In a recent op-ed President George H. W. Bush paid tribute to former South African president Nelson Mandela.
He said: 'I viewed Nelson Mandela as one of the great moral leaders during that hopeful and transformative era of global change.' [1]
But was Nelsen Mandela really a 'great moral leader?'
The truth is sometimes brutal.
In reality, Nelsen Mandela was the terrorist 'Commander and Chief' of the ANC's armed branch Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
This armed group carried out bomb attacks on malls, movie theatres, restaurants, and other civilian targets.
When Mandela was finally arrested by the Apartheid government 'the authorities... found “210,000 hand grenades, 48,000 anti-personnel mines, 1,500 time devices, 144 tons of ammonium nitrate, 21.6 tons of aluminum powder and 1 ton of black powder.' [2]
In 1985 the South African Government offered Mandela the chance to be released from prison on the single condition that he renounced violence...he refused.
Later on Mandela was recorded singing a song about killing White people [3]
Nelsen Mandela was a horrible man. He was the South African equivalent of Osama Bin Laden... only he was a less talented planner.
NOTES:
[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-h-w-bush/honoring-nelson-mandela_1_b_4377877.html
[2]http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/14775730-mandela-in-poor-health-why-white-south-africans-are-praying-for-him
[3]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcOXqFQw2hc
Today, Huffpost's banner read 'American Exceptionalism: Test Scores Below Vietnam!' [1]
Vietnam first administered the international test in 2012.
Vietnam is mostly impoverished, and only a few decades back a US protectorate...which makes it all the more embarrassing that their children now score higher than ours in science and math.
Americans, however, should not be ashamed.
White Americans routinely score in the top 3 spots worldwide, surpassed only occasionally by Scandinavia and some Asian countries.
The reality is that as White Americans continue to make up less and less of the population of the country America's scores will continue to drop.
A likely scenario considering that White Americans under the age of 2 are already a minority among their peers.
Looking at the above map it is obvious that PISA scores roughly correlate with average IQ, and IQ is known to be 40 to 80% based on genetic inheritance. Whites and Asians have average IQs of 100 to 104 whereas Black Africans have IQs of only around 67. Hispanics around 89. [2]
The more Latinos and Blacks are allowed into America the lower American international test scores will drop.
No amount of funding can erase DNA. Educational opportunities can only make genetically predisposed populations perform better... they can not make those born unintelligent smart.
NOTES:
[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/03/us-test-scores_n_4374075.html
[2] http://www.udel.edu/educ/gottfredson/reprints/1997mainstream.pdf
Hershel:
Hershel's demise by decapitation is the big story in this episode, closely followed by that of the Governor.
I could tell that Hershel's time was coming after he was getting so much airtime in the last few episodes.
However, his unlikely survival has been surprising in the past.
Hershel's demise correlates the break up of the group that he is ultimately responsible for creating.
The present coalition of established characters (Rick, Carl, Daryl, Maggie, Glen, Beth, Carol) was created by the union that occurred on his farm, and even with the geopolitical shifts that have happened over the course of the last few seasons that core of plot driving characters has remained the stability of the show.
With the group scattered the coalition is broken. The union Hershel constructed has been undone.
This was most likely inevitable. For the show to progress this group (bordering on a kind of sorority) had to be divided. Up until this time period characters like Andrea were spun off of the original group, but the integrity of the farm group remained rigid and uncompromised.
The Governor:
The episode was rightly named 'Too Far Gone.' Even as the Governor was lying on the ground bleeding to death I still thought there was hope for him... I was wrong.
The Governor's last chance was his attempt to leave the Martinez camp on the night he was blocked by the pit of zombies. Obviously, he didn't make it.
I am still saddened by the fact that we don't know anything about the Governor. We don't even know his real name?!?!
The rise and fall of the governor this season appeared to be an accelerated version of his original Woodbury trajectory. However, this time the death of his daughter ('daughter II') barely phased him...he was simply too far gone.
The single word the Governor uses to strike down Rick's inspiring speech 'lies' sums up his entire span on the show. He created Woodbury as a kind of utopian lie, he lied to himself about his daughter being dead, he lied to inspire both of his prison sieges, his second family was a second self-lie, and even his name(s) were lies.
The Governor should forever be known as one of the best baddies in television.
