PTSD & cultural appropriation

Me, I'm from a multi-cultural environment! I grew up in Hawaii, where it is rare for any school to have 100% of the students be of the same ethnicity!

(even Kamehameha Schools, a private school whose enrollment policy  has a "preference" for Native Hawaiian student, has lots of mixed-race students, many of whom don't even look like someone who was living in Hawaii before the arrival of European explorers)

In that environment, people pick up cultural habits from multiple ethnicities! 

We eat food from multiple ethnicities (especially poi, spam musubi, char siu, chicken abodo and more)

Contemporary Hawaiian music uses the "ukulele", which  did NOT exist before the Portuguese laborers brought their mini-guitar instrument to Hawaii. 

We use words from various languages to our everyday speech. For example, many of use Hawaiian words ("mahalo", "aloha" "auwe") or Japanese words ("bachi", "shibai") in our everyday language. Many of us also learn profanities from various languages -- every kid  in Kalihi can name some Filipino & Samoan profanities!

This is not to say racial tensions aren't there --  not only is Hawaii traumatized by 1893 (when Euro-Americans overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy), not only does Hawaii have a problem with "haole bashing",  but there are also deadly rivalries between Polynesian & Micronesian gangs in various public housing complexes.  Plus, some local comedians specialize in ethnic jokes (though it's going out of style, as all those comedians are older than me, and I'm 35 about to be 36!)

But still, most of us in Hawaii live in such multi-cultural environments, had elementary classmates of various ethnicities, and work in multi-cultural workplaces, that doing things from other cultures is second nature to us!

Which is why I have an extremely hard time relating to racial activists complaining about "cultural appropriation"

I mean, sheesh, if I'm in an environment with a lot of Filipinos, Polynesians, Japanese, Portuguese and much, much more  ........................ I'm going to adapt some of their cultural habits!

I mean, people adapt to their environments....... DUH! 

It's hard for me to relate to activists offended by Anglos wearing sombreros! (yes, I'm part-Mexican)

But much of what I consider Phony Justice Warriors from the continental US did not benefit from growing up in a multi-cultural environment like I did!

Some of them are overly traumatized by their interactions with an European-American environment!

Did I say "overly traumatized"?

Yes!


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I mean, for veterans returning from a war-zone, it is common knowledge than any loud sounds might bring flashbacks of wartime explosions, even if they're no longer in a warzone!

A veteran who was deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan probably has experienced seeing friends being blown to pieces. 

A veteran who was deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan probably has experienced being on the constant lookout for IEDs or snipers!

Spending months in such environments stays with you for a long time.

Bring that veteran back to a peaceful town back in the US, and any loud noises (ie. car accidents, balloons popping, fireworks on 4th of July) would trigger memories of hearing loud noises that symbolizes imminent death in their wartime experiences.

For many veterans, they have access to therapists who can help them overcome such paranoia!

----


But what about other forms of PTSD!

What about children experiencing peer abuse?

What about children experiencing racialized peer abuse?

Indian-American writer Silpa Kovvali mentioned this

http://www.salon.com/2016/10/03/stuff-white-people-like-yoga-tacos-and-pretending-the-white-supremacy-that-fuels-cultural-appropriation-doesnt-exist/?source=newsletter

Indeed, part of the frustration stems from the fact that the same practices and traditions which white people enjoy to the benefit of their hip and tolerant brands are practices and traditions which young brown children were mocked for indulging in, which were used as evidence that they weren’t working sufficiently hard at assimilating.

It’s hard not to flinch when white acquaintances eagerly brag about having ordered Chicken Tikka Masala the other night, knowing that white classmates once refused to come over for playdates because they’d heard my house smelled like curry.

That right there is PTSD talking!

Just like how a veteran responds to loud noises as if he/she is still patrolling the streets of Fallujah.....................

................. Silpa Kowali (and other non-whites who complain about "cultural appropriation") respond to innocent actions of European-Americans as if she's still in middle school getting picked on by bullies!

