And they don’t understand why Kapernick took a knee.

TTQ64 said:
You win the internet today.

And Biden is one of them. A moderate.
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Another point that they make...and I’ve given this a lot of thought, as it is uncomfortably true, is that when they point this out to their white liberal and moderate friends is that it shuts down the dialogue.

It’s happened to me when confronted with some ugly facts about racial attitudes, that I myself may have been guilty of. I shut down too as I was confronted with some ugly facts that I hadn’t considered. I doubly shut down when it was pointed out to me that I had shut down and how frustrating that was to them.

Now I’m used to dealing with ugly facts , hell im professionally trained to deal with them. Not this time. I was completely flumaxed and speechless. The only thing I could lamely say to my black friend who’d rhetorically just bitch slapped me was “uhhhh...I hadn’t thought of that... I need to think about that.”.

My wife (who is a woman of color) started laughing and told my friend Jesse, “Holy cow! I never seen anyone shut him up before) and both had a good laugh at my expense and said nothing to ease my suffering. In fact my misses wouldn’t let me off the hook. She kept saying “So what have you got to say Mr. Smarty Pants?”. I thought I was going to die of embarrassment cause I didn’t have a damn thing to say. Guilty as charged. I had shut down.

Lessons learned. #1. I need to do a better job of listening to my friends. #2. Maybe I’m not as good at dealing with ugly facts as I thought I was. #3. To fight racism you have to be actively involved. If all you have is good intentions you’re part of the problem and not part of the solution.
 
Althea said:
A couple of things. They don't view prison as a money making venture. They don't jail people for low level drug crimes.

But...it's easy to forget that our 'melting pot' theory is falling apart. Most other nations aren't an amalgam of different nationalities. Humans hate 'others'. Been happening since before the Mayflower got here. Even indigenous people used to fight among tribes. I think we have more violence here.


Humans are defective.
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Defective is a harsh term. We certainly are flawed and not perfect.
 
Fjb1TnY.jpg
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Actually my black friends are more frustrated by white moderates who they feel are even more culpable than conservatives in that they compromise with conservatives on maintaining the status quo and are greater in numbers by far than conservatives. They consider them enablers. That’s not to let white liberals off the hook as I’ve seen white liberals guilty of some pretty egregious soft racism without even being conscious of it.
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Are we talking about the prison system?
 
BartenderElite said:
That really sums it up well.

People kept saying that Kaepernick should have found a more "polite" way to protest - less offensive. It's never really good enough.
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Nope, it never is unless you are the right skin tint.

I have to say I've enjoyed the spectacle of the Divider-in-Chief holed up in our WH while protesters mill around outside, worried that they'll get through and lynch his racist ass, and praising the SS for saving his vile hide.
 
The problem came from police abuse. The reason the other cops did nothing, is because that is the normal treatment of blacks. The cops were ho-hum about it Nothing to see here. Until he died.
The entire police system needs to be retaught. Cops are abusive and departments are the refuge of aggressive nasty and defective people. They become a brotherhood of beaters and abusers. I suppose there are people who enter the force to do some good. They get beaten down and swallowed up by the power of the police ethos. They do not dare to speak up. You are with us, or you are the enemy.
I think when a cop's actions cause the city to pay out for what they have done, the cop should pay part of the settlement. I think civilians panels should have the final say in officer discipline. They claim they are serving the people. Then they should answer to them.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Actually my black friends are more frustrated by white moderates who they feel are even more culpable than conservatives in that they compromise with conservatives on maintaining the status quo and are greater in numbers by far than conservatives. They consider them enablers. That’s not to let white liberals off the hook as I’ve seen white liberals guilty of some pretty egregious soft racism without even being conscious of it.
Click to expand...

The status quo is never an easy thing to change. Way too many invested interests and groups in the current format for things to change. People talk about voting, and voting is very important. But let's be real, there's incremental change in voting Democratic or Republican but on the whole the status quo generally stays the same.

You can talk about our own behavior as individuals. How many people talk about the importance of public schools yet send their kids to private school? It's understandable why many do, they think it's a better choice than the public school option for their kids or they think they private school environment fits them better. Yet, doesn't that just reinforce the status quo? How many (white) people with money say "I have no problem sending my child, who I want to go to a top college, to a school with low test scores and half the kids don't speak English as their first language?" Or same scenario but a school where half the kids qualify for free lunch because they are so economically disadvantaged.

