The N word economic exploitation - and a lot of hypocrisy

Before I start, let me say I am not a Paula Deen fan by a stretch. Don't get me wrong, I do not dislike her, I simply barely knew of her existence. I never watched one of her cooking shows, never bought any cookbook or any product endorsed or sold by her. That said, I have no reason to hold any partiality towards her, and in fact, this post is not directly about her predicament.

I found that there is huge hypocrisy about how this affair is being handled by the media, by folks in general, and mostly by store chains that carry Deen product. I am against racism in all shapes or forms, but the question begs: what is more racist, a person who used a derogatory remark to refer to a individual who practiced a violent crime against her decades ago, or a police officer who constantly addresses African-Americans by a respectful sir and Mr., but profiles against this racial group every day of his professional life.What is more racist, I ask? Enough about that, this is not about cop-racial relations as well.

The reason why the N word bothers so much in this day and age is because it is still so much in vogue in society. I am no insensitive, and I do know the context and how hurtful it is for an African-American to hear this word. In my thinking, though, the word is hurtful whether uttered by a white person or an African-American. And it seems that some African-Americans are at fault in keeping this word in vogue this day and age, and making mounds of money on the trot.

In fact, hundreds, possibly thousands of American  records, books and movies have been produced, since the hey days of civil rights in the 60s, that contain the N word in full regalia. In fact, lots of singers, comedians, composers, actors, writers etc, make sure the word remains very much alive, by using it plentifully. In fact, I reckon some artists have made millions on their use of the N word, making it a trademark of their performances. They maintain the N word contextually relevant in society, and their use is just as hurtful, wrong as when uttered by a person from another race.

You see, to me when a famous singer uses the N word in his songs, in the context that he is part of the group that is offended by it, he is nothing more than a huge hypocrite. A hip-hop artist who made millions in record and concert sales is no longer part of the ghetto - he is part of a financial and social elite, and he is very condescending against his public. He really means the N. Yes, artists do feel superior to other folks, even non-famous ones do, can you imagine a guy making eight figures a year?

One could say, "it would not be realistic for the N word to be removed from movies, there is a historical context, it would be censorship, where is the right of expression," blah, blah, blah. First, Hollywood is the first to say - when it is convenient, by the way - that it produces fiction. Movies are not necessarily about reality. Second, it would not be the first time Hollywood portrays non-realism in movies to make a point. The movie industry pushes several pet agendas, such as glorification of certain professions, derogatory portrayal of religion, social issues, sexual orientation, even sexual positions which do not correspond to the general truth at all. The only difference is that in this case, the self-censorship and removal of this word from movies would have a good effect, which is questionable when Hollywood seems to suggest everybody is having anal sex.

It occurs though, the shock value of keeping this word in movies does draw some people to the movies, just like it draws some people to concerts. If you know X, Y and Z will be in a movie or performance, you can be certain the N word will be used a few times, and you can laugh it off, as if it were OK for them to use it. They have "artistic license" to use the N word. I am sorry, but I do not buy this rationale that it is OK for an African American entertainer to use the N word, not so for everyone else. It is wrong and hateful for both.

Shock value is also used by the press, which needs a scandal du jour to draw audiences, and nothing better than place a rich, whitest of persons in the midst of such upheaval!

The one thing that bothers me is the double standard. Big store chains have undone contracts with Deen because of the N debacle, yet, you can find in their offerings, plentiful of CDs and DVDS from artists such as Public Enemy, Chris Rock, Paul Mooney, Eddie Murphy and Tupac Shakur, plus tons of movies with other lesser known artists, where the N word is said repeatedly in the vilest of ways. Thus, it is OK to propagate this hatred in "artistic" form, while making a stand against a woman who admits having used the word once!  

Mind you, these store chains, who shall remain nameless, but you know who they are, have been asked in the past to remove such merchandise from their shelves by myriad groups . Yet, it continues to be there.

Thus, if you ask me, this whole Deen affair is one huge piece of hypocrisy.

Exchange between a Doctor's Office and a Patient

“Hello, I would like to speak to Mr. Smith.”

“This is him.”

“Good morning, mr. Smith. I am calling from Dr. Herz` office. I am calling about the US$15,675.00 balance you have with us.”

“Well, let me explain something to you. There are two possibilities, that you may get paid, or you may not. If you do get paid, you might get paid on the short-term, mid-term or long-term. 89% of the people that pay bills on the long-term especially in my age group, do pay in installments. Out of these, about 43 % pay 50 % or more of the balance, which is left hanging. Considering my age group, there is a 32.5 % possibility that I would die before settling the balance. There are no guarantees. Also there is a 69.5 % possibility that people on my age group that leave this type of balance unpaid, actually do not have sufficient assets to settle the bill after death. Of the 50 % that do pay the balance, 38.2 % actually do it in 2 to 5 years.”

“Mr. Smith, you got me lost, I am asking a simple question, when you can pay the balance, that is all.”

