No, I'm not doing this age challenge thing that's going around on social media lately. Although it has occurred to me that it has been 10 years now since I've officially started blogging, and if I must say so myself, I am quite amazed at how I continue to do this. It's not like I'm getting paid for it, it's not like I have a lot of followers or readers, and recently it's been quite hard trying to muster up the energy to do this. Over the past couple of years my postage has dropped significantly, first from just doing too much and fear of redundancy, and now just from burnout. It must be some passion to this.
2018 was particularly brutal for me, as throughout the entire year I found myself constantly in a state of mood swings, mainly due to deaths of relatives and friends, beginning with the first day of the 2018 itself. I found myself having to go to a longtime friends' house before the crack of dawn, and it was cold too might I add, to see a friend who apparently passed away in his sleep. I didn't get the chance to see his face, due to the paramedics blocking off the entrance way. That sudden death affected me very deeply. If it wasn't for the cheap phone I had breaking down on me, I'd probably still have the voicemail I received telling me of his passing.
In all, I experienced over 10 deaths of relatives and friends last year, each one having it's own significance, and a couple more close shaves. These were lifetime friends, and relatives I grew up with. Not just mere acquaintances. Those memories last, and the pain never really goes away.
Not all of the past year was gloomy, there were a few bright spots here and there. I got to showcase my work in two exhibits, the Art 214 exhibit, showcasing the local Dallas artists, and the Unapologetic Exhibit at the South Dallas Cultural Center last May. Along with my mural being hung in the local library last January, there were some pick me ups along the way to help me keep my chin up. But there was more to be sad about last year than happy, at least on a personal basis.
But those were personal issues, and thankfully, I am able to keep standing, smiling, and swinging when I need to. Once I'm reminded that this life is a test, I feel that my faith will help me get through those times.
Now dealing with the societal matters, that's a different story. You have little or no control over these affairs, and very little say. And to make matters worse, very few people are willing to listen anyway. Social media dialogue is basically people talking AT each other, unfunny, ignorant and misinformed memes, and the same propaganda that I thought with this so called "democratization" of information, was going to diminish due to corporate media not having as much control over the media...Boy was I freaking wrong.
You're subjected to watching groups of people gripe and moan, point fingers, and complain about issues that either don't get to the main point at hand, or even worse are fabricated lies, bent on persuading people to see things their way.
Last year we witnessed President Donald Trump use all types of mis and disinformation to drive home his "need" to change immigration laws, and build some wall designed to "keep out" immigrants who as he would put it, take jobs and bring about mayhem and decay to good old "American society and values." He did this despite the blitz of mass murders and shootings in schools, houses of worship, yoga studios, grocery stores, nightclubs and shopping malls inside America alone, and committed mainly by White men. He and other deniers chalked that up to "mental health" issues, which is now also becoming the buzz word for America's growing obsession with depression, suicide, escapism of all sorts, violence, drugs and bigotry.
His separation of some immigrant children from their families and holding some in detention cells became widespread in social media, and hard to even look at in many instances.
He even blamed the death of Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson on the failure to do something about the immigration laws, and not on the fact that he was a victim of a drunk driver, one of tens of thousands of people killed every year in America because America refuses to acknowledge alcohol kills more people here annually than any drummed up terrorist act could ever accomplish. Only a fool could think the slogan "Drink Responsibly", which was preceded by Think Before You Drink, before breweries realized that slogan actually represented a conflict of interest, could ever have any major impact, or actually be some sort of resolution towards alcoholism and drunk driving.
He and others either failed to read, or completely ignore recent stats from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which the picture below shows an astonishing 72,000 people died from overdose in 2017 alone. This is not even talking alcohol and cigarettes! Add those in, and add the 30+ thousand suicides committed yearly, and what you have here is a great deflection of the problem in America, people focusing on their own intolerance and prejudices, instead of honing in on the real issue at hand.
One can only imagine what the stats will be now that he's taken it to a level of actually shutting down the federal government, sacrificing the well being of many employees, many who voted for him yet still think for some reason this is a good idea to hold the nation hostage over a supposed wall. It reminds me of Reagan and his "Star Wars" rants back in the 80's, trying to conjure up support for satellites and things in space, all designed to protect us from the evils of Russia.
Hate and fear-mongering at its finest. And yet America continues to eat itself alive.
This "wall" he is willing to shut down the government over will only keep out the "external" issues he and his ilk continue to demonize.
But not to be outdone by the likes of Trump and his ilk came the liberals with even more insidious accusations and injustices of their own. 2018 was also the year of deflection for the liberals and feminists as we saw the likes of David Hogg and his tirades concerning gun control, using the Parkland High School shooting in Florida to spearhead his campaign against guns. Virtually every shooting that occurs in America now is classified and propagated by liberals as gun violence, whereas conservatives point to "mental health" issues as the problem, but that's only in the case of a White man being the culprit.
