Showing posts with label Manhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Manhood. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Frederick's Eyes (The Rapper)

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

FREDERICK'S EYES
(THE RAPPER)
Frederick Douglass
(1818-1895)
*
Now, THIS was a rapper!!!
 
He rapped lyrics of eloquence and truth

that will reverberate across the ages.

As long as there's a such thing as humanity,

his words will be recited by posterity.


He had to escape slavery to educate himself,

and then he went on to become one of the most knowledgeable,

and brilliantly eloquent writers, rappers, and thinkers

that this nation has ever known - that MAN has ever known.

He showed the world what we were made of,

and every Black person in this country, and beyond,

should familiarize themselves with his story, and his legacy.

*
Look at the seriousness and fierce determination in that brother's eyes.

That's the look that EVERY Black child should have

when they walk out their parent's door into adulthood.

I look into this brother's eyes every single morning

before I pickup my pen and begin to write,

because the fierce determination,

Knowledge of self,

and unshakeable confidence in personal manhood

reflected in that brother’s eyes,

represent who we are as Black people,

and bringing that side of our nature back to the surface,

defines my mission.

Because those are the eyes that will look upon freedom, justice, and equality.

*
When asked what he though of

the Fourth of July Celebration, Douglass said,

It’s a "mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy -

a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages!"

*
We thought Malcolm X defined what it meant to be militant during the 1960s,

but Douglass told America he considered Independence Day

a celebration that would "disgrace a nation of savages!" in 1852!

That was nine years BEFORE the Civil War.

Back then, even "nice" White folks would lynch a brother given sufficient cause.

So how's that for keeping it real,

For love of people,

For confidence in self,

and a willingness to speak truth to power?

Douglass came straight from the shoulder,

and without any hesitation or equivocation.

That's what manhood is about,

not struttin' about on stage in saggin’ draws,

a thousand miles and a century away,

from the nearest rope, lynch mob, or Poplar Tree,

But Douglass was willing to confront those horrors,

And

THAT,

My young brother,

was

Manhood.

*
A hundred and fifty years ago Frederick was everything

that we try to pretend to be today - and more.

He epitomized what it meant to be laid-back and cool,

but with one big difference,  it wasn't contrived,

and he had the powerful, focused,

well-trained, and very serious mind

to go along with his suave demeanor.

This former slave, had the kind of powerful intellect

that would allow him to sit with presidents as a peer.

He convinced Abraham Lincoln

to enlist Black troops into the union army

and helped to organize the famed

54th Massachusetts Regiment,

for just a little payback.

*
But he did much more than just spit lyrics,

he was also both a musician, and a ladies man,

and he was sought after with great affection

by many of the sophisticated and highly placed

White women of the time.

Historian and scholar Playthell Benjamin describes Douglass

as "six foot four and over two hundred pounds,

with a the well muscled body of a blacksmith
 
and the handsome countenance of a leading man of the theater,

a gift for language, and blessed with a marvelous vocal instrument which,
  
when wedded to his mastery of rhetoric,

had the power to move masses to action in behalf of his cause,

a cause that included the emancipation of women.

Frederick Douglass was a sexual magnet to the ladies,

especially educated white ladies.
 
And none was more enchanted with Douglass
 
than Ottilie Assing, who described him as ‘magical.’"
*
So what we have in Douglass is a 

handsome, suave, and debonair Black man,

living in pre-Civil War America,

yet, had the knowledge and intellect

to command enough respect to live life exactly the way he saw fit.
 
He counseled the President of the United States,

he 'dated' who he felt like 'dating' (Black or White), 

and he had the courage to tell White America 
 
that their celebration of the Independence Day was
 
"a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages!"

*
So Douglass was one hell of a guy,
 
and we could learn a lot about
 
what it means to be a true Black man by studying his legacy.
 
In order to command the kind of respect that Douglass enjoyed
 
during a time when other Black men
 
were looked upon as scarcely more than animals,

he had to be a unique man among men - and,

have some serious 'street creds.'

