The Greatest Crime

Why the Murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman belongs with the Greatest Crimes in History--Including the Holocaust.

Joseph Kony May be a Bad Person, But so Are You.

How Emotional reactions can leave on on an Island of Irrationality.

Kandahar Rampage

U.S. soldier murders many in Afghanistan...Supposedly for No Reason.

How Dare you Forget about Baron Davis

The New York Knicks will go as far as Baron Davis, not Jeremy Lin

Friday, March 23, 2012

The Murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman: Greatest Crime in Human History

I may be exaggerating when I say it is the greatest crime in human history. Because human history has experienced events such as; the Holocaust, La Violencia, Slavery, and much much more, I can only say Zimmerman’s crime is among the greatest crimes in human history. Firstly, I should say that I am not advocating that Zimmerman, the person, is innocent/guilty or good/bad. The topic is solely the act [when Zimmerman decides to pull the trigger and shoot a teenager] and that act was bad. To justify a claim that Zimmerman’s act is one of the greatest crimes in human history I will have to break down my argument:


A) George Zimmerman violated the ideology of freedom: A person is allowed to walk freely as long it is not trespassing. It is called the freedom of movement which states a citizen is allowed to travel anywhere in the state within the respect for the liberty of others. As of now, the facts show that Trayvon was not trespassing and was walking on public road [i.e.; sidewalks or streets]. For whatever reason, Mr. Zimmerman believed that Trayvon shouldn’t have been there, in that neighborhood, walking there, supposedly along the sidewalk.  When Zimmerman confronted Trayvon, he decided to revoke the teen’s freedom of movement and life. I find this the most offensive part of my argument because Zimmerman’s freedom to bear arms as been immensely respected in the state of Florida yet he disrespects the fundamental freedom of movement in such a vile manner.


B) Apparently the State chose Zimmerman’s side: This is a shorter segment of my argument but probably the most absurd. The State Attorney chose to defend Zimmerman by not issuing an arrest. If you are not asking yourself why, then go pray. Now, it seems the State automatically thought Zimmerman was the victim thus chose to defend him rather than the teenage boy [this mostly will end in unemployment for a lot of people in the State Attorney's office]. I think, rather than discuss about Zimmerman’s racial views we should discuss Florida’s racial views. 


C) Stand your ground statue: In Florida, you are allowed to shoot and ask questions later--you are allowed to meet force with force. However, Zimmerman’s phone call to the police revealed that he was following Trayvon which meant it was he who instigated the conflict and it was Trayvon employing the “Stand your ground” statue. If Zimmerman started the conflict and Trayvon started to beat him up badly, Zimmerman could still not use the shooting as self defense [i.e.; Zimmerman bit off more than he can chew]. When Zimmerman saw that he could not win his battle, whatever that may be, he become Trayvon’s creator and removed him from this Earth. 

All of this amounts to stand as one of the greatest crimes in history. It might not be clear to you now but I will help you by multiply the magnitude of each one of these sub-arguments by a common coefficient (being human history).

The violation of the freedom of movement as grave consequences. Examples include but not limited to: the Armenian genocide, Russian Pogroms, the Syrian uprising, Palestinian conflict, on and on. Just think of any horrible event and the violation of freedom of movement is there.

Next is the racial bias and I think we all know where that goes...

Finally, “stand your ground” statue. The so called claim of self defense with deadly force has done wonders in human history. This reason has been used in the crusades, witch trials [that killed 1000’s of women], Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. But, I cannot tell you that I would like to remove self defense. Self defense has saved the “innocents” from the “wicked.” However, I would like to remind protesters and defenders of self defense to think before defending Mr. Zimmerman’s acts because the side you pick may be on the wrong side of history. Maybe it was Trayvon who was defending himself from an attacker, an attacker who clearly had a larger arsenal. 

