annoying things

1) OBAMA STICKERS
i am sick of seeing obama stickers. hasn't the hype died down yet? i recognized the symbolic significance of obama being the first black president but what does that even mean in a tangible sense for oppressed people of color? people are obsessed because he isn't bush. but he is still just a president, still human, still part of the status-quo, with finite power in a government of checks and balances and corporate interest, he still has troops at war, he is just a dude. so people get over it already and take those dumb stickers off your toyota prius. instead of being for a person be for a cause and then work for it. "change" doesn't start at the top it comes from the bottom. it is the grassroots actions and organizing of common people that bring change. who cares that you voted or who you voted for, what matters is that if you have a problem you try to fix it. you can't put much faith in a politician, in theory they are our representatives so you got to let them know whats up, you can't just expect them to have all the answers.

2) USING AN EVENT TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR AGENDA/HYPED MEDIA
This is a two part both related to the day the oscar grant verdict was released. while listening to people speak at the rally there were at least two dudes walking around hustlin their marxist papers or whatever they were. that is just rude. there are people talking about serious stuff, the event is about a person that was killed, it is not an appropriate time to be pushing your agenda. if your at the anarchist book fare or some kind of conference okay, distribute your leaflets that is a time to spread info. but at an event like the oscar grant rally if its not directly related to the issue leave it at home, listen to what the speakers are saying cause it is their time. secondly the media hypes things. most people in oakland didn't want a riot, even if they wanted one it wasn't going to happen with 3,000 cops downtown. yeah a few "anarchists" broke some windows and tagged some walls, and maybe some kids got some free shoes and lit stuff on fire taking advantage of the night to run wild, but that was not everyone and that was not the reason people gathered on the day of the verdict. i mean what kind of person vandalizes gold teeth master? of course that is what newspapers focus on and label a "riot." what they don't really talk about is the passionate things people in oakland shared that day to the crowds. some of the people that spoke included members of grant's family, bobby hutton's mom, and mark curry. if the media hadn't prophesied the violence maybe more oakland residents would have come out instead of staying home in fear of downtown and the positive side would have been shown even more. i do not get too easily moved by things but some of what people said almost brought tears to my eyes and gave me reasons to love oakland more. postive words about unity were spoken in contrast to the few vandals that the newspaper highlights with cover photos that people around the country and in the suburbs will look at think "oh those crazy people in oakland are just violent and destructive." But as one dreadlock sporting resident of east oakland said (in my blurred memory paraphrase) "they go after us cause we look the same. we aren't hyphy, we don't go dumb, were the egyptians who built the pyramids."

3) "HIP-HOP" RADIO
at work i usually hear spanish radio, top 40, some funk and soul, and hip-hop radio. the radio is already bad enough but hip-hop, or should i say pop-hop radio is even worse. they play about fifteen songs over and over all of which have annoying catchy hooks, auto-tune voices, and/or sexual innuendo that sounds like it was written by an adolescent boy with no sense of poetic style and enough hormones for two people. the other morning i woke up with a lady gaga song stuck in my head, curse you radio!