[EmperorMagus]

Nicodimas, on 25 November 2014 - 08:36 AM, said:

emperormagus, on 25 November 2014 - 08:22 AM, said:

Sombra, on 25 November 2014 - 07:40 AM, said:

... and as we all know the best way to show your outrage over the perceived lack of justice is to go on a violence spree and reinforce the stereotypes that may have contributed in the long and short term leadup to the original incident.

Well, at least it wasn't just over the result of an ice hockey game.

I'm not saying the violence is the correct answer...

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Men are born for games. Nothing else. Every child knows that play is nobler than work. He knows too that the worth or merit of a game is not inherent in the game itself but rather in the value of that which is put at hazard. Games of chance require a wager to have meaning at all. Games of sport involve the skill and strength of the opponents and the humiliation of defeat and the pride of victory are in themselves sufficient stake because they inhere in the worth of the principals and define them. But trial of chance or trial of worth all games aspire to the condition of war for here that which is wagered swallows up game, player, all.
Suppose two men at cards with nothing to wager save their lives. Who has not heard of such a tale? A turn of the card. The whole universe for such a player has labored clanking to this moment which will tell if he is to die at that man's hand, or that man at his. What more certain validation of a man's worth could there be? This enhancement of the game to it's ultimate state admits no argument concerning the notion of fate. The selection of one man over another is a preference absolute and irrevocable and it is a dull man indeed who could reckon so profound a decision without agency or significance either one. In such games as have for their stake the annihilation of the defeated the decisions are quite clear. This man holding this particular arrangement of cards in his hand is hereby removed from existence. This is the nature of war, whose stake is at once the game and the authority and the justification. Seen so, war is the truest form of divination. It is the testing of one's will and the will of another within that larger will which because it binds them is forced to select. War is the ultimate game because at last war is a forcing of the unity of existence. War is god.

-McCarthy

The guy is verbose if nothing else.
But really, the words of a U.S Senator are the last thing in the world I would care abut.

[Tsundoku]

Just so we're straight, you guys all support rioting and the destruction of both public and private property when you get a judicial result you don't like?

And you think that's OK? Tell that to the owners all the businesses and cars that just went up in smoke. Who are those people? Well, I'm guessing for a start in Ferguson they're predominantly black. Just like in LA the Korean areas copped a lot of the violence.

But you're OK with that. Fair enough.

And if any of you would care to read what I originally wrote, I didn't "lump all of them together". I was hoping you would have inferred what I was attempting to imply, but I guess I'm going to have to be blunt.
What they (EDIT: and by "they" I mean the rioters) did just made matters worse. In a country where an increasingly militarised police force is paranoid as fuck, do you think they made things in Ferguson and a lot of other similar areas better, or worse?

I saw the reaction of the victim's family and I thought "Now that's dignified". And you know what? Most of the dipshits who say they're fighting for justice for this family's son totally ignored that statement. Peaceful protest is the way to go.

And if this GJ verdict really is just good ole USA racism, I'm deeply interested in what the 3 black members of the jury have to say, both in the transcripts and afterward.

EDIT: BTW Studlock, please point out where I made a racist joke. Otherwise kindly keep your opinions about me to yourself.

This post has been edited by Sombra: 25 November 2014 - 08:59 AM

[Maark Abbott]

So, uh, I was going to moan about someone stealing my wheelie bin... Erm. Maybe I'll moan about that tomorrow.

[Studlock]

You don't seem to understand that it never gets better. From slavery to Jim Crow to the War on Drugs, and through all that peaceful protest, academic papers, nuanced discussion and occasionally mutual understanding and still 12 years are getting shot dead in the streets by the very people who suppose to protect them. Eventually it regresses to a state of prosecution, of state imposed violence that have no care for the black (and brown for that matter) bodies that reside within it. It's been 400 fucking years for them and the best they can say is 'at least were not slaves anymore'. I'm not trying to justify their violence but I understand it as deeply as my own bones. People can only be civil for so long until they lash out. What we're seeing here isn't a bunch of black people being violent of violence sake. This is with purpose (their burning police cars) and there probably is a few among them who are looting for looting's sake but at the end of the day I think that's the minority. These kind of things won't stop until they (or we) are treated on equal terms, and clearly non-violent protest have not accomplished that goal. It's easy for you to say non-violent protests are best, you don't have live as an African-American in America, your father isn't rotting away in jail for a minor offensive, you don't have talking heads on national T.V. saying that maybe this really all the black peoples fault. You don't have to live in systemically enforced poverty. You're cousin, or son, or brother didn't get shot because they had a toy gun. For you non-violent protest is best, but for them? Perhaps not.

This post has been edited by Studlock: 25 November 2014 - 09:22 AM

[worry]

I'm not surprised you mentioned the Rodney King riot, and I'm not gonna argue with you about its legitimacy, though it's worth pointing out that it happened 20+ years ago and yet a "stereotype" has seemingly since developed (?) that black Americans must prove wrong; at the same time, every time a cop does something wrong there's a eardrum-splitting chorus of "most cops aren't like that!". But for the record, a total 12 buildings and a few cars were burned in Ferguson (and deliberately left to burn by an absent fire department btw) and a couple dozen people were arrested. As far as riots go, you can go ahead and dismiss LA from your mind...it doesn't even measure up to the hockey riot you mentioned above. More people were harmed in San Francisco a few weeks ago after the World Series. There were more injuries at the New Hampshire pumpkin patch riot a month ago. Of course none of those events generated stereotypes nor did they result in a national shaming.

