Wednesday, April 21, 2010

This is Not a Mellow Post

This is my spot for a mental moment of Zen, aahh, breath in breath out. Okay on to the topic at hand, this week I encountered a couple of disturbing African American women but one in particular was a little more hateful. Her behavior made me refer back to Erykah Badu's new video in which she tries to expose "group think," which I have to say is a major problem with most of the world but many Black folks preach the virtues of having one mind as African people, and so far, this really has not worked to uplift the majority of Black folks in this country. As a Black woman these two women were laboring under the false illusion that I, as an individual, am not allowed to think about myself and my life without that being a problem for the collective, the majority of Black people. The act of me claiming my intrinsic right to be an individualist, to live by my own standards and not the standards and choices of the group sent them over the top and they began to hurl venom in an attempt to intimidate and ridicule me back into the role as a sheeple(sheep+people), you get it! They unleashed all of their ugliness and in the end, I dropped the sistah who's page this was happening on, even though I like her but she had some really toxic followers. The craziest of the two women kept talking about the "rabid individualist," and all of the horrors they inflict on the world, which is a ridiculous notion to me. Armies and groups of mindless followers are the real destructors and evil doers on the planet. The true individualist, I am not talking about a leader who is really just a follower because he needs the group in order to maintain his position, I am talking about the true individualist who would never demand or use force on another individual in order to make them bend to her/his will. The true individualist is out there living their life by their own terms and flies on their own wings, and never rides on the backs of others. The true individualist never says because you made it, you are under obligation to give me some of what you have achieved on your own. Collectivist always claim that the individualist owes them for their success. They seriously believe that the group helped this person achieve what they have and therefore, they should give back. What a croak of shit, why would anyone help someone else achieve greatness or to reach higher heights and not do that for themselves. Give back, wtf have you given to them, no really, I would like that question answered because this is always the claim of the collective. Don't get me wrong, people can help people and belong to collectives but, it has to be by choice not force. In the end this toxic woman who was a self righteous homophobe, and intolerant of any opinion different from hers, wrapped in African garb while pretending to be a "conscious rasta raw foodie sistah," was just a jackass in sheep's clothing!

4 comments:

  1. I swear by my life, and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.

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  2. Say it, Sis Talibah! You make an important point - the collective seems to take a lot of credit for something that it rarely achieves. Every person has their own destiny and their own purpose and when they surrender it to the whims of a group who is usually under the control of one person then they are living a life that is not their own. I suffered too many of my younger years wanting to "fit in" with so-called "African Centered" groups and in the end all I found was a cliche' of people who had no integrity and who were in continued struggle and poverty - they actually thought their low living was 'conscious'. I am so glad I woke up from the nightmare of group think - it is very cult-like. I now honor my uniqueness and love to us my personal power to grow and fulfill my goals. Thank you.
    Sis. Camara

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  3. i'm a little late on this one..lol. just realized you had a blog..seriously, really good points. i'm so sick and tired of folks believing that they have the right to dictate to other's how they should live their lives..i have very little patience for oppressive people- and telling me how i should live my life or that my anti oppressive mindfulness is flawed is super f'ing oppressive!

    i've always had a problem with african centered or very contrived african nationalism..i get to choose what's okay for me..so much of it is bs and filled with homophobia, sexism, classism and more! thanks for sharing your thoughts on this and i'm happy you removed the negative energy! nothing wrong with being celebrating individualism- through that i am of greater service...

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