Category Archives: World News

May 12 2013

FBI surrounds house of Saudi student following sightings of him with pressure cooker pot, only to find he was cooking rice


There will be  a Taking The Negative Post on this soon I just wanted to post this article first. Stay Tuned
 

A Saudi student living in Michigan was questioned in his home by FBI agents after neighbours saw him carrying a pressure cooker and called the police.

Talal al Rouki had been cooking a traditional Saudi Arabian rice dish called kabsah and was carrying it to a friend’s house.

According to reports in a Saudi newspaper on Friday, the FBI are increasingly vigilant about ‘pressure cooker’ home-made bombs after the Boston bombers used one to make an explosive.

Talal al Rouki, the Saudi student who was questioned by FBI agents in his home after neighbour saw him carrying a pressure cooker to a friend's houseTalal al Rouki, the Saudi student who was questioned by FBI agents in his home after neighbour saw him carrying a pressure cooker to a friend’s house

The Saudi journal, Oukaz reported on the story of the Saudi student who had FBI agents come to his home, following a tip-off from neighbours that he was seen moving about with a pressure cooker bomb.

While armed agents surrounded his apartment block, other agents, asked a ‘nervous’ Mr al Rouki if they could come in to question him.

‘They asked me about my major, when I arrived in the US and what I do in my spare time’ he told the Saudi newspaper.

Officers said that two days earlier that a woman had seen him walking out of his apartment carrying the pressure cooker pot, which was described as ‘bullet coloured’.

A pressure cooker bomb, similar to the ones used by the Boston bombers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan TsarnaevA pressure cooker bomb, similar to the ones used by the Boston bombers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev

The young student showed them his pressure cooker and explained to them he used to make a rice dish.

An FBI agent said: ‘You need to be more careful moving around with such things, Sir’

Mr al Rouki has become a focus of attention now in the Saudi press.

According to reports in a Saudi newspaper, the FBI are increasingly vigilant about ‘pressure cooker’ home-made bombs and have a keen eye on Arabs who reside in the US.

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May 12 2013

How Literature Changed my Thinking 1 – Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman and Sexual Identity


The Plot

(From Wiki)

Kiss_of_the_Spider_Woman_(novel)Two prisoners, Luis Molina and Valentín Arregui, share a cell in a Buenos Aires Prison. It is estimated that the timeframe in which the story takes place is between September 9, 1975 through October 8, 1975.[15] Molina, an effeminate and openly transsexual window-dresser, is in jail for “corruption of a minor,” while Valentín is a political prisoner who is part of a revolutionary group trying to overthrow the government. The two men, seemingly opposites in every way, form an intimate bond in their cell, and their relationship changes both of them in profound ways. Molina recounts various films he has seen to Valentin in order for them both to forget their situation. Toward the middle of the novel the reader finds out that Molina is actually a spy that is sent to Valentin’s jail to befriend him and try to extract information about his organization. Molina gets provisions from the outside for his cooperation with the officials with the hopes of keeping up appearances that his mother comes to visit him (thus making a reason for him to leave the cell when he reports to the warden). It is through his general acts of kindness to Valentin that the two fall into a romance and become lovers however briefly. For his cooperation Molina is parolled. On the day he leaves, Valentin has him take a message to his revolutionary group outside. Little does he know that he is also being followed by government agents, trying to find the location of the group. Molina dies in a shootout between the police and Valentin’s group. In the end of the novel we are left in Valentin’s stream of consciousness after he has been given an anesthetic by a doctor following a brutal torture, in which he imagines himself sailing away with his beloved Marta.

The Talk

When we read this story in an all boys catholic prep school, it caused a riot.  At that age from 14 -18 psychologically adolescents  are in the process of cementing their identity, and of course sexual orientation, and ultimately sexual identity is very important. I would imagine that being gay in an all boys high-school must be a nightmare. The running joke is to call someone gay -

  1. Yo Faggot  how many dicks did you sit on yesterday.
  2. Is that chocolate on your face * not going to finish this*
  3. How does grabbing your ankles feel, is that why you are so red in the face?

What’s funny is that these comments are just used to joke around. No one actually means it, but I think it goes to show how young boys at a certain age assert their perceived masculinity. There is a lot of pressure socially for things to fall into neat little descriptions. Society is very much closed off  especially in terms of thinking and acceptance. Almost everyone I know has a gay family member or relative and in most cases would be very angry and offended if someone mistreated them for being gay.

I often think what kind of society would it be if we didn’t label sexual orientation. You just liked whatever it was you like. If one day you craved eating at the all the dick you can eat buffet so be it, just don’t tell me about it or shake my hand when we meet and still went back home to your lady so what? Whatever you enjoy in the privacy of your bedroom or orifices is your own thing. Whether you are a guy or girl and you like some risqué thing it doesn’t make you any less capable to  do your job. Liking anal doesn’t make you less capable of smiling and saying: “Would you like fries with that” (it’s a recession after all)

Conclusions and Shout-Out

Granted I am uncomfortable when I am walking through the village on the way to meet a friend and the LGBT parade rolls on through with guys wearing chaps and a tight tank top that says I heart with a picture of a chicken (cock). It’s great marketing. I don’t get the chaps the feathers, the dildo hanging from the necks. I don’t also get how I should reaction when some dyke tries to start a fight with me or asks my lady for her number right in front of me, I also don’t get why some gay men are very flamboyant and act more feminine than more females I know. Its just that I don’t get it, I don’t care what anyone  does I don’t care if you can taste colon in a kiss so fucking what.