Because he was a Black man in a racist world

who lived his life the way he wanted to live, 

and said exactly what he wanted to say -

and without looking down at his feet.
 
He dealt with every man eyeball-to-eyeball,

and he didn't care who they were. 
 
Yet, he had no posse, no crew, and absolutely no backup.

It was just Fred, and his manhood, against the world. 

But obviously . . . 

The manhood reflected in his eyes,
 
was enough.
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"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them."
*
Good Old Soul
 

 
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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Sunday, February 23, 2014

Black People: Don’t Buy Into the Great American Myth

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Black People: Don’t Buy Into the Great American Myth
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One of the biggest problems that we have in the Black community is how we allow ourselves to be portrayed in the media. There tends to be a blanket profiling of Black people by the media as little more than dysfunctional hood rats with a few functional Black people sprinkled in for the sake of appearance, but as aberrations, and the poverty pimps among us have a vested interest in perpetuating that myth in order to feather their own nests.
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But the fact is, the truth is just the reverse. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the vast majority of Black people in this country are middle class or above. African Americans are the second largest consumer group in America with a combined buying power of over $892 billion currently and likely over $1.1 trillion by 2012. In 2002 African American owned businesses accounted for 1.2 million of the US's 23 million businesses, and 47% of Africans Americans own their own homes. So the kind of dysfunctional Black people commonly being portrayed in the media are a minority of the Black community, but they are a highly vocal, flamboyant, and inordinately publicized minority.
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If White people were portrayed in the media in the same way as Black people, we'd think that the majority of White folks were barefooted Hillbillies. So if you’re a Black person and reading this article, simply look at your own situation, and that of your family and friends. The chances are overwhelming that you and your close associates are living at a level comparable to the average White middle-class individual. The same is true of myself, my family, and virtually all of my friends.
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So the Black community is doing itself a huge disservice by just sitting back and allowing ourselves to be portrayed in this distorted and negative fashion. It sends the wrong message to our children. When they sit around for hours on end watching the antics of Lil’ Wayne and others flaunting the very worst of who we are, it sends the message to our young people that they have a moral obligation to be stupid in order to demonstrate their Black pride. They’re, literally, being instructed in what it means to be Black by sources other than ourselves. They’re being taught that being Black means wearing pants saggin’ off their asses, engaging in reckless and irresponsible behavior, scarring their bodies with ugly tattoos that can prevent them from obtaining employment, and giving priority to chasing "bling," momentary pleasure, and superficial trinkets over pursuing education, knowledge, and investing in themselves as individuals.
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If we’re tolerating these things in our homes, we have no right to complain when the rest of society refuse to hire us, and profile us a superficial and irresponsible idiots. But the fact is, we’re not only tolerating it, we’re making people filthy rich by supporting an industry that thrive on producing videos that are nothing short of ten minute commercials being circulated around the world saying that the very womb of our culture are sluts and whoes who are only good for abuse, and that Black men want everything out of life but a job - and will do anything to get it.
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That’s not who we are as a people, but that’s the way we’re being portrayed. That’s who our young people are looking up to, and that’s the way the rest of the world sees us. So if we allow this to continue, whose fault is it when the rest of the world believes their lying eyes? No wonder unemployment is so high among Black people. I wouldn’t hire anyone like that either - would you?
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So the Black community needs to come down on the media like a sledgehammer, and stop them from slandering our community. We also have to start letting our children know, in no uncertain terms, that stupidity’s not cute. We can't start to disseminate that message too soon, or too early in a child’s life, and since kids tend to gravitate toward those things that they’re rewarded for as "cool," it’s not enough to simply address this issue as individual parents - we might as well be spittin’ in the wind. We have to address this issue as a COMMUNITY.
