As I’m sitting here composing this it is almost exactly two hours after Stanley “Tookie” Williams was pronounced dead. He serves as a perfect example of how perceptions of the same facts can differ. We know he was co-founder of the violent gang the Crips. We know he was convicted of murdering four people. We know he has always maintained his innocence. We know he has spent many years dedicated to teaching people, of all ages, the dangers of gangs and violence. We know he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize multiple times. We know witnesses, who claimed ability to clear Tookie, were coming forward during the final hours of his life. We all have this information and yet some people think his death was justice, some think it was revenge or murder.

I fall into the second category. I think Tookie was much more valuable alive. He could reach children no one else could, because of who he was and his experiences. I wrote Arnold Schwartzenegger two letters, one for me and one for my friend (at her request), in hopes of persuading him to save Tookie’s life. Schwartzenegger obviously had different views. Schwartzenegger said since Tookie wouldn’t admit guilt and apologize, he had not achieved redemption. I don’t see a declaration of innocence necessarily as being a lack of remorse. If he were innocent an admission of guilt would only make those responsible for his execution feel better. I’m not familiar with the case itself, so I can’t comment on whether or not I feel he was innocent or guilty of the actual crimes for which he was executed.

I use a lot of profanity throughout most of my writings. I like profanity. It’s exciting. Then again there are those who find it very offensive. I feel finding offense in the words themselves to be extremely shallow. To label a word “bad” or “offensive” is prejudice. No word itself is bad or offensive; it’s the meaning of the word. More specifically it’s the intended use of the word. If I were to say, “I dropped my fuckin’ fork”, there would be no legitimate reason to be offended, because the usage or the word in question was merely descriptive. It was a colorful metaphor, as Kirk described to Spock in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. If I were to say, “Go fuck your mother with this fork”; there would be a legitimate reason to be offended, because the word in question was used in a disrespectful manner.

As for the word itself, what’s the big fuckin’ deal? What if I said, “What’s the big freakin’ deal?” The exact same idea is conveyed, but with the use of one different word. What’s the difference between using words like shit and crap? They mean the same thing and yet one is considered offensive and one isn’t.

That’s why I hate censorship so much. The same idea can be relayed as long as you don’t use words that would be considered to be offensive. Any word could be considered offensive. Al Green could, and probably should, have an aversion to hot grits. If I were to ask someone out and she were to say no, I would consider no, in that instance, to be a bad word. However, if she said she wanted to fuck me, I would not find that at all offensive. In reality there are many things that are much worse than the use of profanity. Violence, stealing, drug use, spreading disease, religion, etcetera… are all much worse than saying ‘fuck’.

What the fuck does fuck mean that is so offensive? Define fuck. Fuck does not have a definition. It means a lot of fuckin’ things and it means nothing. The closest thing one could get to a definition for fuck is to have sex. How the fuck is that offensive? If it weren’t for fucking the human race would cease to exist. Even artificial insemination is just artificial fucking. Anyway, if I’m mad and I say “FUCK!!!!”, what the fuck does that mean? Nothing. I could say “SLIMEY GREEN LETTUCE!!!” and it would be the same expression of anger, just not so neat and compact.

Fuck is the only perfect word. It can be anything and mean anything. It can be a noun, a pronoun, a verb (that’s the best), an adjective, an adverb, and on and fuckin’ on. It’s short, easy to say and sounds so nice. If you don’t think it sounds nice, listen to “The Phuck You Symphony” by Millie Jackson.

Profanity is beautiful. It’s expressive and poetic. I fuckin’ love it. If you find it offensive that’s your muthafuckin’ problem. You should really seek help.

The same thing goes for ethnic epithets. Words like “beaner, cracker, honky nigga/nigger, spic, wop, etc…” aren’t necessarily offensive either. If someone from a certain ethnicity calls someone else from the same ethnicity a “beaner, cracker, honky nigga/nigger, spic, wop, etc…” as a term of endearment it’s not intended to be offensive and in most cases is not taken that way. However, if someone from a different ethnicity calls someone the ethnicity for which one of those slurs is used as a term of endearment it can be taken as offensive though it shouldn’t be. The only time it should be offensive is when it’s meant to be. I’m not condoning the use of such slurs. I’m simply saying they should only be as offensive as they are intended.

I pay some attention, in the form of scrutiny, to cults and mythology. It’s not my intention to disrespect people’s beliefs, but shed light on the exploitation and potential dangers of those beliefs. The mythology itself is relatively harmless, but cults are very dangerous. The most dangerous are Christianity, Catholicism and Islam. Between the four inquisitions (with Hitler’s attempted extermination of the Jews possibly a fifth even if not labeled as such), the crusades, countless holy wars, many different sacrifices to many different “gods”, suicide bombers and child molestation, countless lives have been lost or ruined all in the name of mythology.

While I’ve never believed in mythology, come on magic people who live in the clouds, I’ve never held such contempt for it until recently. Before I just thought it was ridiculous and funny, I first noticed the harmful effects of cults when George W. Bush was actually elected for a second term, because he believes in “gods”. Why is it that if one believes oneself to be a fish or a piece of toast they are committed to an asylum, but if one believes in magical people living in the sky they can be president? Which is more dangerous? If a person believes someone who supposedly lived 2,000 years ago can help them in their life now, there’s something not quite right in that person’s head. These feelings were compounded by the molestations that occur among catholic priests, the suicide bombers who are brainwashed to believe they will be greatly rewarded in heaven by giving their lives to take lives, the anti-abortion pro-war pro-death penalty anti-stem cell research people who can’t quite decide if they want to save life or take it, hatred of people for their sexuality and finally culminated to my current state of contempt when I read an article in Time about intelligent design. I can’t imagine teaching cult propaganda in school. Isn’t it bad enough the current curriculum is full of the history they want to teach?

