Obvious facts in teen health study

Do you ever read an article, about some scientific study about this or that, and you just say to yourself – “Scientists are just so stupid. I knew that.”

Of course scientists aren’t stupid. But some of the studies they do have to make you wonder. Like a recent study on 20,000 young kids. The study sought to see how kids feel about surviving. Were they optimistic or not about living to 35, and what choices did they make based on that outlook.

Scientists are shocked that some 15% of those interviewed over 7 years believed they’d never live to 35. I’m shocked they didn’t realize how common a thought that was. I mean I was very sure that I probably wouldn’t make it past 25. And that’s considering I was a far better than average student, not into drugs, ghettofabulous did not exist, I never joined a gang, plus I was working since I was a young teen.

Today I can see even more reasons that a person of color in their late teens might think they won’t make it to 35. Gangs are worse, drugs are rampant across the nation, music videos and rap music directly state they should be violent, addicted, criminals. Fewer kids are getting the educations they deserve, and more sources in society are telling them to give up on higher learning. I mean there is a huge societal influence that says a person of color should only hope to be ghettofabulous. All of that is separate of the fact that if you are a criminal, or just a person of color, there are seriously great odds [comparatively] that a police officer will abuse and/or kill you.

"Nearly 25 percent of youth living in households that receive public assistance and more than 29 percent of American-Indian, 26 percent of African-American, 21 percent of Hispanic, and 15 percent of Asian youth reported believing they would die young—compared to just 10 percent of their Caucasian peers."

Is there any surprise then that this study came out and “revealed” the obvious thought among people of color that they won’t make it to 35. Personally I think the shock is that White kids are also feeling these same thoughts of impending death, most from the same sources as those for the kids of color.

Back when crack hit the streets in the 80’s, I recall the lack of concern by police and elected officials. No one was bothering to do anything about that drug or the addicts initially. Not until White kids started to get addicted and drop dead. A couple of elected officials kids got hooked, and overnight there was news of the epidemic of crack. Just about 5 years after the fact.

In a similar manner this report is the same thing to me. 20+ years ago I understood that the chances of me dying before 25 was 1 in 4. In fact about 25% of my friends from elementary school didn’t make it to 25. At that time 2 decades ago I understood that the chances of me going to jail were also about 1 in 4. Again, at least that many of the kids I grew up with were in or had been in jail. That was the reality in the Bronx, and a decent neighborhood of the Bronx.

Given the failures of elected officials and the campaigns to keep kids off of drugs – Nancy Regan saying no and a guy making breakfast vs. a criminal rapper on MTV surrounded by women, drugs, and money, guess which makes more of an impact to a teen – the growth of negative influences, and the promotion by the major media and entertainment industry of the “Ghettofabulous” and “Thug life”, I’m surprised the numbers are not worse.

If the scientists doing this study want to move things along, for a mere contribution to my site, I will give them my insight.

Change the music videos – no more mostly naked women jiggling, no more drug paraphinallia, no more violence. At least not until say 1 am.

Provide real funding to schools – no more books older than the students and teachers burnt out or incapable of teaching.

Ensure that when entertainers break the law they get convicted – No more multi-year delays, like R Kelly, or slaps on the wrist, like DMX and Snoop Dogg and so forth.

Convict corrupt police officers – Officers that kill innocent citizens need to get big press coverage and massive jailtime. Like ex-officer Johannes Merhserle who killed Oscar Grant – which the media has avoided like the plague.

Allow rap and hip hop to be more than the minstrel show – the genres were more diversified and positive when they started, but now are just cash cows of negative reinforcement

Actually spend money fighting drugs – it took 4 years for a crack house near my family members in the Bronx to be closed. Police rarely sweep known drug hangouts and locations (in my knowledge) daily. Major media rarely focuses on the death and destruction drug dealers are responsible for, instead highlighting the lifestyle and money. IE They talk about how much money and drugs were found, or the superficial material things a drug dealer may own, not that dealer X may have caused XXX people to die from drug overdoses and to live on the streets as prostitutes.

These are just a few ideas. But each is effective in its own way. Far more so than a study of the obvious or elected officials polispeak.

