A.C.’s Afterthoughts: “Racism Makes More Sense When You Follow The Money"

A solo mic can expose everything: nerves, fidgeting, and the raw version of you that doesn’t fit the polished “one world” script. We start there and build into a bigger point I can’t shake, normalize your individuality. The more society pushes one acceptable voice, one acceptable opinion, and one acceptable personality, the easier it is to become a walking uniform. I talk about why certain spaces like warehouse culture feel more honest, why “politically correct” changes by environment, and how being yourself is still possible even when you have to play a role for work or survival.

Then we move into heavier territory: race, racism in America, and why I’ve had to rethink the whole conversation through lived experience and simple logic. I’m not interested in judging people by vibes or assumed thoughts. I’m interested in actions, outcomes, power, and incentives. That leads to a taboo but necessary thread: racism can be real and still function like a distraction that keeps working people divided while money and power stay protected. If you’ve ever felt like the loudest arguments never touch the real root problem, this part will hit.

We also get personal about healing after separation, reclaiming music without pain, and what it means to grow without becoming judgmental or disconnected from where you came from. The episode closes with a blunt reset on ambition: the goal isn’t to get rich, it’s to get free. If you enjoyed this kind of long-form, unfiltered thinking, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review. What’s one belief you changed after you followed the incentives all the way down?

