Showing posts with label Bernie Sanders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bernie Sanders. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

BERNIE SANDERS IS SHOWING HIS TRUE COLORS

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

EXCELLENCE IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY
.
BERNIE SANDERS IS SHOWING HIS TRUE COLORS


In spite of the fact that Bernie doesn't have a chance in hell of winning the nomination, instead of coming to help support the effort to get rid of Trump - a man who is so corrupt and delusional that he approached a German firm trying to buy the EXCLUSIVE rights to a cure to a world pandemic - Bernie is stomping his feet and complaining that he's the victim of voter suppression. How is that helping the people? That's fanaticism and an overwhelming interest in self.
.
I previously supported Bernie, but during this national emergency (Trump), Bernie needs to take his ass home and pout in private - THAT'S what's in the interest of the American people. If Bernie can't see that, everything else he's spewing is just political rhetoric designed to promote his own interests.
.
Our primary objective is to get Trump’s ass out of office, and Bernie staying in the race and promising “pie in the sky” and free unicorn rides is not going to accomplish that objective. If Bernie really cared about the American people and all of the rhetoric he’s spewing, he’d stop being so divisive and place the interest of the American people above his hurt feelings and wounded ego.
.
That’s why about a month ago I turned my back on decades of support for Bernie. I believe in following truth wherever it leads and regardless of who’s ox it gores. So after taking a fresh look at Bernie, I began to recognize that demagogues aren't new in American politics, and we've got to learn to spot them, regardless to how painful it is to accept. After all, I owe my greatest loyalty to myself.

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BERNIE SANDERS VERSUS JOE BIDEN AS A CURE FOR THE DONALD TRUMP VIRUS

Now that Bernie Sanders is losing in the primaries he’s showing his true colors. We're beginning to see, just like with most politicians, that it's all about him, not the country. Let's be real. While we all want to believe that our latest object of political affection is different, it's not patriotism or the need to do us a favor that motivates most politicians, it's ambition and self-interest, and Bernie is revealing himself to be no different. So as a person who has admired Bernie for decades and supported him in 2016, I'm greatly disappointed with his behavior. And being a person who tends not to become fanatical over any politician, I have no problem in doing a complete reassessment of who he actually is based on the new evidence, and what I see, I'm not the least bit happy with.
.
I don't think Joe Biden would be throwing a tantrum like Bernie is if he were losing the primaries. If Biden lost, he'd simply walk away and then return to support the team, because that's his nature, and his ego is not involved. That alone speaks volumes about the relative character of the two candidates, and it perfectly explains something that I've wondered about quite a bit in the past - why does Bernie draw so many fanatics? Now I know - because
Bernie is fanatical himself. 
.
It was some of his more fanatical supporters that caused me to recognize that fact about Bernie. Why does he draw such people, so many "Bernie bros"? Many of them are the flipside of a large number of Trump supporters - mindless zombies. So in spite of my previous support and continuing admiration of many of Bernie’s political ideals, I’ve always felt uneasy over being aligned with such fanatics, because I consider all manner of fanaticism based on mindless emotion rather than objective thought, and such people render themselves susceptible to being herded like cattle. That's why even though I'm very spiritual and a firm believer in God, I'm totally against ALL religions, because God gave us a mind, but it was man who gave us religion, in order make us easier to manipulate, and the same is true of political alignments. It's merely a secular form of religion, but just as fanatical. 
.
Bernie tends to believe that only his vision of reality counts, and whether or not he can be successful in promoting that vision is secondary. From Bernie’s perspective, it’s only fighting the good fight that counts, and the good fight is an end in itself. That's fanaticism. That's why he's been so isolated over the years in congress, and so ineffective. He’s a “pie in the sky” kind of guy. But life doesn’t work that way - it’s fighting the WINNING fight that counts. Life is not about all or nothing; life is about achieving your goals incrementally and gradually moving towards your ultimate objective. If Bernie hasn’t learned that simple lesson in life at his age, he’s not equipped to be president. So while he's the flipside of the political coin, and what motivates him may be different, his thinking is just like Trump's. And while, unlike Trump, Bernie's heart may be in the right place, his mind is lagging far behind.
.
As Sen. Elizabeth Warren pointed out, “This crisis demands more than a senator who has good ideas”, but Bernie’s “30-year track record shows he consistently calls for things he fails to get done and consistently opposes things he nevertheless fails to stop.” According to Congress.gov, in Bernie’s 30 years in congress he has been the lead sponsor in 422 bills, and only three of them have become law – and of them, two was to name post offices. So what is there to be so fanatical about? 

