DJ Vlad Failed as an Adult to Learn Empathy

Yes, I know it's a heavy thing to say - to even say that someone failed as an adult.

We are not perfect, especially not me.  There has been times when I should have shown more empathy.

But the reason why I'm making an example out of DJ Vlad is because he REPEATEDLY said that actor Geoffrey Owens "failed as an adult" because he was bagging groceries at Trader Joe's when he's in his late 50s.

I already mentioned in a previous blog post about Geoffrey Owens and how common it is for artists, entertainers, etc to be financially struggling even after they have some dose of fame 
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2018/09/surviving-as-performing-artist.html


For those who don't know, DJ Vlad is not only a DJ but the host of VladTV, an interview show specializing in hip-hop culture. He not only interviews rappers and producers, he also interviews actors, comedians and anyone else who is popular among hip-hop fans. 

In the past few months, DJ Vlad tries to bait his guests by stating "I think Geoffrey Owens failed as an adult because you shouldn't be bagging groceries when you're in your late 50s".  So far, none that I know express agreement with DJ Vlad.

But if you want to talk about "failure as an adult", then let's talk about "failure as an adult".

As an adult, you should have already developed some empathy for other people who are in less than ideal situations.

Some of that empathy can be developed through life experiences, some of that empathy can be developed through reading about the lives of others.

Ideally, you start developing empathy as a child. However, children tend to not be able to properly deal with other people's differences and therefore comment on them with snide remarks and ridicule.

As an adult, you should be beyond that already. 

Sure, some of us slip us. We get irritated by another person without understanding the other person's situation. Some of that is because the other person isn't obligated to tell you their life's tragedies, so we don't always know it when the other person irritates us.

But when we know about the other person's situation, you should at least have some level of compassion.

 As an adult, for DJ Vlad to be constantly saying that Geoffrey Owens failed as an adult because he is working at Trader Joe's show that DJ Vlad is a person who lacks empathy. He lacks compassion. He thinks empathy is for suckers. He thinks ridiculing other people's less than ideal situations is great for his business.

This is why I'm so glad Lord Jamar (rap artist who was part of the 90's era rap group Brand Nubians) got on DJ Vlad's case and told him that he needs to be empathetic to people who are struggling financially, especially being that DJ Vlad markets to the hip-hop crowd, many of whom are African-Americans and are living in less than ideal economic conditions.

There's much we don't know about Geoffrey Owen's situation. He doesn't want to do too many interviews about his situation and he has ZERO obligation to tell us about it! It is possible that he might've made bad decisions on finances. It is also possible that he might have passed on lucrative opportunities because he might have to take care of family members who are ill. (That happens to PLENTY  of hard-working successful people) Maybe he passed on roles that he might've felt are demeaning or stereotyping  and would prefer roles that would empower the African-American community. Or maybe there's just not enough roles for older African-American males who don't already have the level of fame of Morgan Freeman.

Or maybe all of this is none of our business because we're not Geoffrey Owens.

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I also want to talk about DJ Vlad's accussation that Geoffrey Owens situation is because he doesn't "hustle", as if he thinks his lack of recent success is because of laziness.

DJ Vlad seems to think that hard work immunizes you from poverty.

It doesn't!

Yes, hard work tends to help towards success.

But there's also this thing called LUCK!

But if I mention about luck, people get offended. They react with "how dare you call it luck, I got my success because I work hard".

But mentioning luck doesn't erase the hard work involved.

For example, look at Will Smith, a popular actor with great work ethic.

He started out as a rapper. He had a few hits, but also had some flops.

Will Smith got LUCKY that he was able to meet Quincy Jones who noticed his potential to be a sitcom actor.  This at a time when people still thought rap music was a passing fad so why bother hiring  rappers to be a star on sitcoms.

Because Quincy Jones advocated for Will Smith, he was able to get a role in what became a very popular sitcom "Fresh Prince of Bel Air".

Had that sitcom flopped, I doubt that many producers and directors would be so willing to have him take the lead role in so many iconic films in the late 90s. Regardless of how hard he worked! 

So yes, Will Smith got lucky. Yes, he's a hard worker.  That doesn't erase the fact that he got lucky enough to get all these opportunities to work hard and become an actor that gets millions of dollars per film. 

But also recognize that many wannabe actors in his generation also worked hard in auditioning for roles they didn't get. Some only had minor roles, some gave up because they had bills to pay NOW and not willing to eat out of garbage cans while waiting for the dream to come true. Some of them might even be better actors than Will Smith but didn't have the name recognition that he got from having a few hit singles early in life.

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Or let's talk about Tom Brady. Everyone who worked with him says he has a great work ethic.

But he's also lucky that his talent in throwing an oval-shaped ball is a talent that millions of people are interested in watching.

