Wanted: More of THESE parents!

In general, I think parents and guardians today are soft; which – to me – explains why so many kids have lost their collective minds. In part (at least in the black community), I think it has to do with the restructuring of the family; most notably (1) the grim reality that parents are getting younger and less mature, and (2) the disintegration of the two-parent, nuclear family. But I also think the proliferation of child abuse laws – effectively limiting the parents’ ability to physically discipline their children – also plays into the phenomenon.

In spite of the growing culture of discliplinary quiescence, there are some parents who refuse to allow their children to run amok. For that, I tip my hat. In a society that teaches the effectiveness of nonsensical psychological measures like “Time Outs”, I feel a certain sense of…I don’t know…satisfaction when I see (what some would consider) more extreme actions being taken.

First, I’d be remiss to not include Exhibit A: a man kicking the holy hell out of his wannabe gangbanging nephew and embarassing him for the world to see. This video became a YouTube hit (no pun intended), to the chagrin of the thug-in-training [Warning: Strong Language]:

But more recently, a friend of mine sent the next clip. In this video, a dad caught his young daughter receiving dirty text messages on her phone. Though she didn’t get a beatdown, she probably wishes she did:

I love seeing these kinds of actions from parents. While I can’t declare with absolute certainty that these measures will work on everybody, I can appreciate when adults at least make an attempt. Some people will argue that methods like this contribute to the moral decline of the person subjected to the discipline…or that it could cause the young person’s propensity for violence and agression to become significantly more potent.

I say, that’s bulls**t.

Two moments in particular immediately come to mind when I think about how I was raised. Once in the fourth grade, I recall giving my teacher a one-finger salute. She called my mother, who then called my father. When he got to the school, he didn’t even wait to find out what happened. Seemingly without thinking, he grabbed the nearest weapon he could find – an extension cord from the classroom’s overhead projector – marched me into the nearest bathroom, and performed his own version of an exorcism. Trust me when I say: those demons were purged from my system that day. They never returned. I also remember once in my early teens, my mom caught me in the basement playing touchy-feely with my then-girlfriend. After she made me take her home, Mama smacked the s*** out of me when I returned. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. She made me apologize to the girls’ parents, took away my driving priviledges, and gave me a solemn warning that she would put me out the next time I pulled a stunt like that. Needless to say, I learned my lesson.

Again, this doesn’t work for everybody. Some people – to my surprise and bewilderment – actually don’t need to get smack upside the head or have their cell phone used for batting practice in order for a message to sink in. But if it does work, you won’t see my as an opponent. Anything to prevent one less thug and one less teenage mother (short of killing them) is welcomed.

- ACL

Black Women, Unattractiveness, and Pseudo Science

In keeping consistent with my “Defense of black women, since no one else seems to want to” theme from the other day, I just found out about yet ANOTHER assault on black women. But this one is too insane for words.

A website called Psychology Today – which, to me, appears to be less academic in nature and falls more in line with self-help type lit – recently came under fire for publishing an article “Why Are Black Women Rated Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?” The article attempts to provide “objective” and quantitative data explaining why black women – more than any other group – are considered the less attractive.

Author Satoshi Kanazawa cites a very dubious Add Health study (with no links, I should point out) assessing “…the physical attractiveness of its respondents both objectively and subjectively” as a foundation for his study. After providing results from a factor analysis conducted in this mysterious Add Health study, the author summarizes his study with the following mind-boggling conclusion:

The only thing I can think of that might potentially explain the lower average level of physical attractiveness among black women is testosterone. Africans on average have higher levels of testosterone than other races, and testosterone, being an androgen (male hormone), affects the physical attractiveness of men and women differently. Men with higher levels of testosterone have more masculine features and are therefore more physically attractive. In contrast, women with higher levels of testosterone also have more masculine features and are therefore less physically attractive. The race differences in the level of testosterone can therefore potentially explain why black women are less physically attractive than women of other races, while (net of intelligence) black men are more physically attractive than men of other races.

As if that wasn’t enough salt on open wound, this guy takes it a step further:

It is very interesting to note that, even though black women are objectively less physically attractive than other women, black women (and men) subjectively consider themselves to be far more physically attractive than others. In Wave III, Add Health asks its respondents to rate their own physical attractiveness subjectively on the following four-point scale: 1 = not at all, 2 = slightly, 3 = moderately, 4 = very. As you can see in the following graphs, both black women and black men rate themselves to be far more physically attractive than individuals of other races.

Yes. You read that correctly. Testosterone makes black women uglier. Oh, and more conceited.

I’m sorry to say this isn’t an article written for The Onion. Homeboy is serious. The online magazine has since tried to remove the evidence, but not before falling victim to the permanency of the Internet. You can read that piece of s**t article here.

