Thursday, March 29, 2012

What’s going on?


To all those people heeding the media when it blows things out of proportion with its irresponsible way of conducting business, I want to remind them that what happened in Florida between a “white Mexican” (as he is being called by these clowns) and an African-American kid happens on a regular basis in California; and it does not matter who kills who, or whether the killing is racially motivated (which it is in most cases). 
     You see it all the time on the streets of Los Angeles; Hispanics being killed by Blacks and Blacks being killed by Hispanics, and nobody makes such a stink about it. Why? Maybe because black kids in California wouldn’t look like a president’s son; or maybe because there are no “white Mexicans” in LA; or maybe because --and this makes even more sense-- bringing something like that out to the public’s attention would not be of much use to all the free-loaders --are you listening Al and Jesse?-- who jump on the band wagon as soon as they get a whiff of profit, because they don’t really care about the problem, they just want their piece of the pie and the limelight. 
     From Vietnam years to Watergate, from Iran-Contra affair to Clinton’s well-publicized sex escapades, and anything before, after, and in between, the media has always exploited everything sensationalistic or with the potentiality of scandal just to sell more, without considering ethics (for the most part) or the casualties that reckless journalism produce. A good movie to watch along these lines is “Absence of Malice,” with Paul Newman and Sally Field.
     And, in the mean time, I want to post the lyrics of the song “What’s going on,” by Marvin Gaye, as a reminder (you might want to consider the song “Ebony and Ivory,” also) that things don’t have to escalate if we are cautious about them. Can we all get along?

Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, yeah

Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
Oh, what's going on
What's going on
What's going on                                                                                 
What's going on

Right on, baby
Right on
Right on

Mother, mother
Everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Come on talk to me
So you can see
What's going on
What's going on
Tell me what's going on
I'll tell you ya, what's going on

Right on, baby
Right on, baby
Right on, baby

Authors: Benson, Cleveland & Gaye  


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