Black Lives Do Count

Getting personal with me doesn't advance this issue one bit. My attitude is my own and your judgement falls as flat as that I get from the local Baptists. You'll notice I have not addressed you personally at all, it serves no purpose.

As for Trump, it's amazing how much raw racism and division he has managed to cause, even things that came long before him are now exclusively his fault. It's hard to take that kind of rhetoric seriously. As for compassion, it was the compassion of white Americans that brought an end to both slavery and Jim Crow (a democrat by the way). Understanding is not something that is granted, it's something that is learned. So how people present themselves plays a major part in that equation.

My own attitude on these issues is simple really, respect is a 2-way street. And taking advantage of someone is wrong at any level. We all have the opportunity to make the best of ourselves. And we all have generational factors that form this development. Most of the poor people in the US are white, but nobody cares about them or even discusses them unless they can do a story on West Virginia oxy/meth addicts. Why is that? Because they made their own beds as far as most are concerned. Blaming it on closed coal mines falls flat on most people's ears.

I also admit that there's just no way I'm going to "understand" or have any "compassion" for the kinds of lunacy we have seen over the last few years. The wanton destruction of neighborhoods and businesses, supposedly because some poor little innocent thug with a rap sheet in double digits lost a fight with a cop. Sorry, but I have no way I can understand someone dumb enough to think fighting with a cop is a good idea. So when they wind up dead, the only compassion I can have is for those he left behind when he chose a life of intense crime. Though most of them are in complete denial as they are interviewed. We had a police shooting in Atlanta not too long ago, but there were no marches or protests. Because the guy who got shot was not doing as he was told and threatened the cops.

I have no love of oinkers, but the very idea of defying them is beyond my scope. I see no way to come out ahead with that scenario. I know all too well that lots of cops are crooked to the core. So I don't fight with them, I avoid them. No amount of burning and looting will turn that around.

 

When personally defying a crazy-eyed and threatening authority , please remain very calm and strategic . Defy defy , defy ... and
then wham! appear to submit . It shatters them . They weep . Defiance alone is insufficient .

 

We wont always fear any group of people?

Seriously?

Just because you have the ability to type those words, how do I know in real life you arent really more judgemental than most here

Why the default position that everybody being treated the same is a good thing? Then there is no reward for effort, motivation.

We should do such and such so certain groups are de-marginalized.....or, those groups maybe just maybe, should just pull their fingers out of their asses

 

When you say "those groups maybe just maybe, should just pull their fingers out of their asses" I instantly feel that you're blaming the victim here.

First, the meaning of marginalized is "treat (a person, group, or concept) as insignificant or peripheral." So are we saying that people who are treated as insignificant are somehow at fault for the way they are treated?
But also, I think we tend to have this thinking in western civilization that people are somehow deserving of their circumstances. Thus, we who are well off enough tend to feel entitled. And those who are less fortunate are supposed to simply accept that they are and will be less fortunate.

 

When you say Black Lives Matter you are not saying all lives do not also matter. Some people make a point to say "all". We are ALL not getting shot and profiled by the police in the same way. The job of police is to profile it's a dirty word now and they can not admit they do it. But think about they are meant to look a person and in 10 seconds decide what kind of person he is. Is he dangerous? Does he have a gun? Will he run? That is profiling. Black guys are trouble because I have arrested black guys before. It's a vicious cycle.

Also consider what kind of person wants to be a cop. Yes, many good people who want to help their community but also lots of racists. It's a job where tell people what to do and there is already a biases that the people you don't like cause trouble. It's pretty fun work for those types.

I'm a white guy who supports BLM because they are not all violent and their message is valid. Regardless of how bad it looks for the cop on his body cam as long as there is a black guy they will probably be found innocent. We could name any one of dozens of incidents and debate if that one justified the cop's actions. And I admit some of them give the cop more reasons then others. But I have seen body cams that make no sense. It is nothing but murder and even in those cases certain people ALWAYS blame the black person. I have had some bad experiences with cops before but nothing like what I see on these body cams.

It's the duty of a police offer to be more morally upstanding then the citizen not less. We need to do a better job of psychologically testing police applicants. They reach for the gun too quickly. Facts are that it's not very likely for an American police person to be killed on the job. Is it a risk? Sure but if that bothers you don't do the job. A firemen (more likely to die on the job) is afraid of the fire anyone who says they are not is crazy or lying. But they can control the fear because when they don't they make decisions that put them and their team at risk. Police need to do the same thing. No one wants to go into a burning building, no one wants to think the guy they pulled over has a gun.

 

It does get to be so old. I don't come from a wealthy family line, but somehow, I have this magical automatic privilege. Supposedly I don't get followed around stores by loss prevention rent-a-cops, but I do. And of course I get off with a warning whenever a cop pulls me over on the road, only that doesn't happen either. Well, at least I don't have to worry about getting shot by a cop, except that, most of the people in the US who are shot by cops are white men.

