Cosby tells it like it is.

[RHooks]

Smart man. He should be listened to.

Cosby hits the nail on the head (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5345290/)

His advice also applies to more than just blacks. All of the youth of today should listen to what he's saying. Take advantage of the opportunities offered to you.

"Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
- Bill Shakespeare

[Bruenor]

Smart man. He should be listened to.

Cosby hits the nail on the head (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5345290/)

His advice also applies to more than just blacks. All of the youth of today should listen to what he's saying. Take advantage of the opportunities offered to you.

"Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
- Bill Shakespeare

I couldn't agree more with Mr. Cosby myself. And you're right too Hooks, this applies to all youth of every race. It's truly sad to see the degradation of young people's attitudes and it truly scares me for my own daughter when she hits that age.

[Shaolin K]

Right on. I completely agree with Mr. Cosby's words. I've always had respect for Cosby and for the atmosphere of positive influences he tries to create. After reading this article, I have even more respect for him. It takes a lot of balls to say those things he touched on and hit the nail on the head.
Right on.

[Eddie Ismail]

I always loved cosby, and after his statement I love him even more. he's always the example for a good father figure

[Gaim Mastr]

It goes with the whole concept of people not taking responsibility for their actions or predicaments. Many things happen regardless of our actions and despite what we try to do. But many other things are direct results of our actions and our choices.

I was over at a friend's house a while back when his son and a couple of his son's friends came home from school. My buddy and I were standing in his garage exchanging horror stories about oil filters falling off of moving cars/trucks. His son & friends came into the garage and were already in the middle of a conversation where they were bitching about the world. Thy apathy runneth over. After about a minute I lost my patients, turned around and told them that if they didn't like it, then go out and DO something about it !!

They stood there for moment, silent, motionless, mouths hanging open, looking at me like I'd just spoken some confusing ancient language. Finally one of them asked "like what?" I replied, "Well, there's a clue. You kids spend all of your time bitching about everything that's unfair and wrong with the world. But you don't spend a single second thinking of what you might do to help improve the situation."

They just looked at me like I was some crazy old dude, muttered to themselves and continued out of the garage and down the driveway. I was tempted to turn around and confront my friend by asking him if he was intentionally raising his son to have a defeatist attitude in life. But since questioning the way that any parent raises their children has become so outrageously taboo these days, I decided that it probably wasn't worth the hassle and just let it go.


But ultimately, myself and the rest of us live in the same society as parents and their children. So if a parent is ever questioned about how they're raising their children, it IS our business, so frickin' deal with it !!

/rant

[Mara]

It's amazing how few kids take advantage of their opportunities. My university offers free tuitition to the children of staff. Free tuition at a private university!! I have a woman who works for me and only one son (she has 4 kids) took advantage of the free schooling. The rest didn't. Now, her daughter who is married and working full-time is trying to go to school at night. She really regrets not going to school when she had the chance.

[weed_wizard]

To be fair Kids arent really going to be interested in free tuitition.As for Cosby....Did anyone else think his TV show sucked?

[MasterChief]

I thought it was funny

[Shaolin K]

I thought it was funny

Agreed. It was intelligently funny.

[Kalbrecht]

To be fair Kids arent really going to be interested in free tuitition.

True - but what this symbolises, and what Cosby is trying to get at, is that this runs far deeper than kids not wanting free tuition.

There's a very deep malaise that has become ingrained into our social thinking. We are a society of complainers, who think that we are 'owed something' by everyone else - from the government down to the person next to you on the train who has to listen as you shout to your friend over a cellphone.

The very concept of a 'me' society has been turned on its head. A 'me' philosophy is the idea that you ARE in control of your fate - and if you believe in 'me first' it is because you have actually worked for it, and yet the 'me' society we have established is the thinking that 'me first' exists because you 'deserve' something.

This has led to people not wanting to work for it, because work is unnecessary when the quick fix exists. Instead, this has fractured society at its basic levels - family, social, legal and education.

