JFK

Did its nation really lose its innocence after the assassination of JFK?

   No, I don’t believe we did. Our nation was so corrupt and disorderly that we would murder our president just to further interests is appalling. The thought that money and power reigned supreme is appalling and one those sadly still reigns supreme. We didn’t have much innocence to start with and this completely destructed all morals that some members of our society had. Our country was founded by men with moral fiber and a patriotic will to serve your country. Nowadays, we take to the lengths of assassinating the president just to further the war machine we have constructed. A majority of the US population was appalled and shocked. There was a minority of the US that praised his death although; they viewed him as a communist and a toxin to our country. They viewed him as weak and not full of guts and strength. The world was appalled as well. Most of the countries had well relations with us; but there were some communist countries that praised the death of this “communist supporter”.  The future of the US is scary. The two front runner candidates are people who have done some very un-American things. We have a racist republican and our democratic candidate is known for lying and even having connections to drugs. In short, I believe our country is in a downward spiral and that won’t change. As long as money > morals…. Corruptness will reign supreme.

                Did 9/11 have a similar effect on the US?

Absolutely, it had lasting effects that are still felt today. It ushered in an era of fear. Every time, we see a person of Muslim descent, we associate them with extremism and violence. I truly believe that this also was a conspiracy. It goes back to the basis that money and wealth reigns supreme. This had the same backstory on why JFK was assassinated. By ushering in fear and blaming the Middle East as scapegoats; we could effectively find a “purpose” to invade those countries. We said we were going to stop terrorism… and what did we actually get out of it? We got the loss of 5,000 American lives in fighting alone and billions in money from oil and the war department. We have to face the fact that we need change nowadays. We need to stand up for what’s right and now for what will give us the most money. If this is what our country has come to, then I’m afraid what our country has in store for us. The government has so much power that they can influence the media into getting us to believe an entire race is responsible for a terrorist attack. I don’t feel that the American public blamed themselves. I believe that they blamed an entire race based on a few radicals. As long as we can find a way to get money, we will continue upon these moral less ways.

Who Killed JFK?

To me this was a combination of the CIA and the Johnson Agency. All signs point to this as the most viable option. The most complex assassination attempt was performed by our own government. All this was performed on the basis of two things: Power and Wealth. Kennedy was against the thought of war and was more focused on the domestic issues. To hi, furthering our knowledge of the universe and of our own planet. He wanted to cease fire and stall the issues with the communist countries. The military leaders saw him as soft. He didn’t want to go to war in Vietnam. Kennedy wanted them to fight their own fight. War=money so obviously the corrupt leaders were outraged. The only way for wealth to keep coming into our country was to enter war in Vietnam. So, they combined with some agents in the South and devised a way to assassinate Kennedy. They succeeded in destroying what most of the American public held so dearly.

I truly do believe the assassinations of RFK and MLK are linked to the government. They were the men who directly carried JFK’s views on politics. By killing them off, that meant that they couldn’t carry his flame. RFK is a carbon copy of his brother and he had the chance to directly carry on his brother’s momentum. I believe the same people who assassinated JFK; assassinated these two revered men as well.

In the end, it is a true shame that this is what we have come to. The fact that money reigns over morals makes me feel like we have lost our moral fibers in our country. But, it’s human nature. It has always been this way and will always be this way. The feeling of being on top is a drug to so many that they will do anything to be there. Even, if it means assassinating the President of the United States. Corruptness will always be around. We just have to choose to do the right and hope it cancels out the wrong.

Flat Tax

                The thought of a flat tax as the nation’s main tax is the better of the two options presented to us. There is no way around the fact that it is the only way you can “fairly” tax the people. By setting an equal tax for all would result in a perfect solution. Paying taxes is not an optional choice; although the rich may seem like it is with how little it affects their balance.

                People try to form the argument that just because they are rich, they don’t have to pay nearly any taxes. This may provide a decent argument; many of these richer people have worked hard for their cash and deserve the fact to pay very low taxes. They went through the American Dream and fought the grind to get where they are now. They deserve to pay that low amount of tax. But, if we are to set a tax price; we need to set it at what the perfect price would be. Technically, the rich would still pay more but that would be set at an equal price and they would still be paying a large amount. You never know, maybe if the tax gets set a price that is a little higher than normal; maybe there will be some lower class people getting jobs to help contribute to the lowering of the debt. I believe this isn’t a tax problem, I believe it’s a spending problem. By spending money on funding a useless war and funding programs that don’t work; we need to spend it on things like contributions to banks and small town businesses.

