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Why There is Less Activity on the Discussion Forums


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There are a variety of reasons but one has to do with the nature of the conversations.

 

I was on Lipstick Alley a few moments ago reading a comment posted in a thread I'm following.  One of the trending conversation is shown below.  The post tickled me because it was so absurdly shallow.  There was a time which I was guaranteed to get a laugh visiting these forums, but this was years ago now.

 

I'm not saying forums must post silly shit, like the comment below, to garner participation, but fun has to be mixed in with the seriousness.  But alas you need a critical mass of participants in order to generate the humor

 

----

 

I'm attracted to a man, but he drives a pickup truck.

 

There's a guy at the gym that I have a bit of a crush on. He's tall, muscular, polite, quiet and always in the zone. I've seen him look at me slyly when he thinks I don't know, and he always manages to lift near me.

Well I broke the ice today by asking him about an exercise he was doing. He explained it to me and told me I should try it out and let him know how I like it. He was very sweet and smiled a lot. We both went back to our workouts, and as he was leaving he smiled and waved goodbye to me.

Then he went outside.

And got in his pickup truck 

Why does this bother me so much? Aside from the fact that pickups are big and ugly as sin, I feel like only certain "types" of men drive those.

It doesn't have balls hanging off the back, or stupidass bumper stickers, just a plain, big black pickup truck. But idk.

And before y'all ask: yes he is white.


 

image.gif

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LSA has a very feminine vibe to it and I wouldn't expect much more than the post you just illustrated.

However to the question about less activity on discussion forums:

 

1. There are just plain FEWER discussion forums today than there were 15 or 20 years ago.  People are less interested in discussions where various ideas can be exchanged, and more interested in PLATFORMS where they can get on and run their mouths or post whatever information they wish uninterrupted with any challenges being reprimanded with blocking or banning the challenger.

 

2. But the biggest reason for less discussion...I believe...is the INTELLECTUAL DECLINE of society in general.

Believe it or not, despite having more information at their disposal the general population is DUMBER today than they were 20 years ago and definately dumber than they were 40 and 50 years ago.

If you don't believe me cruise around facebook, twitter, and other platforms and look at the titles and how many mis-spelled words and words that just don't go together ( How To Peel "A" Orange) you see in the titles alone before you even GET to the posts and comments.

Look at how people rarely capitalize words or use proper punctuation in their communications.
This isn't just to save space, it's also out of ignorance.
 

Probably the only industry that forces it's employees to use proper grammar and punctuation today is the CORPORATE MEDIA because it requires so much written communication.

 

The intellectual decline is real.

It may sound simple, but dumb/stupid people have little to actually SAY and aren't big on discussion.

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I'm sure there are fewer discussion forums today and those that remain are not as vibrant as they once were.  I agree with what you wrote in point #1, but the reality is that most people who post on social media do so in relative obscurity.  The promise of potentially going viral is a strong pull -- even a couple of hundred likes on a post will encourage many people to continue posting to get the attention.  Social media even goes so far as to time when people see their likes to encourage further engagement. For this reason social media platforms are a completely different things than a discussion forums.

 

I don't think people are dumber.  I do think Facebook has have jacked into the minds of people addicting them to their devices in ways we do not completely understand.  We do know that suicide, drug addiction, obesity, depression are all on the rise -- despite all the technological advances.  Watching TicTok videos provides an escape, that a discussion forum can not provide -- because to enjoy a good discussion forum -- even lurking -- requires effort.

 

More people watch TV and scroll through Instagram than read books.  Reading books and participating in a discussion forum requires work; you can't participate vicariously. 
 

People discount the impact of the "feed,." the "information" that is pushed to you on social.  Cynique and I debated this idea -- she discounted it, because she felt it did not effect her, but she was a senior citizen when social media emerged.  The adults in their late 30's never really knew a world without social media, and I can see the impact in them -- increased rates of suicide, drug addiction, obesity, depression... etc.

 

The pandemic has exacerbated this situation.

 

One would have though, that with more people at home, discussion forum participation would have risen, during this pandemic. But the media only pays attention to the handful of the biggest social media platforms.  I know why white media ignores Black platforms, but why does Black media ignore Black discussion forums.

 

Why do so called "woke" Black people give all of their energy to white owned platforms -- who have demonstrated zero desire to truly serve Black people? 

 

The draw of social media is powerful. Not only does it not serve us, it is destructive to our society. As always the Black community suffered more than the society as whole.

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Troy

 

 

I'm sure there are fewer discussion forums today and those that remain are not as vibrant as they once were.  I agree with what you wrote in point #1, but the reality is that most people who post on social media do so in relative obscurity.  The promise of potentially going viral is a strong pull -- even a couple of hundred likes on a post will encourage many people to continue posting to get the attention.  Social media even goes so far as to time when people see their likes to encourage further engagement. For this reason social media platforms are a completely different things than a discussion forums.

 

Those are perfect examples of when the EXTROVERTED personality is combined with LOW INTELLIGENCE.

