Our Cultures Are Not Costumes

Duke Center for Multicultural Affairs – 

James Zielinski - #OurCultureIsNotACostume

Now shut the fuck up.

Muhammad Rasheed - Members of the conqueror/exploiter class, dressing up in the uniforms and dress of the exploited classes they have a history of making fun of as inferior peoples, are the problem here. This is where the pushback is coming from. 

Two black comedians teasing the privileged conqueror class for some of their cultural traits isn't a problem for anyone.

Muhammad Rasheed - White people protesting when nonwhites pushback -- even a little bit -- against centuries of exploitation. 

Who didn't see that coming?

Sarah Mary - There are so many costumes that make fun of whites yet you don't see a single white person up here holding up a picture of a toothless hillbilly, or some dbag in a white trashbag, or some other racist shit. Why? Cause its Halloween. This is a bunch of PC horse shit.

Muhammad Rasheed - Whites are the conqueror, colonializer, exploiter class of the Western world. Even when they are dirt poor, they are privileged in society over nonwhites. Whites hold the power, politically and economically, and traditionally exploit nonwhites to uphold their privileged status. 

In the modern day, efforts are being made to correct these wrongs, and whites often protest the threatening of their privileged position.

Sarah Mary - So basically what your saying is that because I was born white I'm automatically more privileged and all the hard work I've put into my future doesn't count? Because of this fact it's acceptable for a black person to make fun of poor white America by dressing up as say a cowboy or girl for example but its racist if I decided to go as Nicki minage or however you spell her name and use some pillows or something for her over glorified and obviously unnatural body.. That would be racist?

Sarah Mary - Or if I used "blackface" on top of it instead of trying to avoid being perceived as racist because of past history when women themselves in general were not allowed to be performers?

Muhammad Rasheed - As a white person, you are more privileged automatically when you are born in a Eurocentric society that is based upon a White Supremacist ideology and exploitation of nonwhites. Whether you personally work hard and maximum that situation for your advantage in life is irrelevant. 

When members of the privileged-conqueror class pretend that society is equal, and complain when the traditional members of the exploited classes give any kind of pushback against historical wrongs, it comes across as spoiled entitled whining. It does not sound like an appeal to justice/fairness at all.

Brian McGuckin - Privileged or superiorly smarter? Technologically, throughout the past 1000 years, Europeans and Asians were far more advanced than the rest of the world's cultures desire and will to discover new lands for settlement and trade. The rest of civilization were sleeping. So yeah, then they decided to share their new lands with their neighbors. Just the way it rolls... History!

Muhammad Rasheed - Privileged. The European sole advantage in the last five centuries was their use of the colonializing war machine to enslave their competition, creating the European Cartel that dominated the world by exploiting all non-Europeans that they seized. If they were inherently mentally superior, then there would have been no need to legally prevent nonwhites from rising in status from education and land ownership. No. 

The whites attacked everyone, enslaved/exploited them to generate massive wealth, and deliberately held them down to uphold their own exclusive Whitopia class at nonwhite expense. That's not 'superiorly,' that's evil.

Sarah Mary - Well in the case of costumes I guess I'd better go burn the fifty dollar blonde wig I bought made by Vivica A. Fox designed to show black women how their own hair should "really" look. #blacksagainstblackculture #butthatsnoneofmybusiness #whitepriviledge

Muhammad Rasheed - So pointing out some of the high profile psychological generational damage caused from five centuries of being told they are inferior to this other person is helping your point how exactly?

Alexandria Elizabeth - Brian you are wrong. 

Africans taught the Europeans everything they knew, all the way down to bathing. Whites wanted it to seem like they were the smarter race because they want to be the best in everything. Do your research. The Africans were kings and queens long before the white race was even accidentally made. The black race was first and was the creator. The white race ventured because of selfishness and wanted to conquer every land mass. The white race distributed the lessons and languages they learned from Africa and claimed it as their own. The white race has always stole the light from other races and will continue for years to come.

Sarah Mary - Really it's your high profile celebrities who should be rebuilding the image of your race. Not further continue "whitewashing" it not having them "twerk" or be "ratchet". Most black people don't even bother looking into their own cultural ethnicity. Most are happy to resign as " black". You ask a white person they'll say something like oh I'm irish or I'm Italian or I'm mixed in with German or English. Yet most black people are completely fine with being grouped in just by their skin tone when there is such an immense history in not only African cultures but Jamaican or Haitian etc. As well. But no black culture has started to revolve around beat drops booty shaking or some dumb diss made by some dumb rapper who's made millions influencing black people to commit crimes and "do time" in and out of prison systems.

Sarah Mary - The devil doesn't force or lie. He merely sets the stage for those to play the role.

Sarah Mary - It's actually been scientifically proven that life didn't "start" in Africa. To say they came first is also wrong.

Muhammad Rasheed - 1.) Chris Rock is a high profile celebrity. His "Good Hair" helped support the growing "natural hair" movement to counter the 'blond wig' item you mentioned.

2.) Your comment "Most black people" betrays your racist heart. There are some members of certain communities of blacks who behave a certain way, and prefer a certain entertainment. This by no means represents all blacks. Your decision to double-down on racism is interesting.

3.) The decision to fully commit to the role that the adversary sets in its stage is the force of evil in the earth. Deciding to believe the devil's suggests and inflict them upon others to enrich yourself (while indoctrinating the exploited classes that you are God's representative on earth here to save them from their own "nonwhite savagery"), is evil.

4.) actually + scientifically proven + no cited source = foolishness

Alexandria Elizabeth - Yes Muhammad!!! This poor poor American bred child!!!!

Sarah Mary - OK well everything you just said about me is everything you could use as a double standard for everything Alexandria has stated as well.

Sarah Mary - Then you know what I guess I'll be the one to say it if you don't like what America teaches then get the fuck out go be Canadian or some shit. The fact that both of you have made it a point to say that the black race is superior would be by definition racist.

Muhammad Rasheed - I challenged you to support your "actually it's been scientifically proven" comment, and you responded with the "Go back to XYZ if you don't like it!" line straight from the Ku Klux Klan Watchtower tract? Really?

Sarah Mary - How about instead of bitching on Facebook about white privileged bullshit.. You start a work shop and go around to inner city schools and teach future generations. Oh wait most are to lazy to take their hair curlers out before heading to Walmart.

Muhammad Rasheed - Alexandria was telling the truth. Western society was built upon the legacy knowledge from the civilizations of the past, with Ancient Egypt being the biggest contributor. Because Ancient Egypt was Black African during its golden age of accomplishments, it was necessary for the Eurocentric exploiter's institutions to paint a false narrative of who the old Egyptians were.

Sarah Mary - DNA Evidence Debunks the “Out-of-Africa” Theory of Human Evolution

Sarah Mary - I do believe I did in fact post my own article to support my beliefs that not all races started in africa you can feel free to do the same.

Muhammad Rasheed - @Sarah… so your article references a paper by Klyosov and Rozhanski, yet their work isn't actually debunking the theory. Their paper admits that the African gene (haplogroup A) originated long before all others (in the 132,000 yr range), with a mixture group including the European gene family branch popping up from it in the 64,000 yr range. The paper states they found another group that popped up in the 160,000 yr range, and then oddly, say that even though they have zero idea where it came from geographically, state that it “probably” came from the Central Europe/Russia area. They believe that Europeans didn't descend from Africa because they lack certain types of genes, but this is absurd. The point of "Out of Africa" theory is the acknowledgement that there ARE numerous distinct gene types in Africa, but only one migrated off the continent to eventually become everyone else. Klyosov & Rozhanski's hypothesis could only sorta make sense if the estimated date for the first Out-of-Africa migration was chiseled in stone and known as an absolute fact. It is not. The fact that the authors themselves were surprised that the African gene turned out to be even older than assumed should be the first clue.

I cannot accept this article as the "actually it's been scientifically proven" debunking you claimed it to be, but only more White Supremacist speculative wishful thinking.

Kimberly Medina - Sarah you're such a sorry excuse for a human being trying to deny your blatant racism. It's funny because any of those "white stereotypes" will NEVER EVER get your people killed, unlike all the racist stereotypes you just threw are the exact reason why many members of the black community are being gunned down (Most Unarmed & Innocent). But thanks for not improving society and just being a waste of space, you seem to be an expert at that.

Sarah Mary - Woww see with everyone else in this conversation we articulate our debate right, wrong or indifferent without personally slandering eachother. Yes there has been racial stereotypes thrown around but none personally directed at eachother. I have said that the majority of what I'm personally seeing on a day to day basis definitely has fit the stereotype that I've pointed out. But I haven't personally attacked anyone who has countered my statement as such.

Sarah Mary - So therefore savior of the people over Facebook Kimberly Medina because someone dared to show a differing opinion I become a waste of space. You obviously have never practised in any sort of debate.

