It’s funny how things can turn for better or worse in the matter of weeks. Luckily, in my case, things are looking a lot better.
As of lately, opportunities have been coming my way. Last month I found out that I would be a part of The Huffington Post’s “Off The Bus” convention team. I and seven other contestants were chosen to cover the RNC and DNC this year. Personally, I will be covering the RNC, but with Hurricane Isaac picking up steam, I’m not sure if the trip will be cancelled or postponed. I’m hoping the convention will go on and that we will only have to deal with bad weather. Unfortunately, if postponed, I will not be able to cover the conventions because of a new job waiting for me in CA.
Two days ago, I was picked to be a panelist for The Huffington Post’s new endeavor Huffington Post Live 3…2…1. I was selected to discuss a topic I was interested in with three other panelists. I chose to talk about a blog post from John W. Whitehead about the collusion between corporations and the government to spy on Americans. It’s really quite frightening to think that cell phone carriers receive hundreds of requests from the government to obtain the private information stored on our cell phones — and they do all of this without the need for warrants as long as they call it an “emergency.”
To be candid, I was pretty nervous knowing that I was on the Internet with millions watching, but then I began to relax once I realized that nobody would probably see this segment.
The host, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, was great at facilitating the discussion, keeping it light and encouraging all of us to loosen up and just speak from what we knew. After all, most of the panelists were not experts, but that is exactly how the “Community Sound Off” segment is supposed to be.
*Here’s a great speech (a 15 min. video) by the host, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, on social media, Arab uprisings and the future of journalism.
Associate producer Milos Balac also did a great job putting everything together and making sure we had a good time. Luckily, the people watching enjoyed the panel and the HuffPo crew has asked us to come back in the future.
Between packing for CA and FL, bidding farewells to my family and friends and sending out “thank you” emails to the many people who helped me get to this point, I have been exhausted; I have been running on fumes and pure excitement of the future. This is a stark contrast from how my life was about a month ago.
I wanted to write this post to give a little hope to those that feel like things aren’t working out the way they planned. My advice to those people would be to take chance, don’t miss any opportunity, pay attention, meet new people and don’t be afraid to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. And above all, don’t be afraid to be stupid because at some point we all will be — embrace your inner stupidity.
In a study of 69 women (30 pregnant and 39 who were not pregnant), blood samples were taken of umbilical cords and the female subjects, looking for traces of pesticides that come from the consumption of genetically modified (GM) foods.
The results showed that Bt toxins, which are used in the cultivation of GM corn, were found in 93 percent of pregnant mothers (28 out of 30) and 80 percent of the umbilical chords (24 out of 30) (Here are previous posts I wrote on the effects of Bt toxins on Indian farmers and residents of Nitro, West Virginia).
Researchers believe this to be a ground-breaking study as it not only shows that Bt proteins and other chemicals from GM products are not immediately passed through the digestive tract as suggested by GM companies, but these toxins are retained for some time and passed from the placenta into the fetus.
It is not known what effects these toxins may have on people or fetuses, but knowing how delicate the prenatal process is, one should not be surprised if Bt toxins have disastrous effects on the unborn.
Until recently, studies on the effects of GM foods were conducted by the GM industry or the Agriculture Biotechnology Council to be specific.
As more people wake up to the path of destruction the United States, Inc. has created, we are finding out that some legislators do have the interest of the public in mind — Some is always better than none and as long as the ball is rolling in the right direction, I’m not really worried how long that ball takes to get to its destination.
In Vermont, state legislators have proposed a bill, H-722 or the “VT Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act”, which would force companies who are genetically engineering food partially or wholly to create labels on their products that express such.
Of course, this is not going over well with multi-billion dollar corporations like Monsanto. Monsanto is threatening to sue the state of Vermont if the bill passes the Senate. “How dare the public have access to information to better govern themselves!”
It will be interesting to see what grounds Monsanto will sue the state over. It’s beyond petty when the government passes draconian laws like the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and then responds to criticism by saying, “If you’re innocent, then you don’t have to worry about the government killing American citizens it feels are a threat to national security without due process.”
