That, which I have seen before, is a damned shame; the rest of those dudes (including Clapton) needed to sit their asses down. In 1984 I saw Prince, for the first, only and last time, during his Purple Rain Tour. I was (at some point in my life) a fair guitarist, good enough to play enough gigs to make a bit of money in college. When I saw Prince, strictly from a guitarist standpoint, I said to myself: "self, go sell your axe, and never, ever think you know how to play."
Quite a bit to unpack there, Dawn. However, let me thank you for your response and engagement. I absolutely can concur with the chatroom observation. Many European-Americans hide behind labels like "Democrat," "liberal'" and "progressive" until their daughters bring home an Alkebulanian brother. The labels are often, not always, a means to perpetuate denial and stave off both collective responsibility and guilt.
As for guns, the society is so saturated with them (and blood) that you'd better have one.
Several, in fact.
And, yes, it is pathetic, despicable and horrific statement of fact. It is also, quite literally, a crying shame and the United States will suffer immensely from its bloodlust.
Has there ever been a finer way to end your riff? This I can watch over and over. I know you've seen it before but it never grows old. IMHO. Prince smoking some great guitar players:
The very existence of the Demon, Clarence Thomas, and others who have wilfully sold their souls throughout history, do indeed prove that fascism isn't unique to Caucasians. It really does boggle the mind how any gender/creed/faith/race that's been victim to fascism, feudalism, etc...could ever ignore the lessons of history, but sadly it really happens & way too many humans have this demented ability to live a life in deep denial that anything bad could ever happen to them, just like all the smokers who think only OTHER people will get cancer/heart disease/etc. Pride/Greed/Narcissism are closely tied, hideous human traits that will control us if we don't use our brains & morals to override them. No one is immune to greed, which is sorta what this free will thing is all about. God granted each of us all the rope we'd ever need to hang ourselves with & make no mistake about it, greed/pride/narcissism are indeed choices available to us all, it's just that privilege makes one far more susceptible as privilege does inhibit ones ability to feel real empathy for others. Empathy is a learned trait & influenced by ones unique human experience. Privilege blinds everyone by denying them an experience they can fully relate to. Privilege is ignorant by nature. Even God didn't fully grasp empathy for our human experience until walking in our shoes as Jesus (for those who believe in that sorta thing). I'd agree that far more Caucasians have grown up with privilege making them ignorant & more susceptible to embracing fascism, but the progress we did manage to make for a brief time did indeed make others more susceptible. In fact, it's really depressing how many Black Americans envy others who have been able to 'succeed' in the US & embrace feudalist terminology & casually claim they too want to be 'kings, queens, & build empires' but the better educated realize in order for there to be royalty, that means everyone else is a slave. I fear there aren't many who learned a single thing about what the Revolutionary War was about. Not back in its time & not now with it being taught as if it was something that only existed in the past. The bottom line is that no one should own nor rule over anyone. It's just a real shame that the U.S. of all countries still lies to itself about what it is & still fails to fulfill the promise of something it's always claimed to be, but has yet to fulfill. As a capitalist nation, by our very nature, we're a country filled with wannabe kings, queens, & fascists. As a U.S. woman, I'd like you to consider the position of Anita Hill in the past & now in the present & to have a bit of empathy for her. Imagine how sickening it had to have been for her to have to listen to Thomas claim he was being 'lynched.' Might I also remind you that black men had rights before ANY women in the U.S.A. & there are women still alive today who couldn't purchase land or open a checking account without the permission of the man who OWNED them, be it her father or husband. That said, fascism seems linked more to gender than race, not that anyone wants to turn this into a contest. I just want to make sure that people who truly seek equality do so honestly. It's way too important an issue & since it's an argument based in integrity that to win it, we need to be completely truthful & consistent with our own integrity. We're a deeply flawed species & these horrific traits aren't unique to any race nor gender. It's just that some have more opportunities to turn into something very evil & ugly. As time moves forward, those opportunites will change, so the direct correlation of race/gender will change accordingly. Something we do agree on though is the horridcsense of feeling as if we've been placed in some nightmare of a time machine taking us back to a time we thought we had gotten past, but alas, as I stated earlier, it seems few actually ever grasped what the Revolutionary War was SUPPOSED to be about & man, our educational system is in serious need of repair if we still don't grasp it centuries after the fact. Bottom line though, the US has been living & promoting itself based on a LIE. We've yet to fulfill the Dream, but a lot of us still believe it's worth fighting for. That said, hang in there; you're not alone! While ignorance & greed will always exist, so will empathy, logic, & compassion.
