London in New York

ECHOS OF GEORGE WALLACE: The Southern Strategy,  Racial Pragmatism, Pseudo Nationalism & More Tea Party Propaganda by the folks at Breitbart

At the Conservative Political Action Conference this year, Andrew Breitbart promised a crowd of activists damning videos of President Barack Obama as a student at Harvard Law School. The videos, Breitbart said, would show people “why racial division and class warfare are central to what ‘hope and change’ was sold in 2008.” “In this election we’re going to vet him,” Breitbart famously vowed. As noted in the Washingto Post, in retrospect, given what his progeny at Breitbart have since brought forth, this was a case where ‘Showmanship Prevailed’ over meaningful discourse.

‘Big Ideas’ Don’t Come out of Mad Boys with Little Minds and small…packages

The bluster surrounding the release of the video of Barack Obama hugging the deceased Harvard Professor Derrick Bell at a rally in support of greater faculty diversity and in particular in support of Ms. Regina Austin, a then visting faculty member at Harvard Law School in 1991 (who happened to be my former Torts professor at the Universty of Pennsylvania Law School and who is now The William A. Schnader Professor of Law back at Penn Law) and the voluminous right wing blogs written in support of this so called scandal come across with all the depth, reflection, anxiety of a “man” (figuratively speaking) who is perhaps a tad consumed if not entirely cuckolded by a girlfriend  who might prefer a thick slab of KOBE BEEF to Hebrew Frank or a Vienna Sausage. The foregoing statement is actually quite kosher and not anti-Semitic. I have been advised that Hebrew National Franks are of high quality and may in fact be quite tasty, but they do not come in the size of Polish Kielbasa or Mustamakkara (black sausage).  While I empathize with their plight, that is perhaps something he, depending on which Breitbart writer you are referring to Ben Shapiro or Joel Pollak,  can better work out in therapy with a psychiatric professional. And I am only half kidding.  You see the dialogue that Breitbart and his progeny bring forth may expose some old but deep rooted insecurity about their own masculine prowess in terms of  not measuring up, behind closed doors, to the successful, powerful and endowed black man.

Nevertheless, In the video of the rally at Harvard,  Obama asks a crowd to “open up your hearts and your minds to the words of Professor Derrick Bell.”

As reported by CNN:

On Thursday morning Joel Pollak, Breitbart.com’s editor-in-chief, appeared on CNN’s Starting Point to defend the importance of the video.

“The bombshell is the revelation of the relationship between Obama and Derrick Bell,” Pollack said. “Derrick Bell is the Jeremiah Wright of academia. He passed away last year but during his lifetime he developed a theory called critical race theory, which holds that the Civil Rights movement was a sham and that White Supremacy is the order and it must be overthrown.”

This characterization of critical race theory sparked a feisty debate between Pollack and CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, who contended that it was a “complete misreading of critical race theory.”

In the article that accompanies the video, Breitbart.com’s editor-at-large Ben Shapiro calls it a “smoking gun” and promises that more information on Bell’s activism will be released soon.

“This is just the beginning,” Shapiro writes. “And this video is a smoking gun showing that Barack Obama not only associated with radicals, he was their advocate.”

BREITBART’S ‘Dirty White Boys’ Get Their Panties in a Twist Over Nothing

So let me make sure I got this right.  Barack  Obama, then the Editor in Chief of the Harvard Law Review, hugged the first black  tenured professor at Harvard Law School, who was veteran of the civil rights movement in America and who engaged in controversial and thoughtul scholarship involving  CRT – Critical Race Theory on issues of race, law and power in America at a rally promoting greater diversity in Harvard’s faculty and thereby Obama is a “radical”?   Some ‘dirty white boys’ who wanna be Breitbart and lead the Tea Party got  their panties in a twist over this? Really?  Only in America is having a conversation or expressing support for critical thinking or critical thinkers, ‘radical’.  And if you are asking me do I know whether any of these intellectual thugs have small Weiner-Schnitzel, I do not, but when you behave like a man with one…you know what they say.

The rage of Joel Pollak and Ben Shapiro of Breitbart over Obama’s association with black intellectuals while a student at one of our nation’s most elite instituions of learning, at the top of the food chain, in the Ivy League,  is frankly surreal and beyond ludicrous.  This is, however, ultimately one of many shots to be fired over the bow by the lunatic fringe in the effort to paint the nation’s first non-white President as radical, extreme and not at all like you and me. As suggested above, it may also belie some deep rooted anxiety about their own masculinity.

