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Finding a complete thought in this world is a very trying process. Most people have an idea about what they believe but are not 100% sure when asked why or how they believe in such things. Unlike most groups in the world with their unfaithful members Larry Elder manages to find a very popular group who share their hatred for another group. These people are the Extreme Liberal Democrats. Now, before all the accusations go out against me or Larry for mocking these people, I'll say that I do not believe every Democrat is like this but most who are extreme and are involved in politics everyday have issues with their enemies. Elder recently uncovered what these men actually say about the Republics when expressing how they view a certain figure. Elder generalizes the extreme liberals as hating the Republicans enough to call them Nazi's. Being on the side he feels is best for the job Elder chose Bush for President. Elder makes his statement clear about the clueless mind the rest of the world has, by arguing with a man who only hates Bush because of what he has heard on the internet. It is now clear that those who hate Republicans pass their hatred on to their unknowing followers. Even examining myself I had no idea why I didn't like Bush. I could only come to the conclusion that these extremists have meshed with society because their hatred has driven them to get as many people as they can to bring the Republicans down. Our society must wake up and start analyzing their beliefs quickly before the wrong person comes in power and it is to late because we didn't analyze what we were told.
As I was scourging the net for my new blog entry about the significance of the "hidden" message I came across this interesting comic involving a boy and a snake. The name of the comic strip, Boy on a Stick and Slither, caught my attention from the get go. As soon as I saw the small boy and the snake I thought this was some kind of boring comic strip as the countless others I had gone through before. Fortunately this comic strip had much more than I assumed. To some the message may be quite blurry as they do not understand what the narrow and wide paths are, but for us Believers we understand exactly what this little boy is saying even if he does not. The snake assumes the role of unbelievers in the world saying they are taking the "super-highway" of life although it is crowded with so many others. The boy assumes the role of a believer in Christ who wants to take the "narrow" path, and although the author gives the boy a sense of misunderstanding in this comic he still has his decisions set on the correct path. Although there is not a clear cut message in this comic, a reasonable person would assume that this is the message of living a god-pleasing life instead of the easy sin filled life that the snake is taking. (I also thought it was ironic that the snake was the unbeliever as Satan was a snake.)
For this column I decided to choose Ryan Day's column on the 11 ways Chargers can beat the Patriots. You can find this column here. In essence Day's column does exactly what it says, points out the only ways the Chargers have a chance at beating the Patriots. They must use Rivers effectively, run more than pass, dominate time, get INTs, punish players on defense, and make Brady nervous. Obviously, Day is on the side of the Chargers all the way, in his last line he states that he hates everything to do with the Patriots, but what if he was more clear cut than this. What if Day had to write his column to a group of girls. Now not to say all girls don't know anything about football, but I'd take the chance to say most don't understand what an INT is but I'm sure at least 75% know exaclty who Tom Brady is. Therefore, to appeal to the less informed crowd he would have to explain his thoughts in a more clear and less elaborate way. He'd probably also have to take out the fact that he hates the Patriots, because most people who don't understand football, like the Patriots. Girls don't want to hear about crushing cute Tom Brady they would rather read a more laid back tone such as maybe making Brady get a little nervous rather than being hurt. Poor baby. With all the audience changes aside, I love the Chargers and I hate the Patriots just as Day does. I cannot express all my feelings on my blog so I will leave it at the fact that I want Brady beat. Go Chargers!
1957. That is the year Dr. Seuss wrote the "ultimate Christmas story". 2007. This year, people still remember that green old hermit today, and this cartoon does a good job of capturing new Christmas trends and old Christmas traditions. The cartoonist devises this small still-life story in order to show how Christmas has evolved from sitting in your home watching Christmas-themed movies to going out and buying the biggest and best gifts from the major retailers. The cartoonist has a good point though. Kids of today don't care about Rudolf, Jack Skellington, or even the Grinch for that matter; all they want is IPods, clothes, and video games, not a marathon of classic Christmas stories on TBS.
The two sides of Christmas are displayed here perfectly. First, you have the innocent mom with here Rudolph vintage Christmas sweater on that she probably got when she was a young "lass", combined with her ecstatic facial expression that shows she is not joking when she see the Grinch on TV. This is the old Christmas tradition the artist shows. Next, we have the transition period (mind you this is a still-photo) as the stereotypical mom hands her VISA credit card to the suit-and-tie clerk the present is shown to us. She carries her four bags probably each worth more than 100$ because she is paying with her credit card. Also, the clerk has the "another stupid show" look on his face cause he has seen it a million times and it was old the second time he saw it. Even without the words this cartoon tell the story of the fast pace of our American lifestyle. Now, excuse me I must go watch Nightmare Before Christmas, before its to late and they decide to burn all the VHS Tapes.