Thank you for such a thought provoking comment (given the aggregate intelligence of our readers I am hardly surprised). That having been effusively stated; Clarence Thomas is neither an oligarch. nor a fascist and, as the column explicitly illustrates, fascism and oligarchy are the sole purview, like so many other things, of Europeans or so-called "white" people. Clarence Thomas does not, to his chagrin, enjoy "white privilege." If Uncle Thomas takes his charcoal black-ass into a Target or Wal-Mart, without his BLACK robe (most Americans cannot name even a single supreme court justice), he will be followed like every other Black Person in the United States would be. A breathtaking irony.
And "might I remind you" that your contention of Black Men having "rights" over a white woman is complete, and utter, nonsense. In fact, one of the few rights that a European-American woman had was to own slaves; many of which were men, many of which were raped... by European women. https://youtu.be/4CDBUf42qNo?si=B3ZYMMmFQ6ZbLNs7
Lastly, with regard to your "dream" reference. I am a great admirer of Dr. King, but not for the same reasons you might be because, you see, the European does not understand "peace." Has accomplished nothing by "peace" (his philosophy is "I'll kick your ass") and, further, does not pursue "peace." DREAMS are for those asleep; for one must be asleep in order to dream; this Black Man in the United States is fully, brutally and woefully AWAKE.
Patronization notwithstanding, be careful about getting on this thread, in THIS community, with any manner of paternalistic (or maternalistic, as it might) proselytizing. I am beyond happy to unsubscribe, even paying, subscribers.
This publication, and community, is called LookingNWords. And, thusly, it is my IN-Ward point of view.
I truly would like to hear your thoughts on my comments about Killer Mike, gun rights, & the left maybe one day regretting what we wish for. NO ONE will agree to truly explore this. I get the initial knee-jerk reaction, still I fear what may happen if we don't discuss this.
OH & BTW, speaking of the predator & prey analogies I use, the irony of all the Christian Frauds failing to notice that even the God of their 'supposed' religion EVOLVED from an Old Testament Wolf to a New Testament Lamb, but try explaining this to one of them & watch a real life brain circuit overload! 😵💫🤯😂😢 Funny, yet not one bit funny if you actually wish for peace.
Kenyatta, it's a long response, still I hope you'll take time to read & consider it, as 🇺🇸 has hardly been kind to me, and what I revealed barely scratches the surface. Geez, I just now saw you respond, too, but happy that you did!
I say this with the most sincere respect that I am as vividly aware how the privilege of Thomas ceases to exist if he were to be in a certain environment, just as you described, similarly to a shred of 'privilege' that exists for me, as I'm being stalked or gaslighted by a 'peace' officer, BUT when back in our respective habitats, Thomas holds far more power than little ole me of getting any Justice, Revenge, etc...
I can assure you of only one thing: we're on the same side. THAT SAID, I've tried discussing with other Hartmann Program Veterans about being careful what we wish for & having a really honest & highly uncomfortable discussion about guns, which I DO own and precisely to protect me from ANYONE (mostly white, rightwinged men) who think they have the right to do whatever they please to me. Which sorta ties in to why I commented. This isn't a competition, nor would it be a competition if I were to start up my own gender-based substack & you were to comment there. My comments weren't meant to deflect nor distract in ANY WAY, and I DO understand the mission of your substack & am always 100% in agreement: Black Lives MATTER. Please don't forget along the way that my life matters too, and every assault committed against me is just as real and I am at the mob's mercy, just like anyone else, need I mention the Salem witch burning of many a white woman, probably incited by more white women than anyone doing both their own & other white men's bidding. There's schadenfreude in a LOT of people. Some get to exercise it freely & openly, other's are it's victims, but the rich & powerful are the most protected, that is until they abuse enough in the mob to get the mob to turn on THEM. The 'Elite' all around the world have to flee the poverty, violence, etc. they created just like the poor they abused.