They have the strong desire to interact with others and be the center of attention, but aren't smart enough to come up with constructive and productive means of doing so..so they resort to playing "class clown" so to speak to get attention.

 

 

 


We do know that suicide, drug addiction, obesity, depression are all on the rise -- despite all the technological advances.  Watching TicTok videos provides an escape, that a discussion forum can not provide -- because to enjoy a good discussion forum -- even lurking -- requires effort.

 

I believe social media platforms actually CONTRIBUTE to the depression, suicide attempts, and addictions.

The last thing people who are broke, sick, in terrible social environments, and already at a low point in their lives need....is to see a bunch of healthy, pretty, young people bragging about how much money they have and how great their life is.
 

People are looking for SOLUTIONS to their problems.   Social media makes them feel even WORSE about their situation because people often put up a FACADE or MASK online pretending to be someone they really aren't which tends to make those viewing them jealous and feel even worse about their own personal short-comings.

 

 

Some Ugly Pictures
"I'll talk to you later.
I'm having the Royal Duke and Duchess over at my mansion for dinner tonight."

 


One would have though, that with more people at home, discussion forum participation would have risen, during this pandemic. But the media only pays attention to the handful of the biggest social media platforms.  I know why white media ignores Black platforms, but why does Black media ignore Black discussion forums.

 

Because as you said earlier, a discussion involves WORK.  But that implies...though you didn't say it...MENTAL WORK. Another term for mental work is THINKING.
Which means it takes a measure of INTELLECTUAL POWER/INTELLIGENCE to maintain an intelligent discussion.  Unfortunately, this is a quality that many of our people no longer have.

Social media is about EMOTION.  You don't really have to THINK much.  It appeals to people's emotions like sex, rage, lust, hunger, selfishness, thirst, desire to get revenge, ect... Discussions appeal to your intellect where you consider concepts, opposing views, various factors, all while doing so in an environment of MUTUAL RESPECT.

 

 




Why do so called "woke" Black people give all of their energy to white owned platforms -- who have demonstrated zero desire to truly serve Black people? 

 

I can tell you exactly why.
2 reasons:

1. Social media is where most of the immature, foolish, and ignorant AfroAemricans spend their time, so most of the so-called "woke" folks hang out in those platforms in order to PREACH to the fools and ignorant and try to get them to change their ways...lol.  They believe that like Jesus, you go to where the sinners are to "save" them.

2. A less common and secondary reason is that most "woke" people think they're smart and they enjoy the praise they get from people who are not as smart or articulate.  Go to a discussion board or academic website and you're likely to interact with people SMARTER THAN YOU who will expose exactly how much you know (or don't know). 
 

Think of your school days.....
Remember when pretty girls usually hung around other pretty girls?
But often you'd see a pretty girl hanging around a bunch of not so pretty ones and wondered why.
Later on, you find out it's because it made her feel SUPERIOR to be around those she FELT were "less than".
 

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19 hours ago, Troy said:

People discount the impact of the "feed,." the "information" that is pushed to you on social.  Cynique and I debated this idea -- she discounted it, because she felt it did not effect her, but she was a senior citizen when social media emerged. 

I said a similar thing to you but you said I was being delusional.

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@Delano what you wrote is unclear to me; are you saying your said the same thing as me or Cynique? 

 

I disagreed strongly with Cynique at the time and still do; the evidence is only piling up.  Now "delusional" seems like a strong characterization of something you may have written here, but if you agreed with Cynique and depending upon how you agreed, I may have characterized your position in such a way -- I simply do not remember.

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On 4/24/2021 at 1:17 AM, Delano said:

I said a similar thing to you but you said I was being delusional.



🤨 Hmmm...
Maybe he called you  delusional for OTHER reasons....lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 



This may seem like a bit of a reach but if I remember correctly, one of Cynique's parting shots before leaving this site was that she was leaving to spend more time on facebook or some other social media platform that  Troy was highly critical of.

That's evidence that social media did INDEED have some sort of effect on her and influenced her behavior because if she didn't have facebook or some OTHER social media platform to "fall back" for her social entertainment....she would have essentially been FORCED to communicate via discussion boards.
...and thus would have been less inclined to leave THIS one.

That's the logical conclusion I'd come to.

 


A good analogy is......
A Black person eats at a soul food restaurant for years but after a $5 disagreement over the price of a meal, get's angry, leaves, and vows to never patronize that restaurant again....taking comfort in the fact that White restaurants like Denny's or Bob Evans are available for them to meet up with their friends and enjoy.

But what if segregation exists where they weren't ALLOWED to frequent Denny's or Bob Evans?
They would be FORCED to frequent that soul food restaurant (or eat at home) and with that option being taken away would be less inclined to be so petty where they are.

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So when I talk about the impact of social media on people I usually don’t speak about specific individuals I speak about us collectively.

 

That said, I don’t believe that most people truly know how much time they spend on social media. They probably greatly under estimate the time when asked. People who are being manipulated are generally unaware of it, and will virtually always say they are immune.

