奥巴马基金会最近有一则视频记录了奥巴马总统近期与年轻人做的一个互动式交流，NBA 球星库里也是嘉宾。我是从《华盛顿邮报》的邮件提醒中看到这个视频及相关报道的。
Being a man is, first and foremost being a good human. And that means being responsible, being reliable, working hard, being kind, being respectful, being compassionate.
The notion that somehow you find yourself is a man is depending on are you able to put somebody else down instead of lifting them up. Are you able to dominate as opposed to support.
That is an old view, and a view that thankfully I see a lot of young people rejected. Because each of us have gifts that express themselves in different ways. Some of us have gifts of art and music, and what we really tuned to is people's feelings and sensitivities. That's magic, and we need that. And then some people have gifts that have to do with being an amazing athlete, or have to do with being great men.
We what want to do is create a space in which young men of color, and young men generally, don't have to feel as if for me to be respected and admired in my community, I got to act in a certain way. A lot of the violence and pain that we suffered in our communities is arise at of young men who nobody said to them what means to be respective. So they're looking around and well I guess being respectable means I might shoot you, or I can make you beg now, or I can disrespect at you and there is nothing you can do about it. That is a self-defeating model for being a man.
We have to consistently lift up examples of success men who don't take that approach. That is hard to in this society because, you are talking about music, let's face it, a lot of hip-hop and rap music is built around me showing how I got more money than you, I can disrespect you, you can do nothing about it, I am gonna to talk about you and punk you and ironically that actually shows the vulnerability that you feel.
Let me say this. If you are really confident about your financial situation, you probably aren't going to be wearing an 8-pound chain around your neck because you know I got bank, I don't have to show you how much I've got, I feel good. If you are very confident about your sexuality, you don't have to have eight women around you twerking. You seems stressed that you got be acting that way because I got one women who I am very happy with, she is a strong woman.
I think part of the challenge we have is that because often times racism is historically in the society sends a message that you are lees than and weak. We feel like we've got to compensate by exaggerating certain stereotypical ways that men are supposed to act. And that's a trap that we fall into, that we have to pull of of. If you confident about your strengths, you don't need to show me by you putting somebody else down, show me how strong you are that you can lift somebody else up and treat somebody well and be respectful and lead in that fashion.
我理解奥巴马的这段话的意思是，年轻人要将责任、尊敬、友善、努力工作等品质作为自己成为男人的标志，而不要被社会上的所流行的比如炫富、霸凌作为自己“出人头地”、“高人一等”的必备素质。他说因为美国社会历史性的种族主义存在，人们需要努力“夸张”、“放大”自己来向世人表明自己的成功。有的年轻人为了“证明自己”，往往作出不理智行为甚至不惜以伤害别人为代价。
奥巴马认为一个人的成功与否重要的是你能影响、改善、提升他人多少，而不在于你能够压制别人或者让人屈服于你。后者恰恰从言行中反映出其内心的不自信，缺乏安全感。
我的理解可能有偏差。不过这段话让我想起了前不久看的一部评价挺好的电影《无名之辈》。总体上我个人是不太喜欢这部电影的，这种风格我不怎么欣赏。
电影《无名之辈》的一个主要部分是两个漏洞百出、不断搞笑的抢劫犯。搞笑之后电影让观众知道，两个抢劫犯其中一个梦想成为“老大”，当“大哥”，想要获得尊敬，另外一个则陷于爱情，尽管意中人并不喜欢自己。有一个情节是，劫匪抢劫手机店的视频被人发到网络上恶搞，其中一个想当“老大”的劫匪痛不欲生地喊自己不希望被人们嘲笑，不想没有尊严的活。
电影应该是道出了不少年轻人心中的话，即希望能够得到社会的认可、人们的尊敬和重视，不愿意没有尊严地被羞辱、嘲弄。到这里，电影从一个看起来搞笑情节不断的喜剧片演变成为呼唤尊严的悲情片，这是我不喜欢它的一个主要原因。
这个情节在我看来就是奥巴马所说的青年人因为希望获得社会认可而做出种种极端、不理智行为的现状。电影中对于劫匪来说，“大哥”、“老大”很霸气，可以“干大事”，受人尊重。不能当“大哥”，比如抢劫失败，所遭遇到的世人的嘲笑严重地伤害了他们的自尊心。电影最后这个劫匪伏法了，但也同时可能感受到了爱情的温暖，算是一个正常的结局。
在奥巴马看来，社会对青年人在价值观——具体的就是何为成功、何为真正的男人、何为真正拥有自信并赢得尊重——方面的导向具有误导性，出现了偏差。他称美国社会悠久的种族歧视是这种导向的原因。人们在经济水平、社会地位等方面“翻身”之后，即所谓的取得“成功”以后，非常担心别人仍然瞧不起自己，从而寻求奢侈豪华的生活和排场。奥巴马举了说唱音乐作为例子，来说明这种思维延伸到音乐作品中，从而影响了青年人。更大范围地看，是文化导向出了问题。
从《无名之辈》和奥巴马的这段讲话里，我感觉到了一种相似的、有关青年人如何取得认可、成功的讨论。电影触及了这个话题，奥巴马则发表了自己对美国社会存在这种问题的原因的思考。我认为尽管问题相似，但背后的原因各有不同，值得观察、研究。
视频播放的一段内容我将其英文语句记录了下来，有 YouTube 自动形成的字幕的帮助。奥巴马所说的话原文大概如下：
Being a man is, first and foremost being a good human. And that means being responsible, being reliable, working hard, being kind, being respectful, being compassionate.