Those whose talents (plus blood, sweat and tears) are in field hockey, lacrosse and handball will NEVER get the millions of dollars that Tom Brady receives due to his talents being more interesting to the millions of viewers in the US.

Had Tom Brady grew up in Romania, he wouldn't have much opportunities to work hard in honing his talent in throwing an oval shaped ball.  He would have to resort to playing soccer, and I doubt he could even come close to being a multi-million dollar soccer star.

So Tom Brady is lucky. That doesn't mean he doesn't work hard. But he's lucky that his talent and  skill in throwing an oval shaped ball is something profitable in the country in which he was raised.


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Here's my YouTube speech about the whole issue about DJ Vlad failing as an adult to learn empathy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX_az7fo0tE

"DJ Vlad Failed as an Adult to Learn Empathy"

Are children born good or bad? How about racist, non-racist, gay, straight, or whatever else?

There's this perception that children are born innocent, but then become corrupted by society!

I think the truth is more complicated than that!

I've subbed at classes serving various age levels, even preschool.

I did witness some profound acts of giving and kindness by little children.

I also witnessed some mean acts of terror committed by the little ones. (there's a reason why there's a phrase "The Terrible Twos")

And sometimes, the acts of kindness and the acts of cruelty came from the same little child.

So children are born with angelic and devilish qualities.

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But what about prejudice?

It is a common cliche that children are born without prejudice, that it is only because of society that children become prejudice.

I think the truth is more complicated than that!

I mentioned this on Medium

https://medium.com/@pablowegesend/i-remember-working-as-a-substitute-teacher-at-a-preschool-and-listening-to-a-conversation-where-one-ae35edb16462

I remember working as a substitute teacher at a preschool and listening to a conversation where one of the workers mentioned about an infant of East Asian ancestry who was calm when seeing East Asian faces, but cried out loud when seeing European faces.

Remember, we’re talking about an infant, a type of person who can’t really process conversations in which words like “crackers”, “honkies” or”haoles” are used! An infant wouldn’t understand concept like “history” or “systematic oppression”. The infant just saw something that he/she didn’t like (without knowing why) and reacted!

That right there tells me that some people are born with some racial biases, the same way some people are born with certain sexual orientations, or born to be more prone to anger or depression than their peers, or born to smile more often than others (I noticed this last one when comparing my brother’s 3 daughters).

It is VERY SCARY to even admit that some children are born to be more racially biased than others. It is VERY SCARY to admit something that goes against the common wisdom that “nobody is born to hate, we are only taught to hate”.

That being said, just like we can reinforce norms that encourage children to control their anger, we as adults can reinforce norms that would reduce children’s tendencies towards racial bias. It is hard, but let’s do it anyways.

I mentioned this on Medium, and here's a response from virtue-signaling Andrew Grant-Thomas.


I'll post the whole debate on here. 

Andrew Grant-Thomas

May 11, 2017

Let me make sure I understand you, Pablo. You heard a story from a preschool person about an Asian American baby who cried when s/he saw white faces. And from that you infer that “some people are BORN with some racial biases” (my emphasis)?

That’s a terrible inference, Pablo. And it’s an especially terrible inference weighed against the tons of research evidence we have that particular biases are learned.

The inclination to divide the world between in-group and out-group members is very likely ingrained for survival reasons, but how do babies learn which people among those she might see are which? Does a newborn pop out of the womb saying, “Hey, I’m Asian! Where’re my people at?!” No. Within a few months baby gets comfortable with what’s familiar and comforting — a certain voice or a voices, a smell, a pair of hands associated with skin color. Baby is less familiar, less likely to associate comfort with other voices/smells/skin colors.

That’s how it begins. Bias creeps in early. But that’s a very VERY different story than the one you’ve told, in which some babies are “born to hate.” The least we can say is that if some babies are born racially biased your anecdote hardly makes the case. How old was the infant? Did s/he loving Asian faces and crying at white faces out the womb? Is the storyteller you heard this from reliable? Is it possible that baby had a bad experience, or even a series of bad experiences, with a white caretaker?

Etc.

Pablo Wegesend

May 11, 2017

[QUOTE] Does a newborn pop out of the womb saying, “Hey, I’m Asian! Where’re my people at?!”[UNQUOTE]

Do babies pop out of the womb saying “hey everyone I’m gay”?

Do babies pop out of the womb saying “I’ll grow up to need meds to control my anger”?

Do babies pop out of the womb saying “I’m more prone to depression than your average person”?

Do babies pop out of the womb saying “I’ll be smiling more often than my siblings”?

Do babies pop out of the womb saying “I’ll have a learning disability”?

Do babies pop out of the womb saying “I’m going outshine Einstein”?

You know the answer is no! You also know that much of those traits are inborn traits. You know that children are born to be prone to certain personalities.