Sarah Mary - To say that what I see to form my opinion that actual persons who identify as black and taking an avid interest in their actual heritages is fewer and farther between is not a crime to become a worthless human being. I'm actually very disheartened by this. I work with beautiful black women who portray themselves with power and I have nothing but respect for them. I deal with male and female customers who come in and are courteous and gracious and I have nothing but respect for them. I will not respect though that it has seem to become normal behavior to have "ratchet" shit or anything like that. Further more that is not at all the AMERICAN culture I was taught. Gangster rap all that crap glorifies that kind of life. I'm not going to stand by that and wonder how statistics are so radical. But in no way have I once personally made an insult to anyone here except you.

Muhammad Rasheed - That "lazy/hair curlers/Walmart" comment was very insulting, Sarah.

Sarah Mary - I agree that it is insulting but it was never directly towards you or your family or any personal relations to you I simply said "most".

 

Muhammad Rasheed - The insulting, racist aspect of your "most" is the obvious fallacy involved in how you could possibly know what "most" black people are like. People often subjectively notice items that they believe supports their biases, and unconsciously develop the habit of ignore the ones that don't. Stereotypes are bad because people judge the entire greater demographic based on what some groups within the demographic do (or have done). When members of the privileged, politically powerful class stereotype, it can mean the entire demographic will suffer... being held back from opportunities for generations.

Classism is older than racism. Each ethnic group has different economic classes, each with their own sub-culture and life preferences. , and each tend to be markedly very different in life style and values. "Ghetto" blacks in the lower class neighborhoods, as well as their "trailer trash" poor white counterparts, live in ways, and value things, very different from middle class blacks and whites further up the class ladder. To judge ALL blacks or ALL whites based on uncouth behaviors of the most unsophisticated of those demographics is evil, and a strong component of racism in this country.

Sarah Mary - K but no one is saying all of anyone soo whats your point.

Sarah Mary - This post is about costumes and not one picture has a white person holding a picture with "my culture is not a costume" yet there are plenty of "racist" white costumes.

Muhammad Rasheed - @Sarah… You keep using the "negative stereotypes are true for 'most' black people" defense, and my point is to prove that idea false. Based on all of the White Supremacist stuff that popped up when I researched your "actually" article, I think your stance on this topic runs a lot deeper than you are trying to pretend.

The exploited class is discouraged from embracing their own culture ("Speak American or go back to XYZ land!") and told to assimilate to a limited degree by the privileged class. The privileged class does not assimilate into the nonwhite cultures as they feel they are inherently inferior. Obviously nonwhites dressing up as white ethnic types is not the same as the opposite scenario. Eurocentric domination is still the norm.

Bradley Aycock - Our culture is not costumes... too soon? lol

Archie Lee Donaldson Jr. - Nope kmsl

Muhammad Rasheed - What 'culture' is he representing? 'Superstar?" lol

Bradley Aycock - clearly he was black and made himself into a costume. so he is representing European or English cultures. yes white people like myself have cultures my friend.

Muhammad Rasheed - lol Let's try that again:

What 'culture' is being represented in the pic?

Bradley Aycock - okay, if whites have no culture then neither do you. we all come from some cultural background. all these photos are is people finding a reason to be butt hurt. I come from an english/European decent. I'm here because of the first settlers. thanksgiving is a cultural thing. with all that aside, it's a joke that went way over your head.

Muhammad Rasheed - Of course Europeans have many cultures.

Which one is being represented in this pic?

James Parker - Michael Jackson had Vitiligo you idiot, he didn't make himself into a costume, that was literally a skin condition omfg

Gretchen Lea - What about these

Richard Tufts - Totally.

I mean, no one will ever say it or think it, but if all the rest of these are super-duper discriminant and stereotypical, then so is that one.

I mean, that;s only fair, right?

Muhammad Rasheed - European ethnic types can wear other Europeans' cultural dress as costumes without thinking the natives of those Euro-countries are inherently inferior to them. 

When they wear nonwhite/nonEuropean outfits, they are usually calling them racist derogatory names and giggling.

Duke Center for Multicultural Affairs – 

Laura Chin - What is this one?

Ritika Rastogi - A caricature of jewish people

Macklemore apologizes for wig, beard and nose but defends 'random' disguise

Archie Lee Donaldson Jr. - This is stupid

Muhammad Rasheed  - 

The Court of Public Gossip

Jeremy Travis - Bill Cosby & Sofía Vergara

Some thoughts on this video:

1. On one hand, I feel sorry for his wife. Even if he weren't so egregious with his 'flirtation', that he would be so disrespectful to her and their marriage is just shameful. On the other hand, is/was he that way with her? Is she OK with this aspect of him? Is she an enabler?

2. What about his daughters' friends? Is/was he like that with them?

3. That he has so many explicit and implicit admissions to his rapist nature SHOULD clear all doubt from the minds of deniers.

But if not...

4. Seeing him be THIS comfortable with being so creepy on a television show with millions of viewers should tell you just how easily it would come to him in a private setting.

Darryl Clayton - Was that music playing during Uncle Bill's drool Fest?

Jeremy Travis - I'm guessing it was added for effect by whomever edited the video.

Deah M. Barber - Creepy assed creeper creep ass. Ew.

Aye Dub - Lol. He's just assertive! Rotflmbo

Jeremy Travis -    :(

Aye Dub - Lol. You could learn from him...

Muhammad Rasheed - ^lol

Jeremy Travis - Shut it, Momo!   >:(

Muhammad Rasheed - To me, it just looks too fishy. I haven't heard anything that justifies throwing Cosby under the bus as the poster child antagonist for feminist/women's rights. 

5 Models Paid to Destroy Bill Cosby! (7 Women who have alleged being raped have been discredited)

Jeremy Travis - So his multiple mentions of drugging women's drinks isn't enough? His admission that he gave women quaaludes before 'consentual' sex, despite the fact that giving a woman quaaludes before sex makes consent practically impossible, isn't enough?

Muhammad Rasheed - During the 'swingers' sub-culture of the times, it was normal to offer people those pills, along with alcohol and marijuana, as options to "relax." Looking at this from our "date rape" perspective of how drugs + dating seem to us now, it is easy to jump to conclusions as to what must have been really happening, but that isn't true. Cosby said he didn't slip that stuff in peoples' drinks without their knowledge, and honestly, why would Bill Cosby have needed to? In light of everything we are aware of regarding celebrity culture and the groupie phenomenon, it doesn't seem as if much critical thinking is involved in this armchair smear campaign to me.

Jeremy Travis - MRasheed wrote: ""During the 'swingers' sub-culture of the times, it was normal to offer people those pills, along with alcohol and marijuana, as options to "relax." "

Quaaludes make you do far more than relax.

MRasheed wrote: ""Looking at this from our "date rape" perspective of how drugs + dating seem to us now, it is easy to jump to conclusions as to what must have been really happening, but that isn't true."

How do you KNOW that it's not true? Dozens of women make the same allegations, he has admitted to giving women quaaludes to 'relax' them into consensual sex, and he has said both in jest and in seriousness that he has laced women's drinks in order to get them 'relaxed' for sex, but him having sex with them without their consent is an absurd idea to you?

MRasheed wrote: ""Cosby said he didn't slip that stuff in peoples' drinks without their knowledge, and honestly, why would Bill Cosby have needed to?"

Rapists don't usually rape because they HAVE to or because there's no other way for them to have intercourse, they do it for the pleasure that comes from the forbidden act itself. Didn't some rich-ass basketball player just go to jail for date-raping a bunch of women? Since when do rich-ass basketball players HAVE to rape women? You make it sound like the profile of a rapist is some poor, ugly, uncharismatic reject when in fact the opposite is often true.

MRasheed wrote: ""In light of everything we are aware of regarding celebrity culture and the groupie phenomenon, it doesn't seem as if much critical thinking is involved in this armchair smear campaign to me."

He has already admitted to a hell of a lot that points to his guilt. I understand the pain of seeing 'America's Dad' nose-dive from grace, but there's far more that suggests that he's a sexual predator than there is that suggests that nearly FIVE DOZEN groupies are ALL telling the exact same lie, a lie that he has often confirmed.

Jeremy Travis - I'm fairly certain that a woman who has given consent for sex is already as relaxed as she needs to be. Some fucking knock-your-ass-smooth-the-fuck-OUT quaaludes seems like a whole helluva lot to 'relax' an already relaxed person.

Jeremy Travis - Also, not only have I not seen any other news source corroborate the story posted by Free Your Mind and Think, their own article doesn't even show how any of the five women were models or were paid to 'destroy' Bill Cosby like the headline suggests. Is this FYMaT staffed either by people who weren't 'smart' enough for Fox News or by people who weren't talented enough for the Onion?

Muhammad Rasheed - Here's a perfect example of how it actually worked in practice:

______________

In her "tell-all" memoirs, Down the Rabbit Hole, former Playboy Bunny Holly Madison alleges that the first time she met Hugh Hefner, he offered her drugs.

"'Would you like a Quaalude?' Hef asked, leaning toward me with a bunch of large horse pills in his hands, held together by a crumpled tissue," Holly writes.

