Planet of the Apes Revisited

I was watching the original Planet of the Apes movie series today and realized there are some oddly similar ties to America's race and labor relations and our history of slavery. Even the recent revamp/prequel of the series made me feel an alliance to the apes but with the original I see no way in which I'm not firmly on that side.

In the 1973 film Conquest of the Planet of the Apes people have apes work as slaves in every possible area. The people of North America basically create a whole society that rests on ape slave labor. We find out in the movie that many of the apes are being brought over in a ship from some other country. These slaves are mistreated and the law does nothing about it unless they try to escape or "turn on their masters".

Then as always, the people who were put out of work by this labor force blame the apes instead of the people who deserve the blame, causing further abuse to the animals. To make the similarity worst the only good people seem to be Armando,circus leader who wants to protect and MacDonald, seemingly the lone black government working in the government who both tries to defend the main character (Caesar) and apes as a whole.

I'm wondering if the makers thought out what ideas they were promoting with this film. It basically divides the people into two camps; White people who like slavery and the Mexican and Black guys who don't like slavery. I was already ready for the humans to be killed when in the previous film in the series people tried to kill the ape babies. Now I couldn't help thinking 15 minutes in the film, 'isn't this a b*tch' and how much better the world would be if they just killed the white people.

A Take on Martin Slaying

Even if one tried it is hard to get away from the news of Travon Martin and his killer. This story is so sad yet I also find something almost comical in the situation. For years as I black man I among many others in the US of A are told over and over to take care to not even provoke police because it can lead to us being shot and imprisoned. Yet here is a situation that shows us it is not just police we need to fear but any guy with a gun. The situation is humorous in our society because whenever we state the fact that we, African Americans are not equal in this society so many are quick to tell us to not hold grudges and that things are far better since the civil rights era.

Yet, this brazen shooting of a child and the law's act of inaction proves that status of equals is not the case. Even the public outcry has not lead to the man being held by police much less arrested. I've known men who merely walk down the street and end being harassed more by local law enforcement. I hope with all the attention that this case has gained that people realize and remember that this situation is not an exception. As one visitor from South Africa said recently: "I feel sorry for you Black men in America."

Anyway the situation reminded me of a song by Pharoahe Monch:

Funny Song Parody

Hey I needed a break from stuff so found these parodies of songs. Both were pretty funny and creative



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Another look at Kony

A friend referred me to this great article- reaction-solution-kony-2012 As much of an injustice the whole Joseph Kony situation is I have my own problem with the invisible children campaign. These center around the fact that facts are tweaked and a few logical fallacies being utilized. These are not discussed in this article but it does have some solid points about how there are even worst injustices going on in the world that are not being mentioned.