Very interesting article this week by Jason Whitlock about Sean Taylor's death. A reasonable person would assume that Jason would talk about the unfair and unjust killing of an innocent man and how we all should pray for his family and mourn this loss, but Jason goes down a different road. Instead of talking about the depressing circumstances surrounding Taylor's death, Whitlock discuses the anger and the blame that he feel should be put on his own race for this unjust death. He blames hip hop music and the "gangster mentality" of the new generations of blacks for Taylors death. Frankly, I couldn't agree with him more. He brings up the unheard of argument that his own race is what is corrupting our society today. He doesn't blame past discrimination or present prejudice, he blames the music that the blacks are creating and he blames the mentality that the new generation of blacks have about murder and the like. I believe he does a perfect job of bringing up an undiscussed topic pertaining to Taylor's death. He will likely receive criticism for his explanation, but at least he voiced his own opinion that others were unable to discuss, and bring this topic to the table of debate. Among the various parallels Jason uses in his article, this parallel speaks the most. "Meanwhile, our self-hatred, on full display for the world to see, remains untreated, undiagnosed and unrepentant." These words go directly to the heart and convey a summary of the whole article. If I was included in this group of people that Jason talks about I would be at a slight outrage but at the same time feel contempt with myself because I see that he is right. He is justifying his reasoning not only with one choice word but the parallelism used in "untreated, undiagnosed and unrepentant.", speaks volumes more than just saying "untreated". It is used in such a way to say that this hatred is spread far and wide and nobody has done a thing to fix it. It is only getting worse in Jason's eyes and he is displaying his feelings in one brief sentence to the entire black community. He uses this parallel very efficiently to clearly state his main point in one sentence for everyone to understand.
So now with one simple line from a song, Hip Hop is Dead by Nas: "What influenced my raps? Stick ups and killings, kidnappings, project buildings, drug dealings criticize that, why is that?" He says this without any regret at all. Now, we can clearly see why Jason Whitlock does not want his race and our world to go down this horrific road anymore.
Betsy Hart writes a blog this week about how dancing in schools is taking it way to far and something should be done to stop all this "sexual" mayhem. I could go on for hours about this but I guess I should make it much shorter because this is a school assignment. I firmly disagree with this woman in the sense that she goes as far as to call dancing "foreplay". Yes, she does make her points to say that dancing provocatively is sexually arousing to some students and she has a point that we shouldn't be dancing so much as to arouse each other. While the rest of the parents in America may agree with her on the fact that dancing like this can be dangerous, I, being a young male, do not. From my perspective no boy in my school would ever take the sexual arousal they receive from a dancing girl and end up raping them in the parking lot, let alone anywhere else on the planet. No guys or girls have the mentality as soon as they walk off the dance floor at the end of the night, they have been so sexually aroused by some harmless dancing that they must go fulfill their sexual needs on some girl who gave them that feeling. That's mindset is ridiculous.
Although I strongly disagree with Betsy she does use the rhetorical question very effectively in her writing style. The most demanding rhetorical question is this: "Because "sexiest child" is yet another competition for parents to engage in?". Second in a string of rhetorical questions attacking parents, this question stood out most to me. It is straight and to the point of attacking the "cool" parents of today's world. It also conveys her point that to be "cool" is not to let your child get raped in a parking lot just so they can have fun for a few hours at a high school dance. You don't have to win competitions to be the "World's Best Parent". Betsy is saying to all parents out there: "Do you think you are cool when your child is in jail or hurt?" That, I believe, is the real question she is asking.
You can see Betsy Harts article here
Most women would conclude that any man who has ever said derogatory statements about a woman will always be the same sick man in their eyes, but Laura breaks out from the normal and says how influential this man can be and how he can be forgiven and things forgotten because hes been punished accordingly. This brings me to my own understanding of her points. If a woman decides that she will continue to accept a man that has degraded women then I and everyone else should also agree with her and accept this man back it society. It also seems to me that this man is very influential and he is needed on the air to tell his listeners what they want to know about a certain event or person. In conclusion I would accept this man because of all the better things Imus has done in his life that Laura expresses.
I believe Isaiah Thomas's quotes concerning the differences of a black man and a white man pertaining to what they can say to a black woman are most influential in this column. Isaiah's comment is the most relevant to Imus's situation in the sense that they were both talking about the black woman population and degraded that population as if it was alright. The example works well because it shows a clear cause, Isaiah was not punished at all while Imus was "swiftly and severely punished" for his actions. She does a great job proving her point through all the examples she used.
If you would like to read this column it is accessible here