Lollipipe: Introducing kids to drugs

Of the many products I have seen over the years, I have run into few that are as exploitative and potentially dangerous as the Lollipipe. And when I say dangerous, I mean promoting drug use in minors. When I say exploitative, well just read on.



The Lollipipe is the invention of Kzee Novelty Products LLC. It is marketed as a tobacco pipe, but the shape of the product makes it clear that it is intended for marijuana. Add to that the fact that it is sold exclusively, to my knowledge, in “head shops” – places that sell drug paraphernalia under innocuous names.

The Lollipipe is designed in bright playful colors that will attract the youth. It is also designed with flavors like Watermelon, Green Apple, Grape, Strawberry, Peach, and Blueberry. Again this is a marketing trick that targets the youth. It has a claim that the Lollipipe will not melt from flame being applied to it. It is completely edible.



Thus in effect we have a product that targets young teens or even smaller children. It is designed to make them feel like drug-adled adults and/or cool. It will give them the sugar buzz that all kids love. And while hard to purchase, in some places, it is not illegal. Add to that the ability for the product to be consumed, so as to hide its use from even the most attentive parent.

I am disturbed by this product. I am reminded that the Tobacco companies were sued for tens of billions of dollars to advertising and marketing programs that never dared to go this far. Yet I have not heard one word about this product.

IF colorful packaging is enough to cause the Tobacco companies to lose in courts, this product should be at the top of DEA and consumer boycotts. Yet I doubt most parents even know of its existence. In fact, I bet there are more than a few liberals, and/or those in the hip hop community, that think it’s a great idea.

This must be a huge hit with those that want to legalize drugs. I guarantee that your local drug dealer likely has dozens of these Lollipipes that they are giving out to kids in playgrounds across the country. Yes, even your kids in the suburbs and small towns where you might not think there is a drug problem. Yet. But the Lollipipe is a great introduction into a life of drug addiction.

I can only imagine what will be next from this company. Maybe a Peppermint flavored crack pipe? How about an edible syringe? Heck, why not a kid-sized mini meth lab.

Obviously there is a market for this product. Irresponsible parents and family of infants/children that are given hits of drugs as seen on Youtube and the major media will flock to these products in droves. Word of mouth will likely fill elementary schools. Hey, do you think pedophiles will stock up on this stuff too?

What a way to make a buck.

This is disgusting. It is my fond desire to learn one day that Kzee Novelty Products LLC has failed and become bankrupt. If there is anything I might be able to do to help this company fold, I will surely do it. Because there is nothing that is positive about their existence in my opinion.

By the way, their website is not yet done. They currently have a static image of their product – tastefully packaged to provide as little direct knowledge of the contents as possible. And just to make sure they are capturing as wide an audience as possible, the company promotes the product on their joke of a webpage as “Eco-Friendly”. I am sure that global warming fanatics will be happy to add this company among the roster of those touting change.

I cannot think of a better warning right now than what I have already mentioned. But I would love to hear from anyone that would defend this product. And I will be sending a copy of this post to Kzee. I wonder if they will have the balls to respond?

Chuck Creekmur and Rap on Fox News - 3.7.2007.2

But in the real world, I want to commend Mr. Chuck Creekmur. On The Big Story at 5:15pm, Fox News, Mr. Creekmur was interviewed on the issue of the influence of hip-hop on teens, specifically the kids that gave blunts to the toddlers. Mr. Creekmur correctly mentioned that there has been nothing that connects rap or hip hop with the actions of those teens. He asserted that the real issue was what the parents of those kids failed to do, teach those kids that such actions at the least are reprehensible. He reminded the audience that the images portrayed by hip hop today is one that has been approved by corporate boardroom executives, funded and advertised to have the image that is so common today.

While the interview was trying to be driven towards blaming rap and hip-hop, which do have problems – something that Mr. Creekmur did not deny – the connection does not exist and the conclusion is unfair. [My comments on the obviously stupid teens can be seen at Where are the complaints, drugs and smoking - 3.6.2007.1] The issue is bigger than such a simple and one-sided accusation. The faults of rap and hip hop lie as much with the executives as the fan base, which is driven primarily by White patrons.

