Where's my black TV?

Posted by Heruvian on 9:27 AM
Recently The Game returned to television with its season 4 premier on BET.  Although I have watched a few episodes here and there I am not a follower of the show. But what caught my attention about the premier of The Game is that Facebook lit up with comments and posts about the return of The Game around the time of its return.   I wondered, had I missed something?  It was almost as if somebody said they were bringing back The Cosby Show or something.  Then I realized besides The Game there were hardly any black shows on TV.  On broadcast TV there are NONE!   On cable networks there are six including BET’s The Game and recent addition Let’s Stay Together, and TBS’s Are We There Yet, House of Payne, Meet The Browns, and the newly aired Love That Girl.   So my question is what happened to black television???

I pose that question on two fronts. On one side what happened to black television meaning where are all the black shows (or any black shows for that matter) on broadcast television channels?  And on the other hand what happened to black television, in that the shows that we do have are all different takes and spins on the same concept and amount to cheap characters and cheap comedy.  We will have to wait and see how Let’s Stay Together progresses but I think it’s safe to see where Love that Girl is going.  Now I have no problem with comedy, even a little over the top “coonery” is cool in the right context.  In Living Color and The Dave Chappelle Show were great sketch comedies with over the top material, but it worked in that setting.  Even Martin was over the top, but we didn’t have 5 other Martin’s on at the same time, oh yeah and it was actually funny.  The majority of the greatest black shows of all time were sitcoms (which is another issue, you aren’t going to convince me that black people don’t like drama).  So this is not an issue of having all sitcoms, it’s a matter of quality and tastefulness and the overwhelming clowning image that is being portrayed of blacks on TV.

If we compare our current lot of black television shows to those of the past, even the recent past you have to scratch your head and ask what happened?  Check out the list:

Everybody Hates Chris
Girlfriends
Bernie Mac Show
Soul Food
The Wire
Living Single
Martin
The Cosby Show
A Different World
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
The Jeffersons
227
Roc
Good Times


In my opinion the difference between these shows and current ones is the realness and believability, and relate-ability.   We can all agree that African Americans are among the most talented entertainers in the world, yet with all of that talent we have reached a point where we are not represented on broadcast television (except in animation See The Cleveland Show), and the shows we do have are subpar to say the least.  Are we enjoying and appreciating what black TV currently has to offer or do we want more variety, more quality?  Do we want a broader representation of black people or Are We There Yet?
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The Red Pill

Posted by Heruvian on 12:10 PM
One my favorite movies of all times  is The Matrix. Not only because of the groundbreaking concepts and effects, but also because of the deep message and philosophy of the movie.  And one of the most memorable scenes was in our introduction to the Matrix itself.  Neo is brought in to meet Morpheus for the first time where he begins to explain what the Matrix is:

Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, or when go to church or when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.Neo: What truth?Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind. (long pause, sighs) Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.(In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue pill.)
Morpheus: You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. (a red pill is shown in his other hand) You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (Long pause; Neo begins to reach for the red pill) Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.(Neo takes the red pill and swallows it with a glass of water)




So how true is this? Do we really live in the Matrix? My response is yes! We live in world that is created to be an all inclusive mind prison that you don't realize exist. Lucky for Neo someone offered him the red pill, but many of us never get the red pill offer. Like Neo I was fortunate to have people that offered me the red pill and so now I offer it to you. Or you can take the blue pill and "the story ends you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe." If you want the blue pill then you should stop reading now! (Hopefully you won't)


In a nutshell what the movie referred to as The Matrix is a constant organized effort to manufacture ignorance in the masses of the Earth's population so that they may be controlled and manipulated to do whatever and whenever as it benefits those manipulating the people.  The mind prison has been constructed to come at us from so many different angles and places that we believe this is how the world is, so pardon me if I jump around a bit.

