Sunday, January 18, 2009
enjoy the inuguaration
let us not forget, while we celebrate and bask in history, we ignore a lot. Like APIAC and K street funded Obama and Bush, like Obama and Bush support Isreal unconditionally, like what only matters to us is only in the here and now in our own backyards. Thank you MLK jr, and congrats to the history maker, Barack Obama.
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46 comments:
I get your point, but next time, a graphic warning, please.
You are not my moral compass.
This is low even for you... not the pictures but the heading. This isn't about the inauguration.
And to suggest those of us would rather focus on the inauguration rather than be concerned about what is going in Gaza...and the rest of the world for that matter is not only insulting...but a new level of ignorance on your part.
Trying to shame folks because they are turning their attentions to celebrating the first African American President in America. Shaming is not intellectual discourse. Just old fashioned bully tactics.
You disapppoint me. and I know you could care less.
See loving folks is about not hurting them...shaming them. A candle lighting another candle does not diminish its light...you haven't learned that.
Too bad.
Thanks for bringing the reality home Torrence. This may be graphic to some, but this is what your tax dollars have gotten you. The USA finances the Israeli military, and the Israeli lobbyist group AIPAC is the largest lobbyist group in the nation.
Black folks while they're happy about Obama and all that need to brush up on what happens behind closed doors. And yes, they funded Obama's campaign and he is indebted to them which is why he never said anything about the conflict.
Hell even Bush did a 180 degree turn and somewhat denounced Israel's actions. Not only that, but when they were requesting "special bombs" to use in a flyover of IRAN, Bush denied them the request.
As a Black man, I'm proud of you doing this post, and fully understand the message. Only if more BLACK people saw this as an injustice and got involved in speaking out against it, the world just may be a better place.
hanging head, really really saddening and disturbing. I think you are cool but this was not. A warning would have been nice.
RDB, you should have dropped leaflets from some airplane to warn some of your readers. You know, like in Gaza ...
Don't you care about your countrymen's sensitivities, man? I mean, it's ok to maim and massacre those people 'over there' but for the love of gad, don't show us what we did! Bad form!
Once again you've proven that you ain't Katie Couric. No whitewashed, ready for prime-time mediocrity here. You are right.
We can shed a tear while Obama takes the Oath of Office on the steps of the Capitol with Ray Charles singing America the Beautiful being played in the background and it would be right, but needless deaths and diseases continue around the world. You've done what the networks and the cable news stations have failed to do for us and that is show the truth.
As for warnings, I say fuck 'em. The people who read you aren't children. This is no PG-13 blog. If people come here, they should be ready to face the truth, even if it's the truth as you see it. There was no warning when King got shot or when the Challenger blew up, I'm not too sure about 911; point is, there should be no warning about telling the truth either.
Yes "enjoy the inaugaration" but don't forget there is much more going on in world, and for a moment I did.
T,
This post really pissed me the hell off!
There is a reality about war. A whole lot of folks who aren't soliders get murdered in the attacks and fighting. God have mercy on the souls of the children and babies who lost their lives or will live with the long term problems that their wounds will create.
What makes me mad is the fact that You care what happens and you are trying your fucking best to come across as if no one else does. You act as if no one else sees or realizes how fucked up things are.
My point is this-if smart ass folks like yourself won't get involved and speak out or work to solve the problems-the WTF is the point?
To shock us? Shame us? Just what is the fucking point?
You can be hard as hell. I am good with that-but for real-if you fear no man-then take your concerns to the people and then where they honestly belong-1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Isreal is going to fight whether America backs them or not. I know this to be true because a portion of my family comes from Isreal. The Jewish portion believes it is their God-given right to occupy the land and defend their nation.
If you got a solution-then now is the time to give it up.
Jones: I'm not Black so I can't offer an opinion as to whether or not you are supposed to sanctify Tuesday as the Highest Of Holidays nor not. It's not in my place to do so. As a one-time American, I think given the choice of the two, the right man was elected and an important color line has been crossed such that all sorts of tectonics changes in terms of equality of opportunity have probably changed.
But on this issue, I'm with you. Part of the way I define my own Jewishness is as a pan-Semite who considers Arabs his cousins. As a default position; it's not like I feel positively towards bin Laden.
But America's Israel policy is all wrong. When you've got ~920 dead in Gaza and bombing schools fair game, with mininal damage to a jury-rigged Zionist Extremist settlement, you're talking ethnic cleansing. I won't have it done in my name. If this was an Israeli test of how reliable Obama is to continue the same old, they got a pretty clear answer: YES.