Monday, March 12, 2012

The Kandahar Rampage shows Our Injustice

When a rogue US soldier [staff sergeant] murdered sixteen people in Afghanistan on Sunday, the first thought that popped into my head was; I wonder how outraged the American people will be? How long will this story trend on Twitter? Will the news outlets run this story insufferably? The Kandahar Rampage [as it is being called] is not an extraordinary event. In fact, it is quite usual. US Soldiers have been known to inexplicably kill civilians. But, this is war--it is expected to have a few loose canons or accidents.  


So, what do we say? The staff sergeant must have had a mental condition and slipped through the psych evaluations. And maybe no other fellow soldiers observed any oddities. But what would be an oddity is this case? We expect a soldier’s vocabulary to include kill and towel head. The incident itself will experience retaliations and more of our soldiers will die [Recently, six US soldiers died in Afghanistan after the burning of the Quran] and the people of Afghanistan will view the United States as evil occupiers more than liberators. This is typical; this is expected, and this is not concerning.

What concerns me is not the actual incident but the response. In general, the American people were not outraged [I figure most did not even hear of the story]. The news outlets did not run the story on a continuous loop. On the contrary, the news outlets barely played the story past Sunday morning. Finally, the story did not trend on twitter compared to the impressive three days or so trend of Joseph Kony [#stopkony].  Which gets me thinking; What if the masses paid attention to Joseph Kony when he was relevant a decade or two ago? There’s evil in the world and most people recognize it. However, sometimes we don’t give a story enough attention because we feel helpless. When there’s an opportunity to make a “difference” we see an outpour of people [look how Joseph Kony blazed through the web]. But when there is not an opportunity or an opportunity that requires a sacrifice, people are mute. 

The Kandahar Rampage will eventually become lost in history. Eventually, a book compiled on the atrocities of the Afghan war may include the incident. The next war will certainly have similar incidents. As we continue to be mute, injustice will continue and the unprincipled will rule. 

This article is not only about making military warfare cleaner

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Kony Island

I'm really glad that there is growing awareness for Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. No doubt has there been atrocities in Uganda over the past three decades, especially involving children. The Invisible Children organization has been around for about 10 years raising awareness for this issue and they continue that campaign today with a video that celebrates Kony [not to praise his feats but to shame them and make him popular amongst the masses]. Now, this initiative [Kony2012] is trending all over the web and, inevitably, it will become a hype. Although I applaud the intent of the thousands [maybe millions] that will join this trend to spread the word through social media, there is one thing that concerns me.

I hope that people are not joining the awareness for the reason that it is a hype. The millions of children that have died in Africa are not meant to be represented by a hashtag. I hope people are not making decisions based off of emotions gathered from a video but rather from knowledge and fact finding. Emotions are a great motivation but it is only temporary (i.e.; most people have moved past Tibet, Somalia, Libya, etc). That is, people tend to forget after the emotional high.

The problem with Uganda and the children on Uganda is not just Joseph Kony but it is a good place to start. There are hundreds of Joseph Konys around the world and in the era we live in now, we can actually target them; shine a light on them via social media. However, it doesn't have to be a person we target but a behavior as well. Rather then attack Kony, we should learn and attack the environment, the surrounding, and the influence that made him who he is.

Nevertheless, for the first time, people can dictate change in the world in a relatively simple way because the web connects us across the globe. I'm glad that people are utilizing these tools to advocate justice but don't get stuck in the moment. Use this moment to launch your campaign against injustice.

You have a voice.



Monday, March 5, 2012

How dare you forget about Baron Davis


Jeremy Lin? Jeremy Lin!? I understand he’s a good player and he’s been playing great. Averaging what? 20 ppg and 10 assists per night since he became relevant. Well, he has not been relevant that long. Baron Davis or B.D. as I call him is currently Jeremy Lin’s back up on the Knicks and I feel like that’s a crime against humanity. Baron Davis as a back up to Jeremy Lin!? What has this world become? It’s sinful. I am nauseated, repulsed, and horrified by the notion that B.D. is the back up to Jeremy Lin. I don’t care about this Linsanity. Baron Davis did not need a Linsanity or a system coach in Mike D’antoni to ball. Baron Davis could ball immediately after exited his mother’s womb. He was crossing over doctors as they tried to cut his umbilical cord.  