 

Of course there may be some people who are entirely unaffected but they are in the small minority.

 

I know I’m no different than most people and am affected by social media too. This is the primary reason I largely avoid the platforms. There is no way to use them and not be affected, and I mean adversely.

 

Sure Cynique continues to post on Facebook and she, like Del, say they are unaffected by the platform. 
 

Again, I don’t believe you can regularly use Facebook/Instagram and not be manipulated by it.  
 

It is like the person who has four drinks at the bar after work and feels they can drive home unimpaired. Sure they may get home safely, but if they believe did so unimpaired, and did not pose a greater risk to themselves and innocent people around them, they are in denial, perhaps delusional 😉

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The fact that it's simply THERE as an option has an effect on them, psychologically atleast.
Which means it indirectly has an effect on YOU and ME and others as a result.

Do you think a woman who has OTHER MEN willing to take her in and support her will tolerate from her husband the same thing a woman who is less attractive and has no other options to fall back on?


Common sense tells you a woman with LESS options will be a wife who is more willing to ignore petty disagreements and be less argumentative than one who has the ability to pack up whenever she desires and simply move in with one of a number of other men who can provide her with the same thing you're offering.


But take away the options, and watch the ATTITUDE change.



Again, you don't have to look at ALL discussion boards for an example.
Just look at the people who have left THIS discussion board alone...in a huff...over a petty disagreement.
They didn't like what I said, you said, didn't want to register, ect....

If social media didn't exist as an option, they would be COMPELLED to ignore the petty and TRY to get along.
They'd be forced to participate more on discussion boards in general.

Either that or just avoid communications on the internet all together (except by swapping emails).


Just like if there were no Google or Wikipedia or internet in general for people to sit up and browse all day for their information...people would be COMPELLED to get off their ass and actually go to libraries, book stores, and other hard sources for their information.
 

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I hear you pioneer, but I'm not being clear because you seem to be missing my point. Facebook/Instagram developers deliberately design the site to hack in into your brain to addict you to the platforms. What we are subjected to is unprecedented! 

 

Of course people will use the sites they are addicted far more than any other websites.

 

So it is not merely people leaving because of a disagreement and having social as an option.  Lipstick alley can get pretty rough on posters, but LA is so much bigger than this platform and has far more people on it if a few folks get disgruntled and leave it is not a big deal.

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Troy

I didn't miss your point, I was just focused on other reasons besides just that one.
You believe people get a dopamine rise from their activities on social media.
I don't doubt that at all.

But I also think there's LARGER psychological reasons for more participation in social media than discussion boards than just a high people get over attention.
For example....

You don't believe the larger society is suffering from genuine intellectual decline.  And because of that, you don't see people being too stupid and hyper-emotional to hold an intelligent civil conversation as a viable factor in the decline in participation on the discussion boards.
 

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3 hours ago, Delano said:

I have more interactions here than FB, in April at made one post on each of my pages.

Although I rarely enjoy or am stimulated by comments from Pioneer.


Delano......I'm so GLAD you said that.


Because if the OPPOSITE were true....and I thought my posts WERE giving you "stimulation" -not only would I be tempted to stop posting, but I'd seriously consider deleting every post I DID make!   Because after I'd left I wouldn't want you to continue to "stimulate" yourself with my posts or me in mind!

 

 


Don't get me wrong.....

There's a lot of people I wouldn't mind stimulating online!

 

 

Instagram: jadaj864_ 🤎 | Dark skin women, Beautiful black women, Beautiful  dark skin


There's a lot of people who I wouldn't mind "enjoying" themselves with my posts!


....but a tarot card reading brother down in Australia is waaaaaaay down near the bottom of THAT list...lol.

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13 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

You don't believe the larger society is suffering from genuine intellectual decline.

 

No I don't the type of changes you are describing talk place over time scales too large for you to directly observe.  Now I might argue that we are less well informed, and educated more poorly, which might make us seem less intelligent.

 

11 hours ago, Delano said:

Although I rarely enjoy or am stimulated by comments from Pioneer.

 

Well I'm glad you swing through from time-to-time despite the lack of stimulation Pioneer provides.  It is possible this forum will be revitalized, but that can not happen if there is zero participation -- thanks for helping to keep the lights on.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Troy said:

Well I'm glad you swing through from time-to-time despite the lack of stimulation Pioneer provides.  It is possible this forum will be revitalized, but that can not happen if there is zero participation -- thanks for helping to keep the lights on.

I keep coming back because of you. You want to raise the bar and reach people. You provide a community. I am finding it too difficult to talk to a person that doesn't think conceptually. 

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Troy


No I don't the type of changes you are describing talk place over time scales too large for you to directly observe.  Now I might argue that we are less well informed, and educated more poorly, which might make us seem less intelligent.

 
Yes most people in U.S. society in general are indeed less informed and poorly educated  but not all of this is systemic. In some cases these are SYMPTOMS of people who are less intelligent to begin with.

