The African American community is very hypocritical. I’m sure you’ve seen the video of the woman that licked the ice cream at Walmart and put in back and left the store. Yes, it’s nasty and childish and she is facing criminal consequences for food tampering. But I think that the social media drama is another example of fake outrage and an on line lynch mob.
Black Americans are very forgiving and protective of Black men. No matter what Black men do they will find grace within the Black community. Pictures were released of pop star Rihanna’s face after being severely beaten by Chris Brown and continued to have successful recording career. Marion Barry was caught on video tape smoking crack while he was the mayor of Washington D.C.
He served time in jail for his crime. Got re elected to the city council, ran for mayor of D.C. and was re elected. There was a video tape of R. Kelly involved in sex acts with young girls. He went on trial for the crime beat the charge and came out with another album which became legendary. African Americans forgave and supported all of these men after they were caught red handed committing serious crimes.
Those are high profile examples of the grace that Black Americans extend Black men but it happens among people that are out of the public eye as well. We see it on the news when a young man is accused of pulling a drive by or robbing a liquor store. His family defends him on the news and says that he is really a nice guy. Excuses are made for such behavior by saying that he was trying to survive or he had a tough upbringing. So be it. But do people want to crucify this girl in Texas for licking ice cream?
I get it, it’s gross. But did anybody die? Can germs even survive on a cold surface in a freezer? First off I think that the criminal justice system in the US is a prime example of government over reach. I think it’s a gross injustice that people spend time in jail over traffic violations and unpaid parking tickets. The parole system in America is a set up. It sounds to me that being on parole is like walking a tight rope unless the parolee has strong support system around them.
The justice system targets and is particularly heavy handed when African Americans are involved. The criminal justice system has done a lot to hinder Black American progress and destroy Black families. Yet, this week in 2019 Black people are all over social media crucifying a teenager in Texas and rallying for her to get twenty years in prison for licking ice cream and putting it back. It’s Black women that are leading the lynch mob on Black social media outlets. Where is the grace and forgiveness for her? Why do boys that pull drive bys get sympathy but girls that lick ice cream don’t?
Granted, I don’t see this ice cream licking as my problem. I don’t live in Texas. I don’t buy ice cream often. I avoid Walmart. And the flavor she licked doesn’t look like something I would choose. And I think that I would notice if I bought a tub of ice cream and it had been licked. That girl’s prank doesn’t affect me in the least. But I’m empathetic so I can put myself in the shoes of the ice cream buying public. This doesn’t warrant twenty years in jail or even six months. At most she should have to do community service for the weekend.
Give the girl a break. Ice cream licking isn’t an epidemic like gang violence or drug trafficking is. This is a one off which is why it is shocking (or funny) to people. She did not commit a violent crime. At worst she committed a property crime worth about $3.99. The punishment needs to fit the crime and the crime insignificant.
I enjoy social media because you learn the truth about people. Often times the truth is not pretty but it is the truth and there is always value in that. I’ve run across social media outlets that are geared towards men. The most common topic in these male spaces is women. They talk about their desires, complaints and preferences when it comes to the opposite sex. I will refer to them as The Complainers.
After eavesdropping on The Complainers and sometimes participating in some of these conversations I’ve found it very hard to follow the thought pattern of these men. I can’t figure out the end game. I feel like there is no real desire to come to an understanding with women and have respectful relationships. The on line commentary mostly expresses frustration and disdain for women. Love and partnership is rarely if ever mentioned.
These on line chats are under the guise of them being for men but I really think they exist to send messages to women while excluding them from the conversation. I think the goal is to manipulate women and to control them through criticism because it seems that women can’t do anything to satisfy these men. It’s rare that one of the complainers mentions a wife or girlfriend.
These are just a few of the contradictions that I’ve seen on The Complainers’ social media chats.
Women should stop wearing weave. -> Your hair is nappy and too short.
Women need to get off of welfare -> A college degree doesn’t make you more valuable to men.
Single mothers are undateable. -> Men shouldn’t get married.
All women are promiscuous. -> I would use her for a pump and dump but that’s it.
Women without fathers are damaged goods. -> Women are responsible for raising children.
Women are choosing careers over families. -> Women should be willing to split finances 50/50.
Women always pick the wrong guys. -> Women have unrealistic standards.
It’s OK for men to have preferences. -> Women that date outside of their race are bedwenches.
Women should commit young. -> Men should marry no sooner that their late thirties.
Women shouldn’t pressure men to commit. -> Women hit “The Wall” at thirty five.
