Today's SCOTUS ruling - Affirmative Action

[Hauldren Collider]

Would you like to explain the discrepancy between African Americans and African immigrants or are you content to sit from your self-proclaimed perch of reasonableness and "vigorously disagree"?

[Wiglaf]

Why is it that liberals enjoy playing word police? Is white knighting by itself not involving enough anymore?

[Hauldren Collider]

It's newspeak, obviously. Thought police comes later.

[Guynemer]

I think it's undeniable that black culture is responsible for virtually all of the problems that face black people that aren't simply attributable to poverty. This is not to say that racism doesn't exist or isn't prevalent--merely that it isn't a decisive factor anymore.

By the way, I really really don't want the takeaway from that to be "HC doesn't believe there is racism or believe it is a problem". That's not at all the case.

I just think you need to think a bit more about your phrasing. You are not stupid. You know racism exists, and it still affects people severely. However, your first statement implied the exact opposite.

Would you like to explain the discrepancy between African Americans and African immigrants or are you content to sit from your self-proclaimed perch of reasonableness and "vigorously disagree"?

I'd imagine it might have something to do with African-Americans trying to overcome a history of four centuries of legal status as non-persons or sub-persons.

[Guynemer]

It's newspeak, obviously. Thought police comes later.

Don't be fatuous, Jeffrey.

[Hauldren Collider]

MN state representative is in trouble for tweeting something racist:



Can we please retire "uncle tom" from the American lexicon? Unless you're a literally a black person in favor of slavery, you shouldn't be called an Uncle Tom.

Don't be fatuous, Jeffrey.

I had to google that. I never actually heard the quote before, I'm always laughing too hard after the "He fixes the cable?" line.

[giblets]

Why do conservatives enjoy playing word police? I didn't realize "Uncle Tom" had become a politically incorrect thing to say.

[Guynemer]

Can we please retire "uncle tom" from the American lexicon? Unless you're a literally a black person in favor of slavery, you shouldn't be called an Uncle Tom.

I'm with you 100% there. It is a term liberals use that almost unfailingly marks them as racist. That guy can **** right off.

I had to google that.

My lawn. Get off it.

[Hauldren Collider]

I just want people to stop making such a stupid hyperbole, but to answer your question, if you believe in "political correctness", how could it possibly be anything but a slur? You can't call a white person an uncle tom.

xpost

Also what guynemer said, it's a pretty good indicator of liberal racist.

[giblets]

I just want people to stop making such a stupid hyperbole, but to answer your question, if you believe in "political correctness", how could it possibly be anything but a slur? You can't call a white person an uncle tom.

xpost

It's an obvious slur but I certainly wouldn't want to fall into the Orwellian nightmare of being polite to others.

[Hauldren Collider]

Politeness is great, what's not great is not being allowed to express certain reasonable opinions even in polite terms because some subjects are simply off limits.

[giblets]

It's a reasonable opinion that Clarence Thomas undermined the interests of black people with this decision (making him an Uncle Tom because he is himself black, but obviously that phrase shouldn't be used because it offends people).

[Wiglaf]

It's a reasonable opinion that Clarence Thomas undermined the interests of black people with this decision (making him an Uncle Tom because he is himself black, but obviously that phrase shouldn't be used because it offends people).

Just admit it. You don't like it when ******s get uppity.

[giblets]

Just admit it. You don't like it when ******s get uppity.

If that were true I'd really hate affirmative action. Blah blah blah SAT scores.

[Elok]

Re: "black culture,"

1. Covert racism is pretty well documented by this point. There's a new study practically every week showing discrimination in the workplace, by law enforcement, by various government agencies, etc. I'd dig some up, but, y'know--lazy. I think the most recent to hit the press was something about how ex-cons are less likely to be hired if they're white...and a LOT less likely to be hired if they're black. There's a huge discrepancy. Basically, if you're black and have a criminal record (and last I heard, 25% of black males in the US now do), you're trapped in a hole.

2. The set of behaviors holding poor blacks back are largely the same as those holding poor whites back--failure to save or budget, lack of interest in education, early sexual behavior with no contraceptive use, drug abuse, etc. It's not "black culture," it's "poor culture." They're what Rod Dreher calls "culturally poor." Now, the ranks of the culturally poor include (at least proportionately to total population makeup) more blacks than whites, but you can't blame this on the hippity-hop music. Besides,

3. A lot of the worst parts of "black culture" are actually pushed by us honkies. Behind every gangster rapper waxing lyrical about ho-smackin' and weed are about five white (or sometimes Jewish) producers. Ditto the shameful proliferation of black stereotypes on film, the idolization of uncivilized pro athletes, ridiculously overpriced shoes...

4. Really, it's just a glib, lazy way to wash one's hands of the matter. Maybe not in your case, but I've heard the "black culture" line before, and it usually prefaces a shrug and a change of subject. Hey, it's their culture! Nothing we can do about it! Of course, given the extremely strong influence culture has on one's thinking, there's not a whole lot one could reasonably expect them to do about it, either. H.C., you've received a first-class education, proper nutrition as you were growing up, the love of two parents, no drugs or abuse...and of all the values you were brought up with, you've discarded only the Catholic religion. And even there, I don't know if your parents were devout, and you've retained some of the trappings of Catholicism, e.g. you're pro-life. Can you, with a straight face, tell me that it's a simple matter of these people (many of whom are uneducated, raised on dubious nutrition by single parents, and saddled with substance problems) deciding to cast off the only way of life they've ever known--which generally involves alienating their friends and family--and figure out non-dysfunctional behavior patterns unaided? That's not "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" so much as "inventing rocket boots."