Holly said she declined the drugs. "'Okay, that's good,' Holly recalled. "'Usually, I don't approve of drugs, but you know, in the 70s they used to call these pills thigh-openers."

_______________

They functioned the same in context the way offering women a drink do. This multi-million dollar group settlement that Troiani is trying to get is banking on judge/jury using modern sensibilities regarding drugs + dating as a means to burn Cosby. Personally I haven't read anything that convinces me I should jump onboard the "Cosby raped these women using drugs!" FB train, because it all looks like just an attempt for opportunistic people, as led by Troiani, to get some money out of him, by any means necessary.

Jeremy Travis - Again, his multiple admissions that he spiked women's drinks in order to have sex with them doesn't raise suspicions in your mind?

Muhammad Rasheed - I haven't come across anything where he said he gave women drugs without their knowledge. 

The other news sources eschew the opposite speculative opinion regarding what all of these allegations could mean, because they fear that angle may not attract the same numbers of viewership.

Jeremy Travis – MRasheed wrote: "I haven't come across anything where he said he gave women drugs without their knowledge."

I know you don't get out much, but it's a well-known fact that no one puts dope in a willing person's drink. Again, 'Spanish Fly' and the like are not for people who've already given consent. No one ever says "Let's go fuck, but first, I'mma need for you to spike my drink for me so that I can 'relax'."

MRasheed wrote: ""The other news sources eschew the opposite speculative opinion regarding what all of these allegations could mean, because they fear that angle maynot attract the same numbers of viewership."

So not CNN, Fox, MSNBC, Russia Today, Univision, nor al-Jazeera have the integrity to report 'the truth' that only a questionable website with all of the credibility of a sleepy toddler with a secret is willing to report in a way that contradicts their own headline?

Yep, you too have been quaaluded.

Muhammad Rasheed - My favorite part is where they updated the page post-disposition leak.   ;)

Muhammad Rasheed - I haven't come across anything saying he gave women drugs without them knowing. All the cases I've read were like the above, where the women took the drugs offered with no issue. I don't know if people still offer folk drugs like that or not (not including old players like Hef), but it seems unlikely in this more aware era where people might be more wary of such things. But then again people still have sex raw despite full knowledge of the dangers of AIDs, so who knows? What is for sure is that Cosby's swingers' era was infamous for being MUCH more free regarding sex/drugs/dating, and people did take drugs casually when offered. To believe without proof that Cosby slipped drugs into women’s' drinks is silly to me, and to add to the public court that it was true is irresponsible.

Jeremy Travis - Was he suggesting that Spanish Fly was put onto the head of a pin and then dropped into a girl's can of Coke and she would drink it WILLINGLY?

You ain't NEVER heard of no bunch of women needing a drop of some drug so that they could have consensual sex with a famous, wealthy man whom they found attractive. Do you even know how women work?

Bill Cosby Interview Surfaces Where He Talks About Putting “Spanish Fly” in Girls' Drinks

Jeremy Travis - ^^^ Muhammad ^^^

Muhammad Rasheed  - See response below, since I'm not retyping that in this part.

Muhammad Rasheed - I'm 100% for women's rights, but I do not believe in burning Cosby just because he makes a convenient & valuable high-profile face for their cause ("Let's get him! It doesn't matter if he turns out to be innocent! Let him take one for the team! Fuck 'em! WOMEN POWER!"). I am not likely to accept a "Dude! Everyone knows he did it! Just accept it!" proposal just because it's the popular thing to do. 

Those Michael Jackson allegations prove to me, without a shadow of a doubt, that the court of public opinion + gossip hungry speculation is completely full of shit.

Lana Andrade - This is dangerously close to victim blaming.

While I do feel some type of way about Cosby being the poster child of sexual abuse while Woody Allen is still seen as a genius to some, I just can't shake my frustration at the outright refusal to discuss sexual abuse in the black community.

Muhammad Rasheed - I would cheerfully swap Cosby with Allen on the chopping block of judge/jury/execution that the court of public opinion is casting. 

Lana, in this case I do not believe I am engaged in victim blaming by virtue of not believing these people are victims. This is no less than a cash cow predatory business effort by one Dolores M. Troiani, designed to enrich herself and those that she can convince to sign onto this high-profle grifting scam with her (naturally I will expect her to magically pocket the bulk of the settlement should she win). I've been watching the case with interest, but have yet to see anything that actually suggests otherwise.

Lana Andrade - I said dangerously close… what about Beverly Johnson? What does she have to gain?

Muhammad Rasheed - From what I can tell... taken from a counter to her allegation by the model Iman... she joined in the group settlement because she was still bitter over being passed over for a part in his production company. So she would gain an over-the-top vengeance from a petty diva, is what it seems like.

Muhammad Rasheed - I know that sounds bad from me, but that's what it looks like.

Lana Andrade - Ok

Muhammad Rasheed - lol 

It's not like I don't understand the side that wants to burn Cosby based on "All of these allegations looks bad on him! He must've done it!" because that's how people function. But I prefer to side with Jill Scott's early stance on it, seeing it as the more mature. I don't want to sacrifice an innocent to make sure that the women's rights movement gets its due when there are plenty of actual high-profile villains to choose from.

Jeremy Travis - It has nothing to do with scarificing anyone for women's rights, as if the women's rights movement is some sort of pagan god, it's all about how a guy admitted to drugging women's drinks so that they would be knocked out and he could rape them them in the meantime. I guarantee that if you were to ask a thousand women who were in their sexual prime in the 70s how often they let a man put something that powerful in their drink so that they could have consensual sex with him they'd look at you like you were the damnedest of fools.

Muhammad Rasheed - Meanwhile he didn't admit to drugging women's drinks. He said, similar to the Hef incident above, that the drugs were offered and taken consensually. I'm open to studying the material you can provide that states otherwise. I know all the memes, jokes, and parodies back up your opinion, but I'll need to see something that functions more along the lines of proof.

Jeremy Travis - Did you not see the video I posted a few minutes ago?

Muhammad Rasheed - Yes. In the Larry King Live interview he's describing a mythical urban drug called "spanish fly" that functions as an aphrodisiac. One tiny dot of it, that can fit on the end of a pin, would make the woman fall for you. In the interview he said that he and the neighborhood youngsters were searching for the drug like the legendary quest for the fountain of youth. Perhaps the scary music made you think he was talking about date rape?

Kyle Baker - Thank Heaven this video has scary music, or I might not know how to feel.

See Also:

Cos: Silent Stand Up

Wilhelmina Model Paid to Destroy Bill Cosby Comes Forward

The Court of Public Gossip

HYPOCRISY - Cosby vs Sheen

A Case Study Into the Madness of Crowds & Their Popular Delusions

Punishing Cosby: Justice or Karma?

Caping for Becky

Caping for Hillary…?

Rejecting the Call

The Ever-Enduring Lowest Class of All

Gary McCoy - Clock Boy Leaving America To Live In Theocratic Authoritarian Slave State

It wouldn't surprise me if he next shows up in a video wearing a stocking mask and holding a knife alongside a hostage on his knees.

James Lindley - Or wearing a clock vest.

Muhammad Rasheed - He'll be alright. Qatar is great. My former Senior Director took a Program Director position in Qatar, under the Q-BOSSS contract, a few months ago.

Lyn Ouvrier - Sorry to barge in, but what was it again? Qatar is great? I've lived in Qatar for nearly three years. And I am telling you, the only great thing in Qatar (and investors will agree, I am sure) is its growing economy. I see no greatness in a country that has no regards for human rights.

Muhammad Rasheed - It's greater than the article was trying to make it out to be, and the human rights are better there than in Kuwait where I was back then. Qatar is a cushy assignment because the local customs are among the least strict in the Muslim World. And women make great progressive strides there, too (they appointed a female cabinet member in the early 2000s).

Lyn Ouvrier - I have to agree that women are more free in Qatar. I've seen it myself. But, I have witnessed a rampant disregard for human rights there, very similar to its neighboring Gulf countries, i.e., slave-like treatments of domestic helps and construction workers, among other things. It's a helpless feeling to watch oppression with your own two eyes, knowing that you have no freedom to rush to those poor people's aid. You wanted to do something but your hands are tied. Tied by the stringent laws that prohibit you to interfere. I lost count how many times I gritted my teeth and cried in frustration. And those were the things that left a lasting impression on my mind.

Muhammad Rasheed - Yes, we saw it in Kuwait, too. But Ahmed Mohamed and his family will not be of the poorly-treated servant class, and will get along just fine there. The tone of the article is misleading at best.

Lyn Ouvrier - Of course, Ahmed can surely expect a special treatment from the Qataris. But Ahmed and his adoring fans mean nothing to me. My concern is for those poorly-treated servant class (bugs me too why modern day slavery is still practiced in this 21st century). No offence meant for you, but I find it so unfair that while Muslims are allowed to voice out against discrimination, etc. in their host countries, other migrants -especially domestic employees from Asian countries- have no voice and less to zero rights in Muslim countries, most especially in the Gulf countries. Doesn't sound fair to me.

