Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Supermodel Naomi's Knickers All Knotted Up Over Chocolate Ad

Just to show that I am not a knee-jerk racist-accusing zealot, I did not find this ad racist. The company may owe Ms. Campbell a fee for use of her name and diva-ish reputation, but the reference would seem clearly positive - as I have yet to meet a female who does not love chocolate. (Story here).

James C. Collier

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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Dove/Unilever Team With Ogilvy & Mather On Racist Pitch

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but upon seeing this advertisement there is none. I also believe the racism accusation should be saved from use every time someone acknowledges difference. This is not one of those cases. This is some Madison Avenue racist bull-shit. I will avoid buying anything related to either of these companies in the future. I say boycott them bastards!

Where to start? Ad for soap, before and after, black to white, dirty to clean. Fat to thin. Dry to moist. Wrinkled to smooth. Sassy to demure. Ergo black is undesirable, white rocks the Casbah. And what’s with the skinny Latina? Pandering to up-swing minority at the expense of another. The only thing missing is a tattoo on the sister. I guess Dove cannot wash away ink, just yet.

James C. Collier

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Monday, May 23, 2011

The Avocado: White Oakland Police Officer Does Not Shoot Black Man In BMW

Last Friday, the day before the world was suppose to end, a white Alameda County Sheriff’s deputy, performed a routine traffic stop in downtown Oakland, near the 19th Street BART Station, with an amazing result. No one black was shot, arrested, beat up (or down), and all parties involved, including the officer, left the scene intact. Nearby witnesses were truly amazed with the event, although a few immediately scattered at the first sight of the deputy approaching a man driving a BMW, wearing dark glasses, baseball cap, earphones, and a chillin’ attitude.

As the officer cautiously knocked on the driver-side window, the black man instantly remembered Chris Rock’s rules for engaging the police (here). Instead of rolling down the window and yelling in a Samuel Jackson voice, ‘WTF do you want MF!’ I calmly said with a smile, ‘hey officer!’ He then moved his hand away from his gun (to my pleasure), and asked if I knew that I was parked in a red zone. I said no, but it was possible because I did not recall seeing any marking as I approached a few minutes earlier. I added that I was waiting to pick up someone from BART and this was a convenient spot.

Now this is where it got interesting. Upon my words, the deputy stepped back with a look of disbelief and shaking his head. He then straightened up and, with authority, asked for my license and registration and if I had anything else to offer, wherein I said, ‘nope, you got me dude!’ I fully expected a citation, but then he busted out laughing, (like when you were a kid trying to keep milk from shooting out of your nose when your brother farted at Grandma’s dinner table). Officer Laughtrack said he could not believe I was offering the truth as my defense, in downtown Oakland, site of riots and sh_t. He said let’s just call this a warning. I was a little offended that he had expected me to make something up, but I figured it was not the right time to get all righteous, seeing how he did not 'accidently' shoot me.

As he drove away grinning, he beeped and waved, the way buddies do. My awaiting girlfriend had been watching this potential ‘hot mess’ from the safety of the BART escalator (smart lady). She asked, ‘what was that all that about, with the flashing lights and the waving?’ I said (in my best puzzled tone), I’m not sure, but I think I just made a friend - and then the world did not end.

James C. Collier

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Friday, May 20, 2011

Black Women As Less Attractive? WTF!

When I heard about the article by Satoshi Kanazawa entitled “Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women? Why black women, but not black men?”, published on May 15, 2011, in Psychology Today, I definitely had a WTF moment. Not because the subject is taboo – I have written about attractiveness (here) – but because only a complete moron would title an article this way, with nothing to back it up.

I expected to see some objective science talking about hip-to-waist ratios, bone structures, body fat, child-rearing and the such, not a collection of seat-of-the-pants observations of attractiveness by a set of ‘interviewers’. What makes visual observations about others objective, but self-observations subjective? Were the observations by the Add Health interviewers conducted under any scientific or statistical rigor? Readers of this intellectual mayhem are left to wonder if Psychology Today was secretly purchased by Rupert Murdoch.

With all this said, the objective case for why the women of Northern Europe are more competitive does exist, as a group. I call it the peacock factor. Men select mates largely based on looks, and colors attract. The women of Northern Europe are unique in sporting the widest range of natural colors, hair, eyes, and skin, so they capture the most attention in a crowd. Are these women better looking, individually? No. Do all the color combinations give them a group advantage, Yes. Does the group advantage accrue to individuals? Somewhat. This is not rocket science, but rather easily understood in the cosmetics area of any retail store, in any neighborhood (urban or otherwise).

I will say that Black women (and men) need to unbunch the undies and clean a little house, while ignoring clowns like Kanazawa. Ladies would do better, competitively, if they dropped the wigs, weaves, and adhesives, and opted for locks – cause sisters with the dreads look great and have healthy length and luster, minus the breakages and bald spots. I will not talk about visiting the gym and laying off sugar, oops, my bad. Anyway, I think Satoshi’s just hitting back because Asian men catch a lot of the same crap he is dishing, and of course, he was looking for some free pub (like Dr. “Obama is a Black Mascot” Cornel West).

Happy Friday!

James C. Collier

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Monday, May 16, 2011

Is Racism Always Bad?

Clearly, some people think that racism, roughly defined as arbitrary ethnic discrimination, is acceptable, while others think of it as the scourge. I arrive at this question because racism seems more prevalent, or perhaps it is just more confidently peeking from the shadows. Is this because it is ‘not that bad’, or even essential (God forbid).

