Saturday, June 6, 2009

Female Friendships: Survival of the Fittest in the 21st century

The dynamic between female relations is twisted. I am a female but I feel that there are codes of conduct that are socially accepted among females that I never learned. Maybe it has nothing to do with gender but with basic human instinct. The betrayal comes when the trust sets in. It is said that " el mas amigo es el que mas traiciona", which means that the person who is your greatest friend is the one who has the highest chance of betraying you ruthlessly. Thats because this great friend is the person you confide in, that person which knows your deep feelings, stance on issues, and secrets. This person knows exactly what to do to destroy you and if given the chance in the correct situation they might just do that if it will help them obtain the social status they covet. Whether they do it out of spite or simple survival of the fittest the possibility exists. This is not to say that this knowledge is applicable solely to female relationships but men do not build up tension the way females do. Females compete in a very different way than men do, its extremely INDIRECT.

Im a late bloomer. It took me a long time to finally figure out what most girsl were aware of back in HS or even Middle School. I have always done my own thing. Having the ability to be independent and self sufficient holds more worth and weight than codependency. I always viewed female relationships as faulty because men attack each other directly whereas female competition is very indirect. I caught a glimpse of this indirect female competition in Junior highschool and made the unconcious choice to stay away from it. Therefore I was never truly faced with it until mid highschool and was never able to recognize it for what it was female competition. Anyone who "competed" with me I would automatically label as a chickenhead and move right on with my life. I thought it was just a faze and that as soon as I headed to college I would never have to deal with it because people in college were more focused, mature, and knowledgeable. Little did I know that this competition is merely a simple fact of life. I guess these chickenheads take on new personalities, and forms of social interaction but at the core of their existence is the insecure, backbiting, chickenhead they truly are. Some things never change.

Female competition takes on a new form. It deals with things that are more superficial and in extreme cases it can be very deep and psychologically driven. It can be explained very scientifically with Darwins law of evolution about survival of the fittest. The fittest individual has the higher possibility of attracting the best mate, reproducing, and passing on their genes. A large percentage of the population fails to remember that we are animals first, humans second. We are driven by our survivalistic genetic composition. If in order to survive an individual feels the need to compete, deceive, and belittle another they will do just that because we are animals first and humans second. For example why do females wear make up....they do so to be more attractive and to stand out amongst the other females in order to attract the best mate and therefore survive. Wearing make up raises certain females self esteem, and makes them feel pretty, confidenct, and juvenile. All of these being traits that men find irresistibly attractive. Why might a female hate on another female for doing just that....it might be because that female feels overlooked, not as confident, low self esteem and therefore belittles and criticizes a female who has personality, or physical characteristics which she covets. Herein begins the competition. It might seem a simplistic explanation but at the human core are survivalistic instincts. Why is a female who gets alot of attention from the opposite sex feared by other females...because she has higher chances of surviving and obtaining a mate or social status. She might feel that the attractive females has one-up'd her and has greater chances of success in different areas of life. If a female fears that this female has a higher chance of obtaining male attention or the attention of a specific male she is interested in the competition begins. The same can be said of a female who has recently obtained a fine job or is very successful in her career. The logic can be applied to popularity, grades, internships, and societal approval.

The threat lies in that female competition is so indirect that much of these thought patterns are never spoken but are exposed in indirect forms. The best friend or acquaintance who is constantly criticizing you for the natural gifts which you are blessed with whether it is your shining personality, independent character, go-getter attitude, your quiet disposition, your ability to dance well, good grades, your amazing wardrobe, etc. The criticism is delivered in such a way as to seem harmless but after the fact one can not help but feel attacked. If confronted the competitor will always try to dilute the statemenent by demean it harmless, a joke, or by making themselves the victim. It can manifest itself in the form of the hypocritical friend who acts decent to your face but destroys you when you are not around by indirectly distorting the truth about your character to others. Due to the fact that this person is or was your friend there is a higher chance that other will believe the allegations made towards you and seldom question. Therefore your competitive friend can be destroying your chances of succeeding socially without you even knowing. Female competition can be detected in the indirectly looks one individual gives another when you are in their presence aka the evil eye. Or it might even take the form of excluding you from events or meeting people which the competitor feels you would win over. Another example is demeaning your intelligence and leading others to think you are stupid by distorting your comments or interpreting your actions in a malicious way. An extreme example is that of the mother who secretly envies her daughter's looks, or personal relationships. It can be of the mother who envies her daughters relationship with the father if the mother was not able to obtain a healthy relationship with the man whom they are both connected to. The mother feels that the daughter has gained an advantage, a higher status and therefore conveys this message in indirect ways. These might manifest themselves in the form of constant criticism, arguing, or even emotional distancing. These are some examples but they all lead to the same conclusion.

