I was asked on Facebook earlier last week if I saw the article attached to the above picture. I did. I saw about a ton of articles and explanations attached to that picture. I even saw the photo response by Russian Photographer Alexander Kargaltsev–which, although an appreciated sentiment, it’s not the same. Click the link and talk amongst yourselves if you must. I think I purposefully ignored most of what was circulating by way of #OppressionChairGate and Garage Magazine Editor Dasha Zhukova‘s tush, because on so many levels I really just think some folk are ridiculously ignorant. I do not believe that every person should self-edit themselves to the point of ridiculousness, but I do think folk should walk the planet with a sense of “do no harm”. Do no harm, does not mean “never offend”. I think the truth is mighty offensive to the people who have no interest in it. The truth is, any one who makes a chair in the likeness of a historically and racially oppressed body–no matter how much you may think you’re trying to uplevel conversations about race and/or gender equality–boo–you have lens issues. Any chair made out of a body is suspect, particularly in bondage, but this chair leans on a deeper travesty. Any body who sits on said chair and poses for a picture, also has lens issues. Any being who has the idea to snap said picture and be cool with it, has lens issues. Any one who styles a room with that chair has lens issues. And ANY person who releases this exact picture on MLK’s Day of service has TIMING issues. So you see, the problem is not the chair. The chair is the soul speak of an “artist” who prolly just wants to make a name for himself. It’s hard out here in these streets. But his “art” need not see the light of day–as most artists work don’t– consequently. The problem, as I see it, is with the countless people this chair went through to get to the point that we can have a conversation about it at all. It’s a testament of a lot of things, but mostly to me it’s the privilege of ignorance.
What is “The Privilege of Ignorance” you ask? It’s that thing that happens when we forget we’re not the only people who exist in the world. When we let the selfishness of our sometimes jaded or limited world views dictate how we interact with the world. We purposefully put ourselves in a deep-walled bubble and then find ourselves with full out aghast faces when we find that our contributions to the continuing conversation keep pushing our world back, when it so desperately wants to move forward. Par example. The Grammy Awards were Sunday. While I am a devoted (good) music lover, I can’t remember the last Grammys I’ve watched on purpose. I did get to see some clips and I’m infinitely okay with the idea that I got to keep those 2-3 hours of my life. I heard that there were some amaze-balls performances by Daft Punk, Pharrell, Stevie Wonder and Niles Rogers…
Plus Kendrick Lamar and Imagine Dragons.
There were other noteworthy performances, I’m sure. I will say that quite a few in my social media network, who did get a chance to lose those 2-3 hours of their lives, had so much to say –par usual– about the stuff they couldn’t hack. Like when 4 time Grammy Award winner Macklemore performed his hit song, Same Love with Madonna, Mary Lambert and jazz artist Trombone Shorty.
This one guy I know (who is actually pretty well known for his creative work AND his FB rants) took issue with the above performance and ironically concluded that “The Man” was pushing forward its “Gay Agenda”. It was an ugly illogical rant, I will say. It was steeped in fear and judgement. It was, dare I say, typical… not topical.
Believe me when I say, as much as I wanted to counter rant and even do an exposé on where “good people go wrong on social media”; I am a full advocate for free speech. Even if it is illogical, mis-informed, based on prejudice and toeing the line of hate speak. I’ve come far enough in my journey to know that people are often terrified by what they don’t understand. And further, most people don’t often have a voice in the continuing conversation in any meaningful way, so they seek social media to be a safe space for their voices to be heard. I can’t say that I much like so much of what is said, but I understand the need to say it. My grandmother was a wise woman who was known to say, “I will fight to the death for your right to believe what you want and worship how you want. The only caveat is that you must do the same for me.” We all should have our voice. We just hope we learn to use our voices more thoughtfully, yes?
The other thing that happened was after the Grammys. It was THIS that happened.
A British paper called Beyonce a ‘whore’ in it’s headline. I mean… I caint. When I posted this picture, my feed became this weird battle between those people who think a whore is a style of dress and not the name of an actual profession–that actually does NOT have a set dress code. And those people who honestly hold people to standards they have no real interest in holding themselves to. I could go into it here, but life is too short and the explanation is too long.
I could actually take the next 2000 words and spell out every number of gag inducing moments I experienced in social media this week. The range goes from hate speech messily tossed inside of Bible musings (take your time) through to the general way that people bully each other via social media (laptop thug style) to validate said bible musings, and then wrench around to the whiny, complainy, ugly daily rants of spew that do little more than pollute the social media air space. I could actually take the next 4000 words to do that, but nobody has that kind of time. I will only say this one thing about that. Hypocrisy can only happen when folk don’t know who they are. When you know who you are, you practice daily in aligning the things you think, say and do to fit the standard of who you are born to be. Folk get confused because they have no idea who they are and the rest of their lives looks exactly that way. Which is why folk can quote the bible whilst engaging in suspect life activities, including glorified hate speak. K.
Since I exist for the sole purpose of reframing the conversations we keep having with ourselves, it makes little sense to re-engage with these same run-on sentences that people like to have on their social media feeds. But what I can offer is an idea about what the condition of complaining does for the condition of our lives in general and as a whole. Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith of Agape International Spiritual Center says often “the world is held together by agreements and conversations about agreements. You cannot change the world unless you change your agreement with it.” Which is in full alignment with my purpose to reframe the conversations we keep having with ourselves. If we can change the narrative of our story and the stories we share with the world, we can change our world and the world around us. I will say that changing our narrative will NEVER happen until we learn how to stop flipping complaining.
A few years back, I was introduced to a speaker and New Thought Minister from Kansas City, MO named Will Bowen. He’s also the author of the book A Complaint Free World and the champion of the purple bracelet. “The one thing we can agree on is there’s too much complaining.” Will says. So he issued his congregation a challenge:
to swear off complaining, criticizing, gossiping or using sarcasm for 21 days.
Easier said than done. “People who join in are issued little purple bracelets as a reminder of their pledge. If they catch themselves complaining, they’re supposed to take off the bracelet, switch it to the opposite wrist and start counting the days from scratch.” Will calls complaining ear pollution. I call it psychic trash with no assigned receptacle. It was one thing when you had to listen to people complaining in your face or on the phone, now you have people complaining with unlimited data via every one of their social media feeds. Times this by 1000 or 10,000 or 100,000 followers and feeds and you have a complaint positive world that makes one want to fill ones pockets with boulders and jump off the nearest high bridge.
But you’re saying right now, ‘But I don’t complain!’ K. Peep the Complaint Free World Mission:
Since 2007, 10,121,812 purple bracelets have been issued around the world.
We envision a positive shift in our world’s consciousness.
We see a day when people focus on and speak about what they desire things to be rather than complaining about how things are.
We will provide Complaint Free purple bracelets and inspiration such that 60 million people (1% of the world’s population) leave the toxic communication of complaining behind and experience an internal shift toward being more positive, hopeful and optimistic.
Every day, people interact with dozens if not hundreds of others. Our helping shift the attitudes of as little as 1% of humanity cannot help but have a ripple effect which will become a cascade of positivity around the world bringing about greater harmony, understanding, prosperity and peace.
This is actually an 11 Part Video series that you can watch here. I’m ordering some bracelets. If I happen to see you out and hand you one, please don’t get offended.
Osho Lovianhal (Light the LOVE in ALL) Friend!
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