Betsy Ross Flag vs Colin Kaepernick (controversial)

VixensVengeance wrote: I also never said poverty equals crime. all I did suggest was that poverty in the US may lead to feelings of helplessness or even desperation and that may lead stupid decisions like turning to crime as a way out. Usually a bad decision on the part of the perpetrator but you wont be able to tell them that before hand unless we get them better education and training and help to get out of the situation. This is not a matter of keeping them down through racism but just ignoring their problems in indifference.

Almost everything is relative. Crime is a bad decision... for you. Crime is a bad decision for me too. But I recognize that I didn't have the same environment, upbringing, and disadvantages as other kids. I wasn't raised in the hood. I spent a couple years at an expensive private school so I didn't have horribly underpaid teachers trying to teach too many kids who weren't taught well enough by the previous teachers how to read well. I had advantages. My family didn't have much money but my father was an immigrant raised in a 3rd world country. So he wasn't born into a hopeless environment of having opportunities taken away based on his skin color. Where he was from nearly everyone was black or indian. And living out in the country on an island they could survive more off the land and sea. You just can't do that here. The house my father was raised in wasn't even concrete. You could probably have built it for $1500-3000. It wasn't until he and his brothers grew up that they built a concrete house for their mother. This is why I say you have to look at the cost of living and inequality. There isn't just one reason why African Americans tend to be so disadvantaged (Even though stats say white crime rates are actually higher). There are multiple reasons that feed on each other. So the point is that people weigh their options the same way people on this site decide how much they want to use the dark side. And without the same opportunities you have, or even that I had, the math changes, and they see examples in their community that prove that they can survive and feed their families by selling drugs. The corner boy is making less than minimum wage but he can be younger than anyone McDonald's can legally hire and he can help his single mom feed the family while dad's serving time. And if the OG needs him to do more? As long as he gets more money that's the same as a promotion. He may never get to be a manager at McDonald's; not without an education. And he may have to choose work over education in order to survive. For everyone this decision between right and wrong isn't easy or cut and dry. When rent is due and your mom needs $500 to avoid being homeless what are you going to do? What if the local dope boy is willing to give you that money in exchange for working for him? These are decisions young kids are making and they grow up to be the dope boys that give those same options to other kids. So is it a stupid decision? Maybe. But maybe they see it as the only decision and therefore not stupid at all.

Almost everything is relative.

For example: the cost of education. Obviously, if you put more money into something its going to be better. The way public education was set up the money for schools comes from local taxes. So suburbs with higher incomes automatically had better tuition free schools. If you try to go to those same schools without living there... you're paying thousands of dollars per child. It doesn't cost each resident that much in their taxes. So why so high? To keep people out who can't afford it. Now combine that policy with public housing and "the projects". These kids are born into this. So by birth they are automatically destined to go to schools that have relatively no money because they're full of poor students from poor low income families. And this would have been seen and fixed long ago if it wasn't created that way on purpose. Do you really think everyone plays fair? Do you really think that someone didn't work the math out in their heads and see that if they pooled their wealth they could have better schools but if their money equally went to all the schools they would all have "average" schools? Do you think that given the opportunity to give their own children an advantage over others people wouldn't take it? We just had a college scandal involved where rich people were paying to do just that.

VixensVengeance wrote: The point of my question was to see if we could maybe shift the focus from the cries of systematic racism that only serve to perpetuate the very thing being cried as fowl and instead begin to come together to try and focus on some of the more pertinent and what I feel are real issues in the US when it comes to such things. We are all human and we all make mistakes and we are all guilty of bias from time to time. But to take that and inflate it into something like a claim of systematic racism I think is wrong. Im sorry you have felt some of your experiences were unfair. I think we have all been there. But I wonder if we can take those things and just see them for what they may actually be, just unfair, instead of making it about something in an excuse of racism that it is really not?

How do you know what it "really" is or is not? What if it's not as much about what you think it's about? What if racisim is part of the equation in more than just the police on the beat? What if racists control policies at every level of government? Not because everyone is racist. But because some people are and those who aren't may simply vote with them because they don't see the harm in doing so and because they assume they are being fair. So yes, we can talk about education but there may be some racism there too. We can talk about housing but there's racism there too. We can talk about financing and bank loans and the whole credit system but there is racism there too. There are companies in charge of hiring people that could provide better jobs to otherwise qualified black people but there is racism there too. Racism exists wherever racists exist.

Think about this: If I weren't black and there were no other black people on this site to ever bring up racial issues... would they be discussed? Who would raise awareness of racism and share personal experiences with it? Or would it be like it didn't exist because no one's talking about it? That's how every social issue is. If people aren't talking about it then it's like it doesn't exist. I personally had no idea how much homosexuality there was growing up because no one was talking about it in any way other than very negative and stereotypical. Now there's an openly gay man running for POTUS. We can turn a blind eye to many injustices just because it's not part of the conversation. But if slavery on Tatooine had been part of the conversation in the Jedi Council maybe there would have never been a Darth Vader.

Omhu Cuspor wrote:

ZealotX wrote: There seems to be 2 sides:

1. America's history "is what it is", you can't change it, and there's no problem if people have pride in it
2. Aspects of America's history are very offensive to disaffected groups who were either slaves or natives

Which side are you? Does it matter?

I think there is at least one more option among the available perspectives. It would recognize that there is both that which is admirable and that which is despicable in America's history, and then examine whether or not the Betsy Ross Flag emblazoned on a shoe conveys dominant support for either the admirable or the despicable point of view.

To my knowledge, the only nudge that Nike received to withdraw its Betsy Ross Flag shoe was from Colin Kaepernick, who complained that the flag reminded him of slavery. Colin's assertion in this regard is much removed from his claim to the right of protest during playing of the National Anthem, which indeed is his right. In this case, Kaepernick equates the American flag with slavery, and I believe that, in a literal sense, that is a fallacy.

First off - slavery on the American continent vastly predates the existence of the flag and the American nation. The primary reason for the invention of America was not to promote slavery; it was to withdraw from the imbalanced influence of Britain. Yes, slavery existed at the time America was founded, but to my knowledge there is no evidence anywhere that one of the issues of contention in splitting from Britain was a disagreement about slavery. That is not the fundamental value represented in the American flag.

Secondly, while the United States permitted slavery at its founding, it is the only republic or democracy in history to eventually abolish slavery. Rome did not, Greece did not, and most other nations that reached the expanse of an empire were monarchies. The U.S. still has abundant need for reform in terms of racism, but its casting off of slavery is unprecedented. That would quite possibly not have been possible if the form of government which the U.S. flag celebrates had been different.

Colin Kaepernick was on solid ground when he took the knee to shine light on a bad situation in America. But I think he erred in urging Nike to remove their shoe from the market, and that Nike erred in complying.

