As a "frat man" I have had my share of fun during my day.
I have Notorious BIG and Tupac in my CD collection that is collecting dust in my basement. My ear is not easily offended.
This does not mean that I don't have a discerning ear.
As I scanned the music stations in modern day Philadelphia and locked them into the presets of my rental car I could not help but notice the pattern with all but a few of them (WDAS for example) - 95% of the songs were about SEX.
The "Motown - Philly Sound" of the past talked about male/female relationships 30 years ago. The key difference is that these artists all went to "finishing school". In their coded messages at least they talked about expressing some "love" for their love interest. Today music that I heard in abundance on the "Hip Hop Voice Of The Street Pirate" radio stations and their young White counterparts that largely play the same rotation of songs strictly negotiated the flavor of the condom and if they preferred ribbed or regular.
There should be no surprise that there is an abundant need for a "Philly Freedom Condom" in the city. The Muzak that is piped into the city is mostly about sex and materialism. The feeble attempts at running public service commercials advertising the need to use the "Freedom Condom" is like a fast food restaurant that sells fattening meals choosing to have one small poster on the wall warning of the dangers of obesity.
IF ONLY someone dropped a well placed conspiracy theory in which the corporation who won the contract for the "Stay Free Philly" condom was doing "Payola" with the radio stations to pump songs that increase their business. Little did the studs in Philly realize - the spermicide packed within every "Stay Free Philly Condom" was actually hormones that genetically manipulated both people (or more in the case of an orgy) who both wore and received the prophylactic.
I was driven to the point where I chose to turn off the suggestive music and tune into the "Christian music station" with Yolanda Adams. I will never again claim that up-tempo music like what is played by Kirk Franklin, etc is too "Secular". Compared with the bulk of the other messages heard on the radio they are worthy of being on the Pope's iPod.
Analysis: The Selective Indictment Of Messages
In the political domain Black people are expert of "reading between the lines" and telling us all what the "Tea Party Militia" is REALLY trying to say. There are ample number of translators who can act as intermediaries and tell us why certain messages are repugnant to Black people.
When it comes to the bombardment of messages to our young people - who are in their critical formative years of life where - "one wayward sperm cell" OR "the exchange of body fluid" into a previously un-infected orifice can produce life-changing results - few of these same intermediaries and soothsayers speak up and MAKE THE CONNECTION!!
As I unloaded my car in front of my parent's house I noted a young Black couple walking down the street - holding hands. The male slapped her on the backside with a love tap. (I will not reveal my "manly thoughts" about what I estimated he was planning to do with her). As they walked past saw as the female played like she was mad at her boyfriend as she turned around and walked away from him. He gave chase, apologized and they continued walking together. (I remember those days.)
This same young couple are the profile of what my father told me about the fate of young Black males in Philadelphia. A young couple "have relations". A child is produced. The Black male who previously was care-free now is on the hook to produce a steady income to support his child and his lady. He soon learns that what worked in high school to become "big man on campus" does not quite work the same in the real world. Add to it the lack of a thriving organic economy that is producing jobs for Black people in Philadelphia and we see the roots of the cyclical problem.
I am not disconnected enough to realize that two young people are NOT going to have sex. ([stike]Hell I wish I was 19 again for about 2 months.[/strike].
It is also true that "I got mine". My upbringing and my ability to learn from mistakes made by myself and those around me allowed me to navigate around the craters that life throws up in everyone's way. For the young people in Philly who - we all acknowledge - start out with several strikes against them as they are in the "high risk" category - WHEN does this acknowledgement extend beyond our understanding of the need for external intervention and begin to translate into a modified GOVERNANCE MODEL from within our community as we show we value the "directed outcomes" that are now squandered?
With the crisis situation at hand for the Black community - the uncontrolled variable of "body fluid exchange" serves as gasoline on an open fire.
The secular progressive response are as I posted about years ago in the opening days of this blog: "Pills, Pamphlets, Prophylactics and Clean Needles". Their goal is to provide "devices" which provide barriers to prevent "body fluid" from contacting another.
When it comes to CULTURAL based enforcements in which the people are provided with a grand vision of themselves and then asked to govern themselves UP TO a certain standard so that their daily "denial of self" can make them stronger toward the desired end - this is discouraged as it is suppressive of the "Free Will" and expanded freedoms that this ideology prides itself it.
This PRIDE is our detriment as a community.
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