Sorry, I got a bit side-tracked there, but as a resident of a highly dangerous red state, while the thought of everyone having guns scares me & the fact there are school shootings breaks my heart, the thought of "only them" having the guns scares me more & I'm one of the extremely rare people who WANT TO HEAR what Killer Mike has to say about gun laws, where NO ONE in the predominantly white Hartmann chat room will engage with me on this. Idk if you are ever watching live on youtube, but I think there may be only one other listener there who grasps that the MAGAS are a sorta self-fulfilling prophecy & embodiment of those who have BECOME the thing they warned us of. Does that make any sense? Have you ever heard Killer Mike talk about his gun stance? I haven't (YET), but I'm fairly certain if not him, then another minority person is also thinking we better be careful what we wish for here, as a Trump coup with all of THEM owning ALL the guns will not work out well for anyone who wanted nothing to do with any of the BS.
Kenyatta, essentially what I'm saying is perhaps WE are independent spirits living in a world filled with PREDATORS. At times we're their prey, some NEVER raise their voice or question anything or do anything to ripple their own still water keeping them off the PREDATORS' RADARS. Now, these predators...some are so by choice, some out of necessity, still it's a savage world in which we live (the actual lesson of wokeness) so how do we both protect ourselves from predators while trying to create a future where there's a whole lot less of predatory behavior driven by necessity. As for the predatory behavior driven by choice, some would rightfully argue hurt people, hurt people, still you know who else does this by choice: spoiled people, but according to Mary Trump, her Uncle was psychologically abused. Perhaps she's right, but there are & will probably always be truly broken people who had perfect upbringings & still turned out coveting schadenfreude, what psychologists would consider sociopaths. Can we 'cure' them with psychotherapy? Actual good nutrition? Do we even have the right to try? "A Clockwork Orange" sure was one heck of a mindfk of a film. We humans created religion (or some divine entity conveyed, I'm ambivalent & agnostic about it & simply acknowledge sincere & insincere religions exist) & religious laws like the "Golden Rule" which makes a ton of sense logically, spiritually, karmically, still human predators are as real as great white sharks, even in my vegan reality who has a far higher respect for life than the fraudulent pro-life movement, but that's MY reality, meanwhile over in rightwinged fake Christian land, they are ALL IN on Darwinism & "survival of the fittest." So, define "fittest" as that right there is where all the identity, tribe size, etc. stuff is exploited. In any case, both you & I are "fresh meat" in the eyes of human predators & yes, neither of us has the luxury of being anything less than woke about it & to be less will ensure either of us is less 'safe' at any given time. Anything less than joining the predators, puts a target on your back, still it's just a matter of time before they wipe out or get bored with the present target then set their eyes on some other target, and while I'm just a blended kinda white looking little lady rabbit, I too am vividly aware I'm surrounded by a pack of both occassionally hungry with some intentionally cruel for kicks wolves.
TRUE STORY: In the 1970s I was RAPED by a free roaming white male. I was a 10 year old child & was with my friend, another 10 year old child, who was also sexually assaulted and also a live witness to the event. To this very day, the only public record of the event (which we TRIED to take to court, only to learn to never try THAT again!) states for the record "an act that was not rape." My 'whiteness' nor status as a child got me no special privileges, where that man, whose behavior was ignored/rewarded, went on (as predicted) to have a nice long life of sexual predatory behavior. How he was finally locked up, idk, maybe they were whiter than me, but more likely they had different 'connections' than me, as I'm just a NOBODY. Yes, true story & can be verified via FOIA were it ever a safe enough world for me to let people know who I am. I supose in THAT respect, I have privilege, yet THAT privilege would be used to export a US BORN CITIZEN out of the country, to where, idk, but as a survivor of domestic abuse, I'm also DIRECTLY aware how the Patriot Act stipped citizens of their rights to even having a LEGAL ID. REAL LIFE STUFF HERE! So how does the privilege of anonymity protect me when it's the very crux of being the thing keeping me both alive & RIGHTFULLY as a US Citizen? Perhaps just before my death or if we ever get passed this Taliban Trumper era, I'll go public & wake some people up to more of 'America's' (yes, how privileged of us to claim we're the one & only) hidden skeletons, and on THAT NOTE, hey...anyone putting themselves openly out there today in a way, making it extremely easy for the sharks to notice, has my utmost respect. Still, in that respect, Hartmann's Whiteness & Maleness won't save him, as he would surely be high up on the list as to whom the Orange Fascist would exterminate, but then again, he has the financial means to escape, whereas I, even if I could scrape the funds together, can't even obtain a US Passport & to even attempt to do so would put me pretty high up on the radar & they just so happen to like the taste of my meat.
