I ain't going nowhere so you can get to know me

It's a daily battle to escape the one thing that has persisted through the years - Judgment. No, I don't mean the biblical kind. We all know we can't escape that (whether or not we believe). But it's pretty clear that even though one should "judge not, lest ye be judged", it's pretty pervasive.

We are judged differently on the basis of gender, of our socioeconomic background, of our religious and cultural beliefs. There are so many ways to keep score it's a little mind numbing. For example, if you are a guy - somehow we have been socially conditioned to keep score by such things as number of girls we've dated/slept with, what sports we are good at and our level of proficiency at said sports, annual income and potential future earnings, and even things like academic degrees and the quality of the institution attended. If you are a girl, you might keep score by things such as how close you are to the stereotype of the "ideal woman" (I think generally considered to be blonde, buxom, slender, and obeisant - with intelligence and other factors a matter of taste).

Then we move onto things like jobs and careers, where you might keep score by where your office is, what floor your office is on, what your salary is, who you know, how many industry awards you've won, etc. Once you have kids, it's a whole new playing field, ripe with more ways to keep score. I think in the end, most people convince themselves that they are pretty happy with what they've got, or that it could be worse, etc etc. But with all these ways to quantitatively measure yourself against the grain of society, there's gotta be a point where you say, "Hey, my life sucks. And I'm not OK with that." I think that this point is different for everyone.

Even the most pious among us can't deny having judged or being judged, even by their peers. I mean, there are all manners of sin to scale against! I'll bet everyone has looked at another person at one point in their lives and made some sort of moral judgment about that person or that person's choices.

Well, nothing here is new to anyone, I'm sure. I thought I knew where I was going with this when I started, but I'm not sure anymore. I guess this is what a lot of people would call "the game". "You gotta play the game" and stuff. Even if you don't want to play the game, sometimes you have to. I suppose I'm a little annoyed by the game because it's definitely skewed toward people with certain superficial traits (e.g. the color of your skin). So we all find ways to be included and exclude others. Now I'm mostly rambling, so I'll stop. One day, I'll learn to properly write a post - I promise.

You're fired!

I'll admit - I was skeptical about Martha's "The Apprentice" spin-off. But I think she gives it a refreshing new take. I actually liked it quite a bit. There's just one thing I don't get... why don't people watch these shows before they get on them? Or, if they do, it doesn't seem that way sometimes. The egos and over-the-top behavior that you see from adults who are supposed to be among the best out there is incredible.

It happens on all the reality shows. I think people just don't know how they come across. I suppose that's a danger when you have a very high opinion of yourself that's not based on anything concrete. One example is Judge Judy. If the people that appear on that show would just watch one or two episodes before going on a TV show that is watched by millions of people, they would understand the following:

Never interrupt Judge Judy.

When she asks you a question, answer directly and succinctly.

She can tell when you are lying, so DON'T TRY IT.

She can also tell when you are exaggerating, so again, DON'T TRY IT.

If you piss her off, she is less likely to listen to you, so DON'T PISS HER OFF.

Answer, "Yes, ma'am." or "No, ma'am." NOT "yee-ah" or "uh-huh".

It's quite simple. If you have any sort of case at all, she'll listen and make a pretty fair judgment. If you don't have a case, I don't get why you don't take care of it before making an ass of yourself on national TV over $343.98.

Ignorance is bliss

I've been trying to sell some old stuff on craigslist recently, and I am amazed at how silly some of the posts are. First of all, most of the stuff for sale on craigslist, aside from furniture and knick-knacks are a scam. Especially computer software. I can almost guarantee that 99% of the software you see for sale is pirated.

Second, the kinds of posts you see in the "items wanted" section are beyond belief. There are posts left and right that say things like "Help me pay my student loans - $1" and "iPod mini 6gb needed ASAP!!". It's hard for me to believe that somebody could have a desperate need for an iPod, and then isn't willing to pay more than $100 for something worth $200. One post was asking people for food to help the poster make it to their next paycheck.

While I sympathize with people going through ard times - I think there are rare cases when someone is working as hard as they can, doesn't spend money on anything but the bare necessities, and can't make ends meet, especially if they are single. I think the greater likelihood is that this person smokes or eats out, has cable or satellite TV, goes clothes shopping at least once a week and rents/buys DVDs or watches movies in the theater every week. I've known people to tell me they can't make the rent when they just came back from a $2000 vacation. It's incredible.

