Over the past three decades black culture has grown so conflated with hip-hop culture that for most Americans under the age of 45, hip-hop culture is black culture. Except that it's not.
...
A 2005 study by Roland G. Fryer of Harvard University crystallizes the point: While there is scarce dissimilarity in popularity levels among low-achieving students, black or white, Fryer finds that "when a student achieves a 2.5 GPA, clear differences start to emerge." At 3.5 and above, black students "tend to have fewer and fewer friends," even as their high-achieving white peers "are at the top of the popularity pyramid." With such pressure to be real, to not "act white," is it any wonder that the African American high school graduation rate has stagnated at 70 percent for the past three decades?

Thomas Chatterton Williams - Black Culture Beyond Hip-Hop - washingtonpost.com

Here is my selected exerpt, with some content cut and some emphasis added...

How aggressively would you interrogate those being held at Guantanamo Bay for information about where the next attack might be?

SEN. MCCAIN: The use of torture -- we could never gain as much we would gain from that torture as we lose in world opinion. We do not torture people.

When I was in Vietnam, one of the things that sustained us, as we went -- underwent torture ourselves, is the knowledge that if we had our positions reversed and we were the captors, we would not impose that kind of treatment on them.

It's not about the terrorists, it's about us. It's about what kind of country we are. And a fact: The more physical pain you inflict on someone, the more they're going to tell you what they think you want to know.

MR. GIULIANI: In the hypothetical that you gave me, which assumes that we know there's going to be another attack and these people know about it, I would tell the people who had to do the interrogation to use every method they could think of. It shouldn't be torture, but every method they can think of --

MR. HUME: Water-boarding?

MR. GIULIANI: -- and I would -- and I would -- well, I'd say every method they could think of, and I would support them in doing that because I've seen what -- (interrupted by applause) -- I've seen what can happen when you make a mistake about this, and I don't want to see another 3,000 people dead in New York or any place else.

MR. HUME: Governor Romney, I'd like to draw you out on this.

MR. ROMNEY: Now we're going to -- you said the person's going to be in Guantanamo. I'm glad they're at Guantanamo. I don't want them on our soil. I want them on Guantanamo, where they don't get the access to lawyers they get when they're on our soil. I don't want them in our prisons. I want them there.

Some people have said, we ought to close Guantanamo. My view is, we ought to double Guantanamo. We ought to make sure that the terrorists -- (applause) -- and there's no question but that in a setting like that where you have a ticking bomb that the president of the United States -- not the CIA interrogator, the president of the United States -- has to make the call. And enhanced interrogation techniques have to be used -- not torture but enhanced interrogation techniques, yes.

REP. PAUL: I think it's interesting talking about torture here in that it's become enhanced interrogation technique. It sounds like Newspeak.

REP. TANCREDO: Well, let me just say that it's almost unbelievable to listen to this in a way. We're talking about -- we're talking about it in such a theoretical fashion. You say that -- that nuclear devices have gone off in the United States, more are planned, and we're wondering about whether waterboarding would be a -- a bad thing to do? I'm looking for "Jack Bauer" at that time, let me tell you. (Laughter, applause.)

And -- and there is -- there is nothing -- if you are talking about -- I mean, we are the last best hope of Western civilization. And so all of the theories that go behind our activities subsequent to these nuclear attacks going off in the United States, they go out the window because when -- when we go under, Western civilization goes under. So you better take that into account, and you better do every single thing you can as president of the United States to make sure, number one, it doesn't happen -- that's right -- but number two, you better respond in a way that makes them fearful of you because otherwise you guarantee something like this will happen.

Rep. Tancredo, the reason western civilization looks hopefully upon you is the sort of values that Sen. McCain mentioned. If your perspective triumphs, you've already gone under. Its over.

Republican Presidential Candiates on Torture

This is where you can watch the entire Scientology documentary from the bbc.

What I find so strange is how close to people the scientologist defender gets in this video - really in the reporters personal space. I've seen that in other scientology videos. It is a creepy to me when people do that.

Scientology Documentary from the BBC that is in the news

Mr. Rieckhoff is convinced that if the public heard more from the soldiers and marines who have actually experienced combat, including those who have been wounded and suffered emotional trauma, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would be viewed more seriously. Part of the problem, he said, is that too many civilians have little or no understanding of what war is really like, and of the toll it takes beyond the obvious toll of the dead and wounded.

Among other things, there are family problems, drug and alcohol abuse, untreated post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and suicide — all directly attributable to service in a war zone. “Incredibly,” he writes in his book, “no government agency keeps track of the number of veterans who kill themselves after their service has ended — another sign of how little value is placed on veterans’ long-term well-being.”

