Due to my illness I have not been in what we would call "the loop" so forgive me if I do not state the names, but I will assume that you know what I am speaking about. If I ever have a food for thought that says that assuming or presuming is bad, this is not one of those times. We all know about the black man that was killed by the police officer and all the ridiculous banter from politicians to major celebrities, which by the way is very irresponsible, when you have that many followers on these media sites your influence is greater and as the old saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. As I've spoken before, they believe that everybody wants to hear what they have to say, yet we are part of the problem by facilitating it. Now the new subject is of the two police officers that were slain.
Usually I do not use names of celebrities, but obviously we all know what was said by whom. So, Samuel L. Jackson comes out with a song that he wants us to sing together. What? Who the hell are you to do such an irresponsible thing? But as I am a human being and have free will, I have the choice to believe what I want. I am not living in a manner of fickleness where I listen to anyone but my heart through discernment.
On Twitter another celebrity stated that one of his followers had it right when she stated that Sam had blood on his hands. Bull. I felt led to respond. I received several responses myself. Though none were derogatory in nature and were spoken with respect or rather written with respect, the question that was asked of me which was actually a statement, so those who insight violence don't have blood on their hands?
Well, first of all, no. Not with what we are talking about here. If halfway around the world a man that I don't know, just through movies, decides to say something irresponsible on Youtube, no he does not have blood on his hands. Basically it came down to the fact that through Samuel L. Jackson's statement, that he had corrupted a community, so much so, to cause them to fear the police and then kill two police officers.
First, let me tell you Samuel L. Jackson does not have that kind of power over people, even though he tries to. Was that his intention? Who knows. My experience with Hollywood is that 99.9% of them are nuts. And 99.9% of them will agree with this about themselves. Getting back to my point. Most police officers are in it for the wrong reason. In my experience most have what's called "small man's disease," were bullied as children, and they use this power through corruption. Can you tell me any different?
My response was this, I used the example of Jesus and Pontius Pilate (pronounced as pont-Tee-us pill-Lot-tay.) Pontius washed his hands. Jesus accepted and allowed for this. Jesus spoke saying, 'The sins of those that brought me to you are greater' obviously paraphrasing. It's called free will. Deflection of blame. Meaning that everyone is looking for someone to blame. Which in no way or fashion is helping the matter at all.
The person that I was talking to the most was a very young man. This is not Adolf Hitler and his soldiers. Another man is not going to put fear inside of me towards another man. I had went into greater detail about Jesus. But not everyone is a believer and not everyone knows their bible. it is no different than with Rodney King. Which insighted a riot that we all remember to this day. Basically what it does is it gives people a reason to be their true selves. This is a path that should be avoided.
Most of these statements and inquiries came from Kevin Sorbo's Twitter page. I feel, if I'm going to state Samuel, I must include the counter in Kevin. So I'll simplify it. If by what Kevin and/or his follower said and someone killed Samuel L. Jackson is the blood on their hands? What is wrong with people? It's great to debate if we learn, grow and change. No one is even willing to listen to change; one percent of their thinking. And this racism nonsense has to stop. All those things that used to be told to us as children, sticks and stones may break your bones etc. If I told you to jump off the Empire State Building... If you don't have anything good or nice to say... You can finish the rest.
As adults, we somehow now believe that we are wise enough to make the decisions to hurt others. Are you following me here? When we are children we are told that it is wrong and we are punished. When we are adults, well, we just know better and we can do what we want without consequence. If I were to say to a group of friends, I can't stand Sam Jackson. I wish he were dead. And then four hours later, by any means, he dies. Is the blood on my hands? There's no conspiracy here. We all have the freedom to say what we want. But not to do what we want.
This is my heritage. My genealogy. I am Welsh. My family came from Scotland to America. That is on my father's side. As well as black. I do not say African American because it is bull crap and because I can not trace my genealogy, I do not know if my ancestors came from Africa, they could have come from Jamaica. I am also Jewish by the way of Poland. On my mother's side, my ancestors came from Israel, to Poland then to America. My wife is 100% made in Korea. I am tired, so tired of everybody talking about race. They are stoking the fire.