It depends on WHICH Flag you're talking about. All flags are not "US Flags" The colonies were not the "United States of America". So all this pre-civil war era stuff is from this pre-United States era and so when you use flags to symbolize that it does go to the motives of why the "United States" was resisted which is what led to the civil war. Many of these Southern civil war relics would not exist in memorial if they weren't pro-slavery. July 4th is about Independence as a STATE. Not freedom as July 4th did not free any slaves. However, the USAGE of certain flags isn't to celebrate history but to show loyalty and alignment with past views; including slavery. Because literally the only thing separating the north and the south for a long time was that issue. We're not talking about the current American flag on a shoe. We're talking about an old flag that is of historical significance to America but isn't representative of the USA.

So Kaepernick isn't simply some snowflake being triggered. He's echoing the sentiments of people like Fredrick Douglas who said:

“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?

I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.”

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/460599-what-to-the-american-slave-is-your-fourth-of-july

These words sound harsh, even to me. But you have to understand his perspective and his right to voice that perspective to anyone who would listen. In fact it reminds me of the bible when God was asking what the use was of all these vain sacrifices. Keep in mind that only a minority of whites were slave owners. The problem was these were powerful and influential people who could get poor whites to work and fight for them. This same mindset fuels corporations who have a lot of republican voters thinking that if they just give rich people more power and wealth that they will give them jobs and other advantages over "others".

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-slavery/chronology-who-banned-slavery-when-idUSL1561464920070322

Changes don’t happen? This nation fought a Civil war, they gave women and blacks rights to vote, there was the civil rights movement, there was the civil rights act, we gave lgbq the right to marry, there is affirmative action. These are just off the top of my head. Your characterization that change does not occur is false.

Why do you feel it’s more likely to happen to you that you are stopped by police? You immediately go to systemic racism but I wonder why? I asked earlier if the other poster researched the other possibilities in this and now I ask you. There is a difference between racism, discrimination and profiling. I think you are conflating the three. Anyone has a right to be a racist. But not anyone has a right to discriminate. If that right to discriminate existed then it would be systemic racism. That is not the case however. Profiling is also done to a wide variety of groups as well, not just minorities. I happen to spend a lot of time in Colorado and I also happen to ride a bike. Guess what happens to me and my friends when we leave the state of Colorado? Yes, we get profiled as more likely to be carrying marijuana than the minivan with the soccer mom on the road. And my male friends get it even worse. (Ha, yes breasts are an asset that have great advantage) None of this may be perceived as fair, however it is still not racism.

Cops can be racist, but I do not believe for a second that the entire police force engages in systematic discrimination. Judges can be racist, but once again, I don’t believe the judicial arm is engaged systemic racism or discrimination. Does profiling occur though? Hell yes it does. Is it effective? Some say it is and some say it is not. Is it fair? Maybe not, I don’t know. What I do know is that you will never fix fair as long as emotion is involved in the human condition. We can try and minimize it but life just sucks sometimes and we all have to get used to that fact.

What I do know is that the percentage of blacks that commit crime far exceeds the percentage of whites. Blacks have been attributed with committing over 52 percent of the homicides in the US over specific spans of time even though their per capita percentage is roughly 14 percent. Lesser crimes offending rate is almost 8 times higher than European Americans and youth gang membership for black youth is 46 percent compared to whites 11 percent. Black youths, who make up 16% of the youth population, accounted for 52% of juvenile violent crime arrests, including 58.5% of youth arrests for homicide and 67% for robbery. These numbers, even though they are on the decline today, are still way out of proportion. These results are highly correlated with education as well. 30 percent of those without college education and nearly 60 percent of black high school dropouts have prison records. This is why it’s so important to EDUCATE!

What I don’t believe is that the simple presence of a black kid in a white school automatically creates racism. You mentioned Mark Furhman. Yes what he said was inexcusable, but even that guy has minority members of his very own police force coming to his defense and saying hes not a racist. Whether he is or not it still does not give you the right to take one individual and apply his behavior globally to all police. Black cops have just as bad a days as white cops. Do I now have the right to claim discrimination because I was pulled over by a black cop having a bad day just because we are different races? I don’t think so. I have seen way more examples of blacks being pulled over by whites that later claim racial discrimination and didn’t know the cop had taped the incident with a body cam proving their claim absolutely false. It has become an excuse to perpetuate a myth in order to get special preference rather than the black individual admitting they were actually guilty.

I am Sith, so I have never disparaged crime as universally evil. I don’t believe in evil as a paradigm. People will do what they do and it’s up to them to accept the consequences of those actions. I believe opportunity exists for all equally. However the outcome does not. This idea that blacks are somehow removed from that does not hold water for me. If you choose crime as your opportunity then so be it, you will suffer those consequences if caught. For me it’s as simple as that. It is the sacrifice we make for living and accepting our social paradigm. Those individuals that undertake a life of crime, in my opinion, failed to take full advantage of the power they possessed in that paradigm and apply it in a way that was productive to further their passion. Short term gain is no place holder for long term goals. But when they are caught, to then cry racism as the excuse for their decision, is a lack of character to take responsibility for their action.

The whole point of my original comments in this thread were to try and get people to see that racism, if it exists, (and I believe there are instances of it in our society from all walks of life) is not the only issue and it is certainly not as big an issue as being a systemic problem. There are tons of factors that go into our interactions in a society and I think we should be fair in how we assess those factors. Instead of crying systemic racism is the only issue the black individual faces lets just be a bit more honest and say that while there may be instances of this for blacks, (as well as whites) its not appropriate to use it as an excuse to continue to segregate our communities with false claims. Instead we need to be better and work better to ferret out all the reasons that all people have differing issues and work together to fix them all. I believe a better focus on education and training as a paramount to solve this problem would be our best bet. What do you think, would you agree?

Changes don’t happen? This nation fought a Civil war, they gave women and blacks rights to vote, there was the civil rights movement, there was the civil rights act, we gave lgbq the right to marry, there is affirmative action.

First off, thank you for being open and honest in this discussion. I appreciate it more than you know. I also thank you for participating and having the courage/stomach to do it. Not everyone does. Not everyone feels comfortable expressing their true thoughts and feelings. Whether we change each other's minds is not paramount to this conversation or its importantance. My only goal here is to maybe say something that increases the level of understanding between people on all sides of the issue.

Secondly, unfortunately, the fact that you include such a span of time kind of proves the point I was trying to make and perhaps I wasn't specific enough so that's my fault. Imagine if I you were kidnapped at a very young age and sold as a sex slave to some rich billionaire. At some point you get a bit old for his tastes and so he stops forcing you to have sex. But you're still his slave and if he disapproves he still hits you. One day you complain and he says "hey at least I stopped raping you, right? Shouldn't you be happy? Maybe you should show some gratitude!" Let's say 5 more years pass; 5 more years of your precious one and only life. The guy stops hitting you as much, due in part to how polite you are and how you show him great respect when he gets angry. Things are obviously better than they were but he's still a billionaire who gets away with abusing you. If you were in that situation how would you feel? Would that "progress" be enough to satisfy you? Will he ever free you without being forced or pressured to do so?

