@dystopianfuturetoday:

I see what you're going for, so here's your Yes. Where our opinions diverge is a matter of perspective.

Slavery is not unique to the Black race, nor even Black Americans, it's a worldwide institution with ancient origins that is still practiced in parts of Africa TODAY. Every race on earth has at one time been enslaved, just as every race on earth has also enslaved other races. As horrible as it seems to us, for centuries slavery was accepted as necessary and a part of life. For Black Americans to feel singled out is, to me, just silly.

So enter the Civil War, a complex struggle involving myriad factors that became more about slavery about halfway through. Republicans ended slavery. Not that is was all sugar and poetry: Lincoln said it didn't matter if he had to keep slavery or end it, he would do whichever it took to save the Union. Lincoln did the paperwork but the Abolitionists did the real work.

We had a Civil Rights movement and it was just. (Now we have a Special Rights movement that is unjust, but that's another chapter).

I don't buy this crap about psychic injuries from slavery. And yes, here is the part where I provide the transcript of Bill Cosby's "Poundcake speech". I know you're going to have your reasons for not liking what he had to say (and I'm sure Jesse Jackson, who was right beside him was shocked and pissed) but all the same, please READ IT.


Yes, there was a time in America where lynchings were common, racism was institutional and opportunities for Blacks were severely limited. That time has passed. Yes, there are remnants of the klan out there, but they're not the ones forcing Blacks to drop out of school, disparage reading books and getting an education as "the White Man's Game" or impregnating young girls like it's nothing.

We've had generation after generation of immigrants now, from Vietnam, India, the failed soviet bloc. They came here with nothing and in a generation or two have risen. And if the excuse is, 'Well, they're not Black," here come Blacks from the Caribbean, working hard and doing just as well. All of these immigrant groups have one HUGE advantage: they haven't suffered decades of this American victim mentality.

I trust your sincerity and the sincerity of all the liberals who want to see Black Americans improve their lot (and they have, most are middle class). But there are forces that demand the dependency of Black Americans and use a victim mentality to get their votes. I don't see why anyone would heed voices that say, 'You Can't Do It'.


RE: the "science" article bashing conservatives. In Japan there are "scientists" whose entire output is exceptionalist-nationalist philosophy (nihonjinron) that is to be taken very seriously. This article is on the same level as, "liberals are better lovers".








>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

qm - Imagine if you and the rest of your ethnic heritage were brought to this country as prisoners, to be sold as property to other people. You are bought and sold and expected to do hard labor without protest. Any resistance could mean your life, or your foot, so you quickly learn to submit yourself to the authority of the ruling racial class. Your ethnic heritage, as a whole, is kept in poverty and ignorance for many generations. Old proud traditions are beaten out of you, and new ones are created in secret, out of the watchful eye of your master. You cannot sing your music, but you can sing in the church choir, so you create your own new culture under the restrictions imposed by your masters.
Then a century down the road, it is decided that slavery is wrong and you are set free. Unfortunately for you, you are in your middle age with no money or education in a culture where you are thought of as subhuman. In this hostile environment, you are expected to compete with people who have been free all their lives, and more sinisterly, people who loathe you and are actively against your progress. They even create organizations to make life worse for you and to form lynch mobs to murder you and your kind.
This new generation continues to pass along the legacy of poverty, lack of education, self doubt, fear and shame to further generations. For the next few generations, laws are set up to discriminate against your people, and it is publicly acceptable to insult, attack and even kill your underclass with minimal consequences. There are new freedoms and a desire to rise above, but there are so very many cultural barriers.
Eventually society decides this underclass should have the same rights as everyone else, but at this point, the legacy of slavery has been imprinted on an entire culture for many generations - Hundreds of years of negative cultural conditioning. Although free in law, there is still much animosity aimed at your group. Not only are ou different in color and culture, but you also carry the stigma of being poor and not having access to the same level of education of the ruling racial class.
Eventually steps are taken to reverse this legacy of hate, poverty and slavery through government assistance programs, and while costly, they do yield success as your underclass rises in wealth and social acceptance. The fact that we, the racial ruling class, see them as equal and expect them to do as well as we do speaks greatly to the change in culture over the last half century. But, just are the legacy of slavery lives on in black culture, so does the legacy of hate live on in white culture. Groups of neo-confederate whites are angry that there is an effort to help remedy a problem created by our forefathers. They don't care whether or not these programs have been successful, they just hate the idea of this long hated underclass getting some help.
Just as the legacy of poverty has made it's way from generation to generation, so has the legacy of hate.
Perhaps the neo-confederates should take the log out of their own eye, before cataloging the failings of others. Or at least, they could attempt some understanding of why these stats are the way they are, how much progress has been made, and what could be done to stop these destructive legacies in the future.

Do you see what I'm going for here, qm? I'd love a yes, even if it comes with heavy reservations.