I guess there's just something about an anonymous bulletin board that facilitates such nonsense.

A simple explanation

So a lot of media attention has focused on the fact that the folks left behind in New Orleans were mostly poor, mostly black. It must be racism! Bush and other persons of power were slow to act because they don't care about black people. If the people left behind were white, it'd be a totally different story!

But really, I think the main reason why Katrina turned out the way it did (all possibilities of prevention and better evacuation aside - I read somewhere that the Bush administration cut funding to upgrade/repair levees in the region that may have stood up better to the storm, and we all know that the real reason for the utter devastation was due to the flooding following the levee breaches), was due to incompetence. I think this is a much more likely explanation for the resultant distaster than racism or bias. Local, state, and federal agencies simply didn't execute well. They even trained for this type of event following 9/11, and still couldn't pull off a satisfactory outcome. All they really needed to do was get food and water in there quickly, then start evacuating methodically.

Ultimately, we paid the price. A few million dollars of savings on the levees a few years ago is now billions of dollars in losses. What's that they say about hindsight?

Unbroken cycle

At first, I didn't have the courage to write what I was thinking because I know that many of my friends who read my blog have no clue about what really goes on, of the undercurrent that constantly shades all that some people experience. This is ironic, because they should. They should have felt this, experienced this at some point in their lives. So why waste my time writing about it, just so people can think that I'm crazy? I think a lot of people refuse to believe it. But then again, we didn't grow up poor did we? We are all college graduates. The American dream works! You can get anywhere with hard work and perseverance!! If you're confused, I don't blame you. If after you read the rest of this post, you think I'm a nutcase, that I'm making mountains out of molehills, that what I'm talking about doesn't exist, well... that won't surprise me. Anyway, on with the show...

It surprised me to hear that in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina that the situation in New Orleans has deteriorated. I thought that it would turn out like the many other hurricanes the region has weathered over the years - yes, there would be widespread devastation, but most people would be fine and help would arrive quickly.

This hasn't happened yet - apparently due not only to the strength and fury of Katrina, but also to the unique environs of New Orleans, a city that lies below sea level and is surrounded by rivers, canals, and levees. Now, buildings and levees slow the recession of floodwaters, preventing help from arriving by truck. The airport is closed. Ships cannot reach the city. You can only bring so much by helicopter.

Now we are hearing reports of "lawlessness", an accurate term for rampant looting and indiscriminate gunfire. It seems much gunfire is being directed at hospitals and helicopters bringing in supplies. Granted, the looting has become more about subsistence lately, but initially, it was about personal gain.

The saddest part? The majority of the people you see left in New Orleans, the faces crying for help, the faces we are connecting to the utter despair and also to the lawlessness, are black. I suspect that the people left behind are primarily residents who are not only black, but low-income. I also suspect that these people are likely to have lost everything they have, some including family, but without much means to rebuild and restore. Thank goodness our ever wise leader is confident that the people of New Orleans will be able to rebuild. That will make it happen.

I don't think it's unbelievable to suggest that more affluent and white residents of New Orleans were able to escape the city before Katrina hit. They are more likely to have cars and thus a means to escape, they are more likely to have a place to go or be able to afford lodgings. I also think it's quite possible that the people who stayed behind to weather the storm were people who not only didn't have anywhere to go, but couldn't afford to lose their home. What would be left for them if they fled, and returned to rubble? So why not stay?

It's a shame that hundreds of years of oppression have led up to what we are seeing in the aftermath of Katrina. Black folks stay behind as a result of their lower income, which is very much the result of the overwhelming barrier of institutional racism, which is a legacy of Jim Crow, and so on (I think you know the rest). Black folks struggling to get by transformed into black folks struggling to survive, resulting in desperate attempts to stay alive. Let's put that on national TV and we have just reinforced the notion that black folks are the cause of lawlessness. And the cycle continues. Oh, while we're at it, let's eliminate welfare and social security. We're already getting rid of affirmative action, so why the hell not? Everything's equal, isn't it?