Wednesday, January 21, 2009

What Is The Big Deal About "Swagger"


It pains me to admit this but since confession is good for the soul .... I visited a well known gossip bloggers page this morning (who shall remain nameless because I'm embarrassed) but amazingly she does not idolize Obama and made some rather nasty predictions regarding his ability to remain faithful to Michelle. Well, I am certainly praying that the Obama marriage remains strong because the sanctity of marriage (between a man and a woman that is) is a beautiful thing. In fact President Obama's very public display of love and affection for his wife and daughters is the ONE thing I admire about him.

But as I read the comments related to this blogger's post and from talking to my familiars last night the phrase "swagger" kept coming into play. Apparently, PSBO (Pronounced Pis-Bo:President Select Barack Obama) has mad swagger. Because I can't afford to lose any more "cool points" by confessing that I wasn't really sure what swagger was, I looked it up in the urban dictionary. So after perusing all 23 definitions (btw, definition #5, misspelled words and bad grammer aside-- is just obscene) I can't figure out how "swagger" is such a good thing in a president, man , husband or future husband? So, I've come to the conclusion that it's not the black men in our community who have the most serious issues as it pertains to relationships marriage and family-- it's the women. See we have placed something as ridiculous as "swagger"on our must have list for potential mates and its seems that "swagger" holds a higher position than integrity, intellect and responsibility. In the words of Forest Gump "Stupid is as stupid does"....

8 comments:

Pamela said...

The first time I heard the word swagger was NOT in the context of definition 5. LOL Someone had spoken about swagger when referring to Pres. Bush. When I saw the word in this post my first thought was dealing with how he carried himself. Definition 5 never crossed my mind and probably never will with any man at this point.

There is an IR blogger that stated that the only reason she voted for Obama was because he was a dark skinned man that married a dark skinned bw and appears to be treasuring her like a man should treasure his wife. She did not care one thing about policies. I had to smile at that reason to vote for him. I wish that all married women experienced this from their husbands. I hope to marry and have that experience one day.

I have to disagree that bw have worse problems then bm when it comes to marriage and family. Too many bm have horrible attitudes as well. When too many bm that know how to treat women with respect will actively disrespect and degrade bw solely because of her race that is a major problem to me. That is way worse than women focusing on a body part. Men focus on body parts also BTW. LOL

Constructive Feedback said...

I am actually saddened that so many Black folks are focusing in on the social/personality aspects of our new president rather than the polices and the critical condition that our nation is in.

My previous research indicated that 2017 was the bewitching year to look out for as millions of baby boomers begin to retire and start to tax our entitlement system.

This current mess was unforeseen. Sadly we must add these two together. It is going to take far longer than 4 years to recover from this mess. This is a GLOBAL crisis but some low bandwidth people are contented on blaming it on Bush. (I am not saying that he has no part in this).

They are going to be made to realize by some hard and bitter realities that their contentment on knowing 'Who did this to us' and their empty HOPES on how Obama is going to fix it is not going to lead to a cure.

Ron B said...

I have heard the term "swag" on many different urban radio stations in Atlanta. At first I couldn't understand how it could be used in the context that the dj's or the callers meant and then my twenty something female friend told me that Lil Wayne has "swag". I knew right then that "swag" was something that most of us may not want to have. It was not just about the way he carries himself or looks but how he is perceived (his desireability sexually) or his cool factor. Then I realized I must have no "swag" then. Cause I did not want to be in the same company as a dirty lil mongrel like Lil Wayne.

Anonymous said...

People of all races are influenced by "swagger" but its just that black folks have developed a name for it. Type A people or popular people are usually the ones with "swagger". But it is too bad that so many black women use that as criteria for a man. I guess thats why so many BW end up alone struggling with their children they had w/ a man who had swagger but no job.

JudyBright said...

I thought this was going to be a commentary on Old Spice.

SLC said...

From what I see, swagger can get you in trouble. Clinton had that come hither swagger. Confidence is a good thing, but too much confidence is arrogance and narcissistic. I think John Edwards, whom I considered swaggerless would agree.

lavender1960 said...

I must be naive but I just thought the term "swagger" referred to a confident attitude that is of course perceived as sexy and in that connotation, President Obama does have mad swagger. I don't think arrogance is perceived as sexy or positive trait.

Conservative Black Woman said...

Lavender1960~You write"I don't think arrogance is perceived as sexy or positive trait."

Neither do I. The problem is many women revere the wrong things about men so we really have no cause to complain when things fall apart-- warning signs were there except we saw "swagger".