 

In other words you have 2 people who can't read but one of them may be illiterate because of lack of opportunity or poor schooling, but another may have had access to the best schools and STILL couldn't learn (intellectual dysfunction).

The facts are out there.
The education is out there.
One could argue that if society WERE intelligent enough to seek it they would BE more informed and educated.

 

 

 

 

 

It is possible this forum will be revitalized, but that can not happen if there is zero participation

 

Becareful what you ask for...lol.
You start getting more activity on the discussion board it may come with more fighting, trolling, negroes threatening eachother, and in a short time ALL of your disposable time will be taken up monitoring, deleting posts, and banning people....and explaining WHY you had to ban them.  
The going thing now on some forums is threatening law suits against the site over being "harassed" by somebody THEY provoked and accusations of bullying.

The increased traffic you thought would be a blessing ended up being a curse that forced to CLOSE the discussion board because you didn't have time to baby sit it and things got out of control...lol.

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12 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

One could argue that if society WERE intelligent enough to seek it they would BE more informed and educated.


Of course this is true but is no cause to believe we are getting less intelligent.

 

To your point there very well could be man-made environmental factors leading to a drop in our collective IQ.

 

12 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

You start getting more activity on the discussion board it may come with more fighting, trolling, negroes


This is absolutely true. In the old days I was often asked to muzzle someone or kick them off the forum. So I’m aware of this in fact you see this on LSA today.

 

One popular poster here threatened to sue me a number of times, but she was a drama queen and was probably responsible for scaring a number of people off the site.

 

Those were the days when people (lurking) would come up to me at a conference and describe something they read on the forums.

 

 

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Troy

 

 

Of course this is true but is no cause to believe we are getting less intelligent.

 

I base that assertion in part off of personal observation.
I know it's not the BEST way to measure a society's intellectual level, but unless I give everyone personal IQ tests over prolonged periods of time...how else could I confirm my suspicion?

 

 


To your point there very well could be man-made environmental factors leading to a drop in our collective IQ.

 

That's exactly my point.
Intelligence levels are primarily a matter of BRAIN function which means it's highly influenced by physical changes.  If more toxins are being introduced to the environment that negatively impact brain function we should expect that to negatively impact cognitive function.

 

 

 

 

This is absolutely true.

 

You're going to eventually find out that MOST of what I say is aboslutely true..lol.  It may take a while, it may be years or decades down the line...but eventually my words will be validated.

 

 

 

 

 

One popular poster here threatened to sue me a number of times, but she was a drama queen and was probably responsible for scaring a number of people off the site.

 

Now see, I didn't know that and I don't believe you've ever told me that before now....but I knew it happens because it happens on OTHER sites.  It's been going on for atleast the past 6 or 7 years to my knowledge.  It really took off after the anti-bullying campaign when certain people started calling any form of verbal altercation or challenge "bullying" to lay the grounds for legal action later on.

 

 

 


Those were the days when people (lurking) would come up to me at a conference and describe something they read on the forums

 

This is why I'm careful with sharing personal information on social media and message boards.

You never know WHO is lurking and watching what you're saying.


Now here you have a big FREE (I'm telling you....you should seriously think of charging some of these bastids for peddling their shit on your platform..lol) website open for folks to come in and promote their books and engage in intelligent discussions about their books or any other topic.  But Negroes will sit up and make all kinds of silly and stupid excuses not to participate.

Casual young black woman checks social media while sitting alone at cafe by  Rocketclips

"AAL-who???
Girl I don't know who that is!
I HEARD it was a site full of men from Haiti or something like that.
I HEARD they were anti-trans-phobic or something like that.
Anyway, Instagram just took me off of 3 week suspension and guuuurl
.
...I can't wait to start posting again!"



They'd rather hang out on social media platforms where they are overly regulated in their speech and are constantly suspended and penalized for every little thing they say or show.

------but on the flip side you have a bunch of racist Caucasian lurkers who are DEDICATED to monitoring your site!
They CAN'T STAY AWAY.
Constantly posting shit you have to  delete, make up fake accounts just to break their way in and post as much racist content as they can hoping it will be noticed before you delete it...lol.   DESPARATE to get on the site and get their insults and racism noticed!

Now what does that tell you about them, and more importantly about your own people?

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On 4/22/2021 at 6:41 PM, Troy said:

 

I'm not saying forums must post silly shit, like the comment below, to garner participation, but fun has to be mixed in with the seriousness. 

 

Yes, I would agree. 

 

On 4/22/2021 at 6:41 PM, Troy said:

The post tickled me because it was so absurdly shallow.  There was a time which I was guaranteed to get a laugh visiting these forums, but this was years ago now.