Transcript

Nerves And St Patrick’s Weekend

SPEAKER_00 0:04

I feel like Michael Jackson moonwalking through the Calabasas. Hey man, I just had to get myself there. Uh, cuz I tell y'all all the time when I start a solo show, it's super uh get nervous. I was over here shaking and stuff. Not shaking, but like fidgeting. It's like, bro, you're talking. But, anyways, uh, happy St. Patrick's Day. Yeah, I got my green on. It's not your typical green, uh, but I got my green on, so y'all can't pinch me. Uh, I'm inside for St. Patrick's Day. I'm actually proud of myself. Um, you know, so this weekend I went to a St. Patrick's Day party, and I was supposed to go to a St. Patrick's Day bar crawl after, but I got too drunk at the first thing because I decided to let loose. I was around people I love people I rock with, and uh shout out to them. And I said, you know what, man, I'm gonna have some fun today. Yeah, nah, I'm gonna I'm gonna get drunk like I used to sometimes. I wasn't driving, uh, had a designated driver. So it worked out. It was great, it was fun times. Uh Saturday had a good time with the look at me fidgeting and acting all nervous and stuff. Well, let me stop. Yeah, so then Saturday kicked it with the fella. Shout out to Shaw and Callie, happy uh belated birthday to you all. Obviously, I told him happy birthday in real life. Uh, but it was cool, man. Yeah, just sitting out there with the guys, run a little fish, telling a little lie. You know all the stuff you do when you get with your friends. Uh, but it was good stuff. Uh, but today, you know, uh, it's gonna be a long afterthought. It's not gonna lie to y'all. Uh, I didn't record it last week. I was gonna record on one day, and then I said, no, let me record on another day. And I honestly, I didn't feel like recording anything last week. Uh, so I didn't, but I did go live in real life. And anytime I go live in real life, I come back with better things to talk about. So what I think we're gonna do just to for me and my sanity and the way that my brain is already wired, we're probably gonna continue doing this show on uh Tuesdays instead of doing it after uh Washington Winning uh on Saturday because I like as much as I want to do it after Washington Winning, I want to do it closer to the weekend while the weekend thoughts are fresh on my brain, and I've worked half of all but one day of my work week. So I I've got a lot of work stuff uh or themes from work to pull out of there. So we're gonna rock with Tuesday. And what I think the show is gonna look like, it's gonna be a lot of my uh it's gonna be a legit podcast, right? Like an old school podcast where you're just talking about stuff. And some of the thoughts I'm gonna eventually like lay out in a more detailed fashion when I roll out uh culturally inappropriate with AC League. This is culturally inappropriate, right? But we're not ready to do that show yet. Uh, but I still want to just just talk about stuff, you know, ramble about stuff and and go on. So that's what this is gonna look like. And sometimes I have some friends come sit and talk with me, uh, maybe some interviews, because you know, I was thinking about doing some of the interviews, uh, the more personal interviews on Culturally Inappropriate, because there was a certain direction that I was driving that show. And now, and that's the beauty of not rushing things and not giving yourself deadlines. You sometimes you need deadlines, but oftentimes you need deadlines. But for this, I don't I don't have a deadline, a hard deadline, right? I have a time frame, but anyways, is that the idea changes and develops, and it's important to allow like ideas to breathe, you know, like work on something, take some time away, come back to it. You never know what's gonna happen in your life that will change the focus of something. You don't know what time may free up. You don't know where your inspiration may lie. You it's so much, right? So I'm gonna do a lot of the the cool laid-back talks on on afterthoughts because it's a more casual show. Whereas culturally inappropriate, I'm probably gonna have on a tie every time I record that show. So you understand, you know what I mean? Like some of these conversations aren't Thai conversations, they're a polo or a hoodie conversation, and then other conversations will be real and what culturally inappropriate is probably gonna look like as of today, talking about important and relevant topics and talking about them in somewhat of a long form way, breaking breaking them down, but also having guests on with expertise to actually come in and provide uh a different opinion nuance. There may be debate, but it's not gonna be a debate show. It's gonna be a more educational uh news type show. I I've taken stuff from real time with Bill Maher, Other Right Time with uh Bombani Jones, some of my favorite podcasters, uh uh Jon Stewart, The Daily Show, a little bit of Kimmel. Uh it's gonna be a late night vibe, okay? So it's gonna look that way. Uh the set design, all of that's gonna look that way, and that's why it's taking so long. I've probably talked about this before, but I'm gonna be honest with you all. When you have recorded as much content as I content, let me stop saying that. When because I'm not a content creator. When you've recorded as much material as I have, you don't remember everything you say. When you've talked as much as I've talked, you don't remember everything that you say. And it's not that you're not necessarily present in those moments. You know what you feel uh currently, and you know where your mind's at and what you're driving towards. So you know that whatever you're talking about or said was in line with that. And if it's not, tell me when, so I can go back. Oh, where's my brain at? Where was I at in my learning journey? Right? Because I try to learn something every day. I try to grow and develop, you know. I don't want people to say that, oh yeah, I remember you said this and you were wrong. And I'd be like, well, actually, I'm like, well, yeah, I was wrong. So what? Help me get right. Because I'm I don't want to be right, I want to get to right. Shout out to Calher for that nugget. But, anyways, let's let's get to today's show. So, yo, normalize your individuality. I we live in this homogenized society, and I was having a conversation with what with one of my good friends earlier today, and I was talking about the difference in immigrants from different generations, and I was talking to them about how different a lot of the Gen Z immigrants that I've encountered, or Gen Z descendants of descendants of immigrants, like you know, first one here, like born here, type stuff, and how different they are and how much more Americanized they are. Not saying it's a bad thing at all, but it was just eye-opening, and he was like, This one world mentality, and I was like, Yeah, yeah, and as the world is becoming as we're going towards this one world mentality, man, normalize being an individual, don't be like everybody else, yeah. Fit into the crowd when it makes sense. Do what you have to do, but be yourself while doing it. You know, I'm not telling you not to wear a uniform because I wore one for 14 years. But I'm telling you be yourself inside that uniform. Don't become a part of this uniform society in a way that you lose who you are just because you're trying to fit in. One thing I've loved about working in a warehouse and being a part of warehouse culture, it's way more natural. It's less PC. And that's not a bad thing because it's just as respectful as a PC society would be, a PC culture would be, right? But it's people using natural language, using natural thoughts, and not like fitting these thoughts into like the brain of this polished, um, possibly well-read, possibly well-educated, possibly well-versed, prop, possibly cultured individual, right? And they're