Now, if there was one organization that really grated my nerves, it's any race-based institution that teaches social segregation to children. I suppose most people don't know what I'm referring to by "social segregation", I suppose I'll have to create a subsite or do a long essay about it someday, but it has to do with race-based culture's position in society. I suppose I should explain before going into Self-Enhancement, Inc., a local Oregon organization that teaches just this.

I am an integrationist, what is one of those you ask? Well, I believe that people should be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. That doesn't merely mean that you should judge others indifferent of their skin color and race, but you should also judge yourself in that light... to judge yourself based on race is the worst form of racism you could commit. Your skin is merely a pigment and a genetic reminder of ancestral origins... in the endgame of civilized society, it means absolutely nothing. It should not dictate your character or personality... if it were to, you would be a very shallow person indeed.

Now, just because I'm an integrationist who believes in the vision of America as a "melting pot" sure doesn't mean other people think the same way. Every day in every way you will run into people of all races living out and perpetuating cultural stereotypes based entirely on race. We all have a social "vision" of what is acceptable behavior for someone who looks like us and many of us play into that vision... a vision borne from commercialized America and our media outlets. Blacks, latinos, asians, and even whites allow their tastes in music, sports, books, movies all to be dictated by predictable stereotypical ideas based on their own skin colors. More than just that, their culture and traditions are affected... they even use ethnolectic slang to reflect their race "pride". For instance: How many black people have you seen speaking a variant of ebonics? How many white people speak in southern twang? To me, such blatant racially-motivated behaviors look identical. It's pretty pathetic to know that we don't embrace a common language & slang and that we change our very behavior because of something as unimportant as our own skin colors. And it's a shame children behave the same way in growing numbers, due to a society that has confused ethnic social segregation with racial "diversity". It's odd that 50 years after Rosa Parks, we see people of all races fighting for the seats to sit next to others who look like them.

"Diversity" is not the act of "respecting" other race-cultures... it's not "diverse" to play into the idea that we each should be bad BET/CMT knockoffs because we're black/white. To portray a stereotype intentionally is a result of intellectual sloth and a poor substitute for developing a real personality, and it's a big problem, especially amongst our youths.

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So comes along groups like Self-Enhancement, Inc. Now, I don't object to the idea of teaching kids who do poorly in school and tutoring them, teaching them to be respectful of their studies, and improve themselves. But that's fairly an easy idea to teach a well-disciplined child, and if your child isn't well-disciplined, then, maybe you need to go back to the drawing board on how to be a good parent.

Operating on the self-fulfilling prophecy that all black kids in the inner city are low performers, SEI plans to solve the problem by taking these low performers and forcing them to engage in a life of "options": most of those options consist of being around people who look like you and talk like you, being that you are an ethnic minority and that people value ethnic minority "culture" as "diversity" and not "racism". Yes, SEI caters only to ethnic minorities: only 4% of its student body can be considered caucasian (the American-acknowledged ethnic majority must need no help in establishing good study practices and being polite).

Now, statistics tell us that in the inner city youths are "held behind". Held by whom, I don't know. I tend to believe that if there is a racial disparity between performance of blacks (and other ethnic minorities) and the ethnic majority, whites, then that must be a result of some extenuating social circumstance (like the fact that most ethnic minorities strive more to live up to cultural stereotypes than doing basic studying). Oh shit, I feel like I'm on AngryGerman.com, it's a run-in...

White Liberal Segregationist: Why are you against a little diversity? These kids have no one in society to make sure they don't fall behind... don't we have to show them that their differences are important and to be valued?

Good ol' PA: "Diversity" is the intellectual tradition of respecting a variety of viewpoints, not to be confused with race-pride, which only breeds prejudice. Likewise, their "differences" do not make them special, their only "differences" in the respect we are discussing are their skin color... which is the least important of all your physical features. Fuck, the only differences I see between blacks and whites are that blacks are more prone to sickle-cell anemia while lighter skinned people are more likely to get UV-induced skin cancer. Whoopty-do!

White Liberal Segregationist: Well, if you can't respect someone else's culture, you must be RACIST! (dum dum dahhh!) Maybe the NAACP should write YOU a few letters. Why, *white guilt white guilt white guilt*... how can WE judge? WE aren't in THEIR shoes.

Good ol' PA: Racism is the act of judging others on their skin color and not their character. I believe in the integrated culture, a culture where people regard race as the least important of differences between them. Color and creed are not reasons to think or feel you are "different" from someone else. As for me, I'm a native american... most people confuse that for "white" because it's an ultra minority and generally not regarded in this race dispute... and you wouldn't catch me dead on a reservation wearing moccasins, smoking weed, living off casino revenue and watching "Dances With Wolves", now would you? If I hold myself to this same integrated standard and live in a color-blind culture, what makes you think I should view any other human being in a different light? There is no "WE" or "THEY", just "US"... at least in an integrated society.

