There are some things we know, but do not talk about. We flesh out our knowing with hypocrisy, lies, reasons which we know are false and more.
For example, we know there are minuscule amounts of minorities who receive investment money for their startups and lets include women in that group. We don’t really stop to analyze what, why, how to change things.
At Bettina’s we became involved in all of this when – and you know the story by now – the Capital Network, a group funded by and involved with the City of Cambridge – sent three white males to one of the homes in the Bettina Network, inc. – to see what they were doing and to steal the idea and anything else they could in the process.
It was Cambridge working its structural racism making sure a black-owned business, with great potential, did not succeed in its territory. It was Cambridge pulling on its structural racism, solidly in place today, to force blacks who were moving too far too fast to back down and/or move out.
Out of that came AirBnB. A company whose founders used several stealth ways to steal from Bettina’s. The Business Plan; by sending people in to steal as much more as possible; whenever they ran into something they couldn’t fathom, more calls to Bettina’s without identifying who or what to keep their business idea looking as though it was really theirs….and on and on. A prototype for business development in this society.
At the time, Bettina people were going to the Thursday afternoon meetings of the Capital Network, inc. trying to understand and apply for and get better acquainted with the “investor class.”
That was a waste of time.
After the visit of the three guys who had never before been to a bed & breakfast, talked about not even knowing private homes could be put together in a Network, etc. etc. Bettina people went to the next Thursday afternoon gathering of the Capital Network and were surprised to see their company name had been taken down and they were held at the door because they were no longer listed as part of the group.
Someone who knew Bettina’s appeared and re-entered Bettina’s as a part of this group with their name appearing on the board letting people know they were “in the space”. An “oversight” they said. Even though Bettina’s was at the Thursday meeting the previous week and the one before that, etc. they were ‘unintentionally’ dropped.
As we discovered a few years later, substantial investment money was given to the three white guys forming AirBnB and the black folks – male and female – developing Bettina’s were totally cut out and had to fight for their continued existence, fighting one swipe across the bow after another, rather than continuing to move ahead with their business, which was growing substantially.
Friends began to appear talking about their problems, not knowing that Bettina’s was going through the same thing. These friends start-ups, which were right on the verge of expanding exponentially, but without the funds to do so and able to expanding only on current income, which we all know doesn’t work – caught our attention and time to research asking the question what do we have in common?
“This” – was and is the way this society maintains itself as northern european-ancestry white males.
Seeing and following that bit of structural racism, we tried everything but the system was tight, immovable and carefully constructed to eliminate and destroy anyone trying to do something different. Something different is and was to attempt to build a new business idea into a billion dollar plus business. Anything which looked as though it had that potential was stolen and the minority and female founders were put through horrendous experiences to handicap their following through with what looked to everyone as fantastic. Not only was their business handicapped with few to no investors of substances, but their daily lives were destroyed in as vile and ugly a way as possible to keep them from being able to wind up being competition.
At the same time we noticed a parallel occurrence. There were white males treated the same way. Not as crudely, but there were similarities. For example, Facebook – was founded on an ethical fault line. Like AirBnB this was not Zuckerberg’s idea, it was one he stole from others and promoted as his own. When all of this became public, it was ignored and had little to no affect on the growth of Facebook. It certainly did not slow down or dampen investor enthusiasm.
Given its unethical beginnings where was it supposed to go and how was it supposed to get that unethical mess out of its structure? That does not happen, it just grows with the business and that is what has happened.
These were not just “thefts” by people on the outside looking in who saw something, picked up the core idea and went on their own to fill in the rest. This was “theft” in the crudest way which screamed to all who could hear the very unethical way it was done. This spoke volumes about the ethics of those involved.
What we saw was that unethical base of those doing the stealing was what the “investors” – conscious of it or not – were looking for in an entrepreneur they would fund. Take a look around and see the history.
Today we have people speaking out loud and clear with proof about the highly unethical way of Facebook. What we don’t understand is why the surprise? That has been known for quite some time and has been pointed out to the many. The result – you could almost hear the cheers as Zuckerberg was embraced as one of our own. He could be “trusted” to be someone who develops and developed a company which could almost be called the Devil’s Spawn.
We are a society which has developed “big” businesses on the most evil platforms. That seems to be what the West Coast investor class looks for as do all the rest. That is not done above board, but the choices made show clearly the ethical base of those doing the choosing.