Entertainers are responsible for their actions, both on stage and in the world. They are made to be role models, and how they present themselves is their own fault. But to blame the thoughtless actions of random people to these entertainers, on the sole basis that they are African American and there are drugs involved in this situation is wrong and insulting – to me. As Mr. Creekmur mentioned, where is the outcry about the virtual elimination of any form of rap or hip-hop that conveys a positive message? Where are the investigations why record studio executives consistently stereotype the Black community, or why there is active censorship of the formats availablke to the public?

I can’t agree that this is a ‘chicken before the egg’ argument. As I’ve mentioned many times before, rap and hip hop was not always the current simplistic, redundant, refuse we see today. In virtually 2 years any format that was not ‘gansta’ was removed from public access. Why has no comment come about that? Critisim of what is the music genre today must have that question in it.

But I’m glad that Mr. Creekmur, owner of www.allhiphop.com, was above the bait laid before him and made the credible arguments he did. That’s worthy of respect and comment in my eyes.

This is what I think, what do you think?

Where are the complaints, drugs and smoking - 3.6.2007.1

Well here is something I’d never thought I’d say, it may be a good thing most actors are White. Why in the world would I say that? Because of a recent study that has found that White teens are more likely to become smokers than African American teens. Let me get into the details of this a bit.

Given parameters of the study being equal, the more White teens watch R-rated movies and/or unsupervised television shows the more likely they were to smoke. The key cause of this is that there are almost as many scenes of smoking today as in the 1950’s. That’s important because, like any time since movies or television have existed, virtually all the characters are White. Thus impressionable teens take the lead from these characters and begin smoking as well, because they feel a deeper connection to the characters on-screen. [Mind you that any teen so weak willed as to do something because a character on TV does it has problems, in my opinion.]

I’ve commented several times in previous posts [Minorities, Television and 27 percent, German police and television programing - 10.05.2006.2] that the lack of diversity in television programming and theatrical movies is appalling. My own efforts to gauge the failure of diversity came up with roughly 2% of main characters in television being African American, Latino, Hispanic or any other minority. More official estimates claim that the diversity is a whopping 5% (though that value includes the number of minorities behind the scenes and not on-screen). I feel that movies are similar, though the behind the scenes crew-members are slightly higher (roughly 1-2% more). These ridiculous numbers have only one benefit, the fact that there are less Black, Hispanic, and minority teens starting smoking because of the visual images they are watching. [And an interesting aside is that I must conclude that they are far less impressionable and weak-willed.]

Now before anyone starts to freak out, whether in agreement of dissent, there is a problem that has far too readily featured African Americans recently – teens and parents teaching children to smoke pot. What is wrong with these people?

I have no doubt that there are White Americans that give their kids drugs (in fact I’m aware of a case out in this area where a mother was arrested for doing so, claiming it helped calm the kids down – idiot) but the media has made no bones about highlighting the YouTube video of the Black teens. The fact that this happens is insane. I’d rather see the teens smoking cigarettes. [But not sharing them with toddlers.]

What is happening to our society when people of any age think its ok to provide near babies with drugs. Because they can share this on the internet? Like this is a positive thing to do. As if it were ok for the teens to have the drugs in the first place. Where is the outrage from the NAACP and Rev. Al Sharpton or Rev. Jesse Jackson? Why hasn’t YouTube said that this is not condoned? Yes they were arrested but it shouldn’t have been possible in the first place.

I’m scared by the thought that if White teens can start smoking because of watching movies and television and identifying with the characters, what videos like this and others may cause in the Black community. Especially without the justified outrage they should inspire. Does it take a video of some teen doping a baby with heroin to get some reaction? And I’m not suggestion that this be done. If someone does that’s worth the death penalty in my opinion.

Neither of these things is good. There is no higher ground in either of these things. Everyone should be upset at all the aspects these 2 items display. And something should be done to prevent this from happening again. Not just editing or censoring the offenses, but active action to prevent this behavior.

[I feel I must mention that I am a smoker. I started in college and it had nothing to do with television or movies. I try to never smoke in front of children, or my mother for that matter. I do not recommend anyone to start smoking. I do not do drugs and wish that on no one.]

This is what I think, what do you think?