Still, with all of this I don't feel marginalized. I got into college by the skin of my teeth and spent the next decade paying off my student loans, by working a lot of sucky jobs. But if I didn't pay it off, the balance would continue to grow as they capitalized penalties each month I was unable to pay. What really sucked was the way they demanded I take ANY job at ANY pay rate. Which would have been stupid. As a college grad a minimum wage fast food job wasn't an option. Not because I couldn't do the work, but because hiring managers know fully well I'd be out of there the minute a real offer came along.

One thing I am sure of though is that if I didn't get my shit together and make my life work, nobody else would. And I'd have nobody to blame, but myself. I've done the sit around and feel sorry for myself pity party, I admit it. But never for very long as I didn't want to be evicted and have my car repossessed. At one point I had 3 sucky jobs because I couldn't find 1 good one. Without a scapegoat to blame my problems on, I had to figure life out by myself.

 

More so with NFL players, which is why everybody is getting angry.

What do most of them do invest their money, help out their former communities, do most of them even bother helping out their immediate families with cheap housing.....or buy sports cars, party, spend the money on girls.

Some guy that earns more in one year than some white folk do in a life time is the champion of marginalized black people he doesnt really give a shit about....fuck off

 

There are literally dozens of charities started by NFL players to help out their communities. They do buy nice cars and all that but they are nice guys and I think most understand how lucky they are compared to the average working man.

 

Are you sure about that?

Percentage wise, does more of their income go to helping out other people compared to everyone else or less, much less.

The taxes we pay, are pretty much just that, money paid to the government that get redirected to the community.

Lower class wage earners end up paying a far far higher percentage of their income in all related tax than a NFL player would. We are not just talking about income tax, taxes on all goods and services, inflated rent and credit card rates, that the landlords, banks again pay tax on.

With your health system in the US the way it is, lower income people spend a far higher proportion of their income propping up overused outpatient services for those that do have white privilege than an NFL player does

 

I am sure they all have charities. Some of them are for books, glasses, college tuition basically anything a kid needs. What they donate personally is nothing to them sure because they make millions but it's still a nice gesture.

 

Indeed.

It's not at all about the flag or even the national anthem. It's about a bunch of privileged jerks who were hired to do 1 job, entertain people. Instead they use their platform to do what? Preach to us about equality while they are beyond equal to 99% of the nation. Fuck that. They are there to entertain us, full stop.

If they want to set an example, they need to open their fat wallets and actually make a difference in people's lives AFTER the game. Instead they risk it all by polluting the game with bullshit that nobody wants to hear after a week of overtaxed work.

You're so right though about some folks who suddenly fall into wealth. So often they run from the neighborhood and never look back. I can't imagine being so crass.

 

Charities are common, and a common thread among them is the way they utilize the money coming in. So many audits have proven that charities send more money on managing the charity than actually delivering aid. For some charities only a meager 10-20% actually makes it to their self-imposed charges. The rest stays in their pockets. That should be a crime, but it's rarely prosecuted as such.

It's good to know that some of the players are altruistic, but are they smart enough to avoid the scams? I wouldn't bet on it.

 

Even if they are rich they are still black. And they are role models to a lot of people. So they are not allowed to have an opinion because of their wealth? If protest if offending then it's protest done right.

 

The President should shut up about football and do his god damned job.

Like helping Puerto Rico. Like last night when he said we won't rest until Puerto Rico is safe. And then immediately hopped on a plane to his golf resort. And then woke up and started insulting the Mayor of San Juan because she was mean to him.

Trump, the real victim of the hurricane...

 

Actually that's exactly what I'm speaking to. These millionaires can't possibly relate to the people who are REALLY suffering. Maybe they could at one point, but it's gone now. Kaepernick is one of the most obvious examples. He never once suffered "oppression" (a very abused term these days) being raised in a gated community by a white family who wanted to help a disadvantaged baby reach heights that most black babies never see. But, since those foster parents were white, he was oppressed? Bullshit.

So far all of the efforts to inject leftist politics into entertainment have resulted in rejection by the public at large. You'd think they would get the message by now, but instead they are certain they will prevail. It's just a matter of finding that one (singular) magic phrase/limerick/slogan that magically makes all of the US snap into a common way of thinking. It's a pipe dream, a fantasy that ignores people as individuals.

Can you imagine being told one day that you can't be an artist because you'd be a better refuse collector? Imagine having no choice but to obey? Seriously man, what do you want for our future? A return to serfdom? To having others tell you how to think (as long as it doesn't offend anyone)?

As for protests, do you really think that's what we've been seeing? Since when do "protests" involve masks, looting, assaults and hitting little girls? At some point the obvious shame should kick in. Why doesn't it? Programming?

 

This is word salad.

Both types of people have no freedom. Kept under close watch. Well NO SHIT.

Virtual prison?

You are the one that needs to go back to a tree to evolve, and learn how branches are formed.

Dumbass.

 

To quote a thread in Random Thoughts, 'At Least Some Get It'.

 

Word salad? Yes, that's a good description of your earlier post and your response to mine. Completely unresponsive to the points raised.

 

Pregnant woman among 17 shot, 5 fatally, in city shootings Friday and Saturday..
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-chicago-shootings-violence-20170929-story.html

This must be that fake news I keep hearing so much about..

 

Its unresponsive to your points cause its not the response you want to hear to further your narrative.