Daily Opinion: Why So Serious?

You know what I love? Sitting at home with my fiancé and watching movies while partaking in Cheez-Its and wine.

Classy, right?

You know what I don’t love? Hopping onto the internet and reading about a guy in Copenhagen who was murdered at a free speech seminar.

I never used to read the news. EVER. I was blissfully ignorant of all the silly nonsense going on in the world. I didn’t know anything about global conflicts, politics, or world economics. I didn’t care. But now I’m older and I know how awesome it is to be at peace. I know how awesome it is to just chill back with some Cheez-Its and wine

Awesome and delicious.

Then I asked myself, “If life could be so awesome, why can’t everyone else figure it out?” I started watch the news and documentaries. I started reading. I observed. And you know what I discovered?

People are f**king crazy. Of the bat s**t variety, no less.

Who cares if someone makes fun of the precious Prophet Muhammad? Who cares if a guy wants to stick his penis up another man’s butt? Who cares about the level of melanin in a person’s skin? Who cares if a person wants to smoke marijuana to relax instead of tobacco that’s laced with chemicals? Who cares if a woman wants to sleep with as many people as she wants? Why does anyone care about any of this stuff enough to hate, argue, murder, and discriminate?

Everyone just chill the f**k out and have some Cheez-Its and wine.

The end.

Previously: Science Will/May Always Be Incomplete

Daily Opinion: ISIS Brings Humanity to a Crossroads

As you’re probably aware, France experienced a sobering tragedy when Islamist extremists killed 12 people at Charlie Heebo, a satirical magazine that’s had confrontations with Islamists in the pasts for their depictions of the Prophet Mohammed. Obviously this is a major deal in and of itself, but what I think is more significant is how humanity moves going forward. Given our collective pasts, I’m not so sure this will end in a positive place. At least not immediately.

Wherever there is a belief or an opinion, you will find extremists. They are the ones with the loudest voices and take the strongest actions. Hence the term “extremist.”

Duh.

The problem is people routinely apply the actions of a few to the whole because it’s easier than judging individuals, which is weird because we all want to be seen as individuals, but some don’t always reciprocate that desire. Right now, we’re at a place where Muslims may be viewed negatively based on this recent event. It’s the same way Americans are often viewed as jerks based on the actions of our government and military. The difference in this instance is we’re not talking about people with a powerhouse of a nation behind them; we’re dealing with a religious belief, which is polarizing in and of itself.

So what’s the next move, humanity? Are we going to start acting like all Islamists are gun-toting avengers? Are we going to fight back? Are we going to cower in fear, never embracing satire again? I personally don’t know, but I do know this: the majority of us are not extremists. Most of us are regular folks just trying to live our lives. This segment of the population, as large as it is, isn’t the one that will take action and stand up against BS like this. We’ll be the ones reading about it in the papers and internet. Unfortunately, that approach is what works in favor of those willing to go the extra mile.

How about the majority of us just say, “enough of this crap” regardless of belief system, race, nationality, gender, sexuality, etc.? Haven’t we had enough?

Haven’t YOU had enough?

Peace out, party people.

Previously: Florida Is the Worst State Ever

Daily Opinion: We Still Haven’t Figured Out the Difference between Race and Class

For all “intensive purposes”…

Don’t you just hate that?

… My Facebook feed has been chock full of social awareness lately. This is coming from the guy who was pissed off at all the selfies and baby pictures everyone seemed to be posting just a few months ago. What changed? Well, a little thing called Ferguson happened. Sure, Eric Garner was choked to death before that, but the nation reacted to the Mike Brown shooting for one reason or another. My feed started to change, but nothing crazy.

Then Darren Wilson was cleared of any wrongdoing in the Ferguson case. My Facebook feed went from a simmer to a boil. The natives were restless.

Now? Daniel Pantaleo, the cop responsible for killing an unarmed Eric Garner with an illegal choke hold, was not indicted either.

KABOOM! I logged onto Facebook last night and there was post after post about justice (or lack thereof, depending on your POV), police brutality, and, of course, racism.

The dreaded R-word. Does anyone really like that word? It’s like the word ‘moist.’

Ew.

Anyway, I like the fact that people woke up and some attention is being paid to what’s going around us. Kudos. But here’s the thing: there’s a lot of shouting and no one’s talking about what’s really going on.

You see, racism isn’t new to America. It’s certainly not new to humanity as a whole. If I didn’t know better I’d think it’s a gene in our DNA, because we haven’t figured out racism, but we figured out how to LAND ON A COMET. But here’s the rub: as silly humans tend to do, we started confusing classism with racism because the latter is so closely tied to the former.

Early Americans had slaves; it’s a fact. After slavery was abolished, former slaves weren’t given a severance package or anything like that. Therefore, they congregated and created communities with less wealth. There was a LONG time between the abolishment of slavery and the Civil Rights movement. More immigrants came to America and some prominent cities and towns experience ‘White flight,’ a phenomenon where established White folks pick up and leave an area when things get a bit too ethnic. Jews and Italians experienced this as well, but at least they could change their names in order to blend in all chameleon-like.

Property value dropped.

Businesses fled to follow the money.

New industries weren’t introduced.

Poverty (or at least less money) began being associated with race.

It didn’t end there. Where you have poverty, you have crime. But instead of people looking at these communities and saying, man, these people have had GENERATIONS of this crap with which to contend, we divide ourselves into three camps. Camp #1 thinks all these niggers and spics (and miscellaneous) are all criminal no-gooders who are hellbent on destroying their own communities. Camp #2 just thinks White people are all racist and their race alone is worth a damn in this conversation of equal rights. Camp #3 is far more moderate, but many of them don’t give a damn enough about racism to make any noise. They’re content with their lot in life and don’t feel a pressing need to rock the boat.