So what do you envision for the future, a world striving to Peacefully Co-Exist or Entropy & The PURGE? Will we let ourselves be devoured & become the very thing that's wrong with the world or will we aspire to be the change we wish to see? Me thinks as woke as you are, you do in fact actually still dare to dream & still strive to be the change, else why even bother wasting your time running the numbers & participating over at TTHP? Being Woke & daring to chose to dream, in spite of the cynicism, need not be mutually exclusive, aka: despair is not an option. Still, you/we, ARE entitled to (y)our genuine feelings about the brutality that surrounds us.
Wanna hear a really effed up song that sounds so cute & innocent that was pumped into our brains as children? "Let the Sunshine In," NOT the Age of Aquarius version, but the little kiddle Pebbles & Bam Bam toxic positivity be grateful for what we allow you to have version! Seriously, go back & listen to that mess!😳 Still, even though it's partly messed up, it also reminds us to open our hearts & be the light. I swear, you could build a college ethics course just on that song & it's interpretations, esp with the inclusion of the "devil" word. Anyway, not exactly content for a children's cartoon, but then again, the whole cartoon wasn't exactly designed for children, but having no strong & clear movement messages, or if it did they went way above my head as a kid, perhaps DeSantis will still 'allow' us to view old Flintstones episodes. Now I'm curious to rewatch & see all I may have missed. The song though, it's a real doozy, esp for anyone with less being told by anyone with more to: "SMILE! It can't be THAT bad!" If only I could drum up my own version of a deranged DeSantis smile.
Clapton came to a decision point in the 60s: sell yourself for celebrity or stay real? You can hear which way that went.
Thing I loved about Prince was that he never stopped being about the music, not for a day, not for a minute. Once you find your passion, that's how to live. Didn't you mention one time that you are a jazz musician?
Satiricus, you downright scare me, sometimes. Only a musician would make that astute a comment; or a damned serious audiophile.
19 seems a hundred years ago (more like 40). I worked my way through college doing gigs in smoky jazz dives, doing funky recording sessions, pimply faced proms and a bunch of other crap. Lord knows I must have held a hundred different jobs while in college. Here is the 19 year old senior; another time, another place (sent to your e-mal). Tell me that ain't priceless (to be held in strictest confidence, by the by).
I played piano as a young man, and took some applause for it, but ‘musician’ is too strong a word for what I was doing.
Honestly, I was playing with more testosterone than talent. Is there a word that means, “using music to get laid”?
I still have a couple of keyboards in the house, and I will stop and check in sometimes, but I am a terrible disappointment to my ears. If I had a band, I’d have to name it White Noise.
I can build a five-hour playlist out of Les McCann, Lee Morgan, Davis, Silver, Masakela, and Monk, sit down to the keys, and it sounds like Come to Jesus Time down to the tent revival. Hopeless.
That, which I have seen before, is a damned shame; the rest of those dudes (including Clapton) needed to sit their asses down. In 1984 I saw Prince, for the first, only and last time, during his Purple Rain Tour. I was (at some point in my life) a fair guitarist, good enough to play enough gigs to make a bit of money in college. When I saw Prince, strictly from a guitarist standpoint, I said to myself: "self, go sell your axe, and never, ever think you know how to play."
