Facebook users

You know what really grinds my gears??? Certain Facebook users! This website has impacted the world in more ways than one; yet some people use it to annoy the rest of us. Unfortunately this is not about the wonders of Facebook; this Blog is about those irritating individuals of the net that make you want slap them senseless every time you read their post.

The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Facebook user! "I'm waking up." "I'm brushing my teeth." "I'm bored at work." "I'm stuck in traffic." You're kidding! How fascinating! No time of day is too mundane for these people to broadcast unsolicited to the rest of us. Just because you have 632 Facebook friends doesn't mean we all want to know when you're waiting for your sandwich at subway. And just a thought, unless you are public figure, there is no reason for you to have that many friends.

If you are like me, then you fall in a category that I like to call “Self-Promoters/Community-Organizers.” These people post all their accomplishments online, annoying people that hate them in the process. Haters are searching your Facebook timeline in pursuit of damaging news, yet you continuously post stories about your success. Sure you lost weight lately and sure you helped raise money for the children’s hospital, but please stop; when every other post is a link to your blog and other causes you’re involved in, a little bit dies inside these green creatures.

Wait there is worse! For a moment I want to direct my attention to you, my bad grammar friend. I know you think that the rules you learned in school regarding proper grammar don’t apply to the social media; however, this makes you look like a moran. I’m not a big stickler for a proper sentence structure; nonetheless, where would our society be without guidelines. Rules and social parameters are what separates us from our primate friends. For you fact police out there: This is an exaggeration! Hyperbole if you will. It makes for a better and more dramatic writing.

Let me see, who have I left out? Oh yeah. The I-Have-the-Need-to-Take-Photos-of-Myself-and-Instantly-Upload-Them Facebook operator. Please stop doing this. Only when you get new glasses should this be allowed. 35 close-up photos of your face from different angles are not necessary. A worse subcategory, are the people taking photos of themselves in front if their bathroom mirrors.  Debris from flossing and soup buildup coats your mirror; it’s discussing, at least wipe it before you do this.

The Photographing-Every-Event and the Stupid-Cliché-Quotes individuals are annoying indeed, but the Creep-That-Never-Posts-Anything on Facebook, yet knows in detail everything you have ever posted is unnerving. These organisms hang in the shadows of your wall and know your every move.  There needs to be a horror movie on this.

I couldn’t write a blog about Facebook users and leave out the following disasters: Facebook-Moms and Multiple- Posters. Please mom stop tagging me; and please annoying friend that I never talk to, stop posting twenty things in one day or I’m going to delete you.

Facebook is great; it gives me a platform to reconnect with friends and family that unfortunately life has separated me from. It gives me a platform to organize with people that support the same ideas as well as raise money for the cause I care for. The greatest weapon to organize, communicate, and share ideas since the written word, yet these idiots use it to inform people without windows that it is raining outside. (I am certainly guilty of a few of these pointless posts over the years.) I told the senate to shut down SOPA with a click of a mouse and watched in shock as the Middle East used Facebook and other social media to finally get rid of tyrants oppressing their human rights. The same website allows me keep an eye on my friends’ journey through life, partake in their happiness as they bring a life into this world and share a tear when they lose a loved one. A few bottles of wine, stimulating conversation amongst friends over a nice home cooked dinner is a meal; but then again, so is a TV dinner in the dark watching Jerry Springer by yourself. Facebook is just a tool and how some of you use this tool allows me to point and laugh hysterically while I feel sorry for humanity. 

New age Rap & Hip-Hop

You know what really grinds my gear??? Today’s rap and hip hop music! I love rap, I love hip hop; but like a parent worrying about the direction of its child’s life, I feel like I have to say something. I have found myself debating with people holding contrasting opinion on this matter and I have been on the losing end. This art form has become harder and harder to defend. It is hard to appreciate this new wave of artists with their violent depiction of life while glorifying a materialistic culture that I wouldn’t want my kids to learn. They continuously strip women of humanistic values and in this era of information and instant sharing, such values are traveling at brain-dizzying speed polluting our society, replacing social norms and values that most of us want to keep.