Yea, but the problem with NDAA is that I won’t have a chance to prove my innocence if you kill me first… Duh.
Then corporations like Monsanto turn around and point the finger at the government for something as basic as the people’s right to know if they are consuming GMOs and its toxins or not. I respond to them by saying, “If you’re innocent, then you should have no problem letting the public know if it’s consuming your products or not. Why keep your products hidden in secrecy? Are you guilty of something?”
In the words of Gordon Gekko, my generation is “fuc***!”
A New York Times op-ed from Todd and Victoria Buchholz on March 10, reads “The Go-Nowhere Generation.” Ignoring the multiple grammatical mistakes in the opinion piece, I’m going to focus on the substance, something that’s rare from my generation according to the Buchholz’s.
Their op-ed read as satire to me because nobody who’s been paying attention to this recession, which has been going on since 2007 (that’s FIVE years and there are still no signs of a recovery), can take this to be serious—not in the least bit. It’s basically a hit piece dissing my generation calling us “risk-averse,” “sedentary,” “dangerous drivers,” Facebook slackers, “Generation Why Bother,” and apathetic.
So let me start off by asking the Buchholz’s “Who started Facebook?” You know, that social media platform that allowed users from all over the world to connect, share their stories and exchange media helping to enable the Occupy movement and the Arab Spring which brought down world dictators? Yup, that was my generation.
Sure Facebook is a time waster, an easy way to stalk glamour photos of every single girl on the platform and a place where people post useless information about their lackluster lives, but what new piece of technology hasn’t had its drawbacks? When the telephone emerged it was specifically for business calls. Businessmen complained about their wives using the phones when they left for work saying that it would pervert the business profession. Yea, the men said that until they found out they could make bank by creating these little things called cell phones, which would eventually lead to a little company called Apple and their iPhone. But hey, nobody’s keeping score…
You point at us and call us lazy and tell us to “go get a job” (a slap in the face) when we take to the streets and try to change the world for the better in the only way we know how. Then if we don’t stand up for what we believe in you call us lazy and sedentary? I know this America has turned into a place where you can have your cake and eat it too, but that’s not how the universe works. The universe rarely protects the ignorant.
And who created this problem in America that those of us sitting behind computers with safe and cushy jobs are now seeming to ignore? I know this recession took years to create (it didn’t happen overnight), but leave it up to the Buchholz’s to blame the unborn for the ignorance of their generation who elected Reagan, Clinton, HW and GW (great records those guys have). These presidents helped to ship jobs overseas, create an unsuccessful and racist War on Drugs, arm Nicaraguan Contras, deregulate Wall Street, repeal Glass-Steagle, tank an economy with undeserved tax cuts for the one percent and create a War in Iraq based on lies that had nothing to do with 9/11. They also created reality TV because they weren’t creative enough to keep shows on the air like “Freaks and Geeks” and “Family Matter” which discussed real issues, focused on family values and didn’t have a bunch of drunk, methed up, scantily-clad men and women running around in a contest to see who can survive the longest on an island you chose to be on. Meanwhile in Africa and China…
Who was the generation that decided to become involved in endless wars, create an entitlement society that will struggle to reimburse its biggest contributors (i.e., the Baby Boomers)? Without a shadow of a doubt, these factors have inevitably led to our national debt exploding to nearly $13 trillion.
Who was the generation that decided to have kids, hold 16 or more credit cards and teach us that greed is good? Nearly half of Americans don’t pay federal income taxes (an all-time high), multinational corporations like General Electric built their businesses on American soil but pay zero taxes year after year and our national debt has exploded 1700% since 1971. So we have no way to bring in revenue and the people who became successful in America are now complaining about high taxes while shipping jobs overseas and raising the barriers to entry for my generation as if to say “I did it by myself (which they didn’t) so why can’t you?” Can you get anymore smug?
The Buchholz’s say that job rates are at 8.3% (not including the amount of people who have stopped looking for work) as if that’s going to make things fine. On a much more depressing note, job rates might only be going down due to the fact that the employment-population ratio stayed the same since 2010 meaning that we aren’t reproducing as much. Unemployment numbers may be decreasing because of the simple fact that our population is dwindling.
