Settin’ Us Back

  More and more people are putting out reality shows. I guess the Real World started us off, but we are left with ish like Basketball Wives, Bad Girls Club, Hollywood Exes. Damn near anybody can have one now, ranging from hair stylists battling, to chefs, to tattoo artists. Television has become such garbage in the last few years, my options have pretty much shrunk to crime (Criminal Minds, SVU, Snapped), drama (Scandal),and comedy (Family Guy and The Big Bang Theory). No more, no less. But what is the point of all of this?

 

TV is now filled with people’s personal scandals. How many marriages have shattered after they let the cameras into their private life? How many irrelevant people have become famous because of their rambunctious behavior? What’s it going to take for people to stop coming up with new ways to showcase how stupid ignorant people can look in front of a camera? Some of these people even have the nerve to act an ass when they have children around, like that’s cute. What kind of example are you setting, especially when you’re on one of these shows like Real Housewives, where all they do is throw water in each other’s faces and argue. Damn shame more quality shows aren’t out there anymore.

One More Chance

  We all know that being a big name celebrity awards you with plenty of big time perks, such as endorsements, money thrown at you, groupies, and fancy extras (vacations, cars, houses, etc.). All comes with the territory, right? Something else that’s a big plus is their ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ cards. Yes, PLURAL. Celebrities get that preferential treatment in court when it comes to DUIs, hit and runs, battery- the works. But let me smack someone with a beer bottle ONCE. I would be charged with all kinds of battery, assault with a deadly weapon, public intoxication, and whatever else they could find. And to sweeten the pot, my ass would be under the jail! Depending on who I hit would determine how long I would go away for.

 

Here’s the thing. I have a problem when I see some of these celebs do things that are clearly not right and only get a slap on the wrist. If they are a repeat offender, they may even get sentenced to…WAIT FOR IT… a whole two hours in jail. How is this any type of punishment? How is this teaching them a lesson? And for the children that look up to some of these celeb jerks, what kind of message are they sending to them?

 

Let me take it a step further and address one celebrity in particular. Chris Brown. It is obvious that Chris Brown has issues with his anger.  I think that the judge may have done the right thing by sending him to jail. Only time will tell whether locking him up scared him straight or made him a better criminal. I’m hoping for the former. He is a talented individual and I hate to see yet another African American male be subjected to the penal system. Here’s my issue. Chris was given several chances to get his act together before he was taken into custody, but so have a lot of other celebrities. He’s not the only one that has a revolving door to the court house in his life, so what made him stand out? What about Lindsay Lohan? Yes, she’s been to jail, but not half as long as CB. What about Charlie Sheen? Khia (maybe she wouldn’t count as a real celebrity, but she has been arrested at least twenty times)? The Baldwin family? I might as well throw in the Lohan family since almost all of them have been arrested for something. And why is it that the drunk stars stay locked up only long enough to sober up for the night? I guess they won’t be taken seriously until they actually kill someone?

 

There are plenty of other celebrities that have had several brushes with the law that don’t see the inside of a prison. Should there be a limit to how many times you should visit the judge before punishment (besides a paying a fine)? Should there be other options besides  jail/prison? What are your thoughts?

It Depends

   When a rapist says, “She kept saying ‘no and stop’ but I just didn’t stop,” it should be an open and shut case, right? Slam dunk? Not always. SMH

 

I read an article the other day about a rapist getting an extremely lenient sentence based on the young lady’s sexual history. Apparently the judge thought the victim “wasn’t the victim she claimed to be.” Excuse me? Oh yeah, did I mention that she was fourteen at the time?

 

It sickens me to hear that you can get raped, and depending on whether or not you’ve had sex before or have been pregnant before, will depend on the perp’s sentence. In this case, the rapist admitted to raping her but still got probation and sentenced to work at a rape crisis center. Really?? So only virgins can be raped? Ever heard of spousal rape or date rape? If you have sex with someone and you say no the next time, does that not count?

 

The young lady said that she was a virgin. They also claimed that the girl had an abortion that she also denies. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if she slept with a whole basketball team, including the bench riders. If she said ‘no’ and ‘stop,’ the prep needs to be punished accordingly, not the victim. And the punishment should definitely be more than probation. An injustice like this makes it that much harder for females to speak up. How are we supposed to trust the justice system if it discounts the wrongdoing against us and doesn’t protect us?

Hello?

  It seems like a couple of forevers ago when we had only house phones. Before cell phones. Before pagers. Before two-ways. We actually had to be at home in order to talk to someone. Cell phones have now been around for well over a decade, therefore, there should be no excuse as to why we shouldn’t be able to work them properly. Are you guilty of being an obnoxious talker? Check out these six ways we break all kinds of phone etiquette rules when we’re on our cell phones.

 

– We holler in it. Everybody and their mama can hear every word we’re saying. Why are you shouting?

 

– We feel extra special when we’re on them. Guess what…everybody’s got them, even seven-year-olds. So there’s no need to act like you’re a big shot when you’re on it.

 

– We don’t silence our phones for shit. Library, wedding, church, graduation don’t mean a thing. Our loud obnoxious ringtones can ring any and everywhere, plus add in the fact that we don’t answer until the fourth ring.

 

– We talk in cramped quarters. A lot. We don’t care who hears our business. Did you ever stop to think that maybe other people don’t care about what you’ve got going on? We’re forced to listen and it is not appreciated.

 

– We talk and text on our dates because we’re rude. Nothing more says that I’m not interested in the person you’re sitting across than answering a call over candlelight.

 

– We talk to other people while we are on the phone with you. Participating in several different conversations is not multitasking, it’s rude. One conversation or the other.

 

What annoying behavior do you notice or engage in?