As if the gun has a mind of its own. People, the gun is an instrument used in the killing of people. To rant against gun violence every time someone is shot in America makes no sense. But again it's people's politics that are more concerning, not the truth of the matter.
We seem to forget about the impact of the bombing of the Federal building in Oklahoma City,which took the lives of 162 people, and hurt many others. Maybe because it threw a serious curve into people's politics. I mean you couldn't blame it on so called radical Muslims and immigration, although they tried, and you couldn't point the finger at gun control either, because guns were not used in the killing of people in this instance. It was a deep and dark reflection of what's wrong internally in America, and yet almost 25 years later, we still don't get it.
All we see mainly from liberals are marches which stir up emotions with speeches, sloganeering, chants, and now with silly hats, much like conservatives, but refuse to lay down much analysis and critical thinking. Along with marches for gun control, we saw women's marches all over the place. We even witnessed rapper Common reciting the lyrics to his song "The Day Women Took Over", at an event supposedly advocating "gender equality". Go figure.
But one march that was grossly overlooked in 2018 was the march against suicide, the Out of the Darkness March, which took place in three cities, with Dallas being one of the cities.
This received scant, if any coverage by any of the major media markets. It serves as a testament to the selfish concerns of political parties and special interest groups in America to overlook the real concerns with the masses, yet dupe them to blindly follow their personal whims and wishes. According to this site, 30,000 people in America alone commit suicide, and countless others attempt to every year, but since this tragedy cannot be attributed to people's political agendas, it's swept under the rug, with the best that can be done is labeling it a "mental health issue", and the distribution of pharmaceuticals and psychotic drugs.
But 2018 seemed to have brought out the worst in feminism, as we were hit with a barrage of victim narratives aimed only pointing out this "toxic masculinity" and "misogyny"conspiracy. In 2018 women were encouraged through feminism to render themselves as conveniently stupid, 'misled" and oppressed, all in an effort to absolve responsibility and accountability for their own actions and predicaments.
Women were encouraged through the likes of former strippers Amber Rose and rapper Cardi B., porn stars, and other women, mainly feminists, that for a woman to tease, taunt, tempt, floss, exhibit, flirt, arouse the senses in men with her actions, speech and dress should not lead to any ill-conceived notion that such a woman wants sex, is interested in having sex, and should not be misconstrued as a woman of ill repute.
That the plethora of pornography (which modern feminists find no problem with, and exhort other women to produce as long as they are the producers, directors and manufacturers of such media) , provocative songs and videos and writings should not have any connection with the degeneration of morality here in America. To them, that's just "men being men."
Even worse, in this so called world of "toxic masculinity", "patriarchy" ,"rape culture" and "street harassment", women were encouraged more to "flaunt it if you got it", despite the ill consequences that comes from such open sensuality. To exhort modesty or take responsibility, you will be pelted with accusations of victim blaming, slut shaming, and being a part of some patriarchy. Baloney.
It defies all logic, reason, nature and conventional wisdom. Everyday we close and lock our doors and windows to our homes, offices, automobiles and filing cabinets, we encrypt our online information with passwords to keep all private information shielded from potential violators. But the woman, with her body, is encouraged to expose it to the fullest extent, and not expect any type of reciprocation from the male in either speech, thought or action. Along with this hideous idea comes the vilification of those who admonish women to "act like a lady" or simply "take responsibility" of their own predicaments. And any woman who takes up modest dress, especially religious women, and in particular Muslim women, are attacked through media outlets and liberal groups. No longer are Muslim women attacked by conservative White men, they are also attacked in a passive aggressive manner by liberal White women.
I can never forget the question I received from a Black woman last year who inquired why should Muslim women be executed for committing adultery. If one is not astute to the ways of feminists, both Black and White, one would not catch what she is actually saying. She was not concerned about why are people, both male and female, are executed when it comes to adultery, just women.
We also saw the PR metamorphosis of prostitution into "sex trafficking", a more appropriate term for feminists, since it implies that all female prostitutes are "forced" into this lifestyle by lecherous, parasitical, predatory males bent on dominating the woman. All women became sexually exploited creatures, and the decision to use her body for monetary gain could not come from the woman herself.
The picture of the sensual prostitute on Donna Summer'a "Bad Girls"" album cover has been replaced with repetitive propaganda of kidnapping, bondage, enslavement, misogyny, and outright cruelty of women by the hands of men.
We forget to acknowledge of how that famous jazz singer named Billie Holiday was a young prostitute at one time, along with her mother. To my knowledge, she did not have a male pimp.