Also, marriages are at an all-time low. And who is the generation that won’t let homosexuals marry, yet complain about “family values” and the lack of parenting? Oh yea, that’s the Buccholz’s generation. One of the best ways to increase revenue and create a stable economy is through strong families and home ownership, but that’s unrealistic now.
How can anyone get a job when 23% of companies are hiring, companies are receiving tens of millions of dollars in bonuses while thousands of hard workers are laid off while those who tanked the economic system are receiving rewards in the form of bailout money and bonuses, the Fed keeps interest rates low, mortgage fraud continues to run rampant and student loan debt is expected to reach $1 trillion some time this year.
So don’t look at us when the society that you created for us didn’t pan out because you were too pumped up on your Vicodin, Oxycontin, Viagra and alcohol to even realize that it was you that should have started a revolution years ago, for the sake of your children and our children. You slept for so long under the guise of a Utopia that you thought these crooked politicians would just hand you. You slept, the politicians and corporations fed on your decaying minds and now the situation is so bleak that you’re experiencing cognitive dissonance. And instead of letting go of your ego, you hold onto it longer and blame it on the unborn. Now it’s up to my generation to figuratively clean up the mess of Buccholz’s generation. Does the BP oil spill ring a bell anyone?
You’ve lost your connection with the earth and your spirituality and you’ve taught us the same thing (though many of us have rebelled in the form of Anonymous, the Occupy movement and the Arab Spring). And because we didn’t fall in line, you pointed the finger—the same finger the media loves to use against any celebrity figure who makes the slightest mistake in their life.
I know history to the Buchholz’s may be a debatable thing, but the ancients knew a lot more than we did. And they never had Siri to rely on. They said,
Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents,
it was loaned to you by your children.
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors,
we borrow it from our children.
This is the state that epitomizes what you think of when you see a Clint Eastwood movie: Guns, machoism, lawlessness and no remorse.
It’s a beautiful land once inhabited by Native Americans, Chicanos, Mexicans and Mayans. A state full of history, awe-inspring landscapes and deep, unforgiving wounds of America’s dark past.
This is a state that historically opposes the integration of races. From the decision by Governor Evan Mecham to fight for the state’s right to not celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. day to Tucson’s banning of a Mexican history class in a district because they claim it promotes the “underthrow of the government” and “resentment towards a race of class [white people] of people.” Also, let’s not forget that Arizona has also banned any history book that tells of the brutal oppression of the Native Americans and Chicanos. Tucson mandates that teachers stay away from books that focus on “race, ethnicity and oppression as central themes” (Keep these things in mind as I talk about Representative Giffords later).
Funny how Arizona was okay when the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, threatened to secede from the union after Obama’s health care legislation began gaining ground, Arizona was okay with that form of government disobedience. When Arizona politicians don’t get their way, they’re okay with going to war against the federal government and vowing for martial law, but they’re not okay when them Marxist Mexicans do it.
As we move back to Giffords, health care was being modified under president Obama. From 2009-10, the rhetoric became extremely heated, even hostile at times. And the main reason this health care vote was so politically dangerous (besides the fact that it was something Obama actively supported) was because of the wedge issue of abortion. Somehow health care got entangled with illegal immigration, abortion, Mexicans and communism. This is the spark needed to enrage an already unhinged radical base the Republicans were so ready to pander to.
Republicans were clamoring that this legislation would force doctors to perform abortions at the expense of the taxpayer. By repeating this over and over, Republicans were able to rile up their voters, eventually giving birth to the tea party and their 2010 takeover of Congress.
Here are examples of the rhetoric and fear tactics being used by the opposition to health care:
&
That’s just a taste of the fear tactics being used during the health care debate. Lastly, here is an example of how childish and unruly Republicans were during the health care debate:
Now Giffords, a vibrant and passionate person when it came to servicing her community, had a tough decision in voting for the health care law. I know she knew how tough this would be, but she felt that it was the right thing to do.
