Dumb-Downed Pt. 2
Well the juices are flowing today so I thought I would get another one out. For me there are two topics of discussion that I don’t really like indulging in…Politics and Religion. The reason why I don’t is because you will always find yourself getting in a heated debate over what you believe. If you are a Republican you will more than likely argue with a Democrat over your beliefs and stance. If you are a Christian you will more than like find yourself in a debate with someone of another religion (or not) over what you believe. Me personally…If you feel it’s real, then I am happy for you. I would rather take the fact that we agree that we disagree on something rather than to keep going back and forth with you. So allow me to share my thoughts on why I feel these 2 topics are used as tools to DUMB US DOWN.
Politics – I had to do this first. Because I feel this one is the biggest tool for “dumbing-down” a nation. As a child my grandparents (as far as I can recall) didn’t really talk about politics in front of me or around me. I do remember hearing my grandmother calling Nixon “Tricky Dick” on day but nothing other than that comes to mind. I can recall as a teen folks were talking about “Reaganomics” but I never really was phased by it. It wasn’t until 1994 when I got introduced to politics and I will never forget it. I had been asked by a friend/brother to help out with a campaign he was working on. Now the friend was (and always will be) someone I have always had a GREAT amount of respect for, and was (and still is) very active in DC politics. He was DC’s first youth Mayor and has always been what I would consider a very respected person in the city. So when he asked me to help him out I didn’t have to think about my answer.
Now this campaign was for the Ward 6 City Council and I honestly had no idea what was going on but I knew I was not gonna let my friend down. I met a lot of people and had a chance to see a lot from behind the scenes. Like the brain-storming sessions that keep the candidate current so they can win. The long days (and some nights) going out putting up posters and signs for people to vote for the candidate. Hell I remember the times we were about to lock it up with other candidate staff members for tearing down our signs. The celebratory parties and pep rallies that were held. But I will never forget the night I discovered I would never be a lover of politics and just how much it is used to dumb us down.
It was during one of the candidate forums. We were asked to pay attention to the candidate and kinda listen to what they people were saying at the forum. One of the things I noticed about our candidate was he never seemed like he was really interested when other candidates spoke at the forums. He didn’t look like he was writing down anything (not even a doodle) when he wasn’t answering questions like some of the other candidates did. He didn’t really sound assuring or convincing when he answered questions so it was these things we made a point to bring to his attention during the brainstorming sessions. One particular night an elderly lady at one of the forums asked him a question and he basically sounded like he was blowing her off nor did he care when he responded to her question. That bothered me because at that time my grandmother was still alive and I could only see her asking that question so I was really concerned about how he responded. The next day at the campaign office I brought that to his attention and his response was not a good one.
Basically he stated he didn’t care, he just wanted the votes and even though I was not living in that ward I had a vested interest in all of this. And for him to say what he said felt like a 16-inch sword going through your lung. It pissed me off and of course I let him know that I did not appreciate his response. Ultimately I quit. It was at that moment I learned the most valuable lesson I would ever learn…there are few politicians who really care about their voting public. They are more committed to the ones who drop money or give them perks rather than the average citizen. For many years we have had to deal with Republicans vs Democrats (I call it the BLOODZ vs the CRIPZ…notice the colors). As a matter of fact, check out this presidential fact: (Click here to see the order in which they are in Party Order)
There have been 16 Democratic presidents.
There have been 2 presidents with no parties.
There have been 2 Federalists presidents.
There have been 4 Whig presidents.
There have been 5 Democratic-Republican presidents.
There have been 18 Republican presidents.