Sometimes, you have to gore a sacred cow to make a point which you feel deeply. This happens to be a point on which we agree, coming at it from two different ethnicities but with similar educations and social orientations.
Obama hid behind this "one president at a time" jazz while the "one president," Bush, had as Rippa notes, had enough of this genocide.
I know that my son and his friends are very keen on the inaugural and I'm not going to rob him of his joy over it with my skepticism.
But on this space, I'm going to support (1) free speech (2) support Torrance's right to protest Obama's having finessed a miniature genocide of Palestinians in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli military and leadership in DEFIANCE of the majority of Israeli citizens.
Sometimes, you have to do a little something more than just bay at the moon. The blog's subhead is "Science. The Truth. Uncut Funk." You've never made any secrets about where you stand on anything. I surely didn't expect you to take a pass on using the importance of Obama's taking the oath of office to make a larger point.
I could be all wet on this because I do have a stake in the Israeli genocide in Gaze, which goes to how I identify and define myself as a Diasporal Ashkenaz. I can't abide it being done in my name.
My stake in Obama being inaugurated is not as large. His being elected was plenty. And plenty good.
Ok. WE get your point. However, HOWEVER.. why aren't you stepping foot into the Gaza Strip? Have you every stepped foot into a war torn, 3rd world country and fed a starving child, cleaned up an amputees wounds, cleaned the orbit of a man who's eye was blown out? I bet not.
So therefore, get OFF your high horse and do NOT assume that those of us who are happy for Obama's inauguration are too uneducated, uncultured, and self serving to know what is going on in the world.
I do.
I have been to Sudan and helped people escape. I have been to Bosnia, India, China, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Iraq, Egypt, Israel and Palestine. I have seen the atrocities first hand.
@ ANONYMOUS #2: I'll declare a bias here. Torrance is my friend. If I disagree with him either here or on the show, I'll say it. I agree with his polemical goals here.
Your use of tremendismo (sorry, man, I've lived in South America too long and my English will fail me now and again) won't play because Torrance's lived in 12 countries in Africa as part of his work as a scientist/practicioner in HIV/AIDS outreach and care.
I do find it somewhat rich, however, that you'd take such an aggressive tone and imply cowardice on his part without giving a link to your site.
I'm merely arguing with you over thing because he's chosen a particular issue which is important to me. He could well have taken Obama to task over fiscal policy and I probably wouldn't have gotten involved.
The pictures are graphic but your point is well taken. As Americans we are sometimes blinded by the ills of the world becuase we don't see the casualties, poverty, genocide and other injustice around the world.
Yes, Bush and Obama received money from groups that support Israel but the Israeli-Palestinian conflict did not start on Bush watch and Obama has yet to take office.
It's nothing wrong with people enjoying the inauguration because it is historic. We don't know what is going to happen during the Obama Administration, lets give him a chance.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has a long history of being a religious conflict that politicians may not be able to solve.
Religious leadership must be willing to tell the truth about mankind, and how we treat each other.
Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life fighting inequality, injustice, and poverty, but I'm not sure there are more religious leaders like Martin Luther King.
Should the Bush Administration have been more involved? Yes.
Can man solve the Isreali-Palestinian conflict? I think we all should try.
Mr. Stephens, these pictures make me weep.
I must say I have mixed feelings about this post. I don't know if it's the title or the pictures. I definitely would like to know your reasoning with the title. Although you are not obligated to explain your self.
Damn this was deep. I haven't seen anything as graphic about this conflict. Thanks
I don't think shocking and shaming make people think or change their minds. But I do think we Americans need to reflect deeply about the violence that is occurring with our money by surrogate countries (Israel is not the only one) and sometimes committed in our name, or with our complicity.
Kelso's I do not have a blogger account. The ONLY reason I came to this is because I have a friend who is a follower and told me about this post.
Just to clarify one thing: I am an M.D. and I just got home from Gaza a week ago and returning in 2 more weeks. I have spent my entire career in war torn countries operating on the dismembered, the malnourished, and yes the AIDS population in Africa. I do not preach. I have my hands in it.
Do not get me wrong, I agree that all HUMANS need to be focused on the outside, however, it is wrong to sit on a pedestal and assume that people do not care.
Words without action means absolutely nothing.
omg those pictures just hurt my heart.