Soon after her vote, she was targeted by Republicans. Sarah Palin made a map of representatives that had she felt had to go. On that map, she had crosshairs over several of the representatives’ districts who voted for the law. Palin championed this at first, but soon took down her Facebook post after Giffords was shot. Palin, known to cause a ruckus in the media, has never been afraid of attention so why did she take her illustration down with the quickness? Because she knew she messed up.
Sarah Palin's crosshair illustration over Gabby's district
As soon as Giffords casted her vote, she had a brick thrown through her office and reported multiple threats to the police. More similarly, threats toward several House Democrats became a trend (Links to all the stories will be provided at the bottom. There is simply too much to hyperlink them here). Representative Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) and former police officer had to resign after receiving multiple threats for his health care vote. I remember following the rhetoric closely and I couldn’t believe the things being said after Stupak casted his vote. People were furious.
Giffords was a bit shaken up and she had this to say to MSNBC after her office was vandalized:
Every time I watch that video I get chills. Giffords knew what was coming, but she proved how brave she was. Being a Democratic representative and an abortion doctor in today’s world has become a dangerous job. People will kill you because they have been radicalized and they are hopeless. They have so little faith in the system, that they’d rather kill people to have their way than to play by the rules.
They are cowards.
Soon after this speech, we all know what happened to Gabby. Gabby was shot in the head from three feet away by Jared Lougner.
I want to take this time out to thank Rep. Gabrielle Giffords for her bravery and service to make this country a place that can hopefully transcend political boundaries.
The experience that she has gone through since that tragic day was a larger reflection of the way she handled herself in politics. As a Democrat in a historically conservative state, Giffords was obligated to be a moderate. Being a moderate during heated political times is a rare thing nowadays, but being a moderate is not what makes this woman so special.
What puts Gabrielle above many other politicians is her fearless service to her community. It almost cost her her life, but I do believe that everything happens for a reason. She is a reminder that light will always outshine the darkest parts of this world. If we haven’t learned anything from this debacle, we have to learn to be civil and respectful. We have to be adults.
Gabby is truly an angel on Earth.
RIP to all the victims that died on that dreadful day on January 8th, 2011.
Christina-Taylor Green, 9, of Tucson.
Dorothy “Dot” Morris, 76, a retired secretary from Oro Valley.
John Roll, 63, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for Arizona, named to the federal bench by President George H. W. Bush in 1991.
Phyllis Schneck, 79, homemaker from Tucson.
Dorwan Stoddard, 76, retired construction worker, died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Gabriel “Gabe” Zimmerman, 30, community outreach director for Giffords, and a member of Giffords’ staff since 2006. Zimmerman was the first Congressional staffer killed in the line of duty.
And here are the links I promised about the increase in the amount of threats around the country after health care votes:
National flags held up during the Parade of Nations
I just got back from a Dr. King service at the Strathmore Center in Rockville, Maryland. I’m not even going to lie, I was not excited about this at all. A lot of the Dr. King services I have attended in the past have been full of a lot of inflated language without any real substance.
Today changed me. It was the kick-start I needed ushering in 2012.
The Strathmore had persons from different backgrounds, cultures, ages and talents.
That’s the beauty of the county (and country, but mostly county) I live in. Probably the best example of what Dr. King dreamed of when he fought for the freedom of all people because he knew that if any of us were in shackles, none of us could live free.
At the Strathmore, there were 4th graders who won literary contests, singers of young and old (who are all good enough to sign with a record company one day), musicians from China, actors who impersonated Dr. King, military persons, young men who sacrificed their youth to feed the poor and set an example even if they didn’t have meals waiting for them at home and stable families, and former African refugees turned humanitarians.
Every act and person was inspirational. One 4th grader told the crowd: We don’t have to like each other, but we have to learn to love and respect one another or we’ll relive the horrors of the past.
From the gospel songs urging us to keep hope alive even when we can’t take another step to the children pleading for us to change the world through love, my faith was reignited in the American Dream. This kind of thing is exclusive to America and this is why we can’t lose this country to domestic and foreign enemies trying to weaken this country for their individual gain.