“Let me finish my reasoning. About 75 % of the people who live in my area, who are in my age group, actually do have medical bills in excess of 15,000 dollars, with a standard deviation of 2.5. This is actually 13.2 % worse than the country’s average.”

“Thanks for enlightening me, Mr. Smith. I just want to know when Dr. Herz can expect the check, please make my life easy.”

“That depends, recent studies indicate that in times of economic upheaval such as this, there is a 32 % less likelihood that unsecured bills late in excess of 120 days will be paid. And nothing can be done about that, there is no way to solve this situation.”

“Mr. Smith, I am losing my patience. The dinero, the moolah, when can Dr. Herz expect the payment for your treatment, after all, services were perfectly provided, were they not?.”

“Well, dear, what is your name again?”

“Loretta, sir.”

“Loretta, let me read you Dr. Herz explanation of my disease. I also asked a simple question, what do I have and how to treat it. He said that are two possibilities, that I have Mensonge syndrome, or you it may be something else yet unidentified, a very rare disease. He said that 89% of the people that have Mensonge survive it on the long-term especially in my age group, but do have a slow decline in quality of life. Out of these, about 43 % survive beyond 50 % of the normal life expectancy for my age group. Also considering my age group, studies say there is a 32.5 % percentage that I would die a sudden death from an unrelated disease, if I do have Mensonge. There are no guarantees. However there is a 69.5 % possibility that people in my age group that do have unidentified diseases might actually die before the disease is identified. Of the 50 % that do survive such unidentified disease, 38.2 % actually die in 2 to 5 years due to heart problems. About 75 % of the people who live in my area, who are in my age group, actually do survive 7.5 years even in perfect health, with a standard deviation of 2.5. This is actually 13.2 % below the country’s average. That depends on other circumstances, for recent studies indicate that in times of economic upheaval such as this, there is a 32 % less likelihood that people with such unidentified diseases will survive more than 120 days. And nothing can be done about that, there is no treatment.”

“I don’t understand a thing you said.”

“Guess what, Loretta, neither do I. So my payment to Dr. Herz will be very similar to his diagnostic and treatment. Ask him whether he likes some of his own medicine. Have a good day.”

Experian One Dollar Credit Reports are not what they seem

I never had my identity stolen, however, a couple of months back, I suspected something was wrong.
A few years ago, I requested free credit reports (everyone is entitled to one, once a year), writing directly to the top credit reporting agencies, by snail mail. It worked great.  Now, you have to go through a website, which confuses users by hinting their identity has been really stolen. Since I have very little time to waste with games, I decided to go directly to one of the providers, and I chose Experian.

The free report I was entitled to quickly became a 1 dollar report. That meant I needed to provide a credit card number to pay the buck. And here a little nagging problem started.

Not only would I be charged US$ 1 for the report, however, by requesting it from Experian, I would agree to try out for a US$17.95 a month credit monitoring service, which I could cancel at any time. If I canceled within 7 days of ordering the trial subscription, I would not be charged anything, not even the first charge.    

I ordered my US$1 (free) report on a Wednesday, and found out all was clear with my credit. Then, the next Wednesday I called to cancel the subscription. Funny thing. To sign up, you can do everything on line, within tops five minutes . To cancel, you have to speak to a rep, and stay online for a good 30 minutes. I hate to think that the idea is to have you give up on the cancellation and be stuck with the subscription forever...

Be that as it may, I did call, stayed on the line patiently, and spoke to a nice rep. Although she kept on trying to convince me to keep the service, I denied every time. Then, after five attempts to keep my hard earned dollars, she offered the service for half-price, which I found outrageous. After I gave her a few thoughts on the hard selling tactic (why not offer the service for US$8.00 to begin with?), she confirmed the service would be cancelled, THAT I WOULD NOT GET ANY FURTHER BILLING FROM EXPERIAN, and I got an email confirmation on the trot.

Much to my dismay, I just got my credit card bill, and guess what it contains? A US$17.95 charge from Experian!! Yes, siree!

Needless to say, I was beyond outraged by this point. I explained, over and over again, that I opted out of the service within the prescribed seven days, that I got verbal and written confirmation, yet, the representative insisted I did not comply with that requirement, and that although the subscription would be canceled henceforth, that US$17.95 charge would stand. 

After referring to this business deal in not very endearing terms, and making a rhetorical observation concerning the mission of the company, which is to protect us from scams and aspects of this transaction, which looked like a scam to me, I told the representative that I would feel free to share my nasty experience with the entire world, by writing on several dozens of blogs to which I contribute material.

That did the trick, though. She was so adamant that the charge would stand just a few seconds before, however, when I said I would make the matter public, a third party, a supervisor, I guess, entered the picture and allowed the credit!

I can only say this: before you order anything from Experian, think twice. I have since then read similar stories on the internet, so I can assure you that this is not an isolated incident. I am ready to do battle next month again.