Lyn Ouvrier - And btw, I agree with the title of the article. Qatar is still practicing modern day slavery. Therefore, it IS a slave state. Let's call a spade, a spade.

Muhammad Rasheed - I agree. It's a problem that never stopped plaguing humanity. Even the "First World" nations do it.

Lyn Ouvrier - The first world nations still practice modern day slavery? Whoah. That is a huge statement. Care to cite one example? I'm interested.

Muhammad Rasheed - "In its annual Trafficking in Persons Report, released Friday, the State Department acknowledged that trafficking and forced labor still exist in America. The report includes several examples: abuse of third-country nationals trafficked to work on military bases, migrant domestic workers subjected to forced labor by diplomats and international organization personnel, and temporary guest workers in a variety of industries forced to work under horrifying conditions with nowhere to turn. While it's important that the report stresses there's more the U.S. government can do to stem trafficking in America, it offers nothing new and recycles much of its findings and recommendations from past years — recommendations that still haven't been fully implemented."

SOURCE: US Admits Modern-Day Slavery Exists at Home

Muhammad Rasheed - But the point of Gary's article seems to be specifically that Ahmed's family are moving to harsher conditions, and that isn't true. Qatar will be great for them because they are of a moneyed class.

Lyn Ouvrier - Allow me to digest that article for a few minutes.

Muhammad Rasheed - No prob.

Gordon Campbell - I doubt that there is state-condoned slavery or human trafficking in the United States or any non-Islamic nation!

Muhammad Rasheed - Since they know about it, and aren't doing anything about it, that's the very definition of "condoning," Gordon.

Gordon Campbell - The ACLU's definition of slavery and trafficking is agenda-driven twaddle.

Lyn Ouvrier - I was just about to say that too. I checked the report. Most cases were done outside of the US. Those workers deployed to US military bases were processed by agencies ran by Arab Muslims. And in all cases in and outside USA, the human trafficking and forced labor was never condoned by the government. In fact, the report clearly stated, preventive measures were enacted and progress to stop those activities were made. The keyword here is "CONDONE". Everyone can see that the Arab countries are not making efforts to stop modern-day slavery in their countries. In fact, it was even condoned. Case in point is Qatar where employers are allowed to seize and hide their domestic employees' passports and other travel documents so they cannot escape even from maltreatment --even if their lives are in danger. And that's exactly how and why I've met one domestic help there who jumped from a two storey building just to escape her employers who raped her repeatedly. In those cases, the maids ran away and the employers create a cock and bull story against the maid. And because the laws on domestic employees aren't favorable for those maids, they mostly end up deported or jailed.

Muhammad Rasheed - "It is no surprise that the inmate/slave labor force has grown along with mass incarceration in America. The Prison Policy Initiative counts 2.3 million people in prison, according to the 2010 census, by far the highest rate of incarceration in the developed world."

SOURCE: 23 cents an hour: The perfectly legal slavery happening in modern-day America

Lyn Ouvrier - Muhammad, the point here is that, those practices were never condoned by the US government and efforts were made to stop those acts. Furthermore, those ill-fated employees can file a case against their employers. In Arab countries, they can't. In Arabcountries, those acts are condoned. In the USA, they're allowed to protest. YOU are allowed to protest. In the Middle East, you can't. You have no voice. They have no voice. Bottomline is: You're comparing apples to oranges.

Muhammad Rasheed - I'm just calling a spade a spade, Lyn. The practice still exists for people to need to protest, and as the researcher pointed out, the processes and procedures are badly in need of an overhaul, especially in a nation which claims to have a zero tolerance for the violation of human rights.

My point was that everyone is doing it. Naturally it's to varying degrees, but it never stopped happening. Although I am personally grateful that race-based chattel slavery is over in America, but I am not so naïve to believe it can't come back if we are not vigilant. Humans never stop being humans.

Lyn Ouvrier - Point taken. But like I said, and I believe this is what the article is trying to point out, everyone is more free in America than in Qatar or anywhere in the Arab states. That's an irrefutable fact. You, me, everyone has a voice in America. In the Middle East, you will not be able to enjoy those privileges. As for modern-day slavery, the procedures are in need of an overhaul. Acknowledged. And with that acknowledgement comes another acknowledgement: The fact that preventive measures -irregardless of their failures-- do exist. Again, those measures are non-existent in Arab countries.

Muhammad Rasheed - I don't think they are non-existent, because they exist dormant within the very scripture they claim to follow. They just have to fight harder against the corrupt traditionalist systems they live in to achieve our levels of liberty.

Lyn Ouvrier - Experience-wise, I can claim that they do not exist. And I will stand by my statement.

Muhammad Rasheed - Well, I'll agree with you on the surface level. In the practical sense they don't exist since the people themselves aren't giving enough push-back.

Muhammad Rasheed - They exist within their scripture, they just have to fight to take hold of it and force their governments to comply with the Word of God. If they choose to finally commit to that, He will be with them.

Muhammad Rasheed - I hope I'm alive to see such a thing. I got to have an African-American POTUS in my lifetime, so why not? lol

Lyn Ouvrier - I think it's better for both of us to avoid talking about scriptures for two reasons: 1) This is Gary's post and out of respect to him, I don't want to hijack it and discuss about something that is totally irrelevant to the thread. 2) I have a broad understanding of islamic scriptures related to slavery issue and I am sure, as a Muslim, your interpretation of those scriptures differs from mine. We're not on the same page, apparently.

Muhammad Rasheed - 1.) RE: scripture relevance - I'm pretty sure the article Gary linked to has "theocratic" in the title, Lyn.

2.) Are you implying the claim that the One God condones slavery? lol I'm 100% willing to have that discussion with you. Will you accept my FB Friend Request for a friendly "en garde?"

Lyn Ouvrier - Sure. But not here and not now. I am not going to hijack Gary's post and it's midnight now in my timezone. Let's call it a day. Some other time, I will gladly grab your invitation --with pleasure.

Lyn Ouvrier - Oops. I did not read your comment well. Pardon, I am getting sleepy. Re: Friend request. I am sorry, but I can't accept it. I am a straightforward person so, I'll be straight with you. I enjoyed the exchange, but I don't have a single Muslim friend in my friends list and I am not planning to add one today or in the future. We will find a way to have that Islamic debate on slavery one day, don't worry  ;) But I have to decline your request and I have to bid you good night too. Have a good night, Muhammad!

Mark Hitsman - Training will go well and he can be infamous bomb maker

James Lindley - Or tester.

Mason Mastroianni - Wow. It's pointless to have a conversation anymore. The headline of the story says it all; we live in the age of divisive media.

He accepted a scholarship at the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.

Way to be part of the problem, guys.


See Also:  "What's My Name?!?"

...those whose portion is Your wrath

Riley Freeman - Muhammad Rasheed?

Muhammad Rasheed - This represents the opinion piece propaganda tract of the pagan community, and I reject it. The first human worshipped the One God; paganism was the taint that came later from the weakened mind that needed something tangible to focus a weak worship upon. God rose up countless prophet-messengers among the ancient Africans to guide us back onto the straight & narrow path of uncompromising monotheism before Western academic recorded history even began. We have a long history of proving we preferred pagan foolishness over the Truth of God's Way, and were given chance after chance, after chance, after chance, after chance to get it right... for tens of thousands of years... by the One who is Most Merciful. It was we who, in our ages old continuous rejection, that had God finally choose the semite tribes over us to close the canon of revealed scripture, and serve as guardians of the Book. It should've been us, but we spit on His message too many times for his Taste.

Muhammad Rasheed - You may keep your pagan tracts. Or share them with those to whom there is interest.

Muhammad Rasheed - As far as the "Christianity comes along" part, the European conquerors quickly gave up that angle, in favor of conquering in the name of White Supremacy, because of the fact that the conquered could always convert their way out of the exploited state proved to be unprofitable for the empire.

Riley Freeman - In the hands, of the oppressors was the King James Bible, the foundation of much of American Christianity today.

Muhammad Rasheed - Notice that any deficiencies within the KJB, didn't stop the very pro-KJB Black Church from leading the fight for our civil rights during one of the Black American's finest moments. The issues you have with that version of the book would appear to be low impact.

Marcellus Shane Jackson - Yes, but we only needed "civil rights" after our independence and prosperity was destroyed through domestic terrorism. Civil rights, I might add, we still do not truly have.

Muhammad Rasheed - Yes, but that was done under the banner of European White Supremacy, not through Christianity.

Muhammad Rasheed - The way he interpreted and preferred to live by his religion had nothing to do with us and our walk in the faith. Christianity is bigger than Europe and its pretentions. If they had indeed invented it from scratch then that would be a different story.

Riley Freeman - Don't confuse the fact that the black church lead the civil rights fight with them being based on religion because many great leaders such as Evers, King, and even brother malcolm were killed and the black hasn't lead shit since except the robbery of the poor sheep in their flocks. It was the men that lead the mission, not the book.