I do pay particular attention to Christians and Catholics (though I don’t know the fuckin’ difference between them), because they are the most dangerous. From the inquisitions, to the crusades, to molesting children, to George Bush, to Adolf Hitler I don’t think I really need to elaborate or justify that statement. It also has to do with the fact that I know the most about their cult beliefs, because they are constantly shoved in our faces. They are the muthafuckaz who want to take our rights away because their imaginary “gods” don’t like us to have rights, which is strangely the same way republicans feel. I wonder if that’s a coincidence. They are also the most vocal about anything that goes against their myths.

These cults also have way too much influence over the laws in our country. One in particular is the ban on same-sex marriage, which is completely based on these cults’ hatred of homosexuality. Aren’t we all just a little bit gay anyway? You can’t tell me all the catholic priests who molest the little boys are completely straight. Even all the “manly men” who never miss a football game are a little bit gay. You can’t tell me watching hours of men in tight spandex jumping on each other is completely heterosexual.

I actually come from a Catholic background on both sides of my family. Thankfully, for me, my parents didn’t attend church in their adult lives. I would have definitely been molested. Let’s face it; I’m a pretty muthafuckah. I was actually followed from school by a known sex offender once, when I was little, without my knowledge. I didn’t even know what that meant at the time. Luckily a teacher noticed and alerted others who made sure to watch for such things. A priest would have had much easier access to my little asshole. Also I wasn’t brainwashed into believing in myths about the origins of life and a 2,000-year-old Mithras rip-off being my savior. I don’t believe in religion to the point where I don’t just say I don’t believe in it, I just say it’s not real. I don’t believe in it to the point where I don’t often use the fancy thin veil “religion”, I just call it what it is; mythology. I did a lot of studying so I could learn about mythology. I did more studying than I ever did in school. I learned a whole lot of shit about which I didn’t know anything. I recently learned that Jesus probably didn’t even exist. I always thought he was just extremely over exaggerated, but I learned the mythology surrounding him is very similar to the Persian myth of Mithras, which is far older than the myth of Jesus. I had never even heard of Mithras. I wonder if it’s coincidence that the myth of Jesus is heavily based on the myth of Mithras and the majority of people today have never even heard of Mithras, instead they all hail the holy plagiarism.

If you don’t like what I have to say that’s OK, ‘cause I probably wouldn’t like the things you have to say either. That’s why I rarely argue, because I’m not going to change your mind and you’re not going to change mine. If you choose to continue to read this you’ll find some things that might make you think I’m very deep. You may read some things that make you think I dabble in the ridiculous. You may read some things that make you think I’m intelligent. You may read some things that make you think I’m a romantic. You may read some things that make you think I’m a complete loser. You may read some things that make you think I’m very biased and opinionated. You may read some things that make you think I’m funny. You may read some things that make you think I’m a genius. You may read some things that make you think I’m fuckin’ retarded. That’s all fine with me, because my main goal is to make you think.

Beyond these pages you will find a series of rhymes, in the form of poems or lyrics. These will not always be perfect rhymes. You may have to use your imagination to see the rhyme. In some cases you may even have to use my imagination to see the rhyme. I do use a lot of sarcasm, so while you’re reading please try to keep that in mind. Through these rhymes you will find my vision of reality and personal experiences that shaped those views. Many of these writings were intended to be songs recorded by myself or someone else. Whatever it takes to get me paid. Unfortunately I am a perfectionist and very impatient with myself. That isn’t the greatest of combinations and rendered many of my attempts to record these rhymes futile, so I decided to write a book. Many of the things I write are in hopes of having a positive affect on the reality in which we live. Every day someone changes the world in a negative way in order to make some money, I want to change the world for the better. Hopefully someone is brave enough to publish it and many, many people are intelligent enough to purchase it and I will make some money. I will extend my hope that someone will want to record something I’ve written and I will make a lot of money. It’s ironic that I write a book with hopes of doing good and with hopes of attaining the root of all evil. Along with each rhyme you will find some brief comments and some long comments about each rhyme. It’s an idea I got from Rick James who did that in his linear notes sometimes, sometimes he did it through David Ritz. It was also partially inspired by a show that used to be on VH1 called “Story Tellers” where artists would play songs and tell the story behind it. I really like the idea, so I used it here. I describe things like the story, the process and the inspiration. Some of my inspiration comes from my love of music (Soul, Hip-Hop, Rap, Funk and R&B) and comedy. Another chunk is my life and the world around us, which currently needs a lot of help. Some of it’s just whacked out fiction. I would like to add that I don’t do any drugs or drink alcohol, so any appearance that I’m fucked-up is just product of the world around us or inherited from my parents.

If you are brave enough to journey to the center of my mind I welcome you. As Bill Cosby said, “if you’re not careful you might learn something before it’s done. Hey, Hey, Hey.” Make sure you wear your safety belt, keep your limbs and genitals inside the vehicle at all times and enjoy your ride through My Book Of Rhymes.