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We’ve got to let BET know that if they want the community’s continued support, they’re going to have to change their call letters to stand for Black Excellence Television, and their programming is going to have to reflect that. We have to make it clear to BET, MTV, and the rest of the media that if they want the support of the Black community that they’re going to have to air programming that’s consistent with our agenda as a community - programming that reflects manhood as having the character to face and defeat adversity, and strength as being tender enough to sooth the wounded feelings of a baby girl.
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But in order to do that, we need an organized community, and a big obstacle to that is the self-serving poverty pimps among us who benefit from our suffering. We’ve got to eliminate these people. These are the ones who are primarily responsible for the plight that we currently find ourselves. When Martin and Malcolm were alive, the only thing they wanted from the White man was for him to leave us alone and allow us to live our lives in peace. My grandfather had a little verse that reflected their attitude. He used to say, "The only thing I want from this whole damn nation, is a pretty little wife, and a good foundation." I didn’t realize it at the time, but in that one little verse he was teaching me the meaning of life - and he had that, and more.
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But after the death of Martin and Malcolm, the poverty pimps swopped in to try to take their place, but both their philosophy, and their agenda, were much different. They convinced the Black community that we couldn’t make it on our own. They convinced us that we were incapable of such a monumental feat. They told us that we needed the White man’s help to move forward, so it was incumbent upon us to hire them as our official emissaries to the White man. That was in the late sixties and early seventies. But since that time, the "emissaries" have all profited greatly, while we’ve been sitting on our hands suffering, whining, and begging for the past forty years, and still waiting for the White man’s response. Sure we want our piece of America's pie, but the only way to get that is by organizing and making ourselves a strong enough political force to DEMAND it, not pay poverty pimps $30,000 an hour speaking fees to talk about how unjustly we're being treated. First, we already know that; and secondly, the only one it's benefitting is the poverty pimp. We're actually PAYING him to help spread the word, and profile us, as an hopelessly inept culture.
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So it’s time to bring the poverty pimp hustle to an end. We don’t need one voice speaking for millions; we need millions speaking with one voice. We also need to re-embrace our self-esteem, and begin to recognize who we are, what we represent, and the dignity of what we’ve managed to overcome. We're not puppies who need to be defended. We are a strong and vibrant people. One of our number has risen from the very bottom to become President of the United States. That's one of the most amazing accomplishments in the history of mankind. It's the equivalent of a captured slave rising to become the emperor of Rome, and it also speaks volumes about the American people's respect for excellence. But the poverty pimps have a vested interest in playing that down. They have a vested interest in playing you down.  
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But our history is clear. In spite of the fact that many of us have been dragged through the pits of Hell, we've managed to come out the other side as well adjusted and relatively well educated individuals. A study was done that shows that a White man with felony conviction has an equal chance of being hired for a job as a Black man with a spotless record (http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/09/study-black-man-and-white-felon-same-chances-for-hire/) That alone says it all. While we've been forced to engage in a 100 yard dash where our White counterparts were spotted 25 yards, we've still managed to remained competitive. So the fact is, adversity has made us MORE, rather than less.
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So don't buy into the great American myth. Yes, there are Black people who are struggling and at the bottom of the heap, but there are also many White people in that very same condition, and, in spite of having every advantage in life. So if you're Black and middle class, you've remained competitive with your White peers in spite of the fact that you were forced to wear lead boots during the competition. So you have much to be proud of - and not just the superficial pride of having Black skin, as James Brown suggested, but a genuine pride in what you’ve accomplished IN SPITE of your Black skin. So let us not allow our detractors have us confuse WHAT we are, or the title on our door, with WHO we are. We should ALWAYS invest in ourselves, because a great man will ALWAYS be a great man, even if he's on Skid Row.
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Some of the greatest minds I've ever known held court while sitting on empty milk crates in the parking lots of ghetto liquor stores. So I know who you are and what you're capable of, because I know who I am and what I'm capable of - thanks to you.

RELATED ARTICLE
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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
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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Tuesday, January 07, 2014

Are Women Turning Men Off With their Liberated Attitudes Toward Sex?