The horrors of slavery went well beyond forced labor. That's why the references some people (not you or anyone else here) make to slavery in other times and places isn't the same. Indentured servants weren't treated as sub human animals. Even going back to biblical slavery, those people were compensated and freed when their debt was paid. At the same time men were paying dowries to marry other men's daughters. I don't approve of that system either and happy we have made progress in how we treat women. HOWEVER, I still find how we treated women inexcusable and nothing short of full equality will satisfy me on that issue. Women were treated as servants for so long that it became part of their education; to some degree even part of their nature. But because women ARE equal to men they deserve to be treated as such. Period. Same thing with all races. "All men are created equal" so all men (humans) should be treated as such.

I was at a girls house and remarked how good her sister's kids were. They were well behaved. I was immediately corrected because she didn't want them to get points for how they were SUPPOSED to be. I felt like I was being criticized in that moment but she was right. I'm sorry I cannot give people points relative to what horrors they did in the past that they're not "As bad" today. At MINIMUM... we should live in a free and fair society. I want it to be fair for you and fair for me. You contribute to it and so do I. If you're a sex slave I don't just want you your abuser to stop doing his worst. I want you to sue that man and get compensation; whatever a fair judge determines that to be. And if that billionaire and the judge are buddies then that's not okay. Corruption is not okay. I don't mean to harp on the whole point about change but I want you to understand that until we live in a fair and free society where everyone has the same opportunities people like me will never stop fighting for that. And that's what makes the Constitution of the United States so important; because it can be amended. It was built to be changed for the better. It was built with the foresight that what they were able to put in place then still needed to be made "more perfect". In order to do that though we need to stop corruption and things like Citizens United that actually give a much bigger voice to the rich and powerful and keep the systems working for them and not so much for the rest of us. Imagine if your rapist got to spend the night at jail for a matter of months and that's it.

Why do you feel it’s more likely to happen to you that you are stopped by police? You immediately go to systemic racism but I wonder why? I asked earlier if the other poster researched the other possibilities in this and now I ask you. There is a difference between racism, discrimination and profiling.

Yes there is a difference between profiling and "racial profiling". If unclear, I'm speaking about racial profiling which IS an expression of racism. And I know it's more likely to happen because my experiences inform me as well as others in my community. And more recently there have been studies to back it up as well as testimony from more than one police officer about exactly why it happens. I've already provided links to this information. Here's an interview with a police officer.

If you don't read or watch anything else, watch this video. It's only 8min of your life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV3Ctz8pfeU

examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N30tT93FChQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUVqAcRMuPU

Racial Profiling
https://www.aclu.org/issues/racial-justice/race-and-criminal-justice/racial-profiling
https://www.splcenter.org/20180918/racial-profiling-louisiana-unconstitutional-and-counterproductive

It should go without saying but racial profiling is unconstitutional. We are all innocent until proven guilty. When you start telling people stats and making people think there is a higher tendency for black people to be criminals (which there is NOT) then you're basically giving racists the ammunition and permission to target black and brown people.

But why, you may ask, can the stats not be trusted?

"The SPLC has found large racial disparities in arrest rates across the state that would be difficult to explain by different rates of crime commission alone. For example, in 2016, black people were 2.9 times as likely as white people to be arrested for marijuana possession in Louisiana,11 despite evidence that black people and white people use marijuana at similar rates."

And that's the thing. People feel justified in tolerating the police's mistreatment of minorities because they've been convinced that minorities are doing most of the crime and are more dangerous. However, this isn't actually true. Yes, there are areas, like Chicago, that are essentially warzones for gangs and yes gangs appeal more to the underpriviledged who band together to survive. But this is extremely isolated compared to the over 40 million African Americans in the United States. Plus, we focus on black gangs as if prolific while ignore white gangs.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/05/white-gangs-rise-simon-city-royals-mississippi-chicago

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/criminal-justice/reports/2018/09/13/457854/mistaken-identity/

https://tyt.com/stories/4vZLCHuQrYE4uKagy0oyMA/aiSoItcpfC720NgAEZbRc


It's all about labels and stereotypes. This is better explained by the ex-police officer in the first video, but the bottom line is that it's like the stock market. People buy and sell stock based on predictions. And then the buying and selling produces a track record from which more predictions are based. Part of the reason so many black men are in jail is because... so many black men are in jail. It's because of a cycle of targeting them and believing they are more likely to be guilty. And even if innocent they're far less likely to be able to get out of a ticket or an arrest. Once you train people to target a certain group then the stats will show that group commits more crimes because the other groups aren't being caught to the same degree. And that's why a lot of people think police are being fair. They're buying into this image of black people suggested by who the police target more often.

And that's why a black kid was gunned down in a park playing with a toy gun.

anyone has a right to be a racist. But not anyone has a right to discriminate. If that right to discriminate existed then it would be systemic racism.

I think I know what you meant to say but for the sake of clarity for others let me reverse it. It's okay to discriminate as long as you're not a business with some exceptions for private member clubs. On a personal level you can discriminate to your heart's content. A lot of people wont date black people. That's fine. You can have a preference. Some people don't date short people. I personally do not prefer women with short hair. A Racist is someone who not only thinking their race is superior but uses whatever superior power they have to benefit their race to the detriment of others.

Cops can be racist, but I do not believe for a second that the entire police force engages in systematic discrimination. Judges can be racist, but once again, I don’t believe the judicial arm is engaged systemic racism or discrimination.

Stop thinking in absolutes. We're not talking about every officer, every judge, every politician. It doesn't require that. I've seen great cops in my neighborhood. I even took a video of the most humane arrest of a black suspect I've ever seen. I happen to know that he has mental health issues and was practically asking them to kill him. This department participates in community events and interacts with people. So believe me, I know what good policing looks like.

What I do know is that you will never fix fair as long as emotion is involved in the human condition. We can try and minimize it but life just sucks sometimes and we all have to get used to that fact.

Well that's why we have courts... to fix fair. You can't fully prevent it but you can minimize it. More people would commit crimes if they thought they wouldn't be caught. More people would abuse other people if they didn't believe they could be sued. More cops would be much more careful if they thought they had to be or else they could end up in jail themselves. But as long as they're trained to fear for their lives and act like everyone is a threat and then go out and over police minorities because its easier/safer/etc. Even if Michael Woods wasn't racist himself he was still carrying out orders based on an agenda of racism. And that can be taken to court until it changes. Money has a good way of motivating change.

