When a minority is no longer a minority. And where.

Everyone "knows" that America is divided between white and black, and that the majority white has "oppressed" the minority black.

But in the 21st century, at least a few observers have noted that "the" minority has not only challenged the majority in a country where democracy supposedly rules.

The most conspicuous example is that of African-Americans, who make up among the overall population of the United States one in eight Americans.

Obviously, in the world of pro sports--football, baseball, basketball--African-Americans constitute the majority.  Whites are the minority, and Asian-Americans and Hispanics even smaller minorities (especially Asians, 5% of the population, who are hardly ever present except for the very recent Jeremy Lin).  African-Americans are not a minority within the NBA or NFL.

In the world of pop music, again, African-American singers consistently top the charts in a wildly disproportionate share (Beyonce selling 300,000 albums within what was it 24 or 48 hours).

Going to the movie theater would lead a foreign visitor to the U.S. to even believe that African-Americans are 1/3 of the population rather than one minority among other minorities (although for historical reasons arguably the "most significant").

Nor in many of the largest cities of the U.S. such as Detroit or Philadelphia or Atlanta or D.C. are blacks a minority.  They are the majority (or the largest racial group).

In California, Hispanics, not blacks, are by far and away the largest minority, 35% of the population compared to 5% (Asians, 12%; whites, 44%).  If you'd watch a Hollywood film, however, you'd think the percentages were reversed, blacks 35% and Hispanics 5%.

At the metropolitan YMCA in Seattle, you're often more likely to see blacks as whites (or Asians, for that matter, who are actually the largest minority here) on the gym floor.  You can certainly hear them more.

Obviously, with the black birth rate twice that of whites and significant immigration, legal and illegal, from Latin America, demographics are in flux, with whites in proportional decline.

* * * * *

It would be far more significant to refer to minorities as minorities within a particular geographical locality or demographic segment.

But in this way, I think, some minorities would lose their hold on victimhood.

America's original sin: robber-baron, laissez-faire global capitalism

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Wealth

Does anywhere in America resemble this except The Highlands, Washington or Jupiter Island, Florida?

Americans have a touching innocence, a child-like belief in their country and in toys (gadgets) of all dimensions, colors, sounds, smells, and shapes, that I think is a specific reflection of their country's history and geography.

Many Europeans and some Asians, in general, seem to have a more nuanced approach to things like, for instance, capitalism ("versus" socialism).

What strikes me as particularly pertinent in this century and the last is that you have American values of liberty and democracy on the one hand and the aggressive, often times ugly and vicious capitalism that has made 1% of the population extremely rich (as in having more than 40% of the wealth of the country, possessing bank accounts in Switzerland and houses in the south of France as well as their own private jets, and living segregated in walled compounds), the middle class a minority, and tens of millions of Americans living in abject poverty whose physical, educational, and moral conditions shock countries and people around the world.

The middle and upper middle classes, respectively, apparently  content themselves with aping "their betters" and in living in a dream, the American dream, the rest of their hard-working lives.

(And this does not even begin to touch upon what rapacious Coca Cola, Chiquita Bananas, Anaconda Copper, etc. have done in Latin America and other parts of the Third World.   Or the effects of consumerism on the environment).

What will happen to the United States--the second Garden of Eden for conservatives--with its promise of eternal youth, beauty, material bounty, happiness, and expansion (in many senses of the term)?

* * * * *

Only in America would global warming be seriously considered a hoax.

Only in America--and countries ruled by right-wing, often military, regimes--would being anti-corporate be considered anti-American.+

* * * * *

American capitalism has served as the model for development in China, India, Brazil, and other developing countries, with, without exaggeration, disastrous effects.

Is ignorance truly bliss?

Take down the wall (of ignorance), Hollywood, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citibank, Comcast, the big oil companies...*

No, we don't need 200+ cable television channels, a more awesome dance club, or even 4D special effects or 5G networks to be happy.  Or to find meaning in a life.


* But would we then lose the very innocence--some might say "stupidity"--that many Americans still possess, this belief in "the system," in the "American way of life" as the Garden of Eden?

If you can't have it, keep trying harder, Americans.  

(The American dream is one of God's eternal truths). 

Keep reading People magazine, people...and buying more stuff...and stuffing your God-fearing self.

  

The Gospel of Loud:  Loud is always bigger and better.  Don't stop rocking (but don't rock the boat).

