1) Racism is not something confined to "White" people, it exists now and always in every group of humans that inhabit this planet. Every race, every tribe, every country, all of us, including those who have been victims of it.
2) There is a myth that is perpetuated in today's America, that slavery was invented by white southern plantation owners who crossed the Atlantic and captured the first slaves the world had ever seen and brought them back to work the cotton fields. This is total bullsh*t.
3) The fact is that the first slaves (NOT indentured servants) in America were primarily Irish and Scots. An attempt by the English to resuscitate the feudal system, in a way.
4) African slaves sent to America were mostly enslaved by the African king of the Congo who found it convenient to enslave peoples from his neighboring countries, as well as those who violated the laws of his country. This practice had been in place, Africans enslaving Africans since the time of the Pharaoh's, perhaps beyond. Until the Portugese traders found out, the slaves were primarily sold in African and Arab countries. Some of this may still be happening, it certainly was within our lifetimes.
5) It is true that American slavery was different, even more degrading and dehumanizing than the "run of the mill" slavery that existed in the Old World. If that's possible.
Lastly, lest I be misunderstood let me state this clearly: I personally believe deeply in equality for all races and both sexes, however they wish to express that. Also, if we immerse ourselves in a constant focus on race and sex, we are likely to remain racist and sexist.
Equality also means that I am treated equally, instead of being penalized for the actions of people I never knew and did not benefit from in a time that none of us lived in.
Just my opinion. As long as the piece doesn't try to deny these truths, I suspect I will probably support the work.
WARNING: The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme. Proceed at your own risk.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
No bro, it's not about sugar coating. It's just plain rude. You could have just as easily scrolled right on by.
This is a year of Rachel's work, and while I know that Edward shared it knowing that most of us disagree with the premise... I disagree with the premise... I just don't see the need for the CCom chapter of the Mutual Admiration Society to pounce on another forum member's wife.
Edward is a family member here, and by extension so is his wife. If we want to take shots at each other here on the forum, I don't have a problem with it. Hell, I've mixed it up with you, Tony, Rob, Nick, and a bunch of other people, But the difference is that I do it to you or to them. We do it directly to each other, and even when no holds are barred, you and I know that we are good with each other despite our differences.
I would hate for Rachel to stumble upon this somehow and then tell Edward that she's not comfortable with him hanging out here anymore.
@Amos_Umwhat said:
Just some thoughts before I read it:
1) Racism is not something confined to "White" people, it exists now and always in every group of humans that inhabit this planet. Every race, every tribe, every country, all of us, including those who have been victims of it.
2) There is a myth that is perpetuated in today's America, that slavery was invented by white southern plantation owners who crossed the Atlantic and captured the first slaves the world had ever seen and brought them back to work the cotton fields. This is total bullsh*t.
3) The fact is that the first slaves (NOT indentured servants) in America were primarily Irish and Scots. An attempt by the English to resuscitate the feudal system, in a way.
4) African slaves sent to America were mostly enslaved by the African king of the Congo who found it convenient to enslave peoples from his neighboring countries, as well as those who violated the laws of his country. This practice had been in place, Africans enslaving Africans since the time of the Pharaoh's, perhaps beyond. Until the Portugese traders found out, the slaves were primarily sold in African and Arab countries. Some of this may still be happening, it certainly was within our lifetimes.
5) It is true that American slavery was different, even more degrading and dehumanizing than the "run of the mill" slavery that existed in the Old World. If that's possible.
Lastly, lest I be misunderstood let me state this clearly: I personally believe deeply in equality for all races and both sexes, however they wish to express that. Also, if we immerse ourselves in a constant focus on race and sex, we are likely to remain racist and sexist.
Equality also means that I am treated equally, instead of being penalized for the actions of people I never knew and did not benefit from in a time that none of us lived in.
Just my opinion. As long as the piece doesn't try to deny these truths, I suspect I will probably support the work.
I personally agree with much of what you said, even though in certain aspects you assume fact in what is really opinion. Nevertheless, it's all pretty reasonable.