A primary example of the problem I have with some of Bernie's supporters is highlighted by those who say, “Bernie or Bust”. That alone is the height of hypocrisy and betrays the built-in bullshit of their philosophy. While they claim that they’re dedicated to moving society forward out of one side of their mouth, they’re also saying that if we don’t allow them to force their will down our throats, they're prepared to sit back and allow an aspiring dictator to win the election as punishment out of the other. That clearly demonstrates that their top priority is not the betterment of society, but to be dictators themselves – and Bernie obviously feels the same way, since he’s determined to stay in the race and continue to divide the Democratic effort in spite of the fact that he has next to no chance of winning the nomination. He's a professional foot-stomper and spoiler. That's why he has no fans in congress.
.
That should cause any thinking person to ask themselves whether Bernie is sincere in his pursuit of change, or is it just an attention-getting ploy to set himself apart?  It’s very important to look beyond what people say, and watch what they do, and it's equally important to maintain an objective state of mind and not allow yourself to become fanatical over any politician, regardless of who it is. It's a tendency to think like Bernie by many Black people that's served to hold the Black community down. We can only move forward through careful and efficient thinking, not through blind anger and raw emotion. That kind of behavior only serves to turn off potential allies. That's how Bernie lost me.
.
So I have  a simple response to Sanders supporters who claim that Joe Biden is a loser - if Biden is a loser, no Democrat can win. While until now, I've always admired Bernie (although, again, I’m currently rethinking that), I’m a realist, and his socialist tag means that I would have to place my bet on the fact that undereducated Americans - who have been brainwashed all of their lives by the corporate establishment to believe that socialism and communism are one - will have the intelligence to overcome that brainwashing, and I'm not willing to make that bet.
.
Anyone who has spent any time at all online have undoubtedly come across
people who consider the most scornful thing they can call you is not a murderer, or a rapist, but a Marxist. Many of these low-information people hate anyone tagged as a socialist with the passion of a religious conviction,  even though many of them don't even know what a Democratic socialist is. So my life experience has taught me to never bet on the intelligence of such people. If the American people were intelligent, we wouldn't currently have an idiot married to an illegal stripper and porn model living in the White House.
.
So this election is not about who's philosophy is most progressive, but who would be the best candidate to get Trump out of office. And in that regard, Hillary Clinton clearly demonstrated in 2016 that it doesn't matter how many enthusiastic fans you have in the big cities; what’s more significant is how many enemies you have in the boonies. The system was setup that way with the creation of the electoral college to protect the slave states. That's why in spite of the fact that Hillary won 3 million more votes, she still lost to Trump. The result of that election tells me one thing - Bernie is far too much of a gamble to bet on in an election that can determine whether or not America remains a democracy. He's even been a loser in congress for decades, and now he's a loser in the primaries. So the bottom line is, how badly do we want Trump out of office? If we fail to accomplish that, all of our other issues are meaningless, regardless of how high-falutin our ideals.
.
But in spite of the fact that Bernie doesn't have a chance in hell of winning the nomination, instead of coming to help support the effort to get rid of a man who is so corrupt and delusional that he approached a firm in Germany trying to buy the EXCLUSIVE rights to a cure for a world pandemic, Bernie is stomping his feet and complaining that he's the victim of voter suppression. How is that helping the people? That's fanaticism and an overwhelming interest in self. I previously supported Bernie, but during this national emergency (Trump), Bernie needs to take his ass home and pout in private - THAT'S what's in the interest of the American people. If Bernie can't see that, everything else he's spewing is just political rhetoric designed to promote his own interests. Demagogues aren't new in American politics, and we've got to learn to spot them.
.
Thus, while Joe Biden may not be as progressive as many of us would like to see in a candidate, for just that reason, he is undoubtedly the most acceptable candidate to the largest number of people – including disillusioned Trump voters who would never vote for a socialist. That’s why Trump is so afraid of him that he got himself impeached trying to smear him, and that alone speaks volumes. Trump knows the source of his biggest threat. That's why he's all but campaigning for Bernie. So no matter how tantalizing Bernie's vision of "pie in the sky" and free unicorn rides are to the imagination, if we want Trump out of office we’re going to have rely on clear thinking and common sense, not the pursuit of unfulfillable promises and emotional fanaticism. If we fail to recognize that simple fact, we might as well run Farrakhan. 
.
Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, AND INDEPENDENT THINKERS
.
Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 

