The Real Ratchet Reality

tumblr_inline_n4eeb4msoL1r0znzq-1so everyone was talking about kenya vs porsha today.
i mean everrryyyyyoooonnnneeeee.
if andy wanted ratings,
well gosh darnit,
he got em.
surprisingly it was mostly the talk amongst the snow bunnies today.
they were so shocked and mystified.
its like they got to take a trip to the hood without ever leaving the house.
one intern asked me jokingly if this is how “black women” act when they’re mad?

“um no.
well not all.”

like chick,
this is a tv show,
but how could i really answer it?
she was curious because of what she sees on tv.
some sistas will fight like dogs in the street over some stale hood pipe.
hell people in general would actually kill you for less nowadays.
its like people doing random off the wall shit so they can get their 15 minutes.
it all made me wonder…

Is this is the new reality?


another instance…

i sat in the barber’s chair listening to the stories being told this weekend.
hoodrat stories,
that is.
so this wolf waddled in 15 minutes before i got in the chair.
he was on crutches.
he was jumped earlier two weeks ago.
jumped by some jackals in a rival gang in the projects.
he fought them,
but was stabbed in the leg in result.
war wounds,
ya know?
he said he doesn’t have any feeling in his thigh anymore.
he also has nightmares and has to constantly look over his shoulder.
he said his boys ended up shooting one of the jackals responsible.
apparently he can’t walk now.
it has now caused a major beef between both gangs.
everyone in the shop was cheering him on.
i was ready to go.
this is the real ratchet reality show tho.
this ain’t no hair pulling to the ground.

tumblr_n4dyaki6851seznd4o1_r1_500this is the shit they don’t show or will never show.

in a world where everything needs to be documented,

has life become a place where at any time,
you could be the star?
“WORLLLDDDDDSTARRRRRRRR!”
are we now fighting random people because they provoked you,
annoyed you,
or looked at you a certain way?
shit people will do shit just to throw a lawsuit on that ass.
got your whole paycheck garnished because you kept it real and it went wrong.

tumblr_n4ebicwum71rt4az2o1_r1_250i think that’s what people forget these days.
they look at these mainstream ratchet people on tv,
ones with make up artists and security guards,
and think that it’s real.
sure porsha and kenya went at it last night,
but one is probably getting a huge pay raise.
she is the new star of the franchise.
she is also currently competing on celebrity apprentice.
the other?
well she is divorced,
maybe jobless,
chest full of plastic,
and getting temporary shine from young ratchets across the land.

“YOU DRAGGED THAT HOE!
I DRAGGED MY MAMA LAST WEEK!
BITCH ASKED ME TO GO TO BED ON TIME FOR SCHOOL.
KNUCK IF YOU BUCK OLD BITCH!
FOLLOW ME?!”

tumblr_n4e1kxM78n1rfvajjo1_400shit maybe these shows,
the ones we get excited to watch when a brawl happens,
are actually bad for us.
hell i won’t lie and say i don’t love ratchet tv.
i’m usually left saying:

“wow!
thank god i have home training!”

…but now i’m wondering if these shows are doing more harm to society than good?
hmm.
something i thought about today.

16 thoughts on “The Real Ratchet Reality

  1. @Dean you make some good points and I agree with you. Maybe YOU should start your own blog and talk about these issues. There are more serious topics that CAN be discussed but I think you posting this was not in the best taste. If you did start your blog, maybe you can reach out to him and PERHAPS he can share it with us. I’d definitely support it because that’s something I’m interested in as well.

  2. Jamari and others, why is there so much attention given to TV personalities and so little attention given to important issues as such: Many comments on this “reality” TV show but no comments on issues such as these:
    Obama’s “My Brothers Keeper” initiative is a drop in the bucket. Here are thngs that Obama can do but won’t that will be much more effective.

    1. A job is the best social program that there is, yet Obama is pushing amnesty for illegal immigrants that would cement in jobs that illegals have stolen from blacks. (See http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2010/02/how_illegal_immigration_hurts_black_america.html?utm_medium=feed&obref=obinsite and after reading the first two paragraphs you’ll realize that illegals have stolen millions of jobs from blacks.) Here’s immigration reform we can believe in: 1. Make E-Verify mandatory for current and future employees and have the process issue a numbered receipt to show compliance 2. Have enforced penalties of at least $20,000 per employee per day that do not pass E-Verify. 3. Couple that with prompt appeals of those who do not pass. 4. Couple that with the provision that expenses for employees that do not pass E-Verify are not tax-deductable as a business expense. This will turn off the magnet of work and will not lead to deportation costs. The unemployment rate of US citizens and legal immigrants will go down as the illegals go back home by train, plane, automobile, boat or foot! Problem solved!

    2. Penal-Industrial Complex Reform. The US has one-quarter the population of China yet it has more people in jail and prision —and China is an authoritarian or totalitarian country. Between the ages of 20 and 30, 30% of black men in America will be in prison, parole, jail, or probation. About 40% of jail/prison inmates in the USA are black. Are blacks more prone to crime? Perhaps because of poverty and lack of jobs (See point 1 above) and racial discrimination but they are not inherendtly THAT much more prone to crime. The criminal-justice system (Part of the Penal –Industrial Complex) is not a level playing field. Study after study after study have shown that it’s titled against black at evey level—and severely so—from arrest, to booking to charging to convicting to sentencing to probation and parole. And once these men get out of jail, they have a heck of a time finding jobs because not they have a criminal record. And the absence of such as productive members of black society tears the fabric of the black community, meaning more crime, children without the postive influence of a man, etc. And yet Obama can do something about this. He has the power of pardon that he doesn’t use in this effort and he has the power of what to prosecute in the Department of Justice. And he has the power of the Bully Pullpit and example for reforms that need Congressional and approval in the 50 states.