It’s common knowledge that some people are born with certain dispositions (ie. smile more, be easily depressed, quicker to anger, process information slower than others, be a mega-genius, be more masculine/feminine than the average person of the same sex), but once you say “some people are born to be more prone to prejudice”, you just touch The Ultimate Third Rail!

Saying “some people are born to be more prone to prejudice” doesn’t mean we should condone those people’s action, just like saying “some people are more prone to temper tantrums” mean that we should condone violence.

But then again, if you think babies are born to be Blank Slates, then we’ll just have to agree to disagree!

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[QUOTE] Is the storyteller you heard this from reliable?[UNQUOTE]

She wasn’t a neuroscientist, just someone who made an observation. Sometimes, observations don’t follow a politically correct narrative.

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[QUOTE] Is it possible that baby had a bad experience, or even a series of bad experiences, with a white caretaker?[UNQUOTE]

The baby most likely lacked any familiarity with white caretakers and was more accustomed to caretakers of East Asian ancestry. Maybe that baby’s biases would mellow in time. Or maybe that baby would continue to shun European-descendant peers.

 

Andrew Grant-Thomas

May 12, 2017

[QUOTE]You know the answer is no! You also know that much of those traits are inborn traits. You know that children are born to be prone to certain personalities.[QUOTE]

SOME *traits* are shaped more by “nature,” SOME more by “nurture,” and many by an interplay between the two.

In re kids and their racial attitudes, the crucial point you need to contend with is one I noted in my piece and in my first response to you: “it’s an especially terrible inference weighed against the tons of research evidence we have that particular biases are learned.” I linked to some of that research in the piece. My guess is that you’re not familiar with any of that work.

For whatever reason, you’re personally invested in the notion that some babies “are born to be more racially biased than others.” To support this claim you mention an anecdote you overheard about an Asian American baby who purportedly cried when s/he saw white faces. That’s like saying global warming must be a hoax because it was unseasonably cold last Wednesday.

“Science” isn’t a perfect discipline or practice. But when the preponderance of scientific evidence is on one side of an issue, as it is the case of when and how kids learn racial bias, we really ought to hold ourselves to a higher standard of rebuttal than reliance on a single second-hand anecdote that doesn’t clearly support the point you’re trying to make.

Pablo Wegesend

May 12, 2017

[QUOTE] For whatever reason, you’re personally invested in the notion that some babies “are born to be more racially biased than others.” To support this claim you mention an anecdote you overheard about an Asian American baby who purportedly cried when s/he saw white faces.[UNQUOTE]

I just used that as an example. NEVER did I claim that example overwhelmingly proves a point! NEVER did I claim that nurture doesn’t affect racial bias .I just mentioned it as an example that racial bias could possibly have a “nature over nurture” component! Mentioning that example was NEVER meant to dispute any claims that racial bias could have a “nurture over nature” component. It was NEVER meant to dispute all of scientific research! It was just an example in a discussion, not an attempt to disprove that “nurture over nature” exist!

Let’s put it this way, it wasn’t that long ago when people ridiculed the idea that people were born gay. But now people are accepting the idea that maybe sexual orientation has a “nature over nurture” component!

Some people ridicule the idea the people are born with ADHD or learning disabilities. People are now accepting that they have a “nature over nurture” as well as a “nurture over nature” component.

Same can be said for racial bias, it could have a “nature over nurture” as well as a “nurture over nature” component. Even if 98% of racial bias is “nurture over nature”, it doesn’t mean that 2% doesn’t exist!

Andrew Grant-Thomas did not have a response to that!

His cliche's got owned BIG TIME! 

Children can only understand so much!

Children also don't know how to properly deal with differences.

Their response to differences is to make snide remarks, not realizing how much that hurts the heart of the other person.

Children do that to peers with acne!

Children do that to peers unusually tall or short for their age!

Children do that to peers who lack the usual body parts (ie. have only one arm) 

Children do that to peers who have extreme allergies.

Children do that to peers who are slow in athletics or academics.

And yet we expect children to not notice when one of their peers is racially different from everyone else?

Yes, adults can escalate or de-escalate all of these situations. 

But the impulse to stigmatize the other is already there! 

Saying "the impulse to stigmatize the other is already there" IS NOT THE SAME THING AS SAYING "it's OK to stigmatize the other!

Just like saying " the impulse to lash out violently is already there" IS NOT THE SAME THING AS SAYING  "it's OK to lash out violently"


Just like how some people have calm dispositions and some people have angry dispositions, it seems to be the some people are just prone to prejudice, whereas others are prone to be open-minded.

Even in the segregated South, some European-Americans rebelled against their racist relatives/peers and risked getting disowned by marrying inter-racially. 

And even in the relatively liberal Obama era, where children in our educational system are taught to respect diversity, some children still grow up to be racist pricks.