OPPRESSED GROUPS HAVE A RIGHT TO INTROSPECTION, SCHOLARSHIP & SPEECH

Know that I do not feel threatened by ‘Black Power’, Gay Pride, Native American pride, La Raza or Zionism. Those who have risen from an oppressed history have a right and dare I say a duty to question the evolution of society, the treatment of their people henceforth and to engage in rational and critical thinking, scholarship and public speech even, in an effort at preserving their station if not rising up beyond it and all perceived or real challenges to their continued progress. That is America.  Now for the record, while I come from a multicultural background, I have never been a slave so I cannot not identify personally with the history of the  black man in America. Nor can I personally identify with the the Jewish people and a Jew who may have had relatives who died or survived  the Holocaust in the century just passed. But I can say that were I either a Black or Jewish man, I would be cautious of getting too comfortable and might not ever take my freedom or standing in society for granted.

SEEDING WHITE ANGER & JEWISH MISTRUST OF THE PRESIDENT IS THE END GAME

America is a melting pot of people who understandably have pride and an interest in understanding the truth about their history and national origin. As an American of Spanish, Colombian, Italian and German/Austrian heritage I might be able to sign up for a few pride related groups myself.  I am not Irish but ‘Kiss the Blarney Stone’ if I won’t be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Movies like Gangs of New York fascinated me, if only because it exposed, how politicians took advantage of racial and ethnic differences for political gain. Now we have “journalists” or social media entrepreneurs who do so to gain traffic, notoriety and mainstream media TV appearances and to have a role in GOP politics.  There are far too many racial pragmatists still to this date, who when pushed come to shove, probably truly do not hate individual people based upon the color of one’s skin or nationality, but who given the opportunity to gain power might seek to play off steroetypes and racial fears for political gain and/or personal profit. These folks I would argue can be every bit as dangerous to the fabric of our nation as the men in white sheets and pointed hats, the KKK or the Nazi’s in Germany, if they are allowed to rise unchecked in a vaccum of intellectual critique

Critical thinking and scholarship is perhaps a radical idea for some folks. For them,  critical thinkers who operate outside their acceptable paradigm, are in essence radical.  Can Pollak and Shapiro be this stupid?  I highly doubt it. Like Obama, they both got their law degrees from Harvard Law School, that elitist institution that Breitbart and others famously referred to as “Beirut on the Charles” River. They are Tea Party operatives, not journalists, who are politically and ideologically motivated to achieve an intended result, the removal of a black Democratic President from the White House.  In that regard and towards that end, anything and everything is justifiable.  They will echo George Wallace if they have to in coordination with the Republican candidates who at present seem to running a template of the Southern Strategy playing on white fear.  What they are doing is feeding into the irrational threat that some insecure white men have of the radical black man rising up to challenge the white man to his very station in life, his job, his pension and even his woman.

Obama’s record as President over the last three years has its strengths and weaknesses.  Some which can be defended. Other aspects  which can be fairly critiqued.  Say whatever you will but the man’s record is not that of a  ‘radical.’  And given his propensity for wearing ’Mom Jeans’ Obama is clearly more of middle America than Breitbart’s Tea Party hipsters.  You see because regardless of what the truth is about Derrick Bell’s critical race theory or CRT, the black man is hardly in a position to take over America at the present time and turn the white man into his slave but much like the Jew who fears a repeat of the Holocaust, its fair for the Black man to consider or contemplate a downgrade in his societal stature and a repeat of his enslavement on a whole other level.   Hell if he should dare speak up or hug some one that certain white men deem radical, passionate men will rouse the militia to come get him and bring his ass down a level.  One is hard pressed to find such a fundamental shift in the existing paradigm, especially at a time when America’s white elite have consolidated power and wealth at the very top.

So forgive me if you will, but for all of the hoopla surrounding the release of this ‘bombshell video’ of Obama at a rally for Derrick Bell at Harvard Law School in 1991, it is truly underwhelming.  As crtics have noted, it is a ‘ total dud’ and ‘falls flat’.  Furthermore, it exposes the barren hypocrisy in the agenda of some quarters on the right and how far they will go to achieve certain aims in their effort to “silence African-Americans attempting to seriously discuss race in America.” Stand up, speak out and get shut down and called a racist radical.

