The Pressure: Our Current Battle
The Pressure
"Have you seen my fucks to give, I have none I cannot live, with the Pressure."
- Jhene Aiko
It's there. Whether your are able to identify it in the mysoginistic undertone of most hip hop songs, it's there. Every day as we scroll endlessly passed botched, stitched and plumper filled celebrities on Instagram, it's there. On the countless magazine covers we pass by daily during our hectic morning commutes, it's there. In the retail stores where we deign to enter into a fitting room, it's there, pressure. There is an insane amount of pressure consuming our daily lives, most will say it's always been there. However with the surge of social media into the mainstream it has become global and is sadly taking lives. At what point to which we say, enough is enough?
There are several pressures we as humans encounter and hopefully overcome. Yet our materialistic/ vain society has certainly taken a purge head first into the keeping up with the Jones' or should I say Kardashian shallow pond. Instagram, vine, snapchat all daily outlets for everyone to display why their life is so much better than any other. Incessant subliminal competitions exist subconsciously, and without realizing people are in a constant battle to outdo, or outshine their peers.
Women are in undergoing intensive surgeries for smaller waist lines and larger backsides, injecting themselves with numerous foreign objects all for the sake of likes on Instagram. Yet can we blame them? Men flock to these pages daily, to see these women twerk in videos and hopefully get a glimpse of her at the strip club she is now employed at in some fashion. These women see the opportunity for financial advancement through their body. What an investment, and yet the same men who attend their place of business will almost always attest that a girl of that nature is not one they would ever marry or take seriously, yet they respect her hustlers ambition to make money.
Prime example of the changing times is Usher’s latest single ‘ Don’t Mind”. In which Usher, father of two, assure’s the working girls that he is doesn’t mind if she chooses to strip, as long as she makes “that money”.
“Shawty, I don't mind If you dance on a pole
That don't make you a hoe
Shawty, I don't mind when you workin' til three
If you're leaving with me
Go make that money, money, money
Your money, money, money
Cause I know how it is, go handle your biz
And get that money, money, money
Your money, money, money
You can take off your clothes
Long as you coming home, girl, I don't mind”
Yet safety and health is put on the back burner when it comes to attaining that perfect Kim K hourglass figure. Recently a young woman from New York died in the Dominican Republic after complications from lipo surgery. Her operation's cost in the United States is normally valued at $15k yet she paid $4k to a doctor who already had 4 deaths under his belt. A beautiful girl now gone forever for the sake of what? And she's not alone, according to the FDA; studies indicate that the risk of death is between 20 and 100 deaths per 100,000 during liposuction procedures. That is in the U.S. alone, never mind the countless others outside of our borders that go unreported.
Sadly, women are not the only ones to feel pressure. Men too have a pressure surrounding them, and sadly we are losing them because of it. The pressure of a man to be, A Man. A battle not easily coped with. Social media can lend itself to make some men feel inadequate. The role of a man is to be an excellent provider, protector and most of all force to be reckoned with. That alone can be a lot to uphold to.
During the era of flashy hip hop which raised most 90's babies who are coming into adult hood now, we were taught nothing but fast money, bottles in VIP, pretty women and expensive material things. That's all this generation equates with success, it's all they have ever seen. Yet the jealousy that comes with attaining such success is still not a factor one can truly be prepared for. The jealousy turns to envy, the envy to hate and with hate comes violence.
We've lost countless young black males to envy and jealousy, known celebrities as well as everyday people. In the winter a young man from New York was found in the trunk of his car after his jersey apartment had been robbed and he kidnapped/missing for several days. The young man was known to always have had a lot of money, a nice car and ample amounts of clothes, a recipe for jealous attention.
Recently the music industry mourned the loss of another beloved artist, Lionel “CHINX” Pickens who was gunned down in his Porsche on queens blvd after an appearance at a Brooklyn night club. Acts of hate, that strip away the lives of people merely living for themselves. Yet the pressure that descends on the weak minded can conjure up emotions that lead to irreversible actions.
There are many young people within this generation who strive to be above it. Yet no matter where you turn it's there, it always has been. However it is up to parents to instill worth in their children, and the task of our educators to enforce that message. Cliche as it may be as I look around this world we live in, I fear that morals, and values have diminished so far beyond comprehension. At the fear of being called old fashion and outdated our society has scummed to these pressures of insanely outlandish practices. Pressure is not easily avoidable but when applied properly the right kind of pressure can create something infinitely beautiful.
Always remember, pressure creates diamonds.
