Imagine you are black

Discussion in 'Political Opinions & Beliefs' started by JeffYoung, May 18, 2015.

  1. Dixit

    Dixit New Member

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    Wow, so lazy...

    Racism is any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.

    According to an Associated Press poll of 2012, racism has increased since 2008.

    According to the poll, "51% of Americans now express explicit anti-black attitudes, compared with 48% in a similar 2008 survey." The three percentage point rise is not large, and within the poll's margin of error. But, at the very least, it indicates we have not reached the post-racial world that some hoped Obama's election would usher in. And the prejudice isn't limited to blacks: 52% openly express anti-Hispanic sentiments.

    The numbers go up when measured by an implicit racial attitudes test. That is, when the survey takes into account the "dog-whistles," the new buzz word for code language only those "tuned in" will hear, anti-black sentiment is 56% and anti-Hispanic sentiment is 57%.
     
  2. mikemikev

    mikemikev Banned

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    Considering races are not equal, why shouldn't an a priori restriction on "freedoms" exist?
     
  3. Pred

    Pred Well-Known Member

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    Determination is luck? That's a new one. Next you'll say deciding to make the right decisions is luck.
     
  4. Tram Law

    Tram Law Banned

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    That isn't freedom.

    In a society that values freedom, liberty, and fair treatment by law, why would you want to specifically target people whoa re just different than you?

    I guess some people are just more equal than others in this white man's society.
     
  5. Dixit

    Dixit New Member

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    Of course. The context in which you were born, the parents you had, the way you have been brought up, the school you have been to, the discussions you had at the dinner table, the friends you were surrounded with, the teachers you had, the books your parents and relatives bought to you at christmas, all of that determined or reinforced your future decisions. Do you honestly believe you have been born smart? Hah please...

    The context where you were born basically "pushed" you continuously in the "right" direction and at this point in time, you making the "right" decision is just like a train on it's rails... not so much surprising or to be admired at all, very much predictable.
     
  6. HTownMarine

    HTownMarine Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    So I was raised by grandmother, poor as dirt, peanut butter sandwiches for lunch until high school when I got no lunch money and fed myself, because I worked.

    I hit the lottery?

    No, I dicked around in school more than most. I was a two sport star athlete. I graduated with a 28 on my ACT and a 2.4 GPA. I skipped college and joined the marine corps instead.

    That was my doing. It wasn't the lottery.
     
  7. Dixit

    Dixit New Member

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    Well, I don't know your life, but I'll let you think about it... Think really hard about your life experience, the people that you met, the experiences you've had, and I'm pretty sure you'll find the answer as to why YOU got out of that situation and others didn't. And don't tell me it's because you had determination and others didn't... You weren't born with determination, you acquired it, and most of your "character" was forged in your early childhood.

    It's so convenient to believe that everything you have, it's because you deserve it and also that others deserve the misery they live in, but it's just an illusion so that you can look at the miserable and poor, and not give a damn because "all they have to do is try harder"... The "American Dream"... is... a dream!
     
  8. Goomba

    Goomba Well-Known Member

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    Slaves in the Arab world mostly did domestic jobs.

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_views_on_slavery
     
  9. HTownMarine

    HTownMarine Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yeah its cause I grew up poor as (*)(*)(*)(*), but didn't want to live the rest of my life that way.

    That's pretty much it.

    That's why I went to college when my parents didn't. That's why I took an office job when my parents didn't.

    I didn't want to be poor anymore. Life is so much easier when you don't have to worry about money.

    So I worked for more money.

    That's not lucky. That's wanting to not be poor.
     
  10. Tuniwalrus

    Tuniwalrus Banned

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    I'd kill myself and pray for reincarnation as something different.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Anything not involving being black, I would think. Because that would be a nightmare and not a fantasy.
     
  11. Tuniwalrus

    Tuniwalrus Banned

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    Affirmative Blacktion. Gotta make up for slavery. 160 years ago is a mere 6 or 8 generations ago.
     
