Reading Eric Alterman’s piece in The Nation. on right wing racism I came across this really good paragraph describing the conservative mind.

One may or may not be surprised to learn from yet another recent study—this one published in Psychological Science—of an apparently direct correlation between low scores on childhood IQ tests and prejudiced beliefs and socially conservative views later in life. Such beliefs, as the theory goes, offer “structure and order” that wash away the complexity of the real world into simple and identifiable rules, according to Dr. Gordon Hodson, a psychology professor at Brock University in Ontario. “So, it may not be surprising that people with less cognitive capacity will be attracted to simplifying ideologies,” according to Brian Nosek, a University of Virginia psychologist quoted in the Huffington Post.

I believe that all of this is true. A conservative is a reactionary they function in the negative.

This has got to be one of the worst things I’ve heard of in professional sports in a long time. It’s bad enough that hockey allows fighting; here you have an NFL defensive coach enticing players to “take out” the opposition.

“I never took it for anything [but] just incentive to make good, hard plays,” said a current player, who requested anonymity. “But I’m pretty sure it did entice some guys to do more to a player than normal when it came to taking them out. I mean, that’s cash. Let’s just be honest about it.

“If you took the star player out, he’d hook you up a little bit.”

The Redskins are declining to comment, but they can’t hide from the truth forever. A recent NFL investigation uncovered that the New Orleans Saints also had a bounty system like this. How does promoting violence over sportsmanship do a player’s career any good in the long run? They end up with serious injuries.

Of course I really, really want to dig in to the Austin, TX police department for their apparent lapse in judgment, but we need to also analyze this a bit further.

Henson says he was put in cuffs and Ty was whisked away from him, then questioned repeatedly about whether she’d been kidnapped. After repeatedly informing the officers that they’d “screwed up” and demanding someone get on the phone to verify his relationship to Ty, Henson was finally released without an apology, and instead had to sit through multiple lectures about how the police were just doing their jobs.

While I’m glad to see that a female employee of a local recreation center and the APD, treated what they believed to be the kidnapping of a child of color seriously, the situation was not handled properly. While the APD said they were responding to a civilian call that the child was being kidnapped; this begs the question as to whether we as a society are able to believe that a white man can have a black child or grandchild. Also, if it was just the APD responding to a kidnapping call and treating it as such until they were able to discern the truth, then they should have issued a full-throated apology.

This is really pathetic but it’s a truth that we need to remember. Religion is used to justify many hateful acts. This is one reason why I am not subscribed to any religion.

From Mother Jones Magazine on Loving v. Virginia:

Just over a month after the Lovings’ homecoming, police raided their place at 2 a.m., arrested the couple, and threw them in jail. Leon Bazile, a judge for the Caroline County Circuit Court, convicted them on felony charges. "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay, and red, and he placed them on separate continents," the judge wrote. "The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."

Yesterday, the entertainment world lost another one of its icons in Whitney Houston. Before her there was Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse and I’m sure a few others I’m forgetting at the moment. Many of these entertainment personalities had known issues with the fame and stress associated with their careers. In this regard, we can also look at music stars like Britney Spears and Mariah Carey who also suffered mental break downs. Even without the stress and fame, a celebrity often has the access and the ability to delve into an addictive lifestyle.

These issues aren’t just related to the music industry but they can be seen across the entire world of entertainment from actors to TV and radio personalities. It seems that the industry devours its stars from the inside out, then it moves on to a new batch. When you’re hot, you’re on fire and the entertainment industry will use you for all that you’ve got—until you’re star is no longer bright. In truth, many entertainers have issues adjusting to a “normal life” after their days of glory too.

As Jim Ruebens details in his book OverSuccess, we worship fame as a society. Everyone dreams of being a famous star of some sort. Look at the enormous lines of people waiting for hours to audition for shows like American Idol or the X Factor. The tragedy of it all is that once one of these aspiring fame-seekers make it, they can end up being damaged by the life they sought.

It’s seems to me that you should do your art because it’s something you truly love to do, not because it will bring you fame and fortune. You have to remember that the entertainment industry needs to make money and that often involves hyper-promotion of an individual to sell product.

I don’t write film reviews or blog about them often, but I felt that I had to comment on the film Chronicle after viewing it today.  I think it was very well done and is not what I expected whatsoever. I thought Chronicle was one of those teen Disney-like films. It was only after the buzz from people I follow on Twitter that I decided to go to Metacritic and saw it had received decent ratings.

Chronicle really hit home for me on a few points. It highlights the cruelty of our society as it pertains to bullying and domestic abuse. It gives the victim in the story the power to lash out, which he does to tragic ends. I found myself entirely empathetic with this character as he faced an abusive father, a dying mother and bullying in high school and elsewhere.

It takes special powers to make Andrew attractive to women. It takes having special powers for him to even have friends to begin with. Once this fact is known to Andrew it only antagonizes him more. I felt catharsis tinged with a little guilt watching our un-hero strike back at his father and the roughnecks who had wronged him.

I am someone who was the victim of adolescent and teenage bullying, so I hope you can understand my relation to the story portrayed in Chronicle. As a kid of Indian descent in a majority African-American and Hispanic area of the Bronx (a borough I often refuse to admit I’m from); I faced bullying on the account of my ethnicity. I was also bullied for my appearance which wasn’t limited to one race doling out the punishment.  The difference between the fictional character Andrew and myself was the fact that I lived in a good home with loving parents. I did loose my father at the age of fourteen however.

Since the tragedies of Columbine and numerous other school shootings, bullying is now a subject which is given more credence by school administrators. That is a positive occurrence. While we don’t condone shootings or even the violence meted out by a character in a ficitonal movie; we can learn more about bullying and how to stop it.

As a result of the bullying I faced I am somewhat of a tortured soul you could say. I don’t put much worth into my appearance and I only truly value my intelligence and the capabilities pertaining to that. I am probably also a bit of a self-loather; a term brought more fully to my attention by the comedian Janeane Garofalo.

I often say I wouldn’t wish life on anyone and I still believe that. Human nature has left a lot to be desired, though it tries to change for the better. It still has a long way to go and we are an evolving species.