An Invisible War - New York Times

"April 26, 2007

High school senior Allen Lee sat down with his creative writing class on Monday and penned an essay that so disturbed his teacher, school administrators and police that he was charged with disorderly conduct.

"I understand what happened recently at Virginia Tech," said the teen's father, Albert Lee, referring to last week's massacre of 32 students by gunman Seung-Hui Cho. "I understand the situation."

But he added: "I don't see how somebody can get charged by writing in their homework. The teacher asked them to express themselves, and he followed instructions."

Allen Lee, an 18-year-old straight-A student at Cary-Grove High School, was arrested Tuesday near his home and charged with disorderly conduct for an essay police described as violently disturbing but not directed toward any specific person or location."
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I f'ing knew this was going to happen. :(

[ Yeah, it's basically inevitable. Be a good little sheep and don't think any bad thoughts or we'll ruin your life.

Let's call this what it is, they basically arrested the kid for Thought Crime.

Beyond which, they've sent the message that if you have strong emotions or violent thoughts, you better not express them, because you'll get arrested for it. They've sent the message that it's better to bottle those feelings up, keep them to yourself. They've sent the message that thinking that way makes you an alien and an outsider which is precisely 180 degrees from the message that ought to be sent.

Shit like this is about sweeping everything unpleasant under the rug without any acknowledgement that such tactics only make problems worse in the long run.

And don't even get me started on the absurdity of the disorderly conduct charge. If the teacher, or even her bosses, had handled this privately, and appropriately -- e.g. by engaging the boy's parents -- there would have been ZERO disruption for anyone. It was the cheap way out and it's a damn shame.

God knows it's hard to be a teacher these days, but this knee-jerk, zero tolerance crap is a bad way to run things. If shit was this bad when I was in school, I'd've gotten hauled in for the nine inch nails lyrics i had taped inside my locker door. -k]

Student Writes Essay, Gets Arrested by Police

Hijexx wrote:

adam wrote:

absolutely but america will never disarm
how many Wacos would there be if the attempt was made

*sigh*

Are you saying every American is a polygamistic charismatic cult leader with a messianic complex?

Since this is a pay site, I can't read the article you meme'd.

i'm certainly not saying that "every American is a polygamistic charismatic cult leader with a messianic complex" but i'm saying that Americans love their guns and that there is a significant minority that completely agree with Charlon Heston when he says "they" will only get his gun(s) by taking them from his "cold dead hands"
the reference to Waco was because the issue which started that siege was, if my memory serves me correctly, firearms -- initially the authorities outside Waco were the ATF (the Treasury bureau responsible for Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms)
America is full of ordinary decent libertarians, right-wing fascist shit heads, god bothering charismatic backwoodsmen, and a wide spectrum of people who don't fit any particular label or category but wouldn't part from their guns without a fight
i'm not arguing the ethics of gun control -- to me gun conrol is bloody obvious -- i see no reason why i need a gun as a UK citizen -- there is no ethical reason but the problems with gun control in America boils down to pragmatics. It may be possible to end the American love affair with the gun, that icon of the West, of liberty, of masculinity -- I hope it is but it is a process which would take generations.

I am sure gun conrol will happen in America but whether there will still be a United States by the time British style gun control happens I doubt -- by that time there will be a global government, we will have colonised the solar system and terrorists will be armed with nanotech virusues -- timescale the next 150 to 200 years
the only way to achieve effective gun control in America is to chip away at the edges -- to me the logic of gun conrol has Satyagraha -- truth-force -- it will happen
so when i said it would never happen
amend that to my lifetime and the lives of my nieces but maybe in their children's lifetimes
i think people should be realistic about what a signicant shift needs to take place as is clear to me when decent intelligent people like dc0de can't be convinced and think it's about their freedom

be a taoist about it -- be like water and wear away at the problem -- don't confront -- don't challenge -- don't threaten -- do what is achievable -- be pragmatic -- i don't mean have a hidden agenda -- be open and honest about what you want -- be reasonable -- be calm -- be like water wearing away a rock

so the approach has to be incremental or there will be lots of Wacos
what needs to change is American culture, the American zeitgeist
part of what i'm attacking is what to me is bullshit macho individualism "he can't be a man if he doesn't smoke the same cigarettes as me" -- not to destroy it for I believe it has many positive attributes but rather to encourage a sea-change -- in the full Shakespeare's The Tempest sense

RE: Hooked on Violence - New York Times

Those who are interested in the safety and well-being of children should keep in mind that only motor vehicle accidents and cancer kill more children in the U.S. than firearms. A study released a few years ago by the Harvard School of Public Health compared firearm mortality rates among youngsters 5 to 14 years old in the five states with the highest rates of gun ownership with those in the five states with the lowest rates.