If a person is an ass, then they are an ass. Their race has nothing to do with it. Meaning the color of their skin. Yes, cultural differences are biased. But this back and forth nonsense does nothing. And why is it that these so called movie stars chime in about things that they could not possibly relate to and only when it's media savvy? These things happen everyday to what we call ordinary people. To many different races. Lately I'm disgusted because it seems to be about black men and police officers. Personally, I can't stand police officers. I have seen my fair share of them. Some are good men and bad police officers. But you will never see a bad man being a good police officer.
I don't fear police officers. Or any man for that matter. We have ridiculous laws. At one time in my life a man tried to break into a group of my friends' home. We called 911. I tried to talk the man down who was being threatening for 45 minutes until finally being asked to leave, as we're waiting for the police, (to give you a slight back story he was drunk and needed a place to stay) he turned to walk out the door, shoved the door into my friend's face who was a 20 some year old pregnant female, so I hit him one time in the face and knocked him out cold. The police don't show up until he called 911 after waking up. 6 months later I go to jail. The ignorance lies in the fact that because I am a very large man, in fact at that time 6'3" 285lbs with a little 36" waist, I was told that I was too big to be hitting another man. Though I fired my attorney on the spot and represented myself, my statement following was this, "If I was not put in this position in the first place, I never would have had to make the so called bad choice?" And my other question was "Well then he's too small to be trying to break into people's houses" So I do have an understanding about choice and consequence. But I was a 24 year old kid. I was not a police officer and I did not have a community joining together to lynch two men, which I am stating because this applies to both of the irresponsibility that turned into a horrible act of murder with a young black man being strangled and to the community that killed the two police officers. And let me state this, there is a difference between murder and killing. If you read the 10 commandments properly, as I am multilingual, from Aramaic, to Hebrew, to Greek, translated into English it says thou shall not murder. So obviously there is a difference. Just a simple side note.
What does this all add up to? The ones who have the power are abusing it. But the old adage still applies. People kill people. If I wander while I am speaking and my wife is typing, it has to do with my health. So please stay with me, This blame game is exactly what it sounds like.
When I graduated from high school, I went to college for medicine and theology. At the age of 21 I picked up the guitar for the first time. I got my degree in medicine and theology. Yes I was a doctor. I worked for a short time as a doctor. I was what you would call a Doogie Howser. I graduated in three years. I felt led to go into music. I was born with perfect pitch. Look it up. After six months of singing and playing the guitar (which I can play almost every instrument on this planet proficiently) I recorded one song and had over 70 record labels knocking down my door. I passed on every label at the time. I did not feel that I was responsible enough or had paid my dues. I considered it like going to school or college. I was endorsed by Fender Guitars, GHS Strings, etc. Then I started to become ill. I got into screen writing and song writing. I have sold several scripts that are movies today and over a hundred songs that were number 1 hits winning me 7 Grammys.
Why am I telling you this? Because I have seen what celebrity is and more so what it is capable of.(Yes, not who, but it.) I am not an egotistical man. I am not arrogant. I am simply confident and convicted. If you were arrogant to begin with then fame and money will just make you more of an ass. So this is what I am saying, we all have to look within ourselves and be responsible no matter how big or small our forum is. We need to stop stoking the fire. Stop hurting and start healing. Stop blaming others. So getting back to what I initially started out this comment to be. Putting the blood on the hands of a man from his words that somehow caused the death of two men is preposterous. And what an awful thing to say. To put that guilt on another human being. People are too harsh in their way of speaking. And people are too fickle. I don't care what any man has to say. If it's against my beliefs and morals; I will not follow. (And my wife and family will surely tell you that if you do wrong or say wrong, I don't care what relationship you have with me, you're going to know. But to not contradict myself, this is within my circle. People I know. For I have stated what other people think of me is none of my business, and though this may sound weird, what I think of others that I do not know is none of my business. Unless it specifically affects me. And in this situation that I am speaking about; it does. Though I will not go into detail about that. At least at this time. I do not subscribe to throwing people under the bus especially when it comes to own agenda.) And these are Christians speaking. What a poor example. No wonder people are turning away from God.