White Liberal Segregationist: Eep, I have been defeated by logic! Run away!

Probably the greatest threat the SEI group poses to inner-city youth is the fact that they are consistent about their dedication to create a race-driven community for these children... children who desperately need to break out of racist stereotypes. I have seen SEI at work... they take these children to big social events, together as a unit. Many of these children forge friendships but more important they forge their sense of culture from teachers who teach them the basic idea that since they are all the same race, they are all in the same boat, which simply isn't true. It's a crass generalization. For instance, on activity SEI is known for is the fact that they take these children - sometimes in groups of hundreds - to movie theaters, usually to see any non-R rated "black" film, movies like "Are We There Yet?"

But maybe they encourage other activities that aren't so obliviously biased? Well, no. Sport-wise it's mostly basketball, and music/arts wise you will see many events that have "soul". Racist stereotypes persist everywhere in society. Why give a child a reason to mentally validate them by holding these stereotypes on a pedestal of achievement? Do you wonder why young black men want to be rappers and why young black girls want to be dance instructors (and no, it's not ballet...)? Who wants to be a doctor, lawyer, businessman, policeman or fireman? What ever happened to scientists and inventors? Why should people be encouraged to do what's ethnically stereotypical when these stereotypes are over-pushed on our children by our society as it is?

Maybe I can answer that question myself... to fit in. Maybe enough people in our society enjoy race-segregation, maybe it's easier for people to get by when they have something shallow in common, like race, instead of things of substance in common, like ideas. Maybe it's easier to perpetuate the species and enjoy life when we're not bothered to think about important things like character, maybe "fitting in" with someone feels like achievement. Inkeeping with this line of thought, maybe people like Bill Cosby are merely "race traitors" and maybe we should all keep race institutions going strong... maybe that's what this is about.

Maybe racist society amounts to jack shit when all it results in is children thinking... "It's US versus THEM".

It's thinking in those terms that spawns real racism. You don't fight that thinking by attending social activities exclusively with hundreds of people who are your same skin color. You might grow to get the wrong impression about the world if you did that.

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I spend a bit of my time working at a movie theater, so I was naturally appalled by this instruction guide to making a "popcorn pussy" Yes, a guide to show you how to cut up a popcorn tub to have a masturbation toy. Now you old men can all go sit in "Herbie: Fully Loaded" and jack off to Lindsay Lohan (actually happened recently, unfortunately) in style! You can sit there, enjoying your popcorn, and then sit there some more, and enjoy your popcorn.

Fucking filthy perverts. If I see someone trying to get a refill of a tub with this kind of tube in it, I will kick them out personally.

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Perhaps one of the most interesting, and fascinating science tidbits in recent news is a story covered by CNN of a rat brain being instructed on how to fly an airplane in a flight simulator, presumably with a degree of skill.

What they did was cultured rat brain cells in a petri dish, which was connected to 60 electrodes. For people who know anything about neurology, brain cells are adaptive. They learn by forming intuitive connections between each blank cell, and then the chemical interactions simplify complex computations. This organic method of computing is something real computers have yet to achieve... it has its advantages and disadvantages. Particularly, an ideal task neurons are made for are managing motor skills. So this scientist kept the rat brains cultured under a dish, and interacting with the electrodes, the rat brain input learned to successfully fly a plane in a flight simulator.

Yes, it did have to be trained, it's first few flights were erratic and nonsensical... however encouraged by the electrodes, the brain began to form connections that best fit it's purpose, and flew the virtual plane like an ace. This is an important discovery... the uses for this kind of technology are endless. We could give our computers a form of intuitive understanding of certain things organics make simple. Moreso, we could culture stem cells into a blanket of new neurons and connect that to the human mind... giving our brains an intuitively learned interface with our mechanics. Maybe someday such a tool could let us type on the computer merely by thought... so I can do an update like this without getting crippling arthritis!

Well, that's all I had to add... maybe next time I'll have a few more things to comment on. Oh yes, some movie recommendations...

Broken Flowers: Saw this today and it is an exceptionally poignant movie. If you get a chance, see it, and let me know what you thought of the film.

March of the Penguins: Irrefutable proof that penguins are more civilized than human beings. Many endearing and touching moments. Good film... Morgan Freeman is an excellent narrator, always has been. That this is a documentary makes no difference.

Batman Begins & Fantastic Four: Two comic-book based movies that deserve a shot. After seeing more clips from Fantastic Four, I have begun to slowly turn back some of my spite toward the film for ruining Victor Von Doom.

Dukes of Hazzard: Don't see this steaming pile of horse shit.

A new Morphine Nation is in the works, keep a lookout for that. As for other projects, mainly I'm focusing on moving TeeJ along so I can wrap it up early next year. Hopefully I should do another full length article for the 'NAM front page on the topic of copyrights and patents... be sure to keep an eye out for that if you are interested.

Later,

- Good ol' PA