There’s one more group of people. These people see the way this all happened and how race and class are often intertwined. Of course racism exists, but you better believe there are much fewer Mike Browns in more affluent communities that have Black members. The cops aren’t choking them out. Also, don’t you think poor White people get it from cops too?

Discrimination is discrimination. We do it so often that one type bleeds into the next. How sad is this? We’re carrying on the idiot notions of people who died long ago and many of us don’t know why. We don’t even care enough to realize poor communities have EVERYTHING going against them. Prosecuting a single cop is a bandage. Our real issue is we don’t know how to NOT discriminate. We’re too good at it. We’re so good, some people are alright disliking a certain group of people, but wouldn’t call themselves a bigot.

I had this conversation with a Salvadorian in reference to Mexicans. I kid you not.

There is sure to be someone telling me I’m wrong. Fine. Disagree with me. My opinion isn’t important here. But let’s take a look at America and recognize the fact that we have only scratched the surface of actually fulfilling the promise of “liberty and justice for all.” Because those words have been bullshit for a long time, and it certainly isn’t just based on race. Look at the history. Trace the steps. Why can’t we get past this?

I don’t have the answers, but I do know we all play a part in this nonsense continuing. Otherwise it wouldn’t exist.

Peace out, party people.

Previously: Oh, So Now They’re Hating on Brothas in a Galaxy Far, Far Away, Huh?

Daily Opinion: Ferguson Shows How Broken American Society Is. Here’s How We can Start Fixing It

Are you bracing for me to give an opinion on the verdict of the Mike Brown/Ferguson case? Keep waiting because I’m not about to do that. Why? Because over the course of the last month and certainly after having numerous conversations with my girlfriend, I realize there is no resolution to be found simply because people don’t fully understand or relate to opposing points of view.

People who come from privilege and never had to deal with poverty or bigotry will never understand why folks cry racism when something is afoot. They won’t understand why people will be angry enough to riot (though I abhor rioting myself and not all of it is done out of anger). They won’t understand why some people are so quick to blame cops.

Those on the other side of the fence won’t realize everything isn’t a conspiracy to subjugate the poor black man and cops aren’t all bad. They won’t understand how people can defend the shooting of Mike Brown and they will feel like the ones being attacked because many of them have experienced some form of discrimination in their life.

I grew up in a poor community, but was lucky enough to eventually have a well-paying job and be the acceptable black guy. I know both sides of the fence. I know Mike Brown wasn’t a saint and I know Darren Wilson isn’t a devil. I know the opposite isn’t true for either of them. I know they’re both just human beings who have walked a road based on their lot in life. Still, something needs to get addressed, right?

Here’s the problem: in America, experiences are entirely too separated. Racism becomes hearsay (I’ve actually heard people say racism isn’t a problem in the US anymore… HA). Poverty is something to be hidden in slums and ghettos. The poor end up hating the rich. Blacks hate whites. People associate crime with race instead of poverty. People associate the shooting of Mike Brown with race instead of an individual and a broken system.

None of this means we should stop trying to make forward progress, but I’m tired of having the same debates over who is right and who is wrong. EVERYONE falls into both categories.

We’re ALL f***ing up here.

So how do we fix this? My girlfriend says I speak too much about theory without any answers. I say it’s because the entire system is a sham and we need to start over, but if I’m forced to make changes in this broken society of ours, this is what I’d do to prevent another Ferguson from taking place:

1. All cops should be at the federal, not state level. I feel there should be need to be NATIONAL standards on how officers conduct matters, are trained, and are evaluated. Procedures should be the same across the board and the same goes for major laws.

2. Police officers should not be above the law and should be prosecuted in the same manner, according to the same laws as all other citizens. This needs to happen with EVERYONE, but especially those with so much power. Speaking of power…

3. Any abuse of power results in termination. Officers play an important role in our society. We can’t allow the type of mistrust that’s infesting our country continue. There will never be any peace if people feel as if cops are out to get them. There will always be corruption if the repercussions for officers are not high enough. Let’s not do this half-assed.

4. Evaluate the number of officers needed per state and town. Then make as many attempts as possible to have a healthy mix of demographics for each police force. This one is harder to accomplish, but it should still be a goal, starting with areas that have the most crime. Speaking of crime…

5. Stop trying to prevent crime with more prisons. This is an idiotic notion and one that is shown to be a revenue-generating endeavor. America does a horrible job of rehabilitating criminals. We throw them in prison, treat them like crap, and eventually turn them loose. Why aren’t officers mentoring? How much trust would that build if some officers weren’t out there getting a hard-on for the power they have and treating convicts like dogs. I know a guy who works at Rikers as a CO; he’s told me some stories about some officers that would blow your (sheltered) mind.

This is just a sample of what we can do to help this situation. Picking at a single issue will address nothing; like many measures we take, it’ll either be a temporary bandage or it will open the wound more. Here’s what doesn’t help: don’t assume you know why people do anything. Especially in a case like this. If something went awry, let’s also dissect the reasons why and actually come up with a plan to fix the underlying issue.

I know this is long for a daily opinion, but I look at society and I can’t see how we can make progress in this fashion. America does some great things, but boy do we drop the ball and totally screw up other things too. This country has both a great and disturbing history. The same can be said for pretty much all of humanity. You know what makes America (somewhat) different?

We have a voice.

Some of us are very privileged.

But we’re also complacent/lazy as f*** and too stubborn to realize we’re family instead of strangers. Do you guys actually want to fix something or do you just want to debate topics endlessly?

Peace out, party people.

Previously: You Broke My Heart, Dr. Huxtable