Xpinionated

I am thinking about getting this tattoo on my back.  I have been going back and forth about whether I want to get another tattoo.  If I do get this one though, it means I will need to get a tattoo for every child we have, if I want to be fair and not show favoritism.  Whatcha think?  I may add ‘Lil Man’ above or below it….

As I’m sure everyone this side of Europe is aware, Barack Obama has gained an explosive amount of momentum in his quest for a Democratic Presidential nomination.  Unfortunately, I think a lot of folks, should he go on to win the presidency, are misguided in their thoughts concerning what a ‘first black president’ means.

If it does happen, it is without a doubt a great moment in history.  Years of struggle have led to this potential monstrous historical event.  An Obama presidency would provide validation for several people in terms of how far this country has come. 

To my dismay, though, I fear that an Obama win may be misleading on two counts.  I fear that too many blacks will be voting for Obama simply because he is black.  I voted for Obama as the nominee but not because of his race.  I have a very simple tenet in voting, I try to vote for somebody but I find I am usually voting against others.  In the democratic race, something about Hilary Clinton rubs me wrong.  I think I would have respected her more if she had stood up against Bill Clinton.  Now don’t get me wrong, and this sounds hypocritical, I am a Bill Clinton fan — at least during his presidency.  My reasons are purely selfish, my life seemed more affordable and less stressful when he was in office.  But for Hilary to stand by her man in the situation he got himself into, though somewhat noble at the time, seems like a very politically motivated move in hindsight.  And someone who would use their marriage as a political maneuver doesn’t inspire trust from me.  I didn’t want to vote Republican simply because the past eight years have not left me with a good taste in my mouth, kinda like Lewinsky.

Secondly, there are few examples in history where a U.S. president single-handedly changed the world.  Perusing the internet I’ll see comments suggesting that a change is gonna come for my black sistas and brothas out there because now there’s a black president.  It’s not going to happen.  Nothing happens in a vacuum.  Obama will still have Congress, the Supreme Court, and state Governments to deal with.  Checks and balances — learned it (or at least memorized it for the test) in high school.  Along these lines, we also have the possibility of unrealistic expectations.  If Obama wins and if the change that black folks (an undefined change by the way) expect doesn’t occur, will that tarnish his legacy.  Worse, (and this goes for Hilary as well), will the unfulfilled expectations provide ammunition against the next black or women candidate.  ‘Well ya see what happened when let one of ‘em in office last time’ motto will become rampant. 

What initially made our form of government great is that leadership was elected based on common values, beliefs, and ideals.  Far too often these days, elections are driven by party affiliations and money.  And that makes it a bit difficult to vote and feel particularly confident. 

For the record, I will likely vote for Barack should he win the nomination because a fresh outlook is what I think our leadership needs right now.  If he doesn’t win, I can’t say for sure that I would simply vote Democrat for the sake of party affiliation.  Just can’t do it……I kind of wish there was a black woman running so we could get the ‘firsts’ out of the way!

CNN has allowed readers to respond to the campus shootings at Northern Illinois University yesterday.  Of course, as with the Virginia Tech tragedy, the gun advocates are taking this opportunity to promote their cause.  They say if the average citizen carried a gun, the shooter yesterday would have been shot long before he could fire so many rounds.  They throw out the cliche ‘If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.”  What these advocates fail to see is that this shooter and the shooter at Virginia Tech did not obtain their guns illegally.  In fact, it was so easy for them to attain their guns that no one even thought twice about these individuals wanting to have so many guns.  In effect, the legalities that allowed these killers their weapons is actually part of the cause of both of these tragedies.

The next argument the advocates proliferate is that campus shootings are on the rise because they are known to be ‘gun free zones’ giving perpetrators a heads up on how much resistance will be faced.  This may be true to an extent.  And increased security in every public place is infeasible and in my xpinion not desirable.  Still, allowing everyone to carry guns would only escalate violence.  Consider the number of assaults that occur on a daily basis, in bars, schools, wherever.  Now imagine those assaults occurring with citizens with guns.   Instead of a fistfight and a night in jail, you’ve got wounded people, including bystanders (unless we’re assuming that once every citizen carries a gun, their aim will be dead on accurate), property damage and a feeling exactly the opposite of security.  I wouldn’t feel safe knowing that everybody around me had a gun. 

What about the predicament our police officers would be put in?  They already have to take great precaution to ensure that a simple traffic stop of a driver is not a violent situation.  Imagine that same incident knowing that 90% of the population is strapped. 

Then there are those that say it’s not guns, it’s our society.  Our society of “CSI”, “Law and Order”, and violent video games has propagated a culture of violence.  This is just a cop out.  These media outlets are not watched solely by serial killers.  We all watch these programs.  As such, if these media outlets exert such control over us all, why haven’t we all gone the route of mass killings?  That’s akin to saying that the kid that played the robber during a game of cops and robbers grew up to be larcenous.  Silly.  Indeed, there is something deeper to this recent outbreak. 