A New Year's Dream

Giovanni Bellini, "Feast of the Gods" (1470's?), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.




A voir  
http://www.webexhibits.org/feast/

A Minority View of Minorities

If it's always the fault of others, I guess we don't have to look for answers inside.

By this I mean, (1) assuming responsibility for finding whatever meaning one's existence has and (2) working towards a personal goal beyond blaming others.

In this particular case, I am thinking of the inconvenient truth that racism in the United States, or for that matter in France or elsewhere, may not be the one handy-all explanation and cause of the misfortunes of certain racial, ethnic, or religious groups.

For example, Charles Mudede, a writer at The Stranger, and President Obama* "know" with certainty what really happened to the Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates when he was arrested attempting to break into his own house (he had accidentally locked himself out).   [Note:   I intentionally use the words "happen to," as that was in all likelihood the state of mind that Gates was in that and every evening of his life].

Consider if you were a policeman in one of the two most liberal cities in the country, Boston/Cambridge, and witnessed a man breaking into a house, a man who happened to be black but more than that.  If my intuition is correct on two accounts, then what happened was that when confronted by the policeman, Henry Louis Gates not only became indignant, he flew into a fury and was belligerent as only a minority that has been taught over half a century that they are eternal victims of a conspiracy to keep them in chains, literally or figuratively.

Of course, the press in this case immediately had a great story whose headlines could be splashed on the front pages of every newspaper in the country:   (Even) A black Harvard professor is arrested just for entering his own house! 

 Ergo, clearly, (White) Racism (against black people) is rampant.

I myself, a non-white person, have been on more than one occasion the object of the fury of a black person who was either in a very bad mood and/or believed that I  was worthy of denigration (as a bad, stupid, worthless person).

If my hunch is correct, the police officer was sincerely attempting to prevent what he thought was a burglary in the happening but that Gates--who I will not state is a bit supercilious--bludgeoned him verbally and emotionally in much the way that I have been in the past (for example:  my moving a package left on a bench at the YMCA that an elderly African-American was sitting on, so that I could sit there, too; the man apparently thought I would actually sit on his belonging, and "really let me have it").

Most sensible people-- whatever their race, ethnicity, social/economic status simply--do not become aggressive with a police officer.

Who in the earth would believe, much less actually say, that African-Americans can be "disorderly" or "difficult" (behave in a belligerent/arrogant towards others)?

The irony is that the scholarship in American history Henry Louis Gates III has been engaged in over the past 30 years has only made him increasingly rigid, bellicose--entrenched in his views--and just barely tolerably supercilious.

When we need new approaches to race problems in this country, it is of little comfort to know that those in power still stubbornly cling to the past and to a vision of the world that does not reflect present realities.

The devil is inside

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Louis_Gates_arrest_controversy



* who, as you recall, threw his own reverend of 20+ years "under the bus" when it was inconvenient to have association with him.





* * * * *




Yes, if you believe that things keep "happening to you" and that you are powerless (as in, against a wicked world intentionally oppressing you and making you miserable), you will feel very frustrated, angry, and resentful.  And explode, flying off the handle at the very least "provocation."

In this case, the maxim that "one sees the world not as it actually is, but as one is" is applicable.  The external world is a reflection of your own mind.

You see the ghost of racism everywhere, and you react.




* * * * *



I think that Nelson Mandela understood that the endless spiral of violence and hatred in society is kept intact by blame ("finger-pointing") and the repetitive desire for and re-enactment of vengeance, over and over again, for wrongs real, historic, or imagined.


What if No One's Doing It to Us, except Ourselves?

How many Comcast executives have their own private planes or jet planes?

Comcast execs in Hollywood; joining the high-flying jet set class.

Who said anything about an unholy union?

As the nation's largest cable provider and probably its most aggressive--rolling in cash, with the billions in liquid assets (or the equivalent) to be able to recently purchase Universal Pictures outright and 35% interest in MSNBC--one might expect Comcast to be more solicitous of its customers.  Well, it certainly pays lip-service to the notion of "customer satisfaction."  But the reality is most definitely otherwise, as reviews on sites like yelp.com demonstrate.

In ostensibly "liberal" Seattle, Comcast got the optical cables underground laid down for it forever and a day with very little return (reminding one of how Paul Allen was able also to get his South Lake developments, including a "S-L-U-T" that very very few people use at all for little in return).  The City seems to bend over backwards to give huge corporations what they want and demand.