I guess the point with Rachel's work Is that it's okay, despite everything that you said here, for one side to take a step in recognizing something--in this case systemic racism--without the other side taking the same step.
In other words, it's okay for a white person to think that there is systemic racism in our society independent of whether or not any black person recognizes that there may be systemic racism in the other direction. It really is okay!
I believe that there is some evidence that systemic racism exists in America. The most compelling statistic for me from that website was that about 1% of poor white people are 3rd generation poor, while about 20% of poor blacks are third generation poor. Reasonable conclusions to draw are that the disparity is statistically significant (which can be statistically proven) and that America does not have a mobile, fluid class system as we are all taught in kindergarten. These numbers indicate that our class system has upward mobility characteristics for certain races, and it is much more difficult for other races.
In short, it's not necessarily clear-cut "bullshít," to use the phrasing of some of our more esteemed members.
One theory that supports systemic racism, that I have seen personally in my travels on this earth, is that blacks were moved into inner city ghettos when white flight to the suburbs occurred in the 50s and 60s. We can argue the merits of that but I would prefer holding off for a second because I don't want to distract the evidence with the argument.
Here's some evidence to ponder for a second. There are few jobs, certainly well paying jobs, in the inner city, and personally owned transportation is more scarce in the inner city because public transportation is readily available and with more people per square mile, there is a lack of space for everyone living in the inner city to store and maintain personal vehicles. This results in those who live in the inner cities having lower paying jobs on average and not having the resources to travel outside of their native land, so this week.
Many have such low paying jobs that they can barely scrape together rent, let alone food. When they procreate, which is a natural human function and desire that all of us have participated in, they don't have the means to take care of their families. The local state and federal governments don't have the infrastructure to ensure their care, so they use the infrastructure that already exists, namely the schools.
The inner city schools, which were left behind by white flight, are too small and too scarce to service the number of children who attend. This results in overcrowded classrooms. Teachers don't like overcrowded classrooms, so they teach in the suburbs that have more resources and can pay more and have fewer children.
This creates competitive job markets in the suburbs for this industry, which results in the best teachers getting hired. There is still a group of teachers left who are not the best. They work for less money in the inner cities because that's the only place that they can find work in a competitive market. They are further behind the eight ball because they have to teach 40 kids per classroom instead of 20 kids per classroom, meaning that each child gets less individual attention.
To further exacerbate the situation, most of the socioeconomic poor children who attend the schools don't have enough to eat, don't have shoes, don't have clothing. The local governments, having no other infrastructure available, use the schools to take care of these children so that they literally don't starve or go naked. So then the school takes educational minutes that your children spend in social studies or science, and they use them to run kids through two meals a day instead of one, a farmers market every Friday, and shoe and clothing lines once once a month.
The result of all of this is that the children, even if they are in the same school district as your children, receive far inferior educations. This sets them up without the resources needed for upward mobility in the American class system. Since so many of them, one in five, never move out of the neighborhood, they don't even have relatives they can look to in other markets to help them start a new life. If they do, then it's likely that these relatives also live in inner city environments, just in a different city. They end up taking lower paying jobs near the neighborhoods they grew up in. They then have children in those neighborhoods who go to the same schools that face the same challenges from the previous generation.
This model doesn't even speak to the environmental pressures that are present, both from the ruling class (funding, man hours, infrastructure, leadership) as well as those that are self-imposed (crime, peer pressure, degradation of the nuclear family}, which make it even harder to get a suburban level education that provides the tools for upward mobility.
In Vegas we have another condition that contributes to it, which is the Latino population and It's collective language disadvantage.
Sure, if you play basketball or can sing or invent something cool, you can get out. But let's be real. I'm actually surprised it's only one in five.
I think a lot of privileged white cigar smoking people hear the term systemic racism and they inaccurately think that this is some sort of imposition or blame game. It is not. I personally think that aspects of it are real and it is a sort of hangover that resulted from the accelerated civil rights movement of the 60s.
