**hypocrisy is a band**

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocrisy_(band)

JUST FOR FUNSIES!

Does the belief that knocking on wood will prevent bad luck come from Christian practices? If not, what's up with the whole superstition!?

MALCOLM V: Taking a Different Approach

As I make my way through the final chapters of Malcolm X, I realize something very peculiar. Malcolm X, although relieved to be out of America, notices that even people in Mecca tend to associate themselves with people of the same color. Although the race and color doesn't matter so much to people in Mecca, he notices that on the trip to Mecca (the Hajj), people were subconsciously grouping together because they have the same color. However, Malcolm seems to look the other way when this happens. Some would call this hypocrisy. 

But: 

http://www.charisfoundation.com/hypocris.html

Read this article^. Mr. Barber seems to take a very different approach on hypocrisy. He basically says (and still read the article because I am merely paraphrasing) that hypocrisy is when someone acts out something they should believe in instead of completely devoting their whole heart and soul to it. I believe, from personal experiences, that hypocrisy is just that. However, Malcolm's heart and soul are into his black race so much that, when he finds justice for his race, he looks the other way and acts like Mecca is a release. What do you think the definition of hypocrisy is--the "new" definition the article and Luke 12:1-5 states? Or do you think it is the standard definition mentioned right below those quotes from Luke 12:1-5?  I'm sorry if this article makes things confusing but it puts out a different viewpoint.

Please respond back! Let me know what you think...

MALCOLM IV: A New Light!

FINALLY. Malcolm X has opened up his eyes to the world! 

The fact of the matter is that the way one perceives others and what type of thoughts are cultivated in one's mind relies greatly on what types of experiences you live through. Throughout his life, Malcolm X hated the white race and thought they were devils. BUT this was only because he grew up surrounded by racist whites who told him he couldn't achieve his goals in life. Naturally, if one is brought up around people who hate him, he will learn to hate them back. 

For example, in the American society, we take for granted how much we are sheltered from the outside world. There is free speech and restrictions on how many "bad things", per say, one can say about a community or race or religion. Especially in the town we all live in, there is very little discrimination. Therefore, even though I was raised by Jews and surrounded by a very Jewish environment, I know that Christians or Indians or Muslims are not mean and do not have anything against me personally or, most of the time, my religion. Whenever I walk into a church, I am faced with a good first impression: there are food drives, there are social events welcoming all races and creeds, there are other community events. Obviously churches must be a place of selflessness and goodness! Take the church right by the middle school in our town for example; I went there for girl scouts and for parties. I was always welcome!

The bottom line is that the experiences I had (especially the ones I had in churches) made me realize that Christians are a friendly people and that I should not fear them or be angered by them. 

Malcolm X finally realizes this. Even though he was brought up to think that the white people were a horrible people [because they mistreated him], he realizes later that not all whites are racist and that some are indeed very friendly. 

He says when he was being led by a white man in Mecca and around Mecca **AND I QUOTE**: "That morning was the start of a radical alteration in my whole outlook about "white" men."

A new Malcolm X has awoken!

MALCOLM III: Betrayal, False Justification, and Hypocrisy

Um, I'm confused.

I'm in the middle of chapter 16 and something very shocking has happened. Elijah Muhammad committed adultery not once, but twice. Mr. Muhammad, the epitome of morality and justification, has betrayed everyone who has ever followed him. Especially Malcolm. Okay, I get that Elijah Muhammad is "silencing" Malcolm for disobeying him and telling the newspapers something that backfired on him: "Black Muslims' Malcolm X: 'Chickens Come Home to Roost'". What I don't get is how Elijah Muhammad justified his immorality...

When Mr. Muhammad meets with Malcolm he says: "I'm David. When you read about how David took another man's wife, I'm that David. You read about Noah, who got drunk--that's me. You read about Log, who went and laid up with his own daughters. I have to fulfill all of those things."

LKAJDLFASDJSLF?!?!

WHAT?! 