usually not all of those things, some variation of them. And in a political environment, yeah, you should be politically correct. I don't even think we should use politically correct as often as we do, right? I think politically correct should be involved, should should relate to politics, right? Because you're being correct in that field. But what's politically correct in politics is not politically correct in business. You know what I mean? Uh it's not politically correct in a warehouse, it's not politically correct in the military. It's not politically correct in mainstream society, it's not politically correct in the south or the north or the west, the Midwest. You know, all these different places, what's politically correct is different. So we should actually use different words to describe it so that we are specific in the words that we're using so that there's no misunderstanding. Because so much of life is a series of misunderstandings, a lot of arguments, debates, or misunderstanding, people talking past each other, not talking to each other. You know, and a lot of these misunderstandings come from us becoming a part of this one society, this one world, this this homogeneous world that we're going towards. Hey, homogeneity, homogeneous, homogeny, or uh whatever. People being the same, right? That works really well in in in in in like manufacturing. You know, it works well in the military. Uh, you know, next man up, it works well when you're building sometimes when you're building out a sports roster, because you can easily duplicate with the next person up, with the, you know, that's great. But in day-to-day society, we don't need that because you're trying to be something that you're not, and then trying to be something that you're not, you're not being genuine, you're not being authentic. And when you're not being authentic, then people don't get the real you, they don't know you, they know you're a representative. And I'm not saying people should know the every layer of you when they first meet you, but like, oh, be yourself. Stick out. You remember things that stick out, you know what I'm saying? Like, when you when you look at a when you look at the lawn, somebody can have a pretty nice lawn, but you remember like the part that they miss more than how nice the lawn was. You're gonna be like, yeah, I was at so-and-so's house, and boy, you know, he missed a spot cutting that grass. Why? Because that's part of the grass wasn't homogenous, it's individual, so it sticks out. People remember it. Now you want to stick out for good reasons. Oh, that team is bad, but they show how to go quarterback. He just didn't have any help. Be an individual. Just because your team is bad doesn't mean you have to be bad with them. And I'm not saying be destructive, I'm not saying don't be respectful, I'm not saying don't work with people. I'm not saying don't be a team player. Be a team player. Yeah, man. If they come to watch the team win, you want them to come watch you play, don't you? I know I want them to come watch me play. So that's why I try to normalize my individuality. And and with that, and what kind of drove me to this is I've been on this quest to like figure out stuff, right? And I know that's broad in general, and it started with understanding um the plight of black people in America, and I started with just doing history of the country, and then you start saying, Okay, got racism, like why? Like, why does one other group think they're superior? And if they truly think that they're superior, then why are you trying to affect the outcomes instead of just going out there and just winning the game? You know what I'm saying? Like, why are you trying to win on technicalities? Why are you trying to fix the rules? And that didn't make sense with my logical brain. And then I take the other perspective of well, what's really coming out of the black American movement? What are black Americans saying? And then you listen to that message and you go, we're saying we're a superior race, but we're being held down by the inferior race because they're fixing the rules. And Tamik goes, well, it makes them superior if you're checking the rules. Again, this is not me saying that that the white race or any other race is superior to the black race, because I don't think any racist is superior to any other race. I have my preferences, and then I think some people with certain genetic makeup, certain ethnic backgrounds, certain racial backgrounds are better at some things than others because of whatever the culture they come up in or the lifestyles led by those people and the uh uh adapt adaptations that were made genetically to, you know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, typically black people run faster jump higher for whatever reason, right? You know, say the Asians are are good at man. Okay? If it's like statistically, if it's factually true, statistically true, all right, cool. Nobody's the best at everything. Like, take it off of like races and think about just people in general, like people who are really good at stuff, they're not good at something else. So now what lens are we judging them on? You know, yes, some people are good at more things, some people are are really good at a lot of things that don't necessarily matter, but it may matter to them, right? So a lot of general generalizations create confusion. So I start going through this whole race journey because I reject a lot of the tenets of racism. Do I reject people's experiences? No, but I I reject the root cause, I reject a lot of the root of the race conversation because of my lived experiences. And I say this a lot in my real life. Being a racist isn't the worst thing in the world. Well, what? Yeah, no, it's not. I'd rather work with a racist than a medal than a murderer or a pedophile. I'm sorry. Some might rather work with a racist than work with a thief. Because it's about what you do with this. You know what I mean? It's not just like in the New Testament, we learn that God judges people, that G God judges people on on their thoughts and not just their actions. Okay. Well, if you subscribe to the Bible the way that I do, then you on you believe that God understands your thoughts, knows your thoughts. So rightfully, he can judge you on those thoughts because he he he has he's privy to that information. But we oftentimes want to judge people on their thoughts or their perceived thoughts instead of judging them on their actions. And when it's person to person, you should judge per uh someone on their actions. And because, dude, I got friends who some would say are racist, or I had friends who were racist, and we're not not friends because they are perceived racist, uh, it's because life happened and we grew apart. And honestly, I left Cartersville, so you know, they weren't like high on the list of people that I keep up that I kept up with, but it's not because they were racist, maybe because they were racist, we moved around in different circles, but I also know that like that's conditioning, that's taught. So if somebody's taught something and a lot of what we learn and are what we learn and internalize and shapes who we are is what we're taught when we're young. I can't knock somebody, I can disagree with them, but I'm not gonna knock you for acting a way for acting a certain way based on facts, right? And I'm not saying that you can't change because yes, we can change, we can change, we can grow and develop, but that's not what the average person does. So let's like look at this like it's actual data and take our feelings out of it. You go, okay, well, if generationally people have been taught this, then they're gonna act that way. And everybody's not gonna have the coming of Jesus moment. Like, guess what? I don't actively, front of brain, care about what's going on in a sweatshop. Maybe I should.

