Monday, December 29, 2008

Satire or Racism?

The weekend I came across a video on YouTube called "Barack - The Magic Negro" but I haven't had time to look into its origins until today. Considering the pervasive racism and stupidity in the United States, I wasn't surprised to find such a thing. What I'm finding more amazing is the thought that is being put forth as satire. Rush Limbaugh and other "conservatives" are amazed that some people would be racially offended. I mean the writer of this song has managed to insult, Obama and Al Sharpton and other black Americans in one fell swoop. Here is the song set to a video montage:



This was discussed on MSNBC and Kate Obenshain attempted to defend the song by saying that it was against Al Sharpton and not Barack Obama. I'm glad the African-American woman conducting the interview would not let her get away with it. You can read an article about it and I posted the Here is what Rush had to say about it:

Japanese Trailer for New Street Fighter Movie


Well, here is a trailer for the new movie coming out next year in 2009. It's called Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li. I'm going to give it a chance. From the looks of the trailer it seems better than Dragonball movie and nearly infinitely better than Van Damm's Street Fighter movie from 1994. I guess we will just have to wait and see. The bar has not been set very high for video games to live-action film adaptions.

If I had an Iphone:


If I had an Iphone this game would be something I'd download quicker than almost anything else. A quality Iron man game with great graphics. Almost makes me wanna run out and buy an Iphone.
Here is Marvel Comic announcement at the following article.



500 Years of Women In Western Art

I came across a great YouTube video this morning where someone took the greatest examples of women depicted in western art. It's a great example of art. I found a hyperlink that lists each art clip, the artist, and the year. Here is the video:

Slavery or Wellfare?


I ran across the following article about Child Maid Trafficking. Being a descendant of people who went through what the young lady in the article went through, gives me a very negative view of the practice. It seems to be part of Carribbean and African culture. It bothers me because it seems akin to slavery. The thing is not all the circumstances are as exploitative as the young woman's experience in the article. Not all the children are denied treatment as human being or education. Shiyama's treatment was horrible in my estimation because I think a child's childhood should be full of play not of labor. I would not want my daughter treated the way she was: living in a dark garage. According to the article, Shiyama's parents thought that she had it great because she was living high according to Egyptian standard for poor people. And the couple's defense that Shiyama was part of the family seems like a lie. They didn't treat their own children the way they treated her. Not allowing her to wash her clothes with the family's or sit on the furniture and the verbal abuse makes me think they treated her like a dog - a beast of burden - a slave. I don't care if it is their culture or not or that Shiyama's standard of living was better than back at Egypt. Shiyama was not being treated as full member of the household or a person. No wonder she's angry and cut ties to her family whom I'm sure she resents for putting her in those conditions. It's truly catch-22 because her parents only wanted to give her better opportunities. I don't think that there are any easy answers. When I look into my own heart, it just does not sit well with me. I'm not far enough removed from slavery and the truth is that in my opinion we will never be. For those people who are part of that culture, I only wanna know if you would put your child into servitude and would be fine with him or her being treated the way Shiyma was treated?