I can appreciate that, but I also feel that if I’m going to argue for something of that nature, I want facts. Research and data that support my opinion–and I know this approach doesn’t work in every case, but I do want to sway their opinion on this–will be gathered to some degree, maybe two or three papers, highlighted, enclosed in a letter. We don’t live close enough to talk face to face, and a letter offers the ability to gather one’s thoughts and take time for reflection. Email is too fast, too easy to put bullshit into it–I want them to also go looking for information on this, because in the end, I think that’s what will wake them up.
That said, I understand and share your frustration. At some point I’ll have to redetermine these efforts on a number of levels, and I may very well follow your path.
I admire your tenacity. And, perhaps, the relative openness of your, er, relatives.
My shouty ones would not be swayed even by letters and documents presenting careful, irrefutable research – maybe yours would. After all, I have often suspected that the shoutiness is a symptom, a sign of a struck nerve – something I said made it through a barrier. There is hope in that, so again, kudos to you for your tenacity. Some walls do succumb eventually to continual head-butting.
so sad that this is so true in America; not only for Blacks ( though they suffer the most fatalities from the cops ) but all citizens as the cops are cowards and shoot first and try to diffuse last
there is lots of stats on how many citizens are killed by cops, how miniscule are the prosecutions and how out of proportion they are blacks. All you have to do is ask a black adult male, see cabs not pick up blacks, etc
see why there are so few facts; the police do not even consider this worth while reporting - http://online.wsj.com/articles/hundreds-of-police-killings-are-uncounted-in-federal-statistics-1417577504
I think the same of every person who believes in ghosts or homeopathy or other flying spaghetti monsters. Point being almost everyone is irrational about something despite appearing to be educated and logical. I wish I knew a solution
Well, I’m not breaking out the champagne just yet–haven’t even written anything, but I feel as though I should. Letters offer time to think and they don’t enable an easy target for the shouty, but even so I haven’t the faintest if they’ll reply or not. Text, voice, video, even online forums, they enable an easy method to fling bullshit back at the sender, so in the context at hand, I’m thinking the calmest method of communication might be the best, albeit likely the slowest.
And while I’d like to say this method has won old arguments, it really points to the fact that I’m easily as hard-headed/stubborn as the people whose beliefs I’d like to sway.
Certainly part of the problem, but somewhere in the gargantuan firehose of data expectorated by the government, I’m sure meaningful numbers can be found. Coupled with some academic research, I’m guessing my side won’t be too hard to prove. And like I mentioned upthread, if my ‘opponents’ do any research of their own, I’m betting they’ll not find much more than political talking points or straight-up racist screeds–which will impart its own flavor of strengthening my argument.
And @greggman, I fully concur with your thoughts, but at the very least some education is a start.
How was eugenics and scientific racism not crazy? How as jim crow not fucking insane - especially given how whites had license to swerve allover the line, but African americans were murdered, without fear of consequence for even looking at the line? How is the period of new imperialism, where white men decided it was okay to take resources from other countries because they weren’t “using them” properly (to make vast quanties of cash), not utterly bug nuts? How is the creation of weapons, for the purpose of killing more brown and black people, not insane? How is the whole notion of the inherent value of a human being tied to skin color not insane? The fact that many of us, at least reject the notion of someone’s inherent worth being tied to the amount of melanin in their skin means whites are less crazy… But these were not some crazy notions outside of mainstream culture - these were mainstream, respectable views of the victorian middle class! That’s some fucked shit, if you ask me.
Look, in his brilliant book on the late victorian period, Mike Davis said something pretty smart - he stated that while the later victorian era was considered by the British and other “white” countries to be a golden age of modernity, wealth, and prosperity, the global south saw that era as a giant funeral pyre (and given the Irish famine, which we can fully lay at the feet of the British colonial system, we can include some Europeans, too)! And you know what it took to actually change all that craziness? Hitler doing to other Europeans what Europeans (and Americans) had been doing to black and brown people for a while before that…
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