But at least the veterans knows that a balloon pop IS NOT a deadly gunshot, even if that triggers memories of combat!

But Silpa Kowali is so dripping with PTSD that even appreciation of Indian food by European-Americans, brings up feelings of  "you people picked on me when I was a kid, but now you like our food?"


That PTSD blocks her from realizing that

• those Euro-Americans expressing love of Indian food ARE PROBABLY NOT THE SAME INDIVIDUALS who picked on non-white kids during their school years

• Not every Euro-American have the same attitude or opinions

• People from multi-cultural environments pick up cultural habits from multiple ethnicities

• Even if a 24-year old Euro-American expressing love for Indian food was once a 12-year old bully who picked on Indian-Americans ...................................WHOAH! STOP THE PRESSES ......................... A 24-year old has a different attitude from when he/she was  12-years old..................WHAT SHOCKING NEWS!

It is this PTSD that motivates idiot activists like the following

• Chican@ activists who are upset when Anglos wear sombreros
• African-American bloggers upset that Macklemore & Iggy Azalea make hit records
• Arab-American writers upset at the sight of white belly dancers

People like them need to start controlling their PTSD!

At least veterans know when their PTSD is making them unreasonably paranoid, and many of them get help from the VA!

But those with racialized PTSD don't understand they have excessive paranoia!

Instead of getting mental health treatment to help them overcome   the fear of well intentioned European-Americans, they get the following instead

• Politically Correct history lessons that only emphasizes European conquests of non-white lands

• Politically Correct history lessons that ignore massive atrocities by non-white conquerors (ie. Turks, Japanese, Aztecs, Zulus) all throughout history

• Politically Correct history that ignores that many European countries never conquered a single non-white land

• the lack of education about how much of the world's cultures influence each other NOT ONLY BY CONQUEST but also by trade, voluntary migration and inter-racial mixing

• wussy college admin's dripping with "white guilt"

• the lack of exposure to well written conservative/libertarian thought, giving students the false impression that all they need to know about non-liberal thought is what Donald Trump or Ann Coulter tweeted last night

With this type of educational negligence, those overly traumatized activists dripping with PTSD will contribute to the worsening of race relations in the US! 

Expand the Presidential Debates

Today there was the debate between Donald Trump & Hillary Clinton. Being that it was going while I was working, I didn't yet get a chance to watch it!


More importantly though, our presidential debates should include everyone running for president. It's only fair that everyone gets a chance to discuss their plans and question each other.


I made a YouTube speech the other week to encourage the Commission on Presidential Debates to have more presidential candidates. I mentioned Gary Johnson  (Libertarian) and Jill Stein (Green Party), but there can be more.

Anyways, here's a YouTube speech

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhAWbIYEfqw

"Expand the Presidential Debates"

Intellectual Freedom Frauds (part 2)

In the first "Intellectual Freedom Fraud" blog post,  I mentioned that UH-Manoa professor Noriko Asato won an award for promoting intellectual freedom even though she was THE VERY PERSON who asked me to sign a document to withdraw a complaint against an internship supervisor at Hawaii State Library,.

This is the link to that blog post: http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2016/06/intellectual-freedom-frauds.html

And other blog posts related to that same issue

There's much more which you can read at

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/05/professional-victim-professor.html

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/06/professional-victim-professor-part-2.html
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/07/professional-victim-professor-part-3.html

The following is more about Rich Gazan, but is so related to Asato's situation

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2016/01/database-man-out-of-his-league.html 

The following was more about the internship supervisor Tisha Aragaki

http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2015/04/problems-at-hsl.html

But you know what else?

I found more evidence that Dr Noriko Asato is an Intellectual Freedom Fraud!

I found an article written by Dr. Noriko Asato titled "Librarians' Free Speech: The Challenge of Librarians' Own Intellectual Freedom to the American Library Association, 1946-2007". that was published in the Summer 2014 edition of Library Trends!

