April 12, 2013

If you truly believe that Christ died for all mankind, is there any stranger who doesn't at least deserve your respect?

Between the new social media trend of posting pictures of dogs wearing tights or panty hose, and the underground business of selling ferrets on steroids as toy poodles, this certainly isn't a week for kindness to animals. How bizarre can things be?

A New York street performer dressed as the Cookie Monster insisted on posing for a picture with a 2-year-old, then asked the boy's mother for $2. When she couldn't pay, he verbally assaulted her, and shoved her son to the ground, for which he was promptly arrested. Another street performer dressed as Dora the Explorer waited until after the arrest to approach the mother for money, too. Again, I ask, how bizarre can things be?

Wesley Snipes was released from federal prison this week after being jailed in 2010 for not paying income taxes. Wesley will be under house arrest for the rest of his sentence, which ends in July. In this current Bobby Brown/Lindsay Lohan courthouse revolving door climate, did anyone even remember Wesley Snipes was in prison?

A New Zealand film lover was awarded a refund after complaining that a scene that appeared in the trailer for the film Jack Reacher was cut from the final film. A United Airlines flight was diverted so that a family with young children could be removed by police after the parents complained that the in-flight movie Alex Cross was inappropriate for children. The moral of the story? I don't know, but I do know that I've endured a lot of rotten movies and got nothing.

It cracks me up that some consumers from West Virginia are complaining about negative cultural stereotypes being perpetuated by the MTV reality show Buck Wild (which, by the way, has been cancelled following the recent, tragic death of its star, Shain Gandee, which should be the bigger issue). Negative cultural stereotypes is something that people of color have been dealing with for centuries.

Just when you thought it was safe to watch the news: it was all over the headlines last week that Justin Bieber is wearing bangs again. And you were there.

Also making headlines last week was the scandal over Rutgers athletic director verbally and physically assaulting players during basketball practice. Of course, it is wrong for coaches to attack players in their charge. However, this has been going on for decades, and was not a well-kept secret. Is the general public only now finding this egregious?

LL Cool J and Brad Paisley have collaborated on a song called The Accidental Racist. The idea is supposedly to address a chasm between the historically divergent groups of southern people and black people. But, with lyrics like "If you don't judge my do-rag, I won't judge your red flag" and "If you don't judge my gold chains, I'll forget the iron chains", is it really going to bridge the gap, or just make it wider?

Laugh. You'll feel better.

Agape' -- P