There are many books that will give you a great insight into how deep the rabbit hole goes. Some of my favorite are Behold the Pale Horse, Unseen Hand, Alice in Wonderland and the World Trade Disaster and there are countless others. But as Morpheus explained the Matrix is not something that you can be told about you have to see it, and the best way to try and illustrate is through examples, but ultimately it something that you have to SEE for yourself. 

Birth is a good place to start and the documentary The Business of Being Born does a great job of showing how the minds of mothers are controlled into thinking that the only way to have a baby is with an epidural and by way of C - section which makes big money for all parties involved. Okay so now the baby is born, and what's the next thing you have to do? Go get the baby vaccinated of course! Says who? "They" said that you have to do it and everyone goes and does it, but does anyone ever ask for an ingredient list? What exactly are they shooting in your baby that has only been here a few days? Formaldehyde, aspartame, aluminum and mercury to name a few. Some of these chemicals are neurotoxins, brain poisons that have been linked to Autism. If you are following the pattern of the matrix mind prison, the average person does whatever the system has programmed them to do without a second thought or question. This is the matrix, let us continue. 


Now that the baby has been put through a drug induced, surgical birthing, injected with neurotoxins, what do we feed the baby?  Some choose what God created: the mother's breast milk.  Many do not, the choice that has been presented to us is cow's milk, dairy. What's wrong with that you ask. Look at nature - milk produced by mammals is intended for the purpose of growing a baby of that species into a young calf, fawn, etc. Once they grow pass the infant stages mammals no longer drink the milk of their mothers. We have been taught to give the milk of another animal, (a cow nonetheless whose milk is intended to grow a calf of 40 - 100 pounds into a cow of 1500 - 2000 pounds) to not only our babies but we continue to drink the milk of another animal into adulthood. No other mammal does this, why do we? 

Changing gears a bit, what is the meaning of life? What is the measure of a life well lived? Most of us have been convinced that life is about making money so that we can buy things. This is the measure, this is the standard - the American Dream.  This is a huge part of the mind prison, because it creates mental slaves.  Mental slaves that believe that something out there can make you happy. " If I get that job, that car, that house, that man/woman, this much money, etc".  But how many times have we seen individuals at the greatest heights of success and wealth, sit in one of their million dollar homes and take their own lives. This piece of the puzzle, sucks the souls out of men and creates empty people that will do anything for money, status, power, etc. Of course this topic requires a much deeper and lengthier discussion. 


So now that everyone is convinced that they need money to buy stuff, what do they do if they don't have enough money? CREDIT and subsequently DEBT. Check out this clip from 

Money as Debt and try to get a hold of the whole movie.
 


Debt is the treadmill trap that keeps most in the rat race.  When the rats on the treadmill aren't running fast enough (paying back their debts) the system fails (see the current housing market collapse). So everyone has to be kept in debt (mortgage, car notes, credit cards, student loans, etc) so that the financial system as it is currently constructed keeps the rats on the treadmill and in the rat race.  

Recently BBC News reported on the top advertisements that changed the way people think. On the top of this list was the DeBeers advertisement of 1948.  For those that don't know DeBeers is probably the largest diamond company in the world. In 1948 they advertised that diamonds are forever and everyone getting engaged and married needs to buy a diamond ring. This is a wonderful example of the complete and total mind control that exist, and that no one questions. So now that the people who control most of world's diamonds told us we need diamonds to get married, everyone buys diamonds to get married.

Example such as these can be explored to infinity.  "The Matrix" is all pervasive in the areas of education, history, science, finance, government, health, medicine, and religion.  It's like being born into a world where you are told that 3 + 3 = 5. Everyone thinks that 3 + 3 =5. And the ones responsible for setting up this system know that 3+3=6  and are shorting everyone else every time.  As we look back on The Matrix movie we must remember that there are those who will fight to keep this system in place.


Always remember that what we see as the world today, how it is run and operated, is just AN IDEA of what it should look like. Once more people apply a consistent effort in their lives to free their minds from "The Matrix", the mind prison then new IDEAS will emerge on what the world should look like. 

Peace
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