unknown 19:11

Right.

A Personal Race Journey And Logic

Healing Milestones And Reclaiming Music

Gifted People And Staying Connected

Passion Projects And Dropping The Crutches

Warehouse Culture And Real Human Energy

Social Media Killed Blind Vulnerability

Unpopular Thoughts On Race And Attraction

Follow The Money And Choose Freedom

Closing Thanks And Next Week

SPEAKER_00 19:11

And don't get me wrong, I think it's bad. I don't think it should happen, but what am I doing to affect it? I'm still buying the products for whatever reasons, but I'm still buying the products. I'm still taking advantage of it. So, like, how much do I really care? And there are a lot of things that that exists with me, and there's a lot that it exists with you. Now I'm comfortable sharing it, but back to my race and my race journey, right? So I think about how I was aware of racism, but largely unaffected by it for most of my life. Why? Because I don't recall setting a goal and not being able to accomplish it because I was black. So and I experienced racism. So based on that, I'm like, well, racism is a thing, but it's not the only thing. There are things that can supersede racism, there are things that can overcome racism, but then I go back to my journey, and I go, okay, well, I went to a private school, my first three years of schooling. Uh, my mom left this area, so she had a more worldly point of view. She drived a fairly new uh Lincoln Town car when I while I was going to that private school. And at that point in her life, she was wearing pantsuits, dresses, and skirt suits to work every day. So she even looked apart. So, okay, I'm at the school, and I'm not on scholarship, no financial help from the school at all. So she's paying for it. So the teachers give a certain level of respect because it's like, oh, you're here, you're peer-ish, right? I mean, you're still a little nigga, but you're peer-ish. And then I get there and I make good grades, and you know, you make friends with your classmates because kids that young usually don't have those deep, terrible things embedded into them in the way that they do as they get older because of the social pressures that come with it. You're a bit more free when you're a kid, right? So you build all these positive relationships, and most of your friends are white. You're going to their houses, you're spending the night at their houses, you know. They ain't coming to my house, but not because I didn't want them to. It's because I just didn't have people in my house like that, period. You know what I'm saying? So positive experience. Oh shit, I'm a smart kid, made really good grades, had really high test scores. Not saying that to brag, but then it's like, oh, well, he ain't some dumb. Nigga here either. So you get treated a certain way. And then I tranve that school, go to public school because I wanted to go to school with my cousins, and end up in the gifted program. Well, when you're in the gifted program, you get treated a little bit differently. You do. And still a fairly good kid, making good grades, good test scores, all of that stuff. Like really good test scores. Um and then, like anything that I missed out on, I could find places where I didn't do well enough. You know, I couldn't say, oh, the S18th coach we buyed. Maybe it was, but I also didn't study for it. I didn't prepare for it. But I had good enough scores to get an RLTC scholarship and get accepted to every college that I applied to. So you go, whether I got in because of my race or I overcame because of my race, I don't know, but colleges I wanted to get into, the scholarship I wanted, the career I wanted, race didn't stop me. Did I have problems due to my racial and cultural differences in my career? Absolutely. But I didn't get passed over for a promotion until I didn't do my education that was mandatory. Not saying that if I would have would have done the education, I would have gotten promoted. We don't know because I already knew that I was transitioning out, and there was no point in me doing the putting in the work for the organization that I knew that I was leaving, as opposed to getting my master's degree. So it's like, okay, I've had a fairly successful professional career. Yeah, you have bumps in the road, but then you can also go look at those bumps in the road and go, I did this wrong, I did that wrong, I did that wrong, I did that wrong, I didn't communicate this, I could have been better here. And you go, okay, well, this makes sense. And even when things didn't make sense, you go, well, maybe it was me and my personality. Uh again, dog, I dealt with dog. I remember the Marine Corps had somebody say to me, uh, why you look like you posted on the block? And this person was singular to me, and I'll get to this in a different uh different topic. I'm gonna say, Motherfucker, I ain't been on no block. And I stopped myself because you respected the rank, the authority, and all of that. But the point being was I don't know if you being Marine Corps funny because people say stuff like that, or if you try and insinuate that because I'm black and I'm posted up somewhere, but that's not me, that's not what I come from. But that instance didn't matter. This person didn't write my performance evaluations, and I got promoted after that. So what did it matter? It didn't. You see what I'm saying? Because a person can be racist and have racist feelings towards you, but what are their racist actions? And then what do those racist actions affect? You know what I mean? Like, there's a bunch of prejudiced black people, but they're not in positions of power. There's a bunch of prejudiced racist white people, they don't they're not in positions of power, so like those feelings and thoughts can't do anything. So why would I worry about that? And why would I say like that's the root of my economic problems in America as a black person? Not saying my personal, but you know, so I take all that to say that I think my unique racial journey has opened my mind to under trying to understand both sides, multiple sides, um, and why people feel this way. And how do you get to an actual solution? And you know, later in the show, we may get to that solution or what I think a solution is or a path to it, but I just wanted to talk about this racial journey and how it built. My racial thoughts, it's just a fleeting thought, dude. I'm awkward. And I just came to the acceptance of it the other week, like last week, when I was coming up with my notes and stuff. I'm like, dude, I'm awkward. I think a lot. And maybe I overthink, but I like to think, I like to break things down, but just like sometimes like, dude, you are so awkward. But I embraced it because it's who I am, and like I don't want to be cool and all that shit all the time, bro. Like, bro, be weird. And lastly, and this wasn't even a real topic, for real, for real. But I was texting one of my friends before um before I started the show, right? And I hit a I've hit a big milestone in my growth and healing journey. And I say that seriously and I say it jokingly, but you know, after the separation from the wife, you know, you you you go through things, man. You play the blame game, uh, and then you finally stop avoiding and hopefully stop avoiding. I I personally did. You start to sit with yourself and you start to look for answers. And so I was telling them how I can now finally listen to a lot of the music that we used to listen to together, a lot of the music that I rocked with that I put her on to, you know, like that we actually would like to listen to on repeat and stuff. Um, and it's ironic because Pi Day, the 14th, uh so three days ago, was the anniversary of our first date. And around this time is when I finally got this comfort, and it was a song that I've been wanting to hear that was that fell in an era, and I don't even know if it was a song that she liked, but it was that vibe. And I just kept bumping it. I'm like, dang, bro, I miss this song. And then today I just wanted to hear some other songs, and then I played them, and I'm like, bruh, I this music I used to like not want to listen to. And the crazy part is it wouldn't even like pop into my brain to listen to it, right? And and now I want to go listen to these songs again. So, anyways, I was telling my partner about it, and his response was what words to the effect of, yeah, bro. Bro, don't you hate when when when you with a girl, y'all, y'all break up or whatever, and then she leaves with all the swag you gave her. I was like, nah, bro, she can't have that swag. I won't say the rest of it, I said what it, but yeah, no, baby, boss up. Let her keep that swag. Because guess what I did? Some of that swag that she taught me, or some of those things that she may have pointed out that I was in denial on or oblivious to, or because I was focused, uh, my focus wasn't right, or I was focused on saving a relationship versus focusing on letting real life play out, letting the circle of life take its circle, you know, trying to manipulate the circle. Uh no, some of that stuff. Now when I'm honest with myself, now when I'm in a different space, when I reflect on it and not trying to defend it, just thinking about it, or new experiences have happened in my life where you start to see this repeat behavior, and you're like, oh, so it is me, and I'm not saying it's a problem for me. I just need to know what exists about me and be honest about it. Okay, bet. So I'm like, yeah, no, let her have that swag. She earned it. Because you you you came out of that with some swag too. Uh, I saw this post today. Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are we doing? Camera, camera, camera, hey, hey, I'm right there. Get off my knees. Hold on, guys. Uh, the camera's acting crazy. Hey, hey, what's the call? Oh man, don't you just hate that? When you're doing a live show and your camera decides to have a brain of its own. I'll get that later. Move it up. Take this AI tracking off. I probably should have hit like the little 30-second break thing. You know, that probably would have been a better look for the kid if we're being honest. Let's zoom around. Here, there we go. Let's see how that looks. We like that. Okay, yeah, that's a good look. All right, y'all. I'm sorry about that. I'm saying I'm sorry about that, and I hadn't sat back down. All right. Anyways, yeah, I'm sorry about that. One man show AI, uh, AI tracking camera has a mind of its own. It does its own thing. And now you see a little bit more of my body because uh I zoomed out. Uh, we'll see if it zooms back in. But yeah, I was just scrolling through Instagram or maybe somebody sent it to me. But it said if you're black and talented, get away. Actually, let me read the real post because for the topics, I gave it the uh I gave it a PG version. If you're black and gifted, get away from niggas and nigga shit, ASAP. And a comment under it was this is absolutely true. I did it for a decade. Now I'm more of an asset for my community and family. Can't be too influenced by low vibrational environments and people when you're a gifted person. All right, so on its surface, yes, get away from it, but not all the way. See, you've got to take some time away from it so you can miss it, so you can appreciate it, you can learn new things, become a better version of yourself, but never forget it. Because see, if you get too far away from it, then you're no longer it. And there's nothing wrong with no longer being it, but if you're not tied to it, how can you fix it? How can you be a voice? How can you be a respected voice? You can walk the walk, you can talk to talk, but if there's no connection, it doesn't matter. And I say this because dog, I just moved back home. Well, I've been back for a year and a half. Uh, and I'll I'll tell you, being away from a lot of this stuff, and it's ooh, buddy. You when you become too disconnected, you can become too judgmental. And you may have answers, but who wants to hear them? You may have wisdom, but who wants to listen to you? You may have advice, but who's gonna take it? Because when you get too far away from it, you lose sight of what's happening in it. So you can't make the connection. And if you don't, if you come, if you become too far away from what's in it, then bro, you don't know what's going on. And then you're preaching a message, but you ain't got a flock to listen. And the message could be on point, but the message can miss valid points. The message can miss valid understanding. Bro, I used to be on on the same feed, same stream, same channel, talking about dumb nigga shit, talking about the poor, saying I don't want to be them, and I don't, but not having a job for six months, it's close to it. Going to work a job, uh, uh, uh only for the first time since high school. Oh, it changes things getting that paycheck and looking at it and being like, that ain't enough, and they say make it enough, you go all right. And then you find yourself doing little stuff like this, doing little stuff like you go, oh shit. Oh, I get it. The trap just ain't in the hood, the trap is poverty, and when you're talking about niggas and niggas in that low vibrational environment, in poverty, you can help poverty a lot better when you ain't poor. Because people at least say, oh, well, you know something. You ain't poor. You can help elevate lower vibrations at a higher vibration, you know. You can't you can do that. Much easier to. Because if you had the same vibration, you had two and two, you only get four. But if you had a four and they had a two, I mean, you can give them one, they had a three, and you had a three. You understand what I'm saying? But if you bring them both together, it's a six. Oh shit, we cooking now. But when you're gifted, don't flaunt how gifted you are. Understand that your journey is different. Understand that everyone's not built like you. Everybody doesn't have your abilities in these in these subjects, in these fields that are as desirable. Some people didn't have the structure that you had, some people didn't have the presentation that you had, some people didn't have the lucky breaks that you had. Yeah, that one night at that party, you left 10 minutes early, your partner left 10 minutes late, y'all's life went different. But y'all at the same party doing the same thing. You're not so different, you and I. So as so for you, gifted types, you college types, you know, that's what I'm really talking to, you college, career, high earning types. Yeah, you gotta leave the nigga shit to help yourself, but don't get too far away from the nigga shit that you can't help get rid of the nigga shit. Because see, you lost it, and see you get to be that token friend. And if you handle it the right way, you get to show your friend, your your your other friends, right? That hey, a lot of this nigga shit that you perceive as nigga shit, I do too. And I do it, and it doesn't actually matter, it doesn't affect anything. But like this poverty piece, this oppressed piece that you may not understand is really the problem. It's the oppression, it's the poverty. But also you do gotta get away from nigga shit and low vibrational energy. Uh, because if you're trying to elevate, all it's gonna do is bring you down, right? Because, hey, if you're if you're at a four, right, and then you then you pair that with that with that two, well, four and two make six divided by two, now you're at a three, right? So you you you you've got to well you see how I just manipulated the same uh the same comparison and and created different conclusions. Be careful of research, follow the money, see the point they're actually trying to prove, because people can alter evidence to prove a point, just the way that I did. I used the same exact data set and gave you two totally different conclusions. Um but yeah, nah, sometimes you do gotta share that low vibrational shit though, because if it's bringing you down and taking you away from your mission, then wow, bro, I sound like such an internet person. And I'm and like I'm using this these words because they make sense, but I promise y'all, this ain't this ain't how I talk. I mean, I do sometimes, but it's not my actual man, bruh. Anyways, so kind of with getting away from that low vibrational energy, you know, you can't include everyone in the passion project. Because your passions aren't the same. And y'all both can be passionate about the project, but your passions aren't the same. And when it's your passion project, while it's still a passion project, you're gonna want to do it the way you want to do it. And then somebody else brings their passion into it. You see what I'm saying? But no, no, no, no, no, no. The serious thing is, right, when we're talking about passion projects and things that you're passionate about, you're gonna have a vision for it, you're gonna want to see it look and work in a particular fashion. And when it doesn't, it can derail it. And then if somebody else comes in on the passion project or you bring them in and their passion and not their skills. Now we got passions bumping against each other, and that's emotions, right? Because