No one has ever asked me of my orientation, I guess it says on my face that I like chicks, (those cursed crotch marks on my cheeks). For me  I never felt the need/want to experiment, I like girls, and though I was born into a Catholic household I’m not a fan of the missionary too much. I grew in a very old school sort of way and I accept that its not like that for everyone but I hate seeing people get hurt or beat up or denied some social privilege we all share because  unlike me their anus is an entrance as well as an exit. This book was an inquiry into the topic of acceptance and tolerance and it really challenged my thinking. I think love anywhere it springs up is awesome and shouldn’t really be labelled.

I read this kick ass post by my ever stunning and youthful Marj from the blog Bohemian Sentiments it was very well written but it reminded me of reading this book in HS. The post was titled: I Had A Deep Crush On A Girl Yet I’ve Never Been Gay . Check it out and leave a comment. Majorie  is MrMary approved.

yeah that’s it

You’re all cool, whatever you like, and Mrmary wishes you well

BTW the book is great, a gold mine if you are into understanding narration

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May 9 2013

Women Treating Women poorly and some advice


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A CBS Houston blogger was fired just days after being criticized for calling NBA cheerleader Kelsey Williams “too chunky.” The blogger, Anna-Megan Raley, who used the pen name Claire Crawford, questioned the cheerleader’s weight as the Oklahoma City Thunder team played against the Houston rockets in the NBA playoffs on April 22. “The Rockets looked terrible in Game 1, but some say they weren’t the only bad-looking people on the court,” Crawford said.

MrMary Weighs in

Uhm seriously, this cheerleader is a size 4 ? I don’t see anything wrong with her to warrant the comment she deserved on the blog post. Reading about this for me brings up two important points:

Should a blogger be fired for writing controversial material ?

I don’t blog under my real name because I want to find new jobs. I don’t think  most employer would appreciate my free thinking here and compromising pictures of myself on the toilet or in other weird places. In this case I believe the blogger worked for a radio station that provide commentary on sports games. But there have been many bloggers who have lost their day jobs. There is no more anonymity on the net, assuming a different name and typing with only your left hand wont protect your secret identity. I dunno….. privacy anonymity freedom, these are being redefined in our times and I wonder what will happen as the years go by and governments continue to side with corporation to gradually erode choice, privacy and personal freedoms, but anyway that’s not the main question.

The Main Question

I read a lovely account about two Chinese women that were close friends who were married off and had to undergo the torturous practice of foot binding. It was extremely painful and they hated everything about it, but they  still made their daughters do it. I think how women treat each other is based upon a few  template that has been firmly entrenched in society. How women treat other women are dictates by these templates. Self acceptance and body image is a crippling issue for many women, and it will be wrong to think that just men themselves continue to add fuel to the growing epidemic of body dismorphia.

How you treat your own in many cases reinforces these social templates and gives license for the practices to continue. And a key concept here is that there is not one homogeneous group of women and there are many unique subsets when we look at religion, language, culture, race, economic status, immigration etc. A lot of times one has to be willing to part with privilege for the betterment of an entire group and I don’t see it. I’m still optimistic though

Let me give you a quote from a Malcolm X speech that really moved me when I was younger. It called into question how I saw my neighbour, how I saw myself and how I was able to be made aware of some social templates that shaped how I saw life and to an extent governed my actions. I realized a lot of things about my community though that’s a topic for another post I still think this speech here is valid. It came to mind when I read this article about the “fat” size 4 cheerleader

You have to understand it. Until 1959, the image of the African continent was created by the enemies of Africa. Africa was a land dominated by outside powers. A land dominated by Europeans. And as these Europeans dominated the continent of Africa, it was they who created the image of Africa that was projected abroad. And they projected Africa and the people of Africa in a negative image, a hateful image.

They made us think that Africa was a land of jungles, a land of animals, a land of cannibals and savages. It was a hateful image.

And because they were so successful in projecting this negative image of Africa, those of us here in the West of African ancestry, the Afro-American, we looked upon Africa as a hateful place. We looked upon the African as the hateful person. And if you referred to us as an African it was like putting us as a servant, or playing house, or talking about us in the way we didn’t want to be talked.

Why? Because those who oppress know that you can’t make a person hate the root without making them hate the tree. You can’t hate your own and not end up hating yourself. And since we all originated in Africa, you can’t make us hate Africa without making us hate ourselves. And they did this very skillfully.

You have to understand it. Until 1959, the image of the African continent was created by the enemies of Africa. Africa was a land dominated by outside powers. A land dominated by Europeans. And as these Europeans dominated the continent of Africa, it was they who created the image of Africa that was projected abroad. And they projected Africa and the people of Africa in a negative image, a hateful image.

And what was the result? They ended up with 22 million Black people here in America who hated everything about us that was African. .. We hated the African characteristics. We hated our hair… We hated our nose, the shape of our nose, and the shape of our lips, the color of our skin. Yes we did. And it was you who taught us to hate ourselves simply by shrewdly maneuvering us into hating the land of our forefathers and the people on that continent.

As long as we hated those people, we hated ourselves. As long as we hated what we thought they looked like, we hated what we actually looked like. And you call me a hate teacher. Why, you taught us to hate ourselves. You taught the world to hate a whole race of people and have the audacity now to blame us for hating you simply because we don’t like the rope that you put around our necks.

When you teach a man to hate his lips, the lips that God gave him, the shape of the nose that God gave him, the texture of the hair that God gave him, the color of the skin that God gave him, you’ve committed the worst crime that a race of people can commit. And this is the crime that you’ve committed.

Our color became a chain, a psychological chain. Our blood — African blood — became a psychological chain, a prison, because we were ashamed of it. We believe — they would tell it to your face, and say they weren’t; they were! We felt trapped because our skin was black. We felt trapped because we had African blood in our veins.

This is how you imprisoned us. Not just bringing us over here and making us slaves. But the image that you created of our motherland and the image that you created of our people on that continent was a trap, was a prison, was a chain, was the worst form of slavery that has ever been invented by a so-called civilized race and a civilized nation since the beginning of the world.

