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Money, money, money
Conspiracy of Violence
When you think of money, what comes to mind? Se- By Steven Malik Shelton
curity? Jimmy Choos and Louie Vuitton? Cheating hus- There are regular outbursts of violence across Detroit and across
bands? America as a whole, and this violence is often described as random,
Legendary rapper Biggie Smalls said it best in his purposeless and senseless.
Grammy-nominated single Mo’ It seems that as soon as we are over the shock wave of one
Money, Mo’ Problems. incident of bloodshed and mayhem, there is another outbreak to hold
This infamous phrase is us in its torrid and crimson grasp.
painstakingly manifested in the There are mountains of coverage devoted to excavating and
works of today’s media. See for
shedding light on every detail of the violent act itself: from the number
yourself. Flick through your fa-
of bullets fired or the kinds of stab wounds or the number of blows
vorite television channels. What
delivered. Neither are we spared other repetitive and gory information
do you see? People with sky-scraping bank accounts with
about these episodes for they are divulged to us in books, movies,
their monthly prescription of problems galore.
television programs and popular magazines and newspapers.
Lately, it has been hard to swallow the latest news of
It is a scientific fact that for every action there is a corresponding
golf mogul Tiger Woods who was recently in a car acci-
reaction. And virtually all psychiatrists, psychologists and sociologists
dent, which is supposedly linked to an alleged affair with
would agree that human behavior, whether benevolent, malicious or
another woman.
indifferent, does not spring out of a vacuum but is rooted in a plethora
Yes, everyone has problems. Every single living breath-
of aggravating as well as mitigating factors. And the one overriding
10 years of social networking sites
ing person on Earth faces daily obstacles in life. However,
factor is the influence of environment.
it seems like the fatter their checkbook is, the more law-
and we haven’t learned a thing
The environment exerts tremendous pressure on how a person
suits and false rumors they have to deal with.
will develop mentally, physically and spiritually, and determines the
By Jason Johnson
No one is perfect. And people do have to remember
social and psychological points of reference from which people relate
that people in Hollyweird are not any better than those of
Ten years ago, the majority of Black America was introduced to
to others as well as themselves.
us who are not drowning in the flood of paparazzi.
the world of social networking sites when Blackplanet went online. It
The American establishment should not and cannot be let off the
However, these men with mega-million pocketbooks
was one of the first social networking sites and the first to be targeted
hook for creating and maintaining a system and a society which is
should actually try to do better in life than those who are
specifically at Black Americans.
part and parcel of the violence that is cultivated and produced within
underprivileged. It seems as if men with money forget that
its borders. In fact, the rulers, fashioners and controllers of America
People met future spouses, business partners, lovers and a whole
they don’t have all the resources to cover up their actions array of dramatic situations that all began with a quick search for ad-
of adultery. Some people would actually disagree and say
have been involved in a conspiracy of violence through its institutions
venture. Now with the explosion of sites like MySpace and Facebook
that less money causes more problems and this could be
of learning, through its corporate-controlled media and through its
so much of our lives are filtered through the online world that many are
true. But money is always equated with excessive partying
government agencies.
forgetting about our basic human nature. Despite what some sensa-
and cheating.
It should not, of course, be surprising that America is an incredibly
tional news stories may tell us, these websites haven’t really changed
You could call it a shot of Haterade, but it is what it is.
violent nation. That it remains, as the late great M.L. King noted, the
us that much. They’ve just given everyone another outlet to act crazy
Money is associated with great greed and the media is only
greatest purveyor of violence in the world when we study it in the cold
when they would’ve been crazy anyway.
too willing to show all of this unhealthiness.
light of objective reality. And recognize it as a series of developments
Think about it. The ones who are making the contro-
and military and economic conspiracies steeped in a culture of White The most recent case that comes to mind has been dubbed the
versial headlines have over six zeros in their bank account.
supremacy and devoted to the plunder and domination of Black and “Fighting Facebook” teachers, about two teachers at Rex Middle
Not always, but often enough.
non-White people by violence, intimidation and deceit. School in Clayton County, GA, who got into a fistfight during school
People need to start appreciating what they have
It is a methodology of violence that stretches back to the time hours.
and understand that money isn’t everything. More money
when the first Europeans landed on the shores of the Americas late
Chaka Cobb (I know, I chuckled too) discovered that she and
should mean spending more time with the people you love
in the 13th century.
fellow teacher Ebony Smith were sleeping with the same man, middle
and not having a better reason to get away with madness.
This violence against dark-skinned people by those classified as
school gym teacher Derek Green, after reading the following saucy
Getting rich doesn’t mean life gets easier; it just means
Whites or Europeans has continued to the present day and prompted
love letter posted by Smith on Green’s Facebook page: “I am in love
you have access to more resources of obtaining the life-
many Blacks to prey on each other and to strike out with a violence of
with you. I am tired of being your every blue moon [expletive]”. All hell
style you crave. At the end of the day, people have to
their own stemming from a virulent strain of self-hatred.
broke loose after this when Cobb, who was pregnant with Green’s
realize that you shouldn’t take life or any relationship for
Yet all violence in America must be viewed through the lens of the
child, took the conflict to the “streets” and attacked Smith during
granted, no matter how much money you have.
surrounding social, economic, political and historical landscape from
school hours forcing other teachers to break up the fight.
Remember what mother said back in the day:
which it is born. To do less will make us co-conspirators on the path
“Don’t write a check your a** can’t cash.” that leads to bitterness, frustration and destruction.
The problem I see is that while many incredible stories of love,
lust and general bad behavior are being associated with MySpace,
ComiC ConneCtion
Facebook and Blackplanet, the truth is that these websites are just an
extension of behavior people have always engaged in and now they
simply have another way to act the fool.
I can speak from personal experience when I say that most of
these recent sites are used so differently between age groups that
the constant focus on one set of actions by a few outliers just doesn’t
make sense. Roughly 50 percent of all teens between 13 and 17 have
a social networking webpage of some variety, according to recent
studies. Yet, the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is actually
women over the age of 40 who are joining at the behest of their kids.
These aren’t groups of people who are chasing each other down the
hallway because someone else is sleeping with their man. And if they
are, they would’ve done so whether they were on Facebook or not.
Ultimately we should learn that just like any other piece of tech-
nology the web is more of a window into what we are than an influ-
ence on it. Men and women are still going to do crazy things for and
with each other, hidden notes and undergarments will still be found
unintentionally and crazy will still happen. We just can’t blame it on
the online world because it’s always been this way.
The Michigan FrontPage • December 4, 2009 5
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