That tells you that even society's powerful influences have its limits in influencing the human mind.


saying "even society's powerful influences have its limits" IS NOT THE SAME THING AS SAYING "we should just give up!"

It's just dealing with politically incorrect reality! 

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Also, on gender issues, it is commonly known that males tend to be a certain way, females tend to be a certain way.

Some is biological.

But what is also biological is that some males will be more feminine than others, some females will be more masculine than others.

Even in nonhuman animals, there are homosexual and even intersex individuals.

Back to the human world, even in the most conservative societies, there will be some males who just don't fit with their masculine peers, and some females who just don't fit with their feminine peers.

(you can look up LGBT from Middle East and other Muslim-majority areas as an example)



And even in the most liberal societies, some males will be super-masculine, some females will be super-feminine.

(you can look up Scandinavia; also some indigenous American and Pacific tribes respected their non-binary individuals as "two spirit people", but still had their ultra-masculine men and ultra-feminine women)



Even society's powerful influences have its limits in influencing how masculine/feminine an individual will be. 



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PS: yes, I know this isn't a thesis, dissertation or any peer-reviewed scientific study! You can always research more on this issue on your own! I know you want to!

Victimhood and College Applications

On Medium (a blogging site, just like Blogger), Deena ElGinaidi claims that college applications pressures "people of color" ( I hate that term, I prefer  the term "people with non-European ancestries") to relive their traumas in the essay portion of the application.

Read her post at 
https://electricliterature.com/how-applying-to-grad-school-becomes-a-display-of-trauma-for-people-of-color-7bccd68103bb


As a person with some non-European ancestries, I have some thoughts on Deena ElGinaidi post.

Here is my response to her post

Reminds me of the movie “Dope” where an African-American teenage boy talked to a counselor about a personal essay for college placement. The counselor advised him to write about his life as a inner city kid living with a single parent. The student rebelled against that idea, calling it “cliche”. Apparently, he already understood that the college admissions staff probably heard similar stories a million times already.

As for me, when I applied for a master’s degree program in Library & Information Science, I did have to write a personal statement. My personal statement said ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about being a part-Latino student growing up in Hawaii because it was totally irrelevant to why I wanted to a career in the libraries. I just focused on why I wanted to work in the libraries, because after all, I applied to become a future librarian not a token to fulfill a quota. Even with that focus on my personal statement, I was still admitted to the program. Programs want students interested in their subjects, and if you express sincere interest, they will select you!

So if you don’t want to play up your ethnicities or your personal struggles, then DON’T!

Now, mentioning traumatic past might help in certain college applications if it's relevant.

For example, if you were applying to a master's program in Social Work because you've been saved from an abusive situation growing up, and you want to do the same for others who have been in the same situation, then yes, you can write about your traumatic past in your college application.

But if you're applying to a PhD program in Physics because you are fascinated by Physics, I don't think you have to mention your traumatic past or emphasize your under-represented ethnicities.

George Herbert Walker Bush

On November 30, 2018, former US President George Herbert Walker Bush (aka George HW Bush aka George Bush Senior) passed away. He was 94 years old!

He was president from 1989-1993, just when the world was in transition.  

Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe, best signified by the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. And then, America's rival, the Soviet Union, was no longer, split into 15 separate countries.

Meanwhile, America's foreign policy transitioned. It was no longer about beating the Soviet Union on the world stage. So there was now less incentive to support anti-communist dictators just to get back at the communists.  With this, the US could no longer use the communist scare as an excuse to support the apartheid regime in South Africa. Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

But the military-industrial complex still needed a reason to exist.

So now Bush  turned against other dictators once supported by his former boss Ronald Reagan. 

First was Manuel Noriega, Panama's dictator once supported by Reagan. But now that the Cold War was over, and that Noriega supported drug cartels, Bush sent the military in December 1989 to take him out.  Noriega was arrested and spent the rest of his life in US prisons. 

(note: there are some unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that Noriega wasn't allowed to talk to media while imprisoned because he would've spilled out embarrassing information about America's policy on foreign affairs, drug trafficking and more)

But Noriega was just the appetizer.

In August 1990, Saddam Hussein, another dictator supported by Ronald Reagan, sent Iraqi troops to invade Kuwait.  He thought the US (and the rest of the Western world) would let it slide, the same way they've been letting it slide when he used chemical warfare against Iran as well as his domestic opponents. But Hussein didn't realize that in the post-Cold War world, the US military-industrial complex needed a "new bad guy" and that now, he was it.

So now, Bush gave Hussein a warning: get the Iraqi troops out of Kuwait by January 15, 1991. Hussein didn't listen and the 1st Gulf War has begun! Bush sent US troops to save Kuwait and then put serious sanctions against Iraq.