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May 1 2013

MrMary on Blogging: How Much of ‘You’ is in your Writing/Blogging/Art?


Carl Jung was a big influence on my life and I want to start this blog post with an event from his life. It may seem totally unrelated but it will all make sense.

imagesJung in the winter of 1913 embarked on a journey of self discovery, which he called active imagination. He deliberately gave free rein to his fantasy thinking and carefully noted what ensued. He wrote these observations down in a book called “the Black Book” (By the way I always felt that Orhan Pamuk’s Black Book was a veiled reference to this process). When WWI broke out Jung realized that a number of his fantasies were a precognition of these events.

This was pretty significant to me when I read this. It shown that to me of course, events and the people involved in them are not as independent as we think they are. A lot of times in history books I have notice in my analysis a few things which is important for me to list here :

  1. Many historians feel when look at human history that we are  moving towards some point, towards some relative maxima or acme of achievement of the civilization.
  2. Mankind is not seem as a product of nature. Man stands independent of nature, especially in the West because of how this biblical idea of “dominion” has been interpreted over the centuries. (I’m alluding to the Judeo-Christian influence on Western culture). We tend to focus on what we do to the environment, how we shape it, how we make it resemble our vision for it in our mind.

For me I have seen that making my vision a reality, shaping and moulding it does,  exerting my influence is only half the story.  The want to blog the want to express myself is half the story as well. But what about the other half of the time?

The other Half

One of the things “Western culture” isn’t is receptive. We are not receptive to our inner emotions, we are not receptive to the dictates of our spirit ( and I don’t mean anything theological or religious by use of the word spirit). In effect we don’t listen to our inner selves and my extension each other. We are like the 3 blind men each describing an elephant by feel, each lost in their own unique imaginings.

So I was wondering, how much of me is writing. When I write there are moments where I am a vehicle of expression for an inner prompting or maybe something larger. I believe that societies are unique and of course carry the many qualities of the person which is the smallest subunit of society. The connection between the individual and society is not discussed often.  Joseph Campbell has said that dreams are a personal myth and myth are the collective dream. Sometimes the artistic work are part of the artist  personal myth and other times they are part of the collective dream.

So my question to you as a blogger is: How much of you the person is writing? How much do you feel comes from within the personal dreamscape how much from the collective? How can you tell which is which ? Judging only from your writings what are the major issue society is grappling with

Note: I was reading this post here when this post and the idea hit me. Shout out and thanks to LeClown on fire for his post

Excerpt from Carl Jung

jungIn October [1913], while I was alone on a journey, I was suddenly seized by an overpowering vision: I saw a monstrous flood covering all the northern and low-lying lands between the North Sea and the Alps. When it came up to Switzerland I saw that the mountains grew higher and higher to protect our country. I realized that a frightful catastrophe was in progress. I saw the mighty yellow waves, the floating rubble of civilization, and the drowned bodies of uncounted thousands. Then the whole sea turned to blood. This vision last about one hour. I was perplexed and nauseated, and ashamed of my weakness.

Two weeks passed; then the vision recurred, under the same conditions, even more vividly than before, and the blood was more emphasized. An inner voice spoke. “Look at it well; it is wholly real and it will be so. You cannot doubt it.” That winter someone asked me what I thought were the political prospects of the world in the near future. I replied that I had no thoughts on the matter, but that I saw rivers of blood.

I asked myself whether these visions pointed to a revolution, but could not really imagine anything of the sort. And so I drew the conclusion that they had to do with me myself, and decided that I was menaced by a psychosis. The idea of war did not occur to me at all.

Soon afterward, in the spring and early summer of 1914, I had a thrice-repeated dream that in the middle of summer an Arctic cold wave descended and froze the land to ice. I saw, for example, the whole of Lorraine and its canals frozen and the entire region totally deserted by human beings. All living green things were killed by frost. This dream came in April and May, and for the last time in June, 1914.

In the third dream frightful cold had again descended from out of the cosmos. This dream, however, had an unexpected end. There stood a leaf-bearing tree, but without fruit (my tree of life, I thought), whose leaves had been transformed by the effects of the frost into sweet grapes full of healing juices. I plucked the grapes and gave them to a large, waiting crowd…

On August 1 the world war broke out.

 

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BEIRUT, Lebanon — Fighting between Syrian insurgents and government forces in Aleppo left one of the Middle East’s most storied mosques severely damaged on Wednesday, its soaring minaret toppled by explosives. Each side accused the other of responsibility for the destruction at the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo’s walled ancient city, a Unesco World Heritage site.
Apr 24 2013

Une Bloguese engagée – One blog that has touched me sincerely


BEIRUT, Lebanon — Fighting between Syrian insurgents and government forces in Aleppo left one of the Middle East’s most storied mosques severely damaged on Wednesday, its soaring minaret toppled by explosives. Each side accused the other of responsibility for the destruction at the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo’s walled ancient city, a Unesco World Heritage site.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Fighting between Syrian insurgents and government forces in Aleppo left one of the Middle East’s most storied mosques severely damaged on Wednesday, its soaring minaret toppled by explosives. Each side accused the other of responsibility for the destruction at the Umayyad Mosque in Aleppo’s walled ancient city, a Unesco World Heritage site.

Anyone who has been in a relationship knows that even if you tell someone the truth, how you tell it could  have major ramifications. What we choose to leave out what we choose to say can many times reveal things about how we actually feel about things. This is the reason why deconstruction was so earth shattering when I got into Derrida. Actually I cut class to read Derrida  that how serious it was.

Why am I writing this

The reason I bring this up is the news. The news is  a product; 95% of the news companies and outlets are owned by 5 major companies. As we have seen with the bombings in Boston and with drumming of war supports the media plays a large role in shaping w2hat we imagine to be true.  People are reduced to shockingly incomplete stereotypes  and while the truth of certain events are told they are told in such a way as to bias the listener to accept certain conclusion that they might not so readily accept.

