Making it cool to be smart

[CosmicAscension]

I listened to Tariq Nasheed's response to CNN's 'Black in America', and due to personal experiences I had to agree with some of what he said. He talked about how they put most of the blame on black men and used the old "There's no good black men out there" tactic. He said that that is bullshit, there's good black men but when black women encounter them they call them 'nerds' or say that "they ain't got no swag". And then when the 'nerds' become lawyers and doctors those same women want to be with them but by that time the 'nerds' are able to provide for a family, and therefore they have options which means that they aren't going to go for those women who've spent their youth chasing guys with "swag" and gold teeth. This cycle is something that I talked about years ago but it was good to finally hear somebody who saw the cycle the way I do.

I know that this isn't talked about much but it is something that we need to address because secreting the issue away makes it nearly impossible for productive black relationships to form. As John Legend (self-proclaimed nerd) put it, we have to make it cool to be smart again. We have to make knowledge be seen for the power that it is and not as 'soft', so that our women don't lose out on good men.

[BlackQueen]

There is no shame is being smart! It's a lot better than being stupid and blind,just like negroes who love their white masters!

Originally Posted by CosmicAscension

I listened to Tariq Nasheed's response to CNN's 'Black in America', and due to personal experiences I had to agree with some of what he said. He talked about how they put most of the blame on black men and used the old "There's no good black men out there" tactic. He said that that is bullshit, there's good black men but when black women encounter them they call them 'nerds' or say that "they ain't got no swag". And then when the 'nerds' become lawyers and doctors those same women want to be with them but by that time the 'nerds' are able to provide for a family, and therefore they have options which means that they aren't going to go for those women who've spent their youth chasing guys with "swag" and gold teeth. This cycle is something that I talked about years ago but it was good to finally hear somebody who saw the cycle the way I do.

I know that this isn't talked about much but it is something that we need to address because secreting the issue away makes it nearly impossible for productive black relationships to form. As John Legend (self-proclaimed nerd) put it, we have to make it cool to be smart again. We have to make knowledge be seen for the power that it is and not as 'soft', so that our women don't lose out on good men.

[Dr. G]

I couldn't agree with you more. Its something we apparently don't like to talk about, but I have seen it over and over again for 40 + years. It starts as early as 3rd and 4th grade. We have bought into the notion of white supremacy so much that we even equate being smart with being white (which automatically by default equates Black with being stupid)! We have also collectively bought into the rediculeous idea that girls are supposed to be smart but boys are supposed to be dumb. Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu wrote a book on the subject entitled "To be Popular or Smart" As I said, it starts in 3rd or 4th grade when the boys begin to notice that the display of intelligence, a desire to learn, and taking schoolwork seroiusly is looked down upon by the dumb boys in class as well as almost all of the girls. The more of a class clown and asshole the boys act the more attention they get from the girls, the more intelligence they display, the more they are rejected, teased and low rated. This continues to a point where the smarter boys begin to downplay their intelligence and trade it for popularity. Yeah I said it, the bad boy syndrom in women starts in 3rd grade and sadley continues through life in too many cases.
The smart young man can't get no parts of play. He continues to be rejected until his mid to late twenty's at which time he now has the material where-with-all to be considered "eligible". The same women who have been rejecting him for "slick" all of his life, start to pretend they are interested because "slick" at this time never went to college, has multiple felony convictions, can't get a decent job, is strung out on drugs, etc., while the "nerd" is in a lot better shape to be a responsible husband/father. Outside of talking shit and laying pipe, slick is virtually useless, but because he does what he does so well, Ms. Sponge will still be trying to get with him, often even after she is married. Its a sad state of affairs.

[CosmicAscension]

Originally Posted by Dr. G

I couldn't agree with you more. Its something we apparently don't like to talk about, but I have seen it over and over again for 40 + years. It starts as early as 3rd and 4th grade. We have bought into the notion of white supremacy so much that we even equate being smart with being white (which automatically by default equates Black with being stupid)! We have also collectively bought into the rediculeous idea that girls are supposed to be smart but boys are supposed to be dumb. Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu wrote a book on the subject entitled "To be Popular or Smart" As I said, it starts in 3rd or 4th grade when the boys begin to notice that the display of intelligence, a desire to learn, and taking schoolwork seroiusly is looked down upon by the dumb boys in class as well as almost all of the girls. The more of a class clown and asshole the boys act the more attention they get from the girls, the more intelligence they display, the more they are rejected, teased and low rated. This continues to a point where the smarter boys begin to downplay their intelligence and trade it for popularity. Yeah I said it, the bad boy syndrom in women starts in 3rd grade and sadley continues through life in too many cases.
The smart young man can't get no parts of play. He continues to be rejected until his mid to late twenty's at which time he now has the material where-with-all to be considered "eligible". The same women who have been rejecting him for "slick" all of his life, start to pretend they are interested because "slick" at this time never went to college, has multiple felony convictions, can't get a decent job, is strung out on drugs, etc., while the "nerd" is in a lot better shape to be a responsible husband/father. Outside of talking shit and laying pipe, slick is virtually useless, but because he does what he does so well, Ms. Sponge will still be trying to get with him, often even after she is married. Its a sad state of affairs.

A wonderful contribution to this topic. It really does start very early. At a very young age you begin to consciously or subconsciously observe the way in which the opposite sex responds to certain behaviors and often the behaviors and the responses are so rigid that they stick with those people most or all of their lives. It's exactly like any other social class in which a person may, with some singular success advance to a higher class, or for some singular reason be demoted, but most people never move up or down, they just stay where they've always been. All of the boys who were the so-called Alpha Males in Kindergarten were the Alpha Males in the twelfth grade! Simply amazing.