Torrance, I *approve* of this post, for all the of reasons stated by you, Rippa, Kelso and Sandra. Your selection of photos were excellent, if tragic and shocking, but was the point.
And maybe I've been smoking on Barack's hope bong too long, but I hope he's merely been playing his cards close to his chest and talked the talk he had to, to win that damned election.
I also hope that once he's sworn in, he will not be a sucker for the current apartheid, hard right and brutal Israeli government.
If he enables Israel's further descent into barbarianism, Americans and particularly black Americans will feel the pain from knowing they were wrong in trusting him to play the good guy.
I'm sure he's kept his mouth shut and let "one President at a time" deal with the slaughter over there so he can live long enough to actually be President.
You've read enough to know who really killed JFK and why, and it wasn't no fuckin' Oswald. Consider that, and why it's imperative that Barack treads very carefully.
I patiently await to see what Barack will try to do, and expect he'll give is his all in doing his best to bring a mutual peace in that region and elsewhere.
I have already began celebrating his Inauguration.
Your heart felt rage comes off a bit cavalier, even condescending... though anything but is intended; one need not look any further then the pic of the little angel you are so enraptured with :)
Your continued descenion (as regards our soon to be President) reflects (imho) the same fear of hoping 'to much' you espoused prior to the election.
That said, however, the idea that shock and shame does not explicitly educate/instill/embolden is purile; platitudes for those that while exiting the church would step over the homeless sleeping on the steps,,, there from to continue on in their pious enmity.
We mark the realization of social morays, društveni moral, with the names of the prophets of man whom, for their witness, shepard those realizations as though having loosened a 200' tidal wave over the recesses and trespasses of our collective consciouness. Today many will remember a human rights icon; tomorrow will be a bittersweet reminder of a prophet of man that had a dream.
... and throughout, it is ours to appreciate the progress while acknowledging the distance we have yet to make up... to aspire, hope ~regards
Please issue a warning about those pics next time...
Talk about a reality check..
American's have become accustomed to not having the realities of war placed before our faces. In a way we've become detached from the horrors and this allows us to continue on our merry way while the globe is made a graveyard around us and supported by us.
A good reminder that it is one thing to hear about civilian casualties, another thing altogether to see them. The world is full of suffering--the worst of it is the suffering of the innocent. Sadly, there is no end in sight, just a continuing catalog of atrocity.
Freedom of Speech, and I can respect that...I hope you will respect mine:
...there is a fine line between talkers and walkers, especially bitter, tainted talkers...let me know when you start walking...good day Torrance.
Thanks for the reminder, I am a shame to admit I have been so caught up with the next first family that I have forgotten about Gaza. So much for the news, they have forgotten also.
T West
it is what it is.
Damn T!
I know it's real in the field, but get up out of it for a few. Take the kids on vacation or something.
Sista GP
thanks i apologize but reality often slips our minds
Lovebabz
ld hope not for i am not your heart.
read what u want - i can live with that and if it is cold to care and expose folks to what they have not seen or are not informed about (as much as what is anticiapted tuesday) ill be that, ill be that
and bad - yep for the kids indeed
RiPPa
thanks home slice - but as my banner reads, every thing in this world exudes crime.
Sheliza
u and me both again sorry tyo upset u
Anonymous
yes i care, but it was the insesitive segragations who would hold your argument in the 1960s. I guess you have never read my blog before, or else you would have expected the truth and uncut funk from me
Curious
thanks for being honest - many of us like to deny , especially if we ignore it. like kids with hands over their eys thinking they cannot be seen
msladydeborah
i never said that no one else cares, but rather so quickly we forget - espwecially what we dont see, we can imagine but when we see - it ios different. i dont expect the news papers or media here to show such
KELSO'S NUTS
u dont have to be black, just a human being - thats the problem with a lot of us
Anonymous
no high horse, and why so much venom. I have lived in nigeria (16 mths) senegal (6 mths twice) ethipoa (3 months) 5 summers in a row in S. Africa. _ have lived in villages where there were cholera epidemics in which i worked, as well as seen and lived with kids mamed by land mines, and dont mention, HIV, TB, River blindness, dietary diseases - thats my life work. dont need to flaunt it, id rather just doo. again i have lived in these places,not traveled.
KELSO'S NUTS
Sandra s
well said and you are right.