Whenever you are shining at your all time best there will always be someone who will want to bring you down. For some reason this behavior is acceptable amongst females. It is encouraged by the belief that being blunt is equivalent to being a bitch. It is encouraged by stupid societally accepted and enforced behaviors of conduct which imply that it is better to tell a white lie than the truth. It is not ladylike to be blunt, it is not ladylike to confront. This might not apply to all females but to any female who has had to deal with this dynamic among their female relationships these examples dont stray too far from the truth. It is usually the person you least expect who unveils malicious intentions. You never know anothers agenda but remember that top priority in everyones agenda is to survive. Survival of the fittest internally drives us all.

Friday, June 5, 2009

The power of Intuition

Intuition is a gut feeling. It is a random thought. It is a subconscious perception of the truth. It is your inner guide. It is the voice of god or whatever other deity you worship or believe in. Sometimes your intuition presents to you negative thoughts. Don't be fooled this is not you being a negative person or thinking the worst of a situation this is the truth of the matter. Not all intuitive thoughts will be positive.

Have you ever gotten a negative feeling before meeting up with someone, or during and encounter with someone?

This is your intuition speaking. These random seemingly unrelated thoughts are the keys to your destiny. You can use your intuition to change the outcome of situations. If you allow yourself to listen to it. If your gut feeling is telling you one thing but everyone else is telling you something else...listen to yourself first. There have been many times when I should have listened to my intuition. I used to think that negative thoughts could not be delivered by intuition but they can. If you get a random negative thought let it sink in a little it could be your insecurities churning or an intuitive message. Not all intuitive messages will be happy and positive. A person is no lesser a positive individual because they listen to warnings of a negative outcome. If anything you can use this warning to avoid the negative outcome and manipulate it towards a more positive ending. This should be the goal.

More to come!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Dominican Self Hate

Not only does self hate loom in the African American culture in the US it also predominates in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic was inhabited by Christopher Columbus who brought with him many African slaves there to cultivate cotton, sugar cane and other natural goods. Unlike African Americans though the Dominican population was so heavily influenced by Spanish Imperialism in the Island of Hispaniola that most Dominican even charcoal black Dominicans today do not claim themselves as black. Imperialistic colonizers sought to convert the Taino populations of the DR as well as the African population into Christianity. Much of the culture was mixed therefore Dominicans today come in all different shades of Brown.


Dominican girls Luz Freiney Paulina, from left, Esther Celeste Santana, Mayelin Eloisa Valdez and Melisa Valdez, comprise the dance troupe Las Nizas. Below, Dominican author Manuel Nunez writes about the issues of 'black' and 'Dominican' as they relate to the history in his country. (Candace Barbot/Miami Herald)

Deeply rooted into the Dominican psyche was the concept of White is good Black is bad. Even though the White colonizers from Spain where the ones to destroy the original Taino tribal culture that existed there: enslaved them, tore families apart, and raped their women. When the Taino people could do no more shipped in ship loads of Africans to increase man labor and harvest crops. The Dominican population does not identify with Blackness. The Dominican population perceives Darker skin and other physically predominant Black features as bad, ugly, and lower class. About 90% of the Dominican population today has African ancestry. The DR is the only country in the entire world whose populations is mostly descendant from Africa yet fails to acknowledge its blackness.

Sensitive Nature of Black Self Definition in the DR. Society is Integrated but far from Color Blind.

