A friend of mine was telling me about a man who complained that Beyonce’s music, in the midst of strongly empowering women, didn’t make him feel like he was “wanted and needed” and described the ferocity of her message as “thrown at my face” and male bashing. This infuriated me. This was the 1,000th time I’ve heard a man accuse Beyonce` of male bashing and criticize her music because it proposes ONLY a female perspective. This man and others are under the mistaken impression that feministic messages have something to do with them, be it bashing or otherwise (Cue Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain...I Bet You Think This Song is About You”). Feminism and/or female empowerment is NOT about ridiculing men. It’s NOT about men AT ALL. In short, it’s about encouraging women to do what’s best for their well-being and success and to pursue justice in the face of discrimination. I’m sorry your feel disadvantaged because Beyonce` is so busy trying to cater to women, that she doesn’t write songs that make you feel “wanted and needed;” she isn’t for you to begin with. She’s for us. Women. For us by us.

This man’s reaction to Beyonce’s feministic messages is a part of the selfish, egocentric thinking that comes with being a “social dominant” and not a “social subordinate” (the central topic of this article). A “social subordinate” is someone who is a part of a community plagued by social injustice (ex. the poor, the disabled, homosexuals, racial minorities, non-Christians/Catholics, women). Social dominants, although often being the facilitators of injustice (either overtly or covertly), sometimes fail to realize that they’re more privileged. Living daily in an advantaged world among fellow social dominants, feeds into the illusion that social adversity is almost non-existent. When coming across material that’s in support of only social subordinates, (ex. Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” or James Brown’s “Say it Loud, I’m Black & I’m Proud”), social dominants feel left-out and discriminated against, crying foul and claiming that there is no such material for them. This reaction stems from both egotism and a presumed aloofness of their privilege. Egotism, because in their advantaged experience, they’re used to being catered to and respond negatively to anything that excludes them. Privilege aloofness, because they don’t see that most material and support is already in their favor. For example, a Caucasian peer of mine purported that the existence of BET (Black Entertainment Television) was racist and if there was a “White Entertainment Television” there would be an uproar. Aloof to her privilege as a member of the dominant race, she failed to understand that racial minorities are still severely underrepresented in mainstream television, giving reason for a channel like BET to exist. Outside of channels like BET and TV One, everything else IS white entertainment television. Hispanics, Asians and other racial minorities are even further underrepresented.

There wouldn’t be a need for a “Born This Way” if the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community wasn’t prosecuted and ridiculed. There wouldn’t be a need for Beyonce` to remind women that they can “Run the World” if they already felt like they could. It angers me when social dominants complain about supports for social subordinates, as if they don’t already have enough advantages. Social subordinates just can’t be great.

What the heck is going on with today’s youth?!! It appears that this generation is one of violence, self-destruction and cruelty. There are ticking time-bombs. If you follow pop-culture media, you might have heard how thousands of young people sent attacking personal messages to Disney-affiliated singer/actress Demi Lovato, 19, via the social-networking site, Twitter, telling her she looked “fat” at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. What made this attack especially heinous was that Lovato has suffered from an eating disorder. On the same site, Lovato’s pal and fellow Disney alum, Selena Gomez, received death threats from jealous fans of her current boyfriend, pop-star Justin Bieber. Bieber fans also sent violent messages to Esperanza Spalding, the recording artist who won “Best New Artist” over Bieber at the Grammys in February. Threats from today’s pre-teens and teens cannot be taken idly. Over the last 3 years, reports of suicides and deaths resulting from bullying in all forms (physical, mental and cyber) have been constant and rising. Bullying has also been linked to self-injurious behavior and eating disorders. Early sexual behaviors, teen pregnancy and substance abuse remain issues amongst adolescents.

Some might not find the above examples concerning, but I find them alarming because of the nature of the bullying attacks; systematic, violent and deliberate. Their violent endeavors aren’t the only thing that worries me. In the midst of promoting this site, I’ve come in contact with a lot of people between the ages of 13-17. Many of them seem to be in crisis. In one week, I came a across a 13-year-old who was concerned about her boyfriend’s distrust of her after her miscarriage and 2 older teens struggling with self-harm, eating disorders and depression. Collectively, these problems are nothing new under the teen sun. However, they seem to be more intense than before. Parents are typically automatically blamed for negative youth trends, but considering the mass affect, they can’t all be poor parents. I’m not an educator, youth counselor, teen or parental figure, so I have no direct, experiential theories on why these behavioral patterns have developed. Any ideas, folks? 

I'm going to make this short and sweet. So with the rising popularity of Republican election candidates, political media suggest that there's a high chance Obama will not have a second term. Many have complained that Obama just isn't getting the job done and a new president is the answer. None of the problems Obama has to tackle happened overnight, so they're not going to get fixed overnight. If we get a new president, he or she isn't going to magically fix everything in one term either. That's the real tea.