a passion project, like podcasting, broadcasting, is a passion project. What I hope to gain from this is much more. So I don't care if I make money podcast or broadcast, and I'd love to. I would love for this to be my day job. Because it would open me up to do some of the other things I'm passionate about and possibly get paid for, uh, or make enough money that I could spend less time making money. That's the that's the goal, right? Um but yeah, you have these clashing passions, and again, you can be passionate about the same thing, and it may not work, you know, and instead of these passions collab col uh clashing, these passions could have been directed differently towards the individual passion project that the group is passionate about, you know, and you don't have the clash. You know, this is wow, this topic really has me thinking. And in a moment of vulnerability, I thought that I was gonna be able to approach this topic differently, but now that I'm actually recording, I can't. And the cool thing about doing a show by myself, right? I get to do the show however the hell I want to. And one of the reasons why I started developing the concept of this afterthought show is because there were so many things on the other shows that I couldn't, that I didn't talk about, couldn't talk about, or get my point across in the way that I wanted to. So I wanted to be uninterrupted. Like I just, you know what? No, I just wanted my own fucking show. I didn't have my own show. I really wanted a fucking show by myself. So I started developing my own show because I missed having my own show, and it has nothing to do with how I felt about working with other people because I love doing shows with other people, man. Bring the Bahrain Breakfast Club back, the whole crew. I mean the whole crew. I would love to shoot that show once a month. Bring back, uh I'm sorry, Sean. I forgot the name of our show. But bring it back. And I'm not bringing back Big Baby's podcast because, you know, Big Baby done grew up. Oh, we got afterthoughts. You know. I think it's gonna be afterthoughts of a uh of a hypocritical hippie. We'll see. We'll see. Uh, but no, so like this is good, it's one bro, it's just hard talking about your real life on a microphone, right? And I talk about this, right? Because we're not doing washing winning anymore, and I won't get into it publicly, um, because it's not for public consumption. Uh but shit, man, it's it was a tough decision. Wasn't the easiest decision, and I won't get into bro, I won't even get into my decision making because it's not important. Uh not for this, it's important, but not important for everybody to hear. Yeah. Clash and passion. And shout out to Marv. Marv talked to me about, hey, bro, you gotta stand on your own, man. You gotta stop doing all this stuff with people, being close to power, uh, doing stuff off cosines and this and that. And bro, just put yourself out there and do it yourself. And again, none of this stuff had anything to do with um me no longer uh recording the village vets because this conversation happened months ago, and uh I was already uh doing things to establish myself. I'd already recorded some afterthoughts before, so it's not like I just recorded the show for the first time after that, right? But that, you know, it rang true, and I was having a conversation with a confidant a couple days ago, and we were talking about uh a relationship uh in my life that doesn't exist uh in a positive way anymore. And I was talking about how I didn't realize it until I said it in this moment a couple of days ago. Oh, I used that relationship as a crutch. Oh shit. Why be using crutches and got good legs? And shout out to Marv for helping me to come to grips with that. Shout out to Cindy for helping to come to grips with that. Yeah, so like crutches are fine when your legs are messed up, but just think how much slower you move when you have crutches and your legs are functional. You know, the difference between see, when you got a broken leg, the crutches help you move faster. So the tool is a benefit, net game. But when your legs are fine and you're using crutches, yes, you're still moving, but you're moving much slower than you can. And I have used, I've allowed fear to allow me to use people as crutches and not use these people. No, because the relationships, everything was pure. But I became so reliant on these relationships because of self-doubt, uh, a fear of rejection, oh, childhood trauma, uh, middle school trauma, adulthood trauma, life, you know. We gotta stop causing everything trauma. It's life. Check the lens you're looking through. I promise you, if you take bad experiences and you look at them from what can I learn from this? How can I be better from this? What did I, you know what I mean? You I gotta stop using you know what I mean, as a filter, as a filler when I am uh making a point and I'm using uh uh extra words that I don't need, and then I decide that I want to cut it off. Okay, sorry. But pure relationships, but relying on people to do things that I can do myself, and then expecting people to do things the way that I want them done without doing it myself leaning on relationships when I should lean on myself, and this does not mean that I'm just a selfish, no no no. I I'm talking about my crutches and it's almost like when Jesus healed a lame person, you know, crutches down and you can walk. Marv ain't Jesus, and Marv didn't heal me. But you understand the comparison, it's like you can whoa stand on your own. And the beautiful thing is, right, when you stand on your own and you don't use the crutches, you might come upon a bike or a scooter or electric scooter or a skateboard or a motorcycle or a car. And see, now those relationships are amplified, and it's not because the pairing the person in the new pairing, the people in the new pairing are better. No, they're not. They're just aligned with where you are, they compliment what you're doing, so the compliment's gonna propel you versus a tool that's slowing you down. Because going back to everybody's not invited to the passion project, when their passion and your passions aren't aligned, you become ineffective tools, you become crutches for able legs instead of a car for a long drive. That probably would have been a great conclusion to the show, but no, we're still going. You know, I was watching a clip on the four letter, and this is a quick thought. And hey, we're all sellouts, but just don't be a cheap piece of ass. You know, sometimes you hear people on networks talking, and you just go, Jesus, you're bought. And like you're not even bought by a specific entity, you're just bought, you're just grabbing the minicals for a good time. And again, we're all sellouts, okay? We go to jobs that we may not be aligned with, you know, we may take money from people that we don't agree with, but we can we can rationalize it. But man, if you can afford if you can help it, don't don't come cheap. Have some type of moral compass, have a code, and if you are cheap right now, that's okay because there's tomorrow. Build your worth up. You know, I'm like, man, my time is worth more than 1850. But too bad ain't nobody paying me that. So guess what? Today, my time is worth 1850. An hour. Yeah. We gotta work on that though. Oh, let's see. Oh, yeah, another realization I had just through some conversations, though, bro. Work in the warehouse, you know, you got the Drewski video, little skin, you got people talking about it, but until you really work in it and live in it, bro, you just don't realize, man, bro, people, bro, everybody just getting at somebody all day long. And I'm not saying it's you actually trying to get your rocks off, you trying to link up, hook up, none of that. I'm just saying throughout the course of the day, it's just so, it's just it's just such a pure environment, man. I honestly am so happy that I was a supply officer in the Marine Corps. I'm happy I got a master's degree in supply chain management. And and hopefully uh very soon, uh excuse me, a master's degree in supply chain management from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. You know, Rocky Top will always be home, sweet home to me. But, anyways, because I can essentially work in the warehouse industry for the rest of my life, and it's not because I care about the getting on people. No, no, no, no. Because that's happening, because that's what people naturally do, but the warehouse is just real. Like earlier when I was talking about politically correct and all of that, the warehouse ain't politically