Sphere: Related Content

Friday, March 13, 2020

BERNIE SANDERS VERSUS JOE BIDEN AS A CURE FOR THE DONALD TRUMP VIRUS

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

EXCELLENCE IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY
.
BERNIE SANDERS VERSUS JOE BIDEN AS A CURE FOR THE DONALD TRUMP VIRUS

Now that Bernie Sanders is losing in the primaries he’s showing his true colors. We're beginning to see, just like with most politicians, that it's all about him, not the country. Let's be real. While we all want to believe that our latest object of political affection is different, it's not patriotism or the need to do us a favor that motivates most politicians, it's ambition and self-interest, and Bernie is revealing himself to be no different. So as a person who has admired Bernie for decades and supported him in 2016, I'm greatly disappointed with his behavior. And being a person who tends not to become fanatical over any politician, I have no problem in doing a complete reassessment of who he actually is based on the new evidence, and what I see, I'm not the least bit happy with.
.
I don't think Joe Biden would be throwing a tantrum like Bernie is if he were losing the primaries. If Biden lost, he'd simply walk away and then return to support the team, because that's his nature, and his ego is not involved. That alone speaks volumes about the relative character of the two candidates, and it perfectly explains something that I've wondered about quite a bit in the past - why does Bernie draw so many fanatics? Now I know - because
Bernie is fanatical himself. 
.
It was some of his more fanatical supporters that caused me to recognize that fact about Bernie. Why does he draw such people, so many "Bernie bros"? Many of them are the flipside of a large portion of Trump supporters, mindless zombies. So in spite of my previous support and continuing admiration of many of Bernie’s political ideals, I’ve always felt uneasy over being aligned with such fanatics, because I consider all manner of fanaticism based on mindless emotion rather than objective thought, and such people render themselves susceptible to being herded like cattle. That's why even though I'm very spiritual and a firm believer in God, I'm totally against ALL religions, because God gave us a mind, but it was man who gave us religion, in order make us easier to manipulate. 
.
Bernie tends to believe that only his vision of reality counts, and whether or not he can be successful in promoting that vision is secondary. From Bernie’s perspective, it’s only fighting the good fight that counts, and the good fight is an end in itself. That's fanaticism. That's why he's been so isolated over the years in congress, and so ineffective. He’s a “pie in the sky” kind of guy. But life doesn’t work that way - it’s fighting the WINNING fight that counts. Life is not about all or nothing; life is about achieving your goals incrementally and gradually moving towards your ultimate objective. If Bernie hasn’t learned that simple lesson in life at his age, he’s not equipped to be president. That's the way Trump thinks. So while, unlike Trump, Bernie's heart may be in the right place, his mind is lagging far behind.
.
As Sen. Elizabeth Warren pointed out, “This crisis demands more than a senator who has good ideas”, but Bernie’s “30-year track record shows he consistently calls for things he fails to get done and consistently opposes things he nevertheless fails to stop.” According to Congress.gov, in Bernie’s 30 years in congress he has been the lead sponsor in 422 bills, and only three of them have become law – and of them, two was to name post offices. So what is there to be so fanatical about? 