* * * * *

A message sent this morning to the Office of Cable Communications/City of Seattle:

The Comcast technician who came out yesterday afternoon was borderline rude.  He did not seem to believe me when I told him, for instance, that the clicking/popping/skipping sounds could be heard on the television speakers as well as the external speakers (he expressed open skepticism).

He stayed about 10-12 minutes (compared to the previous tech, who stayed perhaps 25 minutes) and in the end could not pinpoint the problem ("if there really was one," from his point of view*) except to blame the equipment (my receiver or speakers), even though I told him twice that there was no problem when I played my DVD/blu-ray player.

On the way out, the tech stated that he could address only "signal problems."

The truth is that he did very little while in my apartment, asking about issues that I had already addressed.  It seemed like he just wanted to get the visit "down with" and not really want to be there.

And in the end, Comcast higher-ups don't seem particularly interested in helping me get to the bottom of things.  Someone deduced, with particular acuity, that the issue must be with "television equipment," and that Comcast cannot do, thus, anything, rather than at their end.

But my HDTV is fine.  I only have had these issues on one channel, the one I pay an additional  fee for (and the only real reason I have Comcast Cable at all).

In fact, Comcast has had a long history of trouble transmitting International Premium Channels, as a technician had candidly admitted to me a few years ago.

* * * * *


It's infuriating that Comcast bombards its subscribers with promotional schemes. hawking different permutations of its 500+ stations at different price/promotional schedules and.  No wonder people don't know or understand what and why they are being charged for.

You wonder wonder whether the top-tier executives--after they have bought their mansions, other real estate, jet planes, stock options, jewelry, and other investments --take early retirement (as in their early 40's).

But they got "their stuff" from gouging the public, in millions, you and me.  The "services" they provided are most likely related to advertising campaigns and coming up with what resembles most closely scams, that under different legislation, might make them the plaintiffs in lawsuits.

* Why I would make up a story about audio problems is hard to fathom.  I have had Comcast for about 10 years and the audio was NEVER a problem before.

the peacock and the cock have consummated their union

 SEE
http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/comcast-comcast-cable/seattle-washington-98124/comcast-comcast-cable-hidden-fees-deceptive-customer-service-seattle-washington-606209

The Anatomy of a Cyber Monday Hustle

from The Atlantic (online):

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/the-anatomy-of-a-cyber-monday-hustle/281960/

The Anatomy of a Cyber Monday Hustle

How fake prices can make it seem as if you're getting a deal, when you're really paying full price

ALEXIS C. MADRIGALDEC 2 2013, 11:14 AM ET

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Last year, my wife received a fancy blender as a thank-you gift for delivering a lecture. The Breville BBL605 XL is a nice blender with a built-in smoothie setting and everything.
When my dad came to visit, he employed this smoothie setting and was delighted with the results. (He makes a lot of smoothies.) So, I figured I'd get him his own Breville BBL605 XL for Christmas.
Like a good American I thought I might get a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal on the blender this weekend. So, I popped the model number into Google.
Instead of a bargain, I found a Macy's hustle. It highlights the way retailers use the hype around these imaginary shopping holidays to dupe consumers into paying full price while they think they're getting a deal.
Here was the blender in Macy's mobile catalog on Friday:

There are two things to notice:
1) Holy moly, this is an expensive blender!
2) And yet, a 40-percent discount seems like a lot! ​I did the math really quickly: 334.99-(0.4*334.99)=$200.99
Sorry, Dad, even with the discount, you're not getting a $200 blender. But hey, it seemed like a good deal.
At least until I googled around a little more for the blender. Every other store on the Internet was offering the same item for $200 or less!

I went to Macy's again this morning on my computer (out of spite). Of course, the supposed Black Friday deal was not a Black Friday deal. And I noticed a link that wasn't available on the mobile site. It said, "Pricing Policy."
"'Regular' and 'Original' prices are offering prices that may not have resulted in actual sales, and some 'Original' prices may not have been in effect during the past 180 days," it read (emphasis added).
In other words, they may not have sold a single blender at $334.99 and they may not have even tried to price the blender that high. To call the price "Regular" is a lie. And they think they can tell it because they've added this link.
Perhaps they should change the name of the Pricing Policy to "Caveat Emptor."
If you still want to bargain hunt, I'd stop doing the research yourself and trust the folks at The Wirecutter, who are hand-selecting the best (real!) deals right now.