correct. Because most of the people aren't political, they don't agree with political correctness, they believe in authenticity, and I love being in that, but to the being around the nigga shit, the low vibrational. I can't always be of it. I can't, because that's not me personally, but it definitely helps me keep a connection to it, and then also be able to give insight on a different way, on a different way, but also be able to learn how to be a better version of myself, too. It's it's a give and take relationship, you know. If we understood that hierarchies exist and need to exist for structure, and they naturally exist too. Yeah, like if you put a bunch of people, like our society has a hierarchy because at some point it someone created one, but there's a natural one. But if you go off natural order, it's harder to predict, and and you have more chaos, so you need set rules and stuff, and and moral codes and laws and ethics and religion, all these other different things to get people to like adhere to this thing, and it gets people somewhat pushing and pulling in the same direction, and it and it helps, right? But the warehouse man, you have that natural, it's just natural, right? It's you know, this one girl's like, I would never talk to a dude in here that's lazy. Like, you talking to me, you lazy at work. That tells me all I need to know about you. And you go, dang. And this is the job, because it's manual labor, 10-hour shifts, you really can see someone's work ethic. And you can see certain people move up, certain people not, see how people move around, how they're treated. But you can tie results, you can tie actions to results more easily than you can in a corporate environment. Because of bureaucracy, secrets, people protect their jobs. Now, see, in a job where you don't interview, you just fill out an application, background check, drug test, boom, you're hire. You're replaceable. So because you're easily replaceable, uh, there's not much complexity because it's not a protect your desk type thing. So because there's no protect your desk, everything's on Front Street. And I'll tell you, dogs, the shit flows, it works because it's natural. You know, but in conclusion, bro, motherfucker, man, people in the warehouse be on it. Like, my wit, my charm is so much better now because, bro, you spend so much of the day just working it. Somebody in there, you know, you work your way up the conversation and all of this stuff. You have, you know, you then you who flops you, who talks to you, and then who circles all these different weird dynamics, and then like after like four months of being in one, you just go, dang, bro. Like it's crazy how you never thought you would be cool with this person, and then that uh you then you see, oh, these two be, but on this day, when that person ain't here, then this oh that person over there, then you uh it's bro, it's it's a crazy ecosystem, and I love it because it's way more human, naturally human than a lot of the stuff that we do today. Oh right, so this is a thought, right? That may develop into a conspiracy, and I may actually put some research behind it. So social media definitely killed blind vulnerability. The smartphone, phones, our society has killed like blind vulnerability. You think about it, you used to call somebody's home phone, or you might call someone's pager and tell them to call you. And there was a time when people didn't have caller ID. So you just answer the phone when it rings. Now, if I don't know this number, I'm not answering. Shoot them a text, hey, what's up? All this direct access kill blind vulnerability. And I mean shit, we don't knock on people's doors anymore. Yeah, we got cameras outside of our houses. I'm not saying you shouldn't, I don't know. But anyways, you have these different security measures, safety measures, which creates anxiety and paranoia. Just think about it. Dog, when I was in sixth grade, I used to call girls home phones. I call girls' home phones after midnight sometimes, knowing that if they if their parents had a problem with and they called back on my home phone, oh, I'm toast. You know what I mean? Or even just being on the phone after I'm supposed to, my mom can just pick up the line and then hear my whole conversation. And see, here's the thing: you might be talking on your cell phone, you hang it up real quick. Uh-uh. Nah, bro, if if they pick up the phone and hear voices, you're cooked. And you can hang up the phone where they're gonna hear your phone hang up, and the other person's still on the line, so you're caught. But, anyways, so we don't have all of these areas with blind vulnerability. You know, you don't send love notes anymore, you know. You text somebody before, hey, are you freaking a call you instead of just calling them? No, I'm okay with the not pulling up, like yeah, and then call before you come. Um but that's creased anxiety, you know, because now we're thinking about well, what if they say no? What uh okay, so what? When it was blind, you had no idea. And you just accepted to know you kept it pushing, or you felt how you felt. And that was my initial conclusion that I was gonna like dabble with and play with. And then I start thinking about the use of psychological terms in the mainstream, which I think is by design, to familiarize people with these terms, to make people comfortable with these terms, to be able to kind of tie certain traits to these terms. So then if they're diagnosed, it's more easily stomach because you've been socialized to these terms and they've been misused socially, but you've accepted them, and then now that they're used uh medically, you accept it, and boom, now you've got a prescription, or now you've got more doctor visits, and now we've got big pharma, the medical industry making more money, insurance, all of this stuff, right? Follow the money. So that's the conspiracy. But we'll unpack a little bit more, maybe one day. I don't know. Oh yeah. So, you know, Jack Carlo dropped that album, Monica, and they said it's like Neo's soul. I don't listen to Neo Soul, and I definitely don't want to hear Neil's soul from White Guy. Uh, no offense, Jack Carlo. I'm a big Jack Carlo fan of seeing, went to see Jack Carlo perform. Uh, with been listening to a lot of Jack Carlo lately. Uh Tyler Hero. Love that song. Uh, and relate to it in ways that many people wouldn't think that I'd do based on, you know, like what he's talking about. And on a podcast I was listening to, they started just talking about, oh, this is his transition like to being a white rapper. I mean a white artist instead of doing the country or you know, like Post Malone or doing like Miley Cyrus did, or Justin Bieber. And so I started thinking about it, and I'm like, yeah, and I've probably complained about it uh on his on this feed. But then I started thinking about my white friends, and then I hung out with one of my white friends this weekend, and we were in a predominantly black environment, and socially, I can't imagine the last time he's been in an environment like that. And I was like, oh shit, this is the same thing. And then I started thinking about white women I know who I'm, you know, or vibes at a time, or could have been vibes, and then you see where they are in life today. And this is meant to be totally respectful, right? It's not about reminiscing on what could have been or nothing like that. Like it's no. And you're like, smash these ages up. Oh, it's the fun years. Then it's okay, let's let's get back. Like, and I started thinking about my life in these same years. Like, oh, these are the fun years. Oh, so this is just what this is what you do in your fun years. Then when it's time to to to quote unquote grow up, settle down, normalize your life, you know, add more regularity, you're no longer doing, oh. And what really brought it home for me, I was having a conversation, and and we were thinking about, you know, going out around drunk people is fun. And being a black guy around drunk white women is scary sometimes because if they're attracted to me, it doesn't always matter who's around them, read between the lines. And then a black woman was telling me about how when she goes out, uh, or no, she was telling me about just about how uh she she she works in uh nursing and she was talking about how like a lot of her older white patients are uh friendly, you know, and they may be quote unquote racist, and and it's right here, right? And this goes back to our racist conversism conversation, and racism is a tool, it's not, it's not uh yeah, it's a