| Today's Ope |

It was so funny to see Luda on Oprah today. He looked nervous as heck on that stage! Luda and the rest of the main cast of the film Crash were on Ope today, and she based her show on society's views of/on racism. And yeah, nothing new. Conclusion: most people are racist and/or prejudiced to some degree. Blame it on socialization, media, upbringing, lack of cultural/ethnic respect, exposure and understanding (read: ignorance) or various negative experiences, most of us, at some time in our lives will and do discriminate. Badly. We succumb to stereotypes pretty easily too. What can I say, we human beings are marred down to our DNA.

Anyway, by no means am I excusing racism, or violence that's perpetuated because of it. But I realized that this social issue isn't gonna be solved overnight. Terrence Howard *swoooooon* completely captivated the audience, I mean literally mesmerized EVERYONE with his nightmare of a story of violence and racism that happened to his father, and even his own experience getting arrested because of his alleged assault on some flight attendant. PLEASE. I was ticked reading about that on IMDB, because I knew the accusation was completely sensationalized and fueled by blatant racism. But yeah, the two stories he told had me close to tears. People in the audience were crying too.

Then the N word debate got started. Ahhh, the favorite. "Whites can't use it, but Blacks (and Latins, depending on who you talk to) can." "It depends on how you say it or spell it, with a 'er' or an 'a' at the end." Blah blah blah. I dunno. I couldn't care less about all the specifications, really. I use it very, very rarely. And when I do it's cuz I'm acting ignorant on purpose. Pero, I do believe people have the power to valorize words, and that one shouldn't allow a traditional definition of a word dictate to them what it should and shouldn't mean to them personally and presently. I guess that's just the neosocialist in me.

Then Luda got attacked a bit, by his constant use of the N word in his music. And then Sandra Bullock lashed out (indirectly) on how 'bitch' and 'ho' needs to not be apart of (his) music anymore. Then that ni-- I mean Luda--had the nerve to say that there are actually 'real people' who are indeed 'bitches and hoes, that exist.' And the good ole 'when women stop calling each other that, then maybe I'll do the same' crap. Whatever Luda. You want just want your freakin CD's to sell, and for your askari fan base to remain loyal to you. It's amazing to me how he'd take the time to see another light on how one could use or not use the N word, but when it came to women's rights and self-respect, he was unflinching with his views. PLEASE, again.



He kinda does seem like the chauvinist type though. *shrugs*

Anyway, I didn't feel like anything got resolved on the show (thus, when I realized this can't be tackled overnight). And my mom pointed out to me today that Ope's shows never quite offer resolution, but rather are a catalyst to worldwide debate(s)/discussions. And that's great, it really is. However, isn't time we stop yapping and actually get something DONE about these issues? I dunno, that's just my opinion. We can sing about revolution forever, but if nobody's moving, nothing will ever progress.

Meh. I should've been in class. lol. I ended up staying home talking with my mom. Sometimes I forget how cool she is. Some days we're at serious odds, but mostly, she's my best fwend.

Did I mention that Terrence Howard looked scrumptious on Ope? Whooooo...looked just like how I remember him, all of 5 years ago chasing him around downtown lol.



Mercy.

Anyway that's it for now. I was gonna write something about ANTM's episode last night, but nevermind. ANTM's gettin a lil too sketelish nowadays. "Miss" J is gonna drive me mad, and Jay Manuel is too pretty to be a man. Lord knows I'm gonna have to deal with much more when I get into the fashion biz.

Shalom, chaverim.

Hebrew Word of the Day:

Tehillah



(te-heel-LAH) n. Praise; song of praise. Plural is Tehillim.

Current e-Motions: need to do some homework! The more I have to do = the more I slack off.
Today's Riddims: Switchfoot - Nothing is Sound - "Politicians"