What I do know is that the percentage of blacks that commit crime far exceeds the percentage of whites.

This is just patently false and I've already addressed why. This idea/belief makes a lot of white people think there is "something wrong" with black people. And so its easy to assume then that its not whites (cops or otherwise) who are at fault and who are doing anything wrong. It's easy to assume that black people need to _____ and then people fill in the blanks. But its all based on the assumption that blacks are committing more crime which is false. In order to see that racism exists you have to see past the marketing of the alt right, the MAGA crowd, and all those who create this narrative that there is something wrong with black people and therefore it is okay to lock them up. This same spin has been done on Mexicans so that people are okay with locking them in cages and abusing them and basically kidnapping children. These narratives make it harder for us to attack and get rid of racism because these narratives provide racism the cover it needs to continue. And that's what I was talking about when I was talking about change. Racism hasn't gone anywhere. It's just evolved and gotten smarter about how it goes about its business. And if you're not the one feeling the effects then its designed for you not to see it.

ZealotX wrote:

ren wrote: It's my understanding that it's a genuine historical US flag. I find it staggering that US citizens, who pledge allegiance to their flag, are offended by it.

I look at it like this. I'm 40 now (still in the process of accepting that). I remember my 30s, my 20s., I just posted a pic to facebook from my 10s but I hardly remember being that young.

That whole journey is me.

And some might use an old flag as someone posting an old photo of themselves. For the sake of memory. A lot of people commented on my old photo about how they remember that person. My mom saw it and texted me about the young man she remembered.

But...

I don't walk around in the same shoes I wore then. I'm not trying to BE that person. I didn't like everything about that person. That's part of my motivation for self-improvement. I'm not ashamed of that person, but the pride in who I am isn't a relic of the past. My pride is 40 years old, just like me. I wear clothes that I can fit today, not clothes that fit when I was 10 or 7.

The way that many people (especially in the South) are using certain symbols is basically like trying to wear those old clothes from a time when America was deep into morally dark and unenlightened territory, when some of us were slaves, when women weren't allowed to vote, etc. And remnants of that are still with us. Black people still can't live without harassment (and sometimes even lynchings and execution) and women still don't get equal pay and have their reproductive rights dictated to them by men. We're still making progress but there is a conflict between the progress and people who want to go back because the honest truth is they don't like the progress. They'd rather be represented by the flag of yester years because they don't like the America of today represented by its current flag. Sure, they say they love it and have both flags and flags on top of flags. But a flag is a very representative symbol. It marks territory. It's like wild animals pissing in the woods to let others know who the boss is there. "You're in my house, (*****)!"

And for some that memory of me is positive. Would I care to see pics of the guys who bullied me in elementary and middle school on people's shirts all around me? Probably not. Do I want to pass by statues everyday commemorating the people who murdered and enslaved my ancestors? No. We don't sing every verse of the Star Spangled Banner. And for a long time I didn't even know all the lyrics because of that just like many people never heard of the Betsy Ross flag or saw it. But it has a lot of meaning to those it has meaning to. But we often don't recognize in our society just how much conflict there is when it comes to who we are and what we're willing to tolerate.

History is what it is, but it's HOW you USE it that, imho, makes the difference. Some what to go forward. Others want to go back.

Excessive simplifications. Most people are not allowed to vote in most elections. Most people are at risk of being harrassed, physically harmed or killed. Most people get paid a different salary from most other people. And most people eventually figure out it is their reproductive organs that control them, not them who control their reproduction.

You owe your life to murderers, rapists, racists, thieves and slavers just as much as you owe it to their victims. To the wind that brought that tree down on that guy that fateful day 15000 years ago. This is true now, it was true before, and it will be true in the future. rewriting history is denial of the present.

This modern political nonsense is absolute garbage. Americans talk about slavery like the only slavery that has ever existed is the one that built most of their country, and somewhat that's bad. I would be surprised if a single human being on earth isn't descended from slaves. We can talk about how the arabs were the greatest slavers of all time, or mongols were the greatest killers of all time. The fact remains everyone else has been doing a lot of killing too. You can categorise all you want, try to identify the good guys and the bad guys, but the fact is, the white man stole his white neighbour's food, the black man captured and sold his black brother. Women's greatest oppressor? Other women.


...to go back to that flag.

It is a part of history. And history is not offensive. History is the truth. History is why every single atom in the universe is doing what it is doing right now. To be offended by it is a form of hatred for the Force, which makes as much sense for Jedi as being offended by god's plan does for christians.

ren wrote: It is a part of history. And history is not offensive. History is the truth. History is why every single atom in the universe is doing what it is doing right now. To be offended by it is a form of hatred for the Force, which makes as much sense for Jedi as being offended by god's plan does for christians.

When does something become history?

If someone does anything offensive to you the second that thy've finished it is now part of history. By this logic you can't be offended by anything.

And also by this logic everything people do to each other is "the Force" so why be offended at all?

Zealotx are you trying to imply that black people are still slaves of white people in the US and all the civil war did was stop white people from raping black people? I find your analogy not only worthless but also offensive. I am of Welsh ancestry. Your comparison would be equivalent to me claiming the Romans still kept my people as slaves or that I deserved reparations from Romans for the atrocities perpetrated against my Celtic ancestors by them. Peoples have invaded lands and taken slaves for millennia. Do all those slaves deserve reparations from their former captors? Should all the decedents of all those former slaves take the decedents of their former captors to court and sue them?

Do you see that when you exit your bubble of bias how silly this becomes? You say that all men are created equal. Well in the first place I don’t believe men are “created” at all. I also do not believe there is some universal constant that makes us equal. We are not equal. So our efforts at creating civilization are what we use to attempt to make us equal. It is an evolving process that tries to provide equal opportunity for all, but not equal outcome. It’s not perfect either but we continue to strive to move it forward. And I find it offensive that some claim there is a hidden organized agenda to keep some portion of the population from that goal. Its equivalent to the conspiracy theory that we did not actually land on the moon. It’s fallacious and easily disproven, however there are those that still insist it is true. I find it dumbfounding that bias can so dramatically eclipse fact.

VixensVengeance wrote: I asked earlier if the other poster researched the other possibilities in this and now I ask you.

I have reposted, once again, my question above. I believe you have not only failed to answer it but also have ignored its implications. I support this claim by the following evidence. You have pulled your data (videos) from one of the most biased and one sided news outlets available. I also suspect you did no outside research into any of these videos but simply found something to support your claim and then posted it. This is called confirmation bias. Michael Wood has had numerous claims leveled against him from outside his protected circle that claim he was more often the perpetrator of the crimes he levels against his peers than anyone. He has also failed to ever name names or incidents or other details so that those he accused could be brought to justice. What good is the claim if nothing is done to correct it? He is also under investigation for creating a false charity and stealing over 1.4 million dollars from veterans of this nation in a false charity drives. I find his testimony to be duplicitous and his character lacking.