Old school rap on the other hand, now that’s something I can stand behind and defend. Disrespect 2Pac and see teeth leave mouth and chin swell up. The movement had a goal and empowerment was in the middle of it all. Freedom of expression ruled the airwaves and what artists said mattered just as much as how they said it. Songs had a moral back bone, something that the public had long longed for. I’m not saying NWA was not violent, by any means; however, it was the voice of many. Heads bobbed and conscience touched while 2Pac and Dr. Dre collaborated. The poor little ghetto child finally had a voice and it still made your ass dance. Now, produce a nice beat, wear a bullet proof vest, say nigga a few times, while five “dancers” shake it in the background - and you have a number one hit.  Oh the humanity; Pointless words mashed together into something that a five year old wouldn’t call rhymes, and stupid dance to follow is what sells nowadays.  While he is “Supermaning that hoe,” we are standing by dancing to this filth that’s making millions of dollars lowering the bar of what our kids call art.

Oh how I miss the days where the oppressed used rap as a way of communicating ideas. But wait, this is exactly what is going on now; except, rather than empowering, they’re enabling. Examples work best for me so let me proceed by giving you a few. 

“Sexy, can I visit you at work?   /   While you sliding down the pole, no panties, no shirt   /   Then you climb back up the pole, then you drop and do the splits   /   How you make that booty talk, baby damn, you want some new sh**?”

Although it contributes nothing to society other that objectifying women and glorifying promiscuity, as soon as this song comes on, women rush to the dance floor singing along with it.  This I can’t understand: why would the oppressed celebrate the oppressor, contributing to the oppression? In my opinion this is the same as the Jewish people celebrating songs praising the holocaust, Africans celebrating the slave trade, or Tibetans celebrating the Chinese government. Confront a woman about this and you get the same answer: “He aint talking about me!”

Let me show you what rhymes really look like; how poetry in a form of a song feels and the power that it carries with it. Let me show you the pain in the artist’s verses, eloquently projecting his vision and despair. Let it transport you!

I see mothers in black cryin', brothers in packs dyin' /   Plus everybody's high, too doped up to ask why   /   Watchin' our own downfall, witness the end   /   It's like we don't believe in God 'cause we livin' in sin.

I asked my homie on the block why he strapped, he laughed   /   Pointed his pistol as the cop car passed and blast   /   It's just another murder, nobody mourns no more   /   My tear drops gettin' bigger but can't figure what I'm cryin' for.

Is it the miniature caskets, little babies   /   Victims of a stray from drug dealers gone crazy   /   Maybe it's just the drugs, visions of how the block was   /   Crack came and it was strange how it rocked us.

Perhaps the underlyin' fact stay high explain genocide   /   It's when we ride on our own kind   /   What is it we all fear, reflections in the mirror   /   We can't escape fate, the end is gettin' nearer.

Feminism in America

You know what really grinds my gears??? Feminism; to be exact, feminism as understood by American women! Before I go any further, I would like to warn you about the contents of this blog. I’m not going to offend anyone of course (not on purpose anyways); however, I will express my full opinion as understood and believed from someone who grew up in a partial patriarchal society.  For starters let me assure you that I am not some chauvinistic, woman hating type who believes that women should not be educated and their only duties are child barring and house chores. I just believe that the new feminist movement has gotten it very wrong.  Myself, I have the utmost respect for women, especially strong minded, motivated women, taking action and leading in their communities, careers as well as their homes.  Most women in my family are educated and strong willed. Even the woman I chose to spend my life with is not some trophy wife; she is a tough, inspired, and independent woman who does not need, but want me.  This is what grinds my gears, it is not women and their success, nor is it the status they deserve; what grinds my gears are these leftist, young women who take a few “women studies” classes and take it to an extreme: hating everyone, including other women, who do not agree with their insane, radical idealism. This goes as far as calling people names and accusing them of being hateful toward women. This has happened to me on more than one occasion. Well I’m here to tell you, 20 something leftist feminist: You got it backwards. Feminism is about choice, and last time I checked, women don’t have a lot of it. So, stop fighting with your man over who is going to do the dishes, rather, start fighting with these politicians over who is going to decide what you do with your body. Don’t get me wrong, in today’s society women have more power than they have ever had; however, they are not fully free and independent. Sure they can become community leader, CEOs or even President of the United States; but they still don’t have full control over their most private and intimate decisions. They still don’t have a full choice over when, where, and how to use their bodies. That is why I believe women are fighting the wrong causes. 