Quite a bit to unpack there, Dawn. However, let me thank you for your response and engagement. I absolutely can concur with the chatroom observation. Many European-Americans hide behind labels like "Democrat," "liberal'" and "progressive" until their daughters bring home an Alkebulanian brother. The labels are often, not always, a means to perpetuate denial and stave off both collective responsibility and guilt.
As for guns, the society is so saturated with them (and blood) that you'd better have one.
Several, in fact.
And, yes, it is pathetic, despicable and horrific statement of fact. It is also, quite literally, a crying shame and the United States will suffer immensely from its bloodlust.
Has there ever been a finer way to end your riff? This I can watch over and over. I know you've seen it before but it never grows old. IMHO. Prince smoking some great guitar players:
https://youtu.be/6SFNW5F8K9Y?si=TpyOFLQqR-5-Me7W
Saved the best for last, didn't they? wow
Every now and then, somebody reminds me what rock and roll was all about.
Indeed, mate...indeed.
My gawd, it STILL hurts that he's gone. 😢
The very existence of the Demon, Clarence Thomas, and others who have wilfully sold their souls throughout history, do indeed prove that fascism isn't unique to Caucasians. It really does boggle the mind how any gender/creed/faith/race that's been victim to fascism, feudalism, etc...could ever ignore the lessons of history, but sadly it really happens & way too many humans have this demented ability to live a life in deep denial that anything bad could ever happen to them, just like all the smokers who think only OTHER people will get cancer/heart disease/etc. Pride/Greed/Narcissism are closely tied, hideous human traits that will control us if we don't use our brains & morals to override them. No one is immune to greed, which is sorta what this free will thing is all about. God granted each of us all the rope we'd ever need to hang ourselves with & make no mistake about it, greed/pride/narcissism are indeed choices available to us all, it's just that privilege makes one far more susceptible as privilege does inhibit ones ability to feel real empathy for others. Empathy is a learned trait & influenced by ones unique human experience. Privilege blinds everyone by denying them an experience they can fully relate to. Privilege is ignorant by nature. Even God didn't fully grasp empathy for our human experience until walking in our shoes as Jesus (for those who believe in that sorta thing). I'd agree that far more Caucasians have grown up with privilege making them ignorant & more susceptible to embracing fascism, but the progress we did manage to make for a brief time did indeed make others more susceptible. In fact, it's really depressing how many Black Americans envy others who have been able to 'succeed' in the US & embrace feudalist terminology & casually claim they too want to be 'kings, queens, & build empires' but the better educated realize in order for there to be royalty, that means everyone else is a slave. I fear there aren't many who learned a single thing about what the Revolutionary War was about. Not back in its time & not now with it being taught as if it was something that only existed in the past. The bottom line is that no one should own nor rule over anyone. It's just a real shame that the U.S. of all countries still lies to itself about what it is & still fails to fulfill the promise of something it's always claimed to be, but has yet to fulfill. As a capitalist nation, by our very nature, we're a country filled with wannabe kings, queens, & fascists. As a U.S. woman, I'd like you to consider the position of Anita Hill in the past & now in the present & to have a bit of empathy for her. Imagine how sickening it had to have been for her to have to listen to Thomas claim he was being 'lynched.' Might I also remind you that black men had rights before ANY women in the U.S.A. & there are women still alive today who couldn't purchase land or open a checking account without the permission of the man who OWNED them, be it her father or husband. That said, fascism seems linked more to gender than race, not that anyone wants to turn this into a contest. I just want to make sure that people who truly seek equality do so honestly. It's way too important an issue & since it's an argument based in integrity that to win it, we need to be completely truthful & consistent with our own integrity. We're a deeply flawed species & these horrific traits aren't unique to any race nor gender. It's just that some have more opportunities to turn into something very evil & ugly. As time moves forward, those opportunites will change, so the direct correlation of race/gender will change accordingly. Something we do agree on though is the horridcsense of feeling as if we've been placed in some nightmare of a time machine taking us back to a time we thought we had gotten past, but alas, as I stated earlier, it seems few actually ever grasped what the Revolutionary War was SUPPOSED to be about & man, our educational system is in serious need of repair if we still don't grasp it centuries after the fact. Bottom line though, the US has been living & promoting itself based on a LIE. We've yet to fulfill the Dream, but a lot of us still believe it's worth fighting for. That said, hang in there; you're not alone! While ignorance & greed will always exist, so will empathy, logic, & compassion.