Obama’s statement as a Harvard Law School student in 1991 to “open your hearts and mind” to Professor Derrick Bell, even if his scholarship is controversial or even radical in the minds of some is not of concern to me nor should it be to people of rational minds and hearts.  Even if one cede’s to the right a  misinterpretation of Bell’s critical race theory, that still is not evidence that Obama is a radical, as much as he was a man enveloped and engaged in the learning process.   Furthermore, the real world changes the idealism of many a student, myself included.   Breitbart’s echos of George Wallace will not succeed in painting Obama as a radical, nor will it ultimately succeed in putting a fissure between the Black and Jewish community as intended.  ‘Pray for Andrew Breitbart.’ The charlatan’s blogging for Breitbart are not on a mission for truth in America. They are instead simultaneously pursuing a Southern Strategy seeding white anger and attempting to undermine the Jewish vote which traditionally has gone to Democrats in an effort to regain the White House for the Republican Party.  They are also I suspect hoping to provoke a cautious but determined Democratic President with bonafide military credentials into a premature war with Iran, not on his terms or at a time that is in the best interest of the United States of America but on those preferred by AIPAC and Israeli President Bibi “Nyet and Yahoo!”

In conclusion, my response in short is to stand down and piss off. President Barack Obama is the Commander in Chief. So yes little boys, a black man (partially to be exact since he is also half white) is in the White House and as far as anyone can tell, he has not done anything radical yet except engage in critical thinking. For some, that is truly radical indeed.

NJ GOVERNOR SERVES AS AMERICAN ICON’S FINAL BODYGUARD — Politically Small minded Rabbi Engages in Pseudo Intellectual Mishagas

Dangerous Beauty in Faux Feminist Jihad vs. ‘Satanic Verses’ Author

Ate my heart
He a-a-ate my heart out
He ate my heart
He a-a-ate my heart out

Look at him
Look at me
That boy is bad
And honestly
He’s a wolf in disguise
But I can’t stop staring in those evil eyes

-Monster by Lady Gaga

Devorah Rose like Bud Fox in Wall Street may literally have ‘bagged the elephant’ in gaining media attention from her fleeting association with author Salman Rushdie. The Upstart Jewish Socialite from Newton, Massachusetts, otherwise known as Deborah Denise Trachtenberg, who is a ‘Celebrity of Her Own Making’ appeared on the front page of Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post twice in one week, including yesterday’s Sunday edition.

The enlightened among us have questioned why this absurdity is even news. The woman posing in the Sunday’s New York Post as a victim of abuse by Mr. Rushdie, Ms. Rose is a rather notorious Social Parasite of the highest order. There are numerous profiles in the public domain of the reality obsessed aspiring actress and wannabe socialite documenting her incessant and shameless social climbing and ongoing efforts to manipulate media coverage. In the present instance, she tweeted a picture of herself with author Salman Rushdie having dinner at the uber trendy Manhattan eatery Indochine with a rather suggestive message. She then fired off snippets of her Facebook dialogue with the former spouse of beauty Padma Lakshmi to blog Scallywag & Vagabond. The media madness ensued, with questions about the depth and extent of their rather brief flirtation, only to be followed by the abuse allegation by the nervy parasite.

Miss Devorah Rose whined:

“What he did was verbally abusive,” said Rose. “He knew the best way to hurt me.”

“He’s a hurtful person. His was sadistic, violating behavior. I’m never again going to look up to someone I’m not close to. It doesn’t matter if a man is your idol, if a man makes you feel bad, you need to stand up for yourself. Women need to have a no-jerk policy. Women can’t let men play games with them. I just want girls to know they need to speak out and this type of behavior is not OK.”

NY Post quotes Rushdie’s ‘abuse’ of the Crazed Reality Star as follows:

“I’m sorry to say that I don’t feel able to pursue what we only just began. I think you are a dynamic, passionate, extraordinary person, and I apologize for backing away so suddenly.”

Her pseudo feminist mishegas directed towards womankind in a rant to the NY Post reeks with all the sincerity of a grifter fleecing her prey and her call to protection of other similarly afflicted female victims, with all the coherence of a drunkard saying “I love you man.”  Women who scream abuse or cry wolf as part of their own famegame but who have suffered no damages or actual abuse undermine women who are real victims.   Somehow, I highly doubt that Gloria Allred even wants to jump into the mix on this one. Yes, it is that ridiculous.

