The Latest In Metals

What do you get when you meld J-pop with Heavy Metal?

It’s the next step over from Vocaloid’s Hutsane Miku.  It’s J-pop melodies and lyrics overlaid atop heavy metal chords and drums.  Toss in Japanese fashion, anime-based choreography, and with a little marketing savvy, the world now has:  Babymetal.

Yes, you read that right.  Baby (as in infant) Metal (as in thrashing guitars and massive drum beats).

The lead singers are almost always dressed in school girl slash anime warrior outfits with kabuki-style face painted backing band clad in anime-inspired robes.  Think of it as a cross between some of the more violent video games filtered through a bad acid trip, and that’s a fairly accurate description of the genre.

The lead singers look barely old enough to be out of school, but apparently they are adults (or so say their bios).

What’s your take on the latest in metals?  Does it get a thumbs up or a thumbs down from you?

Idle No More: If A Tree Falls In The Forest

If a tree falls in the forest and lands on a person of color, is the forest racist or just the tree?

This week, acts of violence have been committed in Ferguson over the Grand Jury decision not to indict the white police officer who shot dead an 18-year-old African-American male who had physically assaulted the officer (among other offenses).

It’s been a horrific week, and many innocent people and businesses have been endangered by rioters claiming to be fighting for “justice” for the deceased.   The fact that I do not support the rioters who are committing acts of violence and looting businesses and homes in Ferguson has given rise to people accusing me of being racist.

The step-father of the deceased and the rioters are claiming that because the officer was not indicted, justice has not been served.  In fact, the step-father of the deceased has incited rioters to violence.  The problem with their argument is that those who support the argument that justice has not been served fail to understand how Grand Jury decisions are arrived at.  They are not based on emotion; they are based on facts presented.

The deceased man’s biological father, on the other hand, has stated through the media that violence is not the answer to the Grand Jury decision.  He made it clear that nothing could be gained by hurting others and destroying property.

In a similar case in Alabama, the Grand Jury chose not to indict the police officer who shot dead 18-year-old Gil Collar.

Over in Utah, the Grand Jury chose not to indict the police officer who shot dead 20-year-old Dillon Taylor.

As with the family of Michael Brown, the families of Gil Collar and Dillon Taylor were devastated and disappointed by the decision arrived at by the Grand Jury.

Unlike some of Michael Brown’s family members, the families of Gil Collar and Dillon Taylor did not incite rioters to acts of violence because the Grand Jury chose not to indict either of the officers responsible for the deaths of their adult children.

The question that arises between all three cases is this:  If the Grand Jury chooses not indict an officer responsible for the death of an individual, is that refusal to indict racist?

If the answer is yes, then the subsequent question is this:  Why was it racist in the Michael Brown case and not racist in either the Gil Collar or Dillon Taylor cases?

If the answer is arguably that the officers were doing their job in the cases of Gil Collar and Dillon Taylor, then it is arguably that the officer was doing his job in the case of Michael Brown.

If the facts presented to the Grand Jury do not warrant an indictment against a police officer, that is not racism.  That is justice as defined by the laws that govern the United Stated of America.

It is not racism to accept the decision of the Grand Jury operating under the laws that govern the United States of America.

It is not racism to be able to separate facts from emotion, and to see the situation from a third-party perspective.

There will always be unpopular decisions in life:  Some of your own doing, and some of other people’s doing.  This is why there are laws that clearly spell out what is and is not lawful, as agreed to by the majority of people and expressed through voting, peaceful protests, and awareness campaigns.

Rather than support lawlessness and vigilante justice, support education. Knowledge is power.  It is also empowering.

Michael Brown Sr has chosen to walk alongside those who believe that violence is not the answer.  And if that makes Michael Brown Jr’s father racist, then perhaps it’s time people looked up the definition in the dictionary rather than toss around the word carelessly.