Muhammad Rasheed - The confusion lies in the continuing to link Christianity to White Supremacist racism in a knee-jerk uncritical reaction devoid of facts. The men who were killed had deep knowledge of scripture; those remaining were content to be spoon fed sound bites in the typical stance of the sheep.

Marcellus Shane Jackson - Not JUST through Christianity. It was appropriated for our servitude. The papacy "vehicle" and justification for the willful murder and enslavement of millions. With no word or curse from "god" to foil it. So if we are to "believe" that it was god's will to allow treacherous inhumanity to be conducted in "his" name, the we must only conclude the "he" is not only a bigot but a sadist.

Muhammad Rasheed - Marcellus, I would only conclude that if I were unfamiliar with scripture and operated from a deficit in scriptural understanding. 

I do not.

Muhammad Rasheed - God does not treat humanity like puppets, and nothing in scripture says that He is supposed to, as those who lack knowledge of the book's contents often claim (or imply). We are free to choose our own path, to accept or reject righteousness as we so wish. The message of God is for us to guard, preach and perform in the earth. The ones who win His favor are those who do so, while those that earn His displeasure reject the message. God allows us to be free and act like humans.

Riley Freeman - You can not read the king James version of the bible and not tell me that these are not what you would teach a slave. First you begin by telling this slave that they are cursed and unworthy and that is the reason for their plight. Then you tell them that they must listen to your commands and follow them without question or both them and their loved ones will be severely punished. Then you yall them that, after all of this that, in order to be redeemed, they need to forgive you and everything that you have done to them because in return for their undying loyalty, they will receives wealth and riches in the next life. Now I believe in God as the almighty, but you're out of your mind if your asking me to believe that shit.

Muhammad Rasheed - Is this something you have read yourself in scripture, or did another pagan make the claim in an FB meme? 

Post up your direct quotes from the KJB and let's break 'em down.

Riley Freeman - I've read the kjb, as I was raised in the black Baptist Church sir. To sit there and call me a pagen only shows the color if your fleece. To post to you would be like posting to a brick wall because your mind is already to closed to see the shackles. Smdh.

Muhammad Rasheed - lol I asked if you got this opinion from another pagan meme, I didn't call you a pagan. Your defensiveness is telling though. 

Let's try that again. Since you claim to have been raised in the church, with an implied comprehensive knowledge of scripture, then post up the direct quotes from the KJB and let's break 'em down with an objective mutual study.   Just because I disagree with you doesn't mean I'm not open to the debate. I just haven't seen any reason thus far to respect your opinion on the topic, with my first clue being the other thread we were arguing in today, and the second being the meme above you tagged me in.

Riley Freeman - "Is this something you have read yourself in scripture, or did ANOTHER PAGEN make the claim in an FB meme?"

Don't pull the same bs that you did the other day where you made a statement and then backtracked. If you're big enough to day the words, stand behind then, don't try to hide them. The fact is that no matter what I say, would won't respect my views on this topic or any one else's who has a view that differs from your own. Mainly because youthful you've been fleeced and don't can't even see it.

Muhammad Rasheed - *sighhhh*

Did another pagan make the speculated other memes that you learned these opinions from. Try to keep up, please. #JesusWept

Muhammad Rasheed - Let the record show that between the two of us, you're the only one who believes I backtracked with bs the other day. From my position, you refused to admit that meme was of GOP/Tea Party origins and was a message from that bag of nonsense.

Riley Freeman - Why does it need to be a Pagen who would have to have an opinion that differed from your own? Like I said, you're sheep. You claim to be so enlightened and yet you sit there in the dark. I feel sorry for you.

Muhammad Rasheed - You have a point. The meme creator could just as easily prove to be an atheist as a pagan. It is all one to me. To reject the One God of Abraham is to stand firmly on the side of the losing team.

Anyway are you going to post up your KJB quotes or jibber-jabber? 

En garde, Riley.

Riley Freeman - You backtracked sir. First you stated that you had not heard of it. then you claimed you weren't privy to it. Then you claimed that you knew of it but just didn't participate in any discussions about it. You backtracked sir. Just admit it. I mean you could go back and read what you did but you refuse to because you know your own guilt.

Muhammad Rasheed - Riley wrote: "First you stated that you had not heard of it."

And you are proving yourself to be either semi-literate, or intellectually dishonest. I'll let you pick.

You are also proving you favor a penchant for the cowardly ducking of direct challenges btw.

Riley Freeman - As I stated your mind is closed. If your whole opinion is that someone who has mistrust or doesn't believe in the bible does not believe in God then you're sheep sir. You've been lead, fed, and ripe to be shaved.

Muhammad Rasheed - I reject anything you state regarding your opinions of me. They are worthless.

Be so kind as to test the strength of your religious argument instead by posting the scriptural proof of your earlier claims, please.

Riley Freeman - It's in your post for you to read. If you refuse to go back and check facts, then what is the point. You refuse to listen and choose to talk without direction.

Riley Freeman - Good. I never asked you to accept my opinion of you sir. If doubt that if someone isn't cosigning or kissing your ass that you listen anyways. I'm just bewildered as to how you could have read the King James bible and not see the pattern. But then again, I doubt you've actually ready it.

Muhammad Rasheed - At this point it is clear you have no idea what a "fact" is, Riley. I don't listen to nonsense, and your earlier claims about the KJB, with a conspicuous refusal to post up quotes to prove your point, is the very definition of "talking without direction."

Muhammad Rasheed - lol Please stop pretending that you've read the bible for yourself. You are only continuing to embarrass yourself. You obviously have no idea what's in it.

Muhammad Rasheed - Riley wrote: "I never asked you to accept my opinion of you"

It's implied every time you oddly begin a sentence with "As I stated..." You may keep the "insight" to yourself.

Riley Freeman - If you don't see the pattern in the Bible, then you are far from ready it. The only one embarassing themselves is you. You're sheep, plain and simple.

Muhammad Rasheed - Please be aware that the "patterns" you see from your no doubt trichinosis-fueled visions are only in your own head. Unless you want to start actually posting scriptural proof to back up your claims, you are only flapping nonsense from your pork grease sucker.

Riley Freeman - Follow the buzzards for they lead to the sheep who were walked unto their slaughter. The bones were picked dry as they lay in the vast wasteland of their own ignorance. Smdh.

Muhammad Rasheed - Notice how none of this drivel you just posted is from the bible? smh lol

Riley Freeman - And I notice that in the whole time that you have disputed the truth that you have yet to offer anything other than your own personal opinion. So how can you demand something that you yourself have not provided? Exactly. Sheep.

Muhammad Rasheed - Riley...

You're the one that made the claim that the KJB is full of "how to make and keep a slave" guidance. I asked you to prove it by posting direct quotes (that you MUST have read for yourself in order to gain this opinion, right?) so we could have a rational debate and either confirm or refute the contention. You literally refused to back up your claims, yet here you want to say that you stated a "truth."

Tell me, what color is the sky in your world? (is it swine colored?)

Muhammad Rasheed - Anything you claim to "notice" will be justifiably given the twisty lip.

Riley Freeman - Is the whole pork eating thing supposed to be some kind of insult over that sandwich that you wished you had? I think it is. Funny how you miss 100 no pork dishes that I post on a weekly basis but concentrate on that one as an insult. But it does say allot about your mindset. But I digress. I believe that you are the one who came to this post starting with claims that you have yet to back up. You claim to be so knowledgeable and enlightened but this shows that you truly are not.

Muhammad Rasheed - It's intended as a light dig since you obviously don't believe in avoiding swine flesh, combined with the fact that you are obviously a good cook. It wasn't intended to be an insult of any serious weight since I don't consider you an enemy or anything like that.

I gave you my opinion of the meme you tagged me in. Is it my fault you didn't follow up by asking me for more information, the way I asked you to back the claims that you decided to counter with instead? I have a meeting to run to. Try to get your game up before my return, please. There's a lad.

Riley Freeman - I don't believe in avoiding swine flesh. My girlfriend is muslim, I am not. Majority of what i cook is for her, which is why you see 95% of the dished with either beef or chicken. Oh yeah, i did tag you in it. I actually forgot about that. And while I respect your take and opinion, I;m suprised that, as a muslim, you would support the king james bible. I mean from Lot to jonah,Moses, and so forth and so on, the Old Testiment was about obedience and servitude without question. And the new testiment was about forgiveness and untold riches in the afterlife for your faith and following. Now, I believe in God. And I believe that God is a universal figure that could unite so many religions if they would just focus on their commonality instead of their indifference. But The KJB reeks of tailoring.

Muhammad Rasheed - lol I am a Muslim. As such I support all Abrahamic sacred scripture, with a preference for the Qur'an. I'm open to have a debate where I am required to defend the bible from attack. That will be fun. Are you game or not?

Riley wrote: "...the Old Testiment was about obedience and servitude without question."

Deliberate obedience & servitude to the Supreme Creator of the universe and His anointed representative on earth is how we will win the game of life. Now that the Age of the Prophets is over, the current representative of the One God is revealed scripture itself, and it behooves the believer to study its pages so that he will know what it is that his Lord requires of him in order to be in compliance. That way some colonialist, enslaving jackass won't be able to show up in a giant wooden ship and tell you something contradictory to what the scripture says, as a random example.