The results were chilling. Children in the states with the highest rates of gun ownership were 16 times as likely to die from an accidental gunshot wound, nearly seven times as likely to commit suicide with a gun, and more than three times as likely to be murdered with a firearm.

Only a lunatic could seriously believe that more guns in more homes is good for America’s children.

absolutely but america will never disarm
how many Wacos would there be if the attempt was made

Hooked on Violence - New York Times

One of my trades is that of mental health professional. Former, but I still have my license, and my interest, and I've seen a LOT.

So I can't help but venture into armchair psychoanalysis. Forgive me. I've sat here for a long time bored, going though the plays that Cho wrote, and I've listened to some interviews with his classmates and roommates, and reading news articles to catch up on all that...

What I keep seeing is "Oh, he wrote disturbing stuff. People getting killed. Weapons. Threats under what he wrote. Twisted violent stuff..."

And I have to groan. There's thousands of screenwriters, playwrights, novelists, ect., who produce some very graphic and violent work. 300. The Grudge. Saw. Saw II. Stephen King. Anne Rice. Mel Gibson. Castlevania. Doom. Ad infinitum.

And there's some artists out there that paint pictures of people
dead, dying, and bleeding. Like me.

Don't you think that if everyone that produced graphic, violent art was crazy and in danger of being a 'shooter' that we'd not have NOTICED it by now?

No, the media has this one wrong.

While it is true that I've seen alot of really disturbing letters, plays, poems, ect....it is rarely the violence that is expressed that is the problem.

It is the disorganization. I can't think of a single mental patient that would have ever got an A on a paper we put in a chart - put it that way. One very common thing you see is writing all over the page, into the margins, between lines, just totally disjointed mess. Sometimes writing over other writing. It is a sign of a disorganized mind. Sometimes you will see very real, detailed fantasies. Usually against someone in the person's past, or someone that they know in reality.

But these people are dysfunctional. They are hospitalized, or incarcerated.

This shooter was not dysfunctional with his living skills. He was clean they say, neat. He was living in a dorm and going to college, and he knew how to buy a gun. No, two. He could type, and use the computer just fine. He could navigate online. He was pretty organized mentally. Where his organization broke down, in his writing, was where the focus of his violence was.

If you read the plays, look for his lack of focus with his anger. All the characters seem mad - not just one. There's no focus, so it all just gets caught and bounces around everywhere. There's no place for it to get out.

But again, this is all looking at it hindsight. Surely thousands of people write violent material everyday.

Art is a FORM of sublimation - it is a HEALTHY release for feelings of all kinds that you can't really deal with otherwise. Studies show that already boys in particular are feeling frustrated in their imaginations and creativity in school - art teachers constantly grapple with what images to allow.

But in full disclosure, one of my final projects was a guy tied to a tree disemboweled with ghost faces in... [ Read More (0.2k in body) ]

His writing dripped with anger....GROAN

Rattle wrote:

I spent 5 minutes trying to come up with something to say about this. All I can muster is that I didn't enjoy watching it, but I couldn't pull myself away.

... and they are playing it repeatedly on TV.

Every time I see it, it somehow becomes more painful. I'm worried this is going to give me nightmares or something. I feel somehow like I have been harmed, but I can't express why. Some sacred sensibility has been assaulted. It seems to start from somewhere deep in the spine. The soul recoils in horror...

The mysterious despair this video is causing me, cannot lift until I see how Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart respond.

It's a strange feeling.

i think age has something to do with how u respond to this
it's the same humiliation u feel when watching your parents do something embarressing
the older u get (i'm rapidly approaching 40) the more u shrug your shoulders and are in fact the ones likely to be humiliating the younger generation/your children etc
i look at the video and think hip hop has permeated the culture and bearing in mind the borg like nature of American culture hip hop is well on the way to being assimiliated which means keep your eyes open since american black culture will soon invent something new because clearly if Karl Rove has appropriate your rebellion it's time for a change. That's the nature of anti-establishment memes -- the successful ones become the establishment and the anti-establishment reacts and creates new ones.
To me the joke is also that I would bet that Rove thinks of himself as anti-establishment.

RE: MC Rove

Since the mass firings were carried out three months ago, Justice Department officials have consistently portrayed them as personnel decisions based on the prosecutors' "performance-related" problems. But, yesterday, officials acknowledged that the ousters were based primarily on the administration's unhappiness with the prosecutors' policy decisions and revealed the White House's role in the matter.

I think this has been expected by some of us for quite some time.

White House Backed U.S. Attorney Firings, Officials Say - washingtonpost.com