Thank you for such a thought provoking comment (given the aggregate intelligence of our readers I am hardly surprised). That having been effusively stated; Clarence Thomas is neither an oligarch. nor a fascist and, as the column explicitly illustrates, fascism and oligarchy are the sole purview, like so many other things, of Europeans or so-called "white" people. Clarence Thomas does not, to his chagrin, enjoy "white privilege." If Uncle Thomas takes his charcoal black-ass into a Target or Wal-Mart, without his BLACK robe (most Americans cannot name even a single supreme court justice), he will be followed like every other Black Person in the United States would be. A breathtaking irony.
And "might I remind you" that your contention of Black Men having "rights" over a white woman is complete, and utter, nonsense. In fact, one of the few rights that a European-American woman had was to own slaves; many of which were men, many of which were raped... by European women. https://youtu.be/4CDBUf42qNo?si=B3ZYMMmFQ6ZbLNs7
Lastly, with regard to your "dream" reference. I am a great admirer of Dr. King, but not for the same reasons you might be because, you see, the European does not understand "peace." Has accomplished nothing by "peace" (his philosophy is "I'll kick your ass") and, further, does not pursue "peace." DREAMS are for those asleep; for one must be asleep in order to dream; this Black Man in the United States is fully, brutally and woefully AWAKE.
Patronization notwithstanding, be careful about getting on this thread, in THIS community, with any manner of paternalistic (or maternalistic, as it might) proselytizing. I am beyond happy to unsubscribe, even paying, subscribers.
This publication, and community, is called LookingNWords. And, thusly, it is my IN-Ward point of view.
I truly would like to hear your thoughts on my comments about Killer Mike, gun rights, & the left maybe one day regretting what we wish for. NO ONE will agree to truly explore this. I get the initial knee-jerk reaction, still I fear what may happen if we don't discuss this.
OH & BTW, speaking of the predator & prey analogies I use, the irony of all the Christian Frauds failing to notice that even the God of their 'supposed' religion EVOLVED from an Old Testament Wolf to a New Testament Lamb, but try explaining this to one of them & watch a real life brain circuit overload! 😵💫🤯😂😢 Funny, yet not one bit funny if you actually wish for peace.
Kenyatta, it's a long response, still I hope you'll take time to read & consider it, as 🇺🇸 has hardly been kind to me, and what I revealed barely scratches the surface. Geez, I just now saw you respond, too, but happy that you did!
I say this with the most sincere respect that I am as vividly aware how the privilege of Thomas ceases to exist if he were to be in a certain environment, just as you described, similarly to a shred of 'privilege' that exists for me, as I'm being stalked or gaslighted by a 'peace' officer, BUT when back in our respective habitats, Thomas holds far more power than little ole me of getting any Justice, Revenge, etc...
I can assure you of only one thing: we're on the same side. THAT SAID, I've tried discussing with other Hartmann Program Veterans about being careful what we wish for & having a really honest & highly uncomfortable discussion about guns, which I DO own and precisely to protect me from ANYONE (mostly white, rightwinged men) who think they have the right to do whatever they please to me. Which sorta ties in to why I commented. This isn't a competition, nor would it be a competition if I were to start up my own gender-based substack & you were to comment there. My comments weren't meant to deflect nor distract in ANY WAY, and I DO understand the mission of your substack & am always 100% in agreement: Black Lives MATTER. Please don't forget along the way that my life matters too, and every assault committed against me is just as real and I am at the mob's mercy, just like anyone else, need I mention the Salem witch burning of many a white woman, probably incited by more white women than anyone doing both their own & other white men's bidding. There's schadenfreude in a LOT of people. Some get to exercise it freely & openly, other's are it's victims, but the rich & powerful are the most protected, that is until they abuse enough in the mob to get the mob to turn on THEM. The 'Elite' all around the world have to flee the poverty, violence, etc. they created just like the poor they abused.
