Lets get Serious

Something came to mind during a 7 mile long run this weekend. The following was written in my head while trying to keep a 7:44 pace and listening to music at a volume that is not safe for the ears. I hope I can make my thoughts clear... It sounded good in my head.

The world we are living in is becoming more confusing.
There has been a lot of flap over this Don Imus thing. I have been listening to Imus off and on for years, and I'm surprised it took this long for him to get fired. Most of the time he talks about how bad he feels, or who is an idiot today. Nothing ever made him happy. He was pretty much an old grump who sat there and complained about everything.

Had the sponsors not pulled out, he would still be doing the same thing.

Let me talk about words.... Words are powerful.... All wars start with words... And all wars end with words. Let me go in a little deeper and for the rest of this post I will refer to the N-word as apple. (I just feel stupid typing the N-word)

I like to run with all kinds of music. If you looked at my Ipod you would find everything from John Denver to N.W.A. For those of you that don't know N.W.A. is a Hip-Hop group that uses the apple word a lot, in fact the first letter in their name stands for apple.

When I search for new music to download. I find it hard to get hip-hop songs that don't have the apple word. So whats a runner to do?.... I guess what I really want to know is what do the hip-hop artist want me to do? Is it O.K. for a 44 year old white guy to listen to a song with the apple word? What if I sing along? I'm sure the artist enjoy my money. I don't have any stats to back me up, but I would bet the majority of hip-hop songs are bought by white kids.

When apple and other degrading names are spoken so freely by one group it tends to water down it's meaning. Making grumpy old men like Imus think he is hip for knowing the lingo.

The only shoes I have ever walked in are white. I could not begin to understand what it is like to be another race. There are a couple of hip-hop songs I really like to run to, when they pop-up on my Ipod it really gets me going. Click on the name and wait for the song to come up on the left hand side of page. That is if you really want to hear what I run to.

One is called Hip Hop Is Dead by Nas. The sample is the old Iron Butterfly song, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida to a rap beat.
The other song is Let's Go by Trick Daddy. The sample is from an Ozzy Osbourne song. Both have a lot of energy. As a 44 year old white guy, I have know idea what the artist are rapping about, it's a world I don't understand and I'm sure someone from Compton does not understand mine.
If you just watched those two videos, I'm sorry, but I like it when I run. They are tame to what's out there and I don't think apple is used.

So what message is being sent? I don't think apple should be said by anyone. As far as what Imus said, that was just stupid. I really don't think he knew how bad it sounded.... Why? Because hearing it from Spike Lee movies or Rap artist has made it comfortable to demean woman.
I'm all for free speech, but with that freedom comes responsibility. We should not look at our government to police us. We have to police ourselves. What we say has consequences and I don't see how we can have it both ways.

I wonder what Martin Luther King would think of all this? Something tells me his dream did not include African-Americans calling each other apples as a term of endearment. I'm not an expert on Dr. King, but I think he said something about the content of your character, not the color of your skin. And when any of us say apple or call women names our character goes out the window and all we have left is the color of our skin.

There will always be racist and I can't say if Imus is one, only he knows that. If we as a community get offended when things like that are said. Then we should also be offended when it is said by any race. What is right is right and what is wrong is wrong. We can't have shades of gray depending on who said it. That's not fair.

Sometimes I feel the only group you can say anything about, and get away with it. Is us goofy white guys. The next time you watch T.V. look at all the commercials making fun of the dumb white guy. I guess we're the safe haven for all to take a shot. Am I offended? No, it's just an observation.

I'm setting here, thinking about hitting the delete and not posting this. If you're reading this I did not chicken out.
Not that I said something outrageous. It's just I don't know if what I'm trying to say is coming across the way I want it to.

I need to get back to writing about running and leave this to someone that knows what they are talking about, but it was on my mind.
I do welcome all comments on this post, good or bad.

See ya on the road, runron