Every day we make acceptable choices based on race; who to date, whom to marry, or associate - and this all seems okay. We cheer for our favorite sports team, and disparage their/our opponents, and this is okay. So why is race off-limits? Some people surely wonder, quietly, what was so special about the slavery of the Atlantic Slave Trade, or the genocide of the Holocaust, that racism, a naturally occurring phenomenon, should be banished, absolutely. Besides, both Africans and Jews discriminate based on race, just like everybody else, do they not? As long as everybody has their equal rights, why such fusses about what people think, say, or, within limits, do?

Is judging someone solely on the content of his or her character realistic? Is this even possible? Is how we look ever an accurate indicator of who we are, or what we are up to? Are tattoos and sagging pants only fashion statements, and never warnings? Perhaps humanity has reached a plateau where social advancement is simply beyond our current reach, as constrained by the instinctive urge to compete and dominate each other.

On the other hand, the urge to compete also inherently defines and motivates our advancement. If we surrender it, will we trade some temporary Utopian pipe dream for ultimate stagnation, and our demise? So, the real question, in all of this, is whether racism is a bitter dimension of progress, that we should figure out how to accept (and manage), or the thing forever blocking a better road ahead.

James C. Collier

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Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Random Science: Better Living Through Fractals

If you have ever wondered why your tiny cell-phone can capture so much 'stuff' out of thin-air, thank the inventor of the fractal antenna - Nathan Cohen.

Background: A fractal is "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity. -- from Wikipedia

If you simply like cool stuff, check out this voyage through a 3D fractal.

James C. Collier

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Monday, May 09, 2011

Why Are Black People Mean?

Extending the discussion (here) of violence, any student of human behavior knows that negative emotions are the precursors to violence. So, the key to stemming that violence, black-on-black, black-on-white, or otherwise, is getting a handle on the precipitators – apathy, grief, fear, hate, shame, blame, regret, resentment, anger, or hostility. Conflict is inevitable, but how we view it - internalize it - makes all the difference. BTW, I purposely use the descriptor 'mean', rather than angry, to steer discussion inward. Besides, everybody knows why Black folks are angry (I think).

I offer that the cultural tendency to confront the physical person, rather than their beliefs, is a significant driver to the statistical disparities of conflict outcomes. In his book, “Black and White Styles in Conflict”, Prof. Thomas Kochman (here) goes into detail on how Blacks debate the person first, followed by the issue(s). Very simply, the ‘hotter’ the words, the greater the chance of a physical outcome.

Last week I observed this tendency, in two separate business meetings, where emotions ran hot between Black business adversaries. Distracting personal challenges surfaced very inappropriately in these educated professionals. In both cases, angry or personal words appear mean-spirited and physically intimidating, although I do not believe that pre-meditated intimidation was the intention. Nevertheless, this type of exchange is too common, leading to individual and group suffering.

Of course, unique cultural character can make words seem threatening, when they are not. Contrary to any stat on Chinese-on-Chinese violence, elderly Chinese ladies talking in their native language, as I witness in the grocery store, sound as though a fight is about to break out. On the other hand, such words between Blacks can have folks looking for the exits. Blog comments by Blacks are another case in point - they get personal very quickly. In the end, not making conflict personal is the challenge for many Blacks, and one reason why meanest stereotypes and violent outcomes live on and in higher numbers.

James C. Collier

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Tuesday, May 03, 2011

White Violence, Navy Seals and the Death of Osama

In the shadow of my previous post on black violence (here) and the recent killing of terrorist leader, Osama Bin Laden, perhaps it is appropriate to talk more about violence, specifically non-urban, non-black violence. On one side I feel good that the mastermind of the 9-11 tragedy is gone. On the surface, our government killed him in response to him killing many thousands of Americans and Muslims alike, under his jihadist rhetoric. However, I will always wince when governments sanction and carry-out actions to kill named individuals. It is a slippery slope to be on, considering the strangeness of bedfellows.

The reality of publicly eliminating the practical and/or symbolic leadership of a sworn and deadly enemy brings violence, and its epitome, the taking of a life, front-and-center onto humanity’s stage. Fighting and killing is what we humans do, better than anything else. The Navy Seals are our most elite example of evolved, expert, surgical-level, violence, but in the end it is all the same - the best killers that technology has to offer, killed a man. Killers, it is what we are.

I have a good friend whose young son is training in hopes of joining the Seals as an officer. On one side, I am cheering the kid on, because he is an ace and wants to defend his country in this way. On the other hand, I shudder to think of him as the killing machine the Navy will make of him. The sacrifice he will make for our benefit will be great. Those Black Ops guys must leave their souls at the gates of hell, less they come to think of themselves as gods. They have a target that they kill, retrieve, or blow up, without any consideration beyond the order. It has to be that way. FTR, Bin Laden is dead because that is what it said on the order, period.

We should know this about the killing, it cannot stop. It will not stop. Us or them. Them or us. Our planet is getting smaller with each smartphone. The human infestation continues, with a competition for dominion increasing from the leading to trailing edges of global society. It is happening in places like Kenya, and Tibet, New York, and New Zealand - by governments and street-thugs alike. I guess this is progress, to somebody.

UPDATE: Here is what the White House had to say about the timing of the Seal Team 6 rescue on the same day as Obama's 2012 State of the Union address. You be the judge.

James C. Collier

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