Now, to get online access to that article, you either need a paid subscription to that journal or be a student or a faculty at a university that has access to databases with links to that article.

But I found the article in the print version of Library Trends at UH-Manoa's library!

So now, I'm going to compare what Noriko Asato writes in that article to what Noriko Asato tells me when I was a student intern! 

It's sort of like comparing what Bill Cosby preaches to the public to how Bill Cosby treats women he invited to his room!

But enough about Bill Cosby, let's just focus on Noriko Asato for now! 

=======================

(note: that articles goes from p. 75 to p. 102 of that journal, with citations on p.103-105]

On page 75 of that article 

However, librarians' own intellectual freedom has been largely overlooked. Because of this, safeguarding librarians' own free speech rights has received very little attention even within the profession. This article examines over a half-century of cases involving librarians' attempts to defend their own intellectual freedom. 

and also this

The intellectual freedom of information professionals such as librarians  has not been considered a fundamental part of this paradigm. In other words, the profession celebrates the free speech of librarians only in the case when they use it to promote access to materials. Other forms of expressions fall upon deaf ears.

Those 2 paragraphs supposedly shows that Noriko Asato has sincere concerns about protecting the intellectual freedoms of librarian, even though in Real Life, NORIKO ASATO tells interns that they should withdraw complaints against internship supervisors!  

Noriko Asato is THE VERY ONE who "celebrates the free speech of librarians only in the case when they use it to promote access to materials" and that ........................."Other forms of expressions fall upon deaf ears." ................... wait, wait.......................................................Other forms of expressions should be silenced because it makes Noriko Asato feel "very afraid" and "threatened".

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On page 76, Noriko Asato writes about the McCarthy era and how it affected librarians, the American Library Association (ALA) reaction to McCarthy, and then mentioned this

This paper examines the cases of several librarians who either were fired, lost their positions, or endured social stigma because they pursued their own intellectual freedom rights. 

But when I pursued my own Intellectual Freedom in expressing complaints about my internship supervisor at the Hawaii State Library, Noriko Asato wanted me to sign a document that I would withdraw my complaint!

(note: I refused, and Noriko Asato got over-ruled by the higher-ups in the university. Noriko Asato to this very day has NOT apologized)

--- 

page 77 mentions this

The third category specifies librarians' intellectual freedom in the workplace. This includes "freedom of speech at work", "whistle-blowing". "racial discrimination" and exercising an individual's religious and political beliefs"

Notice that put the words "whistle-blowing" in larger fonts, underlined and in bold type!

By  me writing the letter to the HSL's  (Hawaii State Library) branch manager about the internship supervisor (Tisha Aragaki) that was a form of "whistle-blowing" 

I blew the whistle on Tisha Aragaki!  Noriko Asato (as well as LIS chair Rich Gazan, and her husband Andrew Wertheimer) didn't like my "whistle-blowing" 

So Noriko Asato persecutes whistle-blowers! Noriko Asato wants whistle-blowers to remain silent. 

Gazan said that "gives ammunition to lawyers to use against me".

That's Rich Gazan's way of telling me to stop snitching!

Andrew Wertheimer calls that "fighting for justice" (as if it's a bad thing) and "burning bridges" 

-----------

p. 78-81 focused on a specific cases about librarians standing up for the right to keep a controversial magazine in the library's collection. I will skip-over that part because my situation didn't involve the right to keep controversial material in a library.

p.82 is mostly about the ALA's response to those cases, but also mentioned this

The delegate explained how an increasing number of librarians sacrificed their careers in order to adhere to their professional belief in intellectual freedom. 

But Noriko Asato tells me that but not withdrawing complaints that I'm "harming"  my "potential to be hired........."    and Andrew Wertheimer tells me by that fighting for justice I am burning bridges.

Nevermind that both of them were  lucky to be born after World War 2, and that luck is TOTALLY BECAUSE people "fight for justice" and "burned bridges" so that those of Japanese and Jewish ancestry can have professional success without worrying about being placed in prison camps!

