"I will not silence my sense to comfort your ignorance." - Jon Stewart
Entertainment Industry likes you a certain way. Can't be honest, can't speak your mind if you have something outside of the Hollywood checklist to make. Yes, I'd love to be a superstar comic book writer one day, but I've learned that I don't need the validation of timid corporations like Marvel or DC Comics to do it. If being successful means selling my metaphorical soul by biting my tongue for other people's sake then I'm not interested, no matter how unpopular my viewpoints may be. You've never seen a Brinks truck following a Hurst, and you won't. Because legacies are everlasting and that's more important than the short-term satisfaction of currency or vice.
No matter what format you're trying to make your voice heard in - whether it be film, literature, or radio: If you're black or anything non-white, you'd better be prepared to face the reality that the only version of yourself that can possibly be successful, by far and large, in the "kumbaya"-agenda-filled landscape of America is a tamed, cookie-cutter, factory-sealed, Wayne Brady-esque incarnation that appeases the sensibilities of the perceived majority.
All it takes is one look at the NBA, for example, and the gag-order contracts that they make the players sign when they're drafted into the league which binds them from returning to speak in poor urban communities without the league's pre-approval to validate my point. Or, more personally, just look at the attacks and critiques I've received over the years on this very page from the likes of angry trolls and comic book industry professionals like James Woodward - who've all happened to be white - simply because I wouldn't back down or recant my opinions about the hypocrisies and double-standards that I see in modern everyday life. Yet, you'll notice that the same critics I have never have a complaint to make as long as they're being agreed with; That's hypocrisy.
No, I will not compromise my morals. No, I will not bow down to your views because you cannot handle the (often unspoken) truth. To do so today would effect the realities of tomorrow and the realities of tomorrow can only change if we speak about the problems of today in the present. So, grow a thick skin the way I have or don't, but contain your false-entitlement to impunity. It's an illusion that adults put in your head during Kindergarten.
Entertainment Industry likes you a certain way. Can't be honest, can't speak your mind if you have something outside of the Hollywood checklist to make. Yes, I'd love to be a superstar comic book writer one day, but I've learned that I don't need the validation of timid corporations like Marvel or DC Comics to do it. If being successful means selling my metaphorical soul by biting my tongue for other people's sake then I'm not interested, no matter how unpopular my viewpoints may be. You've never seen a Brinks truck following a Hurst, and you won't. Because legacies are everlasting and that's more important than the short-term satisfaction of currency or vice.
No matter what format you're trying to make your voice heard in - whether it be film, literature, or radio: If you're black or anything non-white, you'd better be prepared to face the reality that the only version of yourself that can possibly be successful, by far and large, in the "kumbaya"-agenda-filled landscape of America is a tamed, cookie-cutter, factory-sealed, Wayne Brady-esque incarnation that appeases the sensibilities of the perceived majority.
All it takes is one look at the NBA, for example, and the gag-order contracts that they make the players sign when they're drafted into the league which binds them from returning to speak in poor urban communities without the league's pre-approval to validate my point. Or, more personally, just look at the attacks and critiques I've received over the years on this very page from the likes of angry trolls and comic book industry professionals like James Woodward - who've all happened to be white - simply because I wouldn't back down or recant my opinions about the hypocrisies and double-standards that I see in modern everyday life. Yet, you'll notice that the same critics I have never have a complaint to make as long as they're being agreed with; That's hypocrisy.
No, I will not compromise my morals. No, I will not bow down to your views because you cannot handle the (often unspoken) truth. To do so today would effect the realities of tomorrow and the realities of tomorrow can only change if we speak about the problems of today in the present. So, grow a thick skin the way I have or don't, but contain your false-entitlement to impunity. It's an illusion that adults put in your head during Kindergarten.
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