Elyse Bruce

Idle No More: Burnaby Mountain

Frontlines Beat Pipelines:
Indigenous and People of Colour Resistance
and Performance at Burnaby Mountain

Because Indigenous communities, communities of colour, and tribal communities bear the brunt of climate change. Because we are the frontlines of crisis and we are the frontlines of change

Saturday, November 29th from 1PM to 4 PM
Burnaby Mountain, top of mountain

Full details and RSVP here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/304926929699424/

Who Said That?

The graduates of McGill University who finished their degrees after World War II ended are the great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents of those who are graduating from university and college over 65 years later.  The quotes beside each graduates’ name speaks volumes of how they interpreted the world around them.  Since most of the quotes fail to acknowledge the author of the quote, I thought it would be fun to see how many of these quotes are recognized by those who follow or visit my blog.  Today’s quote is this:

Act well your part; there all the honor lies.

Feel free to add the name of who you believe was — or may have been — the person who first spoke or first wrote those words, in the Comments Section below.

The Grand Jury Decision Unpopular With Some

The Grand Jury decision came in earlier this week, and it proved wildly unpopular with certain segments of the population in Ferguson.  There’s been rioting and looting in subsequent nights since the decision was announced, and the world over is watching … some in shock, some in support.  But let’s take a look at the facts of the situation, and set emotions aside for a moment.

Michael Brown was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the incident.  While most cannabis users insist that marijuana won’t make the user aggressive or violent, studies have proven otherwise.  An article published in the Journal of Addictive Behaviors reported that “marijuana is clearly the drug with the most evidence to support a direct intoxication-violence relationship.”  It’s also the drug that is most linked with criminal activities in America.

The police officer was not under the influence at the time of the incident.

Michael Brown and his companion assaulted the officer while the officer was still in his vehicle.  Now what might cause two grown men to attack a police officer?  Michael Brown and his friend Dorain Johnson were walking in the middle of the road — which is considered to be obstructing traffic in any city in the U.S. or Canada —  when the officer ordered them out of the street and onto the sidewalk.  It was an order they chose to ignore and refused to obey.  When the officer opened his car door to address the situation face-to-face, Michael Brown and Dorain Johnson determined that the proper response was to assault the officer instead of complying with the order.

Had they complied with the officer’s order, that would have been the end of the situation.  But they didn’t comply with the order.  Instead these two men chose to assault the officer.

When the officer directed Michael Brown and Dorain Johnson to stop, the 6-foot-4, 292-pound Michael Brown chose to run at the officer “like a football player.”  The officer fired three shots (see autopsy report for details) but Michael Brown kept coming at him.  The officer fired two more shots (see autopsy report for details).  The last shot was fired as Michael Brown kept coming at the officer.

Finally, the majority of shots were obviously intended to injure not kill Michael Brown as there were far more gunshot wounds to the chest than to the head, and there were even more gunshot wounds to the arms than to the chest.   In other words, most gunshot wounds were to the arms, and the fewest gunshot wounds were to the head.  It makes sense that the gunshot wounds to the head would have been the last gunshot wounds received.

Based on the FACTS, the Grand Jury chose not to indict the police officer.  That is their decision based on FACTS not emotions.

It is unfortunate that Michael Brown lost his life due to his poor decisions that night.  Of that there is no doubt.  Whenever a life is lost, it’s always tragic.  However, that doesn’t mean that justice has not been done, and people need to stop confusing revenge with justice.  They are not the same thing.

And given the set of circumstances, this incident cannot be framed as one that stems from racism, bigotry, prejudice, and/or intolerance.  In fact, there are many similar stories where an African American officer has found himself in a similar situation with a Caucasian attacker, and the results have been the same … right down to the Grand Jury decision not to indict the officer.

In this instance, for Michael Brown’s step-father to incite others to violence by directing them to “burn this b**** down” only causes more animosity between groups of people while victimizing innocent business and home owners as well as renters.

Meanwhile, President Obama who urged people demonstrating to do so peacefully, found himself the brunt of a number of inappropriate responses on social media from those who would rather “burn this b**** down” than follow in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr.

Those are the facts.  Please feel free to return the previously set aside emotions to the discussion.

Elyse Bruce