The force is strong with this one

http://chzgifs.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/funny-gifs-love-that-jiggle.gif


>> ^gwiz665:

Lool.
WITH THE DOWHOP DIDDLY DOO SHLAPPAH CLAPPAH MAFFAH WHOOGLY A SHING SHONG SHAMMA LAMMA
http://i.imgur.com/fqIBY.gif
>> ^Skeeve:
Rooja Cosby... Cosby!? Damn.

Lool.
WITH THE DOWHOP DIDDLY DOO SHLAPPAH CLAPPAH MAFFAH WHOOGLY A SHING SHONG SHAMMA LAMMA
http://i.imgur.com/fqIBY.gif

>> ^Skeeve:

Rooja Cosby... Cosby!? Damn.

Rooja Cosby... Cosby!? Damn.

The Bill Cosby was the worst for me. But there's a bunch of good ones and it's impressive how quickly he switches between them.

You have been awarded 1 Power Point for fixing the embed code for Dead Pool video White Girls Doing Bill Cosby Impressions. Thank you for helping maintain VideoSift's reliability.

Why Did The Salmon Cross the Road?

I think Bill Cosby answered it best when he said: "Flippity flappity flip floppity floo"

I didn't make a blind or pretentious assumption about you, despite that you did that to me; I based my observation on your actions. Pasting a video of a crying child and insinuating that children's behavior cannot possibly be funny are two big hints.

I didn't mistake your hatred for Family Guy; those were your statements about children in general and have nothing to do with Family Guy. Hate the show all you like. Hate the clip all you like. Just don't make a blanket statement about children and claim it's accurate and valid because you hate a TV show. One thing has naught to do with the other.

In reply to this comment by JiggaJonson:
@lucky760

You mistake my hatred of Family Guy for some misplaced hatred of children. I never said I hate children. I am the oldest of 8 kids (the youngest currently being 9 years old). I grew up dealing with diaper changes, babysitting, getting thrown up on; and spite of that I'm a school teacher. I would have a difficult or impossible time getting by if I hated kids.

Now, to quell your pretentious assumptions, I will say that I hate Family Guy. I'm not going to repeat all the criticisms it's received over the years. I used to think it was a decent show, I even signed several petitions to bring it back on the air, but since they've come back on the air it's been a pretty steady downward spiral.

This clip is a perfect example. It's not inherently funny, it's just what kids do. When kids do it, it's annoying. When I watch someone else's kid do it, it's just as annoying. And when I watch it on TV, wait...I don't watch it on TV because it's fucking annoying!!!!!

Back me up cracked.
Back me up Tv Critic.
Back me up media critics and other cartoonists.

Finally, to quote Stewie from when he was on 'Kids Say the Darndest Things' with Bill Cosby "That's not funny! He's just saying what happens when you go skiing have kids!!!

@lucky760

You mistake my hatred of Family Guy for some misplaced hatred of children. I never said I hate children. I am the oldest of 8 kids (the youngest currently being 9 years old). I grew up dealing with diaper changes, babysitting, getting thrown up on; and spite of that I'm a school teacher. I would have a difficult or impossible time getting by if I hated kids.

Now, to quell your pretentious assumptions, I will say that I hate Family Guy. I'm not going to repeat all the criticisms it's received over the years. I used to think it was a decent show, I even signed several petitions to bring it back on the air, but since they've come back on the air it's been a pretty steady downward spiral.

This clip is a perfect example. It's not inherently funny, it's just what kids do. When kids do it, it's annoying. When I watch someone else's kid do it, it's just as annoying. And when I watch it on TV, wait...I don't watch it on TV because it's fucking annoying!!!!!

Back me up cracked.
Back me up Tv Critic.
Back me up media critics and other cartoonists.

Finally, to quote Stewie from when he was on 'Kids Say the Darndest Things' with Bill Cosby "That's not funny! He's just saying what happens when you go skiing have kids!!!

>> ^quantumushroom:

NetRunner: Racists will latch onto it as justification for their prejudices, just like they might cling to quotes from Bill Cosby.

So are "racists" to blame whenever liberal moral relativism undermines traditional responsibility?
Bill Cosby's words and observations are as credible as they come, as he spent most of his life aiding Black causes monetarily and fighting for civil rights, because he is disgusted with needless Black failure.
Black illegitimacy is at 70%, a death knell for any community. "Racists" are not responsible for any Black man abandoning the mother and his children; he failed to STEP UP.
Where is liberalism in this equation? Justifying this wrong choice.


You also need an education in liberalism. I think Bill Cosby's words are just fine. People do need to take responsibility for their actions.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't also try correct for the prejudice and inequality in our society that is also presenting problems for the black community.

It isn't all one thing. Their problems aren't only caused by white bigotry. That doesn't mean white bigotry doesn't exist, or isn't a problem. Bill Cosby is just saying it ain't 100% of the reason why they have problems.

