Not My Kids!

I don't care what people say but I'm going to do my best to make sure my kids aren't subjected to the dirty stuff represented in the Hip Hop video we watched in class. I'm going to do my best to sensor what they watch, read, see, or listen to while they are living under mine and my future wife's roof. I know I wont always be able to control what happens as soon as they leave the house or grow up and move on, but I hope that I can teach them correct principles to be able to govern them selves to make the right choices.

I'm great full for the education I've received, making it possible for me to determine what right choices I've need to make. I'm glad that I've been given the ability to see more than what some Hip Hop videos supposedly have to offer. I will admit that I use to listen to some of the music that was in the video we watched and I will say that it didn't make me a better person. I've become a better person since removing that type of music from my life. Some people might say that I turned out just fine having listened to the type of music I did or making the mistakes I made growing up. I'm not blaming my younger self problems on music, but it can have an affect on a person. Maybe I got lucky. Not everyone is going to be lucky like I feel I am and turn out okay. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I do love my life and where I am in it. I still listen to Hip Hop, but not on the scale portrayed in the video. That stuff in my opinion if filth. It doesn't do anyone any good. Yeah it may have a good beat, but the lyrics can represent so many wrong things with our society. No matter what anyone says, music like that is more than just the beat. In all genres of music its more than whats in the beat. There is so much more to music than the beat that moves your body.

Like I mentioned in class I think that having a good education helps a person learn what they must do treat others with respect. With a good education you can determine that humans are more than just flesh and bone or just an object. You learn of the joy of a good friendship, the beauty of art, the joys of music that will hopefully not defile the brain, the peace that if you work hard you can do so much good with your life.

It may be true to say that you are what you listen to. I hope the music on my blog can portray a little of who I am. Remember I'm not perfect and I can still improve on the type of music I listen to. I'm still trying to become a better person.

When will "IT" go Away?

Why does it have to be this way? When are we going to decide to remember the past and learn from it and then let it go? I hate racism. Nothing good comes from it. It helps no one and everyone who chooses to be racist is ruining themselves. I saw portions of it on my mission in South Africa and it was never good. I remember one time when one of my mission companions, who is black, called me racist in jest, but it still bugged me a little. He and I grew to get along well and became good friends. Sometimes we still talk. I loved and still love the people of South Africa. They taught me so much, and we did not sit there and talk about race all the time. We talked about what we enjoyed and loved as individual humans. The people that became my friends in South Africa did not care what color my skin was and I did not care what color their skin was.

Like I mentioned in class it still feels like racism exist because people would rather dwell on the past and use it to there advantage in any argument they make. I can not be blamed for what my parents or grand parents did and so it is the same for what our ancestors may have done. I'm not them. My parents and grandparents are in no way racist. I am my own individual and I am making my own choices. If someone wants to get mad at me, make sure I caused the problem and not some body else. I hope to the best of my ability that I haven't offended anyone with this post.

I know I'm not perfect and I judge wrongly sometimes. It's part of being human, but I do my best to become better. I try to overcome being judgmental and learn so that I can better myself and those around me. I don't feel like I have grown up in a racist society but I know that racism exist in our society. My only hope is that the next generation learns from our mistakes and remembers them but does not dwell on them.

Disappointed

Can I just tell you how disappointed I am in Under Armour. I really didn't like that ad that we saw in class. I don't think that they should have ever gone that way in their advertising. Under Armour gear has always in my opinion been an athletic or active wear. It almost makes it seem like if you wear their underwear you are interested in being sexually active. Not to say that's what they are going for, but I mean come on, that's just ridiculous. As I'm writing this blog my friend says, "Wait your not interested in being sexually active if your wearing Under Armour? That's what I thought."
Of course he was joking but that just proves how ridiculous the ad is.

I feel the same way about Axe body spray. Why can't a guy just walk around smelling good just to impress the ladies or just to get a complement? Why do I have feel like that if I'm going to wear Axe that I'm asking woman to come after me sexually? I enjoy wearing Axe because i think it does make me smell nice and I also enjoy the compliments that I get form the opposite sex. If any of you have seen the new commercial for Axe's new body spray, Dark Temptation, then you can understand why it's annoying what they do. It's kind of a disturbing commercial. The spray turns the guy into chocolate and the women are fawning all over him. At one point in the commercial one of the girls takes a bite out of the man's chocolate back side. Weird! Check out their web site to read what they have to say about their Axe body spray. If you click on the web site, then click on the body spray section and read what it says.

http://www.theaxeeffect.com/axeproducts.html

Their commercials also demean woman. It makes them seem like just an object. The woman are always flocking to the guy like he is the last man on earth. A friend of mine made a comment that also makes it seem like the women can be controlled simply by a smell. The Dark Temptation commercial also says that it's as tempting to woman just as much as chocolate is to woman. And I'm pretty sure that not all woman "love" chocolate.

Yes Sir!

I guess I never really cared to much about whether or not I have been called a boy in the past, but the more I think about I appreciate being referred to as a man, but I don't think I'll be to offended at this time in my life to be called a boy. When we look at colleges sports and how media refers to team they don't call them the boys football team or the girls soccer team. They refer to them as the MEN'S football team or the WOMEN'S soccer team. I wonder what kind of guff a reporter would get for calling the UVU or BYU woman's soccer teams girls soccer teams. You might almost think of it as disrespectful because they are at a higher stage of life and have moved on past being girls. I do my best to refer to my girlfriends as ladies when i say hello or goodbye to them in groups. It does seem more respectful and I've just gotten used to saying it. I do however find my self using "guys" in the plural sense when referring to a group of men and women together. I guess I can't think of a better term at the moment. Does anyone out there have a good one for me to use when refering to men and women in a group?

And I'll tell you right now that I don't mind being called Sir. But for men it seems more distinguished and it makes you feel more important. It seems quite the opposite for women. It almost seems that most woman don't like being called Mam because it denotes being older than they really are. It almost seems like that's the way society has caused it to be used. To almost denote a negative context. I wonder how it got that way. I don't think I have ever used the term mam in a negative way, that I know of. But I also don't go around calling all woman, mam.