The photo ilustrates nothing…..

As a photographer and a lawyer and one who has seen up close and personal Ms. Rose’s antics, in my opinion, the image tweeted by Ms. Rose illustrates nothing. It hardly looks like that representative or indicative of some massive romance, deeply formed alliance or any kind of significant intimate relationship between her and the world famous author of the Satanic Verses. It instead looks like that of one taken by a fan or brazen fame ball/stalker for her scrapbook or tool in her ongoing social climb.

In his research and in forced exile/hiding after the issuance of a fatwa against him by Ayatollah Khomeni and the violent Muslim reaction that followed publication of  The Satanic Verses I still do not think that Mr. Rushdie ever encountered anyone so deeply committed to completion of their mission as that of a crazed ‘fame monster’ like  Miss Devorah Rose.

As stated to me by an acquaintance who has withdrawn from New York Social circles because she has moved on to a more important segment of her life called adulthood: “It never ceases to amaze me the lengths these people will go for ’status’ in the make-believe construct of their social microcosm.”

Men of means and accomplishment are on notice that this type of Dangerous Beauty with a narcissistic personality disorder worships only at the alter of fame. She will sell you out at hello. Devorah tweeted that picture of her and Rushdie because in her mind, it made her ‘relevant’. And by relevant I mean that a man of means, intellect and literary accomplishment chose to have this charlatan in his company, however briefly.

Tweeting that photo was a marketing and publicity maneuver and not indicative of behavior becoming a lady or a woman sincerely interested in a meaningful involvement with a man of substance. Emily Post would certainly not approve of this course of conduct.  Given that she is a woman of literally no meaningful accomplishment but a semi nude spread of her surgically sculpted and lipo-suctioned frame having appeared in the pages of Maxim in a spread that seems more appealing to necrophiliacs, pedophile and fans of Anorexia, one should not be surprised that Mr. Rushdie had little interest in an ‘intellectual relationship’ with someone whose apparent social currency was fame for no reason and nude profile resembling a concentration camp victim. It shocks me that she could have even briefly made him horny. But that  is besides the point.

Devorah Rose: Another Cog in the Wheel of the Culture of Distraction

Whether this is yet another case of ‘Men Behaving Badly’ or a pervy old man misreading the intent of a woman who flaunts her nudity online with the brazen hustle of a street walker is not so relevant. That he chose to walk away from her is not abusive to Ms. Rose as much as it was likely motivated to preserve whatever remained of his integrity as well as coming to the realization that he was being used. Hence,  if he was looking for ‘The Girlfriend Experience’ he should have paid by the hour rather than tangled with an unrelenting fame monster who simply would not stop trading off the one photo of them together.

While some may commend the upstart Jewish socialite for her persistence or perseverance in continuing to garner time in the spotlight without any noteworthy accomplishments, the endless pursuit of reality fame to place yourself in the right place at the right time, like a scheming Forrest Gump, is hardly a heady or noble life pursuit.  Folks like Devorah are oblivious to the entire REAL world around them while the dutifully serve as cogs in the wheel of the culture of distraction.  America is being extracted, the middle class eroding with a painful and growing income inequality due to the efforts of inept and corrupt politicians and financial oligarchs that have created  a destabilized financial system which may bring about the economic collapse of America. But the Frankenstein Fame Monster known as Devorah Rose sat next to Salman Rusdie and exchanged texts and simply had to insure that her brief and fleeting association went viral.

Back on January 1, 2009 Page Six in a piece entitled PARTIES, PRADA GO INTO HIDING quoted this writer stating the following:

“As the economy unravels further and we head into a global worldwide ‘Depression,’ the relative significance of who and what is important on New York’s party circuit will matter far less. As far more folks find themselves living less glamorous lives, our willingness to celebrate the petulant indulgences of others will dissipate. Perhaps then fame will become based more on some substantive and real set of values and accomplishments rather than doing coke at Bungalow 8 or merely staying out too late at parties at high-end boutiques.”

That Miss Rose continues to be given a platform proves only that the culture of distraction continues to call upon its loyal servants for more tomfoolery at the expense of enlightenment of our citizenry.