In no way do I claim to be an expert in any field of psychology, let alone evolutionary psychology. But I at least know that attractiveness is not based on testosterone. It is simply a subjective analysis of a person’s external (and, in some instances, interal) features; as shaped by and reinforced by pre-defined cultural norms.  Historically, the eurocentric standard of beauty has been the barometer by which the attractiveness of all other races of women has been measured. I don’t deny that. But if white women have SOCIALLY bore the standard of beauty in our society, what exactly does that have to do with a person’s genetic pre-dispostion? How can a person be more attractive genetically? If Kanazawa was engaged in a social study, I’d be on his team. But he’s trying to turn a socially constructed idea (attraction) into a genetically-created idea. I know. WTF, indeed.

I could go on with my rant, but Natasha over at The B[E]-Girl Manifesta says it all:

And while I would be telling a lie audacious enough to land me a Congressional seat if I didn’t admit that I was hurt by this article, my hurt isn’t the impetus for my criticism. I can deal with hurt feelings in the face of solid, scientific, fact. What struck me about this “study” was how flimsy Kanazawa’s science was. Even with my laymen’s (and I do mean laymen’s) grasp of evolutionary psychology, the article’s assertions seemed unsupported by strong methodology. Even to my untrained eye and limited understanding, the holes were glaring. Kanazawa presented very little that suggested that he had access to – let alone utilized – tools that could measure something as subjective as human attractiveness.

[...]

Now, in addition to the questionable methods that he employs, the credibility of his research receives yet another devastating blow due to its complete omission of important socio-cultural factors that condition our ideas about beauty and attractiveness. We live in a world where the white beauty standard prevails. This standard was necessary in order to build a system of domination based on white superiority. The maintenance of this standard is just as important today to uphold the current system. And don’t get it twisted, this standard of beauty is not limited to the United States or Europe. It is a standard that has come crashing into every corner of the globe – often on the back of colonization and conquest.

Read the rest of her kick ass post here.

Well, there you have it. Stupidity presented to the world under the guise of intelligent, sound, thinking. But I guess I can’t harbor too much anger with this Kanazawa guy. His thoughts – insipid as they may be – are his to have. Instead, perhaps we should take the momentum from this controversy and use it (as well as the Albert Haynesworth nonsense from my previous post) as a discussion tool on matters of socially defining and redefining beauty. There is something to be said about the long-term psychological damage levied on people who demonstrate severe self esteem issues; issues stemming from how society measures them. This is nothing to take lightly, and certainly not something to exacerbate with some bulls**t lugubrious junk science. 

But should Kanazawa and folks like him continue with their “scientific” assault of black women, they can go right ahead. While he is working on a follow-up piece, I’ll be spending time with my black and beautiful girlfriend.

**UPDATE**

It didn’t take me too long to learn more about the Add Health study mentioned earlier. Here is its website, if you’re interested.  In my initial response to the Kanazawa study, I joined a legion of other people calling into question this study. I was misguided in that respect. They had nothing to do with how Kanazawa interpreted or used the data in their findings. So to them, I offer a hardly apology. 

- ACL

Albert Haynesworth: A TERMINAL case of Jungle Fever

Today’s recipient of the coveted “Embarassing Coon of the Month” award was a pretty easy decision. Come on up to the stage, Albert Haynesworth, and accept your award.

NFL player Albert Haynesworth was recently slapped with a misdeamenor charge of sexual abuse, for allegedly sliding a credit card into a waitress’s bra and touching her inappropriately at a party. His defense to these charges was…get ready for this…he couldn’t possibly be guilty because he “…doesn’t even like black girls.”  I had to do a double take the first time I read that mess. 

First I should point out that I’m very sympathetic to people as it relates to them defending themselves against accusations of this nature. As I’ve argued countless times before, we live in a society that immediately shifts the burden to the defendant, especially when it comes to the question of sex and gender. The alleged victim’s word is usually taken at face value (more predominately, I would argue, when it involves a female victim and a male assailant) and it becomes almost criminal to make any attempts at deconstructing the victim and their account of the story. The victim is usually untouchable.

But this situation is wholly different.

The ‘I don’t even like black girls’ argument is pretty silly in terms of a defense strategy, true. But I’ll leave it up to the courts to ultimately decide on its effectiveness. I WILL note however, that Haynesworth is guilty on at least one front: publicly unleashing his disdain for black women, even if it’s only within the context of using it as shield against the accusations he’s facing.

To me, there is something extremely self-hating about a black man lashing out against black women. But I’m not surprised by this in the least. Over the past few years, this has become a widespread phenomenon in the black community. People like Haynesworth have increasingly found it acceptable to smear black women, particularly as a means to justify their choice to exclusively be with non-black women. Certain stereotypical personality traits (being loud, overly aggressive, culturally unrefined, etc.) have been applied to all black women, giving brothas an excuse to kick them to the curb. This is most evident with brothas in sports and entertainment, but only because they have the spotlight shined on them. But indeed, this behavior is model by brothas in all social classes. Occasionally, anti-black woman sentiments even cut across racial lines, with white guys joining in the assault.

