Fury runs against song

 Siyabonga 'Slikour' Methane, a South African Hip Hop artist who recently debuted a music video of a single he had titled 'Black are Fools', which has left tongues wagging of fury.
The lyrics of a song go on to say : "cause blacks are fools,
they just wanna be fresh
Give them a little money
And they think they rule.
But I hope we better than that
Nowadays its all about money
And political favors
Is BEE the only way to be something?
That's why we do not even own nothing.
'Cause we think of ourselves as nothing" He argues that his song is misinterpreted as people do not even attempt to listen to his lyrics but end up just making a conclusion with the title of the song. "I still believe, though, that people should not only focus on the title of the song. I'm saying all this because of what white people or foreigners say about us. They say we are lazy; that is why they take our jobs," he says.
I have attempted to listen to the song attentively and have found that some of the points he make are valid and true, I think which is why many people are triggered by what he is stating. On the other hand, the choice of words starting from the song title it is definitely harsh and spiteful. He could have chosen a more appropriate and calmer tone register to address the issues because it seems more aggressive and viewed to have turned his back on his people.
 What makes me agree to some of the points he makes is that we are easily driven to want to live an extravagant life without having to work hard and earn money you deserve, instead we are more intrigued into quick cash and be seen as people who are living the "life" especially within the black community. The society approves of people who have tons of money and are not even educated, and that gives the impression that the youth can see themselves invincibly rich within a short period time instead of investing in education. As the song ends, he expresses " If you keep the truth in the dark, our future will be even darker" hence we should re-address all the issues to build a solid foundation for the future generation.    

The truth behind the false me!

I was caught in disbelieve when I first saw a video clip compiled by dove, to really define a vivid sight I witnessed was “an ugly duckling transform into a swan”. What was actually displayed was a young woman beautifully clean looking, without makeup, hair worn down combed back and fingers roughly run through it, transformed before our eyes into what the media considers as “beautiful”.

She had gone under drastic changes which made her into someone she really is not. It got me thinking that as young girls all around the globe have such great exposure to the media and they are all fed only one perspective of “beauty”, which is not even close to any form of human beings. It is in human nature that we have flaws, and it is with flaws that make us uniquely beautiful, to think that girls look up to models in magazines and billboards and try to imitate their looks which is really far-fetched.

These models wear heavy make-up, add on hair extensions, wear designer extravagant and expensive clothing which in the final stage of a photo shoot go under major photo shopping; narrowing the nose, bigger eyes, higher lashes, slim cheek bones, thicker lips and a short chin with smooth edges added on.  A fake version of the once naturally beautiful model is then placed on the billboard to be witnessed by many young girls envying to see themselves in that way, when the model is not portrayed as her real self.

However a great initiative by Dove and Girls Inc, had joined hands into giving girls a perspective of gaining self esteem which will make them strong enough to face the world seeing themselves as beautiful. Mind + Body initiative aiming at giving them knowledge, skills and attitude required to form and maintain a healthy and positive sense of self.

Check out the Dove @ self esteem tools for girls

Are we puppets of the media?

As time have dramatically evolved to a more modern and advance way of disseminating and obtaining messages at the moment they have been published through technology. Media continues to play a huge role especially in keeping the society informed about news, whether local or internationally, helping and enriching a knowledgeable literate community from television programmes, radio shows and so fourth. Its main intentional focus is to enlighten the society on matters that really affects them, in some instances it has unintentional messages being disseminated on which it is mostly on the youth.

The media has been painting a picture in how we should dress like, what to eat, how to live and whom to associate with. Some of these suggestions proposed are even impossible and even life threatening as young girls are forced to look slim and be like magazine models, dress up to the latest trends, live a luxurious life and be seen with the “IT” people.

It has even led to people to have a certain way of thinking, with what effect, decisions to be made and actions.

It is indeed very questionable to what rate of impact the media has on the youth, as they do not play outside like past years in the sun and be involved into face to face conversations rather than being more in to social media/network (Skype, MySpace or Facebook) to communicate or watch television with lots of violence and explicit sex.

Now, how do we expect our youth to be leaders of tomorrow, when the media seems to be swirling the puppets, to which ever direction it believes to be appropriate?

A study by the Media scope institute found that many children have already, by age six, spent more time watching television than time they will spend talking to their parents in their entire lifetime.

I will conclude my argument by stating that we should accept media as one of a sum of a part of our lives but not make it a necessity that we cannot live without as its implications and intentions may not of building a moral and stable society.