Sorry, I got a bit side-tracked there, but as a resident of a highly dangerous red state, while the thought of everyone having guns scares me & the fact there are school shootings breaks my heart, the thought of "only them" having the guns scares me more & I'm one of the extremely rare people who WANT TO HEAR what Killer Mike has to say about gun laws, where NO ONE in the predominantly white Hartmann chat room will engage with me on this. Idk if you are ever watching live on youtube, but I think there may be only one other listener there who grasps that the MAGAS are a sorta self-fulfilling prophecy & embodiment of those who have BECOME the thing they warned us of. Does that make any sense? Have you ever heard Killer Mike talk about his gun stance? I haven't (YET), but I'm fairly certain if not him, then another minority person is also thinking we better be careful what we wish for here, as a Trump coup with all of THEM owning ALL the guns will not work out well for anyone who wanted nothing to do with any of the BS.
Kenyatta, essentially what I'm saying is perhaps WE are independent spirits living in a world filled with PREDATORS. At times we're their prey, some NEVER raise their voice or question anything or do anything to ripple their own still water keeping them off the PREDATORS' RADARS. Now, these predators...some are so by choice, some out of necessity, still it's a savage world in which we live (the actual lesson of wokeness) so how do we both protect ourselves from predators while trying to create a future where there's a whole lot less of predatory behavior driven by necessity. As for the predatory behavior driven by choice, some would rightfully argue hurt people, hurt people, still you know who else does this by choice: spoiled people, but according to Mary Trump, her Uncle was psychologically abused. Perhaps she's right, but there are & will probably always be truly broken people who had perfect upbringings & still turned out coveting schadenfreude, what psychologists would consider sociopaths. Can we 'cure' them with psychotherapy? Actual good nutrition? Do we even have the right to try? "A Clockwork Orange" sure was one heck of a mindfk of a film. We humans created religion (or some divine entity conveyed, I'm ambivalent & agnostic about it & simply acknowledge sincere & insincere religions exist) & religious laws like the "Golden Rule" which makes a ton of sense logically, spiritually, karmically, still human predators are as real as great white sharks, even in my vegan reality who has a far higher respect for life than the fraudulent pro-life movement, but that's MY reality, meanwhile over in rightwinged fake Christian land, they are ALL IN on Darwinism & "survival of the fittest." So, define "fittest" as that right there is where all the identity, tribe size, etc. stuff is exploited. In any case, both you & I are "fresh meat" in the eyes of human predators & yes, neither of us has the luxury of being anything less than woke about it & to be less will ensure either of us is less 'safe' at any given time. Anything less than joining the predators, puts a target on your back, still it's just a matter of time before they wipe out or get bored with the present target then set their eyes on some other target, and while I'm just a blended kinda white looking little lady rabbit, I too am vividly aware I'm surrounded by a pack of both occassionally hungry with some intentionally cruel for kicks wolves.
TRUE STORY: In the 1970s I was RAPED by a free roaming white male. I was a 10 year old child & was with my friend, another 10 year old child, who was also sexually assaulted and also a live witness to the event. To this very day, the only public record of the event (which we TRIED to take to court, only to learn to never try THAT again!) states for the record "an act that was not rape." My 'whiteness' nor status as a child got me no special privileges, where that man, whose behavior was ignored/rewarded, went on (as predicted) to have a nice long life of sexual predatory behavior. How he was finally locked up, idk, maybe they were whiter than me, but more likely they had different 'connections' than me, as I'm just a NOBODY. Yes, true story & can be verified via FOIA were it ever a safe enough world for me to let people know who I am. I supose in THAT respect, I have privilege, yet THAT privilege would be used to export a US BORN CITIZEN out of the country, to where, idk, but as a survivor of domestic abuse, I'm also DIRECTLY aware how the Patriot Act stipped citizens of their rights to even having a LEGAL ID. REAL LIFE STUFF HERE! So how does the privilege of anonymity protect me when it's the very crux of being the thing keeping me both alive & RIGHTFULLY as a US Citizen? Perhaps just before my death or if we ever get passed this Taliban Trumper era, I'll go public & wake some people up to more of 'America's' (yes, how privileged of us to claim we're the one & only) hidden skeletons, and on THAT NOTE, hey...anyone putting themselves openly out there today in a way, making it extremely easy for the sharks to notice, has my utmost respect. Still, in that respect, Hartmann's Whiteness & Maleness won't save him, as he would surely be high up on the list as to whom the Orange Fascist would exterminate, but then again, he has the financial means to escape, whereas I, even if I could scrape the funds together, can't even obtain a US Passport & to even attempt to do so would put me pretty high up on the radar & they just so happen to like the taste of my meat.
