Doritos Commercial NOT FUNNY!!

Maria, a conservative Republican blogger, argues that Doritos' new ad - which debuted during Sunday's Super Bowl - is white liberal condescension that reinforces black stereotypes: "Behold the following stereotypical reinforcements: The 'date' of this single black mother comes into her home leering at her sexually. God forbid a black man would enter the home a black woman he’s interested in with sincere adoration and respect. The little boy’s reaction is instant hostility and violence. When his mother leaves the room he gives this adult male – who he’ll one day grow to be – a warning slap across his face about touching his food and/or his mother. I don’t care what intentions an adult indicates in front of a child, short of violence, children should respect authority. It is not cute or funny to have them do otherwise. Further, the message in the (no older than five, this child) boy's actions suggests, this is a baby-mama, single-parent household, and the boy intends to keep it this way. This post is written especially for the mainstream media and the liberal left. It is to remind you that not all of us are asleep at the wheel. Some of us are paying very keen attention and your insult did not go unnoticed."

Adrian, a black conservative, made a comment on Maria's website: "In regards to the Doritos commercial, the minute I realized what the subject was, I shook my head in disgust. Being a man raised by a single mom, I saw this all too often and as a kid, I didn't find it amusing, I didn't trust any of the guys trying to go after my mother. Of course many will say I'm thinking about it too hard but what I see is Liberals testing how high they can raise the bar in stereotypes (mainly in the black community). 'Well if they laugh at that, what else can we get away with?'"

Booker Rising response: First of all, this ad is funny. It is memorable, and most importantly, consumers will link it to the product itself (the purpose of any good ad). However, as I mentioned yesterday, I do somewhat agree with Maria about its message. Yet given the number of blacks who work in advertising, it is also presumptuous to assume that this ad wasn't developed with any black input....if not created by black folks. If it was developed by white folks, what proof is there that they are liberal? Also, who's to say that the mother in this ad isn't a divorcee (since we're not given information either way on this front)?


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Blacks & The Tea Party Movement: Bookerista Perspectives

Constructive Feedback: "The 'Bitter Black Coffee Movement' - Questions They Should Ask Themselves About The Tea Party"

The conservative blogger in metro Atlanta, Ga. zeroes in on black liberal critics of the tea party movement. He wonders: why aren't they more focused on organically building up and better managing black communities?: "You mask your activism as 'concern for 'White Supremacy' returning to beat you down in the streets'. In truth you PROVE that you believe in 'Non-White White Supremacy' based on your focus and, more importantly your DEPENDENCY upon their proposed tax-cuts. If they turn off the spigot - you get thirsty - per the way that you have advocated. Either these are poor White, ignorant trailer trash with no money - OR - you indeed fear that they will cut you off from the nutrition source that you have rationalized under the cover of the 'Social Justice' bond that you hold them to as country-mates. What if the only thing the Tea Partyers offer to share with you as fellow American citizens  is their willingness to not physically assault you on the street and the standard services under the 'general welfare' (fire, police, military, justice and enumerated constitutional protections, etc)?  Let's call it the 'scaffolding' for ease of description. I seriously question if some of you would take this offer and run with it - as you are required to provide the finishing work to the structure. This would serve as the instantiation of the 'Standard of Living' that you seek. You get to live as large as your management acumen affords you."

Responding to an AlterNet article's claim that a "disproportionately high share of our federal government's tax income comes from racially diverse, immigrant-rich, urbanized states, including California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts; not from extremely homogeneous, conservative, anti-tax strongholds like Idaho, Montana, Utah, the Dakotas and Wyoming", he continues his commentary: "Let's follow the argument folks: The Progressive and diverse states have a greater outflow to the federal government to pay for social entitlements that the 'conservative' 'Tea Party' disparages as 'Welfare'. IF your goal is to have them 'lay in the bed that they have made' and not receive what they have repudiated - WHY do you in the 'Bitter Black Coffee Movement' support federal taxation? I don't judge people based upon their words and the 'hypocrisy' they point out in others. I judge them based on if they truly believe based upon their actions. Thus just as we see several 'city incorporation' or 'county succession' movements as taxpayers who are tired of having THEIR tax money flow outside of their own districts have initiated. If Mr. Benjamin actually intended to use these facts as anything more than a debate factoid - why don't we see the same sort of drive to protect the resources of the 'progressive states' from raids by 'Conservative Welfare States'?"

More: "In the mind of the progressive - the community has 'social justice rights' that must be SOUGHT and FULFILLED.  It matters not to them WHO services them. It only matters that this end state is obtained at this particular point in time - per the plateau that they now stand. If you all are conscious about the external costs that we suffer as a global people from the use of carbon based fuel in order to maintain our lifestyle - why is it so difficult to see the high costs [t]his mode of 'being made in receipt of' a standard of living that your own organic capacity of production cannot sustain? When this 'national resource' is depleted will your community be any more empowered to maintain this standard if and when the US government goes bankrupt than if petroleum reserves are exhausted? What is the 'Green Energy' equivalent of what you should be doing with respect to building up the competencies within your community?"

