Popular Culture And Scientifically Cultivated Ignorance

Submitted by Ras Jahaziel

 

The British explorer, H.M. Stanley was enthralled by the economic prospects Africa had for his country:

He is reported to have said “There are 50 million people beyond the gateway to Congo, and the spinners of Manchester are waiting to clothe them. Birmingham foundries are glowing with red metals that will presently be made into iron-work for them so that our trinkets shall soon adorn those dusty bosoms, and the ministers of Christ are zealous to bring the poor benighted heathens into the Christian fold”

– (H. M. Stanley, Journalist and Explorer)

 

In the above statement it is clear that Slave dealers were not only interested in slave labor, but they also saw Africans as a potential MARKET…. if their wants and desires could be effectively re-arranged. From out of this mercantile desire on the part of Slave dealers sprung a billion dollar industry to manufacture a product called POPULAR CULTURE.

This re-arrangement of the African’s taste buds has been so successful that today the African’s head is stuck in a Macdonald’s box…figuratively and literally. The African is COLLARED AND TIED in the European STRAIGHT JACKET…figuratively and literally. So too are dogs and cats and all domesticated creatures captivated by their taste buds and by their bellies. Just as destructive as the military force that was used to capture the African is the insidious manipulation of popular culture to capture the soul of the African.

CAPTIVATION of a people’s taste buds, CAPTIVATION of their wants, CAPTIVATION of their idea of beauty, CAPTIVATION of their idea of God equals CAPTIVATION OF THEIR MINDS.

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The "Imaginary" Yoke Of Colonialism Which Bedevils Us In Barbados And How It Has Affected The Thinking Of "Some" People

Submitted by Yardbroom
trident

We are allowing standards to drop in Barbados, appealing to short term popularity rather than moral standards, honesty, decency and being …Law abiding.  “Some” of our Administrators are falling into an unholy alliance and trying to lead from behind.  They are confident of a cohort who will come to their aid accusing opponents of a “Colonial Mentality”. To refute the charge standards have dropped some have given examples of degrading behaviour and licentiousness on a wide scale in villages that they lived in as boys/girls in Barbados.  From the accounts they have given, I obviously lived in a different village…I do not say this with any regret.

We have taken this new mantra – colonial mentality – to such a level that commenters are being accused of hypocrisy by people who do not know them.  To substantiate such a charge they would have to bring evidence of hypocritical behaviour but there is no need for such “truth” to get in the way in this new anything goes society. The advocates of this short term expediency inveigle us of the need for a whorehouse in every street…why not they argue, let us not be uptight about it, get it out in the open.  Men have always paid for sex.  Marijuana should be legal they say it is better than tobacco and less dangerous, even “more natural”.  They cannot see the contradiction “natural” a human being inhaling smoke, that is natural. Continue reading