 

 

Yes, that is shallow. Idk but I guess today’s pressing issues might have something to do with the way these kinds of forums are being visited right now. Maybe some of the regular shallow contributors are not being appreciated right now and therefore have temporarily refrained until they get better feedback. And, people come to forums for various reasons and again, due to the crazy type of things happening right now, that kind of audience may not be getting much feedback. I too like to laugh at some of the shallow things I sometimes come across in these forums, but I didn’t think that particular post was funny, imo. Geez, what's wrong with a pick up truck? 'I guess she had a hard time imagining herself with a White guy in his pickup truck'! LOL. Is she Black? 

 

Every so often I too like to post ‘shallow subjects’ but for some reason, I think people don’t like it when I do, so I have pulled back. I come to forums for specific reasons, one of which is to seek like minded viewers on Black African-typed subject matter and because this is a serious endeavor, I think it is sometimes hard for people to see me as liking humorous post ever so often. I remember once, I posted something my son showed me about ‘a Santa Claus Meme’ and it was not received very well. And even now, my son well made me laugh so hard, I cry due to some of the shallow stuff he comes across and shares with me. And as a matter of fact, I will share one incident now:

 

One night he came up to me with a serious tone and asked if he could share a video with me. So he opened his laptop and as I was watching, he observed that my face became perplexed. My eyes got big and then I said,

 

“Is he serious!? What in the world!?” Then, all of a sudden, my son burst out laughing. I was still wondering what in the world was that? Well, it was a video that went viral a few years ago of a young Black man, who made his own music video and wrote his own lyrics about a girl that he was in love with. The young fellow was singing all off key! And, he dance moves were horrible, he was contorting in all sorts of ways, however, he was very sincere about his video. And it got even funnier as the video continued. My son said, keep watching… well the girl in the video was a close friend of his, and she was a very pretty girl and she was calm and so lovely as she was portrayed in the video walking with him as the fellow sings and confesses his love to her. Then close to the end of the video, the girl broke out and started dancing and contorting just like him. … well my son watched my reaction, and I almost fell out of the chair. It turns out though, that this fellow is autistic and that was why his interpretation was so UNIQUE! And I asked is the girl also autistic!? But no, she was just a wonderful girl that agreed to do the video for him and at that time, I suppose she had no idea, but the video went viral and he is making big bucks!!! So now, every now and then, my son will bust out in the moves and start singing like that fellow, and I just laugh till I cry… I ‘be’ begging him to stop. I won’t post it here though, because I don’t think it will be received very well. My son told me that there were actually other video spin offs of people showing the similar reaction I showed. The song and video actually has a lingering affect and it is really nice imo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Oh I’ve forgotten all about this idea I had. There’s software called Disqus that I use on most of the pages on this website. I thought, I still do on some level, believe it has the ability to be both social and a good Substitute for a dedicated discussion form.

 

Here is a blog post from 15 years and someone has commented on it 15 minutes ago: https://aalbc.com/blog/index.php/2006/07/09/can-black-people-go-5-minutes-without-music/

 

Instead of having discussion forums dedicated to a single website, imagine the conversation being extended across thousands, 10s of thousands of websites covering a variety of subjects.
 

I think if Disqus marketed its software this way it would be more widely used.

 

Today many websites don’t  use comment Because they need to be managed. The management of my Disqus comments can be more labor-intensive the managing this discussion forum.

 

There are also probably not very many websites with sufficient content and traffic to even generate many comments. Many of the websites that do you have a company feature used to Facebook social media plug-in...

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7 hours ago, Troy said:

Well darn @Chevdove you can't give the video that kind of build up and not share it 🙂

 

LOL! Okay. I had to ask my son what is his name so I could locate it. Here it is:

 

 

It's something about you girl - YouTube

 

 

 

 

Okay here are a few reactions to him:

 

I'VE NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD | ICEJJFISH ON THE FLOOR MUSIC VIDEO REACTION - YouTube

 

 

REACTING TO ICEJJFISH!! *SO FUNNY* - YouTube

 

 

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I did not find the video funny at all. Nor did I find it entertaining. I guess I’m too old to appreciate it.

 

Pioneer it was the video that Chen posted. I just embedded it to make it easier for others to watch.

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Troy

 


I did not find the video funny at all. Nor did I find it entertaining. I guess I’m too old to appreciate it.

 

Me neither, and I'm not sure if it's about age.
If I were 20 I don't think I'd find this video funny or entertaining. Though at that age I didn't know too much about autism so I'd probably would have said a few inappropriate things about the young brother in it without realizing his condition.

 

 


Pioneer it was the video that Chen posted. I just embedded it to make it easier for others to watch.

 

Who is Chen?
Why does he think this is "funny"???
 

Like Del said, it looks pitiful but the distorted movements and sounds also makes it a bit frightening...lol.


Since he was/is autistic I'm wondering did the young brother make this video all on his own or did those girls help him make it. 
I ask because this COULD be a case of them taking advantage of his condition and poking fun at him.

Some other races will do that with Blk people.

I came across a bunch of videos on youtube featuring African children who were born disfigured or deformed from birth defects that you'll find among people of all races, but they were showing them in a way as if it was "normal" for these Africans to have these features.  
You don't see them much in the video but the videos were made by non-Africans and you could instinctively tell they weren't doing this videos to help or show sympathy but to really make fun of these unfortunate children.