I have found in my life that travelings outside of my comfort zone and talking to people who I normally don’t get the opportunity have totally changed my outlook on life. The internet for me allows me to interact with people I would not have had the chance to.  One interaction that has touched me sincerely has been reading the blog of LevantWoman.

Levant Woman

To cut to the chase she is a blogger from Syria. The situation in Syria has really  been heart breaking to read, there are real human beings like you or eye suffering every day and yet nothing seems to be happening  to help the situation along. I don’t know what to believe when I read the newspapers or I hear the different political analyses. But I know the suffering is real. Many of us complain about our jobs, about our spouses and about a seemingly endless number of things, which is expected we are human beings but I wonder about how conscious we are  of the suffering of another.

We like to think that we are discrete nations in this world, we like to quickly pass judgement and find someone to blame. If something has happened somewhere else beyond our borders its not our problem although history shows us again and again that what affects one of us affects all of us. What is happening in Syria is affecting or will affect all of us. How it will affect us remains to seen. But there are other stories more important now that get the magazines and newspapers sold.  Syria is not at the front of our minds

Read this

I have taken this from the about page of LevantWoman

Once up on a time in a kingdom fa.. Oh sorry not in a kingdom , in some kind of republic or an ex-republic there lived a princes.. oh sorry just a normal girl like any one you may ever knew ..

She had few things to love, her beloved one , friends, her sisters, some oil paintings, and her voice since she used to sing every time she was nervous or unhappy. Those little things were all she got and she really was happy to get all she ever wanted. Now that everything has changed .. she lost her beloved one in the war, she doesn’t sing anymore or have any passion to draw again. This is a try .. a last try for her to survive the war

I invite everyone to read her latest post:  Im Syrian, I got used to it . I really felt that I needed to read this post when I read it after class tonight. Habibi (That is the only thing I remember from the brief study of Arabic I did a while back) responded to my post: MrMary On Blogging: What Would You Do if Your Blog Got Famous ? and said:

if the blog got famous then I’ll have a bigger motivation to go on.. I’ll write about things that no camera will see.. I will start a series of stories from the war ..When will I stop..maybe when the war is over

I really do hope her blog gets famous, I hope she continues to write and gives us a window into something real and I hope maybe one day I can visit Syria one day see the tomb of Ibn arabi  and talk with some stranger about Wahdjat al Wujud, maybe I’ll play the daf a bit. Maybe hear a reading of Adonis, see the traces of a culture that goes as far back as 2000 BCE

that’s it

Dave

Once up on a time in a kingdom fa.. Oh sorry not in a kingdom , in some kind of republic or an ex-republic there lived a princes.. oh sorry just a normal girl like any one you may ever knew ..

She had few things to love, her beloved one , friends, her sisters, some oil paintings, and her voice since she used to sing every time she was nervous or unhappy. Those little things were all she got and she really was happy to get all she ever wanted.

Now that everything has changed .. she lost her beloved one in the war, she doesn’t sing anymore or have any passion to draw again.

This is a try .. a last try for her to survive the war

Apr 22 2013

Thanks Wasington Post for Surveying Non-Muslims Caucasians – Now I have a much needed Prop


If you are the average American  you’re getting ready to surf that new ways of Islamophobia. Don’t believe me look at these headings:

  1. Americans who distrust Muslims are likelier to back the war on terror

  2. Boston Marathon bombings unleash a new wave of Islamophobia

  3. How Boston Exposes America’s Dark Post-9/11 Bargain

But I am not going to even get into all that. In reading these article I have learned a lot but, from the first article I got an invaluable tool this:

muslim_stereotypes-800x709

Background on this graph

In two different surveys conducted in 2006 and 2007,  respondents were asked to rate whites, blacks, Latinos, Asians and “Muslims” or “Muslim-Americans” on a series of seven-point scales.  Respondents were asked at random about either Muslims or Muslim-Americans.  Each scale measured a particular attribute: peaceful-violent, trustworthy-untrustworthy, hardworking-lazy, intelligent-unintelligent.  Respondents were administered this survey via the Internet, which helps facilitate their willingness to express opinions that they might otherwise believe would face social condemnation.

Results of the Graph

On average respondents rated both Muslims and Muslim-Americans as more violent than peaceful and as more untrustworthy than trustworthy. Put in percentage terms, 45 percent of respondents placed Muslim-Americans on the “violent” side of the scale, and 51 percent placed Muslims on this side of the scale. Given that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was an American citizen, it is notable that respondents do not appear to distinguish between Muslims and Muslim-Americans.  Both groups are stereotyped in much the same way. At the same time, Muslims and Muslim-Americans were perceived as more hardworking than lazy and as more intelligent than unintelligent.  Gross and I argue that this pattern fits the prevailing images of Muslims that Americans are exposed to in the news and entertainment media.  Muslims are portrayed, intentionally or not, as devious and violent more often than they are portrayed as lazy or dumb.

These surveys suggest that many Americans do not distinguish between the vast majority of peaceful Muslims and the very small number of Muslims who commit violent acts


MrMary Uses this Graph to explain…

This graph talks a lot about stuff we are not interesting in like tolerance of difference,

1. Why I as a Negro Love Phone Interviews

phone-interviewThe general Stereotype is that Black People are lazy, not so bright, and a bit violent. That what I have been told,  abd that is what i have heard too. I have trained my speaking voice, so that when I am on the phone  my ethnicity remains a mystery. My strategy is to get them to like me first before they see me. If they like me first before they see me, and my  resume is pretty stacked , like my first girlfriend, then I just may get the job. Luckily my parents named me David and my last name is very French. One place I  had to deal with thought I was a Jew of French Descent, until they saw me.