Now these fact are not too surprising to me because I have always felt something was slightly lopsided about it but, for the average “Tax-Paying” citizen these things don’t matter until the next election. And if it does matter it is not normal conversation. Here is what is such a turnoff for me about it all…the ideologies of the party set the divide amongst the people and that divide is the source of the dumbing-down of the nation and the people. Here are 2 examples…as a child I remember having a conversation about one of my family members. She was a elderly cousin. Whenever she gave us money (Christmas, Birthdays, or just because) the bills were always crisp & new. So one day I asked her about that. First she said they had a money press in their closet (Of course I believed it and went looking for it whenever I went to their home to visit) but the she said it was because her husband was a Republican and they kept money because of it. And hearing this (as a child of course) made we think I might want to be one of them when I grow up. But I got older and felt like pledging alliance to a party took away my freedom of choice so I chose to be Independent.
Now as an adult there was a conversation one day at one of my old jobs (One of the BEST jobs might I add) with our manager Mike. Now Mike was a Republican to the core of his entire being. And during this conversation he tried to give every reason why Republicans were the greatest party to be a part of, he tried to find every reason to shoot down Democrats, he even tried to convince me to become a Republican since I was not associated with a party according to his views. But my stance was simple…a Republican or Democrat politician will make sure you know they are only doing it for their party and it’s members. When one of them do something jacked up they will say it was done as a move against the opposite party because they were trying to do something to them. I say it is more like 2 kids with toys playing in a back yard. If you don’t agree with them, they will take their toys back and shoo you away from them. And another thing that is so wild is when a Republican gets office black people are sad and worried about what they are gonna lose. Remember the Reagan and Bush eras? But when a Democrat wins…aw lawd Black people are acting like they have been freed from slavery and the reparation check is in the mail. Remember the Clinton and Obama era? I have always felt a Democratic President was the equivalent of a band-aid on a real bad wound. It will only protect the wound for a short time. Once water and dirt gets under the band-aid it may not stick as good as it did when it was first applied.
So the easiest way to dumb a people down is through the various acts of a politician who IS NOT as qualified for the job as we think. They say what we want to hear (not what we need to hear) in order to get the position. But rarely comes through for the average person. And I can’t stand when they skip around the answer. We have come reliant upon the promises of that politician who has little to no real stroke. And who suffers when they fail? That’s what I thought!!!!
Now for the BIG topic RELIGION – I may burn in HELL for this one but at least GOD knows what I am feeling now. As a child it was MANDATORY I go to church every Sunday. It started with Sunday School and ended with church. If it was communion Sunday I was in church until 3-4pm. I sang in the Youth Choir, participated in the Scouts (Cub, Weebelow, and Boy), and the Youth Group. But when I think back on it, rarely did I see my Grandmother there but she made sure we were there. Now I was raised a Baptist (I will touch that in a minute) and they seemed a little more easy going to me when it came to religion so I can say I had fun participating in Church. Hey…do you think that was my Grandparents day for QT and the time they could “Get it in” since I wasn’t home? OMG!!!
Anyway…as a child I really didn’t retain anything I was taught or heard about GOD in church. At least not consciously anyway. And there were more than enough times I didn’t want to go to church but it came with price…if you didn’t go to church, you couldn’t go outside. And why were the kids having the best fun on the days I chose not to go? Aw well… As a teen I basically stopped going all together. See I became a victim of the hype. You know when you turn 16 and they start making a big deal about it. “You are a teenager now” and all that hype. But they never told me that TECHNICALLY I was still a child. I couldn’t get a real job, was still in school, wasn’t paying any bills, I was in NO WAY close to being GROWN. I was just a BIG-ASSED kid. But I started hanging out late, drinking, getting high, you know all the things we do when we turn 16 and began to rebel going to church. I honestly don’t know what happened but I do remember when I did go to church mentally I was not there. As a matter of fact in some ways I began to feel uncomfortable in church. So I stayed away as much as I could.