It’s been a difficult time trying to get myself situated into the real world. Since graduating from college last June, I’ve struggled to stay motivated. I’m a Type A personality. I have ADHD, OCD or something. I know I have one of those things because I hate being stagnant. I’m a bit of an overachiever and I can now see the fault in my ways.
It’s desirable by many in society to be an overachiever, but to me, 2012 is about finding the self. That’s where I hope to find the truth.
Slowing down has forced me to appreciate the people in my life, my blessings and it’s forced me to see what I’m made of. Whether the times are good or bad, they never last forever. It’s hard to find the motivation to keep going sometimes, but without struggles along the way, how would we know what our lives were worth?
I want to take this time out to thank my ancestors who were stripped of their dignity through slavery, my parents who grew up in Birmingham during the Civil Rights movement, Dr. King, Emmett Till, Medger Evers, the members of the SCLC, the people who marched in Selma, Memphis and D.C., the people of Occupy all over the world and anyone else past or present who is intent on fighting against oppression.
As we’ve ushered into 2012, a lot of people are suddenly seeing themselves as truthers. But they are truthers on the surface only. The fear mongers are nothing but frauds. Sadly, I don’t think a lot of people have actually grasped the movement for what it truly is. Many people want to be a part of it because it’s quaint and makes them look “alternative.” But it’s much more than that. More importantly, it’s about letting the truth find you.
The movement for truthers is not something that started overnight. And it’s not something you can just up and choose to be a part of.
The search for the truth has been something that has been happening since our creation. Every person, every culture wants to know their origin, from the moment of inception. So if you think about the truth from that perspective, you can understand that you did not choose to search for the truth, it found you.
To put this into perspective for those still confused, think about what’s been occurring at Occupy Wall Street recently. From the police brutality to the suppression of the press, these actions are anything but novel. Everyone is aware of the Rodney King beating and the killing of Oscar Grant (who was shot in the back while in handcuffs).
Grant was brutally murdered by the same Oakland police department that shot Scott Olsen in the head with an unidentified object at close range. Olsen, by the way, is doing much better after having suffered a skull fracture and brain swelling.
Overt corruption has now become a mainstay of the modern police force. No longer is it about protecting, serving and being a member of the public. The police act as soldiers for the elite—Protecting them from the righteous wrath of the masses. Again, this is nothing new.
I do want to make a quick reminder to people who I don’t think all police officers are corrupt. I think it’s important to separate the individuals as police officers from the system of law enforcement in 2012. A lot of the time, the pressures of a job can make a person do things he or she wouldn’t normally do. With that said, the blatant corruption in law enforcement is wrong and won’t be tolerated. Their manic habits are being pulled into the light.
The Internet censorship bills along with the NDAA have also caused an uproar. A much as we despise these policies, there have been a series of events leading up to this. Everything from the slow growth of the military industrial complex to dozens of proxy wars and the expansion of the executive branch under President George H.W (And this of course, is still being continued under President Obama). For whatever reason, this is the direction the country has decided to take.
The slow erosion of the rights of people and the push to treat corporations as people is also something that’s been happening for years. The fight for justice on behalf of individuals—not corporations—has also been a fight that has occurred for many years now. But now, the masses are seeing the light.
That’s what this whole movement is about. It’s about the light, the truth, that nobody can escape from. Light, like the gods many religions worship, is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. Light is everywhere and nowhere, all-powerful and all-knowing. Light shines on the tyrant in the highest altar to the most righteous peasant, unnoticed by society.
What I hoped to get across was the notion that we need to be patient. Change takes time, but the change many people are hoping for is not the change that’s best for everyone (You’ve heard all of the doomsday and anarchy prophecies). These things take time and these things are bigger than any and all of our lives. You can’t rush these things just as you can’t rush the growth of a tree (unless you’re in California and you grow medicinal cannabis. But that is really a weed, not a tree, but they do call them ‘trees’, forget it…).
The corruption and the ego of man has always been here. We’ve just recently rediscovered the technology that allows us to transmit information at the speed of light. Within this data is a code that spells out “your time is over” to the corrupt and the vile. And if we really want to get to the root of this phenomenon, the properties of light have given us the ability to sift through the darkness and illuminate the truth so that all may have a chance to be free.