So deeply brainwashed is the pop. of the DR that it is known for its predominant and flourishing hair salon businesses. Much like the African American women in the US Dominican women would do anything than to be caught dead wearing their natural "nappy hair."

Yara Matos holds her hair extensions as a stylist in the Herrera neighborhood prepares to give her the look of long, straight hair. (Candace Barbot/Miami Herald) http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/part2/index.html

Mariana Ramirez smiles as she sits in Daisy Gran Salon in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. (Candace Barbot/Miami Herald)


It is normal for a Dominican females to relax their hair as early as 5 years old. This is a life long process that many do not grow out of. Even women who have "good" hair due to their prominent European descendancy relax their hair without needing to. The research and funding that goes into Dominican hair products (for black hair) is very extensive. Dominican hairstylists are even gaining wide popularity in the United States for being able to maintain healthy hair that ranges from slightly wavy to very coarse due to the many differences in backgrounds.

There is nothing wrong with maintaining healthy hair but many of the treatments that are recommended encourage damaging your hair's natural state. Dominican hairstylists are experts on converting natural curly and coarse hair into very straight sleek and shiny. There is nothing wrong with that once in a while but when will be the day when the DR accepts that it is fine to let your hair out. Instead of encouraging shiny sleek hair when will it be okay to encourage wearing your hair's natural curly state. When will it be okay in the Dominican Republic to encourage afro's, and cornrows. When will others stop looking down upon moreno's for their kinks or curly hair?


When will it be okay in the Dominican Republic to be BLACK? It has been so ingrained in Dominican culture that blackness is bad that many go as far as selecting a mate that does not have prominent black features. Those who have big noses, big lips, coarser hair, even less income. Those of prominent African roots are treated differently, even badly by the rest of the Dominican population and usually are in the lower part of the socioeconomic spectrum. This including racial slurs, and demeaning comments. Many dark Dominicans being excluded for the rest of their lives.

What will it take for this behavior and way of thinking to be transformed into one of greater acceptance? Why haven't black Dominicans in the DR revolted or spoke up for themselves? The only way to stop this is for darker skinned Dominicans to stand up for themselves as a whole, not try to assimilate themselves with the rest of the trigueno population. To let their voice be heard either through music, activism, or politics. They have to be forceful and confident. After so many years of Independence the DR still has a long way to go. A revolution must occur in the DR, but only if the
morenos have the courage to stand up for themselves carve their path and encourage acceptance of their African Roots.

The Miami Herald has done a 5 part series on The Voice of Afro-Americans: Covering The D.R., Cuba, Nicaragua, and Brazil.  Here's for more information on the Dominican Black Denial.


See also:
Colourism
Are  Dominican Blowouts Healthy?

Sunday, January 11, 2009

"EARTH!"
"FIRE!"
"WIND!"
"WATER!"
"HEART!"

"Go Planet!"

"By your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!"

Captain Planet, he's our hero
Gonna take pollution down to zero

He's our powers magnified
And he's fighting on the planet's side

Captain Planet, he's our hero
Gonna take pollution down to zero

Gonna help him put asunder
Bad guys who like to loot and plunder

"You'll pay for this Captain Planet!"

We're the Planeteers
You can be one too
'Cause saving our planet is the thing to do!

Looting and polluting is not the way
Hear what Captain Planet has to say!

"The Power is Yours!"

