Page 5 - Florida Sentinel 5-21-19

Editorial/Columns
FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN
(USPS 202-140)
2207 21st Avenue, Tampa Florida 33605 • (813) 248-1921 Published Every Tuesday and Friday By
FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHING Co., Member of National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA)
S. KAY ANDREWS, PUBLISHER
C. BLYTHE ANDREWS III, PRESIDENT/CONTROLLER ALLISON WELLS-CLEBERT, CFO
GWEN HAYES, EDITOR
IRIS HOLTON, CITY EDITOR
BETTY DAWKINS, ADVERTISING DIRECTOR HAROLD ADAMS, CIRCULATION MANAGER TOYNETTA COBB, PRODUCTION MANAGER LAVORA EDWARDS, CLASSIFIED MANAGER
Subscriptions-$44.00-6 Months Both Editions: $87.00-Per Year Both Editions.
Opinions expressed on editorial pages of this newspaper by Columnists or Guest Writers, do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of The Florida Sentinel Bulletin or the Publisher.
hat you see on social
media isn't real. Un- fortunately, though, there are a number of people out there who haven't caught on
to that yet.
According to a recent
Modern Wealth Survey con- ducted by Schwab Invest- ments, 35% of Americans feel pressured to spend more than they can afford after viewing videos posted on platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, which show their friends and others liv- ing the high life.
In order to keep up with their seemingly successful counterparts many of these individuals spend recklessly, overextend their bank ac- counts and, once they realize that they'll still be incapable of reaching their desired goals, many of these individ- uals find themselves in seri- ous money trouble and suffering severe depression.
Apparently, the groups most affected by this dy- namic are Millennials and members of Generation Z, those born between 1981 and 2015.
What this large swath of the population seems to have not figured out is that things aren't always what they ap- pear. And that naïveté is causing them to be tricked by, what can basically be classified as, optical illusions.
With the exception of boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who often still acts as though he just earned his first million, people with real money typically don't feel the need to constantly show their wealth off online. This is not only due to the fact that such behavior is indicative of low class, but it also stems from them wanting to avoid hav- ing unannounced visitors kicking in their doors at 4 a.m., sticking guns into their mouths and asking, "where's the safe?"
Those with substantial in- comes understand the haz- ards that can come with having everyone aware of their business. So, to avoid the drama, they tend to maintain a low profile.
To the contrary, the indi- viduals who constantly go out of their way to showcase what little they've obtained typically have the same low self-esteem issues as women who dress provocatively for attention. And, more often than not, what these pre- tenders put on display is usu- ally all they have of value in this world, that is if it's even theirs?
The reality is that rental cars, counterfeit money, bor- rowed clothes and fake jew- elry are all tools of the social media con game. Watching some of these posts is actu-
ally no different than watch- ing a scripted network televi- sion program because they each involve the same level of fabrication.
One of the best quotes I've ever heard about people putting on fronts, as far as their riches are concerned, came from the lips of boxing promoter Don King. He said, "If you can count your money, you ain't got no money."
Going by that standard alone, I think it's safe to as- sume that somewhere in the neighborhood of 95% of the individuals we see posing with stacks of cash to their ears, sitting in expensive rides and going on lavish va- cations have less money put up than the viewers they’re attempting to impress.
With that being the case, you have to wonder how much sense it makes to fol- low the lead of someone who may be doing worse off than you.
At the end of the day, I think it would be wise for all of us to remember that a ma- jority of these Facebook and Instagram characters are, in essence, actors playing a role.
So unless you're willing to spend the same amount of time, energy and capital that it takes to fake just as hard, I suggest simply sitting back and enjoying the entertain- ment because when the video stream ends so does the fan- tasy.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbar- ronice@gmail.com.
Faking For The Gram
POSTMASTER: Send Address Change To: Florida Sentinel Bulletin,
P.O. Box 3363 Tampa, FL 33601 Periodical Postage Paid At Tampa, FL
C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
Decade Of The Woman
eginning with the 2019 and 2020 elections, Ameri-
can women strategically campaigned and won so many elections until today, 2019, women now make up 51 percent of State Legislatures and Congressional Repre- sentatives and Senators. Fueled by Georgia and other states’ 2019 bans on abortion, women came to realize that they could no longer allow their destiny to be controlled by old white males, many of whom were ousted for their hypocrisy.
The women are bent on closing the gender wage gap, changing the occupational segregation of women into lower paid jobs, and the freedom to choose what and when they control their choices and bodies.
Among the issues and actions these women are bring- ing unprecedented changes to are the following: Reclaim- ing the right to choose what and when anything will happen or not happen to their bodies. . .
The women passed a law that requires unmarried men to wear condoms in their relationships with women, or face sterilization shots and vasectomies if they father a child out of wedlock.
A second law requires that men submit to DNA tests as soon as their children are born to unwed mothers and begin child support payments immediately if the test con- firms fatherhood. All men’s salaries have been reduced by 29 percent to equalize the gender wage gap.
Furthermore, all male athletes must surrender to a DNA sample to prove they have both a high testosterone level and a “Y” chromosome. In addition, all high risk and high wage jobs must be held by 51 percent females.
All State Legislatures and Congressional seats must be held by women in proportion to their make-up in the American population (51 percent).
Moreover, all female children will be socialized to seek careers in politics, non-traditional jobs, and jobs that pay the highest wages.
All NFL, NBA, ad PGA sports must take place after 5 PM so men would have to spend time with their families first.
All jobs will be deemed gender neutral.
In 2019, women began to see the error of their ways for sending mostly men to our state and nation’s capitols. Ad- ditionally, women began to realize that regardless of their beliefs, God gave us all free will to act upon our individual wishes and desires.
Moreover, many more women realized that we have no right to tell adults what they should or should not do with their personal needs and bodies.
Even though this Editorial is satirical, we need to see how far-reaching attempts to curtail the lives of other fel- low human beings, regardless of gender, can be.
Perhaps, we should remember Aretha Franklin’s mes- sage: “Respect.”
W
B
TUESDAY, MAY 21, 2019 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5