A primary example of the problem I have with some of Bernie's supporters is highlighted by those who say, “Bernie or Bust”. That alone is the height of hypocrisy and betrays the built-in bullshit of their philosophy. While they claim that they’re dedicated to moving society forward out of one side of their mouth, they’re also saying that if we don’t allow them to force their will down our throats, they're prepared to sit back and allow an aspiring dictator to win the election as punishment out of the other. That clearly demonstrates that their top priority is not the betterment of society, but to be dictators themselves – and Bernie obviously feels the same way, since he’s determined to stay in the race and continue to divide the Democratic effort in spite of the fact that he has next to no chance of winning the nomination. He's a professional foot-stomper and spoiler. That's why he has no fans in congress. 
.
That should cause any thinking person to ask themselves whether Bernie is sincere in his pursuit of change, or is it just an attention-getting ploy to set himself apart?  It’s very important to look beyond what people say, and watch what they do, and it's equally important to maintain an objective state of mind and not allow yourself to become fanatical over any politician, regardless of who it is. It's a tendency to think like Bernie by many Black people that's served to hold the Black community down. We can only move forward through careful and efficient thinking, not through blind anger and raw emotion. That kind of behavior only serves to turn off potential allies. That's how Bernie lost me.
.
So I have  a simple response to Sanders supporters who claim that Joe Biden is a loser - if Biden is a loser, no Democrat can win. While until now, I've always admired Bernie (although, again, I’m currently rethinking that), I’m a realist, and his socialist tag means that I would have to place my bet on the fact that undereducated Americans - who have been brainwashed all of their lives by the corporate establishment to believe that socialism and communism are one - will have the intelligence to overcome that brainwashing, and I'm not willing to make that bet.
.
Anyone who has spent any time at all online have undoubtedly come across
people who consider the most scornful thing they can call you is not a murderer, or a rapist, but a Marxist. Many of these low-information people hate anyone tagged as a socialist with the passion of a religious conviction,  even though many of them don't even know what a Democratic socialist is. So my life experience has taught me to never bet on the intelligence of such people. If the American people were intelligent, we wouldn't currently have an idiot married to an illegal stripper and porn model living in the White House.
.
So this election is not about who's philosophy is most progressive, but who would be the best candidate to get Trump out of office. And in that regard, Hillary Clinton clearly demonstrated in 2016 that it doesn't matter how many enthusiastic fans you have in the big cities; what’s more significant is how many enemies you have in the boonies. The system was setup that way with the creation of the electoral college to protect the slave states. That's why in spite of the fact that Hillary won 3 million more votes, she still lost to Trump. The result of that election tells me one thing - Bernie is far too much of a gamble to bet on in an election that can determine whether or not America remains a democracy. He's even been a loser in congress for decades, and now he's a loser in the primaries. So the bottom line is, how badly do we want Trump out of office? If we fail to accomplish that, all of our other issues are meaningless, regardless of how high-falutin our ideals.
.
But in spite of the fact that Bernie doesn't have a chance in hell of winning the nomination, instead of coming to help support the effort to get rid of a man who is so corrupt and delusional that he approached a firm in Germany trying to buy the EXCLUSIVE rights to a cure for a world pandemic, Bernie is stomping his feet and complaining that he's the victim of voter suppression. How is that helping the people? That's fanaticism and an overwhelming interest in self. I previously supported Bernie, but during this national emergency (Trump), Bernie needs to take his ass home and pout in private - THAT'S what's in the interest of the American people. If Bernie can't see that, everything else he's spewing is just political rhetoric designed to promote his own interests. Demagogues aren't new in American politics, and we've got to learn to spot them.
.
Thus, while Joe Biden may not be as progressive as many of us would like to see in a candidate, for just that reason, he is undoubtedly the most acceptable candidate to the largest number of people – including disillusioned Trump voters who would never vote for a socialist. That’s why Trump is so afraid of him that he got himself impeached trying to smear him, and that alone speaks volumes. Trump knows the source of his biggest threat. That's why he's all but campaigning for Bernie. So no matter how tantalizing Bernie's vision of "pie in the sky" and free unicorn rides are to the imagination, if we want Trump out of office, we’re going to have rely on clear thinking and common sense, not the pursuit of unfulfillable promises and emotional fanaticism.



Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, AND INDEPENDENT THINKERS
.
Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 



Sphere: Related Content

Saturday, February 22, 2020

SOCIALISM VS CAPITALISM IS ONE MORE EVIL THAN THE OTHER?

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

EXCELLENCE IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY

SOCIALISM VS CAPITALISM 
IS ONE MORE EVIL THAN THE OTHER?