Let me give you an example: A while back a woman sued her employer because she had just given birth and her employer did not provide her with a room where she could pump her breast milk. Fair enough, there should be a room where a woman can safely and privately pump her breast milk into a bottle. NOOOOTTTT!! THIS IS THE STUPIDEST THING I HAVE EVER HEARD. Rather than fighting for the right to be a mother, the right to nurture a child this woman had just brought to life, she sues for something like this? Why fight for a room to pump your milk into a bottle when you can fight for the right to instill life directly into your baby’s mouth.  Now comes the counter point: “What about her career?” “Maybe she wants to be a career woman!” This is why I believe that the feminist movement in America got it wrong. Why can’t women do both? Why does it have to be one or the other? Why would a woman’s job be in jeopardy if she DECIDES to be a mother and DECIDES to stay home with her infant, at least until the baby is still breast feeling. This will contribute to a bond between mother and child that will last a lifetime. Not to mention the nutritional benefits. These rights are standard in Europe and Canada yet not in America; however American women claim to be the most emancipated women in the world. American women’s idea of equality is a man who does the dishes and cleans the house. Yet they allow the government to insert a 9 inch probe into their vaginas before they CHOOSE to have an abortion. (This is a law in Virginia, look it up)

I’m here to defend men and to tell some women to wake up. Stop fighting against being a woman. Stop fighting your maternal instinct and your true nature simply because you believe that men will respect you less. Be a career woman if you choose, but don’t think less of a woman who decides to stay home and raise her children. Be a woman that does not cook and clean for her family, but don’t think less of women that take pride in spoiling their husbands and families.  Fight for your right to be equal to men, but not so hard that you lose your femininity in the process. Embrace what makes you a woman, a creature of soft skin and softer voice, of healing touch and loving heart. Be the neck that moves the world. But until you believe that you don’t have to wear a man suite to be a leader of men, you will never be truly free and equal. You can lead even with stilettos on. 

In a Bizarro World, where men were biologically capable of giving birth, there would be a law demanding employers to allow men to stay home and raise their babies. And I guarantee you that we would only work 3 out of 4 weeks.

Immigrants

You know what really grinds my gears??? Immigrants! They come into this country, most of them illegally, don’t learn the language, don’t assimilate to American culture, and they take jobs and opportunities away from Americans. Most of them are criminals that take advantage of our welfare system without paying any taxes; being a drain on the U.S economy. They are a burden on our school systems, a burden on our healthcare system, and a burden on our society as a whole. This country is at war and a weak U.S. border enforcement has led to our enemies crossing our borders illegally. The war on terrorism can be won through immigration restrictions and tougher punishments for those breaking the laws. Go back to your country, we don’t want you here, stop taking American jobs, American jobs for American workers.  As moronic as this might sound, this is exactly what a number of Americans believe; in addition, what really grinds my gears, this is just how a vast group of our politicians think as well. As illogical, idiotic, foolish, unwise, and another one hundred synonyms I can find to describe these ridiculous claims, one of the things that made this country great is freedom of speech; so let these fools say what they want; I’m going to use my first amendment right, however, combined with facts, to address those concerns and show these people how wrong they are.

For starters, (this is where I say a few words that are rated X.) Secondly, let an illegal, illiterate, unassimilated immigrant like me, who takes American jobs, explain to you how enormously wrong you are. Immigrants are the backbone of this country and if you don’t agree with that statement, this is where you should stop reading. This blog will only annoy you. Being and immigrant and being an entrepreneur are somehow connected. We come to this county for a better life and for more opportunities; thus, once those opportunities arise we take them, driving to fulfill the American dream. Let me give you some data: The Kauffman Foundation reports that immigrants are twice as likely as people born in America to start a business. “Immigrants are filing patents at a two-to-one ratio [compared to] American-born.” “Immigrants are more likely to have advanced degrees than American-born.” In Silicon Valley, half of the tech companies were founded by immigrants. In Ohio, that rate is about 14 percent. It’s 17 percent in Indiana, 27 percent in Illinois and 33 percent in Michigan. Nationwide, 40 percent of today’s Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants, or the children of immigrants.