As for the other two videos, well the most that can be said about either incident is that in the second there may have been an abuse of the “reasonable suspicion” statutes (different than probable cause) but I cannot say for sure because conveniently anything leading up to this incident was never shown or discussed. The third video I find just and reasonable cause for everything that happened there. To try and swing either of these videos into the racial discrimination is category is unreasonable at best. No mention of race was ever shown or heard except by the ones arrested themselves claiming without grounds that it’s because they were black. The police in either video were well within their authority (save possibly the second) to undertake the action they did. And even if the second video cop overstepped her bounds she is only guilty of violation that statute, not of racism. You are allowing this biased news outlet to lead you by the nose. Their claim in the third video that we should no longer be able to use skin color or race as a descriptor when describing a suspect in a crime is just beyond ridiculous.

You are absolutely right about statistics. You can get them to say anything you want. Just look at our last presidential election! Lol. So you make a very good point that my stats I posted earlier really don’t mean much, especially to the untrained eye. However you must also apply that globally as well. Meaning your stats also mean very little. The most objective data I can find on such things is in a wiki page. It goes back and forth on a lot of things and it’s where I pulled some of those stats from. However it also has stats that show whites are arrested at a much higher rate than blacks for specific crimes as well. So what are we supposed to believe?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_States

I think it comes down, once again, to honesty. We need to stop focusing on one aspect of an issue in bias and ignoring everything else just to prop up a belief system. Bad and unfair things sometimes happen to blacks (to all of us no matter the race). But that does not give them the right to claim systematic racial discrimination if there is just no overarching evidence for it beyond those occasional incidents. Same goes for whites or Hispanics or Asians and so on. Life is unfair and bad stuff happens. But don’t disenfranchise an entire group profile just because of an isolated incident. Do you see when you do this you are actually engaging in profiling as well. A single racist cop hits a black person. So blacks claim the entire police force is discriminating and targeting blacks. That’s just not the right way to go about this. You are alienating the very people that are trying to help by doing this. Go after the cop, go after the problem, and don’t dirty the water by making claims that only serve to further segregate us. It’s easy to sit and blame the system, it’s harder to actually do the work and stop the outliers of our society by working together no matter the color of our skin. I urge you to stop looking at groups and start looking at people.

VixensVengeance wrote: Why do you feel it’s more likely to happen to you that you are stopped by police? You immediately go to systemic racism but I wonder why? I asked earlier if the other poster researched the other possibilities in this and now I ask you. There is a difference between racism, discrimination and profiling. I think you are conflating the three. Anyone has a right to be a racist. But not anyone has a right to discriminate. If that right to discriminate existed then it would be systemic racism. That is not the case however. ...

Cops can be racist, but I do not believe for a second that the entire police force engages in systematic discrimination. Judges can be racist, but once again, I don’t believe the judicial arm is engaged systemic racism or discrimination.

Again, I appreciate your participation as well as the opinions you shared in this thread. Please do me a favor and watch 1 minute of the following video (starting at 55:00).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX7hni-zGD8

1 minute. Listen to mayor Pete talk about policing in his own city. And if you don't believe me, believe a sitting mayor. I'm not even telling you. I'm asking you. Please believe this man who is in charge and looking at the issues from inside the system. He's not black (not that black people have any motive to make all this up).

thanks

No, you're reading too far into and drawing the wrong correlation from the analogy and then using it to insert words into my mouth to be offended by. Instead of doing that and putting me in a position to defend words I never said if you could answer the question posed it will become more clear. So please answer that question. I'll explain the analogy afterwards to your satisfaction.

Do you see that when you exit your bubble of bias how silly this becomes? You say that all men are created equal.

"we hold these truths to be self evident" That's the language of our Constitution. I don't believe we were created either but it would seem silly to debate the Constitution on that point. No?

I also do not believe there is some universal constant that makes us equal.

This is a personal opinion beyond the scope of our discussion but privately I'd love to know what, in your mind, makes human beings better or worse than other human beings. I don't want to talk about that publicly though.

And I find it offensive that some claim there is a hidden organized agenda to keep some portion of the population from that goal.

Why does that offend you? It is the agenda of the KKK, Nazi, Skinheads, and many others. While some of these group are more so about rhetoric, different groups are at different levels of organization. Groups with members who are in positions of authority simply use that authority according to the agenda of the group. It has been this way since many of the hooded Klansmen were actually members of law enforcement.

https://time.com/4779112/police-history-origins/

In the South, however, the economics that drove the creation of police forces were centered not on the protection of shipping interests but on the preservation of the slavery system. Some of the primary policing institutions there were the slave patrols tasked with chasing down runaways and preventing slave revolts, Potter says; the first formal slave patrol had been created in the Carolina colonies in 1704. During the Civil War, the military became the primary form of law enforcement in the South, but during Reconstruction, many local sheriffs functioned in a way analogous to the earlier slave patrols, enforcing segregation and the disenfranchisement of freed slaves.

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/groups

It’s fallacious and easily disproven

Then please be my guest and disprove it. I'll be quite honest with you. Some historical facts surprised even myself. You hear something and you're like... "nah... that can't be right." And then you find the information from reputable sources. The fact is, times were very different and a lot of whites hated black people. And the more they hated us the more they used their positions of authority to work against us. And a lot of this, frankly, is the same reason a lot of people don't like Mexicans. They're capitalists but they don't want to compete with "other" groups.

The reason why white supremacists love Trump is because the MAGA agenda is an attempt to go back on some of the very changes you cited as progress; especially Affirmative Action. These are rights and dignities people died trying to get and there are those who want to take them away because they don't think "this" America is great because its not an American dream for them because they've lost some of their advantages. But no, unfortunately these things are not conspiracy theories.

https://www.monticello.org/thomas-jefferson/jefferson-slavery/jefferson-s-attitudes-toward-slavery/

Ronald Reagon gave us the Anti-Drug Abuse Act which took the racist drug war to the next level. And before you say "that's a conspiracy!" hold on... not so fast.



So yes... this goes up to the office of the presidency, creating policies for law enforcement officers to carry out whether each individual officer is racist or not. But it was the system that proposed these policies targeting people based on race and it was the system that gave them harsher punishments (crack vs cocaine). So while I understand these things are hard to believe for those who really haven't had cause to investigate or delve deep into this side of history... I understand... but in not doing so you can't simply assume that everyone who says something different is automatically wrong. Investigate! If you truly find something different let me know. I'm not against you! I'm against corruption. There are scores of examples of racism, systematic and otherwise. It's never gone away. It's just done a better job of hiding itself because at some point the police simply couldn't keep letting random people lynch and murder black people. And I hope you're not going to say that didn't happen either.