Check this out:

Hey I am here to see Mr. So&So

Do you have an appointment

Yes I am David ……., I’m support to meet him at 12:30 pm

Oh,…You’re David?

The Same One I  spo….

Yes We spoke on the phone, you remarked how you washed your car right before the rain started

On Yeah…. uhm have seat … I’ll tell I mean I’ll Let Mr. So&So know

2. Why You are screwed if You are a Black Muslim

Smile now why you still physiologically can do so i.e. on your own volition. After you get harassed and beaten there will be a permanent smile kicked into your face

Smile now why you still physiologically can do so i.e. on your own volition. After you get harassed and beaten there will be a permanent smile kicked into your face

Think about it, if slave owners could look past the abuses of slavery and still go to church without a heavy heart, not to mention engage in a war with other fellow country to keep that institution ever present what makes you think that ……..

If you are black Muslim in American means that baton and civil rights abuses will plague your every step, unless you are Muhammad Ali or an entertainer that is famous. If you haven’t entertained America or don’t have much $$$$  you will get shat on like that car on your block that parked under the tree on Sunday Morning.

NYPD particularly even though its unconstitutional target black, and muslims 60% of the beatings you could have walked away from 6 months after Intensive care  you wont be able too just by being black or Muslim.

Don’t believe me on the Muslim thing , here it is from the Journal of Muslim mental Health

Following September 11, 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported a 1,700 percent increase of hate crimes against Muslim Americans between 2000 to 2001. During the process of adjusting to the aftermath of September 11, Muslim Americans faced an upsurge in negative stereotypes expressed by the larger society and Muslim immigrants, more than any other immigrant group, were met with negative attitudes . Since then, increased racial and religious animosity has left Arabs, Middle Easterners, Muslims, and those who bear stereotyped physical resemblance to members of these groups, fearful of potential hatred and hostility from persons of other cultures.

Although Muslim is a religious label and does not pertain to race, the line between racism and religious discrimination is often blurred . Muslim Americans are often perceived as a monolithic group, conceptualized as a religious minority thought to act, think, and behave similarly despite wide ethnic differences that exist within the Muslim American community

MrMary can use this graph to helps his explanations of the following, like

  1. Why so many of my Caucasian friends love dating Asian Women

Leave a comment if you’d like to see  me use this graph in some crazy explanations and more!! Mna you ain’t even ready!!!

You got the ticket now take the ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MrMary

 

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Apr 19 2013

Boston Explosion: Minorities When Tragedy Happens & Terrorism and Privilege: Understanding the Power of Whiteness


There is an article that has been all over my Facebook. It is the inspiration of this post below. I know that if many of you saw the images and content of the post below first you would probably get upset or say that I had bad taste so here is the article that spawned it all for me. It was Published on April 16th, 2013:

Terrorism and Privilege:

Understanding

the Power of Whiteness

By Tim Wise

As the nation weeps for the victims of the horrific bombing in Boston yesterday, one searches for lessons amid the carnage, and finds few. That violence is unacceptable stands out as one, sure. That hatred — for humanity, for life, or whatever else might have animated the bomber or bombers — is never the source of constructive human action seems like a reasonably close second.

But I dare say there is more; a much less obvious and far more uncomfortable lesson, which many are loathe to learn, but which an event such as this makes readily apparent, and which we must acknowledge, no matter how painful.

It is a lesson about race, about whiteness, and specifically, about white privilege.

I know you don’t want to hear it. But I don’t much care. So here goes.

White privilege is knowing that even if the Boston Marathon bomber turns out to be white, his or her identity will not result in white folks generally being singled out for suspicion by law enforcement, or the TSA, or the FBI.

White privilege is knowing that even if the bomber turns out to be white, no one will call for whites to be profiled as terrorists as a result, subjected to special screening, or threatened with deportation.

White privilege is knowing that if the bomber turns out to be white, he or she will be viewed as an exception to an otherwise non-white rule, an aberration, an anomaly, and that he or she will be able to join the ranks of Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols and Ted Kaczynski and Eric Rudolph and Joe Stack and George Metesky and Byron De La Beckwith and Bobby Frank Cherry and Thomas Blanton and Herman Frank Cash and Robert Chambliss and James von Brunn and Robert Mathews and David Lane and Michael F. Griffin and Paul Hill and John Salvi and James Kopp and Luke Helder and James David Adkisson and Scott Roeder and Shelley Shannon and Dennis Mahon and Wade Michael Page and Byron Williams and Kevin Harpham and William Krar and Judith Bruey and Edward Feltus and Raymond Kirk Dillard and Adam Lynn Cunningham and Bonnell Hughes and Randall Garrett Cole and James Ray McElroy and Michael Gorbey and Daniel Cowart and Paul Schlesselman and Frederick Thomas and Paul Ross Evans and Matt Goldsby and Jimmy Simmons and Kathy Simmons and Kaye Wiggins and Patricia Hughes and Jeremy Dunahoe and David McMenemy and Bobby Joe Rogers and Francis Grady and Demetrius Van Crocker and Floyd Raymond Looker and Derek Mathew Shrout, among the pantheon of white people who engage in (or have plotted) politically motivated violence meant to terrorize and kill, but whose actions result in the assumption of absolutely nothing about white people generally, or white Christians in particular.

And white privilege is being able to know nothing about the crimes committed by most of the terrorists listed above — indeed, never to have so much as heard most of their names — let alone to make assumptions about the role that their racial or ethnic identity may have played in their crimes.

White privilege is knowing that if the Boston bomber turns out to be white, we  will not be asked to denounce him or her, so as to prove our own loyalties to the common national good. It is knowing that the next time a cop sees one of us standing on the sidewalk cheering on runners in a marathon, that cop will say exactly nothing to us as a result.