Saturday, January 10, 2009

African American Community and Self Hate

I am a strong believer that the black community as well as other Afro-descendants are in serious need of psychological help. Any community inhabited by minorities should have its fair share of Psychologists, mentors, counselors. Unfortunately they don't. Slavery occurred and black people never received a sorry. Even the families and victims of the Holocaust received a sorry, but African American and other African descendants have will probably never share this luck. The psyche of the black community is fucked up to say the least. Loads of low self-esteem and self hate. Many of the violence, criminal acts, incarcerations, baby mama syndrome, narcotic transportation, are a result of this self hatred and segregation from the more "elite" race. Through the creation of ghettos, lack of funding, lack of psychological help, and motivation, slavery(this one is pretty OBVIOUS), the black community has fallen into a very deep whole and trying to dig themselves out of it. Lets stop the cycle of Ignorance and Enter a place of acceptance.
  1. Black Women and Self Hate: Natural Hair/Weaves: This is a video about black women and self hate from a Black man to Black women. It definitely summarizes key issues of black women and insecurities. I thought it was on point and it was created by a young black dude. The gentleman who posted these videos is very insightful, well-spoken, intelligent, yet blunt!
  2. Distinction between Biracial and Mixed African American: In Africa, before imperialism black people already came in different complexions not everyone was jet black due to the differences in geographical features in Africa. Not everyone was black blue!
  3. White men are strong but Black men are stronger: The untapped strength of the black community.
  4. BLACK WOMAN, Explain Why You Have So Many Babies OUT OF WEDLOCK:More Black women need to educate themselves and stop cycle of having babies out of wedlock. Education will set you free. Truth will set you free. Once the level of EDUCATED black females increases substantially, black men will have to get their shit together and see black women as more alluring.
  5. Relationships between black men and black women:This part 1 of 3 part series check it out!

TBC

Friday, January 9, 2009

Commentary on 2 girls 1 cup

This has nothing to do with what my blog is supposed to be about or what my purpose is with this blog at all. Its a commentary on this really weird disgusting video. I wish I could censor this so that younger kids who come across this never read it, this is for adults. I never watched it and refuse to, my imagination is vivid enough that I can picture it in my head as if I were right there standing in front of them and experiencing it live. I also never want those images to stick in my head. I never want my brain to capture that shit and store it in some small little cell somewhere among my neurons forever. There are crazy people in this world who have very vivid imaginations, strange fetishes, and who are in serious need of psychological help. Crazier than the filmmaker who came up with this and is willing to film it and mass distribute this type of content worldwide are the actors involved. PORNSTARS. Just because you watch someone jumping off a bridge does not mean you have to follow in their footsteps. What ever happened to normal porn. Anyways, I really do think that there is a difference between artistic license and insanity. These videos are for pure shock value but isnt talking or even reading something horrifyingly nasty enough. Putting it on video for all to see with real people. Its so animalistic, I dont think even cavemen did that shit! Only animals do that shit and even then its only for nutritional value not for sexual pleasure. Soooooooo fucking weeiird::::DEMENTIA::: I know Im madd late with this. It came out like last spring but not until now did I care to find out about it. And the females featured in that video... how come they are not sent to psychiatrists they need medicine. What could even lead a female to do that...extreme low self esteem and self worth...or MONEY. I hate money. THe things people do for money...its like one of the last entries I wrote.. everything revolves around money...so sad..so animalistic...so insane...demented...not even tribal people who exist today do that...so primal..Just goes to show that humans no matter how intelligent or educated we may seem.. no matter the bureaucracy's, governments, constitutions and all that other good shit..we're all just a bunch of ANIMALS trying to survive on a whole nother ballgame....we're all just animals.....so sad....Im so saddened by this...the media, film, art should be a tool to enlighten, educate, give hope, instill........so sad...that type of media should be banned...THis is my reaction and I have never even seen the video now imagine if I did see it.. so demented....................

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Crazy People On The Train Pt. 2

Every month I run into a crazy person on NYC trains. This was not a pomegranate seed eatin' bum. Oh no! this guy was a Lord of the Rings Smiegel like character who was past due for his exorcism appointment at the local church. He was obviously possessed by something. His voice was raspy and deep and scary just like a demon. He went on preaching about the death in Palestine and continued to repeat, "You cant see them, they can see you, they are inside of you, they are a part of you." (I think he was referring to demons.) In that deep, raspy, demon-like voice as he pointed into the abyss and grew louder and louder with passionate demonic anger. His body stiff, as a board, unwavering by the winding and motions or speed of the train. What else could he be talking about. Everyone else was scared shitless for when he finally decided to leave the train you could notice the obvious relief on people's profiles. Muscles had loosened up, the atmosphere less tense. If you think watchin the Exorcist by yourself all alone in a dark room is scary, this was live and unedited in your face footage!!!