THE SUN IS RISING IN THE WEST AND THE WORLD IS SPINNING BACKWARDS

Something downright weird happened this week, I agreed with a New York Times columnist. Bob Hebert had a column about the newest version of Monopoly, Ghettopoly. In this urban version of the game, the pieces are a machine gun, crack cocaine, etc. The properties to buy are stuff like Kim’s Liquors and instead of houses, you build crack houses. It really is rather tasteless, even though deep down you know you’re laughing.

Not everyone is laughing, of course. The usual suspects cried from the rooftops how this game is racist, promotes stereotypes, etc., Yeah yeah – we knew that was going to happen. What I didn’t expect to happen was Bob Hebert’s column. Check this out:

“So I'm not feeling sorry for David Chang, the game's beleaguered 28-year-old creator. What I'd like to know is why all this outrage is springing up over a board game when so little is heard in the way of protest about the outlandishly self-destructive behavior that gives rise to a game like Ghettopoly, and which is burying any chance of a viable future for extraordinary numbers of young black men and women, and their children.

How can you march against a game and not march against the real-life slaughter on the streets and in the homes of inner cities across America? Violent crime, ignorance and disease are carving the very heart out of America's black population.”

Wow. I fully expected him to blame the symptom and ignore the disease and he blew me away.

“Ghettopoly is a stupid and offensive game. But its reach is nowhere near as vast or as dangerous as the "Lord of the Flies" street culture that is seducing one generation after another of black children, and producing freakish entertainers like Nelly and 50 Cent.”

Damn, Bob Hebert, classic NYT columnist, looking the problem right in the face and calling it as it is. I never thought I would see the day. The whole “urban, hip hop” culture is a suicide pact for everyone who gets involved. It’s not just the poor kids who are killing themselves and each other, the rich are doing the same thing – look at Biggie Smalls and Tupac. I never thought I would get that message from the New York Times op-ed page.