Gregory Allum - Of the first human worshipped the One God, shouldn't all African's be Jewish? What about the ancient religions that were recorded prior that time?

Muhammad Rasheed - Why in the world would the first human be Jewish? The "Jews" were established with the 12 tribes of Jacob.

Muhammad Rasheed - There were ancient religions going back ages in Africa, and the most important one is where the people were instructed to worship the One God, following an unbroken line of anointed messengers from distant antiquity to connect to the Semite tribe chronicles.

Gregory Allum - Because Judaism was the basis of Christianity and Islam prior to the Messiah and Prophet arriving

Riley Freeman - The people of Jerusalem are called Jews, are they not?

Gregory Allum - So what are your thoughts on the Asian religions that were recorded thousands of years? BTW, not starting an argument, just getting your view point is all

Muhammad Rasheed - @Gregory… "Judaism" is a very specific religious practice, composed of very specific rituals and beliefs. It is primarily composed of study and knowledge revolving around the Talmud, which didn't exist prior to Jacob's prophethood.

The faith practiced by Abraham was stripped down to raw submission to the One God on a simplified template. He believed, he prayed, he fasted, he performed tithes and charity, and protected the faithful. His distant descendants wrapped "Judaism" around the pure faith he provided to mankind with the mercy of his Lord.

Muhammad Rasheed - Riley Freeman wrote: "The people of Jerusalem are called Jews, are they not?"

The Muslims and Christians that live there aren't.

Muhammad Rasheed - Gregory Allum wrote: "So what are your thoughts on the Asian religions that were recorded thousands of years?"

It's the same. God anointed messengers among them, too, to instruct the people in scripture & wisdom. But the people rebelled, and worshiped other than the One God who made them, necessitating more prophet-messengers to guide them back to the path. As in the pauline Christian example, some of those messengers the people ended up worshiping as deities themselves, drawing down the wrath of the Creator. These ancient people, too, could have been in the running to be guardians of the final message, but their continuous rebellion caused them to fall out of favor.

Gregory Allum - Hmm, interesting. Thanks for your response.

Muhammad Rasheed - No prob.

See Also:  The African Cross

The African Cross

Riley Freeman - 

Riley Freeman - Mic drop

Muhammad Rasheed - The oldest Christian church in the world is in Africa. Despite their attitude about it, Europeans don't have a monopoly on that faith. The concept that they introduced it to Blacks in the first place is a false myth.

Riley Freeman - In America, Christianity was beaten into blacks and choked down the throats of native Americans. Hell the book even reads like a guide to slavery teaching servitude and severe punishment in the first half and then forgiveness for those who have wronged you in return for riches once you're dead.

Muhammad Rasheed - The African practice of Christianity predates the American slave trade by centuries. This fact should explain that there is inherent value in the faith for Blacks.

Riley Freeman - You have to take into account that 99.9% of black American Christians follow the King James version of the bible, not any any African version. That fact alone only goes to reinforce my statement.

Muhammad Rasheed - Originally it was illegal to teach the religion to the slaves, but they hesitantly spoonfed them certain aspects of it at a point. The fact that Europeans didn't invent Christianity, but only gave the slave class their twisted interpretation for their own purposes, negates the point of this post. The American Black church has long ago evolved beyond the tainted religion that was originally given to them, and it was the leadership of that same community organization that led the fight for our civil rights.

Riley Freeman - As I stated, the verbatim words from that book is for slaves. Which is why is has become so easy to bastardize and use as a tool to rob from the poor without consequences or repercussions. Especially the black church.

Muhammad Rasheed - The "verbatim words" from scripture are for free believers who "study to show their own selves approved.” The real problem is that modern folk have a disdain for study, and leave themselves vulnerable for others to spoonfeed them items from self-serving agenda. The bible doesn't create sheep, it creates shepherds. Which role the people find themselves in is revealed in their level of study.

Riley Freeman - As I said, 99.9% of black Christians in America follow the King James version, a slave handbook.

Muhammad Rasheed - Why do you believe it is a 'slave handbook?'  You'll first have to prove that this is so, quoting from the text itself. If you can do this, then only then will this be the "mic drop" you wish it to be. If not, then the fact that Christianity predates the American slave institution reveals this meme author to be an idiot.

See Also:  ...those whose portion is Your wrath

BOOK REVIEW - The Racial Contract

I’m a big fan of a few authors whose great work involves making sense of the massive stockpile of collected historical data by spotlighting the logic thread that connects chunks of it into potent influential viewpoints. The Racial Contract by Charles Mills is the one that rules them all, with the author revealing the foundational support structure upon which all Western philosophy and formal moral ethics theory is based. Pointedly, Mills reminds us that Immanuel Kant thought I was a subhuman, and he is the most important moral theorist in all of western thought. If you can imagine the movie The Matrix, this book functions like a “what the Matrix is, how it functions the way it does, and how we can free ourselves from it” bible. It's intended to be the long missing component of Western Philosophy, a topic which can never be fully understood without seeing it properly through the lens of 'whites-exploiting-nonwhites' that it was created from in the first place.

The world is the way it is today directly because of the global domination of the Europeans conquering, colonializing, and enslavement of non-Europeans under a White Supremacist banner (originally Christian, but it quickly morphed away from that, since the exploited could always just convert their way out of exploitation, losing the conqueror potential revenue, and we can't have THAT). This “White Peril” savagely plagued every nation on earth and took two forms:

1) the initial physical assault of the European war machine designed to break, “season,” and smash the nonwhites into a submissive state ripe for exploitation

2) the ideological indoctrination of that submissive state on the mental level.

For the former, Mills was kind enough to coldly, clinically, chillingly, remind us of certain devastating examples, and even pull others from the deep dark of centuries past. In the latter – the era we are currently in – he deftly points out the many, many examples of how the breaking has become fully part of our cultural identity, as the conqueror so wished. But the effects of chattel enslavement, jim crow, and institutional disenfranchisement upon the exploited classes are well known to students of Western history from that distressed viewpoint.

What was far more interesting to me was how these diabolical practices affected the oppressor himself. One of the perks of being the signatory of the Racial Contract is a deliberately imposed veil of ignorance, enabling one to pretend that the vast atrocities that make up the skeletal structure of Western Civilization never happened, or "weren't THAT bad," with the gross societal imbalances being natural or genetic in origin as the official stance supported by all influential Eurocentric institutions. This personally went a LONG way towards understanding certain behaviors, like why they get mad whenever their historical wrongs are brought up and act as if it is somehow unfair, why they think the weird term “playing the race card” is a legitimate tool of argument, why they get instantly defensive whenever they hear members of the exploited classes celebrating and affirming their own skills, talents & worth, and even why they feel that the current state of a broken exploited people is the way they’ve always been.

Most of all, The Racial Contract showed how we will never finally overcome racism while the proposed solution from the conqueror class is for the exploited to simply shut up talking about it and accept the state its members find themselves in, as lesser persons requiring the conqueror’s merciful, legitimizing gaze to allow them into the ‘club’ of favor. Of course to continue in this state is unacceptable, but the only way it can be reversed is for that side to willingly set aside its ill-gotten artificial privileges and, as J.A. Rogers would say, transform “from superman to man.” In order to do this he must confront himself, recognize who he is, what he has done, and want to self-correct. He will have to go through pain to purge himself of the mantle of “Whiteness,” the political ideology of White Supremacy that he built this Eurocentric Society upon. And realistically why would he do that? He's oft demonstrated that he would much rather create a fantasyland Whitopia and live there than deal with the truth of the reality he created. Mills’ book shows us how truly difficult curing our society of its Greatest Disease will be.

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SLACKER NATION - The over-educated, cynical, and furious Calle White leads the voice of his generation. Demanding an equal share of the massive wealth enjoyed by the smallest percentage of the nation's populace, the angry 'Squatters' gather at a bemused and irritated Wall Street, refusing to leave until the balance of power changes. Dr. Harold W. Smith considers the group ultimately harmless, until Mr. Gordons shows up, attracted to the demonstrators' message of an ascended survival into true prosperity. Lending his potent voice to that of an already agitated crowd, Remo and Chiun find that they really have to stay focused or the desperate robot just might even the score.

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The True Meaning of "Playing the Race Card"

Muhammad Rasheed - I don’t respect the charge of “playing the race card.” It’s childish. Just a tantrum basically, and on a similar level of foolishness as that phony “All Lives Matter” tripe.

In the Old South, whenever local Whites would come across a visiting Black person who did not act like the local Blacks who had been thoroughly trained in how Whites preferred (demanded) to be acknowledged by them, they would confront him:

“Where you from, boy? We do things different around here. We don’t need no uppity niggras stirring up trouble among our good niggras. Git on now. GIT! Or we’ll give YOU some trouble. Are you eyeballing me, boy?”

This is exactly what that “playing the race card” comment means.