Contrary to popular belief, we pay taxes too, whether income, property, sales, or other. As far as income tax payments go, sources vary in their accounts, but a range of studies find that immigrants pay between $90 and $140 billion a year in federal, state, and local taxes.  Even undocumented immigrants pay income taxes, as evidenced by the Social Security Administration’s “suspense file” (taxes that cannot be matched to workers’ names and social security numbers), which grew $40 billion between 1990 and 2012.  In study after study, the data all points in one direction: Immigrants create more jobs than they take, and bring in 20 times more revenue than they take in public benefits. (Unless the study was conducted by an anti-immigration group)

You don’t have to go far to see exactly what I am talking about. Look at me! Ten years ago my family and I came to this country with nothing but a bank account full of dreams.  My mother and father left jobs that carried both high status and pay in Albania to work low-skilled, low-paying jobs in the U.S., while enduring countless verbal abuse and societal neglect by a group previously mentioned.  Almost every immigrant I know has its own business or plans to open one; others have a bachelor, masters or even doctoral degree and have contributed to this county in more ways than one. Don’t punish us - embrace us. We don’t take American jobs, we create them.

Albanian history

You know what really grinds my gears??? Albanian history! The lies that have been told about Albanian history! Here I stand, an educated 27 year old with the power of internet and unlimited sources of information on my side; yet, I still don’t know the truth about my history. Therefore, as a native Albanian, I am going to use outside attribution to explain this handicap. There is a famous quote: “Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.” As lions, kings of the wild, we have been hunted by coward hunters wanting nothing but our extinction; nonetheless we survived, carrying our customs and values from the wound to the grave, passing it from mother to child like breast milk vital to our survival. With an Illyrian soul, I stand in my land for centuries, deeper rooted than the Balkan peaks themselves, yet the world ignores me and treats me like a stranger, stripped of my identity, denied of my history. An autochthone, a fossil that lies where once heroes marched the land, is now an unwanted face in its home. While at this point you are thinking: “there you go again, another radical Albanian blaming everyone else but themselves” I want to assure you that this is not a blame game, nor is it a call for sectarian violence. It is simply a byproduct of Westernized education blended with 3500 years of oppression, slander, and history manipulation.

Our neighbors to the south are a big part of this tragedy. A nation that we helped build throughout the centuries has done nothing but deny our history and tell it as their own. I don’t want to change their history, I want to change ours; the lion finally got a historian. In a world where Greeks do everything in their power to eliminate anything that was or is Albanian, including Alexander the Great, we should do the exact opposite. Teach our children the history written from the eyes of a lion and not from an agenda carrying hunter. For example: apart from a few inscriptions and fragments, texts written by people who actually knew Alexander or who gathered information from men who served with Alexander were all lost; yet, it is widely accepted that the name Alexander is derived from the Greek "Αλέξανδρος" (Aléxandros), meaning "defending men."  Or so says the hunter.  The Lion, on the other hand, says that the name is derived from the Albanian word of "A LE KI SI ANDERR." Born like a dream. After all, his mother was an Illyrian princess so it is totally plausible that this is the truth. One would be a fool to think that the Greek authorities at the time destroyed books depicting Alexander as Illyrian just to come up with a fictional character that supported their ethnocentric views (Wink wink). I’m not saying this is true, nor do I care.  No one from that time still lives to tell the story, and no one spoke to Olympia about the origin of the name in order to document this, therefore everyone is hypothesizing. Greeks just lied before we did. So now should be our time for propaganda and tell it like we see it.