I can agree with Bill Cosby. I can't agree with the people who want to use what he said as an excuse to repeal anti-discrimination laws, or spread racial stereotypes.

NetRunner: Racists will latch onto it as justification for their prejudices, just like they might cling to quotes from Bill Cosby.


So are "racists" to blame whenever liberal moral relativism undermines traditional responsibility?

Bill Cosby's words and observations are as credible as they come, as he spent most of his life aiding Black causes monetarily and fighting for civil rights, because he is disgusted with needless Black failure.

Black illegitimacy is at 70%, a death knell for any community. "Racists" are not responsible for any Black man abandoning the mother and his children; he failed to STEP UP.

Where is liberalism in this equation? Justifying this wrong choice.

>> ^chilaxe:

"In other words, life isn't fair."
Right, that's what I'm arguing. But if Herman Cain was trained to think along the lines of your comment, he'd still be like all the kids he played with growing up: poor, uneducated, and blaming other people and refusing to adopt basic success strategies.

This is also why I'm saying "learn more about liberalism" -- you're doubling down on the idea that baked into my entire spiel above was some sort of resentment-induced self-destructive behavior.

Conservatives fall prey to that pretty easily, IMO. Most lash out at liberals in a pretty accusatory tone, saying their entire lives are being destroyed by taxes, regulation, the national debt and the Fed printing money. They like to talk about how rich they'd be, if only it weren't for taxes, or how it's just not worth it for them to work any harder, because taxes are higher on rich people. They say that any day now they might just "go Galt" and withhold their productivity to punish the creeping socialism that's invading their lives. They say unions are killing factories, immigrants are stealing their jobs, and the minimum wage is why people can't find work. It's not that they're not as creative as that liberal arts major, it's not that they're not as industrious as that Mexican immigrant, it's not that they should've paid more attention in class, it's liberals, immigrants, and government are to blame for all my problems in life.

What you're talking about isn't liberal, it's human nature. People generally wanna blame someone or something else for their problems, whether they're right or not.

What I mean by "life isn't fair" is that people are not always wrong when they feel that way. Some people are right to feel that way.

Just not the people whose biggest concern in life is a millionaire's surtax.

>> ^chilaxe:
Give poor disadvantaged people a break... encourage them to become success-oriented. The first step would be sincerely reading many business books.

Giving poor and disadvantaged people a break is the liberal position. Do what we can to equalize income, and improve the quality and pay of jobs at the bottom of the payscale.

Also, a free quality education, that teaches them not just facts and figures, but teaches them why what they're learning is important.

>> ^chilaxe:
On genes, I'm confused... is liberalism arguing that genetics substantially influence diversity in economic outcomes even to the point of diversity in the evolutionary history of ethnic groups, or is liberalism arguing what most liberal academics argue: we don't care if it's true and we'll break your faith in academia and liberal intellectualism by calling you the worst names in the language.

What, nigger? Oh, you must mean racist.

Let me try and explain. I'm saying liberals think life isn't fair. The real next step to being a liberal is to say "but it should be made as fair as humanly possible."

You believe racism still exists, right? Specifically, racial prejudice, conscious or unconscious, subtle and gross -- we still have that, right? And you also agree that that prejudice against your ethnicity will negatively impact the quality and number of opportunities made to you, right? You also agree that ethnicity isn't something you choose, or can change if you want to, right?

In a fair society, race shouldn't factor into the type and quality of opportunities people have in life. So for fairness's sake, we should try to discourage people from holding racial prejudice, because it's not fair to deny people an opportunity on the basis of their skin color.

In a market-driven society like ours, this means you should be hiring people based solely on their ability to do the job, not some unrelated characteristic (white, black, man, woman, gay, straight, etc.).

So the problem here is that while it's possible to make some sort of scientific observations about a link between ethnicity and intellectual capability, it's not really a question we should be terribly interested in as a society. And if someone does come up with some sort of empirical analysis validating one of those prejudices we're fighting against, it's morally wrong to then hand that kind of loaded gun over to the people who want to use that to justify denying opportunities to people on the basis of race.

In other words, that kind of study is rightfully controversial. The problem isn't the study itself, per se, it's how the wider world will use it. Racists will latch onto it as justification for their prejudices, just like they might cling to quotes from Bill Cosby.

None of that is a concern about the study of human genetics itself, it's a concern about the ways in which society might use that information.

>> ^schlub:

Last I heard, it was called "programming", not "hacking", still, interesting


Here in Silicon Valley, I often see the terms used somewhat interchangeably.

Sorry. I couldn't fit in the title that there was actually no Bill Cosby.>> ^TheGenk:

But where is Bill Cosby Wearing a Sweater of Bill Cosby Wearing a Sweater?
I am disapoint

But where is Bill Cosby Wearing a Sweater of Bill Cosby Wearing a Sweater?
I am disapoint