It's apathy, it's laziness and it's plain selfishness, built on a combination of the liberal soft-hearted left and the stronger welfare state, mixed with dogmatic capitalism that encourages greed and the idea that anyone (yes! even you!) can make it big.

A standing ovation for Bill.

[Impresario]

I agree mostly with what's being posted, but it's not a simple problem. Society glorifies the lifestyles of mediocre talentless celebrities and constantly displays this for our kiddies e.g. shows like MTV's "Cribs" etc... Also look at all the freaky reality crap out there...win a million dollars or something for being a vapid gold digger while totally debasing the import of a strong foundation for marriage. The media stalks the impressionable and presents a morally bankrupt ideology. The message is, be a player, real life sucks, get rich quick without working hard and image is more important then substance. Parents definitely have their work cut out for them trying to instill values in this tawdry climate. I'm not one for censorship or anything like that, but endless marketing in a moral vacuum does effect the kids' outlook. Personal responsibility is super important but where is corporate/media responsibility?

[Kalbrecht]

Followup:

Cosby puts money where mouth is (http://www.cnn.com/2004/EDUCATION/07/08/cosby.students.ap/index.html)

Basically, he's paying for 2 underpriveliged, but motivated, kids, to attend college.

Good on him. We need more people like him.

[SupaTroopa]

image is more important then substance

This is the thing that bugs me sooooo much these days with music more than anything. Image and showmanship have always been a part of popular music, but it was always secondary and when people first heard music on the radio or on a record versus a television - the person's looks didn't matter, you either liked the song you were "hearing" or you didn't.

Country music, rap, pop, that God awful fake teenager suburban boy punk crap - I've never heard such awful, bland, meaningless music in my life and it still sells on it's image alone.

It used to be just pop music that was so image driven, now country, rock, rap and R&B have all jumped into the mix.

Do you think anyone would have heard of Britney Spears if she were 180 pounds but had the same voice and lip synched the same songs someone else wrote? Can't kids see right through that? Don't they care? Well, the ones who don't, listen to that fake punk crap and Marilyn Manson - who are just as image driven as anybody else with their total shock factor and tattoo's and spiked hair (oh my how rebellious in today's world people - no one's shocked by anything anymore, sorry, even your square, God fearing parents).

Madonna started this I swear....


Ok I'm complaining and not acting on it, whoops, but unfortunately there's not much, well nothing ultimately, that I can do about it...except post my thoughts on a public internet message board. :)

[Circlebreaker]

Madonna started this I swear....


I agree with what you are saying, but I disagree with this. Image has always been a important part of pop music, from long before the time of Madonna. Would the Beatles have been as popular as they were if they didn't have long hair, was image unimportant to the Sex Pistols? From the time movie clips became an important aspect in the promotion of songs image became even more important but it's never been more important than the music itself, untill now that is. So why did image suddenly become so important and music so bland?

IMO because the big music studios don't dare take risks anymore. Because of the mass copying of music their profits are dwindling, and they respond by only releasing music that's guaranteed to become big hits. Music catering to the lowest common denominator. Popular bland crap like Britney Spears, Eminem or Limp Bizkit.

/threadjack

[Gaim Mastr]

The Beatles didn't have long hair when they rose to stardom.

Image in the entertainment industry is quite a bit different from the value placed in image by general society. In most any commercial industry, image translates to marketing, and nothing more. When image turns into paramount importance in general society, we end up with a vast majority of the populace loathing themselves while they place a select few onto pedestals. And I believe that that's where so much apathy arises from these days, constant self-loathing in regards to personal appearance.

[Cronus]

I think everyone sueing whenever they felt things weren't going their way perfectly started this.

[Lou Cypher]

The Beatles didn't have long hair when they rose to stardom.As hair styles were in the early 60's, there hair was considered long.

Lou :globe: