Discombobulation of life

did you read the thing about the guy who said that black people are stupid? one of his talks has been cancelled and his university have banned him from research, or something to that effect, and the funny thing is i have not heard one black person complain. maybe cos we are too silly to understand the news, but i figure it is cos most black people are struggling with really important things like earning a living and providing for their kids and trying to stay out of jail. in actuality my first action was to laugh, that was the reasction of my sister, and also my mother. Instead of arguing about how someone could say that, we found ourselves talking about the fact that we don't really care what he says.

and whatever happened to free speech? if he has data to back it up, then let him talk, and let some other person bring out data to prove him wrong. but check out the situation in Africa right now, and tell me that you don't think, even for one second that maybe, just maybe, he might have a point.

we have a South African president who refuses to acknowledge the link between HIV and AIDS, a whole lot of presidents who refuse to condemn Zimbabwe and its president for his actions. a place where genital mutilation amongst women is still rife, a continent so full of riches, but so quick to align itself to tribal links, instead of pulling together and saying that it is time to emerge from this state of immaturity.

No, not all of Africa is lost, but far too much of it is, and if it takes one person and some silly comments for the continent to wake up then so be it. now, I am not saying that black people are stupid, hell, I know lots of stupid white people too, and i have met lots of stupid asians (talking about ALL of Asia here) too. But leave Dr James Watson alone, he has a right to say black people are stupid as much as i have a right to say that white people can't jump, dance, sing that well, don't have any natural rhythm, have no bass in their voice, and eat really bland food. Nobody is about to ban me from appearing on stage talk about that. People have even done stand up and bases films on this.

This whole political correctness issue has gone too far, it is time to realise that. People say stupid things sometimes, it does not mean they are racist, bigots, or even trying to be offensive. It just means, people say stupid shit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ONvi5SFR8I

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/next/archives/2007/10/car_design_--_o.html

Facebook: The beginning of the end?
Posted by: Helen Walters on October 09
Remember how a year or so ago, all those advertisers jumped on the ‘user generated content’ bandwagon and, regularly, got their fingers burned.

Once Facebook opened up, it was only a matter of time before those same advertisers began to turn their attention to the network and see if it could form communities among like-minded brand afficionados. Some have created apps; some have created groups.

BW cars reporter, Stuart Schwartzapfel, points me to an example of the latter, from Mazda, which has formed the Mazda Design Challenge group. It calls for Facebook users to submit visions of the Mazda3 of the future (NB: you have to be a Facebook member to access the page.)

Here's the deal: ten semifinalists will be picked by Mazda judges; those entries will be honed by an inhouse designer and then will be showcased on Facebook, with other users getting to vote for their favorite. The winner gets $1,000, a trip to the LA Auto show -- and the transformation of their idea into concept model, also to be displayed by Mazda at the show. So far, the group has 1,800 members.

There are a few interesting things to note here. Firstly, Mazda is smart to be clear about the set up of the competition. As long as it follows through and delivers on its promises, this could be a great feel-good marketing/branding exercise.

Secondly, is this the beginning of the end for Facebook? Now that the advertisers are in there, and now that there's seemingly no security or privacy any more, what's so cool or community spirited about the network any more?

It was interesting to observe the evolution of our intern in this respect. Maha was a huge fan of Facebook when she arrived at BusinessWeek earlier this summer, even being so kind as to give me a demonstration and a run-through, excitedly showing me all these great things I should be doing. She wrote a number of pieces analyzing Facebook and its business model too -- including one we haven't published yet, about how she's totally over Facebook.

Call her fickle youth if you will, but she's smart, tuned in, and entirely representative of Facebook's core support. She's back at Brown now, and reports that Facebook's popularity is definitely down: "There's definitely more emailing and phone-calling going on among college students than there was in the Facebook heydey," she writes. "My prediction is that it crashes and burns by 2012, when technology will probably have changed enough to produce something newer and hipper."