People wondered why Bush didn't "finish the job" and sent US troops onward to overthrow Hussein. After all, Hussein was still alive enough to retaliate, with an assassination attempt against Bush when he visited Kuwait in 1993. Afterwards, the US (under next president Bill Clinton) launched missile attacks on Iraq, but no ground troops.

Bush's son, George W. Bush became president in 2001, and was determined to finish the job, first with missile strikes in February of that year. The 9/11 attacks (committed by Al Quaida with zero assistance from Iraq) gave new fears that Saddam Hussein might also launch future attacks. That lead to the 2003 Iraq war in which Saddam Hussein was finally overthrown, but also led to massive chaos as different factions fought each other to to fulfill the power vacuum after the invasion. This chaos led many to believe that Bush Senior did the right thing in not invading Iraq after kicking out their troops out of Kuwait.


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Bush Senior's success in expelling Iraqi troops out of Kuwait showed the world that USA was the last remaining superpower. It was a time for patriotism.

That feeling was short-lived!

On the domestic front, the US economy was in a recession.  The 80's boom was over, factories were downsizing, oil prices went up.

Bush being born wealthy, was seen as "out of touch" by average Americans struggling in the slowing economy.

To add insult to injury, Bush broke his famous promise :"Read my lips, no new taxes". But he did approve new taxes.  

Meanwhile, a charismatic politician, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton was running for president on the Democratic side in 1992.

Bill Clinton's energetic personality was seen as a contrast from the less charismatic "old" George Bush. 

Bill Clinton was less advantaged in that he grew up with a single mother in Arkansas small towns, but that humble beginnings became an advantage in 1992 as Bill Clinton was seen as someone who better able to relate to the average American as compared to born-wealthy Bush. 

Bill Clinton's election was seen as a dawn of a new era, in which the new generation was taking over. 
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However, with Bush Senior now done with politics, it was his sons turn to continue the family business. In 1994, his two sons ran for governors, George W won in Texas. Jeb lost in Florida that year, but eventually won in 1998.

George W was a popular governor in Texas, and was next in line to become the Republican nominee for president in 2000.  He won a close election against Clinton's VP Al Gore.

Unlike his father, George W was re-elected to a second term! However, his popularity declined with the mismanagement of Hurricane Katrina's recovery in 2005, as well as concerns of the continuing war casualties in Iraq. For the final insult, George W faced his own recession in 2008, just in time to hurt John McCain's chances to continue the Republican control of the White House.

In 2016, Jeb Bush was to run for president. However, he was too gentle a soul to effectively campaign against a loud belligerent Donald Trump!

As negative as Donald Trump is, his one redeeming quality is that he made the Bushes look sane in comparison.

I remember when everyone on the Radical Left thought the Bushes were the source of the world's evil. They thought things can't get worse than them. Donald Trump proved them wrong!

The Bushes were for a more lenient immigration policy. George W planned to give amnesty to illegal immigrants early in 2001. He even met with Mexico's president Vicente Fox early September 2001. However, 9/11 ended that plan! George W kept trying to remind people that not all Muslims were bad people. He wanted to emphasize that his war against Al Quaida and Saddam Hussein wasn't a war against all Muslims. 

However, not everyone wanted to hear that message. Donald Trump exploited such fears to take over the Republican Party and this country.

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Some said that George Senior exploited racial fears when his 1988 campaign ad featured Willie Horton (a convicted murderer who allowed to go on furlough when he committed a home invasion & rape) as an example of how Micheal Dukakis was too lenient on crime when he was governor of Massachusetts.  The furlough program was started by a previous governor, but Dukakis continued the program until the public angrily reacted to the Willie Horton incident.

Al Gore actually brought the issue up in the 1988 primaries by pointing out Dukakis was too soft on violent crime. He didn't mention Horton by name. But Bush's supporters noticed what Al Gore said, did more research, and showcased Willie Horton's face on TV ads.

Dukakis leniency on violent crime was a legit issue. Willie Horton was a dangerous person who should be locked up forever.  Willie Horton was a legit issue for the campaign. 

I don't think Bush was racist against African-Americans, but also could've diversified the example to use in his anti-crime campaigns. He probably underestimated the use of the race card by those who oppose him! 

However, in this decade, Donald Trump used the Willie Horton strategy to promote fear of immigrants. Whereas Bush never made any public statement blaming any ethnic groups for crimes (he only had an ad that showed a picture of Willie Horton), Trump routinely blames specific ethnic categories for crimes. He started his campaign with a speech saying that that Mexican immigrants are bringing crimes, drugs and are rapists (nevermind that Trump himself is an accused rapist who is lucky his victims didn't follow through in pressing criminal charges) and he promised a ban of all Muslim immigration (which he followed up with an attempt at banning  of immigrants from 7 Muslim-majority countries). 