Women seek out attention too much -> Women should welcome male attention in public.
Women focus on their looks too much -> Everyone wants to date someone attractive.
What conclusion can women come to after taking in this information? The only conclusion that I can reach is that there is some serious confusion out there along with disdain for women. Women’s humanity and intellect is completely overlooked and women are talked about as if they are inanimate objects.
I’ve never seen anyone go into detail about what perfection looks like and how to achieve it. The standards that The Complainers have is not sustainable or realistic because they want old fashioned, traditional womanhood without offering old fashioned traditional manhood. They complain about feminism but they fail to see how feminism benefits men. I think that men are the real benefactors of feminism because they don’t bear the same amount of responsibility as they once did. There aren’t very many expectations for men anymore.
If any man wanted an old fashioned relationship he just needs to decide that he wants to be an old fashioned man and then he needs to find a woman to go along with those ideals. I can see how that would be a challenge but I don’t think it’s impossible if a man is taking the lead, is realistic about his end of the bargain and expresses his intentions. Simply don’t date feminists if they bother you so much.
I think The Complainers know that they are not being completely honest in what they say but they aren’t willing to speak their truth. The truth is that they want to the best of both worlds. They like the lack of responsibility and easy sex that feminism provides but when they are ready to settle down in their later years they want a submissive housewife.
Actually The Complainer just a submissive woman because they don’t believe in legal marriage because if the relationship doesn’t work out he doesn’t want to give her any of the household finances. But he doesn’t want her to be educated and career oriented. And he wants her to be focused on the household and family.
It’s a never ending circle of contradictions that only completely benefits men. The Complainers simply want to use women as tools to validate their ego, breed their children, cook and clean. Meanwhile he doesn’t want to have any responsibility to his wife equivalent. The Complainers like to say that career women end up lonely and they use examples like forty something singles like Tiffany Haddish and Charlize Theron.
I believe there is a price to pay for women being career focused. I believe that a woman that puts her career first probably does miss out on some opportunities to marry and have children. But The Complainers all seem like douchebags anyway. They have no respect for women and they don’t discuss love or even raising children much. When they discuss childbearing they talk about women as if they are prized pit bulls or thoroughbred horses. I don’t think The Complainers offer much as far as a lifetime of love and devotion.
I’ve learned to disregard everything that The Complainers say. Even when they make valid points they say something mean which lets me know their true intentions and unsaid feelings. I hope the women make decisions that benefit themselves and honor God. Prepare yourself to be a good wife to a deserving man. But trying to satisfy the desires of men that want women to exist simply for the pleasure and convenience of men seems like a lost cause.
I am Black and a bit of a social media junkie. Social media outlets have pretty much figured out that I’m Black and they suggest pages, channels, people, places and things that other Black people frequent. I follow them as do others in my demographic. It creates little virtual communities and there you have it, the Black social media sphere. It has been fun, entertaining, and educational in good ways and bad. Black social media can be a useful and entertaining tool. But it can be very toxic.
I’ll start off by saying that Black people are not given enough credit for being so witty and creative. When I was a big Facebook and Twitter user my brothers and sisters would absolutely have me cracking up with their unique takes on various hashtags. Some social media users reminded me of the glory days of hip hop when being a little street or ghetto or whatever you call was meshed with intelligence and insight. We don’t get to see that much in the media anymore. I miss it.
Black social media users have also brought attention to injustices in America such as police brutality and racism in common places. Cell phone video and social media has given justice to many Black people that never would have gotten it otherwise. I think that is wonderful and heroic.
But I’ve decided to not follow a lot of Black social media pages due to the nature of the speaker or his or her followers. I blocked The Shade Room on IG years ago and my quality of life immediately improved. I stopped following the 1990s rapper David Banner because I got tired of being a defender of the faith. I blocked The Amazing Lucas on You Tube because he is trying a little too hard to prove that he is a conservative Black man. It’s sad to watch a Black man pander to people that way.
It’s difficult to build a social media following unless you already have some sort of claim to fame, an amazing talent or you fit a particular beauty standard and decide to flaunt your body for the sake social media popularity. I’m guessing that it may even be more difficult for non celebrity Black people to build a large following because I rarely see Black people discussing things that wouldn’t be considered a Black interest on social media. I’ve figured that the best way for Black people to gain a social media following is by being controversial within the on line Black community.
I think Black men have it the hardest in the social media world. It’s a little harder for them to find their social media niche. Many Black women and feminine Black men have gained social media notoriety by creating celebrity gossip outlets, make up and hair tutorials.