White privilege is knowing that if you are a white student from Nebraska — as opposed to, say, a student from Saudi Arabia — that no one, and I mean no one would think it important to detain and question you in the wake of a bombing such as the one at the Boston Marathon.

And white privilege is knowing that if this bomber turns out to be white, the United States government will not bomb whatever corn field or mountain town or stale suburb from which said bomber came, just to ensure that others like him or her don’t get any ideas. And if he turns out to be a member of the Irish Republican Army we won’t bomb Belfast. And if he’s an Italian American Catholic we won’t bomb the Vatican.

In short, white privilege is the thing that allows you (if you’re white) — and me — to view tragic events like this as merely horrific, and from the perspective of pure and innocent victims, rather than having to wonder, and to look over one’s shoulder, and to ask even if only in hushed tones, whether those we pass on the street might think that somehow we were involved.

It is the source of our unearned innocence and the cause of others’ unjustified oppression.

That is all. And it matters.

MrMary’s Turn

I thought I would share the process of what a part of America goes through when there is a Tragedy like the explosions in Boston. I can only speak of my own experiences as a Black man in the USA. This is an honest depiction and is very real. When 9/11 happened and it was revealed who the perpetrators were I knew shit was about to get real for many minority groups Anyways check this out.

The Process of How

Some US Minorities deal with

Tragedy up until all the facts come out

 

1. Nervous Anxiety:

Worried businessman

I hope the muthafuckers who did this shit are not one of us!?!?! Please Jesus/God/Moses whoever is looking out for us from very far away, Please don’t let it be one of ours, PLEASE … I just got this new suit for work and it’s already hard to get there , and well ….. You know what it is …. , Please don’t let these mutha fuckers be one of ours

2. Denial

denial

[The reasoning will change depending on what kind of minority you are] Our people wouldn’t do that, there were no demo tapes, government assistant applications or  chicken bones found on the scene. Man just when things are going well some fools got to fuck it up for the rest of us… I mean Obama got elected twice, no assassination attempts martin Luther King Day Still Going strong.  Stop and frisk has been at least label as unconstitutional, man I hope to God these mutha fuckers aint one of ours, they can’t be. It was a race, we wouldn’t bomb a race and mess up pay-checks for all the Kenyans and Africans who win that shit. Nah Man it couldn’t be one of us, we respect look for each other and dat paper stack….  nah man

3. Acceptance

Black-Woman-Worried

Sigh – Seriously though, it doesn’t matter ! Whoever did this we are somehow gonna take a beating or get fucked up for this. I know it, I feel it in my bonesz

4. Ironic Jubilation

Test

YES !!!  it wasnt one of us, YES!!!. It’s a tragic situation. I am very sad at all the loss and suffering being experienced now, BUT MAANNNN!!!!  It’s not us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Seriously saddened by these events, this will be a loss felt globally. Suffering transcends boundaries  and we are with the people affected by this tragedy

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k-bigpic
Apr 18 2013

It Took Two Days for a Random Muslim to Get Assaulted in Boston, Please Retweet


k-bigpicA Palestinian woman said she was assaulted while taking a late morning stroll with her baby daughter and friend by a man who accused her of being a terrorist. We thought someone would’ve been publicly attacked and berated for secretly planning the Boston Marathon bombings within hours of the explosions, but nope — racists managed to contain themselves for two days. Bravo.

Heba Abolaban told Malden Patch that she and her friend, both wearing hijabs, were walking with their kids when a white male in his thirties punched her left shoulder and began shouting at them:

“He was screaming ‘F___ you Muslims! You are terrorists! I hate you! You are involved in the Boston explosions! F___ you!’” Abolaban remembered. “Oh my lord, I was extremely shocked.”

Taken from Jezebel

______________________

Bangladeshi man beaten at Applebee’s in ‘revenge attack’ over Boston Marathon bombings

article-2311153-195F6FCD000005DC-670_634x394

A Bangladeshi man has claimed he was beaten at a New York City Applebee’s in retaliation for the Boston Marathon bombings – because of the color of his skin. Abdullah Faruque, 30, says that he was heading out of the restaurant to smoke a cigarette when he noticed a group of Hispanic men who had been at the bar followed him out.They then confronted him.  He told the New York Post: ‘One of the guys asked if I was Arab. I just shook my head, said like, “Yeah, whatever.”‘ Mr Faruque said that when he tried to go back inside Applebee’s, one of the men said, ‘Yeah, he’s a f***ing Arab,’ and they attacked, beating him about the head and body.

______________________

Monday was a difficult day not just for America but for the world. Any time innocents die in the world we as a global community lose out. As an American my immediate sentiments are that we should act in such a way to honour those who have died, and those who are suffering now with the right action. While this sounds like another platitude echoed by countless news-people, I really believe that we should look hard at the suffering caused by the events in Boston. Indirectly that would mean that for me,(another no name blogger) the most important  action for us as  nation and global community, is to look and internalize what has transpired. This I am sure, will be an unpopular course of event. There is a need for justice, there is a need to make sense of these events, there is a need for action.

I remember the environment in NYC a day after 9/11. There was such an outpouring of love from the world to NYC, from NY’er to NY’er. It was a rather tender moment for me, because for once I could visibly see and participate in actions socially that challenged my cynicism about people coming together and a possibility for racial acceptance and religious tolerance. That moment was short-lived unfortunately. Soon Americans citizen of Middle Eastern decent across America were the targets of hate crimes. Whatever love was given was all to soon gone. Ten years later America as a whole is still recovering not just from the events of 9/11, but from how we chose to respond to the tragedy on our home turf. Two wars, trillions in debt, soldiers losing their homes and coping with PTSD, a great divide economic divide further marginalization of Muslims not to mention Americans of Middle Eastern decent, (to name a few) are some of the many pressing issues we do not have a handle on.