It is no secret that the European, in a handful of centuries, has dominated the world using methods involving colonialism, mass chattel enslavement, and exploitation of the world’s non-white population. These methods allowed him to generate enormous wealth on an unheard of scale which he used to monopolize the global economy by enslaving and/or destroying the competing nations. Originally this was done under the European-interpreted Christian banner, but very quickly it turned into something else. Europe versus the world was no less than "white versus non-white" to him, and obviously he found the concept attractive.

Despite their fighting among themselves, the European nations were still able to come together under a ‘white supremacist’ philosophy which is the cornerstone of their global domination, conspicuously absent from all of their own philosophy literature. Among themselves they determined the nature and status of the world’s non-whites, and among themselves they decided what the rules were going to be in the relationship they forced upon them.

These rules are the racism-based social contract between the privileged White conqueror race and the subjugated, exploited non-white peoples, and involve the Whites being allowed to pretend “things are natural and just the way they are,” with the European ethnic groups living a fantasy that they are inherently superior, that they are the only real humans, and that the non-whites should just live the lives and social order the conqueror has given him without complaint or resistance of any kind. He wants to pretend there is no racism, and that he is the good guy of the human story, and everything that happened is best that it happened because he benefited. If the non-white complains about his behavior – violating the racial contract that the White conqueror dreamed up and imposed – then it forces Whites to look at the dirty part of history he’s trying not to look at, and in fact, is actively seeking to retcon out of recorded history (“Genocide? That word is too strong, don’t you think?” “Slavery wasn’t that bad. Africans had slaves, too, right? So what’s the problem?”).

He calls foul when you shine a spotlight on the racism foundation, beams, poles and studs that are propping up his whole system, because it violates the racial contract. "Hey! You’re not playing along!" Every time he says “Oh Ho! This one likes to play the race card!” it means “I thought we had an understanding?! Stop looking behind the curtain and play the game as I set it out. Your opinions about what is fair or not are not welcome. This is MY world, boy, not yours; you had your day!”

In playing along with the terms of the non-white side of the racial contract, all he wants for you to do is use your strengths for his benefit. He enslaved and conquered the world to keep you from competing with him for world power, so he certainly isn’t interested in you using your strengths to help yourself. No. Use your strengths and talents to help him figure out how to dominate the non-white peoples more effectively. Any complaining about the conqueror race’s violent treatment of you, about the unfairness of his exploitative system so he alone can reap the benefits of the privileged class, or especially any talk of you using your own talents and skills to pull yourself out from under his system, is “playing the race card” and in invoking this charge, he is telling you to stop it and know your place... the place he designated for you when he conquered you.

See Also: "All Lives Matter" - The Truth Behind the Contemptuous Retort

Islam’s Destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria

What happened to the Royal Library of Alexandria? We can be certain it was there once, founded by Ptolomy II Soter, and we can be equally certain it is not there now. It formed part of the Museum which was located in the Bruchion or palace quarter of the city of Alexandria. This great ancient city, occupying a spit of land on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, had been founded by Alexander the Great in his flying visit to Egypt and became the capital of the last dynasty of Pharaohs descended from Alexander's general Ptolemy. The Great or more properly Royal Library formed a part of the Museum but whether or not it was a separate building is unclear.

Stories about its demise have been circulating for centuries and date back to at least the first century AD. These stories continue to be told and embellished today by those who wish to make a moral attack against the alleged vandals. We find that three parties are blamed for the destruction and they correspond to the three occupying powers that ruled Alexandria after it had been lost by the Greeks. Let me first tell those stories as we hear them today - without references, largely inaccurate and used as polemic.

The suspects respectively are a Roman, a Christian and a Moslem - Julius Caesar, Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria and Caliph Omar of Damascus. It is clear that the Royal Library could not have been burnt down or otherwise destroyed by all three of these characters and so we find we have too many sources for the event of the destruction rather than a paucity. As scholars of the Gospels will vouch, this too can be an embarrassment. How we decide to reconcile the stories will depend almost entirely on how we criticise the sources and which of them we choose to consider most reliable.

One of the most famous myths about the Great Library is that of it being burnt down on the instructions of the Caliph Omar after Alexandria had been captured by the Arabs. The story was best known in Europe due to the translation of George Bar Hebraeus’s Chronology but was successfully debunked by Edward Gibbon.First the legendary account:

"The Moslems invaded Egypt during the seventh century as their fanaticism carried them on conquests that would take form an empire stretching from Spain to India. There was not much of a struggle in Egypt and the locals found the rule of the Caliph to be more tolerant than that of the Byzantines before them. However, when a Christian called John informed the local Arab general that there existed in Alexandria a great Library preserving all the knowledge in the world he was perturbed. Eventually he sent word to Mecca where Caliph Omar ordered that all the books in the library should be destroyed because, as he said "they will either contradict the Koran, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous." Therefore, the books and scrolls were taken out of the library and distributed as fuel to the many bathhouses of the city. So enormous was the volume of literature that it took six months for it all to be burnt to ashes heating the saunas of the conquerors."

The leader of the Moslem forces that took Egypt in 640AD was called 'Amr and it was he who was supposed to have asked Omar what to do about the fabled library that he found himself in control of.

There are only a few sources that we need to examine. They are very late. The first of the two late sources dates from the 12th century and is written by Abd al Latif (died 1231) who, in his Account of Egypt while describing Alexandria, mentions of the ruins of the Serapeum. The problems with this as historical evidence are enormous and insurmountable. He admits that the source of his information was rumour and the fantasy about Aristotle does not bode well for the veracity of the rest of the piece.

In the thirteenth century the great Jacobite Christian Bishop Gregory Bar Hebraeus (died 1286), called Abal Faraj in Arabic, fleshes the story out and includes the famous epigram about the Koran. Again there is no clue as to where he found the story but it seems to have been one doing the rounds among Christians living under the dominion of the Moslems. Gregory is happy to record plenty of far-fetched tales about omens and monstrosities so we must treat this story with the greatest suspicion. As it is not even included in the original version of his history but only in the Arabic version that he translated and abridged himself very late in life, he may not have known the story when he first put pen to parchment. In The Vanished Library, Canfora mentions a Syriac manuscript published in Paris at the end of the nineteenth century by François Nau. It was written by a Christian monk in the ninth century and details the conversation between John and Caliph Omar. After help from email correspondents, I have finally been able to find this elusive document in its French translation and ascertained that it makes no mention of any library and appears to be an example of a theological dialogue between two representative individuals. In other words it is not historical and has no pretensions to be.

The verdict on Omar

The errors in the sources are obvious and the story itself is almost wholly incredible. In the first place, Gregory Bar Hebraeus represents the Christian in his story as being one John of Byzantium and that John was certainly dead by the time of the Moslem invasion of Egypt. Also, the prospect of the library taking six months to burn is simply fantastic and just the sort of exaggeration one might expect to find in Arab legends such as the Arabian Nights. However Alfred Butler's famous observation that the books of the library were made of vellum which does not burn is not true. The very late dates of the source material are also suspect as there is no hint of this atrocity in any early literature - even in the Coptic Christian chronicle of John of Nikiou (died after 640AD) who detailed the Arab invasion. For the purposes of this essay, it has been satisfactorily shown that the Royal Library certainly did not exist by the time that the Arabs arrived and this, coupled with the silence on the subject of the near contemporary Christian chronicler John of Nikiou, should lead to a rejection of the Arab connection. It is perhaps possible that the story resulted from the loss of one of Alexandria’s other libraries during the Arab invasion as by no means all of them can be accounted for.

In the modern world, the Library of Alexandria has been used as a parable against tyranny and religion as Caesar, Islam or Christianity were blamed for its loss. It is portrayed as the repository of all ancient wisdom but for whose loss the Dark Ages might never have happened and science could have progressed much more smoothly and quickly. The truth is more satisfying for being more reasonable. The Royal Library was an important institution in the history of literature but its destruction in the first century BC did not spell the end of ancient scholarship and Alexandria remained the Mediterranean’s intellectual capital for seven centuries afterwards. One of the reasons it could do so was the foundation of other libraries like that in the Serapeum and the desire of the Roman Emperors to patronise the city. At last, the Arab invasion ended the story and our inheritance from the ancient world had to be preserved in Constantinople and Baghdad.

Finally, the story comes from the hand of a Christian intellectual who would have been more than happy to show the religion of his rulers in a bad light. Agreeing with Gibbon this time, we can dismiss it as a legend.

SOURCE
1.) The Mysterious Fate of the Great Library of Alexandria by James Hannam

2.) The Foundation and Loss of the Royal and Serapeum Libraries of Alexandria by James Hannam

Let's Meet the Smiths!

Riley Freeman – Jaden Smith & Willow Smith - "Do you deliberately try to break social boundaries?" 

Right now. At this very moment. In a remote cabin in Canada. After seeing this shit. Dr Martin Luther King has officially given up on black people. Smdh.

Anthony Kirton - I don't get it

Lolo Chivo - i dont get either

Valerie Knott Peebles - Watch twice to see if I could get it and still lost..