[Silencer]

Ok everybody, take the issue to the discussion board, please.

I or another mod will shift the relevant posts later.

[Tsundoku]

worry, on 25 November 2014 - 09:10 AM, said:

More people were harmed in San Francisco a few weeks ago after the World Series.

Over baseball??? C'mon, it's not even a real sport!

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There were more injuries at the New Hampshire pumpkin patch riot a month ago.

I thought you were just messing with me here until I googled it. That's all sorts of fucked up. What sort of paranoid/siege mentality is going on in your country? It's becoming like a Republican/military-industrial complex lobbyist's wet dream. Which is kind of ironic when you consider they're supposedly proponents of smaller government with less government intrusion into citizen's lives. Yet at the moment they're all about Homeland security and giving Bearcats to the sheriff of Podunk County.
He's a raging lefty dipshit at times, but Michael Moore was spot on when he said the biggest factor in the USA over guns etc was fear. Because fear sells more guns and makes the mates of the Bush family richer. Now you've put in a Republican senate and congress, watch for another foeign adventure to line the pockets of Bush and Co while distracting from the domestic problems.

But I digress.

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Of course none of those events generated stereotypes nor did they result in a national shaming.

Well, I can't help what makes the headlines here. I really have to dig or rely on you guys for links to other stuff.

Seriously though, we here in Oz look at you guys in the USA and wonder "WTF? How did things get that fucked up?" What's more alarming from my perspective is we seem to be a nation that loves slavishly imitating the USA.

Is the USA a nation in sharp decline, peddling Reality TV, Rap and Religion as the modern bread and circuses to distract the citizenry from the growing inequality? I think the Republicans are militarising the security forces more to protect themselves from when the rest of the country wakes up from their Kardashian-induced stupor, takes a look around and doesn't like what it sees.

(Wow, that was tangential). Sorry I got a teensy bit carried away.

EDIT: whoops just saw Silencer's post above. That'll teach me to open a reply window and then go have dinner, bathe the kid and put him to bed before finishing what I was typing.

This post has been edited by Sombra: 25 November 2014 - 10:50 AM

[Studlock]

I created a topic if any wants to discus it further. I have a paper to right.

Which reminds me, I hate this paper. Hrump!

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Sorry if this seems a little weird to put on here, just wanted it off my chest somewhere not Facebook.

I've had a swollen lymph node for a bit and spent most of today in hospital having it tested. Turns out it's a tumour. Doesn't necessarily imply anything nasty (and likely doesn't) but still a bit of an unpleasant shock. Results of the biopsy a week today to find out for definite what's going on. Meep!

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 25 November 2014 - 06:47 PM

[Tiste Simeon]

Oh man Han I'm definitely keeping you in my thoughts & prayers. I'm sure it won't be anything too bad but I imagine something like that must weigh heavily On your mind. Let me know if there's anything I can do.

[amphibian]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 25 November 2014 - 06:44 PM, said:

Sorry if this seems a little weird to put on here, just wanted it off my chest somewhere not Facebook.

I've had a swollen lymph node for a bit and spent most of today in hospital having it tested. Turns out it's a tumour. Doesn't necessarily imply anything nasty (and likely doesn't) but still a bit of an unpleasant shock. Results of the biopsy a week today to find out for definite what's going on. Meep!

You can and will beat this!

Got a stack of good books for the reading in the waiting rooms?

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Thanks both

I'm doing okay, still sinking in. As to books, I'm on MoI in my current re-read, so couldn't have timed it better in that regard!

[worry]

Yah I share the sentiments of Simeon and amph.

I have swollen lymph nodes right now too, around my jaws. I believe it was because I had a pretty bad spider bite (most likely a wolf spider; it's still red and scabby too). If the swelling lasts past Thanksgiving I'll probably make a doctor's appointment though. Health scares are the worst.

[Tru]

Health scares = stress and anxiety, which = more health issues...it's a self fulfilling damn prophesy. I'm still paying an emergency room bill off from the anxiety attack I had caused my a potential tumor diagnosis that ended up being a complete non-issue. Life is oddly unfair at times. I hope this is just a "false alarm" in both your cases. . :-)

[Maark Abbott]

This thread is tripping the filters at work due to 'weapons'



Anyway. This chest cough / flu still hasn't shifted and I have a pair of 300 mile train journeys (give or take) next week. I better be well for Wednesday, 'cause it's Sabaton time.

[Silencer]

....tough decision to make about my job tomorrow. Two offers, one better in terms of CV and experience, the other better money/less soul destroying as my direct manager will still be awesome.

Really not sure about this. Also don't like being put on the spot over night like this.

[Obdigore]

Silencer, on 26 November 2014 - 11:47 AM, said:

....tough decision to make about my job tomorrow. Two offers, one better in terms of CV and experience, the other better money/less soul destroying as my direct manager will still be awesome.

Really not sure about this. Also don't like being put on the spot over night like this.

If you aren't doing 100 hour weeks, you aren't trying to get ahead. You're young, you'll survive.

[HiddenOne]

Go for 'less soul destroying', those things are hard to come by in today's economy

[Maark Abbott]

Oh, to have a job that isn't soul destroying.

[QuickTidal]

This. Bring me the eyebleach and the earbleach pls.