We are watching and experiencing horribleness because of those beginnings – and – the history is carefully ignored with claims that this history is irrelevant as the company has grown. And yes, it has grown but its beginnings are structured into the company because that willingness to do whatever it took is a foul beginning which takes on a life of its own within the corporate structure. We seem to be programmed to blot that out and try to achieve a good result from that kind of beginning. Is that our laziness or our evil side.
In the Christian Scripture there is a story of Satan tempting Jesus with all kinds of earthly delights. He takes none of them but sticks to the business about which he has come. It seems that from this story there has come a long line of people who called out to Satan asking to be given the same choices. They were and this is the result.
There is an unwritten, not talked about agreement amongst investors who get such companies off the ground that monies will be spent developing businesses which have structured bigotry into their corporate forms, boardrooms, etc. and which have structured – anything goes if it gets us where we want to go let the ethics of what we are doing be damned. We are smart enough to give back an intellectualized reason which sounds good to deflect, at least as long as we need to deflect, those who would hold up to the general universe what we are doing which is and will continue to hurt our world, our galaxy and put our human species in jeopardy of extermination by itself.
May God’s judgment be swift and sure.
My Response! – No Names Please!
Friday, December 22nd, 2017Don’t want to lose my job. But if this keeps on the way it has I will be out there on the front lines – dam the job – I will join the homeless if that is necessary to bring about change.
I noticed a couple of Marceline’s Facebook posts. One included something – in answer to a ‘friend’ about black teachers. She was too nice to say many black teachers stepped away from the Black Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s because they saw that as the road to losing their jobs to white teachers and didn’t want that to happen. They were a part of the Black Bourgeoisie and enjoyed a position in black society they did not want to lose. I don’t know the person she was answering and commenting in her Facebook page so I didn’t add my say so – it seemed intrusive. Everything goes on this blog so I am answering here.
That said – I really need to respond to your post on Trump and the very ugly picture of the Republicans assembled on the steps of the White House in celebration of their vote on the tax cut.
I lived through Nixon and I didn’t expect to have to live through another such carnage. And carnage is what this is. An American President elected – or rather put into office by Russia and the fascists, and I really believe that. Not from the media or anything else, but from my life experience in the world. Trump makes Nixon look like a saint. Nixon covered up a breaking, but Trump is well into treason.
I loved your little comment on the White House built by slaves.
I believe many of the Republican Congress people are being blackmailed. We have a president who is a bully – ugly and evil bully – who has bullied all of his life and is now president and bullying on a world wide stage.
Why have we tolerated such? Why hasn’t he been removed? Why has his sexual assault not been addressed? Why isn’t he in jail?
He clearly has surrounded himself with people who are as much able to bully as he – like Nikki Haley. I had great hopes for her and was wondering if she was someone I could support. After the way she bullied at the U. N. she clearly was chosen by Trump to be a part of his government because he saw this in her and that is what he wants in his administration. Either bully or grovel. Push people and governments around in Trump’s name or grovel to show what seems to be Trump support, but in reality the most dangerous people one can have in your circle are those you have blackmailed and forced to do and react in ways they would not otherwise.
Hopefully, they have been blackmailed. If this is who they have been all these years – I am thinking particularly of Orrin Hatch – then we have been very short sighted to have re-elected them. It is time for all of them to go. There must be a way to immediately remove Trump and his administration. I am sure you folks will think of something – but make it quick.
My response will be following Marceline out of the Republican Party. I stayed too long, but better late than never. I remember her when she was precinct chair in Wayzata, Minnesota. Wondered then how she could be precinct chair in the Republican Party and on the National Board of the National Organization of Women – or is that ‘for’ women? She stood strong for what she believed. I didn’t like her much then – thought she was too “pushy”. I did respect her, however. I watched her being trashed in some really crude ways, but she didn’t step down, didn’t step away and I don’t think she even blinked. Having a family to raise that took a lot of guts and she must have been through a lot of pain in the process.
Not been involved in civil rights and these other activities very long, but I am all in now. And whether that is good or bad we have Donald Trump to thank or blame for my conversion. From a sort of racist and sexist to somehow trying to walk a different path and make up for a life not always well led or behaved. Hope you all forgive me. I was busy trying to make lots of money – but that’s all over. Getting old changes your values and priorities.
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Tags: Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Donald Trump, growing old, Guest Comments, politics, Racism, Sexism
Posted in Bettina Network Blog, Bettina Network Educational Institute, Bettina Network Hedge Schools, Bettina Network's Lifestyle Community, Donald Trump, Facebook, Guest comments, politics, racism, sexism, Ubuntu | Comments Off on My Response! – No Names Please!