The only thing that has changed is our ability to share our light with each other. I hope more of us take advantage of the opportunities that remain ahead.
2011 was a year none of us saw coming. I never thought that I’d see people waking up around the world in the way they did. It was breath-taking.
I never thought my generation would wake up to the lies and bullshit happening around us.
2011 was the year when people fought against the truth because for so long they bought into the lies. Now that the veil has been lifted, this year will be easier for those who have transitioned to conscience living. For those of us that made the transition, it was a difficult one to say the least. 2011 was made up by the pulling and tugging of the light vs. the dark, but the hard part is over in my opinion.
I think 2012 is going to fall on us like a ton of bricks. People are going to fight against his transition harder than ever, but that’s their role. Recognize that and move on. There are going to be some hard times ahead for many, but this is why it’s pivotal to exercise your mind, body and spirit as we usher into a new age. Learn to let go. That’s what I’m going to do. So stay wealthy, my friends—in mind body, and spirit.
*This song makes me happy, so I wanted to share it with you guys! STAY WEALTHY!
Some say the further we travel into the future, the darker it looks for average citizens. With wages for the bottom 90 percent of Americans stagnant and wages for the top 1 percent skyrocketing, I would agree that most Americans are in for a ride—One of those scary rides that keeps flipping you upside down continuously. The opportunity for every American to achieve wealth has dwindled away. That doesn’t mean that we can’t get it back though.
For citizens who just want to have a job, be able to pay off their student loans, to drink safe water and food, indulge in whatever intoxicants they please and not have their private data used against them, you are out of luck (for now). Maybe some time in the far future we can return to a United States that valued the 1st and 4th Amendment, but for now our path is headed to an increasingly more surveillanced, bleak and austeriy-driven state. The trend towards a police state is become increasingly disturbing. What’s even more disturbing is seeing so many people ignore the trampling of the 1st and 4th Amendment. They’re quick to dismiss any police officer that may have abused their power in the occupy events. I guess they think that as long as they keep their hair trimmed and take showers twice a day, the police won’t bother them. Hm.
Here’s a look into what happened earlier in October to Occupy Wall Street. Bloomberg and his teams were detaining journalists who were just doing their job. They also trashed the whole camp, destroying any evidence against the state the camp may have had. Not only can the state search, seize and destroy anyone’s property they deem fitting, now journalists cant even report on news if the state says it is too dangerous. Excuse me, but when did journalists need permission to cover news in the first place?
The first of many reasons why I feel we are entering a police state is because of the amount of spying going on in America, by corporations and by governments as a result of the PATRIOT Act. Recently, in Prince George’s County, Maryland, a SWAT team raided the home of prominent Civil Rights Lawyer Barbara Arnwine for reasons unknown (Not the first time prominent civil rights leaders were under scrutiny from the federal government). She said she was trapped in her house at gunpoint for three hours.
Also, take a look at what Germany is doing to their citizens. They’re using Trojan virus to record citizens through their own laptop computers. They’re also saving keystrokes and data. Well, if the government wants to look at a guy’s laptop, be prepared to see a lot of porn and a little bit of terrorism plots. Do you think America is going to remain behind in these Spy Wars? The FBI is also working on technology that can recognize facial structures. This on top of the fact that they are capturing our faces through our own computers’ cameras. Now these companies and the government will have no doubt who we are when presenting evidence to the courts.
It’s also illegal for undocumented immigrants to have water in Alabama. This is amazing to think about. Can we blame the children of undocumented workers for the actions of their parents? Their parents may have made a bad choice, but what does that say about our country when we remove a basic necessity of life from the children of illegal immigrants. Way to stay classy, Alabama.