                Overall, we need a flat tax. It is what we need to continue to try to make a dent in our economic debt. This is the best option.

Our art is a reflection of our reality…….

                A powerful statement stated by Ice Cube. Not only, is it powerful, but it’s true. This group of “thugs” was the voice of a whole generation. For, them to have the impact they did on a generation in turmoil, tells a lot about the hard times our country was going for. Racial inequality and prejudice was running rampant across the country and we were in an economic downfall of sorts. At the center of all of this, was the city of Compton. It was notorious for gang violence and poverty; drive by shootings were a common place. In fact, it wasn’t unusual for the murder rate to exceed 50 a year. Drugs were rampant with the rise of cocaine and crack heroin emerging in the 1980’s. Despite all these problems, these 4 young men emerged speaking the truth. But, they weren’t just speaking they were rapping. Their words told what life was like. They told about the drugs and the shootings. To many it was shocking; their words were so straightforward and brutal that they had their music banned in many places across the country. Was it because of the fact that we were offended by their offensive lyrics? Or was it the fact that we were offended by the lyrics because of the fact that they were telling a dark story of what happens every day in these ghettos. As controversial as they were, we can’t deny the influence they instilled on a younger generation of artists. N.W.A is the grandfather of rap. They were the first super group of the Rap genre. They influenced the likes of Tupac, Snoop Dogg, and even 50 cent.

 It was the first time we heard the other side to the stories about violence in the ghettos. That didn’t settle with a lot of people.  We deny the fact that we have the white privilege. We wonder why we don’t have many white gangs and violence in our neighborhoods. Then, we look at the ghettos that are home to minorities and we can see why they are fighting for turf and drugs to keep their minds off the conditions they are living in. We ignored them too long and they let us hear about it through the power of rap.

                Although, this saying did hit home with many people. The people of Compton and ghettos all around LA now had a voice to channel their anger and despairs. Through its lyrics we discovered that we weren’t all that powerful. We found that people are simply mistreated based on the color of their skin. White Privilege was becoming a term we could relate to ourselves. Believe it or not, we are higher up on this social scale. And all below a certain line are living in poverty and in the threat of violence at all times.

                This brings up the point of the LA Riots. They were protesting the acquittal of 4 police officers in the beating case of Rodney King. To riot and break into buildings is being hypocritical. If they were protesting police brutality, then why would you kill multiple people on the streets? It makes no sense. If you are going to protest brutality; then don’t do it by yourself being brutal. Do it through a peaceful march or something along those lines. Don’t take a semi driver out of a semi, beat him to near death, and celebrate as he is lying dying in the streets. If the race card is being pulled, then represent your race with some pride. Be the better person and don’t go shooting up a city and stealing things to show, “we are being victimized’. Express yourself through music or peaceful talks. Of course, NWA added fire to the flame as if it didn’t already have it. With the song, “F the police”, it riled people up. It was a deadly combination of anger and a willingness to break the law. Overall, these riots were nothing more than hypocrisy. By protesting violence, they went against themselves and did exactly what many people were trying to get them to do. This all bleeds down (figuratively and quite literally) to the cities and how their lives exist in them. The only way they know to solve problems is how they have always been solved in those communities. It’s the fact that they were being so long ignored to the fact that when they finally got the spotlight; they were flustered and were so desperate for attention they did this. If you look at it from this point of view, it is almost understandable, not excusable, but understandable. Sadly, in this country we only found the negative in the situation. We became scared of these places and instead of help we isolated them more. Not in presence, but by laws. With all these laws, it just isolates the group. In the end, it was an idea that could have had such a positive impact but instead it was taking the wrong way because of the sheer chaos of the situation.

                NWA was influential. There is no doubt about that. They expressed their voices through rhymes and beats. Explicit language was the only way to reach the ears of a whole country. They went against the grain and went into unnamed territory. They brought hip hop to the world; and it took it by storm. The media loved to hate them. To them, they were a bunch of thugs and murderers singing about killing police and doing drugs. But, they weren’t just a thug group, they were artists. They were painting a picture of their lives and the lives of millions of people in the U.S.  They appealed to the younger audiences and said things that we have never heard. Stories were told and it impacted our country in both positive and negative ways. N.W.A truly did show the world what it was like in the streets of Compton. But more importantly, they showed us that their art is a reflection of their reality.