Trump did post an ad on social media highlighting a Mexican-immigrant who killed police officers, as well as image of Central American riots to promote fear of Latin American immigrants. He also exploited/pimped the death of Mollie Tibbetts, an Anglo jogger in Iowa who was killed by a Mexican immigrants. However, Tibbetts family told Trump to back off, that they had Mexicans in their extended family and to leave them alone.  A Trump supporter running for the US House in Tibbetts' district lost a Democrat who supported a more lenient immigration policy. 

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George HW Bush also had other highlights in his presidency

• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which required all new facilities to be accessible to people with disabilities
• Immigration Act of 1990, which allowed for increased immigration to the US
• Clean Air Act of 1990, to reduce air pollution
• Civil Rights Act of 1991, which allowed for lawsuits against employers who discriminate
• His visit to Pearl Harbor in the 50th anniversary of the attack. Bush joined the military a few months after the attack.
• the end of the military use of the Hawaiian island of Kaho'olawe as a bombing target

After politics, his highlights included

• developing a friendship with former political opponent Bill Clinton as they both did fundraising to help the victims of th 2004 tsunami that hit various Asian countries
• going skydiving in his 75th,80th, 85th and 90th birthdays

Stan Lee

Earlier this month, legendary comic publisher Stan Lee passed away at the age of 95!

photo from Townhall

Stan Lee

Stan Lee spent much of his career working for Marvel and created some of their major characters including SpiderMan, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Black Panther as well as the collectives Fantastic Four and the X-Men.

Much of those characters were introduced in the 1950s-1970s when the media landscape was changing.  Previously, the heroes of comics, films and TV shows were the epitome of the perfect men, with great morals, great strength and showed almost very vulnerability.  In film, John Wayne was the all-American man. In comics, the Superman (of DC Comics) was indestructible.

But the times were changing. People were questioning America's high ground in the light of the civil right's movement and the Vietnam War.  People were starting to question authority more. People were questioning their parent's generation more. People were questioning why the need for so much censorship. 

Stan Lee's creations  reflected those societal changes. He had his superheroes express vulnerability more, even though they had some rare superpowers. He introduced nonwhite characters in his comics and made anti-racist statements at the risk of alienating European-American audiences. 

His comic book characters eventually had their own animated cartoons and merchandise (including but not limited to toys, Halloween costumes, backpacks, school supplies, blankets, video games and more).

And in this century, they became a billion-dollar movie franchise.

And just like his contemporary Hugh Hefner (founder of Playboy), Stan Lee never faded from the media spotlight even as the world around them changed!  

Even at his old age, Stan Lee still toured the world and attended comic book convention. People stood in line and paid big money just to shake his hand and take a picture with him. 

On the day he died, many people shared photos they took with Stan Lee, as well as Halloween costumes of his characters.  I was volunteering at a booksale sponsored by the Friends of the Library of Hawaii (FLH) on the day he died, and FLH posted a photo on their social media pages  of Marvel comics being sold that day. 




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Growing up, my older brother was a comic collector who was a major Marvel fan. He said "DC Comics suck" and like a follower that I was, I said it too even though at that time I didn't actually read a DC Comics to figure out if they were better or worse than Marvel. 

My older brother mostly collected X-Men comics as well as Marvel cards.  I mostly learned the characters from those cards.

I also had a SpiderMan toy.

As I got older and became more distant from my brother (long story short, life happens! But we did talk story this past Thanksgiving), I stopped paying attention to the comic world. Some of my friends are still into the world of comics, whereas my pop culture interests shifted towards music and nightclubs. 

I had fictional characters in my mind, but I never came up with a storyline for any of them. I experimented with drawing political comics during my undergrad years in UH being that I was friends with the school newspaper (Ka Leo O Hawaii) political comic artist David Parker. Our friendship didn't last long and after we stopped hanging out, I lost interest in drawing comics. None of them got published. 

But I did return to doing visual artwork when I started selling my music.  (note: music distributors and online music stores require visual artwork to go along with any single or album you submit to them).

As for fictional characters, in some of  my music videos (check out Pablo the Mad Tiger Warrior's YouTube channel), a Tiger makes an appearance. Sometimes, it's a rainbow colored Tiger made from scratch art. Other times, it's a Yellow Tiger made with coloring pencils. 

The yellow tiger symbolizes my high school mascot (McKinley High School), though I drew it differently so that I don't violate copyright!

