Lay It Down: The YES WE CAN! edition

Lay It Down: The YES WE CAN! Edition

In the wake of this momentous victory I wanted to write a special Lay it Down – the YES WE CAN! edition. The results showed that We Can Change from the way things were, the way things have been in the past. Yes we can Lay Down the burdens that we have been carrying for centuries. We can Lay Down the shackles and dance. So in the wake of this momentous victory we can say Lay IT Down to . . . .

Lay it down divisive politics

Lay it down smear campaign strategies

Lay it down to the voices of hate

Lay it down to the race-baiting

Lay it down to desperation

Lay it down to fear mongering

Lay it down to religious condemnation

Lay it down to the lies and propaganda

Lay it down to the Bradley Effect

Lay it down to Red state vs. Blue state

Lay it down to name calling: terrorist, traitor, un-American, socialist, communist, The Manchurian candidate, sleeper cell

Lay it down to those who blame the downtrodden for their plight

This election was brought about by the grassroots. The thousands who realized the enormity of Decision 2008. The thousands who knew there was more at stake than just results from another election of candidates with homogeneous ideas. The thousands of volunteers helping the campaign – people like my father-in-law, Jose Laguna Sr. Although as a foreign-born resident he couldn’t vote, he hit the streets daily, for hours, informing his neighbors of the issues and policies, helping people register to vote, letting them know where the polling stations were located.

A new day dawns upon America. A new page is being written in American History. Dreams have been realized. Hope has been refreshed. Our minds have been opened up to new possibilities. There are new realities. The Paradigms have changed. The Restoration of the American Spirit. A Rejuvenation.

YES WE CAN!

VH1's Ungodly Spawn

I previously posted a Lay It Down on Flavor Flav, denouncing the coonery of the show. This post makes an assumption that you are familiar with the subject matter, if not, apprise yourself with All-Knowing Wikipedia (be sure to follow the other links for the related items). As an aside, Bamboozled by Spike Lee is a fantastic movie to watch. It will help put things in perspective.
Here are other takes on the Flavor Flav shows:
A blogs.sohh.com
B politicalpalace.yuku.com


In the post, I admitted watching the show. Just recently, I saw a new show, Real Chance At Love, that centered on the two brothers, Real and Chance, who were castaways from shows that trace their lineage to Flavor of Love. So I started wondering: How did we arrive at this point? Where did it all start?

It’s time to scale the VH1’s Family Tree of Flavor of Love.

Once upon a time music video channels used to play music videos. Then a show name The Real World came along and transformed the landscape. Since then, MTV began to shift its focus to reality shows as its staple product. VH1 followed suit. VH1 found its Goose That laid the Golden Eggs.

---click on the picture to see a larger image

VH1 has been masterful! Plucking Flavor Flav from the WB channel and pasting him on the forefront of the reality madness. They created a Bizarro Abraham which spawned multitudes of shows. And Behold, VH1 saw that millions watched show, and said unto itself, what I have made is good!

Recap:

The Surreal Life:
This reality show puts has-been, washed-up, and generally past-their-prime celebrities, stars, or athletes together in house (Big Brother style) and let’s the camera roll. The show records them as they navigate their way through tasks and activities assigned to them by the show’s producers while generating great TV drama with the inevitable conflicts arising from the varied personalities.

Flavor Flav is cast as one of the housemates on the reality show Surreal Life where a burgeoning romance with Brigitte Nielsen in spun off into another reality show called Strange Love. Strange indeed. After the relationship with Nielsen inevitably failed, Flav decided to have a pageantry of misfits, strippers, and all sorts of fame-hungry women on The Flavor of Love in hopes of finding love. Unfortunately, the “winner” Hoopz did not find you to be a desirable mate, so it was on to Season 2. Again, love was not to be, as Deelishas, was just using the show as platform to launch her music and clothing line of jeans for women with big butts. When that connection inevitably failed, Season 3 was thrust upon us. Hopes of Flav finding love the third time around were once again dashed – by Flav himself. Flav discards the winner of Season 3, instead choosing to return to the mother of his children.

The Flavor of Love formula breeds ungodly children of its own. A memorable castoff, Tiffany (known as New York on the show) was given a spin-off: I Love New York (Seasons 1 & 2) and New York goes to Hollywood (currently). Capitalizing on the success of the Flavor of Love, VH1, using the same formula, created the Rock of Love, with Bret Michaels (Seasons 1 & 2) and A Shot at Love, with Tila Tequila (Seasons 1 & 2). Additionally, some the castaways and rejects from these shows were brought back on I Love Money, where, instead of looking for love, they were competing for money.

Most recently, the Golden Goose has laid Real Chance of Love starring brothers Real and Chance, castaways from I Love New York and I Love Money. The brothers must choose from among contestants vying for their love and attention – or at least 15 minutes of hoochified fame.

Can we resist the onslaught of VH1’s swarming brood? Is VH1’s Flavor of Love progeny a truly unstoppable juggernaut?
I would like to ask them to Lay It Down, but I fear nothing can be done to stop this.

Till the next time. . .