In other words, Noriko Asato and Andrew Wertheimer are EXTREME INGRATES who are ungrateful for those who sacrificed their careers (and lives) so that Noriko Asato and Andrew Wertheimer would never have to suffer through what those a few decades older had to suffer through!

Those who benefited from such sacrifices SHOULD BE THE VERY ONES encouraging those who risk their careers to stand up to bullies in supervisory positions! 

----

p. 83 mentioned 

a two-day meeting on intellectual freedom called "More than Lip Service: Backstopping  the Library Bill of Rights" 

But as you can see throughout this article, Noriko Asato and Andrew Wertheimer show NOTHING BUT Lip Service when it comes to librarians' intellectual freedom! 

--------

p.84-86 focused on another case of a librarian whose contract was not renewed because he refused to delete a controversial magazine from the library's collection. I will skip-over that part because my situation didn't involve the right to keep controversial material in a library.

-----

p. 86- p.89 focused on a case where a librarian was fired for protesting his daughter's school (a public school) for requiring attendance of religious education sponsored by a local church.  Pages 89-97 focused on a homosexual librarian who was fired for his attempt to get a marriage license back when same-sex marriage was still illegal.  Page 97-99 focused on a library catalouger who objected to some of the politically incorrect subject headings given to library materials, and was therefore fired.  I will skip over those parts since my situation didn't involve "church and state" nor "sexual orientation" issues.

---

  

From p.99, a quote from the library catalouger who wanted a change in the ALA's "Library Bill of Rights"

Libraries should permit and encourage a full and free expression of views by staff on professional and policy matters.

Real life Noriko Asato DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT INTERNS should have "full and free expressions of view by staff on professional and policy matters"

Real life Noriko Asato DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT interns should have a chance to appeal and discuss the actions of the supervisors! 

Real life Noriko Asato TRULY BELIEVES interns should quietly  & meekly accept anything bad that happens to them! 

The concerns Noriko Asato wrote in that article is 100% PURELY INSINCERE! It's as if Bill Cosby expressed concerns about sexual assault's effect on victims!

---------------

page 100

Further, in Q9, the ALA encourages members "to create a workplace that tolerates employee expression." It asks, "If librarians are denied the ability to speak on work related matters, what does this say about our own commitment to free speech?"

Noriko Asato has ABSOLUTELY ZERO "commitment to free speech"! 

Noriko Asato wanted to deny my "ability to speak on work related matters" when it come to the internship at the Hawaii State Library!

But Noriko Asato PRETENDS to be for the "intellectual freedom for librarians" but her actions are totally the opposite!

Hey Noriko Asato, you wrote articles about "intellectual freedom" to gain academic prestige?

But YOU ARE KNOWN AS AN INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM FRAUD!

I have exposed you as an AN INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM FRAUD!

Nobody will ever again believe that you have sincere concerns about Intellectual Freedom EVER AGAIN!

This is the internet era! This is the smartphone era! This is the YouTube era! This is the social media era! 

This is the era of people using the internet to stand up for themselves. 

Noriko Asato, not only are you exposed to the light  but but my exposing you as a fraud is IRREVERSIBLE! 

Once people know that Noriko Asato is an INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM FRAUD, there is no going back! 

This the point of no return! 

Noriko Asato, if you thought I wasn't going to find out about your article, then you have severely enormous levels of stupidity!

Noriko Asato, I will continue to find more evidence that you LIE to the public about your concerns about "intellectual freedom"

 ==============

PS: I finally made YouTube speeches about the professors mentioned in this (and related) blog posts

 

"Don't Dare Silence Me (LIS edition)"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGzYQTvK7kM

(note: one of my former classmates was so happy that I made that speech and FELT GUILTY FOR STAYING SILENT about those professors and their corrupt ways for YEARS!)

==============

"Professional Victim Professor"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6oCIx6Ov1M

That one targeted Noriko Asato for special scrutinty!

 

2pac : 2 decades later!

