(06-12-2020, 06:45 AM)LP link Wrote:What part of that is related to race, isn't it basically an argument about wealth, is Hedges saying there are no wealthy African Americans at Princeton, or that there are no Caucasians in the poor schools?

Don't reference ghettos, eruvs or other enclaves, that is equally damning to all sides of the argument.

Apparently privilege is about being white, tell that to all the African American, Indian, Chinese or Hispanic traders who had the business trashed in recent weeks. Race has nothing to do with the majority of America's current problems, it's a society built on greed and capitalism.

It feels like a generalist argument. Perhaps the demise of South Africa leaves America and it's Institutionalised Racism unlike anything else on Earth, yet you apparently wouldn't want to be secondary schoolgirl in Nigeria. No matter what people in other regions and many Americians wish to believe or portray about the rest of the world, America's problems are American and bare little relevance to other regions!

(06-12-2020, 06:36 AM)LP link Wrote:Two Demons players now to be banned for COVID-19 protocol breaches, Pickett and Spargo.

As unlikely as it is, if any of these norbits test positive they should be suspended for the season, they visit a mate and deliberately roll the dice on a multi-million dollar industry.

It's not good enough! The young kids have no regard for the risk, because they are not in the hazard zone, yet grandparents, infant nieces and nephews are all at increased risk due to teenagers and twenty-somethings ignoring the risks.

(06-12-2020, 06:36 AM)LP link Wrote:Two Demons players now to be banned for COVID-19 protocol breaches, Pickett and Spargo.

As unlikely as it is, if any of these norbits test positive they should be suspended for the season, they visit a mate and deliberately roll the dice on a multi-million dollar industry.

It's not good enough! The young kids have no regard for the risk, because they are not in the hazard zone, yet grandparents, infant nieces and nephews are all at increased risk due to teenagers and twenty-somethings ignoring the risks.

(06-12-2020, 07:15 AM)ElwoodBlues1 link Wrote:Interesting that the USA now have a second wave of infections with States that have gone back to the norm...22 states have recorded a spike in cases. They just have no idea in America.....the greatest danger to America isnt Russia, Nth korea or China its the dopey American regime and its dopey redneck citizens who cant seem to understand what common sense is...
Agree on those Demon players....

(06-12-2020, 06:20 AM)PaulP link Wrote:At the risk of sounding cheesy, the change needs to happen in our hearts, and that means all of us, rich, poor, black, white. And it is not a set and forget scenario. It requires vigilance and attention every day.  And apathy is a major problem in this regard.

Also, racism manifests itself in subtle ways - it's not just about skin colour or strange food or being called names. Chris Hedges does volunteer work in prisons around where he lives in Princeton. He told a story of a black prisoner telling him that he never experienced racism because no one called him the n word. Hedges then described to him the public schools in Princeton for the predominately white middle class - all nicely furnished, well maintained etc. This prisoner grew up in a black neighbourhood, and when Hedges asked him to describe his school, he talked about broken lights, things not working, no replenishing of supplies for the teachers etc. Hedges, who has worked in poor neighbourhoods for decades, simply said, "that's racism."

(06-12-2020, 08:12 AM)Baggers link Wrote:Not at all 'cheesy', Pauly. Not at all. Truth. The truth might sound cheesy and we might be a little shy to advance such observations in such a critical world, but the truth has a strength of its own which is inspiring and terrifying... depending on where you're at.

Change is happening, excruciatingly slowly... but it's happening. Tiny revolution after tiny revolution. The up side of cameras, TV and social media (when operating at their ethical best) is accountability. Exposure. Appalling behaviour is finding fewer and fewer places to hide. But we've a long way to go, and need to remain as vigilant as Rosa Parks back in the mid 50s on that bus... and as much that has changed for African American folk since then, it needs to change as much again. We tend to measure change in terms of our own lifetimes or the ideal of going straight from ignorance to enlightenment... understandable, but a dash naive. We've a lot of paddock to hoe along with plenty of blood, sweat and tears (shout out to David Clayton-Thomas).

Humans have been prejudiced against anyone seen as 'different' since time immemorial. Religion against religion, neighbour against neighbour, tribe against tribe, suburb against suburb, state against state, national against nation, culture against culture and so on, ad infinitum. Sheesh, so many of us are at war within ourselves, FFS. Prejudice is embedded in our hearts... holding hands with fear, well, often it is simply just that - fear. That's why your comment aint cheesy, but we are changing in the right direction with our hoe hitting stumps and mud and other obstacles, but it is happening.

(06-12-2020, 11:36 AM)Thryleon link Wrote:I've seen some footage of why they may have taken the actions they did with Floyd.

Not to condone kneeling on a bloke for 8 minutes.  There was clearly a lack of empathy here, nor much care. 

Let's just say he wasn't complying with police instructions and was resisting arrest.  Ever wondered why there are 4 officers to arrest 1 bloke?

All could have been avoided if he just got in the squad car like they were trying to before they pinned him down.

Amazing how we don't hear about that part.  Doesn't fit the agenda.

(06-12-2020, 11:37 PM)Baggers link Wrote:The cop didn't just kneel on the bloke, he did so on his neck... The cop didn't need to engage any empathy, just to use 'reasonable' force and not 'excessive' force - intelligence/policy rather than aggression. I don't care if Floyd was a serial killer or a direct descendant of Christ himself, his death was wrong and should not have happened. And, as it happened, his death was the 100th monkey; tipping point; the final straw; the match that lit the tinderbox ...of overwhelming present day and historic injustice afforded African American's in the US.

Arguments that with Floyd being an alleged crim it somehow justifies or lessens the injustice he received, are dangerous and dumb. (Same kind of reprehensible and just plain stupid logic used by that Neanderthal judge who claimed that raping a prostitute is somehow not nearly as bad as raping a woman who is not a prostitute).

In the words of one of the world's great leaders, Martin Luther King Jnr... 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'