God isn't God anymore, celebrity is. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Isn't that what this is all about? I hear a lot of people saying their prayers go out to the family or families of all of these new people that they never have known or cared about and still don't care about, in the media's words, that have been slain. How many people do you believe have actually said a prayer? In today's world saying that you're praying (there I go again rhyming) seems to be the equivalent of actually praying. If you want to pray a sincere prayer, ask God to give these people discernment. Don't spend your time on all these media sites trying to ram crap down your throat. They won't listen anyway.
And pray for the families who are mourning and suffering. Does your heart really go out to them? Do you really feel pain and are distraught through your day? Look at yourself. Basically, I've had enough of it. I know who I am, but this world is so lost. Why are we listening to people who won't even take the time to hit the follow back button? I say that because all of what I have heard has come off of Twitter, Facebook or other media sites. I'll see comments of people begging the super famous to follow them. Saying, "Follow me Follow me!" What is that all about? So you can go tell everybody, 'Look who's following me'? I may have gotten a bit off subject, but it all adds up. If Sam Jackson wasn't famous, he would not have had the forum to speak, though I'm sure somebody else would have taken his place. The same with Kevin Sorbo. And why don't Kevin and Sam tweet to each other? Somewhat passive aggressive don't you think?
Why don't we think and speak our mind responsibly through discernment through our own hearts? If you are speaking the right message, sooner or later it will be heard. And please, do not fall in the trap of this blame game. This does not help the family of the man that was strangled by the police officer, this does not do anything for the idiocy of the politician that said if he didn't have asthma or heart problems he wouldn't have died, it does not do anything for the two police officers who are dead and for their families, it does not do anything for the community who apparently conspired on Samuel L. Jackson's behalf, and it certainly does not bring these people back to life.
So why don't we say something before? Why do they open their big fat mouths after the fact? As if this was not going on and has not been going on since the world began? Why aren't we teaching and preaching peace and love everyday instead of waiting for something horrific to happen before we say something about it.
And in the lack of knowledge and wisdom that I have seen through all these comments and posts that adds up to ignorance, if something happens to Kevin, or Sam or to a police officer, according to today's logic, the blood will be on my hands. Be yourself. Subscribe to yourself through and by the Spirit. Why can't everyone see that is what we need and should be what we want? (This is a perfect example of where want and need are not a contradiction of itself.) As Jesus stated, your word is good enough. Don't forget that. So many people are lost and no matter what happens in your life, if you know who you are in Christ, then you are found. And that can never be taken away.
I see a lot of young musicians and actors, which please again do not stoke the fire by calling them rock stars or celebrities, being so foolish in nature and we give them a pass because, "well it must be difficult to grow up in the public eye." That is ridiculous. Choices are choices. If you're so easily influenced, maybe you need a spanking. (I know I do) I grew up learning my personality, not by tv, but by the people surrounding me, my experiences, and most of all God. And though I have made some bad decisions in my life, I turn on the tv and I see 50 and 60 year old men and women talking and acting like children. Wanting to be cool. What's cool about sounding like a moron?
All of these media tools can be used for things that are so wonderful, so beyond us. (And who do you think gave these men the idea for these media sites? And don't get me started on ChristianMingle, what a crock. What do you think people did before ChristianMingle that were Christians? On all the other sites, clicked the Christian box.) But as soon as a person hears something or has an idea, before even thinking or as the cliche goes 'sleep on it' they instagram it. Very seldom do I swear. But in this statement I feel it necessary. I don't give a shit. I don't care what you ate for breakfast. Which many times is contradicting when they are eating 8 pizzas to bulk up for a movie and yet working for Unicef. You couldn't spare, like 4 of those pizzas so you could pull of the role of Hercules? I'm not going to use the person's name.