No mention of race was ever shown or heard except by the ones arrested themselves claiming without grounds that it’s because they were black.

If that's your standard then I give up. I yield. Because people doing bad things do not typically announce it unless they have to (such as bank robber taking hostages).

However it also has stats that show whites are arrested at a much higher rate than blacks for specific crimes as well. So what are we supposed to believe?

There was a time when I didn't think black people were serial killers. Someone proved me wrong. It's all about getting caught. Police aren't magic. If they were, they wouldn't be going off of general descriptions like 6 foot, black, and bald. Do you know how many black men are 6 foot? Do you know how many black men are bald or have very short hair? I sometimes get mistaken for a pro football player just because of my size, color, and dreadlocks. That's not enough to lock someone up when that person isn't doing anything suspicious. The problem is that it is very easy for people to make excuses. The excuses people use are designed not to make them look bad. They're not idiots. They're not going to say "golly gee whiz, I thought that black guy did it because... he was black!" That's not at all reality. The cop is going to look for other things before or after the fact that he can use to say why the person was suspicious or why he had to stop them "oh he had a broken tail light and I just happened to randomly search his vehicle". They're not stupid. People use "dog whistles" in politics. Do you really think no one is sophisticated enough to disguise their racism? Or do you think I'm am not sophisticated enough to buy this narrative that unless its stated verbatim its not racist?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics

I think it comes down, once again, to honesty. We need to stop focusing on one aspect of an issue in bias and ignoring everything else just to prop up a belief system. Bad and unfair things sometimes happen to blacks (to all of us no matter the race). But that does not give them the right to claim systematic racial discrimination if there is just no overarching evidence for it beyond those occasional incidents.

Again, I've give you a bunch of evidence at this point to show you that it's real, including admissions from police, a mayor, and presidential staff member. At this point I don't know what, if anything, could convince you so we should probably just agree to disagree. Is that fair?

I did take a look at your video, Zealotx, as you requested. Setting aside the fact that your request is not only an argument ad populum but also a plea to authority, the speaker is one of the democratic presidential candidates that has recently come under fire from the black population of the community he is currently mayor of. I also researched this mayor and the incident in question that he speaks of. I find his motivations to be suspect because of my findings. He appears to be trying to appease what I am seeing as an unjustly angry voting base in order to further his career. I understand the incident in question is still under investigation but there is no blatant evidence that the shooting was not justified. The suspect that was shot was engaged in suspicious activity by being partially in a car after a report of someone in the area breaking into cars and when he was confronted by the officer, the suspect left the car carrying a large knife raised over his head and began walking toward the officer while ignoring commands to stop and drop the knife.

The family of the person shot has already filed a civil lawsuit against the city and the police dept before the investigation is even concluded which to me is a bias in itself because they have already decided that the officer is guilty of misconduct without any evidence. I understand emotions run high but this is the exact thing I am speaking of, assuming guilt and not innocence because of a reverse racial bias by blacks that white cops are out to get them. The mayor, instead of supporting his police force and enacting proper means to investigate this issue and correct short comings in his police force has instead thrown them to the wolves in order to try and preserve his voting base. This has not fixed anything and instead has exacerbated the situation by further dividing the community instead of bringing it together! I view him as a bad mayor and he has even admitted himself that he has and continues to fail his people.

He should be remaining objective in this investigation and be providing every means to get a fair outcome without taking sides. He should be supporting his police force in their duties and using any means available to internally investigate any wrong doing, while doing everything he can to bring the community together in this. And he should be enforcing better protocols and procedures in his police force so that body cams are better utilized and the best training is provided to them in every aspect of their police work including cultural diversity and he should be making much better efforts to recruit minority officers to the force by presenting the force as a valuable and productive place to work instead of unfairly condemning them. These are the actions of a good mayor. But he has failed to take any of these actions. Now he fights two battles instead of one. The local fraternal order of police have issued an open letter, saying that Buttigieg's intentions in the matter are purely political, and that his approach to the shooting has only created greater division within the city. His actions only served to further the divide by propagating rumors there is no evidence for. He has failed his office in almost every way possible.

Thank you for watching the video.

VixensVengeance wrote: the suspect left the car carrying a large knife raised over his head and began walking toward the officer while ignoring commands to stop and drop the knife.

Is that what you saw? Or what the officer said happened? You're telling us what the suspect did as if there is no question. This is the same formula that many cops use in order to justify murder. We've seen numerous videos in a short time span of officers yelling commands and even when the person tries to comply they get shot anyway and the story changes to something else. "oh I thought he was reaching for a gun." "uh maybe because you asked for his license and registration?"

Do you think police officers always tell the truth? Seriously. You can be suspicious of the mayor (who I pointed you to because he's dealing with this right now and handled it poorly in the past) but your suspicious seems to stop shy of the police officer in question. Why is that? Is it because being less critical of him supports your already established beliefs?

The reason you shouldn't take Buttigieg's statement as political is because he already went at it from the other side and knows that view isn't popular among whites who are the majority of his voters. There is overwhelming support among whites for the police; almost similar to support for American troops. Saying anything against either opens you up for attack. And black people in his district are not going to give him a pass for paying lip service if he didn't even believe what he was saying. If you investigated then you are already aware of what he did previously to upset the black community in his area.

Buttigieg said:
“The fact that a black person is four times as likely as a white person to be incarcerated for the exact same crime is evidence of systematic racism,” Buttigieg said. “With all due respect, sir, racism makes it harder for good police officers to do their job, too. It’s a smear on law enforcement.”

The officer has reportedly made racial comments before and this man he killed was 54. You want me to believe that a 54 yr old man, armed only with a knife, was not only breaking into cars but was willing to take on an armed and trained police officer? And we're supposed to believe an officer who was wearing a body cam but just so happened not to have had it turned on? Do you really believe that? Is it something you would do or something you think a black person would do?

I apologize, I’m trying to keep up here so give me a bit! lol


Zealotx, I apologize if I inserted words into your mouth. That was not my intent. Ok, I will answer the question. No I would not be satisfied with that progress. I would make every effort to continue to free myself.

As well yes you are right about the constitution. I am not trying to debate that. In fact it makes my point that social and political structures are the means to equal men, not innate universal or implied rights.

And I may have been over zealous about my claiming of offense. You are absolutely right that certain groups seek to oppress certain other groups simply because they are different than them. Christians are a classic example of this. They seek to oppress others just as much as any of the racist groups you describe. I guess what I was mostly talking about was the general bulk of the population as opposed to fringe groups whose goal or mission it is to oppress others. So you make an important distinction here. I rescind my statement and modify it to say that I am talking about social structures like police forces and our constitution and laws whose mission statements are one of inclusion of all human beings. Meaning I don’t believe there are organized, subversive infiltrators that proliferate such structures with the intent of undermining the equality this nation was designed to bring forth. In light of this modified stance on my part, I believe I have been proving the claim that systematic racism is a fallacious belief.