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3 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

I'm not sure if it's about age.


I don't just mean chronological age but age in terms of time period.  A Black 20 year old in 2021 is not the same animal as one from almost 40 years ago when I was 20.

 

3 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

Since he was/is autistic I'm wondering did the young brother make this video

 

The autistic kid did not make this video.  The production quality is relatively high -- a quality camera, lighting, and good editing.

 

"Chen" = "Chev" as in @Chevdove (it was a typo introduced by autocorrect which seems to happening a lot more lately).

 

3 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

You don't see them much in the video but the videos were made by non-Africans and you could instinctively tell they weren't doing this videos to help or show sympathy but to really make fun of these unfortunate children.

 

Is this any different than @afro718's post?

 

 

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Troy

 

 

 A Black 20 year old in 2021 is not the same animal as one from almost 40 years ago when I was 20.

 

Some of these young people are straight up...strange.
I was watching the protests in Minnesota the other week and one of the reporters got smashed in the head with a glass water  bottle and fell down and some of the younger people in the crowd started laughing and making fun of him.
 



You've had crazy young people since who can remember, but many of them seem crazy in a "different" way today.

I certainly don't think I would have laughed at that incident if I were 15.

I probably wouldn't have rushed to his aid to see if he was alright like I would today, but I'm certain I wouldn't have laughed at him hysterically and made fun of him falling out like some did.

 

 

 

 

The autistic kid did not make this video.  The production quality is relatively high -- a quality camera, lighting, and good editing.

 

Yeah, this DOES look like a professionally done music video.
So it seems to me that someone/s of atleast normal intelligence put this together.  It's hard to believe they did NOT understand how inappropriate this was.
Even if the young brother himself agreed to it...they should have  known better.

 

 

 

 


Is this any different than @afro718's post?

 

Ofcourse.
Much different.

 

The picture in Afro718s post isn't exploitational...not in my opinion atleast.


Despite calling them a "he"...the person's sexual identity looks a little obscure, but I'm not sure if that was the purpose of the thread anyway.
Afro's questioned called attention to the person's ethnic and racial identity, not their gender or sex.

 

Whoever put that video together most likely KNEW that young brother had a developmental disability and would behave in a way that seemed strange and attention grabbing.  They clearly used his disability for entertainment purposes.
 

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Even though I did not buy the video entertaining I did not find it explicative at all.

 

Now none of us know Afros motive for posting the photo and asking for opinions of the guys ethnicity and race. For all we know he could’ve been goofing on somebody to ridicule them as I indicated. I waited ridicule the guy.

 

He could’ve also been providing an example of the folly of trying to describe ones ethnicity or even race based upon the way they look. That is the motivation that I took away.

 

Everyone sees things differently.

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I will add, assuming absent knowledge to all comments,  one key point; how many people discuss in their home ?

We talk of discussions online; if you do not discuss in your home, offline,  then will you want to discuss elsewhere? I doubt it. 

The passion to discuss must stem offline and in the statian contingent in modern humanity, human beings are reared with a computer as their sole companion whose structure is designed to reflect a slave, not an engaged companion

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On 5/4/2021 at 9:26 AM, Pioneer1 said:

Man, that was scary as hell.....why did you post that video?

The moves.....
The sounds....

Down right frightening.

 

LOL! No! He's autistic. At any rate, I shared this video after i initially spoke about viewing a few months ago. Believe or not, this fellow was sincere in the making of this video.

 

On 5/4/2021 at 8:35 PM, Delano said:

It's less funny and more poignant knowing he is autistic

 

I understand!

I wonder if I had not had revealed that he was autistic before you heard it; What would your reaction had been.  

 

 

 

23 hours ago, Troy said:

I did not find the video funny at all. Nor did I find it entertaining. I guess I’m too old to appreciate it.

 

Really?

I actually love his lyrics and I think he is really talented considering that he's autistic. 

At any rate, this video went viral and so, it does speak to what seems to be trendy, I suppose. 

And also, in light of this very thread topic,

I wonder if we, as humans in general are a cruel human 'race' because, I wonder if most of the 'shallow' bits of entertainment and laughter on social media that people get a rise over mostly revolves around another persons unfortunate condition in life.

 

After I did research and realized that this fellow was autistic, I actually appreciated his talent much more, but nevertheless, I can see why his video went viral due to the reaction when most people viewed his video for the first time. It caught me completely off guard.  

My initial thoughts were 'why in the world' would someone have the nerve to feature himself in a video sounding like that and contorting like that. 

 

On 4/22/2021 at 6:41 PM, Troy said:

There are a variety of reasons but one has to do with the nature of the conversations.

 

Oh yes, 'the nature of the conversations'; Is there less activity due to people today not wanting to engage in 'bullying' type or degrading or mocking type of antics or topics that revolve around poking fun at another person's misfortunes.  It's not fun these days, having to deal with the type of bade news we are hearing in the news today perhaps. 