Rick:
Rick's evolution in this season seemed uneven up until this episode. One of the final scenes finds Rick and Carl bleeding, crying, collapsing on one another in a fit of emotions surrounding the disappearance of Judith. It was an unbelievably touching moment.
As Rick and Carl stumble away from the prison Rick tells his son 'don't look back' in an apparent allusion to the destruction of the Biblical Sodom and Gomorra.
Is Rick facing God's retribution for having put his faith in a walled city? Did his speech against violence to the Governor's mini-army earn him his survival (albeit a miserable one)?
Or was the group a kind of prison for Rick which forced him into leadership roles that made him psychologically break?
Ultimately, the destruction of the prison, and the break up of the group, might give Rick his best chance yet to be the kind of father to Carl that he has failed to be up to this point.
This episode instantly makes Rick one of the most interesting characters going into the second half.
Tyreese:
Why is Tyreese still alive?!! This episode was the perfect excuse to rid the show of him! He's a terrible actor, his character is typecasted as 'testosterone filled thug,' and why on earth would Rick banish Carol over him especially after the maniac attacked him!?
There is no reason Tyreese is on the show. The only plot he drives is 'token black man.' He embodies the white guilt complex...'to appease the black man we are going to betray our own people (i.e. Carol) so that we can feel less racist.'
Daryl:
The writers have certainly been trying to play Daryl down this season probably because of his insane popularity.
However, giving him so little place in the show's plot is definitely dragging it.
Lets see a little more Daryl and a little less Bob (who is that guy?) and Tyreese (his acting is atrocious).
Although Daryl had an awesome Zombie escape/kill this episode he is still so little utilized.
Beth and Daryl have a 'moment' at the beginning of the season when he goes to inform her that her boyfriend died in the grocery store fiasco ('30 Days Without an Incident'). This 'moment' (whatever it was) makes a whole lot more sense now that Daryl and Beth are escaping from the prison together.
Glenn/Maggie:
It was a great relief that neither of these two died.
However, they are separated from one another. Maggie with two of the random black people (Sasha and Bob), and Glenn with the entire bus load of random extras.
Glenn is still sick and weak from his illness, but it looks like he is going to have to develop into more of a leader as he carries the bus crew.
Maggie is going to have to deal with these two random people that she seems to have little or no prier relationship with. I can't even begin to imagine how this will work out...its all very weird.
But lets be honest... how many couples can they kill before the human population has no chance whatsoever of reproducing itself?!
Today an official Republican party twitter account tweeted the words: 'Today we remember Rosa Parks’ bold stand and her role in ending racism.' [1]
Huffpost immediately called the tweet 'misguided' and preceded to mock the idea that racism had been brought to an end.
However, at what point can Americans stop fretting over the 'atrocity' of racism? At what point can we at least end the McCarthy era hunts for the so called 'racists?'
Humanity survived for thousands of years without every resorting to the types of modern witch hunts regularly held for anyone thought to possess racial bias (think James Watson). In fact, 'racism' was never considered a violation of any moral code up until the 20th century. Even 19th century abolitionists would have scoffed at the idea that all the races were equally intelligent.
Research has shown that babies as young as 9 months old have already developed some concept of racial bias. [2]
Are 9 month olds to be put in the stockades and punished for their inherent racism?
At what point can we accept that humanity is built to utilize and recognize race?
Is this recognition and utilization of race inherently evil? If it is then we can be sure that 'racism' will never end. We will have to accept that humans are born with racism as an original sin.
However, if this natural bias is acceptable then it is perfectly reasonable for humanity to say that racism has or can end.
Although almost everyone will accept that hating someone of another race is inherently wrong, must we also chastise ourselves for even recognizing the obvious differences between the races?
At what point might we actually be able to objectively realistically state that racism is dead in our society?
NOTES:
[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/01/gop-rosa-parks_n_4368211.html
[2]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/04/racist-babies-nine-month-olds-bias-faces_n_1477937.html
The big sports news of the week is that the largest youth football organization Pop Warner reported a 10% drop in youth participation in the last two years.
Some 70% of current NFL players participated in Pop Warner football when they were younger.
Forbes magazine's website posted an article entitled: 'Why Is Football Participation Declining? The Answer Isn't Concussions.' [2]
In the article the author argues that there are a three reasons why football is declining in popularity among American youth:
I. Increased Sports Specialization - If Kids arn't exceptional at a sport they move onto the next one until they find one they have a shot at excelling in.