I am also not a fan of affirmative action. I understand what it was intended for but the down side of it is that it favors a group based on race instead of qualification. Once again, instead of giving a race an unfair advantage over others, why didn’t we spend that money on better education for that race!!! This would have allowed them to become better qualified for those positions and become competitive in those markets instead of giving them a carte blanche opportunity. As for the “racist drug war” (a term I have never heard before, and would need to research) well now we are legalizing marijuana in many states despite its continued federal mandate as a schedule 1 drug. Another prime example of racial progress enacted by the people over the deep state if your claims are true!

Im not sure what you mean by “my standard”? I simply evaluated the evidence objectively and came to a reasonable conclusion on those videos. Can you show me where any of those individuals were singled out unjustly just because they were black? If so I will concede my point.

Do you know how many white people are 6 foot and bald? If the description of black were to have been left out then the chances of catching the bad guy are increased 2 fold. Every bit of description that can be given must be used. I agree it must be used fairly but it still must be used. It simply narrows the field of suspects and I find that reasonable. I have been stopped and detained because of a description before. I was arrested and held for 6 hours until my finger prints came back as no match. It was an incident where I was screwing around late at night and someone else fitting my description had broken into a construction site. I’m a white female. If the white part had been left out of the description they might have arrested a black girl and then guess what… she would have complained that it was only because she was black and they should have used white in the description. Hehehe I don’t mean that to be offensive, just a bit of a snark in fun. My point is that we as a society can’t have it both ways.

I don’t think we have to agree to disagree here. I think we can come to a consensus. I have enjoyed seeing the other side of these arguments and I have tried to present my own in a coherent manner. My goal in this was to get us to agree that crying racism is not the best approach to these problems. I think education is the best approach. I agree that racism exists so concur with you there. But I don’t believe that systemic racism exists and I want you to agree with me through my presentation of my thoughts. Instead I want us both to agree to two things.

1. Acts and incidents of racism do exist
2. Education is the best means we have available to end that racism and unite people.

Better education of minorities in order to get them better places in society and the work force and to reduce succumbing to a life of crime. Better education for police forces in social awareness, de-escalation procedures and cultural diversity. Better education of the general public to teach us all how to better address and report incidents of racism when they see it. Better education of our elected officials to create and enforce policies that are designed to unite people instead of divide them. And more cultural diversity training and interaction in our public schools so that the next generation grows up not seeing color but instead seeing the individual. What do you think?

To comment briefly on your last post. Age has nothing to do with ability to commit crime. I dont know if the car he was in was his or not. Reports didnt say. People do all sorts of stupid stuff like suicide by cop. I also dont know his mental state. The report of the cop was cooberated by witnesses as well. Also I never said I made a judgement on the cops innocent or guilt. I cant because I don't know all the facts of the case. The investigation is still under way. If he is guilty he should be punished accordingly.

But I will assume him innocent until proven guilty. Same goes for the man shot. That is not a bias but a constitutional right. I wonder In return why you assume the worst intent of the cop and assume him guilty but not the man shot?

I was listening to this YouTube video the other day (wish I could find it), Simon Sinek was talking about the Infinte Game (in short, there are two types of games: finite games - play to win - and infinite games - keep the game going), and he offered that oftentimes what we do isn't consistent with our values (who we are), because we are tying to play a finite game when we should be playing an infinite game. He offered the following example of the United States:

When our soldiers are in battle and we shoot the enemy, we will go, pick up our enemy, and take them to the nearest medical center so he can get medical attention. This is something that is obviously not in our interest... but it is guided by who we are. It makes us predictable. And it lets our allies know who we are, and they can either stand with us... or against us.

He goes on to talk about how current (last 50 years) foreign policy has been characterized by the US attempting a finite game (we were trying to "win" in Vietnam, Vietcong were fighting to stay alive), which has led us to stray from our values (who we are).

I am pretty sure that there is a fair share of bigots who would rather have black people return to being slaves (or just move to another country), turn away immigrants, leave women in the kitchen and all that stuff.

But I get the feeling that the bulk of people who want the US to be great again really sense this loss of identity, of the United States of America no longer standing for justice and freedom, as it once did (or at least was perceived around the world). This is why distrust in government is at an all time high. People used to trust institutions and used to hold them in high regard. People used to trust government and law enforcement officials to be honorable and dignity. The US was a shining example of a beacon of light in the world. No more.

This is why it is easy for radical political groups to pinpoint any given group and declare them as the "cause" for this loss of values. You have the radical right blaming feminazis, antifa, transexuals and social justice warrios. On the other hand the radical left demonizes neonazis, mainstream christians, business owners and billionares).

It's easy to blame others.

@VV
No apologies needed and thank you for answering the question. Of course I knew you wouldn't be satisfied with that progress. Who would? With that said, I do think we can continue and probably arrive at the conclusions you mentioned. We'll be in the same chapter at least if not the same page. And that's good. I'm glad we can enjoy each other's perspective. Your perspective is very important because a lot of people think the same way you do. I don't say this to minimize your individuality but rather as a recognition that you have a logical process that leads you to this conclusion according to the information you have available. I have no problems with your logical thought process. I only hope I can insert extra information into it and maybe you can do the same for me; show me what perhaps I haven't seen. And then we're both better off for it.

It's not that black people are still slaves. It's that black people are still mistreated, oppressed, and marginalized in a relationship where the side that used to be masters still have most of the power. It's simply done in a way that is far more under the radar and can't be communicated without video evidence. We're recording now and that's why there are all these stories of black people getting harassed, not just by cops, but by random white people in general emboldened by the current administration. There are no slave masters but plenty of people who want to be a master race.

This racism is nuanced by subconscious bias and the acceptance of stereotypes. People judge you based on an idea that you are "more likely" to be lazy, be late, be violent, steal, etc. Whether the same person thinks their race is superior or not, may not actually be the case. So I can understand why many people might say "racial" but not "racist". There's a whole lot of grey area and people in the grey area don't want to be labeled as if they're full blown racist when they're merely influenced by racists, employed by racists, have racist friends and family, etc.

I had paragraphs lined up to argue the opposite position but I decided to delete them and take different approach. Because I think the conversation, that needs to happen and keep happening, is fueled by a lot of contrasting ideas that react to each other when people are really more in the middle than labels tend to suggest.