UNLESS YOU'D LIKE TO PAY FOR THESE
 SERVICES,
YOU BELIEVE IN SOCIALISM
Some very bad things have happened in countries that claim to be socialist, but let us not forget that slavery, the slaughter of over 200 million Native Americans, and the wholesale lynching and abuse of African Americans took place right here under capitalism. So the people on both sides of this debate only give you the facts that are most favorable to their point of view. It’s called brainwashing.
.
But here’s the bottom line (at least in theory) – “socialism” gives priority to the people, or society, and “capitalism” gives priority to big business - based on the premise that a prosperous business environment will benefit society as a whole. But that’s not always the case. Business can be thriving for the people at the top, while the average worker can be living in near destitution.  So in practice, the best economic model is a combination of both socialism and capitalism to form a more balanced and common-sense economy.
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We shouldn’t get carried away with either system. We need to keep them both in check. While we shouldn’t allow socialism to become so radical that it becomes oppressive to independent initiative, neither should allow capitalists to become so ruthlessly greedy and out of control that they’re allowed to victimize the people. So, like most things in life, the best economic system for society is simply a matter of common sense – to protect the people from greed and exploitation, while at the same time, allowing business the freedom to prosper. That’s the kind of thinking that pulled the nation out of the Great Depression, and it’s called Democratic Socialism.
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Thus, without endorsing or advocating any particular candidate for President, it’s important that the voting public be informed and not allowed to be misled. When the opposition (both Democrats and Republicans) shout that Bernie Sanders is “A Socialist!”, they’re trying to imply that he’s un-American. That’s not true. He’s a DEMOCRATIC Socialist, which means he shares the very same views as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president who defeated Hitler during WWII, led the world out of the Great Depression, and held office longer than any other president in American history.
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So, while you may or you may not agree with Bernie Sanders' policies, make sure you have a clear understanding of exactly what those policies are, and that you're basing your opinion (and your vote) on knowledge, and not just a bumper sticker. Because there's one thing we must ALWAYS remember, and that's that ALL politicians are absolutely brilliant in one area if in no other, and that's in misleading the public. So don't base your vote on what you're being told. Do your homework.




Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, AND INDEPENDENT THINKERS
.
Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 

Sphere: Related Content

Monday, June 03, 2019

NEVER BECOME SO BLACK THAT YOU FORGET YOU NEED WHITE ALLIES


Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

Contrary to popular belief, Black people don’t have a moral obligation to be stupid.
.
  NEVER BECOME SO BLACK THAT YOU FORGET YOU NEED WHITE ALLIES
WHITE ALLIES

I started writing when my children were toddlers for two reasons - first, I decided that we should all contribute what we do best to the community, and secondly, I began to notice that many of the people I read were being self-serving. Instead of telling Black people what they NEEDED to hear, they were so interested in their own notoriety and fame that they told the people what they WANTED to hear in order to feather their own nests. So instead of educating Black people and discussing the best way to move forward, the favorite subject of many Black intellectuals was “Who could find the most creative reasons to hate the White man?” – and that was even as they cozied up to that very same White man for book deals, professorships, and television facetime.
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I decided that didn’t help Black people at all. But then, they weren't writing to help Black people. It’s was all about capitalism – the very same thing that was responsible for Black enslavement in the first place. I used to complain to my wife about it all the time, and she had a simple solution – “Well, you do it.” She was right, and I’ve been doing it ever since.

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If Black people are going to move forward, we can't continue to say that all of our problems are the White man’s fault. No, we shouldn’t ignore all of the atrocities that this White supremacist society has committed against Black people, but we shouldn’t dwell upon it either, because sitting in the corner with our lips poked out is not gonna get us anywhere. We must maintain the clarity of mind and objectivity to recognize that many of our problems are a result of our own dysfunction. If we fail to do that, even if every White man on the face of the Earth disappeared tomorrow, we’d still have problems.
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We’re not so weak-minded that the White man controls our every thought and action. It’s not the White man’s fault when we leave our sisters with a house full of babies and then walk away to allow them to either sink or swim on their own; it’s not the White man’s fault that we choose to abuse drugs instead of cultivating our minds, and it’s not the White man’s fault that we think it’s manly to blow one another’s brains out on the street. That’s our fault, because we refuse to make the pursuit of knowledge the new “soul”.
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But I found a perfect example of this kind of flawed thinking while browsing the internet in a post written by a Black Ph.D. – in EDUCATION, no less! She writes the following:
.
“‘The students, all convicted of felonies, earned associate degrees by
PRISON SCHOLARS
completing 60 credits in courses taught by Washington U. professors. They take two to four classes each semester, all for free. Course offerings this spring included Chinese Civilization, Introduction to Macroeconomics and Greek Mythology. --Excerpt.' 
On the surface, this looks like two institutions are working together for the greater good of those incarcerated men. They are. On the surface . . .
.
“At the very least, these listed course offerings are a bit dubious when considering any ability to get a well paying job upon release, or using this gained *knowledge* of Chinese Civilization or Greek Mythology to open their own businesses. Of course one can hope the student convicts also got Business Management and other usable courses. What do you think?”
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The very first thing that jumped out at me was in the good doctor’s attempt to make her point - which seems to be that the effort to educate these inmates was nothing more than window-dressing that failed to give the inmates the education needed to survive in the real world - in her restatement of the courses provided, she conveniently left out the most important course in that regard – Macroeconomics. That clearly betrayed her motive.  She was much more interested in criticizing the program than she was in relating truth and objectivity.
.
BERNIE SANDERS FIGHTING
FOR CIVIL RIGHTS DURING THE 60S
Every Black person in America (with the possible exception of Clarence Thomas and Ben Carson) know that White supremacy is real, but the good doctor took it a step further to profile and impugn the motives of  even the White folks who are TRYING to do the right thing. While that may make her look like a no-nonsense Black warrior, that only feathers her own nest among the non-thinkers among us, but it’s not in the Black community’s best interest.
.