But I don’t see many Black men creating channels that aren’t about dissecting matters in the Black community. It seems to me that the easiest way for a Black man to gain a large social media following is by talking about such matters and blaming Black women for them. Some of the most successful Black You Tubers that I’m aware of are men that think that Black women are solely responsible for every single problem in the Black community. Like, seriously every – single – one. The mental gymnastics these guys do is impressive. Actually buying into it is a personality disorder of some sort.
I’ve never followed members of the He Man’s Woman Haters Club but men that follow these ideologies show up in the comment sections of other vlogs such as gossip channels or a channel that is talking about current events to a Black audience. They drop nasty remarks about Black women’s appearances, marital status, “attitude” or whatever. They even put Black women down for going to college and pursuing careers. I would like to think that most of these remarks are coming from trolls in Moscow but I know my people and this can’t all be blamed on the Russians.
It’s like some of these guys (to be fair, I’ve had Black women make rude remarks about my appearance, especially my hair as well) know that Black women are trying to avoid them so they come to where we are in order to insult us in some way. I’ve made what I thought was an innocuous comment and have had my personal appearance attacked by my fellow social media users. People like that are usually hiding behind an anonymous profile so I can’t be sure of who they are but I’m guessing a lot of the insults based on skin color and hair texture are coming from people with similar skin color and hair texture.
After degrading Black women these gentlemen go on to put fairer skinned women on a pedestal. I don’t understand why they didn’t do that in the first place and just left us out of it. No one needs to justify their dating and marriage choices to anyone. And you shouldn’t have to put someone else down in order to express your love for someone else. Black women return the vitriol. They too have set up channels and make comments tearing Black men apart. There is no way to have a community if men and women hate each other.
Another topic that’s caught a lot of traction on Black social media is “woke” Black people telling Black Christians to stop believing in Christ. I had to block the 90s rapper David Banner for this reason. People like him are arrogant and patronizing and always use the same two or three reasons to justify their opinions.
Their reasoning displays their ignorance about the Bible, geography, human history. This “woke”, afrocentric community are the ones that believe in a White, European Jesus. Not those of us with the understanding that Bethlehem isn’t in Europe. Once again, all they need to do is follow their heart. There is absolutely no need to degrade someone else in order to justify a personal choice. Leave us out of your personal choices and I’ll leave you out of mine.
I ran across a You Tuber named The Amazing Lucas one day and I decided to follow him. After watching a few of his videos I blocked him. I don’t need anymore of his videos. He’s a young Black man that would probably describe himself as being conservative. But after a while I guess he had to work harder to prove himself.
He’s too emotional about things that aren’t that big of a deal such as the political opinions of NBA players that he’s never even heard of. Lucas is of the belief that racism is all a figment of Black America’s imagination which I find to be a very condescending and delusional view point. The Amazing Lucas doesn’t seem to understand that racism is an economic and sociological matter.
I don’t know who runs The Shade Room but they are a horrible human being and their followers are complete morons. It’s hard to find a dumber group of people on social media than what you would find on that IG page. I blocked them a long time ago because they were on there making fun of Simone Biles body. That’s right. They body shamed a world class athlete.
People that enjoy The Shade Room only like women that look like strippers. It’s all they care about or respect. They absolutely love people from the Love and Hip Hop Series and various young rappers that I’ve never heard of. But they trash an Olympic champion because she’s not so called slim thick. They trashed Gabrielle Douglas as well. I believe they came for her because she mentioned something about women should dress modestly and they went berserk. I don’t share the values of most people in The Shade Room so I had to block them.
The death and funeral of rapper Nipsey Hustle and the trials and tribulations of TV personality Wendy Williams have dominated Black social media the last few weeks. Meanwhile three Black churches in Louisiana burned mysteriously and the son of a police officer was arrested for the crimes.
I was on a You Tube channel yesterday that fashions itself after a news broadcast. The host discussed the church fires and people in the comments section were talking about their disdain for Christianity, especially Black Christians. They are clearly missing the point. But if they are that stupid why bother talking to them. I blocked the channel. I think we need to shift our values a bit. Our community suffered a terrorist attack and
I understand that the death of Nipsey Hustle is yet another urban violent tragedy but last weekend six were shot at a baby shower in Chicago. I haven’t heard Black social media say a word about that. I didn’t know who Nipsey Hustle was until he died so his death is no different than all the other murders that happen in the Black community.
I think that we should use the powerful medium of social media to discuss that to the point of beating a dead horse like we do stupid topics like fake hair, inter racial dating and twerking. And men that are obsessed with women that they don’t like need to be the ones doing the talking instead of blaming everything on single mothers.