Are you trying to tell Mr. X that you must mock anything that our biblical ancestors have done?Even if it was morally wrong?! That goes against everything he has ever stood for! This doesn't make any sense! What is even more appalling is that Malcolm ACCEPTS this fact. He ACCEPTS the fact that Muhammad is a copycat who disobeys the laws he himself made! 

And theeeeen, when Muhammad "silences" Malcolm, Malcolm accepts this. 

I know it is good to be an activist. And I know it is good to be passionate about your religion. But at a certain point, you are blind to the things around you. Maybe Malcolm knows this because he writes that he realized what Mr. Muhammad did was wrong, but even so; when this incident did happen with adultery, Malcolm's mind refused to believe what his sub-conscience already knew... 

There will be more things in the next post and a link :] stay tuned!

MALCOLM II: I am a Jew.

IMPORTANT ANALYTICAL AND RELATION-TO-MY-LIFE INFORMATION IS AT THE BOTTOM.

In writing about the March at Washington D.C. led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X comments, "'Talk about integrated!' It was like salt and pepper. And, by now, there wasn't a single logistics aspect uncontrolled." 

Malcolm goes on to say that everything was organized; there were first aid stations, people were told when to march and where and what route to take. When they were instructed to leave early, they did...

HOWEVER. Malcolm says all of this in a very negative tone. He claims this was a perfect example of integration. He says integration is bad, which was a radically different--almost opposite--approach than the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 

"Why is integration bad!?" the reader might ask, puzzled at even the suggestion of this. Well, Malcolm claims it is because the black man is doing exactly what the white man wants him to do: by integrating the blacks are bowing down to the whites.

Therefore, Malcolm believes that to remain steadfast in ones culture, even if it is not the black culture, rebellion and separation is necessary and that, in fact, the only right way to reverse assimilation. Although radical, this makes sense, correct?

On the contrary, most people who read chapter 15 think Malcolm is crazy. They think that him wanting nothing to do with the white race is a horrible thing. Or at least, that's what I first thought of when I read this chapter. 

But then, he goes on to explain the reasoning behind this...

Malcolm goes on to say that blacks deserve more than the white race because they have been slaves for the white race for over 400 years. He says that blacks have just as much of a right [he even goes one to say that blacks have MORE of a right] to the country they live in as whites do--more strong pro-black ideas.

Although whites who read the Autobiography of Malcolm X find this book offending, and sometimes believe Malcolm is blind to his very anti-any-other-race-but-black attitude and views, we have to remember to read as if we were in Malcolm thoughts--respectively. 

What I'm getting at here is that Malcolm was so pro-black that he was not only anti-white but also anti any other race even before the NOI members even contacted him. 

This means he was also anti-semitic. He claims he isn't and that the Jews are "hyper-sensitive"...

[I should mention that although I read books as if I did not have any culture, religion, race, or beliefs, and although I take one's opinion as non-offensively as I can, I felt I had to speak up for any Jew who has read this book.]

... this came up when he claimed that whenever he speaks about the Jews taking the black's money in the ghettos, he is accused of being anti-semitic. However, he had just said before that the Jew thinks of himself FIRST as a Jew and THEN as a German or a doctor or a husband or etc. He says this is a bad thing because he is always being accused of being an anti-semitic. BUT just before he had said that the Jews assimilated. This makes his arguments COMPLETELY CONTRADICTORY! And what is wrong with the Jews thinking of themselves as Jews first before anything else? This is called having pride for who you are and what your religion/culture/belief is! What is wrong about that? As I recall, Mr. X, YOU are the one who is the black activist here! So why are you so anti Jewish activism!? You should be proud of the Jewish activists who think of themselves as Jews first--I know I am proud to be a Jew and that I think of myself as having a strong Jewish identity. Why can't you accept other religions and races? Assimilation doesn't have to be bad.

Although I can respect his opinion and although I am reading this book, as I said before,  as if I am a "nobody", I felt this was appropriate material for a blog...

Comment if you'd like :]

MORE:

So this link just reinforces what I was just saying:

http://judaism.about.com/od/abcsofjudaism/a/beingjewish.htm

BEING JEWISH IS AN IDENTITY. IT IS A PART OF you.