It is important to note that I’m ALL FOR a person’s right to choose whom they date and marry. To put it another way, I don’t believe people HAVE TO stay solely within their own race. But the practice of exclusion has historically been a bad look, whether it’s an employer who only hires certain candidates based on race, schools that only admit certain people based on race, or – in this case - when a person only dates/marries a person based on race. Discrimination is discrimination. Period. To another point, I also freely accept the notion that people will occassionally fetishize certain physical properties. The porn industry, for example, capitalizes on all types of preferences defined by its customers. These preferences include hair color, body type, and – yes – skin color.

But what I also find odd about people who place such cursory limitations on those they date, is that they make it seem as if attributes they’re looking for beyond the physical only exist with that one group they prefer. For instance, a brotha like Haynesworth could claim he doesn’t date black women because they’re not smart, have a tendency to be jealous, and are unsophisticated; only to date a white woman who has those same traits. People like Haynesworth (at least according to how he phrased it) would thoughtlessly pass over a quality-laden women just because of their skin color. How ignorant is that nonsense?!

Back in 2006 Haynesworth made sports headline across the country when he purposely and viciously stomped on the head of another player during a game. After the incident, he released a statement saying:

I apologize to Andre. What I did was disgusting. It’s something that should never happen. I mean, I’m not a dirty player. I don’t play dirty. I have respect for the game. What I feel like is I disgraced the game, disgraced my team and disgraced my last name.

Well Albert, it looks like you’ve done it again. You may not have stomped on another player’s head with football cleats, but you did do something just as “disgusting.” You assaulted every black women in this country - including my mother, my sisters, my girlfriend, and countless others. For that they are entitled to an apology as well. So until I hear your apology to them, I gladly offer a hardy F*** YOU!

Enjoy your Coon of the Month award. It was well deserved.

- ACL

The Cost of Being a Birdbrain

 

File this one under WTF for…uh…well…WTF?

So apparently, an Oklahoma man was convicted a few years ago of armed robbery and two counts of shooting with intent to kill. In 2005, he was sentenced to serve 30 years in prison. However, to honor Boston Celtic great Larry Bird (jersey number 33), the man, Eric Torpy, asked for an additional three years to be added to his sentence. Now, he is living to regret that decision.

From the Boston Globe:

Torpy says he was “basically clowning around’’ when he asked for more time.

“I told them, ‘Look, you might as well just give me three more and give me a number I like,’ ’’ he said. “And I’ve always liked Larry Bird. And I’ve always liked the Boston Celtics.’’

But after sharing a 10-foot-by-15-foot cell at the Davis Correctional Facility for the last six years, Torpy regrets asking for the extra time.

“Now that I have to do that time, yes I do,’’ says Torpy. “I kind of wished that I had 30 instead of 33. Recently I’ve wisened up.

“That three is a big deal, you know? Three years matters.’’

Torpy will turn 33 this year and is not eligible for parole until 2033.

Sheesh. Where to start?

First, let’s consider the sheer stupidity of this. I have my share of people I admire (athletes, scholars, public servants, etc.). But you won’t EVER see me making ill-fated choices to honor them. Seriously man, WTF? Secondly, I didn’t have to read the article or view Torpy’s photo to know he wasn’t a brotha. I mean, what brotha do you know who would voluntarily add time to his prison sentence? For that matter, how many brothas do you know who would openly confess their admiration for Larry Bird? Most of my cousins ‘nem simply can’t concede to the fact that – at the end of the day – the dude really could play.

I guess it could’ve been worse, though. The guy could’ve been a George Mikan fan.

- ACL

Pest Control

Imagine, if you will, the following scenario:

You own a beautiful home in the surburbs. Your home has historically been one of the nicest on the blocks. Truly one that – in many respects – was the envy of the neighborhood. But one day, to your chargrin, you find a mouse hiding in your home. You do everything you can to capture this mouse including setting up traps and contracting very expense (and extremely negligent) exterminators. You turn your once beautiful house into a war zone. A home that was once so inviting to your friends and family has now become a police state. You force your guests to give up certain conveniences of being visitors (I dunno…like forcing them to eat outside. Work with me on this). You become so obsessed with capturing this mouse, you go to extreme lengths that were previously unfathomable to you.

In the end, you finally get the mouse, but not before turning your house upside down and spending a fortune in the meantime. In all the while, this mouse had also taken the opportunity to have little mice of his own. So now you’re left with the question: was it all worth it?

In an unrelated story, Osama bin Laden has reportedly been killed. Yep. Totally unrelated.

- ACL