I wish that Black social media communities would just stop trying to tell others in their community what to do. Stop thinking you know what’s best for someone else. If we all do our part, Christians, Israelites, Agnostics, LGBT, feminists, etc. we can all make improvements to build a better future for everyone. But this intra racial at least snarkiness and at most hatred should stop. We need to learn to respect each other more. I don’t feel like Black people appreciate our differences.
Some of these conversations that take place have been going on for years and we have come to no conclusion or made no progress. They are trivial matters anyway so we should just move forward. I think there are a few things we should be able to agree on such as if you’re mad at someone you shouldn’t shoot up their baby shower and let’s discuss those matters. The rest of if is all just drivel and a huge waste of time and I refuse to participate in it anymore.
Today I tried to log into my Twitter account and I received a message that I had been reported. I was told that I wouldn’t have access to my account for twelve hours. In order to begin the countdown I needed to provide Twitter with my phone number.
This is the damning tweet that I made in reference to a story about the Covington High School students. In order to clarify I want to say that I think that those boys exhibited disrespectful and thuggish behavior. I’m appalled at how they acted in our nation’s capital and the way they treated a man three times their age. I still believe that the ring leader of the incident would have been deserving of a punch to the chest.
I would never give Twitter my phone number due to privacy concerns. I tried to give them the land line number at my job but they wouldn’t accept that. There is no way I’m going to give Twitter and the FBI or whomever the opportunity to track my moves through my cell phone. So I guess I’ll never use my account again.
I really enjoyed Twitter. I got a kick out of being a part of mass viewing parties of sporting events and reality TV show broadcasts. A lot of Twitter users are quite clever and I enjoy the way they create their own entertainment.
There are Twitter users that I wouldn’t call friends but I have enjoyed my interactions that I’ve had with them over time. I feel like I’ve gotten to know a few people a bit. At times I’ve thought of deactivating my account in order to avoid some of the stupidity and nastiness but I decided that the good outweighed the bad.
I’ve been banned from Facebook as well. I made a remark that some snowflake didn’t like on a video that was posted. It involved a White man with a gun bullying a minority. I don’t exactly remember what happened in the video. I must have said something about the man needing his a$$ beat or something. I don’t recall.
When I got into trouble with Facebook they locked my account and asked me to send them a picture of a government ID. Nope. There was no way I was doing that. Facebook is clearly in cahoots with law enforcement and I don’t need the FBI thinking I was a part of some sort of pro African American insurgency. Honestly I wish I was but I’m just another insignificant person, opinionated person on social media.
It seems to me that large social media platforms are more likely to censor African Americans than they are Whites. I remember a time when there was a shooting on or near a college campus in northern Florida at a historically Black college. Lives were lost. I was looking at the schools Facebook post about the incident. An anonymous racist account was on the page heckling the incident. I reported the remarks to Facebook and they quickly responded that they wouldn’t do anything about the racist and mean spirited posts.
My remarks were not racist because I was giving my opinion about an individual. Both of the individuals in the social media conversations that I mentioned were being arrogant bullies. I can’t stand arrogance or bullies. I also enjoy seeing people get what they deserve. I don’t think I said anything wrong and I’m not sorry.
Honestly my account is not bad. I avoided using profanity and I didn’t say anything vulgar. I know I may have said things that are objectionable but I didn’t demean anything while saying it. It’s a surprise that my account would get blocked meanwhile there are accounts showing porn, people committing suicide and the aftermath of bloody car accidents that are functioning.
With that being said I can’t think of a time other than the person that was heckling the Black college after a mass shooting that I’ve ever reported an individual. Usually I just block objectionable accounts and move along. It hasn’t occurred to me many times to prevent someone else from broadcasting or viewing what they choose.
But I learned long ago that the world does not really like to hear the opinions of Black women unless you are a clown of some sort. I’ve also noticed that the fastest way for a Black person to gain a social media audience is to market themselves as pro Black and go on to degrade other Black people or glorify Whites. I’m not interested in making that kind of presentation.
Perhaps I’ll be better off without Twitter. I got a kick out of it but it also drove me nuts at times. And being an avid social media user is kind of like being schizophrenic. There are a lot of voices in your head. Well, at least I still have WordPress. For now. And maybe now I’ll have time to get through the stack of books on my nightstand.
Getting dressed is the best part of the day for me. I like to post my fashion adventures on my Instagram page. Follow me at showmeshannon on Instagram.