The "Dream" is just that...some bullshit.
Omg, I hope you don't really mean that. Movements & the souls dedicated to them are quite REAL: @24:00
https://www.youtube.com/live/M1htGS2RsUM?si=1mzwnnrc3qn-HCt0
So what do you envision for the future, a world striving to Peacefully Co-Exist or Entropy & The PURGE? Will we let ourselves be devoured & become the very thing that's wrong with the world or will we aspire to be the change we wish to see? Me thinks as woke as you are, you do in fact actually still dare to dream & still strive to be the change, else why even bother wasting your time running the numbers & participating over at TTHP? Being Woke & daring to chose to dream, in spite of the cynicism, need not be mutually exclusive, aka: despair is not an option. Still, you/we, ARE entitled to (y)our genuine feelings about the brutality that surrounds us.
Wanna hear a really effed up song that sounds so cute & innocent that was pumped into our brains as children? "Let the Sunshine In," NOT the Age of Aquarius version, but the little kiddle Pebbles & Bam Bam toxic positivity be grateful for what we allow you to have version! Seriously, go back & listen to that mess!😳 Still, even though it's partly messed up, it also reminds us to open our hearts & be the light. I swear, you could build a college ethics course just on that song & it's interpretations, esp with the inclusion of the "devil" word. Anyway, not exactly content for a children's cartoon, but then again, the whole cartoon wasn't exactly designed for children, but having no strong & clear movement messages, or if it did they went way above my head as a kid, perhaps DeSantis will still 'allow' us to view old Flintstones episodes. Now I'm curious to rewatch & see all I may have missed. The song though, it's a real doozy, esp for anyone with less being told by anyone with more to: "SMILE! It can't be THAT bad!" If only I could drum up my own version of a deranged DeSantis smile.
Clapton came to a decision point in the 60s: sell yourself for celebrity or stay real? You can hear which way that went.
Thing I loved about Prince was that he never stopped being about the music, not for a day, not for a minute. Once you find your passion, that's how to live. Didn't you mention one time that you are a jazz musician?
Satiricus, you downright scare me, sometimes. Only a musician would make that astute a comment; or a damned serious audiophile.
19 seems a hundred years ago (more like 40). I worked my way through college doing gigs in smoky jazz dives, doing funky recording sessions, pimply faced proms and a bunch of other crap. Lord knows I must have held a hundred different jobs while in college. Here is the 19 year old senior; another time, another place (sent to your e-mal). Tell me that ain't priceless (to be held in strictest confidence, by the by).
I played piano as a young man, and took some applause for it, but ‘musician’ is too strong a word for what I was doing.
Honestly, I was playing with more testosterone than talent. Is there a word that means, “using music to get laid”?
I still have a couple of keyboards in the house, and I will stop and check in sometimes, but I am a terrible disappointment to my ears. If I had a band, I’d have to name it White Noise.
I can build a five-hour playlist out of Les McCann, Lee Morgan, Davis, Silver, Masakela, and Monk, sit down to the keys, and it sounds like Come to Jesus Time down to the tent revival. Hopeless.
Kiss My Axe! Dude.
https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=583317652&q=kiss+my+axe+al+di+meola&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiw9oru_MqCAxW_PEQIHQstAssQBSgAegQICBAC&biw=1536&bih=715&dpr=1.25#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:8856dbb0,vid:KiiXZQTc5BE,st:0
Ha ha. Another Al. Shoulda known.