Most who met her between 2005 -2010 do not recognize her in these images on Maxim. Upon closer examination of the images of Devorah Rose in Maxim, Facebook and Twitter, what I see is not an attractive, sexually desirable woman but something that is disturbing. The images are a cross between a concentration camp victim and a vampire who is but one procedure away from looking like Jocelyn Wildenstein. What was not removed with a plastic surgeon’s scalpel or sucked out via liposuction, enhanced via breast implants or collagen injections was photo shopped or air brushed to reveal a feminine creature that is a turn on only for necrophiliacs or pedophiles.

Scallywag & Vagabond asked whether Ms. Rose is a “Shameless Social Climber or Misunderstood Cover Model.” Maybe perhaps a social disease which is a symptom of the times? Arguably, anyone who has gone through the level of personal reconstruction, including cosmetic surgical makeovers and revisionist history of her lineage, in the pursuit of fame and notoriety as has Ms. Rose has serious self esteem issues or suffers from narcissistic personality disorder.

As for Ms. Rose I recommend that she adds to her reading list “He’s Just Not That Into You” or if you can’t read, rent the movie.

Perhaps the rest of us can simply  ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’.

*NOTE: This post was written for and appeared first in Cape Cod Today

SEE ALSO
Hamptonyte: Inside the Social Life Magazine Kerfuffle
Hamptonyte: Breaking: Social Life Magazine editor threatens to quit
Hamptonyte blog: NY Times Profiles Most Transparent Fameball in History
Hamptonyte blog: Hate Mail & Devorah Rose’s obnoxious post Times profile reaction
NY Times: A Celebrity of her own Making
Jewish Journal: Devorah Rose: Future reality star or upstart Jewish socialite?
NY Magazine: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Devorah?
Cape Cod Today: Salman Rushdie Attacked by NYC Fame Monster
Scallywag & Vagabond: Devorah Rose: Women’s advocate against abuse that cried wolf.
CAPITAL: The Salman Rushdie-Devorah Rose Story:Why?

“Am I my brother’s keeper?”–Genesis 4:9
“Yes I think so.” — Chris London 11: 23: 20111

I got love for my brother, but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other. We gotta start makin’ changes.
Learn to see me as a brother ’stead of 2 distant strangers.
And that’s how it’s supposed to be.
How can the Devil take a brother if he’s close to me?
I’d love to go back to when we played as kids
but things changed, and that’s the way it is
-Changes by Tupac Shakur (1998)

Occupy Love

The pain of this universe fills my soul. I see it. I hear it. I feel it. Especially tonight, there are people out there all across America, here in my hometown, in your neighborhoods who are suffering, crying alone, without work or a home, wondering, perhaps even hoping, that tonight is the night; the last night they will be in this pain as they get pulled into the abyss, no longer having to fight for their survival in a world that seems not to give a damn about them. We turn away from them because we fear that they may pull us down with them. They remind us all of our rather inherent vulnerability. The bottom seems endless to many, while the middle seems illusive and insurmountable. The revolution is love.  ’What the world needs now [more than ever]is love, sweet love, its the only thing that there’s just to little of.  Can you imagine a world without more love and less pain and suffering? ‘ It’s easy if you try.’

Occupy Wall Street – The Revolution is Love by Occupy Love

Some are even tempting fate, providing assistance succumbing via the tools of addiction generously provided by society to demoralize the weakened further into a downward spiral of decline; a process which truly needs no help to pull you down by the way. Because they are alone, in pain, in a world that seems not to care about them as much as it cares about perpetuating the demonic interests of a set of greedy motherfuckers hell bent on enslaving what remains of humanity, they give up.

My brothers and sisters, the only reason, I am not there with you giving up, is that in my heart and soul, I truly believe that these SOB’s need a challenge here on this planet, in this life, NOW! Maybe I am only one man, a middle aged one at that. But maybe there are more of you like me who understand. Understand that these demons need a challenge from someone, maybe even more than one of us willing to go the distance until we strike them and their barren system down. Maybe those someone’s are you and me. And so on. My movement is the preservation of humanity and restoration of the dignity of man. What’s yours?

To those of you who must know, tonight, I will cry like a baby girl for the pain and suffering of those I love and those I ought to love but still don’t know. The tears will be mine but they flow for you, not for me. At a time of Thanksgiving, to walk the streets of this town and to see the emptiness in the hearts of even one human, is too painful to ignore without recognizing first that which must be righted. We must work to sustain and perpetuate the righteous among us as opposed to idolizing and worshiping those who are less so.

