Final goodbye to a Legend - R.I.P Michael Jackson

Just a moment ago, the music of our youth has died, and with that, we have died a little bit too. Who doesn’t remember the epic video for Thriller that looked more like a movie than a music video? Who hasn’t secretly been practicing the moonwalk in front of the mirror and who cannot sing Billy Jean along when the radio stations play it? With Michael Jackson’s passing, we have lost a true icon that has meant a lot to the music industry and someone who has influenced many artists, but also a great humanitarian. Projects like “Heal the World Foundation” and “USA for Africa” showed that he was not only an eccentric person, but also had a heart for the less fortunate. Some people need to die to become a worldwide phenomenon, but this man was already a living legend when he was alive and his works will always be remembered, even many more decades after his unexpected and sudden death. People always refer to Elvis Presley, but Michael Jackson surely can be named with him or may even leave a greater musical history behind for us to enjoy and cherish.

Black or white, you still made HIStory. Your dance moves left blood on the dancefloor. I remember the time, you rocked my world like a smooth criminal, now you're gone too soon. What more can you give, you tried to heal the world, but they called you bad... 25th June 2009, you left the world talking about your death like a classic thriller..... That's why you remain the King of POP.

Jupiler Pro League - 7 out of 10 players are against homosexuals in the first division

After my last post on discrimination – based on race – I have found yet another remarkable form of discrimination that is so shocking that it deserves some attention. Last Wednesday, SportVoetbalmagazine released the results of a questionnaire they have done among the 303 soccer players of the Belgian first division. On the question if gay players belong in the first division, 67,8 % answered negative. I have read discussions about this remarkable –or not so remarkable- result and I have my own thoughts about some explanations given for this result.

The first explanation that was given was one that a lot of the players come from outside Europe – mostly Africa and South America where homosexuality is not accepted. Is this a possible explanation? Maybe it is possible, maybe it isn’t. If it is possible, then the only thing I have to say is shame on you! They are the first ones to scream racism when a referee rules against them, but –if the statement/explanation is true- they don’t see any problems in discriminating another person. The pot calling the kettle black? I am against discrimination based on race, so those who are indeed discriminated have the right to stand up, but it does not give you the right to start discriminating yourself. You want to be respected, so does the homosexual person.

On the other hand, this statement can be false because I don’t believe that almost 70% of the 300 plus players are from none-European origin. In Southern Europe, homosexuality seems to be even less accepted than in the more Northern part. This can be caused by the second possible explanation: religion. It is commonly known that the Southern regions are more religious than the North. All three major religions condemn homosexuality because of various reasons written in a book. Yes that is right, a book. People think they can justify their discrimination against homosexuals based on what is written in a book, a book just like any other book that was ever written en can be found on a shelf in the library. Isn’t religion about peacefully living together? About respecting each other? Not discriminating one other? So then what gives you the right to discriminate homosexuals? The sentence “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads (Leviticus 20:12-14, NIV)”? One sentence, written by a person thousands of years ago? So this sentence cannot be put in perspective, but the statement that sex can only be performed when married and only for reproduction only – never for joy, can be ignored whenever you want to get laid? I thought so… Hypocrisy to the fullest.

Related to religion, it can be claimed to be unnatural. Yet this can easily be refuted by facts and figures. Over 1.500 species have already showed homosexual behavior – going from lions to penguins. More so, 1 out of 5 couples of the King Penguin are homosexual and 94% of all sexual activities between giraffes is homosexual contact. Can things get even more natural and untamed as an animal?

Explanation four is the mutual showers – yet then I wonder if they would mind having 10 naked ladies next to them… Plus if you follow this explanation, then you also assume that every gay man would want to molest you under the shower. Isn’t that a bit too stereotyping to believe? It is not because a straight football player bangs everything that has a skirt and two legs, that homosexual players would do the same with everything that wears pants…

Fifth and last explanation that is worth commenting on is the one that football is for machos. This one actually brought a smile on my face. I was thinking about players like David Beckham, Christiano Ronaldo,… and other “metrosexual” men that look more queer than most homosexual men with their mèchen, “man”bags and creams…

StandupSpeakup

It’s been a long time since I decided to put up a new blog entry. I haven’t forgotten about the word of Blogville, I simply didn’t feel the need to post anything. The main reason is because I always saw blogging as an effective psychologist that allowed me to arrange all the chaotic thoughts that went on my little head. The past few weeks I did not need this anymore because things have fallen into place and I feel liberated. I can breathe again. No more possessive and abusive guy around, no more lying and manipulative so-called friend – it feels great. From now on I will put myself first and I will let no guy tell me who my friends can be and who can’t. If he cannot accept the fact that I have male friends and that I am not going to give them up just because they are guys, then I don’t want to bother anymore. This is the last thing I ever said about it because it doesn’t deserve any more words. I am liberated it I will stay this way.