A Personal Lesson Learned

While I will be the first to admit that I do not know how to keep a nation state, I cannot,like many other Americans, help wondering if the two wars and all their political, financial, economic, and diplomatic ramifications worth it ? What have we learned as a nation after 9/11 ?

I will tell you what I have learned over this past decade. I have seen that (especially after the wake of the most recent presidential election) Americans are too divided  to come together for an extended period of time. I feel we have reduced a  person to just simple instruments to be used for the attainment of ideological goals. Before one is a republican or democrat or libertarian, American or , black white, latino, or whatever other label we like to use, one is a person.  The Saudi national who was initially considered a suspect is a human being too. The Sikh person in your neighbourhood is a person. The Mexican Guy who may be cutting your grass is human being.  The Muslimah that sports the hijab is a person.  Surprising so these people may even be American like you or I which means we share an ideology and a vision.

Of course this is idealistic. Behind the sarcastic statements, the cynical quips, I am a idealist. I am a positive person.  There will always be those amongst us who will will seek to disrupt us, to take from us the most precious things like our sense of security, the want to engage with our fellow human beings and country man, and sadly as the explosion in Boston have shown even our lives.  History is littered with heinous acts, but if we look close enough we will see so many instances of self-sacrifice and benevolence.

An Important Anniversary

Tuesday April 16 was an important anniversary to me. Fifty one years ago on that day  MLK wrote  his letter from Birmingham Jail. That letter has always been a point of inspiration for me. It gave a voice to a sentiment I hold deeply, specifically that we can today with a greater sense of urgency and determination work to make a better America. The bombings in Boston are an opportunity for us to come together as a nation and talk about the human issues we are all facing.

I feel that it was irresponsible for a memo to the New York Post and other media outlets to tell people top be on the lookout for out for “dark-skinned” suspects. I feel, rather I am certain that the news is working people up to a frenzy. The president in a recent speech praised Boston for overcoming the face of evil.. But if Muslims are being attacked have we really overcome the face of evil or have we just brought out another evil face. Fire cannot be fought with fire. We need to change of view on things, we need to deliberate a little more as a whole before anyone else gets heckled or beaten up for being of middle Eastern descent. We need to recognize that  while their existU.S. Muslims mobilize to prevent Boston backlash

It’s a familiar race against time for Muslim groups. Almost as soon as the smoke cleared around Copley Square, they knew from long experience that some would immediately point the finger of blame in their direction.

Still, conservative columnist and Fox News guest Erik Rush quickly sent out tweets blaming Muslims, adding in one, “Let’s kill them,” a post he subsequently deleted. “Jihad in America,” wrote anti-Muslim blogger Pam Geller. Speaking about the bombings on his ”700 Club” program, Pat Robertson was also furious: “Don’t talk to me about religion of peace” – the way Muslims describe their faith – “No way.” On his show, conservative host Glenn Beck opined that “no American citizen blows up random people; that’s a Middle Eastern scene, that’s not an American scene. When our crazies go off, they target the government, not streets that are crowded with people.”

Final Words

While it’s difficult thing to do i will be writing about the ramification of the Boston as I see them in my life with the hope of generating actual discussion instead of hate-speak/News-Speak and double talk. Probably also when all is said and done I will go to Boston and lay soem flowers down , anyone who wants to join is welcome.

Martin-Luther-King-Jr-9365086-2-402Moreover, I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

 

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ohotos
Mar 26 2013

Taking The Negative Movie Edition: Olympus has Fallen


olympus-composite3I saw Olympus Has Fallen starring Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart with my friends El Viejo, the Angel of death and his lady and the ever present ever flowing Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey.

Terrorist storm the White House and manage to take it and hold the president Hostage. There was one scene it was of the American Flag full of bullets holes and burned, a terrorist takes it down and unceremoniously throws it down on the lawn. The scene touched me as an American, that flag actually means something to me. I tried to imagine what it would be like if someone just came to American stormed and defaced the white House took the president hostage, how awful I’d feel. It was a sobering thought that really touched me. Someone in the back row  said out loud: “That’s just fucked up. That’s just wrong” and we all nodded or chimed in with that sentiment.

After the movie, on the way back to our point of departure we all talked about how bad-ass Gerard Butler was   and how it would suck if someone decided to do that to America. That then is when it hit me, like a kick to the scrotum. Mentally I doubled over in pain when from the dark recesses of my mind the  last hundred years of US foreign Affairs arose.

Taking the Negative

ohotosImagine that you were not an American or of a European  (Eastern or Western). Imagine centuries of your ancestors living closer to the equator than the frozen wasteland that was home to the frost giants and Norse gods of olden time, has given you an over-abundance of melanin in your skin. Imagine if you will a regular summer day, your wearing clothes that help keep your body cool , and all of a sudden someone storms the capital of your country, and  holds your president hostage and demands a ransom. Or perhaps they install a new government, or perhaps they just fuck shit up and leave

Unfortunately that isn’t fiction for a lot of people around the world in Latin American, Africa, and parts of Asia. Can I share with you some quotes?

William Blum, USA writer from the book, “Rogue State”:

“From 1945 to the end of the [20th] century, the USA attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggling against intolerable regimes. In the process, the USA caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair”.

______________________

Michael Krenn, quoting the USA chargé d’Affairs in 1929;

“Until the Venezuelan people could be trusted to make the right decisions concerning their political and economic direction – and that time was deemed to be in the very distant future – it was best for all concerned that they be kept safe from democracy.”

_______________________

CIA document, dated 10 September 1973 about Chile:

“The coup attempt will begin September 11. All three branches of the armed forces and the Carabineros are involved in this action. A declaration will be read on Radio Agricultura at 7 A.M. on 11 September.”