Wild Gypsy
i would hope any human being would as opposed to fuss first
Nikki Wadley
just a rminder as dickens said "the best or times and the worst of times"
Nomad
we wont here and many of us prefer not to think about such or we would burst our bubbles
MacDaddy
i agree - people shock amd shame themselves, just ask the white folks of birmingham back in the day who saw themselves sicking dogs and spraying water hose on folks - they said it was not them, they shocked and shamed themselves
Anonymous
we do the same work. so we both act. i just act and speak what i feel, makes me no better or no less - service is service for this phd, and infectious disease specialist - u can read some of my work on the right side bar (some 40 plus scientific pubs). I dont brag, for as u say actions speak louder than words. wonder if we have worked together before? with my 16 yrs an an assoc professor at emory univ soph and my days with Africare.
never assume because i speak write or talk that i dont do the walk.
Amber ♥.
made me mad, sad and cry. im man enough to admit such
Kit (Keep It Trill)
thanks folk. i bet this psa aint been on the news since saturday.
esin
i can respect that but never will i consider to care as being cavalier, nor condescending, but maybe it can be for i felt the same when i saw folks having water hoses and dogs sicked on them as a child in memphis - so i resemble that remark. and correct such was not my attention
Tammy
my fault, imagine waking up in a place like africa where diseased childerne is a daily sight - and live in a country for 3, 6 or 16 months and dont just visit
nicki nicki tembo
yep and we are selfish - it is us and all else is not as important as us
The Masked Philosopher
sad indeed
Beautifully.Conjured.Up
I do not have to speak of what I DO, regarding child survival and maternal health In africa, nor prisions in the US and Africa regarding keeping black men from returning back to prision to HIV. Ask your self what have you done? likely nothing I have seen children mamed on the ground durting war in serria leone - yes i was there, u may have not been out of primary scholl then. but i respect yuour opinion - what have u done again. Have u see children in person in the village u lived in for months with missing limbs - or can u not stomach such maam?
Have you been in the mioddle of cholera epidemics in Nigeria, or seen folks with worms in their skin from river blindness, have you seen bodys float in stagnat water in New orleans? I have. and i was working to help othwers from suffering
T West
Thanks folk
fly tie
true
Rich Fitzgerald
lol like popeye "i am what i am"
Torrance,
You don't know what I've done, nor you don't know my past. The objectives of our conversations past this blogging experience didn't allow us to venture that far verbally, for obvious reasons.
...anyways...
Many of your posts are centered around the shortcomings of others, particularly politicians and others (as you like to referer to them as serfs, "dick riders", etc.). There isn't anything wrong with voicing your opinions, but there is something heavily wrong when you don't make actions towards change to support your actions. Also, to have the audacity to make an attempt to downplay this moment with another ongoing activity in another country is so gauche. I'm not saying I agree with the war, but I'm focused on what goes on in my country right here, right now...are other countries so focused on my history, my pain...the pain and sufferings of my great elders...what other countries protested slavery, Jim Crow, and the current attempts institutionalized slavery? Speak out and always support blacks in the country? Come to live in this country, learn the ways, and protest the iniquities? If someone wants to be happy about a black president, let them be happy. If someone wants to enjoy this moment, let them do so. Not everyone sees him as a savior, but for the ones that do, so what? The fuck is it to you?
How dare you wish to impose an idea that those who are supporting Barack and this moment in history...American history...are ignorant, mindless, non "free thinkers." Truth be told, if it wasn't for the walkers vs. the talkers, you wouldn't be able to think "freely" as you verbalize every time you wish to separate yourself from "the others." You probably would be hanging from a tree right now with your balls in your mouth or on someone's mantlepiece in a jar...let's keep it real.
I don't fault you for speaking your mind and being educated with your words, just be mindful that words are nothing without actions.
Have a good one.
i see where u goin with the post but im tending to agree with beautifully.conjured.up and her last comment. im not gonna feel guilty about celebrating the inauguration of BO homie we're living history right now.
War sucks. The worst part about war is that the innocent die. In fact... it's the only way to win a war. I mean, really... who else is going to matter but the innocent?
The pictures are awful. I thought it was a little unfair to lump them in with the inauguration. And if you were really trying make a point you should have posted some from some of the other awful things that are happening. Like Darfur. Or Tibet. Or some of what Hamas has done to Israel. Cuz atrocities of war happen on both sides.