So instead of hearing me say "Everything is racist!" which I'm not actually trying to say... what I'd like you to hear me say is that IDENTITY plays a lot into our decisions. Years ago I would not have chosen to spend any amount of time with a homosexual. I was uncomfortable around them. And I was influenced by the bible and Rastafarianism via reggae. Still am to some degree but I'm also influenced by things that mitigate those influences. For example... you talked about Christianity and I agree 100% there. The intolerance there is amazing and it doesn't tend to change in isolation. What they perceive to be a religion about love is simply applicable who ever they deem worthy. And there's a lot of other issues with bible based religions as well. Point is I think isolation is extremely problematic where diversity actually helps people to confront whatever their learned behaviors and biases so "we" can get past them. I don't have the "old white lady clutching her purse" happen to me now but I don't live in an isolated white community. I live in a diverse community (which is fantastic).

So you also have to apply this to what I'm saying about policing. Every neighborhood isn't the same. But let's say you have an officer who lived or lives in an isolated white community but his patrol area includes a black community. I think of ideas similar to DNA or RNA. It's just information. A virus is made up of genetic material and is capable of latching onto and getting inside a host. Racism was a viral idea based on other ideas that feed it. These "other ideas" are like HIV. It's not full blown AIDS. The person simply suffers from an inability to see black people the same as whites. Is that racist? One could argue this falls short of racism. But if you combine this idea with power/authority and perhaps it combines with one or more other "lesser" ideas... then it becomes full blown racism. People are infected and don't even know they have it and swear they don't; sometimes even after being caught on video.

Everyone would like racism to be one clear and easy thing. It's not. And we can only see the virus when it rises to the surface. And by its nature it is unwanted by most people. Very few people are sort of "proud to be racist". Those are the people who don't give a crap what society thinks. And part of their racism IS based on wanting to be different from and go against the norms of society. But for most people racism is an ugly thing. Like HIV they might not want to tell people they have it since it could result in being shunned. A lot of profiles on Tindr now say if you're racist or right wing swipe left. We're so anti that we create labels and those labels may apply but the labels often force people underground, force their ideas into hiding, cause them not to benefit from diversity. Two people with HIV can have sex to their hearts content. Two racists can swap ideas (instead of bodily fluids) all day without protection, not worried about saying the "wrong thing" because they already think alike on most issues. And so why do they need to stop being racist when they don't need to be in relationships with anyone who isn't?

Now, I do NOT believe that racists collude to do systematic or institutional racism. I do not believe there is a smoky back room somewhere with KKK meetings (although KKK meetings do exist) talking about how they're going to change the laws to destroy black people. I hope that's not what you thought I was talking about. That's not what institutional racism is. No one needs to do that. However, do groups get together for the advancement of the group? Absolutely. Do they use their social circles to create opportunities and advantages for each other? Absolutely, and it's legal. Fraternities and Sororities are based on this. The Masonic Lodge is based on this. Hell, the Moose Lodge is based on this. So yes... this is a thing.

Now back in the day, KKK had meetings and they would have to plan and coordinate lynchings and things like that. However, they don't NEED to do that anymore and so they don't. Why not? Because as long as there are like minded people in certain positions they don't need to tell them what to do. And that means all they have to do is use their influence to get them elected. If you elect a racist sheriff you don't have to give him commands after that. You can just trust he's going to do racist things. So if you have a certain caucus, or white nationalist like Steve Bannon as a strategist and you have media outlets echoing your talking points. All you have to do is play on those stereotypes and keep attacking affirmative action and other initiatives designed to offset the effects of racism. You talk about law and order and MS13 and Muslim terrorists and you just don't talk about the Dylan Roofs and others who are presently attending training camps and acting like terror cells. And now there are internet forums with encryption, email, and text messages on burner phones. No one is going to organize in the same old fashioned way like people used to. Everyone evolves; including racists.

Zealotx, I would like you to watch a video now, And then I would like you to read an article about that same video to see the difference in reporting this incident. The first is sensationalist and spins the story in such a way that it is totally unfair to the police and serves only to divide the issue into us vs them. The second article is actually an unbiased interview with the actual person and it seems a much more honest account of it comes out in the second story. This sort of junk is why I hate The Young Turks.

Here are a few points to consider in the video as well. I would love to get your thoughts on this.

At 0:13 – commentator says the kid was arrested for nothing. This is not true. In fact I don’t think he was ever under arrest, he was detained because of what I would assume is reasonable suspicion.

At 1:55 – commentator says the issue was that cops got beat on the court and retaliated. There is absolutely no evidence for this.

At 2:25 - commentator claims cops were embarrassed and retaliated. Once again, no evidence. He goes on to say they arrested him the next day. This is also false, it was 2 days later.

At 2:35 – commentator claims cops searched his car. This is false. They actually searched his friend’s car

At 2:58 – commentator claims cops might have been looking for his friend. Also false. The car was in a place known for drug activity. Nothing mentions why they were stopped though so there is no evidence either way as to why they were detained above this.

At 3:30 – commentator mentions thank god there was no tazing or shooting. No one ever mentions the fact that they ever resisted or were in any danger or fled the scene, even though the commentator also mentions it was good they did not. This is just inflationary sensationalism based on pure conjecture.

At 4:40 – commentator comments that the cops disparaged and shanked all that good will the built up. Again, just inflammatory words designed to cut down one side. They never mention that the cops could have just been trying to do their job the best they could. Are we to expect now that if a cop plays basketball with someone they are not allowed to then later arrest them ever for a crime??? Ridiculous.

At 4:44 – commentator implies that being stopped by the cops or detained will lead to getting fired from your job. Again this is just inflationary and designed to demonize cops.

At 5:16 – commentator claims it was a false arrest. In the first place I don’t believe anyone was ever even arrested. They were detained, which is quite different. And secondly if it was a false arrest the cops would have been punished. What the commentator is trying to do here is depict the police force as being systematically racist and covering for each other. I don’t believe this for one second.

At 5:42 – commentator claims cops have been able to “get away” with 280 fatal shootings without prosecution. This is just nuts. It implies that cops are just out there waving guns and shooting people without discretion and it’s all being covered up. More sensationalism designed to evoke a negative response to police that is completely unfair.

At 7:28 – commentator claims this would have never happened to a rich person. How does he know this? If a rich person were down in a known drug area under the same circumstance it would happen to them as well. It’s happened to me so I have some ground to stand on here.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rllRn2zMRLo&t=121s


https://www.phillyvoice.com/samir-hill-no-hard-feelings-after-crossover-arrest/


So I ask you, how is any of this sensationalist garbage (like TYT) doing any good to heal the wounds or mend the rifts between races? All it is doing is furthering the divide and polarizing people against one another. This has to stop in favor of better and more constructive means to bring people together!

By this logic you can't be offended by anything.

And also by this logic everything people do to each other is "the Force" so why be offended at all?

That's right. Being offended has got to be the dumbest thing anyone can possibly do.