The Tigers in the videos are shown doing stuff like

• motorbike stunts
• riding a lowrider
• playing a brass instrument
• holding a bazooka while the other is holding a tambourine
• lounging by a pool
• visiting an arcade
• taking a field trip to a mad scientist lab
• torturing another tiger with a whip
• riding a riverboat
• dying in a hospital bed

I also drew other characters for my videos, including not limited to a 

• a frog playing a guitar
• human video game warriors
• bears riding lowriders
• bears playing rock music
•  guard dogs in front of a barbed wire fence
• stick figures walking through a haunted castle
• person running from the police (coming soon, person on a motorbike speed chase)

They may not be international superstars like Stan Lee's creations, but hey, I am happy to be a part of a community of artists  :)

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BONUS: 

Some interesting articles about Stan Lee and his social impact



Jonah Goldberg, “Stan Lee's Work a Reflection of His Times,” Townhall, November 16, 2018,
 https://townhall.com/columnists/jonahgoldberg/2018/11/16/stan-lees-work-a-reflection-of-his-times-n2536050.


Chauncey DeVega, “Stan Lee Has Departed Our Universe, Having “surpassed His Wildest Dreams”,” Salon, November 19, 2018,
 https://www.salon.com/2018/11/19/stan-lee-has-departed-our-universe-having-surpassed-his-wildest-dreams/.

International Men's Day (and nighttime safety)

Today is International Men's Day!

(note: International Women's Day is March 8th. International Non-Binary Day is July 14th)


Now that we know all the International Days for the gender categories, I want to talk about nighttime safety.

 It is commonly perceived by many women that men never have to feel vulnerable when walking out at night!

However, men are more likely to be victims of homicides, assaults, robberies and more. The only crimes that women are more likely to be victims are sexual assault and domestic violence.

Men are aware of this and aware of their vulnerabilities, but they hide such vulnerabilities by pretending to be tougher and braver than they really are! This display of fake toughness gives the FALSE impression that men are not vulnerable at nighttime situations.

I have now posted a video about this issue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YilfGTHHkk4

"Gender & Safety at Night: who is really in danger at night?"

I mention that men that don't conform to hyper-masculine norms are very vulnerable to violence! I mention that men who dress in pink or wear dresses have extra vulnerabilities at night. I also mention that men who are (or just to perceived to be) gay, "nerds", "dorks", or just plain unathletic have been victimized by very violent bullying.

But I also mention that even men who conform to hyper-masculine norms have been brutally attacked at night.

I mention that former male boxer Andy Ganigan who got brutally beaten at night to the point where he had severe brain damage and required 24-7 care. He died from the effects of the injuries 2 years later. If that can happen to a former male boxer, that can definitely happen to any man. I wrote a blog post about the case at
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-lenient-is-too-lenient.html

I also mention that gangsta rap icons Eazy-E and Suge Knight have been attacked in separate cases. It is well known that Suge Knight threatened and attacked Eazy-E. But later in life Suge Knight got knocked out in separate occasions.  

Even in allegedly safe places can be dangerous for men. A friend who spent a few years in allegedly low-crime Japan was physically assaulted there.  As for the USA, many well-known cases of male-on-male violent bullying occurred in allegedly low-crime suburbs and rural towns. 

So the idea that men are not vulnerable to violence is just BS!


======

PS: 


speaking of Japan being allegedly low crime
: 
Bruce Wallace, “Japan's Police See No Evil,” Los Angeles Times, November 09, 2007.
http://articles.latimes.com/2007/nov/09/world/fg-autopsy9

John McCain

yes, I know his death was a few months ago!

I just didn't have time to blog about it then! Better late than never! 
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John McCain came from a family with a long line of veterans.  He was born in the Panama Canal Zone, which was then a U.S. occupied territory that was later given back to Panama's control. Ironically, it was he that was born outside the50 states, when his opponent was born in the 50th state but was accused of being born elsewhere. 


 McCain became a Vietnam War veteran who got captured and tortured for years. 

He joined Congress in the 1980s and built a profile as a "maverick" which he used to run for President in 2000. He lost the Republican nomination to George W Bush who had more money and more connections.

He tried again in 2008, this time winning the Republican nomination. However, he was up against Barack Obama who was out to make history as the first African-American president. McCain tried to make his own version of "history" by picking for VP, Sarah Palin who had the potential to become the first female vice-president. However, she wasn't ready for prime time and was an easy target for ridicule for her various gaffes. 

John McCain was an advocate for an aggressive foreign policy, which helped aligned with his former rival George W Bush after 9/11.  However, since then, the public has less patience for military adventures overseas.

He was an advocate for campaign-finance reform, with his proposed bill becoming law. However, it was over-ruled by the Supreme Courts in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case. 