The reason why I have turned to this blog is not to yap some more about feeling liberated and all of that or to state of stupid I was to ignore the abusive signs of the relationship I was in, but I want to point out a very serious issue, an issue I have spoken about many times before and that is racism. The past weeks this subject was omnipresent, both in my private life as in the media. I would like to share four events of the past weeks that show my dissatisfaction concerning this serious threat.

The first two ran-ins with racism were some that happened not too long ago. The first one was directed towards myself. When I was checking the mails I received on a social network site, I received a very insulting message about one of my photos, a photo that pictured a friend, a Belgian-Congolese music artist and myself backstage at his showcase of last December. This is the message I received: “You are the worst low class whore i've ever seen shame on you!!! You should show these pictures to your father and see what he thinks?? Go back to fucking monkeys and apes thats what you deserve you piece of crap”. The second confrontation came not so long afterwards; it was only a matter of some hours. The father of his ex-girlfriend told him that black and white should be separated from each other.
See I know I should not let this bother me because it shows more about their intelligence and spoiled thoughts, but yet it makes me so mad. How can people even think like that? Having heard some arguments that do not make sense, I am starting to believe it is just a lack of intelligence, competence and social conscience. Things like this should be taken seriously, and not minimized by saying it is only a small part of the population that thinks this way because that is unfortunately not true. There is a growing part of the population that thinks this way and this all over the world. A good example is the third ran-in.

This one has surfaced today. There are elections for the European Parliament this week and the Netherlands has leaked the first results this morning. The outcome is that the PVV of Wilders has wan the elections with a strong outcome of 17%. I don’t know if any of my readers are aware of the political stances of this party, but it can be compared to those of Belgians Vlaams Belang. They both stand for a nation that is free from Muslims, free from immigrants and claim to be a party for the man in the street, but if you look more closely at their program, it will only make the wealthy more wealthier and the poor even more poor.
As a future lawyer, I understand the importance of freedom of speech and the democratic representation, but there also has an importance assessment to be made. Is this kind of freedom of speech still appropriate in a Western world with its many nationalities and plurality of human beings? Does freedom of speech give people the right to discriminate other human beings based on race? No it does not and it will only raise more hate between human beings. I think that both governments have given some signs that it is not acceptable, but not strong enough in my opinion. They condemned preamble of Vlaams Belang, the Vlaams Blok party for racism, but their successor is basically doing the same thing. Other Belgian parties have set up a Cordon Sanitaire, but this has become a fact that the party likes to use to address as the “non-democratic” government that prevents from all voices to be heard. The Netherlands have condemned Wilders’ release of the movie Fitna, a movie that called the Koran fascistic book that incites violence.
I am wondering how Europe’s stance will be when they are confronted with this and if the European Court of Human Rights will rule when they have to rule about articles 10 (freedom of expression) and article 14 (discrimination). I hope and I think they would rule in favor of discrimination or this would be a very bad sign for the equality between human beings. Because in the end that is what this is all about, people can not be simplified and put and/or ruled by a race label, because that would be a lack of respect and dignity to the human race.

About the last ran-in, I would like to state I am neutral. It happened during the game for the championship between RSC Anderlecht and Standard de Liège. According to the player of Standard, the American with Nigerian roots Onyewu, the player of the component, Anderlecht’s Van Damme, called him a dirty monkey. Did this really happen, I have no idea because I did not watch the game and there are so called no witnesses or if there were, they preferred to ignore it. But apart from all this did he or did he not, it should not be allowed, especially in a game like this. I can understand that when the tension gets high, things can be said, but calling each other like that… Not acceptable. Almost the whole world is crazy about football and it sets an example for many people, especially young children that join their fathers to the games of their preferred club. It is good that Italian side Juventus has been ruled to pay for the racist choirs of their supporters. I truly believe that many players, mostly those of African origin, are still discriminated and the victim of racism and maybe that is why it is good that someone with a head on his shoulder stands up for those who do not have the courage to do so, I just hope that, in this case, the things that are claimed to be said are really said if it really goes to court because innocent people don’t have to pay for those that are guilty.

I will rest my case about this for now but I hope that people will unite against discrimination and racism. It is just wrong!