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree
 
Are Women Turning Men Off With Their Liberated Attitudes Toward Sex?
(Sorry, Fellas. I Had to Spill the Beans In the Interest of the Community) 
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I want to preface this article by assuring everyone that I’m no prude, nor am I some kind of Bible-thumper trying to force my religious agenda down anyone’s throat. In addition, I don't think there's anyone on the planet who enjoys sex more than I do. I’m merely giving my honest opinion of what I think is contributing to the break-down of the family unit, and it all boils down to one thing - sex.
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Women talk to me all the time about how useless and irresponsible many men have become, which I pretty much agree with. But what women don’t seem to understand is the pivotal role that they're playing in bringing about their own frustration.
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Women have made casual sex far too readily available in our society, and that has resulted in two things that place them at a decided disadvantage. First, women have allowed sex to become so easy to obtain that men no longer have to become real men to get it. As a result, there’s no incentive for men to become responsible adults and father figures. That’s why you see forty year-old men still living with their momas and hanging out on the block wearing sideway-tilting baseball caps. That image doesn't lend itself to being a father figure or a good role model, but unlike in the past, they don’t have to be, because if they can come up with a couple of joints and a pint of gin they can get all the sex they can handle regardless to how dysfunctional they seem to be as men. 
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Things were different in the past. As a rule, in order for our grandfathers to obtain sex during their generation, they had to prove their manhood, jump through a series of hoops, and wine and dine our grandmothers for months and even years - and in many cases, they even had to marry them first. But now all a young boy has to do is walk into a club with enough pocket change to buy a drink or two. That gives him no incentive whatsoever to become a responsible adult, and all the incentive in the world to continue hangin’ out in the clubs instead of focusing on what's going on around him and becoming a man.
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Women used to know how to handle their business. Even with my late wife, Val, while she wasn’t as stingy and strict as some of the ladies from the old school, when we were going together, even while secretly keeping in regular touch with my mother, she stopped speaking to me for an entire year until I caved in and adopted the kind of lifestyle that she approved of - and, thank God, she kept me jumping through one hoop are another until the night she died. If she hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been capable of writing this article. So in a very real sense, this article represents a letter to sisters from Val's grave. If she were here she’d say, "Girl, what you have beneath your dress is the only leverage you have with these turkeys, so use it wisely" - and anyone who reads this article who knew Val will tell you, I’m not lyin’.
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The second way that the sexual mores of our society is hurting women is, even among the men who are responsible - and who are looking forward to heading families - they're finding it increasingly difficult to find the kind of woman who they feel comfortable about starting a family with.
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The problem is, women don't understand men, and the reverse is also true. That's why most men and women can only relate to one another on a sexual level. Men think that women are impressed by what THEY think is "cool," and women think that men are impressed by what a woman finds impressive in a man - swagger, confidence, and assertiveness. But both are wrong. In many cases, what men consider "cool," women consider silly and simply put up with. And most men don’t consider swagger and assertiveness attractive in a woman at all. Those qualities boils down to aggressiveness, and that’s a male characteristic, so why would a man find a woman who acts like a man attractive? Do women find men who act like women attractive? Not really. So the very same thing is true in the reverse. Men and women have different needs. So many times, when men and women try to impress one another they either turn each other off, or make fools of themselves.
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Let me give you an example. Many women think they can get a man by acting sensuous, sexually provocative, and assertive. In a sense, that’s true. A woman, any woman, can get a man that way, but only as a sex partner, not as her man. Because men classify women in three different categories. The first category is hoe, or someone to use instead of having to masturbate. The second category is sex partner and road dawg. Men like the women in this category as friends, someone to party with, and to have as a sex partner. Unlike the women in category one, men actually like and respect the women in category two women, but not enough to marry - that is, unless they fall in love by accident. Men generally choose a woman who is sexually stingy as a wife. The reason for that is quite simple, so he won't have to worry about her cheating once they become a couple.