In 2001 someone or something felt it was time for me to come back. Now for quite a few years I had done lots of stuff and most of it was of a rude, disrespectful, and selfish nature. It was New Year’s Eve 2000 and I was in my apartment. I just knew I was gonna go out and party or have company so I went and got some stuff to drink and eat. In the hours leading up to midnight my phone didn’t ring and no one knocked on the door and I began to get worried and mad. So I began to drink. I mean really drink. In the last hour I got mad and began making phone calls to family and friends. I got into an argument with my wife (then baby’s mother…we were not in a relationship) about wanting to see the children and that took me over the edge. So began to lose it in that apartment but I will never forget who I began to talk to…GOD! Now why was I talking to GOD if I never really acknowledged him any other time? My conversation with GOD was the same one many of us have had when we feel like we have come to the end…”GOD please…I Promise I will do anything you say“…you know that one.
I cried myself to sleep because at that point I really felt alone. This is the honest truth…The next morning I felt something nudge me and I heard a voice saying “Time to get up Sean, your NEW life starts today” and so I opened my eyes. The sun was shining through the blinds and the room looked so clean and white. I didn’t have a headache (considering all I drank the night before) and I really felt rested. I got up, took a shower, got dressed, and began to clean up. Now I had no idea what was in store for me but I did know that I felt really different. After cleaning up I call my wife and began to apologize for how I acted on the phone. I revealed to her that something told me I needed to leave where I was and go be with my family. I had basically lost all I had in many ways and this voice was very adamant about being with my family. I did not feel any reluctance to what I heard. Weeks later I moved back with my family.
Now they were already attending the neighborhood church. Actually she had a history at that church. Her grandparents and parents were pillars there and she would always talk about how she missed the neighborhood so it was like a BIG HOMECOMING when she moved back around there. It took a month or so before I went to church for myself and not her or the children. I had been there a couple times before but this time I felt as though I was going through an internal healing and being around other people was something I couldn’t do at that moment. Don’t know why but it was just that way internally. Eventually I decided to go and my first time there was a unforgettable personal moment. That day GOD decided it was time for a formal introduction and boy did he introduce himself to me. I was in total awe of what I personally and spiritually heard. As a matter of fact my introduction lasted 3 straight Sunday’s and on that last Sunday he came into my life.
Now I need to say this from a personal thought and experience level…That day GOD came into my life was a very pivitol day for me. I felt as though I had my skin stripped off and I was standing before the world with my internal organs in visible view. Something like this…
And to be honest it was a very scary feeling. Scary because what I saw were people who were already clothe in spiritual clothes and they seemed to walk as if they were floating on air because GOD had already fixed them. You know like a going to a party where there are nothing but white people and you are the only black person in the room and you feel uncomfortable…kinda like you don’t belong there. Not to mention the fact that I was often looked at and referred to as her husband or my father-in-law’s son-in-law…not myself. I will never forget how WIDE-OPEN and UNPROTECTED I felt.
So it took me a while to transition into this “Christ-like” life but after a while there were some people who became good friends and great mentors as I moved into my new life. For a while I was under this impression that you had to let the church know when you sinned (in detail), when you had a bad thought, when things didn’t go your way. Because during that alter call you hear “Come and talk to GOD about it all”. One time I went to church with by best friend Mike and they did an alter call. Now although I didn’t have a clue what was going on I went up to pray. I tried to blend in with everyone else and began to pray. While in prayer I began to hear myself louder than ever…I opened my eyes and this guy was holding a microphone to my mouth so the whole church could hear my prayer. I was actually upset because I didn’t know how to pray and I took that time and prayer personal because I was trying to do something I wasn’t really feeling.
Fast-Forward…I was befriended by the Pastor of the church and was placed in some positions that I never thought I would see myself in. It was being the head of the audio ministry (co-founder to be exact) that introduced me to my LOVE & GIFT for music today. But I slipped quite a few times during this growth period and one particular time I slipped he & I ended our friendship. I have to be honest and say I was really pissed at myself more than I was mad at him about it. But I was more hurt by his reaction and final statement in the end of the friendship. But what it did was reveal to me some things that are really TABOO conversations in the church today. For instance I was taught (in this new life) it is NOT right to talk bad about a person of the cloth. That is supposedly a first class ticket to damnation. As a matter of fact you are NOT to question any decision that are made, you just go with it.
