Things I know little about

Holy fucking bat shit Robin! Say it aint so. How could this be? Go tell Josh and Sarah!
You mean, minority youth are more dissatisfied with life than white youth? But we’ve always gone so far out of our way to be nice to those people!
Yea, yea, whatever. Here are the facts according to an AP article titles “White Youths Happier than Others.” . . . Amazingly, they even used the term “others.”

“According to an extensive survey of 1,280 people ages 13-24 by The Associated Press and MTV, 72 percent of whites say they are happy with life in general, compared with 51 percent of Hispanics and 56 percent of blacks.”

Aw shit, I wrote a pile of bullshit that picked apart this article and the facts and figures associated with what I perceive as some suspicious claims and numbers (I thought they were portraying too many minorities happy with society), but I just trashed the whole thing. Ya know, despite years of study by me both independently and as a student in a graduate program in Cultural Studies, I don’t know jack squat about what people of color might think or believe about where they stand in the American scene today. I’ve taken classes on minority issues taught by minority scholars. I’ve read numerous books on monirity issues written by minority authors. I’ve discussed the issues ad nauseum with minority friends and even lovers. I can’t say that I have any more significant a handle on the real issues than I did 30 years ago when I was smoking pot and drinking beer with a bunch of black guys I worked with in my first real job. I don’t have a clue what it feels like to be an outsider in my own world. . . well, maybe a clue, but that's about it.
I will tell you dull know-it-all white people one thing however. When you hear a black person talking about race relations or other related topics do one thing: LISTEN! I know you like to criticize and trivialize every black person with an agenda. You’d really like it if we could “all just get along," but guess what Charlie, minorities in this country have real issues with the way things are. They KNOW how it is to be a minority in America. So quit accusing other people of “acting like victims,” or “whining” or “feeding at the trough” and shut the fuck up and listen. Even if it's somebody you really hate like Al Shapton or Jesse Jackson. Yea, yea, I know they intimidate you and don’t give a damn what you think. Hell, I wish they’d talk to Cornell West or Henry L. Gates once in-awhile myself, but Jesse and Al are more available I suppose.
So sit there, shut up and listen to what minority people are telling you and believe it or not, you know-it-all obnoxious uneducated buffoon, you might learn something.

Here’s one I do have some idea about:

One in four read no books last year
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 21, 11:06 PM ET

WASHINGTON - . . .One in four adults read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. Of those who did read, women and older people were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.

Bullshit! I don’t believe for a minute that 75% of Americans have read a book in the past year even some pitiful work of fiction or mythology. Who are you people who responded to this survey trying to kid? We live in potentially the most informed society now or ever on Earth, but people seem less informed than ever. Could it be because the slack jawed proles would rather sit around dumb at night and watch action movies or Oprah or download porn from the internet than get themselves informed on issues that matter. Maybe this part of the article in question is more accurate:

In 2004, a National Endowment for the Arts report titled "Reading at Risk" found only 57 percent of American adults had read a book in 2002, a four percentage point drop in a decade. The study faulted television, movies and the Internet.

Another big surprise from this report:

The Bible and religious works were read by two-thirds in the survey, more than all other categories. Popular fiction, histories, biographies and mysteries were all cited by about half, while one in five read romance novels. Every other genre — including politics, poetry and classical literature — were named by fewer than five percent of readers.

Fiction and religious mythology are overwhelmingly the most popular types of reading material and nonfiction and classic literature is the least read. So much for American sophistication.

Try this: pick up a book. . . any book. Read it. It aint hurt me one bit and I’m purty shur it won’t hurt you none neither.

Oh, and you might shut the fuck up and LISTEN the next time some minority person is on your TV or otherwise in your space talking about race relations, etc., really, just listen and consider that what they are saying might have some truth and your preconceived bullshit notions of the whole world based upon the sheltered little white world you live in might really be bullshit and relevant to only the sheltered little white world you live in.