Yeah Liberia is kind of a thing with these Rubes too. They don’t seem to know much of the history there, or anything about the modern nation. But place in Africa created so you could send Blacks back is like white separatist candy.
4 Likes
“Back” being in quotation marks, of course.
1 Like
Right. I just found it sort of echoed your feelings of feeling white until there are no other minorities in the room. When I scoffed at the idea of these hard core tatted up Nazis protecting Jewish people in prison, the guy told me they were considered white in the context of being surrounded by Hispanic and black groups. I suppose it’s all relative, which is what makes the whole idea one group is better than another sorta silly in the first place.
Other peoples’ used to have the “other” moniker in the past in the US. White was Anglo-Saxons. But now they are all included.
1 Like
It may have more to do with prison neo-nazis being more of a drug gang than anything else. They routinely take money to protect non-whites, they’re deeply involved with and sometimes allied with Latino gangs. And apparently there’s tension with the more explicitly white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood members outside of prison and the more practical (?) membership in the prison system.
The Aryan Brotherhood and the smaller prison gangs they control are sort of the last remaining vestige of an older period in American neo-naziism where these groups functioned more as street gangs, and often recruited more like cults. And they were more directly involved in criminal activity than the political process.
They’ve been displaced by the sort of “respectable” groups we see now and there’s not much continuity of leadership and membership between the two. So Identity Evorpa are absolutely violent Nazi fucks, but what they’re not is a major part of the meth pipeline in the US. Yesterday’s Neo-Nazis were, but they weren’t exactly starting think tanks and running for office.
2 Likes
It also shows how race can be both socially constructed, but still have the consequence of one group being targeted for violence by actual prison Nazis. “Socially constructed” doesn’t mean “light and airy and made-up”.
4 Likes
Call me weird (And it might offend some), but much of Latin America, the entire Middle East, bits of central Asia, parts of India, and most of North Africa seem white to me. Just different shades of tanness. I’m of Northern European decent, so it’s not by skin contrast. Except for Ethiopian Jews, I can’t even conceive of not considering someone Jewish as also white.
Best I can figure is I’m too lazy to put effort into grouping people by skin color in any traditional way. Not color blindness, just plain ol’ laziness.
Paradoxically, I’m fascinated by geography and different cultures and like to know what someone’s background is. Guessing by how they look, act, dress, and speak is much more fun and at times practical (such as hosting visitors while in Asia and steering us towards a halal or vegetarian restaurant if necessary).
This is entirely true, but the saddest part of this being true: There’s virtually no difference between the policies being put out by Warren and the positions supported by Bernie.
What is their biggest difference? What’s between their legs…
6 Likes
Oh god please no. I’m just tired of seeing centrists suck the air out of the political discourse.
5 Likes
I think this is a false dichotomy. The majority of Americans are for more populist policy and a lot of the ennui around Hillary was that she didn’t have bold positions. I think this analysis hits it on the head: https://nyti.ms/2UIjGcC
Second, fears that Democrats are putting their electoral prospects in danger by moving too far left, for example by proposing higher taxes on the rich and Medicare expansion, are grossly exaggerated. Voters want an economic move to the left — it’s just that some of them dislike Democratic support for civil rights, which the party can’t drop without losing its soul.
I think the right choice is someone who pushes for idealistic positions that most Americans agree with and is charismatic.
4 Likes
And THAT is idealistic itself. You seem to assume those people vote.
In a perfect world they do.
But these people vote. In droves. And a candidate needs to cater to them. That’s how you win elections.
1 Like
Maybe if candidates gave young people something they were interested in voting for, and removed barriers that make it harder for younger and less-white constituencies to vote, instead of a continuation of the same shitty policies that have dug us deeper and deeper into our current cess pit of wealth inequality, voter intimidation, and rampant corruption with a hint of either strawberry or blueberry aftertaste, they’d actually do it more.
Just throwing that out there.
ETA: I absolutely do not want Joe Biden to be president. I think he would be terrible and not do what’s necessary to avert climate disaster and fix the compounded problems that people exactly like him have left us with after decades in office. But running on the assumption that a wet turd would be better than our current orange monstrosity, I will vote for him. If I have to.
6 Likes
The fact that a completely unqualified, incompetent, corrupt millionaire is in the White House right now is proof that the USA still has a lot of growing up to do. So while I wish the American voter preferred a female and/or minority candidate, at this point I really just want any steady hand at the rudder who doesn’t also have his hand in the till.
Realistically we shouldn’t care about the gender/race/age of a candidate, but only whether we think they can do the job well, and the way we want it done. Unfortunately folks tend to vote for who they think can win, “picking a winner” seems to always be the primary goal.
2 Likes
I hear ya, I’d take the much lesser of the two evils thank you VERY much.
It is very early, no debates yet, just scripted town halls and such, but I like Kamala Harris warts n all. I like Bernie. I like Booker. Buttigieg (still trying to pronounce his name!) would be great, our first gay president! yaaaaaz queen (sorry couldn’t resist, even tho i know not what it means).
So who should Bernie pick as VP? Of the other competitors I’d have to say Gabbard or Harris. AOC needs some experience, but DAMN I like her! not for VP yet? Or someone out of left field (midwest or south, I wouldn’t pick a Beto).
2 Likes
Not to mention the effect of any October (and earlier) surprises. Skeletons in closets. Long stories.
1 Like
Ya let’s all jump on nominating someone who can’t beat Trump and guarantee 4 more years of crazy sarcasm. Maybe I will apply for Canada PR status.
Biden? Also he hasn’t even declared yet. In addition, I don’t want 4 years of nothing happening other than special interests continuing to f**k our government. Might as well not vote in the next election if Biden is the nominee. Last I checked Bernie is tied with Biden. Maybe next month he’ll be leading Biden.
Okay, what the fuck.
4 Likes
Literally in the Obama administration they passed a bill that expanded the opioid crisis (Obama could’ve veto’), expanded special interests access to purchasing our government, etc. if there’s no difference between republicans and democrats other than false promises, why vote? Eric Holder of the DOJ made Aaron Swartz kill himself over publicly funded research. JSTOR essentially backed down and the Obama led DOJ destroyed Swartzs life and influenced his decision to commit suicide. That’s what I remember from Obama. His Administration also expanded the military industrial complex and drone strikes and kickstarted self learning computers to assassinate people. If we’re going to pretend to be happy because there’s a neo liberal that continues the erosion of our democracy, government, and progressivism, why bother? It’s kind of like that scene from Star Wars the Last Jedi where the arms manufacturer says: “it’s just business” when faced with the reality that he builds weapons for both the Empire and the Republic. If Trump or Biden are going to allow our government to continue to be eroded by special interests, why should I care?
When 60 minutes interviewed people in the Obama Administration about Swartz and the opioid bill. They said that they knew about it and stood on the sidelines and did nothing.
We always want the past when the present is in front of us and we don’t often remember what it was really like.
1 Like
Speaking of Rev Jackson…
2 Likes
I’d vote for a dead horse if that’s what it took to get Trump outta here.
5 Likes