I wasn't picked on as much as some guys because I had popular friends and some popular relatives who took me under their umbrellas but at the same time my status was never really elevated just because of my affiliations - I was just some guy who was cool with 'cool' people. Still, my situation was not some socially helpless Steve Urkel story and I'm not making it out to be that. I did make a lot of good friends, many of whom I am still friends with today and at the very worst people were indifferent towards me. I was still however a bit puzzled because I consider myself a pretty handsome guy, I've never been fat or out of shape, and I've always been a nice dresser. I figured it out though when I had more than one black girl tell me that I should be loud, and that black people are supposed to be loud. Then I thought to myself : Damn, despite all of my other positive characteristics, I'm being overlooked because I don't have that one measly ingredient (obnoxiousness)!

And it's not so much about being popular as it is having a healthy relationship with women of your race who respect you on an intellectual level.

[Im The Truth]

Women is this true? Have you perputated this cycle?

[tyydae]

Originally Posted by Im The Truth

Women is this true? Have you perputated this cycle?

It's not true for me but that doesn't mean it isn't true for other women.

But both genders play a part in this cycle. Women without guidance is looking for a 3rd grade "jeezy" but at the same time 3rd grade young men are also trying to be "jeezy."

In order to make being smart cool again, many people are going to required to do battle with the hip-hop culture, and parents are going to have to be involved in their children lives again.

[cliffwms44]

I was loving every word of print and see myself in elimentary school
nobody liked the boy genius so I fell back.
now today I wished I had stayed on course

thanks

[CosmicAscension]

Originally Posted by tyydae

It's not true for me but that doesn't mean it isn't true for other women.

But both genders play a part in this cycle. Women without guidance is looking for a 3rd grade "jeezy" but at the same time 3rd grade young men are also trying to be "jeezy."

In order to make being smart cool again, many people are going to required to do battle with the hip-hop culture, and parents are going to have to be involved in their children lives again.

True. I mentioned that in the "Are black women golddiggers?" thread: the behavior of today's black women is a counterpart of the behavior of black men and so there really can't be any finger pointing, only productive steps towards the solution.

[La Bella Afrique]

I do not see any sense in black women putting black men down....

As I see it I am the black man and the black man is me. We can not survive without one another...I consist of mummy (female) and daddy (male)

So this is why I get a bit upset when I see people stereotyping black men, they are dissing me I have known to do it, probably will still do it when ignorance prevails but over all I know better, and truly I am cursing myself.

I think understanding is needed, especially from me at times, because if I feel that black men should understand black women's history to understand us, then it's ditto

Either way, I love y'all...beautiful specimens indeed...more so the good ones...


Peace xXx

[Seeking Ma'at]

Originally Posted by cliffwms44

I was loving every word of print and see myself in elimentary school
nobody liked the boy genius so I fell back.
now today I wished I had stayed on course

thanks

I liked the boy genius... Shoot, I LOVED the boy genius, but he was too busy "gettin' his lesson", as my grandmother would say, to pay me any mind! lol Ha' mercy!!--I love me a nerdy brotha! Whoo!

Okay. I'm done. Anywho...

And yes, this sort of mindset starts very early. Dr. G said 3rd, 4th grade...I am seeing it in 2nd graders now. It's frightening. This is why I love going to schools--especially elementary through middle school--to talk to the youth.

[MsLioness]

Originally Posted by Im The Truth

Women is this true? Have you perputated this cycle?

Nah....I'm not for blaming the white man, BUT.... this has something to do with capitalism.

Women want their families to be straight. Period.

Buying gold teeth and diamond teeth and stuff signifies money flowing from somewhere. Even if the brother is doing illegal and foul stuff, he is not going to go without. That, in one sense, says that he is a hustler.... though the gov't is hustling him, and he is unaware of it.

If we had all of the necessities, such as: food, shelter, clothing, health-care, schooling.... not only would it be difficult to find a brother who is out-right ballin'....we wouldn't find it necessary to search for one.

[Im The Truth]

How does cool over smart have anything to do with capitalism?

[MsLioness]

Originally Posted by Im The Truth

How does cool over smart have anything to do with capitalism?

While poverty is popular and infamous in america, it is not cool to be poor.

As a 20 year old, I know that cool means having a nice swagga.

Capitalism effects the definitions of words like "cool." You cannot put your smarts on open-display like you can a pair of Jordans.

So a person might be super-smart....but might be in the poor house, too.

a person might be extra-dumb, but if that person has a nice house to live in, a car, nice clothes, cook-outs every now and then....he is way smarter than the super-smart person on any given day.

Its capitalism.

The quality of a person is degraded to the quantity of $$valuable$$ material a person possesses.

[Im The Truth]

In yt communities it's smart to be cool so how does capitalism play into that? Is it only capitalism for one group? Or something different?

[CosmicAscension]

Originally Posted by MsLioness

If we had all of the necessities, such as: food, shelter, clothing, health-care, schooling.... not only would it be difficult to find a brother who is out-right ballin'....we wouldn't find it necessary to search for one.

That's what I don't get about feminism: the feminist movements are supposed to be about liberating women from 'oppressive' men and being independent, but like most 'liberal' movements it seems that it has done the exact opposite; made women even more unproductive and dependent on a man's success. When I compare my grandmothers (whom I love and view as standards for today's women to aim for) to today's women I look at what makes them special and why my grandfather's chose them, and I rarely see that specialness in women of my generation. They can both cook really well, not just make stuff out of the box (something that all men like), they both carry themselves with dignity unlike ghetto hoochies, and each of them possesses a genuine fortitude indicative of pre-civil-rights blacks.