2 decades ago today, rapper/actor Tupac Shakur (aka 2pac) died!

photo from "Me Against the World"

He died from gunshot wounds he received a few days earlier when him and Suge Knight were cruising the streets of Las Vegas.

2pac was only 25 years old when he died, but he led an interesting life.

He grew up with a single mother who was a civil rights activist who fell on hard times and developed a drug addiction.  He moved around a lot when he was a child, going from the various districts of New York City to Baltimore and, as a teenager, to Oakland.

He liked poetry and ballet, both of which are stigmatized by his peers as "soft" and "feminine". To show his peers he wasn't soft, he developed a violent temper that spiraled out of control. As a teenager, he embraced the "thug life", and developed a love of alcohol, weed and guns.

He used his poetic talents to start a rap career.  As a rap artist, he had an appeal that very few could match.  Whereas some rappers only focus on the same thing (ie. some rappers only do sex songs, others only do gangsta songs, others only do activist songs, etc.), 2pac does it all!

He could show

•  a sensitive side ("Dear Mama", "Keep Ya Head Up", "Do 4 Love")
•  a fun, playful side  ("I Get Around" "All About U", "How Do You Want It?") 
• a social activist side ("Changes", "Something 2 Die 4", "White Man'z World")
•  and an angry side ("Hit Em Up", "Bomb First", "Papaz Song").

In other words, 2pac expresses all the emotions we feel!   He wasn't a one-dimensional rapper, and we're not one-dimensional people. This was what connected many people to 2pac.

But this was also what disappointed many people with 2pac.  Many who loved his sensitive and social activists songs were disappointed by his violent angry songs!   Many of those people were also heartbroken by 2pac's run-ins with the law.

As mentioned, 2pac had a violent temper, which got him several assault charges. He was known to threaten others with baseball bats, beat up those who offended, and even shot at 2 off-duty police officers.

However, the one allegation that really got him to serve serious jail time was his sexual assault charge. A woman accused him of rape after a night of clubbing. He claimed the sex was consensual. The woman said she was intending to spend the night with just him, but his friends came in to the room and violated her, with him joining in!

Those allegations were so the opposite of what 2pac said in "Keep Ya Head Up", where he said

And since we all came from a woman
Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman
I wonder why we take from our women
Why we rape our women, do we hate our women?
I think it's time to kill for our women
Time to heal our women, be real to our women
And if we don't we'll have a race of babies
That will hate the ladies, that make the babies
And since a man can't make one
He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one
So will the real men get up
I know you're fed up ladies, but keep your head up

Because of that song (and his other sensitive songs), many had a hard time believing that 2pac was guilty of those allegations.

But since then, anti-rape activism has gotten stronger.   Bill Cosby's reputation has been ruined when multiple women came forward with rape allegations.  Stanford swimmer Brock Turner is now a public outcast when he was convicted of rape.  Rick Ross had to publicly apologize for a rhyme in which he bragged about drugging a woman's drink. Nate Parker's new film is being boycotted over a rape charge from 1999 that he was acquitted of.

Granted,anyone can make accusations. Some people charged with raped were later found innocent of all charges. Famous cases of that happening included the  football player Brian Banks, pundit Tucker Carlson, rapper DMX and the Duke lacrosse players.  Unlike Bill Cosby, these guys didn't have a long line of accusers. Neither did 2pac.

Around the same as his trial for sexual assault, 2pac was going to visit a recording studio in which both Notorious BIG & Puff Daddy were present. But in the lobby of that building, 2pac got shot by unknown assailants.  2pac got paranoid and accused both rappers of setting him up to be killed.

Around the same time, he became close friends with Suge Knight, who was the head of Death Row Records, which was the most popular rap record label at the time. The label already had Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg.

While 2pac was in jail, Suge Knight mocked Puff Daddy at an award show, raising tensions between the East Coast & West Coast rap communities.

