[The Stupidity Defense] Sag Low

A few years ago, I wrote a couple of blogs about dealing with the stupidity of people in everyday life. In one of those blogs, I talked about when I was taking medical assisting courses and there was this woman who constantly boosted about being an RN in her native Africa but DID NOT know how to correctly use a blood pressure cuff, read a medical chart or had basic computer knowledge. I mean this woman did not know how to how to BOLD font characters in Microsoft word and this was AFTER 8 weeks of a elementary computer course. Every time she saw me, she wanted me to help her in doing this or that, while at the same time trying to get me to do her entire assignment for her. It was only after cursing her out in front of the entire class and calling her everything but a child of God did she get the message that I did not like her and was no longer going to help her. In another blog, I wrote about working with folk in retail during the holiday season and people lose their f-ing minds and act like it’s not them it’s you. I have witnessed and been involved in the craziest scenarios when I worked in some retail stores because people are either too stupid to listen or just too hard headed to understand. One of my biggest pet peeves was dealing with cell phones because many people don’t understand the correlation between a cell phone maker and cell phone service. If you come into a store asking for minutes for a Nokia phone, you will get the “You’re a Duh-Duh” expression from the associate helping since Nokia only makes cell phones and does not provide you with service. You can’t image how many arguments I got into because they thought they knew better then the facts in front of them. I guess that is probably the reason why some many people do stupid things.

On to the topic at hand, A Facebook buddy of mines posted this video that I wanted to share:

Now I have blogged about the whole sagging epidemic that has taken over the urban communities for some time now. Point blank, it’s one of the stupidest urban fashion trends out there and if a lot of these hood dudes truly understood what the sagging represents they would not be in a hurry to show the draws. However after watching this clip, I was left scratching my head as to why this man, Mario Johnson was arrested AND what he was arrested for (Indecent exposure) because nowhere in the report did anyone say he exposed his privates. JUST THE UNDERWEAR!!! And that several women costumers complained to security about this man’s idiotic fashion sense which started all of this. Now look, my first thought was: “Miss, why are you crotch watching that hard for?” Because picture it… It’s 5:30am on Black Friday and you’re looking for a deal. Are you really paying attention to what the people around you are wearing and at the same time did you ever felt compelled to get security involved? This is why I have to assume that it was either one security guard that was offended and wanted to execute (in Eric Cartman’s voice) Authoritah! The next time I see a woman in camel toe jeans, should I go to the police and have her hauled off to jail? Now he was an idiot for getting loud, but I don’t blame him. If I am standing in line minding my own business and security pulls me out of line to tell me to pull up my pants, I would lose it too, but he just went about it the wrong way. You’re not going to win when police can say you were “Out of control and in a fighting stance” in order to slap a criminal case on you.

So I have to chop this up to all around stupidity on everyone’s part. Even through stupidity is not a legal defense by no means, he is going to need a good lawyer to get this case knocked out, but let’s keep it real, who are the true morons in this case?

Kenny.

[My Life] Fight Club Kenny

If you ask any of my friends, I am the first one to try to end a conflict then be the one to start one, so a funny thing happened to me a couple of weekends ago. I got into a fight. Yeah… I’ve had arguments with tons of people over the last few months, but it’s been years since I had a good old fashion tussle. It started off as a goodnight for the most part. I recognized a few faces, talked to some new people, reconnected with some others. I was surrounded by funny drunk people that seemed to go overboard with the antics with each drink. When I got there I had made the announcement that I was only going to have a ONE drink which was greeted to a chorus of boo’s. I guess too many people were accustom to me being some ones “Uncle Larry” at the party. So, the host of the party, sister had made me one of her famous concoction that was just too good to pass up and left me pretty buzzed.

To make a long story short, a guy was asked to leave and in the act of trying to get him to leave the building we ending up fighting in the hallway. I know I am cutting out the juicy parts, but this situation took place for over the span of an hour and I really do not want to rehash everything. Before the fight, I thought he was an okay dude, a little too touchy for my taste, but still okay. At some point doing the night, tension started to brew between us, so knowing my temperament I avoided being around him until the event that is. I didn’t win or lose. After it was all said and done, he had some kind of emotional breakdown and I had a sore throat from him choking me for a couple of hours and a busted hand for a few days from punching him in the face. No one died, did a fatality and No one went to jail, even through the NYPD was called and came, they did what they do best which was nothing at all. Hours later as I was walking home, I posted a message on Facebook saying that I was surprised that out of all the hood dudes at the party, I was the one that had the fight. When I woke up, hung over and sore, I was a hot topic amongst my friends. Yeah, that’s never a good look. It was kind of embarrassing that I let myself take it to that level but as I reflect on it now, I probably would end up just chilling with the guy and maybe have a beer or 2. This is where I take a moment so share what I learned from this experience:

• I need to hit the gym because my body was all kinds of f-ed up afterwards and if I was in better shape I would’ve bounced back faster.
• I need to learn how to NOT let the little annoyances people have affected me.
• I am too old for that type of bullshit.
• Glad no one videotaped the fight and uploaded it on Youtube.

Kenny.

[My Life] Open Scars

These last 18 months has been a whirlwind of events in my life, with the majority being out of my control. It started with my grandmother’s accident which caused me to drop out of school, not once but twice so I could be there full time for every up and down event. Having my mother and I savings accounts depleted because of hospital bills and other necessities which almost left us on the verge of homelessness. After my grandmother’s passing, throwing myself into a stressful job to catch up on the bills since my mother was laid off from one of her jobs. Yeah, there are a lot of things I had to deal with, especially now since I’ve been unemployed for little over a month and waiting with baited breathe for unemployment to kick in to pay the rent. Fingers and toes crossed people... After everything I’ve been through, I just needed to breath... And I have. It’s been one long expiration since I was laid off with nothing but free time on my hands.

I started to develop plans before I was laid off, but now it is just a matter of making those plans come to life. I am planning on going back to school to pursue a degree in social work, something that a mentor had expressed to me days before his passing I should go into. I will also try and take courses in Real Estate (my license had expired a few years ago so I need to start from scratch in order to get it back) and become a Notary Public to expand my income. I want to do a lot of volunteering in my community, since it would good on my resume and give me something to do with my free time. I plan on finishing writing my book and a couple of other writing projects that I’ve placed on hold so many times because one event or the other. There are some many things I have going but like it is said that sometimes the best laid plans can be hindered my the simplest ideals.

Stressed and struggle to get through the day to day function of life, I never took the time to just stop and take care of the emotional scars I had. Before this year, I was dealing with other issues like the extremely bitter end of a 3 year relationship which left me resentful on the whole concept of love, the uncertainty of where my life was going and worst of all the non-existent relationship I have with my sadist asshole of a father. Now, all those problems I had learned to bury over the years were now compounded with a whole host of unfamiliar trauma. Yeah, I was deeply depressed and at times a touch suicidal. If it wasn’t for the fact that I would leave my mother with no one to protect and look out for her, I would thrown myself over a bridge a long time ago. So I move on. I didn’t want to burden the people around me because I was never the type to just unload my problems onto others since people have been accustomed to only come to me with their problems as if I had the tools to fix it all. I don’t, but it always good to pretend to right?

When I was 20, things were so much simpler. I didn’t have to worry about rent or any of those grown up things because at that time I didn’t see myself as an actual grown up. Of course, I was at the age of maturity according to the law (I could vote, buy smokes, have sex, but not drink for some reason), but I was no way an real adult. I lacked the understanding to deal with the real world. Now that I am busting down the door of 30, I am much wiser than in my youth and can see that there are paths in front of me that I have to deal with that will determine how my life with continue. So, How do I chose this path? How do figure out what will help heal the scars that I have? I don’t know. I guess that is what adulthood is all about, figuring things out as you go along...

Kenny.

[Government and Politics] Independence Redefined.

It’s another year and another reason for the American populous to branch out to the beaches, fill up their stomachs with insane amounts of processed burnt meats and fill the sky with fireworks. As I walk through around my neighborhood, all I could see are the red, white and blue American flags, that will be replaced in the coming weeks with flags from all over the Caribbean. These last few years I have really questioned why we as a country are so eager to celebrate the birth of our country when the foundation of the birth was based on lies, power, theft and death. Many times it makes me wonder what being an American really means. This country was built on the backs of those who could not defend themselves and when you even mention that fact, you’re bombarded with opposition from those who do not either understand our country’s past or refuses to acknowledge it even if it staring right in their face.

During the historic 2008 election which promoted a person of color to the highest office in the world, you saw a backlash from the conservative right declaring him anything BUT American. He was foreign born, he was a communist, he is elitist and doesn’t understand what REAL Americans go through… This is how the The Tea Party movement sparked the sometimes idiotic discussion about bringing this country back to what our forefathers intended. They built these grassroots rallies and marches funded by billionaires, promoted by a major conservative news network, hosted by out of work congress members, who used lies, propaganda and gullibility to woe the frighten masses.

Fear. The best element those in power can use to gain the trust of people who do not know any better. Recently, when Arizona passed the statue giving local authorities the power to demand documentation from those they have “reasonable” belief of being illegal aliens. It gives federal powers to local authorities to combat illegal immigration which is a issue that is something that the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is suppose to deal with. I actual thought that something like this was a joke. That maybe, just maybe, someone would come to their senses and realize that this was wrong. If someone looks like they’re a certain ethnicity, when is it okay to assume if they are illegally in this country? It’s funny because many people like to pass the entire blame to the Obama Administration, stating that since the federal government is not during there job in protecting our borders then local governments has to do there part, I guess because no one wants to admit that the pervious President provided no solution in securing the southern borders even through that was one of the issues he PROMISED to solve during his 2004 re-election. Remember those, I will ban gay marriage, end the wars and stop the illegal speeches he used to give through the pulpits all over the southern states. I watched Karl Rove rant about President Obama didn’t care about the concerns of the Hispanic community, because he is only trying to secure voters of his 2012 re-election, something that Bush did might add, but then again Mr. Rove would obviously omit that fact. But then again many right-wing political pundits, like Karl Rove have used the blanket term of “terrorist” and “illegal alien” to invoke there base to rally for their cause since that’s the best marketing tool.

Do we live in a country were everyone is equal? I guess that is up for interpretation depending on who you are or where you live. It’s always obvious to me that we are not like other countries where segments of the population are in mental and physical chains, where people do NOT have the freedom of speech to speak about the ills of there perspective governments. Since September 11th, this country has redefined what it means to be free and at the same time limited what we could do and say. If you criticize anything America does, then YOU, my friend are not a true American. Many people do not believe me, which is okay. All anyone has to do is actually read the Patriot Act. It lays it out in black and white giving new powers to the government. Overnight, we allowed outrage and sorrow over 9/11 to give the Bush Administration the green light to help recreate the world for a select few to rule. There is a method to the madness. Keep the American public occupied with mindless drivel just long enough to enact law that strips way the rights provided in the constitution to the American public. The media will report the antics of vapid celebrities, while behind close doors dirty deals are being made.

Do you ever notice that we are always fighting a “them”. When you really think about it, it could mirror George Orwell’s Animal Farm. From the English, the Native Americans, the slaves, the Nazi’s, the Communist, the gays, the Muslims and even pirates… We have this “them” factor that is exploited by everyone in power.

Yeah, we are in the era of change but what has changed? As the years rapidly rushed by, the main political parties have passed the buck on what was the other guys fault while at the same time boosting they are actually helping this country through the hard times. The Democrats who used these “wars” or should I say occupation, in Iraq and now Afghanistan to their own political advantage this year more then ever. In 2006, when they took the House and Senate, they made a promise to put a stop to the Bush regime. Did that happen? Nope… Not one bit. After the Democrats took over the Congress and the White House, I wondered when in the hell they were going to enact make sweeping changes concerning the economy and future policies, but did they do it? At every given moment they while the debate of issues like healthcare reform would take place it became plainly obvious that there plan is to cower down to their GOP counterparts who found comfort in the minority. Think about it. They care just sit back and say I told you so if something goes wrong, while at the same time either voting down EVERYTHING the President has propose and not offering anything as a substitute.

Here is some home truth: 9/11 has become a lucrative cash cow. As awful as that sounds, it is very true. The right-wing media likes to down play that while at the same time promoting themselves as the ultimate in Americana. There are major companies who do not want to see this “war on terror” end anytime soon, because it is majorly profitable. Blackwater, Halliburton and most recently the oil companies like BP, who is poisoning the Gulf Coast as I write this, are reaping the benefits of it. The reason why most countries have a war is to have a war. In the end nothing is really gained, because waking moment this country is creating more and more enemies who are willing to fill in the shoes of fallen ones. Citizens in Middle Eastern countries are killed by the thousands and it seems no one in the United States bats an eye. Death begets death. Violence begets violence. The cycle will continue to repeat itself, unless something changes that.

Benjamin Franklin once said “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety” As this day comes to a close I want people to think about those words…

Kenny.