I watch commercials and one of them used to be an organization formed from Christians to help the starving. Sally Struthers was the lead spokes person 25 years ago. Well they changed the name because they felt it was turning people away by using the word Christian. Now I see this old fat man who is about 280lbs walking through a village in Ethiopia with starving children. Does that not send a mixed message? In fact, I betcha the camera man is holding a big ol' sub sandwich while he's taping the starving kid. So my point is this, everybody jumps on the bandwagon when it's sitting right next to them. Does that make sense? I think it does. We have a responsibility. (Like feeding the 280lb fat man to the villagers. It would probably sustain them for a year. And on a side note, all you Christians who get up in arms when people use Xmas need to educate yourselves. It is not a term that was created by atheists, if you look it up it was a symbol of Christ, which was used when people would get together in mass for Christ hence Christmas. Though of course, many times why people use it is because they don't believe, well then don't celebrate Christmas. And when using it on twitter... C'mon we only have 140 characters and ten of those are taken away by the person you are sending it to, unless your last name is McConnaughey or Schwarzenneger. For instance why didn't Arnold use the Oak, or Matthew use AlrightAlrightAlright? Well, actually that's longer, but funnier.)
Margaret Cho is doing fundraising for homeless. Before I get started, I said I wouldn't use names, but I realize that in some cases that is cowardly. And as if we already didn't know this. So then, that would just make me passive aggressive, like Santa Clause. Anyway, what people don't understand when referring to the homeless is that we are so judgmental towards them out of ignorance, and there is so much more to this than just not having a home. You're dignity is lost. You have no pride, no self-worth. Though I did not need to be a doctor to know this, many people look past this. The physical and mental ramifications that come from poor hygiene to starvation, dehydration, sleep deprivation. So go outside in the elements, live in a box, eat once every week for a month and tell me if you could get yourself up and get a job. You couldn't. I have seen money being raised for a movie or a play. $50,000 in one week. But it has taken months to even raise half that amount to help the homeless. I'm not saying we have to give up what we have, I'm saying we can give up what we don't need. For every hour that someone is wasting their time on Instagram, they could be volunteering at a food bank. Be resourceful. Don't say I can't, or I'm trying, you are actually degrading your own self and creating limitations within yourself.
I have acted in a couple movies. They were 18 hour shoot days. I never had to pay for one meal or drink. Craft Services provided the food and beverages. Why is a movie contract or a record deal the end all be all of success? Personally, there's people that I had respected, and I emphasize the word "Had" that had gotten into these industries, some late in life working very hard, and have turned into complete jerks. Everything is about them. Self promotion, self promotion. Eventually we're gonna get tired of them. And let me tell you something, I have helped a lot of people, and yes exposure does help, but when you are doing something personally, why does there have to be a camera around? Discernment will tell you when that exposure is beneficial towards a cause or for your own ego. When you are just taking a random pic of you with a cancer patient, well that young child's day was made because you showed up. Your day was made by the "Likes" that you receive or the comments.
I had written something to Hugh Jackman who I have met several times. And I got a response back on Twitter from a girl saying "That sounds like something Hugh would say." Not addressed to just me, but to him. Kiss ass. No, it's not something Hugh would say, it's something I said. Hope all of this is adding up.
How silly is that? Don't make this mistake. Don't listen to someone because of who they are based upon fame or riches. Listen to them because of what they are saying and doing. I am not going to claim that I don't want to live my dreams and share my music and movies and help people through the forum that is fame. But when the day comes that I share what I'm eating for breakfast and take a pic of it, come over to my house and crack me right in the head. Just a good one, right between the eyes. Because unless I am answering a person's question directly, who gives a shit? Don't confuse your self-worth with self-importance.
God Bless.
~Joshua Jet Vaughan~
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