    3. Obama should start and lead an effort to come clean with the effects of slavery and Jim Crow. That is, Obama should appoint a Presidential Commission to study it tell the truth about its current effects, including who benefited and how and who detrimented and how. Every time such a discussion as this comes up about the ills that plague blacks in America, some “wise-guy” such as “iann11” here that says something like “This is a Travesty, Why are black families failing their children every day!!! Black men should live with their children in the same home, Stop having multiple children with multiple women, Educate your children, Talk with your children everyday about expectations you have of them. Love your children, don’t walk out on them.” This is blame the victim talk. Why do we know that it’s blame the victim talk. Because it’s not all blacks in America that are doing poorly. It’s African Americans—the descendants of Africans enslaved and brought to America that are doing poorly and not Nigerian Americans, Kenyan Americans, Ghanaian Americans, etc. Black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean are doing well!

    Those three issues would have a dramatic impact on African American lives but apparently no one cares about them. They prefer to talk about “soap opera” characters. Why is that?

  3. Porsha will be fired from the show because Bravo is going to set an example for the future. In Housewives history, a housewife has never touched another. You are right about the pay raise too. Kenya is valuable to the show. If she leaves ratings will drop, and Bravo execs know this.

    1. I heard that the cast is saying that they blame Koo kooky Kenya and if they let Porsha go and let Kenya stay, they are going to resign from th show en mass. Truth is Kenya presents as a disturbed lunatic. She reminds me of a couple of clients I had in a therapy group that I facilitated. She is delusional, manipulative…I think she has a lot of abandonment issues due to the loss, abandonment of her mother.

      1. The thing is BRAVO give these women a huge platform. Anyone in the entertainment medium wants to be seen on BRAVO, they get the most buzz especially with the female audience who watch TV, and read the mainstream blogs/websites.
        So all the rumors about “I heard that the cast is saying that they blame Koo kooky Kenya and if they let Porsha go and let Kenya stay, they are going to resign from th show en mass” won’t actually happen. Non of them will leave that paycheck and camera time (exposure), Not for Porsha Williams.
        I suspect we will know the true story once this goes to court, and contract negotiations begins. Bravo will hold up on Ms. Williams contract and she will get impatient until they find a suitable replacement before letting her go at the very last minute (When things are quite). Nene and the other girls are rallying around her now because that is their last show of power against Kenya Moore.
        Nene running around Hollywood talking to TMZ is a way of distracting the public into thinking she is still queen B of Atlanta.
        Nene better watch what she says, cause she will be next in line to receive the Kenya treatment just like Porsha.
        Going forward Kadi will be Kandi, Cynthia will be boring, and Phaedra will self destruct with the Apollo incident.

  4. I guess tv can be harmful example Mimi sex tape they saw her doing whole pull ups on a shower rod while taking a dick. Guess how many people trying to do the Mimi just cause they seen it lmao ^_^

  5. It’s not just Black people either. Those ratchet rich White bitches are influencing their demographic as well. People think being trashy with no morals or respect is something one should aspire to be now. The dude you mentioned with a fucked up leg needs to realize that he’s just apart of the circle of ratchet. Nothing good will come of it but more cripples, incarcerations, and death.

  6. Jamari…I had a similar scenario in my FORMER barbershop where there was a guy who was a member of the Bloods (he wore his red proudly) who frequented the shop. Well he got into with a dude that was in MS13 one day outside of the shop. Beat the guy badly I heard. I had asked my former barber on numerous occasions as to why did they allow the guys to come in the shop and get haircuts and hang out in front of the shop…knowing full well what they did/do. He said it didn’t make him any difference…money is money.
    It really bothered me to the point that I ended up finding another barber. To make a long story short, some MS13 members caught a friend of his in front of the shop, and hacked his ass up really bad with machetes. A couple of months later, they saw him in front of the shop and chased him and some friends, shooting at them for a few blocks with guns. One of the other guys was hit and ended up dying, but they never got the guy they were after. He ended up moving out of town after that.
    But that just goes to show that innocent people can get caught in the crossfire of the foolishness that these wannabe thugs indulge in on a daily basis. If I know a certain clientele is in the shop…I don’t get my hair cut that day. I’ll wait another day. Better safe than sorry.

    1. ^omg that my was barber’s logic as well.
      it is highly scary christian.
      like it made me desperate to leave the hood once i get established.
      i don’t find that life appealing.
      tv makes it so glamorous but its really not!

  7. To the extent that people take their cues from such shows and such behavior, they harm society. And I can guarantee you that many are taking such cues. (Monkey see. Monkey do.) And this is the case whether it’s RHOA, Love and Hip Hop, RHONY, Cheers, The Cosby Show or Survivor. Television is a powerful medium. Keep your kids away from it!

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