  12. Tuniwalrus

    Tuniwalrus Banned

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    Personal responsibility. Something rare in the black sub-culture these days. Today it's all about hoodies, LEAN, holding your pistol sideways, poopie pants, and taking what isn't yours.
     
  13. Tuniwalrus

    Tuniwalrus Banned

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    That's because the top of the food chain in Africa weren't the ones that got thrown in shackles and put on a ship to America. They were the ones that ran too slow or got their butts kicked by a neighboring tribe and sold to traders. They were the bottom rung of the survival of the fittest ladder.
     
  14. Tuniwalrus

    Tuniwalrus Banned

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    Hitler exterminated the people on what he thought were the lower rungs of the evolutionary ladder. That's wrong to do. He and Stalin both did that. But to say one race is superior to another - that's just being truthful.

    "I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And in as much as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race." - Abraham Lincoln. Debate at Charleston, Illinois, September 18, 1858
     
  15. Reality

    Reality Well-Known Member

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    Gosh it's almost like shyster bankers, lawyers, businessmen etc are a stereotype or something....

    - - - Updated - - -

    So affirmative action doesn't exist then? There aren't numerous programs paid for by the tax payer that target ethnic minorities for aid? Gosh why do we have all those programs listed in the budget then?
     
  16. Tuniwalrus

    Tuniwalrus Banned

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    I am three quarters Ashkenazi. Woot! ;-) Now if we only had huge penises, we could have taken over the world!
     
  17. Dixit

    Dixit New Member

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    So, people that are poor remain poor because... they want to? :hmm:
     
  18. Johnny-C

    Johnny-C Well-Known Member

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    Do you think I don't include that? (Think again.)

    Gosh... GET frackin' EDUCATED... please.

    You DO NOT know what I was pointing out at all... judging by your response. :(
     
  19. Reality

    Reality Well-Known Member

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    Slavery and segregation are over. They have been compensated for through aa and those numerous other advantages given to minorities now. Not to mention that if you get discriminated against you have legal protections, a favorable media circus, and numerous private entities and public entities chomping at the bit to sue the (*)(*)(*)(*) out of anyone who (*)(*)(*)(*)s with you. That puts the onus to succeed on the individual from that point forward. Period.
     
  20. HTownMarine

    HTownMarine Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    No, they remain poor because they won't sacrifice to change it.

    Nobody wants to be poor. Not everyone is willing to sacrifice to change it.

    Not sure why this is so confusing to some. Its a pretty simple concept.

    Same thing with being a a marathon runner or an athlete. We'd all like to have a models body, but some are willing to sacrifice to get it, and some aren't, just like anything in life.

    That's why some people look like models and some don't.

    Its easy to say you want it. Its totally different to actually work at it.
     
  21. Dixit

    Dixit New Member

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    I'm really grateful you used the "marathon" example, I was about to use it as well to clarify what I meant.

    Well, yes, life is a marathon. Unfortunately, some start 20 miles from the finishing line (the poorest), some start at 10 miles from the finishing line (the middle class) and some start at 2 miles from the finishing line (the wealthiest).

    My point is: you actually ran like crazy to catch up the distance that separates you from the middle class and finish at the same time as they finish. I would argue that something in your life story made the difference with those that didn't run fast, but let's set that aside for the moment. The wide majority of the poorest will never finish with the rest and they will transmit this situation to their children who will also start at a disadvantage.

    BUT, we live in a finite world, there are not nearly enough jobs/commodities for all of us to live like the US middle class, let alone like a wealthy person. If you can enjoy it, it is because others live in poverty. It's like cutting up a pie. If you have a big chunk, it mathematically means that someone else has a smaller piece, somewhere in the world.

    Now, with your logic, it's an extension of "natural selection": let the strong survive. But that would be totally hypocritical since we, as human beings, trumped the "natural selection" law and the balance in nature by proliferating like a virus. So it's a double standard if you will.