You brought shame to yourself if you thought Jeremy Lin should be the starter over a healthy Baron Davis. Since, Baron Davis as been out of basketball for a year with a herniated back I understand the caution. I also understand that he is getting up there in age. But, If Baron Davis can play like he used to then Jeremy Lin would have to worship a statue of B.D. in order to get playing time. Instead of thanking God after every game, Jeremy Lin would have to thank B.D. for letting him get any minutes at all. Do you need proof?

Here are Baron Davis stats during some of his best seasons;
03-04 - 22.9 ppg - 7.5 apg
04-05 - 19.5 ppg - 8.3 apg
05-06 - 17.9 ppg - 8.9 apg
06-07 - 20.1 ppg - 8.1 apg
07-08 - 21.8 ppg - 7.6 apg

These seasons may have been a long time ago but of recently, when he played for the Clippers, he was still a 15 ppg and 7 apg guy [not to mention he grabs about 3 boards a night]. Lin's numbers may be better than these but B.D. does not care if Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant or even Jesus guards him--he's going to cross them over. Lin almost cried during the game against the Heat. 

I think we forget how great Baron Davis was. How he averaged 25.3 points, 6.5 assists, 2.9 steals, 4.5 rebounds in that epic upset series against the number one seed in the 2007 playoffs. 

If B.D. is playing B.D. ball, there is no question he should be a starter over Jeremy Lin. It doesn’t matter how good Lin has been over the 12 or so games he’s played.We never questioned how good Baron Davis was going to be--we questioned how great he was going to be. We're still worried that Lin's performance is just a mirage. 

How could you forget his dunk on AK-47 (Andrei Kirilenko)? Some of us thought he should have been arrested for that dunk cause it was that criminal. 

Jeremy Lin!? Hahaha...yeah right.


Finding Your Identity Hurts...All of Us

Bullying is not a recent phenomenon; it has been around for ages--ask Mussolini. Far too often we witness horrible acts due to bullying such as school shootings and suicides, especially among teenagers. Although bullying is coherently the problem, indirectly it’s all our fault. The problem is that we try too hard finding our identity--trying to find a place somewhere and some of us get left out. For instance, in High School, we try very hard to fall into a category [not necessarily intentional] and we end up as jocks, preps, sluts, rednecks, nerds, and etc. Actually, no; it’s much deeper than that. We end up as guys that play football, guys that pretend to be athletic and play lacrosse, nerds that learn C++ and nerds that play Magic in the library, girls that have tattoos, girls that smoke, and girls that have tattoos and smoke. This list is only partial. [The list I compiled here is as partial as the stars in our galaxy compared to all the stars in the universe.] 


Okay, that may be an exaggeration. But, it’s close enough.

Whatever forces that are working in our lives, are compelling us to join “sects” as a way to define ourselves. However, that is also limiting us mentally, emotionally, intellectually, and physically. We refuse anything/anyone that refutes our defining selves which leads to shunning. Let’s say someone at work or school wore a turtleneck everyday with white chinos. Most people would probably avoid that person because of their appearance alone. 

I used to try to find a place in high school like most kids. 

I gave that up when I got to college. [Inadvertently]

I don’t try to adopt an image. I don’t care to appease tendencies based off of factors, whether societal or cultural. I do what I like/want to do because I like/want to do it. In College, I followed the NBA religiously [I could give you the names of every player and where they play] and played Dungeons and Dragons [yes, the role-playing game] and Sopio [If you don’t know what Sopio is, I proved my point]

Want more? I’ll show you. These are a few of my interests:

My Yankee Candles


My Jordans




Some of my Books


Some of my Video games


A map of Skyrim on my wall


A poster of cars on my wall








My WVU football jersey (I went to Pitt)


My Bath and Body Works hand soap
Sadly, our shape is induced by external forces and a lot of today’s problems come from that [i.e.; drunk driving]. But, I'm not saying to be different because that is another category. Rejecting the expected may be a more proper thesis, here.


If you reject what is expected of you, people may begin to think you are strange. 
But, who cares?