Even putting aside the Illuminati in the music industry, it should be readily apparent who are those serving as the agents for the culture of distraction, helping to deceive, dis-inform, manipulate and numb the minds of our citizens. The music clearly does not match the times. It is barren of spirit, hope and humanity.  ‘They’ intentionally extracted or removed America’s heart because they really don’t want you to think my brother. Hell no. That’s just the way it is. Its time to let these false icons go and realize that they are a bunch of artistic I-Con Men and women. They con you out of your souls with their rhythmic beats.  And that’s also the way it is.

To those agents of distraction who dare think you have ascended to the throne, let me say this: you could take all of Jay Z’s, P Diddy or Puffy whatever his name is (who will always be too small to fill The Notorious B.I.G.’s shoes no matter how many bottles of Ciroc he sells in the hood)  half hearted artistic smegma and they do not add up to what TUPAC wiped off his rear end much less this one song called ‘Changes’ written by a rapper, poet and social justice activist .  I take a pass at Kanye West (for now) and Eminem cause at they seem  willing at times to examine the state of humanity. To the former two sorry bitches you never ascended to the throne. Ass clowns may be  ‘Running this Town Tonight’ with Rihanna or  be ‘Watching the throne’ but the one you think you are sitting on is actually the TOILET.

The one who is still holding the real throne is six feet under. RIP Tupac. You could release a song from the grave and smoke all these fools, running their asses straight out of town. Real art stands the test of time, the other crap is just a damn crime. To Lady Gaga let me say while I feel your glory,  understand in terms of oppression that the civil rights movement does not end with gay marriage. Open your eyes, many of your little monsters are living in a world where increasingly their only cause of optimism is the release of one of your CD’s or a chance meeting with the Italian Stallion of the music industry, herself. For real. And that’s just the way it is. Maybe some things will never change.

Tonight as I once again listened to one of the greatest songs of all times by the late Tupac Shakur, I am reminded of those of you who feel forgotten and pushed aside. I wish we could live in a world where you each had your own personal Jesus, “someone who is in your prayers and someone who cares.” I wish I had the power to alleviate all the pain and suffering tonight of my countrymen in these incredibly challenging times. I am sorry I am not more than what I am.

And there is a special someone out there in this world tonight, who knows who he is, brother I would gladly trade places with you because your life is far more worthy than mine.  In my prayers tonight I would offer up myself to replace you and hope that my prayers are answered by our maker by morning. Spare you. Take me. Please dear Lord.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). “Yes I think so.” (Chris London 11: 23: 20111)

Defending my passion is not always an easy thing to do. There is a danger in my passionate crusades against perceived injustice that I will alienate as many as I take along for the ride. When I choose to act on rather powerful gutt instincts, I risk  ruffling feathers  pursuing an angle which at my core seems intellectually and morally defensible, before reflecting on the the implications  to my branding or social standing by unnerving those rather comfortably ensconced on their perch, in many cases somewhere above mine. And then I realize  this is why perhaps I have the luxury of not being a mainstream media journalist or commentator, even if on occasion they give me a platform to pontificate or espouse my point of view. Nevertheless, maybe I need to re-read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People, especially in an era where the forces of style often eclipse the logical voices of reason. If you take a look at me, one can easily see why folks like me are not often in Vogue.  Below is a piece published today in Scallywag & Vagabond defending my passionate stance against the use of excessive force by paramilitarized police forces against our citizens which  is the ‘civil rights issue of our time’

Scallywag & Vagabond Publishes A Defense of ‘My Passionate Stance on the ‘Civil Rights Issue’ of Our Time. Who Said I am Jealous of Peter Davis?!’

Chris London on Madison Avenue in Midtown Manhattan

Accusation: “Chris London you are attacking Peter Davis because you are not as stylish or as good a writer as he is.”

Take a look at me. Go ahead. Do I look like I really care about being one of the “Fashionable Elite”?  My heroes are people like Jane Jacobs, Norman Mailer, Lenny Bruce, Jack Kerouac,Jimmy Breslin, Chris Hedges, Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman to name a few.   Word Up, with all due respect to Peter Davis and his talents, he is not one of my heroes or a source of intellectual inspiration, even if I do have a personal affinity for and respect him.