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Men will die to protect their manhood. Nothing is more important to us, and there’s no greater assault on a man’s manhood than a cheating woman, because it sends a message that says two things - first, that he wasn’t man enough to keep her in line, and secondly, that the man she’s cheating with is more of a man than he is. So women should understand that if they ever get caught cheating, that’s it. The man may not leave you immediately, but from that point on, he’s just waiting for the right "lady" to come along so he can replace you.
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Men are not like many women, who'll forgive and move on with the simple assurance that it will never happen again, because you’ve assaulted his manhood, and that's an unforgiveable offense. You've fallen off the pedestal that a man requires his woman to stand upon, so he'll never look at you in the same way again.  So generally speaking, the women that men like to party and have fun with, are not the women that they choose for a wife, because even though he may like them, they’re perceived as being much too casual in their sexuality.
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When a man decides to marry - unless he falls in love with a category two woman by accident as a result of having repeated sex with her - he chooses a wife from the third category. These women are generally very protective of their sexuality, low-key, and feminine. Men not only feel that these women are more apt to be loyal, but there’s also a psychological component to it. Category three women are harder to get, and it’s human nature to want most what’s hardest to obtain. That’s why a Bentley is more valuable than a Ford. While they both cars will get you where you want to go, a Bentley is more prestigious because it’s harder to obtain. The same is true of a woman. A man wants a woman that other men can't get, and once he gets such a woman, he not only gets uncorrupted sex, but also, a boost to his ego in knowing that he’s lying next to a women that other men can’t have. He also knows that if she didn’t think he was special, she wouldn’t be lying next to him. That’s a huge boost to his sense of manhood, and 99% of a man’s sexual pleasure is mental. Thus, a man is not as interested in having a sex expert for a woman as he is having a woman who is loyal.
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On the other hand, many women do want a sex expert - or, at least, a man who has sense enough to consider her needs - because far too often in casual sexual encounters, women end up with men who are just interested in satisfying themselves, and then leave the woman hanging and sexually frustrated when they're done. So a woman wants a man that she knows has the sexual expertise to provide for her sexual needs. But a man doesn’t have to worry about that, because all he needs to obtain satisfaction is a warm, wet, vagina - any warm, wet, vagina.
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Thus, all a female sex expert means to a man is hoe. Because the assumption is, in order to obtain her sexual expertise, she had to have made herself available to a lot of men. Therefore, she doesn’t see him as special; he just happened to be in the right place at the right time - and if it wasn’t him, it would be someone else. Now don't get me wrong, he’ll PRETEND that the "expert" is rockin’ his world, and doing something for him that can’t be done by any woman with a warm and wet vagina, but that’s just to stroke the woman's ego so he can have sex with her whenever he feels the urge.
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So personally, I’d rather be with a woman who’s simply capable of enjoying the lust of the sexual experience than I would somebody who’s trying all kinds of techniques on me, any day. Because the "expert’s" head is not in the right place. I want a woman focused on how good SHE'S feeling, and fixated on that tingling sensations that’s building up within her loins, not on how to contract her muscles to impress me with how good she is in bed. After all, a man’s biggest challenge is NOT to climax too soon, so why would he want somebody who’s gonna defeat that purpose? That’s also why men indulge in oral sex, because there is nothing sexier to us than a woman who’s out of her mind with lust and sexual passion. So if there’s any expert in the bed, I want to be the one.
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So when a woman starts talking sex to a man, or try to be overly sexy, she’s not doing herself a favor. All she's doing is ringing the dinner bell that brings out the predator in a man, but he automatically starts thinking in terms of fun and games with a woman of either category one or two. So just because a woman can get a man’s attention in that way - and any woman can - she shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that she’s going to hold his attention. He’s just gorging himself on hamburger until he can find him a steak - a category three woman; wife material, a woman who’s not gonna even consider the possibly of sex until he jumps through a lot of hoops to get there. She's the prize that most men are after.
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Now, I want to emphasize that I’m not advocating any position on this issue. If you’ll notice, the title of this article is a question, not an assertion. My intent is to simply give women insight into how the vast majority of men think. How do I know how most men think? Because from the time we're little boys we spent an inordinate amount of time discussing women and girls. So whether or not what I'm saying is perceived as sexist is not my concern. I’m simply relating the truth - a truth that is common knowledge among most men.
