Riversboy's Xanga

Madonna baby daddy speaks again

Sun, 22 Oct 2006 20:09:37 GMT

This time he says he didn't know the adoption was permanent. He says he did not understand what he signed.

Anyway, the Malawian government, I repeat, is to blame for all this. If they weren't so eager to process this adoption for the convenience of a celebrity, maybe somebody would have taken the time to explain what was going on to the illiterate baby daddy.

Don't feed the gay animals

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 23:10:38 GMT

What kind of sicko pays money to watch animals copulate? People in Oslo, apparently.

The Oslo museum of national history is hosting an exhibit about gay wildlife. Predictably, this has drawn the ire of conservatives. The idea of the exhibit is to point out that "homosexuality is not against nature".

First off, anybody who believes homosexuality is not natural is naive, uninformed or dense. I guess, in that sense, this exhibit is welcome.

However, I believe the debate about homosexuality is often too simplistic. It has settled into one of unnatural vs natural, or life choice vs genetic fate. Listen, homicidal tendencies can have genetic backing, as can any number of behavioral traits, good and bad. That is not enough to decide whether they should be accepted. I am not saying homosexuality is wrong. I am simply asserting that the debate has to move to more important points, like whether or not it is detrimental to society (which I do not believe it is).

Madonna on the Cross? Not on US TV!

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 22:57:03 GMT

After a hard day's work of saving Africa, madonna likes to relax by putting on her favourite crown of thorns and stretching out on a cross. OK, that is a hard day's work for Madonna. It's a part of a concert of hers that NBC will air. They'll air the concert, not the crucifixion.

Christian groups vowed boycott if the clip was aired. Others are yelling free speech.

Here's what I say.

NBC has the final say.

NBC is probably more concerned about the bottomline. They probably are afraid of offending viewers. Their prerogative.

Madonna says she did not mean to offend, and I take her at her word. The way I took the Danish cartoonists at their word. However, like in that scenario, one must realise when one's work does offend. I'm not saying don't express yourself. I'm saying don't be so shocked when your expression is not broadcast, or is met with riots or burnings in effigy. Humans are touchy that way.

I personally do not find the crucifixion offensive. Just a little too... disco. I much preferred the classic wooden cross from Nas' "Hate me now".

Madonna and Child

Fri, 20 Oct 2006 22:44:21 GMT

Well, the saga of the Maternal Girl and her Caramel Kid continues. The boy's father (is he Madonna's baby-daddy?) says the advocacy groups challenging the adoption should go suck on a lemon. "Where were these people", he asks, "when David was struggling in the orphanage?" Where were you, papi, but that's another story.

Here's my take on the whole thing:

I assume Madonna has heartfelt reasons for wanting to adopt. God bless her for that.

I do not believe in interracial adoption, ESPECIALLY when that also entails intercultural adoption. The psyche of an adopted child is troubled as it is without a crisis of ethnic identity.

I am annoyed at the way African governments are so quick to bend the rules when it involves Euro-American celebrities, potential investors, or anyone with money to spend. If Madonna wants to adopt a Malawian, so be it, but shouldn't the Government be making sure due process is followed?

I am annoyed at rich Africans. If they did their bit and gave the way the Madonnas and Bonos and Jolie-Pitts do, would our poorer brethren be subjected to the indignities they currently endure? Would their fly-visited faces be scanned on every TV north of the equator? Would the removal of their infants from home and culture run the risk of becoming another celebrity fad for the bored West? I don't think so.

Gangs of the World

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 07:06:59 GMT

Some things on my mind after watching Gangs of New York again.

Americans are made, not born.

The truest distinction on Earth is Haves vs Have Nots.

The Have Nots are often the people least aware of who their true adversary is.

American is a religious affiliation, not a nationality.

A man's personal journey must always come first. Race, religious and national duties are actually choices. They must come from an individual's personal realisation, and not from external obligation. Otherwise, he is nothing but a slave.

Haves and Have Nots span the world. The Mexican crossing the border to get better wages is on the same side as the American who lost his job, who is on the same side as the guy in India who got it.

Symbols

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 06:58:57 GMT

I just watched Gangs of New York... again.

Man I love that movie. So well shot. So symbolic. So powerful.

So what?

Sometimes I wonder what use symbolism is to the general public. How many of you, when you watch a movie, or read a good novel, or go to mass, think about the symbolism involved? I do, but I am insane.

Maybe stuff needs to be more straightforward. But a straightforward idea is hardly ever believed. The truth is, everybody thinks about symbolism. The problem is, most people do it on a subconscious level. Dude watches Gangs of New York, and all he can say afterwards is that it "kicks ass" (which it does, by the way. On a visceral level it is one of the most kickass movies ever). As the months go by, he wonders why he likes the American flag just a little more, or why he gets a lump in his throat at mass after a lifetime of knowing God is dead.