Since Black people are only 14.6% of the population, we need allies, and the good doctor’s brand of rhetoric only serves to turn potential allies off in droves.  In fact, it can be argued that Donald Trump became president the second that the sisters from Black Lives Matter went on stage and snatched the microphone from Bernie Sanders. Say what you will about their motives, but it was piss-poor judgment.
.
No one’s more pro-Black than I am, but their actions even pissed me off, so I know it turned millions of White people off. We often tend to forget that when seeking allies, image counts - and our failure to recognize that fact is undoubtedly one of our huge problems. When some of us gain the spotlight, instead of focusing on the big picture we can't seem to resist the urge to put on a performance for the public, and we invariably go overboard.
.
The Black community must always remember that we can’t out-scream the White establishment, because they control the media, and we can’t out-fight them because they control the military and police, so our only option is to out-think them, and this “educator” is not doing that.
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We can not only gain leverage by force, we can gain leverage through knowledge. In order for the powers that be to maintain power and promote their agenda they must keep the population undereducated. That presents the Black community with an excellent opportunity to level the playing field. While everyone else is being dumbed-down, we should be gorging ourselves on knowledge. As usual, our sisters are ahead of the game in recognizing that fact, but now we’ve got to get the Black man’s attention. Many Black men are so busy either struggling to make a living, or trying to be cool, that we’re completely missing the point. But these inmates have had the time to think, and they’ve become immune to the poverty pimps playing on their misery to feather their own nests.
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BLACK WOMEN HAVE BECOME THE MOST EDUCATED GROUP IN THE UNITED STATES

"Black women are now the most educated group in US, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Between 2009 and 2010, black women earned 68 per cent of associate's degrees, 66 per cent of bachelor's degrees, 71 per cent of master's degrees and 65 per cent of all doctorate degrees awarded to black students.
.
"By both race and gender, a higher percentage of black women (9.7 per cent) is enrolled in college than any other group, including Asian women (8.7 per cent), white women (7.1 per cent) and white men (6.1 per cent)."


So articles like the one referenced here, where a Black Ph.D. takes the constructive efforts of a prison and university system coming together to allow the inmates to earn college degrees, and then turning that constructive and well-meaning act into an insidious White supremacist conspiracy is destructive to the Black community. It not only promotes division and dysfunction within society as a whole, but it also represents a gross assault on simple common sense.  After all, how can educating Black prisoners possibly promote White supremacy!!!? They could have done more in that regard by just allowing them to rot in their cells.
.
That’s why I went out of my way to address this issue. The Black community must start looking forward and focusing on ways to improve our condition instead wasting our time looking for every way in which the White establishment has undermined us. We already know we’ve been undermined, so we should simply take that overall knowledge and begin to address the issues that made it possible – and the simple answer to that is a lack of knowledge.
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The White man wasn’t able to enslave Black people because he could beat us up, he was able to enslave us because he had a knowledge of gunpowder that we didn’t possess. Thus, the source of our enslavement was a lack of knowledge, so the key to our liberation is to embrace the pursuit of that same knowledge as a way of life. Yet, the writer in question seems to have found a reason to criticize that pursuit.
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When I was a kid and going in and out of jail, the bulls used to laugh at my budding intellect. That was their favorite pastime, laughing at the ignorance of young Black men. I didn’t like being laughed at, so that’s what set me on my journey in pursuit of knowledge. As a result of that pursuit, I can now laugh at their dumb asses, and I often do, and with great joy.
.
The most effective way of killing a bigot without having to go to jail is to be
ACTIVISTS PROJECT OBAMA VS. TRUMP APPROVAL RATINGS
ON TOWER OF LONDON DURING TRUMP VISIT
able to clearly demonstrate that he’s intellectually inferior to you, because it’s kinda hard to call your superior a nigga. I know, because I’ve made bigots choke on the word many times.  In fact, that’s become MY favorite pastime. That’s why just the thought of Barack Obama drives Trump crazy. Every time Trump thinks of Barack, he dies a thousand deaths. So the most effective response to White supremacy is Black excellence, not sitting in the corner with our lips poked out and talking about how mean the White man is.  That doesn’t demonize the White man, that deifies him. So we should teach our children, FROM BIRTH, that adversity is our friend, because it’s a source of knowledge that makes us MORE rather than less.
.
For that very reason, one of the most important lessons we must learn in life is to ALWAYS give truth and knowledge priority over ideology. While it’s not always comfortable, and it may not always make you popular, we should ALWAYS follow truth wherever it leads, and regardless to whose ox it gores. Thereafter, if truth makes you feel uncomfortable, that serves as an indication that you’re confronting an issue that needs to be addressed.
.
And finally, the good doctor ended her article with a question. She asked, “Will having a degree protect them [the inmates] from the ravages of racism and its expressions?” In response, I have a question for her – does yours?