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Chev

 

 

My initial thoughts were 'why in the world' would someone have the nerve to feature himself in a video sounding like that and contorting like that. 

 

Perhaps because YOU wouldn't take advantage of him, you don't think others would.


Let me ask you a question.........

 

If you were in school and they hosted a talent show and a group of students convinced a mentally retarded boy to go out on stage and just "be himself" and clapped and cheered him on as he acted up infront of the audience....what would you think of this?


Do you think those students who pushed that retarded boy out to perform before the audience were his friends and did it with good intentions?
 

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22 minutes ago, Pioneer1 said:

f you were in school and they hosted a talent show and a group of students convinced a mentally retarded boy to go out on stage and just "be himself" and clapped and cheered him on as he acted up infront of the audience....what would you think of this?

 

I would be very angry. And, I would not go along with it and would absolutely protest, right then.

 

23 minutes ago, Pioneer1 said:

Do you think those students who pushed that retarded boy out to perform before the audience were his friends and did it with good intentions?
 

 

No. True friends would never do that. 

 

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Chev

 

 

I would be very angry. And, I would not go along with it and would absolutely protest, right then.

 

The reasons WHY you would be angry was because you knew the malicious and evil INTENTIONS behind them pushing that boy out on stage to expose himself like that.
You knew HE didn't know any better but those who encouraged him DID.

It's the same with this video.

Like the retarded person...HE didn't know any better, which is why he didn't see the problem or how weird his dancing and singing was humorous to "normal" people.

Autism is a developmental disability like retardation.
While retardation affects the intellect.
Autism affects the social skills.
Neither one knows when someone is making fun of them or taking advantage of them.
 

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On 4/23/2021 at 8:59 AM, Troy said:

Why do so called "woke" Black people give all of their energy to white owned platforms -- who have demonstrated zero desire to truly serve Black people? 

First, you'd have to answer what is the value to post on a Black-owned forum. Black people don't hold power in this country. Therefore, posting on Black-owned media would be like preaching to the choir. At least, in the last two decades, when Black people post on white-owned sites, they've elevated their professional status. Many Black activists, entertainers, journalists, even educators have launched their profiles through Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and now Instagram. Does this serve Black people? Nope, but it does help some Black people to realize their individual dreams. 

 

And speaking of individuality, just like any other ethnic group, we all have varying views of the world. Some of us are liberal, some of us are religious-fundamentalists, some have patriarchal views, others have matrilineal perspectives, etc. So a Black forum doesn't serve Black people either. At least not all. Humans tend to flock to communities that connect them mentally. 

 

For example, This community serves us through literature. We visit here because of the books written about Black people and books written by Black people. 

 

Also, when we did congregate on Black-owned media, especially book shops or through book publishing -we were targeted by the FBI. So maybe black people have been programmed into believing it is better to infiltrate white-owned media and hide in plain sight, so to speak. This way, if we are targeted, it is in full view of the world.

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@Mel Hopkins I agree: 

44 minutes ago, Mel Hopkins said:

At least, in the last two decades, when Black people post on white-owned sites, they've elevated their professional status.

 

Yes we marginalize ourselves.  I recall quite clearly the fact that Black writers are balk at my paying them $100 for a book review -- while they would boast and promote that they were Blogging (writing for free) on the Huffington Post site!  The Huffington post benefited from a great deal of free and exclusive content that I could not even pay for!

 

Social media has just taken it to a while 'nother level.  Today many reviewers STILL give Goodreads (an Amazon site) free book reviews! Why?  I'm not aware of a single reviewer who has given Amazon free books review who has "blown up."  Indeed, the number of platforms paying for reviews have been greatly diminished during the past 20 years when writers have been writing for free for the massively wealthy properties, from Facebook to Amazon.  I wrote about this 8 years ago warning writers about Digital Sharecropping.

 

As far as being targeting by the FBI; the FBI's job is done.  When was the last time a Black person did anything impactful enough that our enemies felt the need to assassinate them?

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55 minutes ago, Troy said:

As far as being targeting by the FBI; the FBI's job is done.  When was the last time a Black person did anything impactful enough that our enemies felt the need to assassinate them?

Yup!  It's crazy, right?  Sadly, this means even our writing isn't controversial enough.  I wear my alexa rating on melhopkins.com with a badge of honor.  I checked alexa one day - and it had labeled my content/twitter shares - "black women, anarchist"  I was like "damn right" lol

1 hour ago, Troy said:

Black writers are balk at my paying them $100 for a book review

 

Say what??? 😄😄😄

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Mel

 

 

First, you'd have to answer what is the value to post on a Black-owned forum. Black people don't hold power in this country. Therefore, posting on Black-owned media would be like preaching to the choir. At least, in the last two decades, when Black people post on white-owned sites, they've elevated their professional status. Many Black activists, entertainers, journalists, even educators have launched their profiles through Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and now Instagram. Does this serve Black people? Nope, but it does help some Black people to realize their individual dreams. 