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While many women may consider what I’ve said here old fashion, men have assessed women in the same way since the beginning of time and across cultural boundaries, and it’s very unlikely to change anytime soon. But the problem with truth, and the primary reason that so many people object to it is, it doesn’t always conform to either ideology or fashion. It simply is what it is. So efficient thought requires that we ALWAYS give truth priority over ideology. But much too often we try to give ideology priority over truth. Then when truth comes into conflict with our ideology, we try to contort the truth to fit more comfortably into what we want to believe. and unfortunately, that's what many women do when it comes to the subject of sex. 
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As a result of that tendency, modern women are living under the mass delusion that because their attitudes have changed, the attitudes of men have changed along with them, but they are horribly mistaken. You see, men simply pretend to have changed because it’s to our advantage. The modern female mind-set makes casual sex much more available, and we love it - I certainly do, because I’m just as predatory regarding sex as any other man. But that doesn’t mean that I’m so accommodating to that new mind-set that I want to marry the women that I’m having sex with - and I’m very comfortable in saying that MOST men feel the same way - and that’s a major contributor to the dysfunction of the modern family structure, which is the point of my article.
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I want to emphasize that I'm not suggesting that women should remain celibate until marriage, but I'm sure many women are going to read that into it. I'm simply saying that men prefer women who are "protective" of their sexuality, and women need to understand that, regardless to what a man may say.  Women need to keep in mind that a man will say anything, and take any position, that allows sex to be readily available. But if you want to see a man’s true attitude toward female sexuality, all you have to do is even suggest that his mother or daughter is less than protective of their sexuality. You’ll end up with an extremely hostile individual on your hands. Thus, a man's attitude toward sex is very complex - while we love it being easily available, we don't want the women in our lives involved in contributing to the ease of availability.
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So the bottom line is, the new female mind-set towards sex not only creates a disincentive for men to step up to the plate to become responsible husbands and fathers, but once they are husbands and fathers, the attitude of many women outside of the marriage creates constant pressure for men to cheat. Thus, the attitude of the modern women regarding casual sex often serves to create the very Hell that many women often complain about.
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Think about it. What incentive does a man have to limit his sex life and take on the responsibility of settling down with one woman when he can have all the sex that he can handle - with multiple women - and without having to take on any responsibility at all? Not much. And what cultural incentive does a married man have to remain faithful? Again, not much. So I'm not advocating that women reverse their newfound sexual freedom, but rather, to consider carefully how that freedom is used, because every male you come into contact with certainly is. So while I'm not advocating any position, I am suggesting that women learn the rules of the game and not allow themselves to be played, because having that knowledge gives women options on how they want to play the game.
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In that regard, what's important for every woman to remember is, while many women's attitude toward sex has changed tremendously over the years, men are still very old fashion when it comes to their woman - they have to be, because the way a man’s woman carries herself is reflective of his manhood - and that's very important to a man. While I know this may sound kinda old-school to contemporary women, with all of the sexual opportunities out there for your man, how you carry yourself may be the determining factor on whether or not your man is willing to make that extra effort to be the kind of man you want him to be. And women should also remember this - as old fashion as your grandmother was, she didn’t have any problem hanging on to her man.
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Love, Pain, Passion, and Lust
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HER PAIN:
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She walks alone, sweet woman-child,
her sobs flow warm against the dark;
Her need is love, not merely passion,
a mighty fortress, her broken heart.
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Quivering bodies and breathless moans,
she remembers with great delight,
but the heat of love is the only flame,
her lusting soul craves late at night.
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Hungry arms yearn for her shuddering body,
to embrace her tenderly with all their might;
Shivering lips lust for her succulent passion,
as she cries out desperately into the night.
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But only true love can quench the thirst
that burns red hot, and deep inside,
so she faces the pain, again and again,
and late at night she cries.
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Masculine shadows of delusion and lust
caress their egos more than her pain,
for her convulsing body quivers not for them,
but for her fantasy
of a warm and gentle man.
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So, with head held high, by light of day,
but, mournful eyes, that do betray,
unspent love, and a breaking heart,
and the fear of sobs, when day turns dark.