II. No Opportunity in College - Its unlikely a kid will get to become a 'college athlete' in football because the sport is so saturated with talent.
III. The Growth of Lacrosse - Lacrosse has sucked higher income kids away from football, and employers like kids that have played elite 'ivy league' sports.
Although I agree with these three reasons I think the primary reason is more basic: race.
Basketball and boxing were once huge sports in America. However, as African-Americans steadily became majorities in those sports whites simply moved onto other activities.
Within recent memory football was majority white, however, today it is dominated by Blacks. A simple look at the starting lineup of the top teams (Alabama, Ohio State, and Florida State) will reveal that they are almost entirely of African descent.
In addition to this, football has taken on an almost thuggish character. During post-game interviews many of the star players reveal an almost incredible inability to speak proper English. It is hard to imagine that some of them could actually pass college level course work.
Personally, I have heard from Tuscaloosa students that many of the players on Alabama's team are simply illiterate.
It doesn't surprise me.
Most of the quality players are covered by tattoos (and not classy ones either). Think Terrell Pryer.
The attitudes, the showiness, the whole brutish culture that surrounds modern college football players is enough for any parent to say 'I'm not sending my kid into that locker room!'
Stacked on top of it all is the immature NFL players that are always finding new ways to get arrested or look like idiots.
Just as whites fled from Detroit, South Africa, and any other area when Blacks begin to move in so football is experiencing a 'white flight' out of the sport and into more classy suburban middle/upper class safe havens that still retain their values and ethnic culture.
NOTES
[2] http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcook/2013/11/26/why-is-football-participation-declining-the-answer-isnt-concussions/
Huffpost reported on a poll earlier today that only 1/3rd of Americans trust one another. [1] The article describes how this has contributed to greater deadlock in Washington, and the larger amounts of paperwork attempting to stop lawsuits from getting off the ground.
The article goes on to suggest that Americans should try to get children away from the electronics and back into the activities that supposedly made the older generations more trusting.
However, it occurs to me that the real reason that Americans don't trust one another is because of growing diversity.
As Robert Putnam discusses in his book 'Bowling Alone' as diversity increases social capital decreases.
Social capital is the amount of energy that citizens are willing to invest into their neighborhoods, communities, and government. A community with a high rate of social capital will have good schools, community events, clean neighborhoods, and a friendlier atmosphere over all. As social capital declines so does the quality of a community.
Trust is one of the all important elements in social capital. People don't trust each other if their share nothing in common.
Why would I trust a Muslim teacher to instruct my kid as a Biblical Christian? Why would I trust Mexican immigrants to continue celebrating the heritage of the Pilgrims for the Thanksgiving day festival? Why would I trust that an African-American inner city teenager who listens to violent rap music isnt going to use me as a prop in his latest 'knockout' video for YouTube?
You see, as diversity increases so does confusion. The threat becomes incalculable to the average person because they can't understand all of the factors that go into how each culture, ideology, and ethnic group poses its own threat... so the only logical thing to do is to become defensive towards everyone.
If you grow up in a small town filled with white Christians that you've known since you were a child your going to know precisely who is dangerous, and what situations might lend themselves to explosive dangers.
However, if a Muslim family moves into that town how can you be sure that htye aren'y terrorists? You cant! Until you get to know them the threat level increases. The unknowns multiply.
In most cities around American today the unknowns are piling up fast. Millions of 3rd World immigrants, hordes of cultural cliques, and rising numbers devoted to bizarre religions.
No person could live enough lives to be able to accurately assess the risk each person they see on the street poses.
Solution: always be on one's guard.
Expect the political gridlock in Washington to continue for a LONG time... or until America breaks up into smaller more homogenous trusting groups of people.
If Joe Smith is a devout Christian and wants 'In God We Trust' on his coins, and Bob Jones is an atheist and it 'offends' him, and Hussein Ali is a Muslim and he would prefer 'in Mohammed we trust,' and Betsy Johnson is a lesbian and wants the rainbow flag as the motto how are these four people going to compromise? Compromise is entirely off the table. Only one person can have their way.
In the above scenario, most likely 'compromise' means getting rid of the motto entirely.
Eventually, it also means getting rid of America.
NOTES:
[1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/30/poll-americans-trust_n_4363884.html