 

And speaking of individuality, just like any other ethnic group, we all have varying views of the world. Some of us are liberal, some of us are religious-fundamentalists, some have patriarchal views, others have matrilineal perspectives, etc. So a Black forum doesn't serve Black people either. At least not all. Humans tend to flock to communities that connect them mentally. 


All of what you described can be and WAS done on Black websites like Black Planet and Davey D's forums for years before social media gained more traction.

You don't need a social media platform like Twitter or Facebook to do all that you described, all you need is a large POPULATION of people who are participating in the platform.

 

People frequent these platform..not because of some inherently superior atmosphere.  
Infact, an overly regulated social media platform that suspends you and gives you strikes for very minor infraction is INFERIOR to a well moderated website...in my opinion.

Black people flock to these places simply because they're POPULAR .
That's where most of the people are...so that's where THEY go...to be around other people for whatever agenda they may have in mind be it romantic or financial.

 

If Black people would flock to and patronize Black websites like they flock to and popularize White ones....those same "dreams" you speak of would be fullfilled and those same careers would be launched because they would have met the same people and opporunities...just on a different platform.


It's simply and strictly a matter of popularity.

And that popularity is for the most part due to MARKETING.

 

 

 

 

Also, when we did congregate on Black-owned media, especially book shops or through book publishing -we were targeted by the FBI. So maybe black people have been programmed into believing it is better to infiltrate white-owned media and hide in plain sight, so to speak. This way, if we are targeted, it is in full view of the world.

 

Most Black people who feel that way will feel that way on ANY platform.  They're going to see social media is just another tool used by the internet to target people.  

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19 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

It's simply and strictly a matter of popularity.

And that popularity is for the most part due to MARKETING.

Yes, absolutely, that is what is necessary for black forums to excel. But as Troy mentioned, it's not happening. That was the point of my response. TODAY most black people who excel in their careers get a boost on white-run social networks. They're publicly owned. So I need to correct myself. White-owned media isn't accurate. 

 

Both Davey D and Black Planet today still exist. Some sites report Black Planet, owned by Radio One, has 20-25 million registered users. Even Solange, with her popularity - and her older sister, Beyonce', did their best to drive traffic to Black Planet. Solange set up an account to launch one of her studio albums. Do you know how the majority of followers found out? She posted on Twitter that she was on Black Planet. https://solange.blackplanet.com/ So, I'm not saying what you've written is in dispute. It's just not happening on the level as it has in the past. 

 

Issa-Rae-Cover-Story-2-16x9-1.jpg

Case-in-point,  Issa Rae is one of the most successful people I know who launched her entertainment career through a white-run social network. Issa Rae created Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl series on YouTube - and that led to her HBO series "Insecure," Pulitzer awards, and Emmy Nominations. Now she heads up an entire corporation, Hoorae productions https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/issa-rae-insecure-hbo-hoorae-1234936020/ that helps other black people launch their entertainment projects. She also uses Patreon, a community of patrons (benefactors), to help her support new talent. Here's the article I wrote for EBONY magazine about her.

So yes, marketing is the key to popularity but just not in the traditional sense. Now we're promoting our personal brands on social networks with the largest audiences.

 

 

Edited by Mel Hopkins
Included a concluding sentence: Now we're promoting our personal brands on social networks with the largest audiences.
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Mel

 

I didn't know Black Planet was still operating...lol.


Issa Rae is an EXCELLENT businesswoman.
A real boss.
....like most children of African immigrants.

 

AfroAmericans are great at marketing their own INDIVIDUAL brands.  Issa Rae, Puffy (he'll always be Puffy to me), Beyonce, Perry...are just a few that come to mind. But when it comes to the marketing for the COLLECTIVE....that's when the jealousy kicks in.

I don't blame Rae or anyone else for capitalizing off of social media to the fullest.  However at the end of the day AfroAmericans must be willing to SACRIFICE a certain amount of time, personal fame, and even temporary profit if we want to build our own platforms and have some sort of semblance of independence.

 

 

 

 

 

Troy

 

I know you use social media to advertise AALBC, ever thought about kicking out $10,000 or $15,000 for a couple of billboards in some strategic spots to promote this site?


There's some sort of Critical Race Theory movement going around in AfroAmerican academic circles that you're probably aware of that you can really capitalize off of.  

 

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On 5/6/2021 at 1:29 AM, Delano said:

I didn't see your post about his autism before I watched it.

 Oh wow! @Delano Then you do have a lot of intuition! 

 

On 5/7/2021 at 5:22 PM, Troy said:

Maybe the video was celebrating the "differently-abled," and it went "viral" because the video resonated with folks.

 

perhaps. @Troy

 

 

On 5/8/2021 at 10:15 AM, Pioneer1 said:

Suicide resonates with a lot of folks also...which is why a lot of suicide videos and snuff films go viral and draw a lot of attention.
 

But their popularity don't make them any more ethical or appropriate.

 

Yes! So true! @Pioneer1

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