[HoosierDaddy]

amphibian, on 03 May 2015 - 03:27 AM, said:

HoosierDaddy, on 03 May 2015 - 02:10 AM, said:

If someone was stupid enough to utter those opinions around me I'd cut them off and they wouldn't be "friends" anymore.

You have a luxury of being able to cut people off and not fear any reprisals for rejection. You can say "Fuck that guy" in the presence of "that guy" and not really fear violence or anything beyond a "Hey!" and it has to do with you being a white American dude of decent physical size and mobility to go other places.

Many people don't have that luxury. They can't walk away. They have to deflect or to be non-confrontational because reprisals are very real things to them. Women of color in particular have to do this to an absurd degree.

Maark's not one of the above groups needing to be diplomatic, as he's a large, deadliftin' Bakkake-reading, white guy. But he was probably curious as to what this group of Americans would say, which is somewhat amusing and hopefully useful.

I take your point and haven't considered the latter. Due to the nature of this board, I'm assuming some things: Actual discussion can take place without fear of reprisal, no discussion area is taboo unless said to be, and no group discussion is taboo unless said to be.

That being said: I cannot account for where someone is from and what might be a "luxury" to talk about unless they tell me so. You are taking a large assumption that there is one reason why things might be different. Let him speak for himself and use this board.

[Maark Abbott]

HoosierDaddy, on 02 May 2015 - 10:48 PM, said:

Maark, on 02 May 2015 - 06:03 AM, said:

I just saw that on the news here as well. Predictably, not long after I found myself in a discussion with some white, middle-class Americans who were outraged by this and felt the solution was to burn all welfare places and black neighbourhoods.

For real? I repeat. For real? This seems a lot "stupid americans are stupid and racist!*

If so, stop talking to them and tell them to STFU. Racism is racism, no matter where you are.

Idiocy is idiocy. No country has a monopoly on it.

Eh, would have been pointless. I wound up unfollowing the thread and distancing myself from the argument.

From an English perspective, it's mostly sad that their type are what a lot of people over here will equate the entire American response will be to the situation (disclaimer: not me).

[worry]

An interesting read: http://www.washingto...lack-neighbors/

[worry]

http://www.vox.com/2...-family-charged

[Terez]

My lovely home state has been in the news a lot lately. The New York Times article on this managed to avoid mentioning race even once.

I have seen articles decrying the enforcement of "white" cultural norms such as the cheering prohibition at issue here. I don't know if I would go that far; there is a lot of stereotyping involved. But the proper response would have been (at most) to escort the family from the premises (which was done), not to issue warrants for their arrest. Some local white folks have reacted rather obliviously; there is nothing you can say to convince them that a white family breaking the same rule would never have been charged with a crime.

[Nicodimas]

Wow! Don't walk around QT listening to music

http://www.dailykos....lled-by-police#

#graphic #nsfw!

/sadface

[Tsundoku]

worry, on 04 June 2015 - 10:57 PM, said:

http://www.vox.com/2...-family-charged

Nicodimas, on 05 June 2015 - 05:07 AM, said:

Wow! Don't walk around QT listening to musichttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/06/03/1390285/-Shocking-new-video-shows-unarmed-Utah-man-was-listening-to-headphones-when-killed-by-police##graphic #nsfw!/sadface

Holy shit! Your cops truly are trigger happy nutjobs.

Did something make them this way, or were they like that before joining the police force?

[amphibian]

There's a culture of institutional racism that isn't seen as such by the majority of officers nationwide, there's an attitude of fear for officer safety outsized beyond the actual probability of harm befalling them and there is the purposeful linking of ticket fine revenue to police funding.

And then there are the assholes.

There's also inadequate training in verbal nad physical tactics of conflict deescalation, very minimal and inadequate training in physically controlling people and the willingness of impatient police to get close enough that the options shrink down to using deadly force all too often.

[Obdigore]

amphibian, on 07 June 2015 - 05:48 PM, said:

There's a culture of institutional racism that isn't seen as such by the majority of officers nationwide, there's an attitude of fear for officer safety outsized beyond the actual probability of harm befalling them and there is the purposeful linking of ticket fine revenue to police funding.

And then there are the assholes.

There's also inadequate training in verbal nad physical tactics of conflict deescalation, very minimal and inadequate training in physically controlling people and the willingness of impatient police to get close enough that the options shrink down to using deadly force all too often.

You forget that the cities and states (the status quo) rely upon the police to 'keep the peace' in the rules they have, while the system that they have in place continues to disenfranchise entire groups of people. To keep those people 'in line', they have to get more and more brutal since the system itself is causing those people to act out.

I don't envy the position the police are forced into in our society, but things like shooting people in the back when they run away are unacceptable.

[worry]

They break children.

http://www.newyorker...owder-1993-2015

[amphibian]

The Rachel Dolezal story is important, not so much that she has the chutzpah to pass as black, but that it reminds people that black women have a hard time establishing their identity free of interference and/or cooption.

And the Charleston murders by that white supremacist terrorist is full of intersections with ugly parts of South Carolina's present, past and future. That also extends out to include the rest of the country and beyond.

Flying that Confederate flag shouldn't be a thing.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 18 June 2015 - 06:37 PM

[worry]

amphibian, on 18 June 2015 - 06:37 PM, said:

And the Charleston murders by that white supremacist terrorist is full of intersections with ugly parts of South Carolina's present, past and future. That also extends out to include the rest of the country and beyond.

Nah, he was white. That means he was inherently a quiet, soft-spoken loner who was involved in a tragic but isolated incident. We may have to say the words "mental health" on TV news a few times, like a Catholic confessor saying his Hail Marys and Lord's Prayers. That's the extent of our self reflection duty.

[Terez]

This wasn't racism, this was an attack on faith!

http://mediamatters....-charles/204043

(Fox seriously made that argument this morning. Many people fell for it, including one of my aunts on Facebook because Fox wasn't reporting what the killer said, even though the information had been available for hours by that point.)

[worry]

I may have spoke too soon.

[QuickTidal]

These two John Oliver vids seem rather apt right about now.

[amphibian]

Follow the Twitter accounts of @deray and @fivefifths and @tressiemcphd

They will point you to more poignant, meaningful and funny coverage than Jon Stewart and Jon Oliver.

They're also black and that matters.

[melonhead]

worry, on 19 June 2015 - 03:51 AM, said:

I may have spoke too soon.

Holy s**t. People will do anything to prevent blaming a white person for a crime.

[Silencer]

Yeah, when someone is going to those kinds of lengths, you know they're not rational. "some kind of mixed", what the even...

[Illuyankas]

That guy is so white you couldn't put his picture on a cartoon of milk cause it'd blend in

[Primateus]

Shit, if he were any whiter, he'd be transparent