HIS PASSION:
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She's dark, she’s passionate, and she's lovely,
but she doesn't know herself:
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She doesn't know
the extent her smiling eyes
devastate this love-sick heart;
The way they dance in the moonlight,
subtly beckon,
and betray the depth
of her sultry passion.
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She doesn't know
the ecstasy of pleading moans
on a humid, Summer night, or
the maddening pleasure of glistening bodies
entwined in erotic flight.
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And
She doesn't know
the hot breath of passion,
as it whispers between her thighs;
The gentle kiss, the sting of bliss,
the pain of pleasure
that burns inside.
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She doesn't know
the agony of lust
while suspended in endless time,
as she yearns for sweet release,
while desperately clinging to
the sweet sublime.
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And
She doesn't know
of frantic begging
for that of which she's run,
of the animal that leaps inside of her,
as flowing chills
begin to come.
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She doesn't know
the embrace of madness
as her trembling loins
begin to spill . . .
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She
doesn't know of love,
but on this night,
her pleading eyes,
say she will.

THEIR LOVE

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Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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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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Tuesday, April 17, 2012

When Will the Black Community Recognize that We Can’t Whine Cancer Out of Our System?

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

When Will the Black Community Recognize that We Can’t Whine Cancer Out of Our System?


IT DON'T LOOK LIKE MANHOOD TO ME
(Beggin' America to love you won't work)
I was recently involved in a "discussion" regarding the prison industrial complex with an extremely intelligent young woman by the name of Lydia. I placed the word discussion in quotes because the moment she started quoting the statistics on the Black experience with the prison industrial complex relative to the rest of society, I began to overtalk her, and I didn’t let her get a word in edgewise thereafter.  But thanks to her cool head and grace under fire, after our discussion I immediately began to question my behavior. The fact is, even though she didn’t get to say much, she outclassed me, and as a result, I’ve decided to never use that strategy again, because it’s not only rude, but it’s counterproductive. Under such circumstances neither party is listening to the other, so no useful information can be exchanged.
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But what set me off was that I’m so sick of hearing people in the Black community substituting complaints for solutions that when I hear people starting to slip into that forty year-old mantra it immediately makes my eyes roll to the back of my head. Why constantly state the obvious as though you’re saying something new? Constantly giving statistics on the fact that there’s institutional racism is like trying to prove that the Sun is hot. We know that. So what we should be discussing is what we’re going to do about it. But then, maybe that’s where she was headed and I didn’t give her a chance to express herself. So what I should have done was sat quietly and heard her out. Maybe then I could have walked away from the discussion more informed.
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In the future I intend to do just that. Not only would it provide me with the possible opportunity for growth, it would also force those who thrive on muddled communication and making a living off of anger and complaints to have to come up with rational solutions for change. But many like myself have become impatient, because so many in the Black community have been listening to people like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and others of their ilk for so many decades that they’ve begun to confuse whining, beggin' and finger-pointing with educating the Black community to the need of taking effective action.
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People like Malcolm and Martin Luther King - those sincere activists who these latter-day ‘saviors’ are trying to impersonate - weren’t just complaining for the sake of complaining. During their era, pointing out the abuse of the Black community was a part of the educational process. During their time, Black people were so use to being abused that Malcolm and Martin had to educate the community, and society as a whole, to the extent of the injustice toward Black people, as a prelude to taking effective action against it. And back then, that educational effort was a dangerous process, as their eventual murders clearly attests.
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But today, we have fraudulent imitators living off the legacy and words of these great men as though they too are doing something heroic. But the difference is, they're under absolutely no personal risk. In fact, the forces that promoted the deaths of both Malcolm and Martin encourage the activities of these latter-day frauds because they’re not saying anything new, revolutionary, or educational. They're simply regurgitating the words of a different era that are completely out of context with respect to the current Black condition. The fact is, the forces that led to the death of both Martin and Malcolm are actually delighted by their activities because they serve to divide the Black community, and thus, help to maintain the status quo.