THE HOOD RAT
.
Baby,
I’m sure you know that I love you.
You’re everything I need.
You fit the bill of all my desires,
a perfect match for all of my dreams.
From the moment I first laid eyes on you,
You were everything I craved -
that luscious vision from across the tracks,
that delicate flower beyond my blade.
*
But what you ask is foreign to me.
You need something that I’m not.
You said, just tweak my nature a little bit,
and you’ll give everything you’ve got.
*
But that "tweak" you need is who I am -
it’s my essence, can’t you see?

How can you speak of loving my soul, 
but not the hood rat that is me?
*
While "hood rat" may seem trite to you,
it’s the essence of my being.
So forget about what all the other’s say,
here’s what it means to me:
*
I’ve been brutally dragged through the pits of hell,
yet, managed to survive,
well educated and fully functional,
when I came out the other side.
I scrounged the lessons taught at Harvard,
because knowledge, I found, was free.
But they’ll never obtain the lessons I’ve learned,
or the knowledge that makes me, me.
*
While the "elite" may have heard a mournful Trane,
or Miles muted in the night,
not in the context of hunger and pain,
or hopelessness, hatred, and blight.
*
So while I've lived the life of a hood rat,
I’ve reaped a knowledge that money can't buy;
a knowledge passed on to my son and daughter,
which has greatly enhanced their lives.
*
Thus, I wouldn't change a single thing in my life -
I’ve faced Hell and passed the test.
I have a PhD in adversity,
that's made me much more,
rather than less.
*
So unlike the people at Harvard and Yale, who
try to buy intellectual clout,
they only study the genius of Miles and Trane,
while I'm who they’re blowin' about.
*
So when snobs try to slur me as "just a hood rat,"
I say, "thank you," and don’t take offense.
I take great pride in surviving the travails in my life,
That’s what gives me my confidence.
*
The Ivy League degrees of those of means
are only paper compared to mine;
while they have a "receipt" for knowledge obtained,
my lessons are ETCHED within my mind.
*
I can teach philosophy to Aristotle
with the adversity that I’ve endured,
so any snob who tries to match my wit,
will come up short, and that’s for sure.
*
Snobs walk about quoting Socrates and such,
through their "education" they are prone;
but while they’re spewing the thoughts of various dead men,
I spend my time developing my own.
*
Never give the thoughts of ANY man
priority over our own;
You must collect the facts, and think for yourself,
that’s where Harvard and Yale has gone wrong.
*
Preacher, politician, potentate,
whatever their point of view,
God didn't bless them with any knowledge
that he failed to bestow on you.
*
So being seen as a hood rat has its advantages
against racists of limited wit;
I simply quietly wait for their condescension,
then show ‘em that they ain’t shit.
*
While God made birds to fly and fish to swim,
he gave man thought and that's the key.
So any man who thinks he's superior
will have to PROVE his wit to me.
*
Thus, knowledge is the key to set us free,
no matter what the people say,
and there’s nothing more formidable than
a knowledgeable hood rat, and
that’s what you’re looking upon today.
*
Yet, these are the things you want me to purge,
and spurn the life I’ve led,
but I’m sorry, my love,
as much as I love you,
the soul of a hood rat is my edge.

.
http://wattree.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-hood-rat.html




Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 




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