Anthony Kirton - 

Damion E Jiles Sr. - Is this the Smith kids?

Muhammad Rasheed - An excerpted 14 second clip from an extended interview. So you all are just going to invent a context out of magic to place it in so you cannot "get it" and continue the "Smith kids are weird" narrative?

Did you buy stock in Fox News then?

Riley Freeman - Then please, post the rest of the video for all to see. Otherwise, I have to go by what I see.

Muhammad Rasheed - lol @ Riley's official stance that the 14 sec clip was the beginning & end of the entire interview.

Riley Freeman - What stance? I asked you to please show me the clip. I just fucking shared a clip I saw on my feed. If you have a longer clip then post it. Otherwise, you're talking just to be talking. Educate, don't speculate.

Muhammad Rasheed - "What stance?"

Your decision to double-down on the idea that what this 14 sec clip shows is actually the entirety of the interview unless someone posts something longer. This is the stance you are taking in order to uphold the "let's make fun of these crazy children" opinion.

Riley Freeman - I doubled down how? Did I comment on the whole video, which I've never seen and am still asking you to post a link to, or am I commenting on the comment made? Question is, are you going to post the link to this clip or are you going to continue to make empty statements?

Muhammad Rasheed - I thought it was clear that I planned to contemptuously judge the people who are contemptuously judging the Smith kids from an excerpted 14 sec clip taken out of a context they "don't get." When one of them decided to actually take the unreasonable stance that the 14 sec clip wasn't part of a longer interview unless he physically saw the link to it, then there is no reason to go any further. 

"Empty statements" indeed. lol

Riley Freeman - So you're offended that it's the smith kids? Who are you, Dwayne Martin? Do you have a clip? Yes or no?

Muhammad Rasheed - I always get offended when I see that sheeple "Let's all gang up on the weird/different people because we don't get it" bs. Call it a weakness. #pleaseStopTheFoolishnessAndFuckery

Riley Freeman - Clip? Cuz the only fuckery in seeing is that you continue to dance around a simple request. Post a link to the clip. It's such a simple act but you refuse to even try to clear this up and show us that there was more to the interview so thar it can be looked at as a whole. #thetruefuckerycomefromdancinginsteadofproof

Muhammad Rasheed - Did I give the impression that I respected the "where's the clip" request?

I think the request is ignorant as fuck, to be clear. Get yourself together, Riley.

Riley Freeman - Yes, from what I see, the way they said what they said was indeed ignorant as fuck. I'm glad to see that we are in agreement.

Muhammad Rasheed - lol Obviously I needed to be MORE clear... *edit*

Riley Freeman - More clear with what sir? You said the clip was ignorant. Plain and simple. I'm glad we agree. Thank you for your support.

Muhammad Rasheed - (sometimes pronouns are NOT my friends)

Sharmiki Givinggodtheglory Hunter - So what was the question they were asked to prompt them to answer this way I am sure they weren't jut randomly speaking just because. I would surely like to know what they were asked dang it why did they only clip out this part. Well guess I will either search or not worry about the actual question asked.. Yea search will be it

Anthony Kirton - Ok, in response to Muhammad's response, when I say "I don't get it" I mean I don't see anything wrong here and to Riley Freeman I don't see how Dr Martin Luther king would have a problem with it

Riley Freeman - Have you ever seen the episode of the boondocks with Martin Luther King? That's where the reference comes from. I was not referring to the actual MLK.

Anthony Kirton - found the full interview 

Jaden and Willow Smith are the latest stars in Dubai for DSS

Riley Freeman - Thank you. I watched it. Those kids are on drugs.

Muhammad Rasheed  - 1.) Releasing albums

2.) Releasing clothing

3.) Inspired by what they see in the everyday environment, and what they are moved to create by what they think people need

4.) Their mission statement is that want their product to inspire others and to help them know that "anything is possible"

5.) Admit to recognizing that they are considered "misfits" (eccentric; nonconformists; odd) by the general public

6.) They very strongly believe and espouse something similar to Bruce Lee's philosophy of "Liberating Yourself From Classical Karate" and don't believe in following mostly arbitrary societal rules just because that's the way XYZ was followed blindly by everyone else. If you study the rules and decide to embrace them then do it. But if you are enslaved by rules and systems from outside of you, then you have a right to rebel against them. Be the creator of new paradigms and be happier for it.

7.) Subjective opinions of other young artist peers

8.) Enjoy their dad's old tv show

9.) Feel it is a blessing to work with their dad professionally

10.) Riley thinks they are on drugs for thinking this way.

Riley Freeman - This is the reference. Either you got the reference or you didn't. Anything else, your overreacting and fishing for something else. Do with it what you will. I'm moving to Canada. 

Riley Freeman - Oh and Muhammad Rasheed, I'm not saying they are on drugs for the way they think. I'm going by the figiting in the video sir.

Muhammad Rasheed - They can't fidget either???

DAMN!

Muhammad Rasheed - Your whole anti-Smith kid thing was based on how they think and expressed themselves. How would I know that you shifted to something else unless you said it?

Riley Freeman - I'm sorry, but will everybody who has experience working in drug rehab please raise their hands. (raises hand) I'm sorry Muhammad Rasheed, but why is your hand down. Look sir, you obviously have an agenda to push here. Fine, I get it. You're so Will SMith that you have Dwayne Martin on speed dial. But, if nearly 1000 posts that I made where I comment on something, why are you on here all of a sudden throwing Fox News accusations and all kinds of other bs? I make comment DAILY. Several times a day about several hundred different people and topics without so much as a peep from you. So what's you REAL angle, but it sure as hell aint this whole Anti-Smith bullshit that you're spewing right now.

Muhammad Rasheed - 1.) I don't even know where you live. Why do you assume I have no experience in drug rehabilitation counseling? Based on what?

2.) My agenda is calling out nonsense when I saw a pet peeve of mine pop up in my FB Newsfeed. 

3.) Your agenda is to despise creative, outside-the-box thinking as expressed by these kids. Is that supposed to be a more noble agenda? lol

4.) Jumping to wild and hateful conclusions about black people over a limited amount of info, with the gaps filled in with ideological prejudices is what Fox news built it's reputation on. If you mimic the behavior it will remind me of them. If you don't want your behavior to remind me of them, don't do that stuff. Easy.

5.) We've had the "1000 posts" discussion before. I don't see your posts that often. Usually it's your "WTF?" links that show and what I know you for.

Riley Freeman - 1. Hey you began by stating that I work for Fox news. Therefore, you can not fall back on the not knowing each other line. You began with the assumptions and went down that route.

2. I made a comment about a sound bite. A comment that was in reference to a fictitious characterization of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. If you are that dammed sensitive, then maybe you and Ralph Tresvant need to be collaborating on a love song together instead of being on Facebook.

3. My agenda was to make a comment about a sound bite. Shit. I didn't even know it was the Smith kids until someone pointed it out in a comment. And ask I know about them is that one wore a kilt once and the other had a song about whipping hair. Other than that I don't follow them in the least and couldn't pick them out if a crowd.

4. You really should watch the boondocks more to get the joke intended here sir. Anything else is your own sensitive nature. Need a kleenex sir?

5. Then perhaps you should read more of my posts. Otherwise, you're doing the same thing that you're accusing me of, are you not? Don't hate me for expressing myself differently sir. I don't sell clothes or make music but I still have a right to individual expression. Even though my last my last name isn't Smith.

Muhammad Rasheed - 1.) I began by calling out the foolishness of your hateful stance based on a 14 second clip. Just like they do on Fox News.

2.) It wasn't a very good comment.

3.) Okay, fine.

4.) No. I saw a few episodes and it isn't to my taste. You may enjoy my portion.

5.) lol You made an admittedly ignorant comment about a 14 second clip and I responded to it. You had the right to cap on the clip, and I had a right to comment on your comment. I don't hate you for expressing your opinion, I was merely moved to challenge you on it. You don't consider it 'sensitive' to interpret the challenging of an expressed opinion of a FB friend as 'hatred?' 'Cuz to me that's kind of soft-ish.

Riley Freeman - 1. No sir. You began by making hateful judgement of my creativity and indifference. Can't you just let me be the misfit that I am without judging me?

2. I admit, it wasn't one of my best. It was only for those who would get the boondocks reference.

3. Yup. Uh huh. I tell you what. <-king hill.="" nbsp="" of="" p="" the="">
4. It has its moments. It's the hidden messages that you tend to appreciate more than the entertainment value.

5. Dude, I'm messing with you. You take me too seriously. I live my life in levity because stressing over things too much will kill you. You gotta admit that you did open the door for me to thusly take your defense and apply it to myself. lol

Muhammad Rasheed - 1.) Yes, sir. >:(

2.) Forgiven.

3.) I don't care for that show either. [stink face] 

4.) I actually disagree with the bulk of the socio-political opinions of the writers, so the hidden messages tend to be ham-fisted and irritating to me.

5.) Hm. Okay, then I'll start stalking your posts so I'll learn your humor style better (after I finish these comics).