    Instead of carrying the message that "the poor should simply run faster" (or work harder), I would promote social/re distributive policies that help bring the poor as close as possible to the starting line of others. (like in the Scandinavian states)
     
  22. JoeSixpack

    JoeSixpack New Member

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    Derailed on the first page (as far as I got). Does no good to imagine, without actually walking the mile, and you can speculate all you wish but if you were black, you would be a different person with different memories and life's lessons to contend with. Your life would be so different you probably couldn't relate in the context of thinking you know what it would be like but not having the capabilities to do so. Seems like a rather odd exercise that literally would accomplish nothing except raise the intensity of a persons bigotry, or give a false sense of self gratification if you are not.
     
  23. Pred

    Pred Well-Known Member

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    Guess no decisions matter to you, since its all predetermined=) And to those who came from similar backgrounds to mine, but are druggie losers now? I saw them at a class reunion. I knew them growing up, their parents. Not so different. But now, they're not much. And to those from the hood who had talent and are playing in the NFL or NBA? Just luck huh? What a wonderful world you live in=)

    Yes, I was born smart. Its in our DNA. My parents are both intelligent. Their parents were intelligent. My sister is a near genius. Nearly everyone in my family of this generation, all the cousins....doctors, lawyers, finance, teachers and artists. Now, happily married, 2 to 3 kids each. No divorces. And NONE of us grew up WEALTHY. Just middle class of varying degrees. We're all doing much better than our parents, which is the way it should be=) We ALL paid for college through loans and scholarships. 1/2 of us went to IVY League. You want to call that luck or coincidence? Not straying from the correct path takes perseverance and SKILL. You think that just happens with no effort? I feel so, VERY, VERY sorry for you.
     
  24. Dixit

    Dixit New Member

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    Well glad that you don't need anyone to pat you in the back. You know, from the research I have seen, so much is predetermined that it's almost sad. Even obesity can be predicted just looking at such things as food intake during pregnancy, time and frequency of breastfeeding and a baby's weight during the first two years of life.
    That is not to say that should someone with a perfect metabolism eat 6 times a day in a fast food that he would not become obese, but you already start out with a big advantage. And the same for you and your family. Not straying from the right path takes perseverance and skill you say... and where did you get perseverance and skill in the first place? Everything has an origin. The skill and perseverance you have, you built it on a solid foundation that can be found in your early childhood. Others have to "try" to build that perseverance on foundations of sand...
    The rest, is just statistics and you are one such statistic.
     
  25. HTownMarine

    HTownMarine Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    But this country already gives those a close spot to the starting line...

    Free housing, free school, free food, free cell phone, free utilities... The poorest of the poor here in America live like Kings compared to the rest of the world.

    I get what you're saying, but having been there done that, they don't need more help, they need motivation.

    Hypothetical question... If we cut off all food stamps right now. No more for nobody. Do you think everyone on food stamps would die within 30 days? Or do you think some (or most) would find other ways to get food?

    That's my point. Its a matter of motivation. As I said, I grew up super poor, and that was all the motivation I needed to work my ass off. Not really, during high school I got laid and smoked pot and scored points... But after I got out of the marine corps, and I got that steady paycheck, I didn't want to settle for 'lower middle class'. I wanted more. So THEN I worked my ass off. School and work full time. It sucked. I hated it. But the difference between me and the poor, is that I would sacrifice knowing better days are ahead.

    Take any rat out of the ghetto. Offer him full tuition and a $11/hr job... Only catch is he has to do both at the same time. My guess is, they'd last about a month and drop out, if that. Because its hard work, its long nights, there's no clubbin, no partying, just work. Most poor wouldn't suffer through that if you gave them the opportunity. If they would, they could do it, because the opportunity is there, they just won't.

    Its a matter of choice. They aren't choosing to be poor, theyre simply choosing the easy road. You can do that here in America. You can choose to be mediocre and still be OK (like the poor). I just chose not to be, and I put in the hours for it.

    That's why I'm not poor and they are. Sacrifice.
     

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