I think these killers have been around since the beginning of time.  Some never kill, never act on their violent thoughts.  Others dwell on them but don’t erupt until the opportunity presents itself.  I think the main reason we hear and see it more often now is twofold.  One side is that weapons are easier to obtain, whether legally or illegally, and generally much more powerful and sweeping.  Automatic handguns, rifles, and machine guns whose output would have been unheard of outside the military forty years ago are now commonplace in gun shops or the black market.  It’s time we make some weapons ‘for government and military use only’ by restricting the gun’s manufacturers from sourcing gun shops with these tools.  Secondly, today’s media is much quicker in getting information to the masses.  No longer will a report on the East coast ‘make it’s way’ to the west coast; information exchange is now immediate.  I think there have been tragedies such as throughout civilized (and uncivilized) history.  Try reading the Encyclopedia of Serial Killers if you need proof of man’s ability to kill (and many of the killers listed did their dirt long before guns and CNN).  We feel like more people are dying because more people are dying AND we know about it. 

I’m tired of it.  I’m tired of these cowards with guns.  I’m sick of these guys who can’t handle their own problems so they go into a classroom and shoot folks who have nothing to do with their problems. 

6 Killed in Northern Illinois classroom.  For what?  Right now there is no motive.  Will it be the same as the Virginia Tech murders?  ‘Boo hoo I’m an outcast’.   You know what?  Every single one of us is outcast from something, from someone, from somewhere.  You can’t pick the general public as your enemy and start shooting.  Furthermore, if you do, have the fucking guts to stand up to the anger and sadness you so eagerly caused.  Don’t kill random folks and then get scared and kill yourself. That’s cowardly and a punk way out.   If you’re man enough to pick up a gun and shoot innocent people face to face, then be man enough to look those same folks’ families in the face and tell them why you took their loved one.  Tell that family that you were trying to get a point across about . . . . what?

You think you’ll evoke change by killing random people and then yourself?  What message do you think gets across?  The only message that gets across is that you were a disturbed, mentally immature person who couldn’t handle the pressures of growing up/being grown and didn’t have the compassion for others to limit the consequences. 

In fact, your killing of innocent people only creates martyrs of the people you killed.  We don’t remember you when we think of the killing spree, we think of the killed.  I despise that news reports even include your death in the reported number killed.  Your name doesn’t belong in the same sentences. 

I do not feel pity for your situation of being outcast.  It is not because I don’t have compassion for those that are outcast.  It is because I reserve compassion for those that are compassionate enough not to give up and harm or kill other people to get a message across, a lost message.  The second you picked up a gun with intention of killing people you didn’t know is the second you gave up any claims of victimhood, of being the abused. 

At the point, you became nothing.

It’s time for a new category on Xpinionated.  I know, I know past features on this blog have often been shortlived.  But you know what, still my blog so read it, comment, and let me do what I does!

The first installment was on this story regarding injury to that guy covering Plaxico Burress on the winning Super Bowl score.

OCleftcoast:  tank, careful, I think I hear a banjo in the background! Yikes!

tankrose:  OCleftcoast, don’t be a racist on here. That is not cool! You have no idea what you are talking about!

OCleftcoast:  racist? what are you talking about?

tankrose:  You said you could here a “banjo playing” are you saying that I am a hillbilly. Watch that BLEEP !

OCleftcoast:  no, I was joking about that other guy you told to go clean his fish. C’mon now,

tankrose:  Yeah, sure and if the shoe was on the other foot, then what? I find that offensive! You have no idea what my skin color is and you are saying I am a inbreed, hillbilly. That don’t belong here. You want to go there, we can. Lets keep it out of that!

Cubbiesfan93:  Geez tankrose, he wasn’t even talking to you. The only reason you should react like that is if you really are a hillbilly.

OCleftcoast:  Tank chill, It was the other guy, his avatar, not you, lighten up!

tankrose:  NO, what I am saying is that kind of BLEEP leads to other BLEEP So lets keep it above that. We anit got to go there. Stay with football! Don’t get all racial!

OCleftcoast:  The movie Deliverance, maybe you never saw it! My apologies.

As I was reading this dialogue that had nothing to do with the topic of the story, I couldn’t help but wonder how sensitive and/or politically correct tankrose must be.  But then the comedy of this exchange rears it’s comical head.  Who knew hillbilly was a race?  And what exactly is the other foot when you call someone a hillbilly?  In fact, for all of his political correctness, tankrose is actually more offensive than any others befuddled by his responses.  tankrose makes several jumps to stereotypical conclusions:  banjo to hillbilly, hillbilly to race(?), hillybilly to inbreed.  Oddly enough, when I read banjo, I too thought ‘Deliverance’.