When 2pac was released from jail, he joined Death Row Records and made his #1 album "All Eyez on Me".  It had radio friendly songs ("California Love", "How Do You Want It"), gangsta pride songs ("2 of Amerika's Most Wanted"), sensitive songs ("Life Goes On", "I Ain't Mad at ya!"), and more! It was a certified street classic, and one of the best selling rap albums of all time. It set a standard to which other rap albums are compared to.

Meanwhile, 2pac publicly insulted the Notorious BIG (and anyone associated with him) on the song "Hit Em Up".  At awards shows, 2pac & Suge Knight confronted Notorious BIG, Puff Daddy and their Bad Boy crew!

Then it happened. On September 7, 1996, 2pac & Suge Knight were in Las Vegas to cheer on Mike Tyson at a boxing match.  After the boxing match, 2pac, Suge Knight and their entourage had their time to fight. Most of the people 2pac & Suge Knight were with were affiliated with the Bloods, and they attacked a person associated with the Crips.

After the fight was broken up, 2pac & Suge Knight were cruising the streets of Las Vegas when 2pac & Suge Knight got shot! 2pac received most of the gunshots and died 6 days later.

Meanwhile Suge Knight was found to have violated probation for the fight in Las Vegas and spent a few years in jail.

Notorious BIG was believed to be responsible for killing 2pac in retaliation for the "Hit Em Up" song. No evidence ever proved that claim. However, he was killed the following year after attending a party in Los Angeles.


*******************************


When 2pac died, there was a lot of unreleased music.  2pac was known to spend long hours at the studio every night making new tracks. He had more than enough to fill multiple albums that were released following his death.

Even 2 decades later, his music lives on! Songs like "California Love" still gets played at many nightclubs.  Car stereos still play "2 of Amerika's Most Wanted" or "All About U". "Dear Mama" is listed on the Library of Congress national music registry, as well as widely shared on Facebook every Mother's Day!

Rap music has changed since he died!  Whereas his era was the era of the "East Coast-West Coast rivalry", the  South has since dominated hip-hop by large margins.

Gangsta rap doesn't have the popularity it used to have.  Rappers still be rapping about getting drunk, smoking weed and having sex, but there's much less talk about drive-by shootings! Also, the videos are now more likely to take place in mansions & elegant nightclubs rather than poverty-stricken neighborhoods.



*****************

In a few months, the movie about 2pac's life, titled All Eyez on Me   will be in theatres, This is coming a year after NWA had their own biopic Straight Outta Compton which itself was a pop-culture phenomenon, with a huge marketing campaign, huge tickets sales, and everyone claiming to be "Straight Outta" somewhere, even if that "somewhere" is a rich suburb or a religious private school.

Straight Outta Compton (the movie) will be a hard act to follow. Time will tell if All Eyez on Me (the movie) will have even near the same impact.

9/11 - 15 years later

15 years ago today, terrorists associated with Al Quaida hijacked 4 jets to crash them into symbols of American power.  2 of the planes crashed into the World Trade Center (the symbol of US economic power), 1 crashed into the Pentagon (the symbol of US military power).  In the last airplane (known as "United 93"), somebody in the plane got word that other planes had already crashed into the World Trade Center, so that led the passenger rebellion against the hijackers, which caused the plane to crash into a Pennsylvania field! It was believed that the terrorists were planning to use that airplane into Washington DC!

In the days and weeks following the attack, there was a strong sense of unity & patriotism, more than I had ever seen in my lifetime! People bought American flags, and there was even a flag shortage! I even wore a flag pin for a while, until they kept coming off!

  People wanted revenge against the attackers and anyone associated with them!  In the US Congress, out of 100 senators and 435 representatives, only 1 voted against military intervention! Very rarely was there that much consensus for anything in Congress!

 Overwhelming majorities of US citizens supported US military intervention in Afghanistan to fight against Al Quaida and the Taliban hosting them! Reports of Taliban's cruelty towards its citizens (especially the women) made even the most pacifist of US citizens want the US to take aggressive military action against them.

But as with any strong feelings, they do fade over time!