Symbols are everywhere. That's how the world speaks to us. That's how those who wish to control us actually go about doing so. They feed us symbols which our literal, plot-driven minds cannot process, but which sink deep into our subconscious, and are gobbled up by a psyche eagerly yearning to find something other and greater than itself.

Yeah, The Man uses symbols all the time. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad, but always in his own interests. Everybody who tells a story has an agenda. Sometimes the agenda is simply for you to be entertained. Sometimes it's for you to believe the story. Sometimes it's for you to vote republican. Sometimes it's for you to put money in a collection plate. Sometimes it's for you to say your prayers. Sometimes it's for you to endorse a war with your vote, your voice or your blood.

Symbols are like spyware. They work behind the scenes in your system,. They have more control than you think they do. From time to time, under predetermined conditions. They flare up to make you act in ways you would never have conceived.

This is why I obsess about symbolism. I want to know what is going on inside my system. I want to analyse everything that enters me before it does, in the hopes that I can change its agenda before it changes mine. In time, I want to create symbols of my own, and flood the Ether of thought and communication with them. That way, if the rest of humanity doesn't care what they do with their lives, I 'll put them to good use .

God bless symbols. God is a symbol. God bless God.

I suck.

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 17:22:44 GMT

Have you ever felt you were great at something (and I mean GREAT), only to find out, in the most humbling way, that you were actually very very ordinary? Mediocre even?

I need to rethink a lot of things.

Thoughts on the nuke test

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 06:43:23 GMT

There is a lesson here perhaps for Nigeria and Nigerians.

Of course, Kim Jong Il is a crackpot. Yes, he is a brutal dictator. However, he also has a place at the bargaining table. We may argue about whether DPRK needs nukes, but we cannot argue about the fact that they got them in spite of American disapproval.

Present day Nigeria would never have the balls for something like that. To stand up to America and say "Go suck on a lemon we want xxxx". Our whole attitude is one of "do not upset the west". We take that stance for a miriad reasons: they forgive our debt; they can give us aid; they invite our leaders to stand at the far end of a photo in the white house rose garden.

In exchange for these things, we allow American (and by extension western) interests to shape our foreign and domestic policy. The commanding heights of our economy are being privatised at a time when only foreign concerns can buy them. We are signing global trade agreements that stop us from cashing in on the labor deficit in the west. Even China has picked up on the fact that we are on roofies, and have collected some pretty sweet oil exploration rights. Extradition treaties are in place that allow Nigerian citizens on Nigerian soil to be arrested and sent to America, without such measures ever being reciprocated.

My question is, of what are we afraid? North Korea just committed the ultimate transgression. They got a nuke. They did it smartly, at a time when american hands were tied. They will not be wiped into oblivion. So why are WE afraid? Why are we afraid to stand up for smaller things? And even before that, why are we more western than the west? Why are we the first to spout pro-western agenda as if we are benefitting? What gain do we get from cutting down greenhouse gasses from industries (and industrial output) just to save the environment, when we have not yet become fully industrialised (dooming ourselves to stay in the stone age)? What do we gain from these kinds of ideas?

I read all the speeches of Nkrumah, Nyerere, Kaunda, even Haile-Selasie, and I get depressed. For all their faults, that first crop of African leaders (including our Awolowo and to a lesser extent Azikiwe) understood the need for africa (and the rest of the Third World) to have its own voice. Autonomous and predictable only in the sense that it only speaks for OUR interests. Now our leaders are for sale to the highest bidder, western or eastern. Even the Indians and Brazilians, fellow non-aligneds, have learned and have joined the gravy train. smh.

The most pathetic part is that we still want "respect" from World leaders. Like they can't see that we are whores. That's all we are. And we are not even efficient whores. We are selling what we have cheap. Far too cheap. I thank God the arabs them had the sense to form OPEC, because if it was left to naija, oil would be currently at 34 cents per barrel, just so America will hail us.

That's what this all got me thinking about.

North Korea is Nuclear

Mon, 09 Oct 2006 05:37:56 GMT

They claim to have performed an underground test.

So, this is where those who were still being fooled realise that Bush's tough talk was just that. Talk. North Korea has always been difficult to deter in the best circumstances. Now that the US military is overstretched, it was just a matter of time.

Stay the course, Georgie. Heck of a job.

Watch "Fearless"

Sat, 30 Sep 2006 22:20:27 GMT

I'll review it later, but let me just say "Fearless" was a very good movie.