The Story
Jada, 16 year old Texas girl, discovered she had been raped when pictures of her naked body surfaced online. When the photos went viral and other teens began making light of her situation by posting pictures mimicking the pose of her body in the pictures that had surfaced with the hashtag “Jadapose”, Jada went public to respond to her tormentors.
The Problem
In public commentary it has been brought up whether there needs to be a way to police social media. This is the most egregious suggestion because certainly we need to give more authority and room for our fractured justice system to pour its fast food judgments over society.
Some have used the story to enter the discussion about misogyny and the exploitation and disregard for the Black female body. While there is room here to discuss the championing of female empowerment, nothing here is about the hate of women or Black women specifically.
What needs to be discussed here is the degradation of our humanity. One can look on any magazine cover; watch any prom time television show; listen to any top played radio song; watch almost any music video and see that we have become a society hell bent on turning ourselves into commodities to be consumed. It doesn’t matter if that commodity is a sexual object, a big paycheck, or an indentured servant (I meant employee).
The Point
We are losing our ability to see each other as people and to relate to one another as human beings. For many this will sound like the decry of an idealist…and they would be right. But that is where our problem lies. It’s the loss of ideals and an established sense of universal morality. What we now use as our basis for such judgments is religion, law, and individualism. We judge things based on how they affect us, whether we can get locked up for it, and if it will send us to hell. No longer do we think of ourselves being able to be in that other person’s position and what level of respect, empathy, and mercy we would want.
That is what I see when I look at the teenagers in their #Jadapose I see disgustingly disassociated potential sociopaths who will one say inherit the leadership of this world — and what kind of world will they create?? Why did no one ever pull little Jada aside and tell her the dangers of going to a party and accepting a drink even from someone you know or trying some new drug that you are not familiar with? Why did no one ever tell her tormentors that all life is to be respected and that another human being’s suffering is not funny. Or better yet the young Black boys in some of those photos that a Black women is a treasure to whom they owe their lives and protection (as they too protect us)? But I guess that’s too idealistic. That kind of wisdom and impartation doesn’t make one rich, famous, or popular so we don’t spend time interjecting that into our nurturing a of our children’s education, materialistism, and individualism. If we don’t begin to place some value on the intangible principles that govern our society and the development of an internal humanity, Jada and the many other girls who have suffered a similar torture as insult to their violations will have a tragic world with a society that cannot be trusted.
I’m not sayin; I’m just sayin,
An Angry Black Man
The Angriest Black Man in America
The Slippery Slope of Humanity
Posted: July 11, 2014 in General, Social CommentaryTags: African American bloggers, Black bloggers, black culture, Black Men, Black Women, cultural criticism, jadapose, rape, teens, violence
The Story
Jada, 16 year old Texas girl, discovered she had been raped when pictures of her naked body surfaced online. When the photos went viral and other teens began making light of her situation by posting pictures mimicking the pose of her body in the pictures that had surfaced with the hashtag “Jadapose”, Jada went public to respond to her tormentors.
In public commentary it has been brought up whether there needs to be a way to police social media. This is the most egregious suggestion because certainly we need to give more authority and room for our fractured justice system to pour its fast food judgments over society.
Some have used the story to enter the discussion about misogyny and the exploitation and disregard for the Black female body. While there is room here to discuss the championing of female empowerment, nothing here is about the hate of women or Black women specifically.
What needs to be discussed here is the degradation of our humanity. One can look on any magazine cover; watch any prom time television show; listen to any top played radio song; watch almost any music video and see that we have become a society hell bent on turning ourselves into commodities to be consumed. It doesn’t matter if that commodity is a sexual object, a big paycheck, or an indentured servant (I meant employee).
The Point
We are losing our ability to see each other as people and to relate to one another as human beings. For many this will sound like the decry of an idealist…and they would be right. But that is where our problem lies. It’s the loss of ideals and an established sense of universal morality. What we now use as our basis for such judgments is religion, law, and individualism. We judge things based on how they affect us, whether we can get locked up for it, and if it will send us to hell. No longer do we think of ourselves being able to be in that other person’s position and what level of respect, empathy, and mercy we would want.
That is what I see when I look at the teenagers in their #Jadapose I see disgustingly disassociated potential sociopaths who will one say inherit the leadership of this world — and what kind of world will they create?? Why did no one ever pull little Jada aside and tell her the dangers of going to a party and accepting a drink even from someone you know or trying some new drug that you are not familiar with? Why did no one ever tell her tormentors that all life is to be respected and that another human being’s suffering is not funny. Or better yet the young Black boys in some of those photos that a Black women is a treasure to whom they owe their lives and protection (as they too protect us)? But I guess that’s too idealistic. That kind of wisdom and impartation doesn’t make one rich, famous, or popular so we don’t spend time interjecting that into our nurturing a of our children’s education, materialistism, and individualism. If we don’t begin to place some value on the intangible principles that govern our society and the development of an internal humanity, Jada and the many other girls who have suffered a similar torture as insult to their violations will have a tragic world with a society that cannot be trusted.
I’m not sayin; I’m just sayin,
An Angry Black Man
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