The homeless and unemployed are drug tested when applying for heat and cooling assistance without evidence to support that they are predominately drug users. And how crazy is this? To further degrade those who are already struggling and then have them pay for their own embarrassing drug tests? Yeah, tax the struggling, as if they can afford that… I understand the logic of keeping drug abusers and free riders off of welfare and not creating incentives for them to stay on that system, but should we be disarming a known economic stimulus, especially in tough times like these? Plus giving people money that they’ll spend immediately is a known stimulus. Now, welfare and SNAP benefits are not the best ways we should go about bringing an economic recovery, but in times of austerity, every dollar counts. And what about the people who really need a little extra assistance?
In Kansas, domestic abuse services are being cut because they are “too costly” for the state. Not really surprised with this move by Kansas, though. Not too much earlier, the state banned all abortion clinics, even though abortion is legal in the United States. As a result to the “burden” of trying those convicted of domestic abuse, the abuse has become decriminalized.
Where is this country headed? That’s a question that many of us are left wondering during these times of austerity. The last hope we have is freedom on the Internet. It is up to us to expose the crimes of those in power with our phones, computers, interactions with each other, social media and the Internet. The Internet is all we have.
It’s no surprise to see those in power trying to control more and more of our lives through Internet regulation. They know that the Internet is a monster who practices anarchy and if the powers don’t control it soon, they’ll lose. This is why Wikileaks has been under public and governmental scrutiny. The governments and corporations don’t want their dirty business being shared with consumers so of course they’re going to be against Wikileaks. Just take a look at the PIPA and SOPA Acts that will dramatically curb our freedoms if they become law.
Times are changing. Where will each of us stand in the face of adversity? You better answer that question soon because when the time comes, you don’t want to be on the wrong side.
We are not free because we live in fear. In America, it is almost certain that whatever negative event happens to us, it will be responded to from a perspective of fear. When we act out of fear, we are unable to evaluate reality from an objective point of view. We are unable to see the truth for what it is when our first reaction to anything is fight or flight—We also see the world through the lens of hate. We may hate ourselves, fear others, dismiss our country, hate every country but ours or just be mad at everything because of our situation; This invites negative energy to say the least. But this is our situation. Nobody chose to be in this situation, but us. So we have the ability to change that situation instead of always projecting our unbalance outward. Reacting to and spreading fear will only lead to a world that will welcome our despair with gifts of pain and death.
The universe is always trying to reach a state of balance, so you best believe that if you flood the energy field with negative signals, it will find its way back to you. More importantly, if you upload and download negative signals or information, your computer’s health will be compromised and it will be more susceptible to viruses. You can apply this metaphor to human beings and essentially America. We humans are machines just like a computer; Garbage in, garbage out. Is it a coincidence that even though we are a country of great wealth we are the most poor in terms of spiritual wealth? We are the most unhealthy, mentally unstable, unhappy, sick, overworked, undereducated, disease-ridden and unloved? I rarely believe in coincidences, I just see correlations and causation. Our pain is projected outward and instead of seeing our impact because of that frame of mind, we blame others for reacting to our negative energy bubble. We are incapable of looking within ourselves—Or maybe we are afraid of what we’ll see if we do.
If you view the world from a perspective of love and acceptance, that energy will return to you. I’ve seen it happen. You might not get what you want immediately, but the universe operates in ways beyond our conscience. It will welcome you with what you need if you seek it. This is not to say that there is no such thing as evil people and people won’t try to take advantage of you if you seek love, but welcoming love allows for you to see the world for what it is. If you don’t hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, you are living an unbalanced life and you’re not living from a perspective of love.
I said all of that to say this: Something happened to the American psyche and we no longer have the capacity to see the good in those who think or look different from us. Maybe because we are a trauma-based society, we have opened ourselves up to being taken advantage of. At one point in time, Americans fought through adversity and became stronger because of it. Now we use adversity as an excuse to give up and defend for whose life is more pitiful or unfair than the other’s. As the saying goes, a man who justifies his limitations surely makes them real. In other words, how you see the world will have an effect on how you participate in it. I don’t know if this mindset was pushed by our media or by our government, but at the end of the day, that really doesn’t matter because we bought what they sold us.
courtesy of blog.jungle8.com
It’s as if because we have differences, we have no similarities. In the past, our differences were much more noticeable, but we found ways to overcome those differences and work together towards an ultimate goal. Now our differences are less noticeable, yet we are more divided and polarized. I’m just ready for that pendulum to swing into the era of acceptance, love and conscience. Hm, seems like a long shot, but I have faith. After all, without faith, why do we keep on pushing?