We all know the answer to that, you rarely see it. Because most parents aren't willing to "sacrifice" their kids. But if you want to change the status quo and have more equality eliminate private schools and force kids of well to do parents to go to school with poor kids and let's see what happens.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
If it happened to a white man it would have been all over the news even if it hadn’t of been recorded. Who are you kidding?
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Actually, no. No one would care, and it wouldn't be a national news story. It's only a national news story because the cop was white and the victim was black.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Another point that they make...and I’ve given this a lot of thought, as it is uncomfortably true, is that when they point this out to their white liberal and moderate friends is that it shuts down the dialogue.

It’s happened to me when confronted with some ugly facts about racial attitudes, that I myself may have been guilty of. I shut down too as I was confronted with some ugly facts that I hadn’t considered. I doubly shut down when it was pointed out to me that I had shut down and how frustrating that was to them.

Now I’m used to dealing with ugly facts , hell im professionally trained to deal with them. Not this time. I was completely flumaxed and speechless. The only thing I could lamely say to my black friend who’d rhetorically just bitch slapped me was “uhhhh...I hadn’t thought of that... I need to think about that.”.

My wife (who is a woman of color) started laughing and told my friend Jesse, “Holy cow! I never seen anyone shut him up before) and both had a good laugh at my expense and said nothing to ease my suffering. In fact my misses wouldn’t let me off the hook. She kept saying “So what have you got to say Mr. Smarty Pants?”. I thought I was going to die of embarrassment cause I didn’t have a damn thing to say. Guilty as charged. I had shut down.

Lessons learned. #1. I need to do a better job of listening to my friends. #2. Maybe I’m not as good at dealing with ugly facts as I thought I was. #3. To fight racism you have to be actively involved. If all you have is good intentions you’re part of the problem and not part of the solution.
Click to expand...

Understanding is the greatest thing.

Racism needs to be acknowledged before it a solution can be found.
 
Althea said:
A couple of things. They don't view prison as a money making venture. They don't jail people for low level drug crimes.

But...it's easy to forget that our 'melting pot' theory is falling apart. Most other nations aren't an amalgam of different nationalities. Humans hate 'others'. Been happening since before the Mayflower got here. Even indigenous people used to fight among tribes. I think we have more violence here.


Humans are defective.
Click to expand...

Who is they?
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Another point that they make...and I’ve given this a lot of thought, as it is uncomfortably true, is that when they point this out to their white liberal and moderate friends is that it shuts down the dialogue.

It’s happened to me when confronted with some ugly facts about racial attitudes, that I myself may have been guilty of. I shut down too as I was confronted with some ugly facts that I hadn’t considered. I doubly shut down when it was pointed out to me that I had shut down and how frustrating that was to them.

Now I’m used to dealing with ugly facts , hell im professionally trained to deal with them. Not this time. I was completely flumaxed and speechless. The only thing I could lamely say to my black friend who’d rhetorically just bitch slapped me was “uhhhh...I hadn’t thought of that... I need to think about that.”.

My wife (who is a woman of color) started laughing and told my friend Jesse, “Holy cow! I never seen anyone shut him up before) and both had a good laugh at my expense and said nothing to ease my suffering. In fact my misses wouldn’t let me off the hook. She kept saying “So what have you got to say Mr. Smarty Pants?”. I thought I was going to die of embarrassment cause I didn’t have a damn thing to say. Guilty as charged. I had shut down.

Lessons learned. #1. I need to do a better job of listening to my friends. #2. Maybe I’m not as good at dealing with ugly facts as I thought I was. #3. To fight racism you have to be actively involved. If all you have is good intentions you’re part of the problem and not part of the solution.
Click to expand...

White guilt is kind of a joke, honestly. If you look at it factually, the biggest enemy of black people is the problems in their own communities. Blaming whitey is the more popular thing to do now, but it's ridiculous.

Maybe it makes me "part of the problem", but I couldn't care less. Life is too short to live under the delusion that you can change human nature. Prejudice exists for statistically good reasons, and I mean that not just against black people but against every group, including my own.

Our ability to make generalizations has evolutionarily been a benefit to humanity over time.
 
Just for the record, does anyone happen to know if Kapernick is protesting in the streets during these riots? On the front lines? You know, far from the safety of a football stadium?
 
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