Lenny McAllister: "Growing Party's Populari-Tea In Black History Month"

The conservative Republican commentator in North Carolina - who has spoken at tea party events - opines about the lack of racial diversity at the recent national tea party convention in Nashville as a limitation of the movement: "Until the Tea Party movement finds a way to embrace diversity (just in the same way that the GOP has needed to do the same) while finding ways to eliminate the needs for (and, thus, the emotional binds to) big government and its programs, the battle for America’s soul — and collective wallet — will remain a segmented fight that unfairly brands some as separatist and radical without giving others a tangible reason to join the movement. This includes a large majority of African Americans, a group that consistently polls conservative and votes Democratic with minimal results for improving our communities. Racist rhetoric by a small minority of Tea Party-goers (such as the 'Obama Witch Doctor' posters) is not acceptable at all from the movement, but advancing the history of men such as Wentworth Cheswell — a Black Revolutionary-era patriot selected to draft New York’s first constitution — should be. Black History Month is the opportunity that the movement should not miss upon, particularly if it wants to break the cycles of government spending and self-purposed bureaucracy that finds its roots in local and state governments that count on urban plight to maintain its toxic philosophical influence — one that threatens black America at a disproportionate rate robbing us of the Vivien Thomases, Ben Carsons, and Colin Powells that could help turn America around as some of the 'bigger people' that we need today."

More: "The Tea Party movement has already shown the ability to impact the nation. However, the contrast from Saturday night highlighted that there is a gap to address if the tea party is going to change the nation for the better. Should more tea partiers choose to make Black History Month the springboard to taking their Americanism to another level, it may not be long before the movement becomes truly historic — and the strangleholds of fiscal irresponsibly, big-government ideology, and Democratic control of black voters become history."

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Snowtorious B.I.G.: More Reader Photos Of Mid-Atlantic America's Big Storm

Hat tip to reader J. for the heads up on the catchy, culturally-oriented renaming of Snowmageddon that younger blacks have done LOL. There's even a Snowtorious B.I.G. Twitter site now. With some of Booker Rising's readers in Mid-Atlantic USA literally trapped in their homes, they've graciously shared some of their photos with the rest of us. And they're bracing for another 10 to 20 inches [25-51 centimeters] of snow - that's expected to come down today. Meanwhile, Vancouver, western Canada is ironically dealing with a lack of snow for this weekend's Winter Olympics, an unusual situation for a host city. For the rest of us who are dealing with much less snow, let's remember what the mid-Atlantic region is dealing with (and hope that they remain safe) while grumbling about our relatively minor snowfall:

From Lala, Of Baltimore, Md.


"this isn't my car thank goodness", says Lala


Downtown Baltimore, the largest city in the U.S. state of Maryland


Baltimore's Inner Harbor, near the city's historic seaport

From J., Of The Washington, D.C. Area





From Avery, Of Maryland


Yes, that's a snow-covered car in the background


One of the few cleared roads in Avery's area

From Ladyrayne, Of The Washington, D.C. Area

















Ladyrayne took this photo before the storm hit, waiting in the grocery line for 50 minutes

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BOOKERISTA OF THE YEAR: THOMAS SOWELL COMMENTARY: The Fallacy of "Fairness"

The conservative economist opines that the word "fair" has done the most damage to people's thinking and to actions to carry out that thinking: "If by 'fair' you mean everyone having the same odds for achieving success, then life has never been anywhere close to being fair, anywhere or at any time. If you stop and think about it (however old-fashioned that may seem), it is hard even to conceive of how life could possibly be fair in that sense. Even within the same family, among children born to the same parents and raised under the same roof, the first-borns on average have higher IQs than their brothers and sisters, and usually achieve more in life. Unfairness is often blamed on somebody, even if only on 'society.' But whose fault is it if you were not the first born? Since some groups have more children than others, a higher percentage of the next generation will be first-borns in groups that have smaller families, so such groups have an advantage over other groups."

More: "Many people fail to see the fundamental difference between saying that a particular thing -- whether a mental test or an institution -- is conveying a difference that already exists or is creating a difference that would not exist otherwise. Creating a difference that would not exist otherwise is discrimination, and something can be done about that. But, in recent times, virtually any disparity in outcomes is almost automatically blamed on discrimination, despite the incredible range of other reasons for disparities between individuals and groups. Nature's discrimination completely dwarfs man's discrimination. Geography alone makes equal chances virtually impossible. The geographic advantages of Western Europe over Eastern Europe-- in climate and navigable waterways, among other things-- have led to centuries of differences in income levels that were greater than income differences between blacks and whites in America today."

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