But it is okay for the church to put your business on blast, gossip, look down on other members, and even have cliques. All of the worldly things we are supposedly trying to get away from or get in check. As much as I was respected by some I was disrespected and dislike by more because of the relationship I had with this Pastor. And when our friendship ended there were a lot of happy people and much gossip going on. This issue even caused a slight divide in my home because my wife is committed to the LEGACY she has in that church and that means no matter how wrong the people are there she will turn a blind eye to it. I have heard many sermons where it is said “You are going to HELL, if you don’t give your life to GOD now”! Sermons that say “You are supposed to forgive your fellow Christian if they do you wrong”, “You are supposed to treat your fellow man with respect” and my favorite…“We are all GOD’S children, NONE of us are higher than Jesus”.
But I have seen some of the BEST people I know leave this church because of some things that DID NOT have GOD’S name on it. I even know of a few people who left because of UNGODLY statements made. And some folks act like they are NOT bothered by it. I have seen so-called Christians turn their nose up to some people, groups of people (cliques) act like they are bigger and better than others, I have seen folks abuse their authority, and the new thing…PASTOR GROUPIES!!! Those are the worse ones because they are so tight with the Pastor they act like GOD himself has anointed & appointed them to a higher plain. I am just keeping it real! The day I chose to attend another church it had already been rumored that I had joined that church and I didn’t. You would think those gossipers would have been happy I was smart enough to keep going to church. Naw..they weren’t. Instead some of them acted like I had joined another gang or something like that.
Why? Because they have been trained to put on that face. You know that one that appears like they are unified under the banner of Christianity but they are jealous because of some materialistic or trivial reason. They got a new sound system? We got to get one! They got flat screens in the fellowship hall? We got to get some! They got new choir robes? We got to get some and better! Trust it does exist! Over the years religion has gone from really helping a lost soul and bringing one closer to GOD to a BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS!!! It is more important to threaten a member expulsion for not paying dues, or sitting them down off a board because they can’t afford to make a payment. It’s more important to dress up the building or get a bigger one rather than continue giving GOD’S word in the purest forum. It’s more important to make your church appear bigger than what it really is. All at the cost of sending a lost soul back out to what they were getting away from.
As hard as times are today people need something to make them feel good, make them feel like they have some life’s worth. Church is supposed to the one other place (other than home) a person can go to get some sort of calm & peace in this crazy, messed up world. When they decide to join a church they are at their most vulnerable point ever in their lives. The biggest pressure they face in this transition is fitting in. But isn’t that the story of our lives anyway? When they see and hear folks talk about how GOD has been good to them and changed their lives…most of them want that. But the problem lies in telling “THE TRUTH“. The TRUTH about the REAL WALK to TRUE CHRISTIANITY. They want to know about those REAL CHALLENGES they are about to face. They need to be assured that if they slip or fall during the walk they have someone they can confide in, NOT someone who is gonna call Pastor and over-exaggerate the situation and the next thing you know their situation is in the sermon and all through the church. They do not want to feel like they are less than human just because they don’t have lots of money to drop every time a plate is passed, or the charity case just because they couldn’t pay to participate.
Churches have always been the cornerstone to our communities and the key to unity amongst the people. But over the years they have gotten away from that. More people are not attending because they see through it all. There is a lot of UNGODLY and UNCHRISTIAN like things going on in the churches and those of us who have spoken up have been ex-communicated or removed, those of us who want to speak up are being threatened, and those of us who are afraid to speak up are being threatened. The messages and the word is being REWRITTEN to cater to personal goals instead of a better understanding of what GOD really wanted for us all. As long as this continues…we will continued to be a DUMBED-DOWN Society.
You know I got much more coming…so stay tuned! Leave a comment!