This post is a dedication to the D.C., Maryland native Wale. I’ve followed the dude since his first radio single “Dig Dug, Shake It” and his mixtape 100 Miles and Running (I’m aware this wasn’t his first mixtape). Wale’s first album, “Attention Deficit” barely sold 100,000 records. To put it into everyday terms, his album flopped. I know this hurt the dude because I watched his “First 48″ vlog documenting that whole process. But the dude hung in there and put out a moving piece of art two years later with Ambition. If you can get past the heavy drums & snares and sift through to his lyrics, you’ll see that Wale is a changed man. A man destined to change hip-hop, uplift his community and sell more than 66,000 records.
In my opinion, the reason Wale’s album flopped was because he wasn’t mainstream enough, he didn’t do enough marketing, he didn’t have the typical rapper’s look, he didn’t sell-out and talk about basic things like money & broads and he didn’t have enough BDS (broadcast data service, i.e., singles that were played on the Illuminati’s radio waves) plays. The result? No one bought his album. But that didn’t mean his album wasn’t good. It just meant a bunch of dumb asses weren’t paying attention, hence Attention Deficit.
But Wale could have given up there. He could have said “forget it” and moved onto something new. He could have sold out, he could have fallen into alcoholism and become addicted to marijuana. He could have given up on his faith in hip-hop and let the corporate owners of the profession get the best of him. He could have sat back and watched people like Kreayshawn and Soldier Boy represent hip-hop, but he didn’t. Wale had this little ambiguous thing called ambition though.
The definition of ambition is: An earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, power or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment. Without Wale’s willingness to strive for something everyone said he couldn’t do, he wouldn’t be in this position of power now. Now Wale gets to call the shots, producers want him to represent their beats (remember when Kanye dissed the dude?) and he can feel good about it because he never sold himself out. He showed the music industry that intelligence, a little bit of swag and passion can get you where you need to in life.
Now that Wale’s Ambition is destined for success, the same people who said his first album was weak because it didn’t sell enough are saying that he sold out in order to get the amount of downloads and purchases Ambition has now. But making your own lane is not about leaving an asphalt path for the masses to follow, it’s about leaving those clues and breadcrumbs behind for the hungry and ambitious to follow. Then they can eventually learn make their own path for others to follow, just as they once did.
Wale’s ambition was to change the culture of hip-hop back to what it used to be: a young, talented and passionate group of lyricists who spoke about the injustices of life, the triumph through all of life’s trials and the code of the streets; To take hip-hop back from the grips of corporate America. If you don’t believe that’s what rap is about, just listen to Wale’s “DC or Nothing” or “No Days Off” off of the Ambition album. Matter of fact, listen to hip-hop before 2000.
Wale has proven that you don’t need to sell your soul to become influential in anything. Many people today have the mentality of “if you can’t beat them, join them.” In this life, we have so many opportunities to practice our ambition, but pressure from those in power makes us afraid of the criticism and character assassinations that occur when we create our own paths. It’s like this life we live in is about being a follower and getting paid millions to do so. But what about your soul? What about your individuality?
When historians look at the past, followers are reserved a place into the How-It-Shouldn’t-Be-Done Hall of Shame (see Chingy).The hall of fame is only reserved for those who created their own path when the whole world put effort into making sure they would fail. The harder you try, the more ambitious your nature and the more you stay faithful to yourself, the harder the world will try to keep you from your dreams. They feel as though if they can’t live their dreams, why should they allow anyone else to? Well, they try, but those who try don’t have ambition because if they did, they would have turned Wale’s album into dust.
As Wale said, making money is easy, but he’s trying to be legendary. Let’s try and change the world in a meaningful way. Hoarding millions of dollars to yourself might make you feel good for the moment, but who really wants to be a Kardashian (I probably shouldn’t have asked that)?
