captaincranky
Posts: 19,690 +8,831
I was actually never a professional photographer, but I was a federal employee, and I do have an associates degree in the subject.I don't know what kind of career you had as a photographer, but my bet is that it was much better than some of those kids in your hood, and many kids elsewhere, will ever have. There are people who dream of being a photographer, and never make it. You did.
Well, I simply don't like kids. As for my "funk", it comes from watching these parasitic wild animals take every last dime from the people they "serve", and still have nothing to show for it, save for the empty containers littering the street from the Chinese take out. Jobs in pro photography are as rare as hens teeth. It would be better to make jobs available in the "hood" on a more practical and more widespread basis. That's not a job for me, it would be a job for the politicians.I also don't know what kind of funk you have yourself in, but maybe you might consider passing on some of that knowledge. Ever thought of teaching a neighborhood photography workshop? My bet is that there are kids in that hood that would much rather find themselves shooting a camera than a gun.
For what it's worth, "humanity", is partly a conceit of man. From a biological standpoint, there are two species in the genus "Pan", troglodytes, and paniscus. Many biologists believe, since they share >99% of "Homo sapiens" DNA, that our species should actually be included in the genus Pan. We skate by on the fact the the genus "Homo" existed before "Pan" was named, and we're in the genus Homo, simply by being "grandfathered into it".What have you got to lose? You just might find your humanity staring back at you in the eyes of those kids. That way, you won't need Hillary or Trump stepping in, you could wave your magic lens and save that hood yourself.
Where in god's name did you even come up with the idea I have to explain or make excuses to you? Sounds like a bunch of liberal bullsh!t to me. "The only true democracy is liberal democracy, and the only true compassion is "liberal compassion". Spare me..I suppose you'll just make some sort of excuse to pass it off and go on blathering about how we're in pure darwinism.
Your suggestion is several pages worth of comprehensively impractical, both in the instant and overall sense.. The last time I heard about a barrio youth photographer, was when he got beat up, his camera stolen, and made the evening news. Take out "photographer", and insert "whatever occupation", in a great many circumstances, the negative results will be equivalent.
There are (ostensibly) many programs in place to undertake that which you seem to believe you can guilt or shame me into undertaking. And again, spare me.
Here's a hint, a great many of the black people who actually want to work, are doing exactly that. In many case as a result of "affirmative action". If I call the police, there is a real possibility a Muslim black woman might respond to the call.
Now "liberal politicians" have championed the cause of those poor unfortunate inner city blacks for decades.
But on about the 2nd page of the psych manual is the fact the no human endeavor is undertaken without an ulterior motive.
From time to time a politician will take on the challenge you have extended to me. It's called a "test case", whether or not iit succeeds is moot. Come election time, the same politician will start spouting something on the order of, "look at all I've done for you, you must elect me, so I can continue to "fight the good fight". The reality of the situation is, there was one test case, while hundreds of millions of dollars have been pissed away in the ghetto, simply so the indolent there, can breed more voters.
Your brand of liberalism requires idealism, naivete, and detachment. None of us can truly have accurate opinions, without walking in the other's shoes. So while it's wonderful to sit out in the suburbs and go through the motions of, "worrying about those poor black souls. I can assure you, were you to become my unfortunate neighbor, familiarity with a great many of these people would breed the same contempt in you, that is has in me.
When I was a young adult we had "black power salutes" at the Olympics, instead of hands on hearts. This was supposed to provoke the implementation of equality. But from where I sit, all it did was give us misogynistic, vulgar crap, which attempts to pass itself off as "music", and professional athletes who no longer put their hands over their hearts when the "Star Spangled Banner" comes on. So tell me, isn't "black lives matter", the same regurgitated bullshit as "black power", and do you think these people will ever believe they've attained "equal rights", before you're living in a cardboard box, and they've taken your house off of you? So I'm pretty sure this is true, "the more things change, the more they stay the same".When I was born, you were just getting your adult hormones. You would truly have to be a wizard to have dealt with your stuff by that age. Congratulations on dealing with it.
The moral of the story is, that which the inner city doesn't strip uselessly from our economy to breed more bouncing baby voters, the drug dealers continue the robbery by sending a good chunk of what's left to Afghanistan and Columbia for heroine and cocaine respectively.
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