Otherwise, lets just celebrate that we in this country have made one small step for mankind. And we can hope that this small step will actually count, will actually begin a journey towards greater things. I'm a little tired of people failing the man before he's even begun.
Blogger Beautifully.Conjured.Up
u the new richard pryor although u may not have been born when his 1st album (not cd) was released. lol. u speak of opinions but opinions cant be wrong or right - just opinions. and yea, me and nat would have freed u and had our heads on poles and balls in mouth and u would have snitched - once a slave always lol brain cell against braincell, albeit it foul, i will smash u any day cause u place emotion and self above reason and the collective - again - what have u done? may icall u stat quo? cause u aint answer when i answered, ever lived out side of america for more that 3 months maam
Amber-Alert
never said feel guilty, i said enjoy, maybe it was her consciouness, i can do both at same time
Bear Maiden
yes it is
Anonymous said...
Ok. WE get your point. However, HOWEVER.. why aren't you stepping foot into the Gaza Strip?
Is ISRAEL allowing AIDE to come in now, without blowing it up?
It's not that we don't care but what can we do? Write our congressmen? Walk a picket line? Send money? Spread the word?
Everyone knows about the war in Darfur, most of us are appalled and angry about what is happening - what can we do?
We all know what's going on in Gaza and as your pictures show, innocent children are killed and maimed for what?
And yet... what can we really do?
Can we change their history? Nope. Can we change the way they feel about each other? Nope. Can we change the ignorance of people who think they are right and want to prove it by blowing each other up? Nope. For every leader we take out (Saddam Hussain) there are 100 young boys, children, teens ready to be the new extreme leader in power.
When does it end? When they are all dead and gone? Can we force people to live in a democratic society as we do? Nope. Our standards are not their standards. Some folks are proud to die a martyr - really? WTF is that about? I don't think that you can change centuries of a fucked up thought process with letters to the President.
The people fighting in these wars need to stop - problem is, there isn't anything going to get them to stop until they want to stop.
One more reason I'm proud to live where I live and proud to be an American.
It was harsh to see but sometimes it's those things that stick in your mind. Deal or Die homie! Keep doing what you're doing!
thank you for posting REALITY.
too bad if the other delusionals out there only want to fantasize (like adolescents with the newest teen 'zine) about what clothes the new emperor and his wife will wear tonight...while others are being killed, maimed and made to suffer worldwide - and domestically as well.
Lol, a little perspective eh?
Your right, while we celebrate the rest of the world suffers, but it is a little unfair to tie this into the Obama inuguaration since his goals would be to deter this mess.
Lets be real Isreal was hell bent on doing as much damage as possible in Gaza before Obama came into office.
And thats because they got the green light from Bush, that who you should have tied it to.
Keep doing your thing though I like it.
MyCousinWasKilledByAnF16
im jobless and all my loot goes to my family
RunningMom
i never said folk dont care just that they forget, and ignore and mainly because we only see what we get on news here, none of the stations would ever show such
freemanpress
thank u folk
Truly Blue
it just saddens me to see kids in the mist of foolish wars
clnmike
only problem is that Obama has said he will continue the same approach as bush - y he has not commented on Gaza
In defense.. do you know WHY they are able to make these 'beauties' of pictures? It's not so much the israelis that hunt for little kids, it's the palestinians who use them as a human shield.
That's pretty much the difference.. Sure, there's a war and both sides are wrong for using violence, but at least the men of israel are MEN and will shoot, while protecting their women and children. The palestinians are happy to shoot from amongst their people, preferably from BEHIND some of their kids.
.. and so some will get shot and they have these pretty propagandic pictures to show the world. Just something to get you thinking about the perspective ;)
greetings from holland!
OMG dawg..I cant sleep with those images..and the title was a little hurtful...got something on ya mind..do we need to talk?
BTW, I do care, but what can I do about it? Pray and keep it moving. Sometimes we can only surround ourselves with the things that we can do something about. My heart goes out to them but I cant stop from living my joy (my president is black) we have been dying, babies have been dying since the begining of time. I wont turn a deaf ear towards it but I wont let it rob me of the joy my country has earned!
Dang now I gotta go look at something else cause I cant have that the last image in my head.
I hope I don't sound boring by simply saying that this was definitely an eye-opening and thought provoking post. And while I've been posting the past few days about what we should do based on what President Obama has asked of us. I will also pledge to further educate myself and be even more cognizant of US foreign policy and the REAL role we play around the world - either through our actions or our inaction.
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