When  President George W Bush wanted to use the US military to overthrow the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (who wasn't involved in the 9/11 attacks, but did want violent revenge against the US for expelling his troops out of Kuwait back in 1991), US unity started to crack! Yes, most of the US Congress (including Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Joe Biden) voted to support US war against Saddam Hussein, but many left-wing liberals protested against the war (including Bernie Sanders and low-profile Illinois state senator Barack Obama).

President Bush did get re-elected in 2004, but in the following year, his popularity went down the drain as news images showed the lack of quick action taken when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. Being that New Orleans is a black-majority city, it gave the impression that "George Bush doesn't care about black people" as Kanye West stated!  Nevermind that Bush hired African-Americans to prominent federal positions including Secretary of State and Secretary of Education.

But the damage to Bush's reputation was done. At the same time, Barack Obama became a political celebrity and many felt that he could be the one who could be the 1st black president of the United States.  At the same time, Obama's celebrity (and eventually political victory) scared those who feared he was a "secret Muslim"  (his father and step-father were from Muslim-majority countries, but they weren't religious extremist, nor were they a major presence in his everyday life growing up).

While many viewed Obama's victory in 2008 as a healing point where racial tensions would fade, that euphoria didn't last.

Anti-Muslim pundits used social media to fan fears of Obama's plans for America. They claim that Obama wasn't born in Hawaii, and made demands to see his birth certificate, even though it has been shown on Obama's campaign website in 2008!

Donald Trump, a man with no principles, noticed that there was a market that he could take advantage of for his campaign for political office. He exploited fears of the Mexican criminal and the Muslim terrorist to get media attention. He also exploited the fact that many of his Republican opponents were total wusses who couldn't stand their ground when faced with even the most minor of controversies!


At the same time, police brutality against African-Americans were highlighted in social media, bringing the Black Lives Matter movement to life. While the campaign to fight police brutality & racial discrimination is a noble cause, much of that has been overlooked as BLM's tactics (including blocking traffic and screaming in libraries) alienating potential supporters.


 To add insult to injury, non-white activists (some of whom were traumatized youth who grew up in mostly white communities) started to plot a shaming campaign against European-Americans by screaming about "cultural appropriation", "microaggressions" (a word I find extremely problematic as explained in this link) and "white privilege".   Those activists alienated white allies that would be so willing to listen to minority voices if they were given a chance to contribute their voices too!


So yes, the American unity after 9/11 had faded!



Let's hope it doesn't take another tragedy to bring that unity back to life again!

Why I like nightclubs more than concerts

R&B singer Solange Knowles was in the audience for a Kraftwerk concert in  New Orleans.  She was dancing, which angered other attendees who wanted to see the stage

https://www.yahoo.com/news/solange-knowles-fires-back-being-211533693.html


 People say she's supposed to stop dancing at a concert  so people can see  the performers on stage who aren't really doing anything visually spectacular? 

I love Kraftwerk and consider them one of the most under-rated influence on modern music! That being said, all the video clips I've seen of them performing live only show them playing keyboards, not making big dance moves, not grinding on females, not smashing things, etc! 




Why would I waste time at a concert where people just want to see the stage when I can to go a nightclub (w/ DJ's playing recorded music) where all eyes are on the dancefloor, and you can be the star of the dancefloor? 


That plus concert tickets for major acts tend to cost an arm, a leg and a left kidney! 

I can spend less $$$ and hear the same songs from the same artist being played by a DJ at the nightclub, be on the dancefloor and have much more fun!


No disrespect to those of you who play live music, I do sometimes attend block parties with many stages playing live music, I plan to do so again next Saturday at the Hoolaulea in Waikiki!


That being said, this news report just confirm my preference for going clubbing over going to concerts!

Coming soon - some anniversaries coming up

There are 2 blog posts I am working on to highlight some major anniversaries..


September 11 will be the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attack!


September 13 would be the 2-decade anniversary of the death of Tupac Shakur.

Both were major events in my lifetime, and both deserve some serious reflections.