them, or anyone, as a result. But today I understand people have many good reasons to pledge or not to pledge. It really is a matter of one's personality and what they need to get though this thing called life. Today some of my closest friends are Brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. I also know that Cornel University was where the Alpha Phi Alpha was founded. If I knew what I knew today I would never had made fun of that Brother that day, over 30 years ago. Then again, there are a great many things I would not do, knowing what I know today Some people thrive in structured organizations where conformance in ideas, behavior and dress is important. I'm just not one of those people. This is one of the reason I liked the sister in Can you see her pledging AKA At the same time, one of my oldest friends is an AKA, from Syracuse University. Her mother, as well as her grandmother, are AKA's. Legacy is important too. If my father and grandfather were Alpha's I'm certain I will have done my best to become one too.

Del, "wonton killing" means an inhumane, cruel, unprovoked, merciless killing. Surely you'd don't mean to suggest that if we can get individuals to stop doing this that it would not, necessarily be an improvement? I'm not sure why you are making a distinction between morals and ethics as if they are opposite sides of a coin, or not in the least bit related. Ethics without a moral foundation are just rules. Like holding your fork in your left had while eating. "Most professions have a code of ethics." Sure the Hippocratic Oath ask new medical professionals not to do harm to anyone "Whereas religion has morality tales." I'm not sure what you mean by that but if you look at the 10 commandments one says don't kill anyone. Here Ethics and Morality, as you've defined them intersect. Again my only points are anyone and anything can improve. There are things everyone (reasonable people anyway) can agree are absolutely wrong (ex. wanton killings, pedophilia, etc) and any cessation of these activities would be an improvement of the person doing them. Laws for criminal conduct, professional ethics, morality (religious or otherwise) are inextricably intertwined. For they are all based upon the same things: Helping people improve and stopping them from allowing someone else to improve.

Well everything and anybody can be improved. Lebron James can improve as a basketball player, but since he is so much better than everyone else, maybe the extra effort required to improve on the basketball is not worth the extra time. Right now I would like to improve my fitness. I had a period of a couple of years recently when I was in the best shape I've been in during the last 15 years. But my business requires more time and I like to socialize. As a result working out has become a lower priority and my fitness is waning as a result. If I get too out of shape I'll dedicate more time to exercising. Everyone body has different priorities. Whether one "needs" to improve anything is purely subjective and, as long as they are not hurting anyone else, up to the individual -- not anyone else.

I hear you Pioneer. But... I do however think she is beautiful, no, not in a superficial, easy on the eyes, Zoe Saldana, type of beauty, but in the more substantial characteristics like "articulate, intelligent, and...good heart". We have the freedom to be ourselves -- completely -- why not do it? Even if some think we are "mannish". It is not about conforming to someone else's standards but your own -- sure she may have difficulty securing a corporate gig -- but who cares.... This is why I liked the I rather have a conversation with a non-conformist like Da Button Pusher than someone who is dependent upon an organization for self-esteem or a sense of worth.

Harry it is simple, Black people had no choice but to depend upon each other back then. The law prevented Black people from enjoying some very basic rights. We banned together because we HAD to. Today this same is true, but people simply don't recognize it. Sure the laws have changed, but the relative situation and outcomes have not. Look at Black incarceration rates, employment rate in the best jobs, how poorly our children are being educated, etc. I think ultimately we will come to the conclusion that we have to support each other because no one, least of all the government, will.

Hi Del I try to behave as ethically and morally as possible. I see no distinction in the terms -- certainly in terms of determining what is more or ethical. I don't always succeed and I'm bothered by it when I fail -- sometimes for an extended period of time. There is behavior condoned by my group (lack of reverence for the elderly) that I don't believe is moral or ethical behavior and there are things that are illegal that I do believe is both moral and ethical (smoking marijuana). Del, of course there are things you can say that are better for others. It is better for people not to wantonly kill others, and so forth. Wouldn't you agree?