The notion that somehow you find yourself is a man is depending on are you able to put somebody else down instead of lifting them up. Are you able to dominate as opposed to support.
That is an old view, and a view that thankfully I see a lot of young people rejected. Because each of us have gifts that express themselves in different ways. Some of us have gifts of art and music, and what we really tuned to is people's feelings and sensitivities. That's magic, and we need that. And then some people have gifts that have to do with being an amazing athlete, or have to do with being great men.
We what want to do is create a space in which young men of color, and young men generally, don't have to feel as if for me to be respected and admired in my community, I got to act in a certain way. A lot of the violence and pain that we suffered in our communities is arise at of young men who nobody said to them what means to be respective. So they're looking around and well I guess being respectable means I might shoot you, or I can make you beg now, or I can disrespect at you and there is nothing you can do about it. That is a self-defeating model for being a man.
We have to consistently lift up examples of success men who don't take that approach. That is hard to in this society because, you are talking about music, let's face it, a lot of hip-hop and rap music is built around me showing how I got more money than you, I can disrespect you, you can do nothing about it, I am gonna to talk about you and punk you and ironically that actually shows the vulnerability that you feel.
Let me say this. If you are really confident about your financial situation, you probably aren't going to be wearing an 8-pound chain around your neck because you know I got bank, I don't have to show you how much I've got, I feel good. If you are very confident about your sexuality, you don't have to have eight women around you twerking. You seems stressed that you got be acting that way because I got one women who I am very happy with, she is a strong woman.
I think part of the challenge we have is that because often times racism is historically in the society sends a message that you are lees than and weak. We feel like we've got to compensate by exaggerating certain stereotypical ways that men are supposed to act. And that's a trap that we fall into, that we have to pull of of. If you confident about your strengths, you don't need to show me by you putting somebody else down, show me how strong you are that you can lift somebody else up and treat somebody well and be respectful and lead in that fashion.
我理解奥巴马的这段话的意思是，年轻人要将责任、尊敬、友善、努力工作等品质作为自己成为男人的标志，而不要被社会上的所流行的比如炫富、霸凌作为自己“出人头地”、“高人一等”的必备素质。他说因为美国社会历史性的种族主义存在，人们需要努力“夸张”、“放大”自己来向世人表明自己的成功。有的年轻人为了“证明自己”，往往作出不理智行为甚至不惜以伤害别人为代价。
奥巴马认为一个人的成功与否重要的是你能影响、改善、提升他人多少，而不在于你能够压制别人或者让人屈服于你。后者恰恰从言行中反映出其内心的不自信，缺乏安全感。
我的理解可能有偏差。不过这段话让我想起了前不久看的一部评价挺好的电影《无名之辈》。总体上我个人是不太喜欢这部电影的，这种风格我不怎么欣赏。
电影《无名之辈》的一个主要部分是两个漏洞百出、不断搞笑的抢劫犯。搞笑之后电影让观众知道，两个抢劫犯其中一个梦想成为“老大”，当“大哥”，想要获得尊敬，另外一个则陷于爱情，尽管意中人并不喜欢自己。有一个情节是，劫匪抢劫手机店的视频被人发到网络上恶搞，其中一个想当“老大”的劫匪痛不欲生地喊自己不希望被人们嘲笑，不想没有尊严的活。
电影应该是道出了不少年轻人心中的话，即希望能够得到社会的认可、人们的尊敬和重视，不愿意没有尊严地被羞辱、嘲弄。到这里，电影从一个看起来搞笑情节不断的喜剧片演变成为呼唤尊严的悲情片，这是我不喜欢它的一个主要原因。
这个情节在我看来就是奥巴马所说的青年人因为希望获得社会认可而做出种种极端、不理智行为的现状。电影中对于劫匪来说，“大哥”、“老大”很霸气，可以“干大事”，受人尊重。不能当“大哥”，比如抢劫失败，所遭遇到的世人的嘲笑严重地伤害了他们的自尊心。电影最后这个劫匪伏法了，但也同时可能感受到了爱情的温暖，算是一个正常的结局。
在奥巴马看来，社会对青年人在价值观——具体的就是何为成功、何为真正的男人、何为真正拥有自信并赢得尊重——方面的导向具有误导性，出现了偏差。他称美国社会悠久的种族歧视是这种导向的原因。人们在经济水平、社会地位等方面“翻身”之后，即所谓的取得“成功”以后，非常担心别人仍然瞧不起自己，从而寻求奢侈豪华的生活和排场。奥巴马举了说唱音乐作为例子，来说明这种思维延伸到音乐作品中，从而影响了青年人。更大范围地看，是文化导向出了问题。
从《无名之辈》和奥巴马的这段讲话里，我感觉到了一种相似的、有关青年人如何取得认可、成功的讨论。电影触及了这个话题，奥巴马则发表了自己对美国社会存在这种问题的原因的思考。我认为尽管问题相似，但背后的原因各有不同，值得观察、研究。
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