_______________________

Jack Kubisch, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. Testimony before the USA House Subcommittee on Inter American Affairs 20 September 1973 about the Chilean coup:

“Gentlemen, I wish to state as flatly and as categorically as I possibly can that we did not have advance knowledge of the coup that took place on September 11.”

The Reality

 “Two centuries ago, a former European colony decided to catch up with Europe. It succeeded so well that the United States of America became a monster, in which the taints, the sickness and the inhumanity of Europe have grown to appalling dimensions”
― Frantz Fanon

chart taken from here: http://www.krysstal.com

Year Country Reason Given
1949 Syria Communism
1949 Greece Communism
1952 Cuba None
1953 Iran None
1953 British Guyana None
1954 Guatemala Communism
1955 South Vietnam Communism
1957 Haiti Haiti is near the USA
1958 Laos None
1959 Laos None
1960 South Korea Communism
1960 Laos None
1960 Ecuador Communism
1963 Dominican Republic Business Interests
1963 South Vietnam None
1963 Honduras Communism
1963 Guatemala Communism
1963 Ecuador None
1964 Brazil Communism
1964 Bolivia Communism
1965 Zaire None
1966 Ghana None
1967 Greece None
1970 Cambodia None
1970 Bolivia None
1972 El Salvador Communism
1973 Chile Communism
1975 Australia None
1979 South Korea None
1980 Liberia Democracy
1982 Chad None
1983 Grenada Democracy
1987 Fiji Democracy
2002 Venezuela None
2004 Haiti Fraudulent elections
2009 Honduras Attempted to Change Constitution

My Dilemma as An American

300px-CaptureofFtRiviere

As a Haitian American I have a few dilemmas some other Americans wont have.  Well there is the history of American Involvement and occupation of haiti  for 19 years. Do you like that post of the Marine storming and killing Haitians.

In September 1915, the United States Senate ratified the Haitian-American Convention, a treaty granting the United States security and economic oversight of Haiti for a 10-year period. Representatives from the United States wielded veto power over all governmental decisions in Haiti, and Marine Corps commanders served as administrators in the provinces. Local institutions, however, continued to be run by Haitians, as was required under policies put in place during the presidency of Woodrow Wilson

I remember in the 80′s in NYC, a lot of people were saying that Haitians brought AIDS to the US.  Actually Arsenio Hall made a joke about it if I remember correctly. A lot of people are anti-immigrant in the US which is odd to me. I kind of on the one hand love being American but kind of feel that the long terms reason I am in America is because of gross atrocities committed by the American government in Haiti. (Btw do you think the Marines who were sent to Haiti  a few decades before civil rights saw “us” as people ?, do you know what that meant as far as treatment of the people under American occupation?)

The Confusion Doesnt Stop There

It’s no surprise racism still exists here. Well it’s no surprise for me. There are people still saying that slavery was good for blacks , gave them food and a roof over their head. I see America in a very different way from many other Americans

crick

“If you’re black, you got to look at America a little bit different. You got to look at America like the uncle who paid for you to go to college, but who molested you.”

I’ve have often wondered how many of the black soldiers felt to go to war for your country and then return home to be treated by shit by it. I wonder a lot about patriotic duty vs social and legal treatments.

Wrapping It Up

It’s amazing how one person’s fictional movie situation is a nightmare living by millions, and that almost no one in a theatre full of people all from somewhere else think of that. I am a proud American, but there is a lot that I am conflicted about, there are many episodes of our history that trouble me. There are things that still trouble me. But that’s life I suppose.

Coincidentally I read this article today In the Guardian

The racism that fuels the ‘war on terror’

Mar 18 2013

MrMary on Blogs, Blogging and Bloggers (1)


imagesThe appearences of things are deceptive

fallaces sunt rerum species

I have been blogging here for a year and change and its been a pretty amazing experience. I thought it would be interesting to share my thoughts and views on blogging, blogs and bloggers every few months.  It’s kind of like FDR’s fireside chats but fewer calories, less bullshit but more taste. When I started blogging about five years ago things were so different. When I think of blogging then the image of someone sticking their foot into the water to see how cold it is comes to mind. Now things are different, companies are hiring people to manage their blogs, grow their twitter feeds. Blogging is a business now, you can make money with your blog in a host of way, or you get a job through your blog as a writer for a magazine that addresses whatever niche you write or pontificate about. That’s pretty amazing to me.

The one thing that drew me to blogging was the lack of the commercial feel to it. It used to feel, well more than than it does now, that people were sincerely talking and sharing and joking around not for likes although that was nice when it happened.  Sometimes I feel like blogging has become about getting more and more likes and comments. I have seen a lot of bloggers over the last couple of years play more and more of a personality. Sometimes I search through the blogosphere looking for sometime real to read something that affirms that we are all human beings imperfect, struggling, and laughing at the absurdity of life. With the exception of a few blogs I don’t see that happen so much. Actually it happens so infrequently that there are often apologies that start off a post. Let me give you an example:

I am sorry, I just had to respond to something that really moved me…ok that’s done …back to my regularly shtick.

Please don’t misunderstand I am not condemning this. I just find it interesting as it is very telling.  Statements like this really tell me  a lot about how bloggers perceive themselves. Do they perceive themselves as distinct from the persona they play or that comes through on the blog. There must be some sort of deep disconnect there beyond the superficial if we have to apologize or make other s aware that we are breaking character to talk about something seriously, or let our audience know we are momentarily deviating from what we usually talk about.

For me the more I blog the less the difference between MrMary and Dave. Actually I feel now that MrMary is just the name I go by so my employers cannot deny me a promotion or fire me because I think what I think. If you were to meet me in person and we hung out enough that I trusted you enough I think you would find the same person you see here, maybe more fleshed out.

Just some disjointed thoughts

That’s all for now

 

 

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