The Gentrification of Inglewood, CA

The Gentrification of Inglewood, CA

Hooray the Rams are back in LA!!!  The interests responsible for bringing the Rams back to Los Angeles would have you believe that this is great windfall for the greater Los Angeles area. I agree with that for the most part. They have made special light of what they say will be a tremendous revitalization of Inglewood, CA.  Hey, not so fast there.  Let's look at the impact it will have on the residents and small businesses too, not just the big business owners.

I am a resident of Inglewood.  I live on the north side of town closer to Culver City.  I rent a two bedroom apartment.  My landlord has raise my rent twice for a total of 40% in just the last year alone.  The owners of the property believe that with the new stadium going up in Inglewood that property values will skyrocket and they want to get a jump on this new found value.

I believe that a major disservice has been dealt to the residents (renters) and small business owners of Inglewood.  The city should have put some type of protection in place for the residents and shop owners as part of the deal that gave the go ahead for the building of the new stadium.  It is not uncommon at all for Southern California cities and towns to institute rent control.  At the rate that rents are rising, very few of that renter population of Inglewood will be able to afford to live here, Thus, forcing a mass exodus of long time Inglewood residents to less costly areas.  Residents of other greater Los Angeles cities will be moving in.  This will completely change the landscape and demographic of that city.  I know there are many interests that are just fine with the gentrification of Inglewood and would argue that you can't stop progress.  They might go even further to say that we live in a capitalist society, so they should be able to do whatever they want in the name of business.  I respond though saying that Inglewood has a rich community culture and it begs to be preserved. Just as historical parts of LA are protected or even county, state and national parks.  We have several time in the past as a society made the stand that what is good for business is not always what is good for society!!

Sibling Rivalry and Consumerism

                                                Sibling Rivalry and Consumerism


 Modern day consumerism is multi-faceted as it pertains to the motivations for it. I believe a very important is how it often times becomes interwoven into the fabric of a sibling rivalry. Sibling rivalries have been around as long as there have been siblings to rival. The classic sibling rivalry consist of siblings wanting to outdo one another other in a game of one-upmanship. This game may manifest itself in the form of academic or sports achievements. The motivation is usually often times bragging rights. The type of rivalry that I would like to discuss though manifest itself in the form of consumerism and is often times fueled by a desire to gain approval and attention from the parents and other family members. Children have always sought the approval of their parents. It is when you add a sibling or siblings to the equation, that is take on an entirely new look. I am of the belief that unfortunately parents contribute in large part to the sibling rivalry manifesting itself in consumerism.

Our society as a whole passes judgment on folks that do not have lots of worldly possessions. Parents are no exception when it comes to their children.  The picture above is a good depiction of sibling vying for their parents love and attention.  The bear represents the parents.  Many parents view their children  as  extensions of themselves, even as it pertains to consumerism. Parents are able to brag about what type of car or house their son or daughter has or trips and vacations they have gone on. It is this bragging that fuels siblings to become rivals for that attention. The parents view the child with the most "stuff" as the more successful one. They will often look down on the children with less materialistic stuff. This breeds a never-ending competition between siblings to acquire and amass more and more things. The sad part is that this behavior is far too often counterproductive to what actually brings happiness to the children. The consumerism of a sibling rivalry may also take the form of gift giving to parents. The bigger the gift, the more admired the child is. Children fool themselves into believing the notion that it is out of gratitude that they give the particular gifts that they do. I submit that if they took time to really analyze their motives, they would discover that a fairly large portion of the motivation comes from a desire to gain points against their siblings. Consumerism is a mainstay of American pop culture and that fact will not change anytime soon. I would like to propose though that parent an children a take a hard look at how consumerism is involved in the family dynamic and if they are happy with what they see.

The dichotomy of violence in today's culture.

The dichotomy of violence in today's culture. 

Is the American pop culture more violent now than it was 50 years ago?  This question came to my mind I as watched a social media post of two high school aged girls fighting in a neighborhood park. Upon pondering that question, I came to the realization that our society is somewhat hypocritical in if you compare what we preach/teach and what we consume.  50 years ago corporal punishment was a common and socially accepted form of discipline/punishment most American households.  In contrast to that, the amount of violence actually shown in TV and movies was far less than what we see today.

Today gratuitous violence is the norm in television and movies. I'm sure that the producers of these programs argue that it is fueled by consumer demand.  The part that I find interesting though, is that we have zero tolerance policies in schools for violence.   It is no long socially acceptable to spank or use corporal punishment  with our children and there is  big movement to eradicate all bullying.  I'm not writing to make the point that the aforementioned should be embraced, but more so to shine some light on what seems to be a bit of a contradiction in American Pop culture.  We say we are anti-violence yet mixed martial arts fights are growing exponentially in popularity while it is a far more violent sport than boxing is. We have violent video games, we have social media post of violent acts that go viral.  This all begs the question in my opinion.  Are we "really" as anti-violence and we may claim to be. 

I would say we are a much more violent culture.  We have even begun to embrace female violence.  I'm not implying that women should not have the right fight professionally if they choose to do so.  Instead, I am pointing out the shift in our culture's appetite for violence as manifested by us now consuming a women's fight where that would have been such a taboo in the not so distant past.  All the while we are make stiffer laws and applying more social pressure against all types of violence, whether it be in schools, at home or anywhere else.  Bottom line is that we don't practice what we preach!