I’ve been considering writing about my experience with rape for months. I’ve thought about writing my story as a catharsis, for revenge and to help others. The #metoo has helped me make the decision to publish my story. I’m going to be very brief and to the point. I don’t think all of the details are necessary.
Three years ago I met a man on OKCupid. He and I communicated for around four months and I saw him in person two or three times within that time frame. While I was getting to know this man that goes by the name David Gosh of Houston, Texas I told him that I was not interested in a sexual relationship.
I explained that I wanted to live my life by Biblical rules and that meant that I wouldn’t have sex again until I was married. He told me that he respected that and sex would not be an issue in our relationship. He traveled for work and came to Kansas City often. On one of his trips to Kansas City I decided to spend time with him in his hotel room. I told him that sex of all kinds was still off the table but we could kiss, hug and cuddle.
After I got off work I went to meet David. We went to dinner and then back to his hotel room to relax and watch TV. I brought a change of clothes, a tank top and sweat pants with me. I changed into my comfortable clothes. I had been to one of his hotel rooms before and that one had a couch. This one didn’t have a couch area in front of a TV. There was just a bed. That was probably by design.
I got in the bed and David turned off the lights. He began kissing me and groping me. He began taking off my clothes and I told him no and to stop repeatedly. Ultimately I gave in to his advances and the sex act happened. Afterwards, David took a quick shower and told me he had to get up early tomorrow so I had to leave.
I changed my clothes and left. After reliving the incident in my mind I felt very used and violated. After a month I reported what happened to the Kansas City Police Department but I decided not to pursue charges for a variety of reasons. His name was removed from the police report.
I’ve been taken advantage of in other ways before. I’ve had my purse stolen, a credit card number stolen on a separate occasion. I had a window busted out of my car and the radio was stolen. In those situations after the window was fixed, I got a new purse and the credit card company was notified of the theft I felt whole and I was no longer affected by the crime. But it is very difficult to get past a violation against your body. I don’t know if this was made worse because I trusted the wrong person.
I never saw David again after that night. Once I got home I texted him and let him know that I was upset and thought he was a rapist. He doesn’t believe he raped me. He said “I knew you wanted to fuck me when you said you brought different clothes”. I brought the same type of clothes that I would have worn if I had gone home after work.
I also sent him a few hateful threatening e mails months later. He asked if we could be friends again. I laughed out loud when I read that. That was my last contact with David Gosh of Houston, Texas. I hope his home flooded. If he even really lives in Houston or if David Gosh is even his name. I don’t really know because my entire brief relationship with him was a lie.
Absolutely anything can turn into an argument on social media. The most innocuous comment can draw a sharp tongued response from a fellow social media user with a chip on their shoulder. We can’t agree on anything these days. America is sharply divided by ideology: Democrat, Republican, faithful, Atheist, does pineapple belong on pizza or not, who do you hate more the Patriots or the Cowboys? In this day and age we have a hard time respectfully allowing others to have an opinion without passing judgement on their character. I do it too.
But I’ve noticed that there is one subject everyone agrees on: Curtis Granderson. No one ever says anything bad about him. Like never, ever. All of the social media comments that I’ve seen about Curtis have been admirable. That’s an incredible accomplishment in an environment where a picture of a cupcake or puppy can start an argument.
Curtis is the outfielder Curtis Granderson for the LA Dodgers. I’ve followed his career since he played for my Detroit Tigers around ten years ago. I’ve had a crush on the man since then. He’s tall, athletic, Black, wealthy and absolutely charming with old fashioned manners. You can tell he was raised by adult parents with common sense and morals that instilled good values in their son. That’s rare. The only person that compares is J.J. Watt who is the blonde, blue eyed NFL equivalent.
I think the secret to Curtis’ popularity is that we don’t know much about the man. I’ve looked for information about the man’s personal life because I’ve been in love with him for like a decade but there isn’t much out there. Other than a Wikipedia page, articles about his charity and stats Curtis Granderson is a mystery. He has not given us anything to talk about or judge. Instead of seeking attention he uses discretion. Discretion is not appreciated much in this social media world of ours.
Anyway, God bless Curtis Granderson. I’m still hoping the Royals will win the Wild Card and make it into the Pennant Race and make a good run for another World Series ring. Honesly, it’s not looking great for the Royals so I will jump on the LA Dodgers bandwagon and cheer them on for a World Series ring. Curtis deserves it. He’s had an impressive career and is a more impressive human being. Thank you Curtis Granderson for standing for class, tact and professionalism. The world appreciates you.
