Fear Factor

Growing up a young, angry black male in Merka was fun. Especially when going to clubs, and such. People tended to give you a wide berth, and if, by some unforeseen accident, they stepped on my foot or jostled me, then effusive apologies followed.

"Ah, dood, man, I'm sorry....let me buy you a drink."

It took me awhile to realize that I was benefiting from some trends. The crack epidemic, the dissolution of the Black community in Merka, the rise of gangs, and transition to third generation gang warfare. You know, the good stuff.

Because I was young, black and presumed angry, people steered clear. There was the assumption that I was strapping a glock and that I would, in an instant, go berzerker.

Those were the days.

Today the Angry Young Muslim (TM) is doing for the world today, what the ABM did for Merka. Man, you just don't want to jostle him because, you know, he just might detonate. Right?

Well both the ABM and AYM have some genesis in truth. The ABM due to gang warfare, and the AYM due to tribal warfare.

In the instance of the ABM the response was twofold. A call for "more policing" on the one hand, and a call for more sensitivity, "so as not to offend...." And pretty much the same pattern is being followed with the AYM, though granted, on a much larger scale (instead of precincts, we have forward operating bases).

The ABM is finally coming out of the death spiral, slowly and in stages, with the realization that ebonics, this degenerate form of rap, gang banging, and a culture of " me uber alles" are losers. Takes time.

Somewhere along the line, the AYM will realize the same thing, I hope.

But what does interest me, because of course, the scale is larger (and the stakes larger) is the harm of the "so as not to offend" model of dealing with the AYM. Brussels Journal posts these nodes, from time to time:

According to CPNB, there were two versions of the Turkish translation. One was the literal translation and the other was the version that took into account “sensitivities”. In the definitive translation however, the “different text files got mixed up”, resulting in “errors”, about which the CPNB wished to remain mysterious.

Sounds arcane, yeah, but that's how the "so as not to offend..." movement works. Baby steps. Don't forget, there in the late nineties, it almost culminated in Ebonics being declared a language. Had the happened, yous coulda carved yous a permanent underclass fo dey black man, massa. So much of contemporary Black Merkin "culture" is so much self generated (since the early 1970's) pablum, it's hard to know whether to laugh or cry. The "so not to offend..." movement probably did more harm, though less savagely, than Jim Crow. The movement fed illusions, and gave them life.

That's just How Stuff Works.

On the one hand, you have the "the Muslims are coming, hide your wimmin and children!!" On the other hand, you have "the Muslims are coming, hide your culture and confidence!!"

I wonder which is worse?