tool, it's a distraction. It's real, but it's a distraction and a tool. Uh but no, so and she was talking about that, and then I start thinking about how it is when you go out and and the booze really gets to go and you see the older white guys looking at the black girls, and you know, some people try to make that back to slavery, they uh whatever, maybe. And so then I go, dude. We say booze tells the truth. Well, what are we seeing right here? These people are attracted to each other when the booze starts kicking in, but the social pressures keep them separate. Same thing with the black phase, right? While it was socially acceptable during the fun years to go through the black phase, you know you're looked at differently when you cared into your 30s and 40s. And I'm not saying it's wrong. If you're comfortable with that lifestyle, have at it. Do do what you want to do. Don't do what I want you to do. I'm gonna do what I want to do, so you should do what you want to do. And I go, oh, it's the same thing. Okay, but if racism is taught behavior, and then there's social pressures. Oh, some people at their core may not truly feel this, but they perpetuate it because of social pressures, because you want to get what you want or maintain what you have. And I'm like, that's a thought there, and it's such a hard thought to share because. Talking about racism is so taboo. And and being and well, I won't, excuse me. Having unpopular opinions on racism is taboo. Having honest conversations about racism is taboo. Especially in a public forum, because now you can be held to your words. You can be you can be misunderstood. You can be misquoted. You can be taken out of context. You can you can do all of these things. And I'm gonna clip this video up. So I'll all of those things will probably happen to me on social media. And I don't care. But I'm like, okay. It's not so racism is a distraction and a tool to confuse us. Both the victims of racism and a majority of the people who push it and act on it. And you're like, what? No, they I go no bro, it's a distraction because follow the money. Follow the money. Look at the large banks and their subsidiaries and their origin and who owned what and how this company came alive and how who donated to this school and this and that. And you'll find out okay, money, people get it. People want to protect it, power, people get it, people want to protect it. Oh, what's the best way to draw a line in the saying in the difference? Because if I have money and power, I want to be insulated. I know there's going to be people who have issues with it, but how do I protect myself from the people who have the issues with other people who have the same issues? Oh, in a melting pot like America, you look different than me. Y'all are on that side, we're on this side. And if you see that anytime, anytime you see populism in this country, it's bought or killed. And back to me saying, hey, we're all sellouts, don't be a cheap piece of ass. There's a size that this platform could grow to where I'd become less radical. I hope not. But I'm also well aware of, bro, I've made decisions with my platform before, just off like, ah, I don't know how good that is for business. Shit, I've ended an interview, mid-interview, because a guy was like lightning a blunt while I was in the military. And he wasn't sitting next to me, it was Zoom. I'm like, no, bro, I'm not putting this on my channel. I wanted to do the interview. I didn't care if he smoked weed. I cared about how people would perceive it. So again, people protect what they've earned or protect what they want, right? So I'm honest about it's easy to say you won't sell out when there's no money in your face. And sometimes we can sell out unknowingly. Sometimes we think we can earn something based off of merit, and we did earn it off of merit, but the person who the source of it admires the merit, but then they give you the money and then they put up guardrails, or you observe guardrails and you put them up, or you create guardrails because you want to protect the money, you want to protect the lifestyle. We're gonna conclude here. And what I've learned is this is not anti-capitalism. I'm not into pure capitalism. Um, I do like free markets and choice. I don't like the level of uh manipulation that we have in our markets, especially our international markets. I'm okay with a country somewhat controlling and manipulating their markets. Not a big eye, not a big fan of a few world powers controlling the world market. Uh competition is great for consumers, and I am primarily a consumer. But we live in a world where our decision makers uh are the investing class and not the working class. So uh they're always gonna look out for the investing class and not the consumer class. So again, you start to follow these things, right? And you go, okay, racism's the easy tool to use, it's the easy distraction because even a rich black person, a millionaire, billionaire black person can still see racism and go, okay, that affects me. I can be a billionaire and these people who make who are worth less to me, have less than me, will treat me like shit. I can walk into the store, this Louis Vuitton, this Gucci, and I can have this person looking at me, this person who's here to serve me, looking at me like I'm crazy, like I don't deserve to be here. Uh and it's like, hey man, you're the help. I'm the buyer. You should treat me as such. These are all real things and real feelings. But if you want Louis V and you can afford Louis V, what does it matter how that person treats you? That person can't, can that person stop you from buying the Louis V or the Gucci or the Burberry or name that brand? If they can't stop you from getting it, their racism doesn't matter. It may hurt your feelings, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't fucking matter. Because you have the coin to get the product, and you're in a space to where coin equals product, right? So the racism didn't matter if you wanted the product. Now, if you wanted excellent customer service while getting the product, then it mattered. But your customer service, for one, is objective, and it has very little to do with the product. I'm not talking about service, I'm talking about product, right? So oh buddy, this is so it's important to follow the money, it's important to look at racism and see what else is there. See what you want, see what's stopping you from getting it. And hey, and at the end of the day, if something costs$50, you'll but fifty dollars they refuse to sell you, and it's because they're racist, okay, then racism won. In America, you can sell them. Yeah, hire the right lawyer, see if racism wins again. But point being is that Jay-Z's allowed to do things because he's a billionaire. Because his money spins, right? We could say that because he's black and systemic racism exists, he should never become a billionaire. Because he came from the streets, right? I can also say that he was a populist who bit who showed the ability to make uh a lot of money, and other people wanted to make money because of what he could do. So then he got bought because he wanted to then protect what he has. And he can be doing great things to build up our community, but he also can't do certain things because you're now protecting what you've earned. So sometimes we should downsize. And I'm not saying downsize your goals, I'm not saying downsize your expectations. But figure out what you actually want. And in this society where everybody's pushing being lean, it's hey, if the companies are gonna get lean, we also have to get lean. If they're gonna be lean in production, lean with their materials, lean with their staffing, we also have to be lean with our consumption. Because we've been sold alive. We were sold that, hey, being rich makes you free or gets you for freedom, right? The goal is to get rich. The goal isn't to get rich, the goal is to get free. Have the independence to make the decisions that you want to make when you want to make them, or be comfortable with the timelines and when you can make those decisions. And that's different from everybody else. For some people, that is rich because they're a slave to the money. But the goal is freedom and independence. And if I learn nothing, nothing in my supply chain program, the easiest way to increase profit is to cut cost. Just some afterthoughts, some other stuff on there I want to talk about. We may get to it next week, just depending on where the brain's at. But hey, thank everybody for listening. Hope you enjoyed my afterthought.