Albanian was a spoken language, didn’t have an alphabet and written quality until later in its history; therefore, they used Greek letters. Greek historians claim this to be the fact that proves the whole Illyrian territory (ethnic Albanian) was once Greek territory. They claim that cities, cradle to modern civilization like Butrinti and Byllis, were once Greek cities because of the architecture and writing in the walls. With that thought, the whole world was once Arab since we are using Arab numbers. Now it all makes sense; have you been to Dearborn lately? People there are not immigrants, they are Arabs that remain from when US was Arabia. Why didn’t I think of this sooner? Like those individuals that tell lies for so long that after a while they start to believe them; the Greeks truthfully believe their history, and so they should. I actually don’t care about what they believe in, that is not what this is all about. I care about what we believe in. I care what the rest of the world believes in; and, I care about what our children believe in.  Let’s teach the world another version of history, our history, before Skanderbeg becomes half Greek half Serbian. (I shit you not, that is what they believe.) What’s next Greeks, are you going to claim Mother Theresa? 

Gay marriage

You know what really grinds my gears??? Gay marriage!  Lack thereof I should say. Day in and day out I hear these conservative blind folks talk about the sanctity of marriage and how it should only be between a man and a woman. And, although I believe this is the same train of thought that persecuted the Jews as well as enslaved the Blacks, I'm willing to respect their first amendment. I lust have some questions: What about the man and the woman who just met, and with $1000 worth of tequila in their stomachs, get married by a guy who looks like Elvis? Is that OK? What about a wealthy man who needs two little blue pills to keep it up and a gold digging woman who has more boob than brain? Is that Ok? And what about Kim Kardashian's  phat ass? (And that's all I have to about that). While these marriages are perfectly legal and happening every day; in this country, two people who truly love each other and want to spend the rest of their life together can't because of their sexual orientation.  Sanctity of marriage my ass! Newt Gingrich, the guy who wants to be our next president, has cheated on two of his previous wives and the second time with the woman that is now his third. I am sure god approved of this.  Gay people have the right to create a family and make someone's life miserable just like the rest of us. They have the right to bitch at someone they love for leaving the toilet seat up just as much as the rest of us. They have the right to raise children that will turn out to hate them during adolescent years just as much as rest of us.  And more importantly, their marriages have the right to a high divorce rate just like the rest of the population.  This is not a gay rights issue, this is a human rights issue; and, do not get me started on Proposition 8. If civil rights were voted on by the masses, a third Bush would be president and Obama would still be sitting at the back on the bus.

Chilidogs at Lafayette Coney Island

You know what really grinds my gears??? People who insist that the Chilidogs at Lafayette Coney Island are “the best in the world.

After the 2011 North American Auto Show, a couple of my closest friends and I decided to give it a taste.  I had heard the hype around this culinary masterpiece and I had to try it. What kind of a Detroiter would I be if I didn't? Lafayette Coney Island and its famous Chilidogs were featured on Man vs. Food, and being a fan of the show combined with a love for the City of Detroit was a combination I couldn’t resist.  We walk in and we were instantly greeted by a smell that my nose had trouble recognizing and my synapses trouble deciding if it was good or bad. The place was friendly and people there seemed delighted to overpay for a chilidog. We sat down at the counter 2 ft. away from the guy doing the dishes, a process that I would call bathing rather than washing. The counter stool I sat  down was too small for my medium (large in some cultures) ass and too close to the floor.  Our water came quick in tiny glasses that told me two things:  one, they don’t want us there for an extended period of time; and two, they don’t like washing dishes. Regardless, I wasn’t going to let anything prevent me from having an orgy of cheese and chilly inside my oral cavity. Pictures of famous people lined the walls; this Coney had to be good. “Two and one” the waiter yelled to the cook after placed my order. Only a few minutes later a plate with two sloppy chilidogs and a small plate of double dipped fries stared me in the face. Mediocre at best; absolutely nothing special, a disgrace to the status it held and everyone that has ever bragged about it. We overplayed and left vowing never to return. Maybe I don’t understand American Culture I said to myself so I asked for the opinion of “white people” (I will explain what I mean by the term white people in future blogs).  One of them said what I believe everyone else was thinking: I have to admit, I only like them, because it is cool to like them.