Peter Davis is, however, a stylish, attractive gentleman about town who garners looks from both men and women, and he is rather appropriately the Avenue Insider because of his connection to the life of Upper East Side privilege, while I on the other hand must be a ‘bridge & tunnel’ savage. Peter Davis is always the right guest while I might be the one you have to think about.  Peter is by choice a top notch “Fashion Writer” whose role is to cover and write about who or what are in Vogue. And he does it rather well. Some would say he lives the life of a Bon Vivant, hob-nobbing with those he covers. Mazel Tov!

I have always given Mr. Davis props for his manner, style and grace. In fact, had you actually read my piece in Scallywag you would understand that my narrow critique of Mr. Davis and his ilk was not one born of jealousy or resentment towards his accomplishments in the world of fashion, but rather an acknowledgment that because of his status and platform which he utilized to great effect in support of the anti bullying movement, and also because he is perceived generally as a civic minded NewYorker that he might want to lend his voice to the civil rights issue of out time:The rising Police State and the use of excessive force by hypermilitarized police forces against unarmed citizens, of all walks of life, including members of the LGBT community.

Truth told, I am not GOD nor am I Santa Claus. Hence, how naughty or nice one is, is irrelevant to me. Our humanity and/or philanthropy are private matters. I did not render an indictment of Peter Davis’ compassion for his fellow man or whether or not he possessed a philanthropic bent or even whether or not he chooses to support Occupy Wall Street. Notably over 72% of New Yorkers support OWS and the pervasive movement is far more diverse than the mainstream media gives credit. The movement contains men, women, academics, intellectuals, writers, professors and teachers, professionals (including former finance people, lawyers and accountants), community leaders, union members, farmers and farm workers, the poor, the indigent and the homeless,  the unemployed and underemployed, so many nationalities and yes even members of the LGBT community are included therein. Undoubtedly someone who may indentify as gay, queer or transgender may have been impacted directly by the unnecessary violence administered. The dehumanization of any of our people based upon their being part of some undesirable sub-sect of humanity whether it is being poor or working class, gay or transgender or being less than fashionable and even unkempt, is beyond troubling. It is unacceptable.  This is what America looks like.

My expression of concern was rather narrow. As the so called “cool kids” at least in an urban metropolis in New York City, the Fashionable Gay Social Media Elites have an impact on what a wide swath of folks see as trendy, cool and even important. Truth is more people know who is Andy Cohen of Bravo TV than they know who was Walter Cronkite or Tim Russert and they likely listen to Andy Cohen more.

And while I understand that the editorial mission of neither Paper Magazine or Avenue Magazine is to cover movements contrary to the existing social order, media personalities such as Peter Davis (but not exclusively Peter Davis) have used their Facebook and Twitter accounts rather extensively, if not prolifically in the case of their support for anti-gay bullying legislation and gay marriage, while not offering similar concern or commentary when the evidence was overwhelming of the rise of Police brutality from Wall Street to UC Davis’ campus. Many have been all over the mainstream media elite already. And perhaps this is an unpopular angle to come after media elites, but I do so because I hope and expect more from those who have been themselves victims of oppression and a system that sought to marginalize their interests and their contributions to society. And yet even so I almost understand that espousing protections for a class of folks that the Corporatocracy seeks to marginalize and diminish, is not exactly helpful to holding on to one’s writing job, much less to gaining luxury sponsors for your Publisher.

The dehumanization of citizens is neither a gay or a straight issue, nor is it a Republican or Democratic issue, it is a human issue and we cannot stand by and allow for our fellow man to be dehumanized, not in America. As for me, in the word of Jane Jacobs:

“I do not know who this celebrity called Jane Jacobs is. It’s not me. You either do your work or you’re a celebrity; I’d rather do my work.”

I do not see myself as a celebrity or socialite. All I am and aspire to be is a citizen. And for that matter, attacks on the  self made publisher of Scallywag & Vagabond, Christopher Koulouris for his publishing my initial piece, are also misplaced,  even as it pertains to the preferred policy of  ‘Don’t Insult me without consulting me.’ For he aspires to be something else entirely, which is why he is a bit of a lone ranger out in blog land, and ironically we do not always find commonality on issues but only commonality on the need to discuss them.

Citizen Chris London.