He had a mixed record on race relations. He generally supported civil rights laws and a more lenient immigration policy. However, he generated much controversy over his use of the racial slur "gooks" to refer to the Vietnamese guards who tortured him. McCain continued to use that slur until the California primary was coming up in his first run for president. Then he apologized.

learn more at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/27/when-mccains-anti-asian-slur-stalled-his-straight-talk-express-he-doubled-down-then-he-apologized/

McCain and Bush also tried to have it both ways in 2000 when the South Carolina primary was coming up. They were both asked about the Confederate flag appearing in front of South Carolina's state capitol. They both just said "it's up to the people of South Carolina to decide", which just goes to show what cowards both were. They talk a good game about a more lenient immigration policy when campaigning in places like Texas and New Mexico, but were too scared to criticize the Confederate flag in South Carolina.  McCain later apologized for his cowardice. 


Later in 2008, during his presidential campaign, a woman at McCain's rally said she didn't trust Barack Obama because "he's an Arab" (actually, he's of Kenyan and European ancestries). McCain responded by saying 

No ma’am,” he says. “[Obama’s] a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.”

This response gave the impression that being "Arab" and being a "decent family man" is somehow mutually exclusive (it isn't). Granted, many of us don't always give the best response when someone catches us off guard with really idiotic statements. Especially when you're not given time to think of a response. However, it would be more appropriate had McCain said "Obama isn't Arab, but there's nothing wrong being an Arab and that his ancestry is irrelevant to whether he's the right president. Now let's focus on policy rather his race!"

more on that issue: 
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-uptake/mccain-responds-to-arab-a_b_133820.html

McCain criticized the Jones Act, the protectionist shipping law that hurts the US access to international trade. McCain correctly pointed out that the Jones Act was benefitting shipping companies over the American people. However, the 2 old Dan's (Inouye and Akaka) from Hawaii were supported by the shipping companies and refused to speak up about how the Jones Act gave special harm to Hawaii and other US-occupied islands. 

Towards the end of his life, it must've broken John McCain's heart that the Republican base supported Donald Trump. Trump, a tough-talking pansy who avoided military service during the Vietnam War taunted McCain about being captured during that war.  Usually, that kind of disrespect would end the career of the person doing the disrespecting. It didn't hurt Trump much, as I noted in a February 2016 post
https://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2016/01/trump-and-real-conservatism.html

"Conservatives"  are usually appalled if the Radical Left Wing protesters disrespect the troops! But many didn't seem bothered at all when Donald Trump insulted Jon McCain for being captured as Prisoner of War!

Insulting a veteran over his/her war-time traumas is usually a fatal mistake for any politician!

It didn't hurt Trump much!

Why? Because for many "conservatives", hating Mexicans and Muslims is more important than respecting the veterans! 

The Republican Party has become a cult of personality, making excuses for Donald Trump no matter what he does. 

The Republican Party traditionally distrusted Russian tyrants. John McCain famously distrusted Vladimir Putin and offered support to Georgia (the nation, not the state) and Ukrained when invaded by Russian troops. Donald Trump basically praised Vladimir Putin and only offered insincere weasel-word criticisms when pressured by the media!



 John Mcain and Donald Trump had never made peace. Trump isn't worth making peace with!



More articles on John McCain


(note: the inclusion of these articles in this list DOES NOT mean I agree with everything written in those articles. just that I found it well-written and interesting)


first, from the more pro-McCain side

Jonah Goldberg, “How Mccain's Patriotism Can Still Best Trump's Nationalism,” Townhall, August 29, 2018,
 https://townhall.com/columnists/jonahgoldberg/2018/08/29/how-mccains-patriotism-can-still-best-trumps-nationalism-n2513750.


Erich Reimer, “Remembering Senator Mccain’s Patriotism and Duty to Country,” Townhall, August 28, 2018, 
https://townhall.com/columnists/erichreimer/2018/08/28/remembering-senator-mccains-patriotism-and-duty-to-country-n2513561

Charles Djou, “The Courage and Resolve of John Mccain,” Honolulu Civil Beat, August 27, 2018
https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/08/charles-djou-the-courage-and-resolve-of-john-mccain/

Max Boot, “John Mccain Leaves the Stage When We Need Him Most,” Washington Post, July 25, 2018,
 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mccain-leaves-the-stage-when-we-need-him-most/2018/08/25/a67793c0-a8cd-11e8-97ce-cc9042272f07_story.html.


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from center-left writer Nicholas Kristof

Nicholas Kristof, “John Mccain, a Maverick We Can Learn From,” New York Times, August 25, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/25/opinion/john-mccain-death.html.


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from the left-wing writers critical of John McCain



Bob Hennelly, “Another American Happy Warrior Laid to Rest: John Mccain’s Legacy of Gung-Ho Militarism,” Salon, August 29, 2018, https://www.salon.com/2018/08/29/another-american-happy-warrior-laid-to-rest-john-mccains-supremely-mixed-legacy/.


Timothy Patrick McCarthy, “Reckoning with John Mccain: Respecting the best of Mccain requires grappling with the rest of Mccain.,” The Nation, August 27, 2018, https://www.thenation.com/article/reckoning-with-john-mccain/.