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These people routinely ignore the greater good and purposely sabotage our agenda, along with all of the causes that they’re supposed to be so passionate about, for their own selfish interests. And this is not merely speculation or opinion, it can be documented. We’ve already lived through a perfect example of it during the 2000 election when Cornel West teamed up with Ralph Nader to hand the presidential election over to George W. Bush. Thus, they are all but directly responsible for the situation that we currently find ourselves in - the very situation that West is now complaining that President Obama is not fixing fast enough. As I pointed out in a previous article,
"Once Again Nader and West Team to Elect a Republican President", these people don’t give a damn about either the Black community, or the poor and middle class. All they care about is their own self-interest:
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"But if you confront members of the Nader/West coalition with these facts, they’ll immediately begin to obfuscate and engage in intellectual gymnastics in an attempt to avoid responsibility for the horrific fate that they brought upon the country. They’ll say things like, "It’s not our fault that Gore lost. He just didn’t fight hard enough for a recount." But by using such arguments what they’re actually saying is, ‘Gore just didn’t work hard enough to undo the damage that we’d done.’ But the bottom line is this – Gore lost the 2000 election to Bush in Florida by 537 votes, and the Nader/West coalition peeled off 97,488 votes from Gore in Florida alone. So don’t take my word for it – you do the math."
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Thus, the activities of these frauds only serve to divide our vote to the benefit of those who seek to keep us subjugated. Then when their job is done, our continued subjugation enhances the careers and bankbooks of the frauds themselves, because much of their enrichment is based upon complaining about our misery. Therefore, it would be an economic disaster for the Smileys and Wests of the world if we ever did, in fact, find true justice.
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So it should be obvious to anyone with eyeballs and a clear head that what Tavis and West are actually engaged in is promoting themselves, their radio and television shows, their books, and Cornel’s reported $10,000 per speech speaker’s fees. Their last "Poverty Tour" just happened to coincide with Cornel West’s Memoirs (published by Tavis Smiley), and as we speak they’ve started yet another tour to promote their newest book (published by Tavis Smiley), "The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto."   On April 15th they started a tour of twelve cities. (the city of Detroit, Mich., one of the cities hardest hit by Black unemployment and poverty, was conspicuously missing from their current itinerary, since they were met with hostile demonstrations and boos on their last tour to Detroit). But what I want to know is, what do they mean by "us?" Thanks to US, they’re rich themselves, so they’re no longer a part of US. Thus, even the title of their new book is a gross deception.
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If these people were truly sincere, instead of spending their time complaining and lining their pockets, they'd be discussing what we can do to resolve the problems that we’re complaining about.  They need to be discussing ways to go about teaching young Black men that knowledge is power, and that they can’t be cool and ignorant at the same time. They also need to be teaching them that they don’t have the right to demand respect while going around referring to the very womb of their culture as bitches and whoes (sic), and that they can’t measure their manhood based on how many other Black men they can kill, or how many minds of Black children they can poison with drugs and the ignorance of disinformation. If the frauds actually cared about the Black community, those are the things they would be preaching, instead of trying to drag down the first Black president of the United States.
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But let me end by taking my own advice, and taking this opportunity to extend my sincere apology to a young woman who I disrespectfully dismissed while she was trying to express her views. I want to assure her that while my disdainful attitude was not directed toward her per se, what I did was stupid nevertheless - period. I could tell by her very first sentence that she was a very intelligent woman, so I might have benefited by listening to what she had to say. But my stupidity was a fueled by my deep frustration that the frauds in our community have even misdirected the thinking of the intelligent and insightful among us.
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I also want to assure her that I fully understand that considering the selfless and unappreciated role that Black women have played in sustaining our culture over the centuries, a Black man should ALWAYS afford a sister the utmost respect in any and all situations. She has EARNED the right to voice her opinion, whatever it is. So in order to reinforce this apology and make it more meaningful, she has my solemn word that I’m going to use the disrespect that she had to endure at my hands as a learning experience. I will never use that tactic again, toward anyone.
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So, my good sister, due to your class, wisdom, and grace under fire, you managed to teach me something in spite of my male arrogance and stupidity, and I'll never forget it.
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Thank you, Lydia.

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
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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