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Heavily into Hip Hop and all sorts of music, parkour, skateboarding, rock/wall climbing, bike riding, lawn darts, lawn bowling, and so on. I recently finished up my undergraduate work in Sociology and my next step is world domination—wait, you’re not supposed to share that part, remember? Okay, scratch that last bit about the world domination, he was only kidding. My next move is to obtain a masters in Humane Education . I'm an aspiring minimalist , avoid consumption unless "necessary" but have a weakness for music (mostly download, discounted or from the artist directly) and t-shirts (only sweatshop-free and those that bare a positive or critical message). And allow me to bury something more revealing about myself here: contrary to the impression you might get based on your exposure to my myspace persona, I’m quite shy and I’m truly trying to shed that. The reason I’m even compelled to express this is because I find it frustrating trying to find a balance between “lord vegan†and “me.†To be specific, I am available and capable to be vocal and share my stance displayed on this page in terms of world affairs, but where the true me doesn’t identify with the me you think you might know is where it relates to personal exchanges (I swear, being vague comes naturally)—as I said, I am shy, so I seldom behave the way I do here on myspace…isn’t it ironic. Anyhow, I don't know if I can really yap on about myself at the moment but feel free to chat me up...
why vegan?
something i once said, as i have realized that my page is cluttered w/unoriginal ideas esp. in the way of images--anyhow, here's an excerpt from a chat-session from a class i took called “creating a peace systemâ€:
I agree with how you are ostensibly suggesting that to be a humanist is more encompassing than a feminist. However, I feel that being concerned about the welfare and interests of humans can and does seem to overlook the conditions of others (i.e. women). The Civil Rights movement comes to mind or more specifically the Black Panther movement. The Black Panther party considered the upliftment of "black" women to be secondary to the upliftment to "blacks" as a whole. The idea was that achieving equality for people of African descent was the primary objective and then we can address the issues of women (in a patriarchal society, contrary to the old adage "ladies first"--men are first). Ultimately I'm suggesting that oppressed groups should be the focal point in the way of uplifting to the point of equality with the idea of arriving at a place where humanism can be exercised. Although, not to blow the word "humanist" out of proportion but I cannot help but to think of speciesism...and I am aware of the varying definitions of humanism but the overall concern of humanism is the welfare of humans, which by default would create an issue of dominance. Having said that, the philosophy of the Malinke culture comes to mind, which suggests that "all individuals, both humans and animals, are different, and if you force them to be the same, the only way left to them to be different is to get on top of one another" and this is not the perspective that Europeans or North Americans hold regarding heterogeneity. (pg. 5) So to finally make sense of my stance I am suggesting that difference is good and inevitable--therefore we should tend to the needs of those oppressed and/or exploited.
And now for an updated take on the matter. I consider myself a holistic thinker—I look at all the ills in the world as needing immediate attention. I feel that all oppressed groups should be acknowledged and working toward undoing that oppression should happen at a constant. I do not look at issues as “theirs,†they are “ours.†We all occupy this unhealthy planet and it is our responsibility to begin the healing. I am in complete opposition with those who practice unsustainable and exploitative practices. However, I am aware that not everyone is conscience of their participation in such destructive behavior—I mean; I didn’t even start tuning in heavily until I was 25! So where I stand now isn’t a position of judgment, but a position of understanding—understanding that it is truly necessary to get the word out because the masses are unaware for the most part. Where I do take the stance of judgment (which I don’t consider judgment but we can get into that some other time) is when people knowingly behave selfishly and perpetuate the destructive practices I give voice to on this page. It is truly time that we right the wrongs if we wish to avoid utter chaos because the oppressed will not always remain as such--whether that’s mi gente in underdeveloped countries where there land is being exploited for Western addictions (i.e. coffee, sugar, chocolate, etc.) or my loved ones, nonhuman animals, who are exploited for their being period or our mother, Earth, who is at a constant being abused for “our†“benefit.†As I stated previously, the oppressed will not always be the oppressed, the planet is responding to the violence we’ve inflicted on her, our friends, nonhuman animals are giving “us†diseases and contributing heavily to “our†environmental devastation, and mi gente in underdeveloped countries are unifying and resisting the exploitation associated with making “our†consumer products. So, you have a decision, you are either willing to join us in the dismantling of the machine simultaneously stimulating the inevitable decolonization process OR continue to deny beings the ability to live life freely, simultaneously denying them healthy land to live on and healthy food and water or just food and water to eat and drink period. It is not sustainable to live in the “lap of luxury†when the masses are steadily struggling to simply stay alive—it is not sustainable because those exploited are already indicating this reality and the toxic environment that “we’ve†created from this system of oppression can’t be kept quiet and justified forever when it’s poisoning and killing us at an alarming rate. So if you wish to carry on selfishly, I’d like to inform you that we are assembling to shut this sickening system of oppression down!
…because i’m more than fucking disgusted by this:
it makes me…