I went to an art exhibit held last April, which supposedly addressed "human trafficking", but it was nothing but women and liberals railing against female prostitution. No mentioning of slave labor, sweatshops, child labor, slavery of that type. Just paintings, photography, of women in fetal positions like little children, one picture was a smartphone, which supposedly symbolized predatory men on social media, one picture had a woman with her mouth taped shut, and information posted about human trafficking by the University of Texas is what was exhibited. This is the same university that had an campus carry rally in 2016, where organizers passed out rubber penises to students, and slogans such as "cocks not glocks" where broadcast without shame. I can't possibly put the pictures to this event on this blog, but trust me, it happened. If you want to, Google it on your own time.
BLOGGERS' NOTE: Please do not misconstrue this to mean I do not think that some women/girls are not kidnapped and sold into prostitution. However, based on the evidence I've seen, I've come to the conclusion that it's another propaganda tool to indict ALL men, and to absolve ALL women and girls of exploiting their bodies for monetary gain. This "sex trafficking" conspiracy is to modern day feminists like pornography was to the feminists of the '50s and such, before women starting declaring their own "sexual liberation".
We saw the unjust, oppressive and deceitful #metoo movement claim victory in the conviction of Bill Cosby, who was accused of "sexual assault" by Andrea Constand, a woman who not only could not remember what day she was "assaulted", but called him several times after receiving a drug from him that she claims, had her "crying" on the inside. She did not call police, She also brought him gifts. What "victim" does that? Don't give me no "Stockholm Syndrome" nonsense. Either she liked what he did, or she didn't. Obviously she liked it.
This same movement, which harbors actress Alyssa Milano, not only justified the results in the Cosby case, but apparently endorses her statement that the #metoo movement defines what "due process" is. Basically every man accused of rape/sexual assault is guilty until proven innocent. Sounds familiar Black people? Yet these feminists rant about White privilege, but only in terms of White men.
Again, two sides of the same coin.
Yet this same movement was left with their deceitful mouths open after the allegations of sexual assault against actress and #metoo advocate Asia Argento came up. They were left scurrying to find all types of deflection and damage control to diffuse the situation. In an article in the New York Times, the author resorted to typical feminist pettiness by exclaiming "men do it too." This movement does not want to get to the real truth of the situation that rape and sexual assault is not about power, because it forces the women to admit their culpability and contributions in the decline of sexual mores of this society.
We also saw Serena Williams accuse a referee of sexism after receiving a mere warning for receiving coaching from her coach in the audience. A mere warning became a conspiracy theory of misogyny, White Privilege, and pulling out the race card, by both sides might I add.
We also saw the public relations makeover in the Cyntoia Brown story, which has now resulted in Cyntoia being granted clemency from serving a life sentence for the murder of a man who solicited sex from her. By painting her as a "sex slave" and a "victim", she was finally able to convince at least the judge of being "too young" to accept such a harsh sentence. Never mind the fact she was a reported drug user, also former prostitute (which the state of Tennessee does not accept that label when referenced to prostitutes under the age of 18, thanks to women's propaganda) and all around delinquent, who shot a customer in the back of the head at close range, and robbed him of his vehicle, guns and money. She was a "victim" in the eyes of feminists, and sad to say, a growing number of duped Black people in America who not only will judge an individual based on pure emotions and not facts, but will judge a person based on a one sided story seen on TV, or heard through the jokes of a comedian.
And although the liberals portrayed Trump in heinous forms regarding the separating and detaining of immigrant children from their families and parents, they conveniently forgot to mention the ongoing war in state and federal circles regarding abortion, which they've neatly repackaged as women's rights" or"reproductive rights." Women are constantly in battle about having the right to terminate a life, to which many have contributed in the reproduction, but don't want to keep for whatever reason. Now a bill has been passed in New York state that will grant a woman the right to abort up to 40 weeks. So the woman can wait until the baby is ready to come out, and on a whim, decide to terminate...wow.
And now many of these same women, with this same line of thinking want to run for President in 2020. Am I supposed to feel any safer with these people?
It gets to be a very tedious task trying to explain to a society bent on self destruction, prejudice and intolerance about impending doom to such a society, unless some drastic changes take place. Changes that could mean true justice for all and a true spirit of truth, justice, peace and unity for all, but only through the elimination of personal desires and beliefs contrary to the true nature of human beings and their purpose here on Earth. I'm learning more day by day of how mankind is not a creature of rationale, but a creature of emotions and desires, and those desires, wishes and emotions will lead to his destruction when the ultimate goal is personal fulfillment.
As for now all I see is the constant bickering between parties, and people trying to fulfill self serving wishes and desires, despite whom it may hurt. And when the smoke clears, and there's nothing but rubbish and remains, who will really benefit? Not us.
We just don't get it.