In short, I think that our mindsets and attitudes have accelerated faster than our societal systems, which has resulted in a leftover system that is less advantageous to blacks. While we (as a people) may not have racism prevalent in our everyday lives, our legacy systems trip up certain races more than others.
Reading Ironhorse by Robert Knott for Robert Parker. Set in the west 1870's rousing tale about train robbery, outlaws,Texas, horses, and lawmen. great read.
@First_Warrior said:
The Secret History Of Food by Matt Siegel. An exploration of the historical, cultural, scientific, sexual, and culinary properties of food. Good read.
So, bacon?
WARNING: The above post may contain thoughts or ideas known to the State of Caliphornia to cause seething rage, confusion, distemper, nausea, perspiration, sphincter release, or cranial implosion to persons who implicitly trust only one news source, or find themselves at either the left or right political extreme. Proceed at your own risk.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
Comments
Just some thoughts before I read it:
1) Racism is not something confined to "White" people, it exists now and always in every group of humans that inhabit this planet. Every race, every tribe, every country, all of us, including those who have been victims of it.
2) There is a myth that is perpetuated in today's America, that slavery was invented by white southern plantation owners who crossed the Atlantic and captured the first slaves the world had ever seen and brought them back to work the cotton fields. This is total bullsh*t.
3) The fact is that the first slaves (NOT indentured servants) in America were primarily Irish and Scots. An attempt by the English to resuscitate the feudal system, in a way.
4) African slaves sent to America were mostly enslaved by the African king of the Congo who found it convenient to enslave peoples from his neighboring countries, as well as those who violated the laws of his country. This practice had been in place, Africans enslaving Africans since the time of the Pharaoh's, perhaps beyond. Until the Portugese traders found out, the slaves were primarily sold in African and Arab countries. Some of this may still be happening, it certainly was within our lifetimes.
5) It is true that American slavery was different, even more degrading and dehumanizing than the "run of the mill" slavery that existed in the Old World. If that's possible.
Lastly, lest I be misunderstood let me state this clearly: I personally believe deeply in equality for all races and both sexes, however they wish to express that. Also, if we immerse ourselves in a constant focus on race and sex, we are likely to remain racist and sexist.
Equality also means that I am treated equally, instead of being penalized for the actions of people I never knew and did not benefit from in a time that none of us lived in.
Just my opinion. As long as the piece doesn't try to deny these truths, I suspect I will probably support the work.
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain
No bro, it's not about sugar coating. It's just plain rude. You could have just as easily scrolled right on by.
This is a year of Rachel's work, and while I know that Edward shared it knowing that most of us disagree with the premise... I disagree with the premise... I just don't see the need for the CCom chapter of the Mutual Admiration Society to pounce on another forum member's wife.
Edward is a family member here, and by extension so is his wife. If we want to take shots at each other here on the forum, I don't have a problem with it. Hell, I've mixed it up with you, Tony, Rob, Nick, and a bunch of other people, But the difference is that I do it to you or to them. We do it directly to each other, and even when no holds are barred, you and I know that we are good with each other despite our differences.
I would hate for Rachel to stumble upon this somehow and then tell Edward that she's not comfortable with him hanging out here anymore.
not a problem, Frank, I respect Shawn's opinion.
I personally agree with much of what you said, even though in certain aspects you assume fact in what is really opinion. Nevertheless, it's all pretty reasonable.
I guess the point with Rachel's work Is that it's okay, despite everything that you said here, for one side to take a step in recognizing something--in this case systemic racism--without the other side taking the same step.
In other words, it's okay for a white person to think that there is systemic racism in our society independent of whether or not any black person recognizes that there may be systemic racism in the other direction. It really is okay!
I believe that there is some evidence that systemic racism exists in America. The most compelling statistic for me from that website was that about 1% of poor white people are 3rd generation poor, while about 20% of poor blacks are third generation poor. Reasonable conclusions to draw are that the disparity is statistically significant (which can be statistically proven) and that America does not have a mobile, fluid class system as we are all taught in kindergarten. These numbers indicate that our class system has upward mobility characteristics for certain races, and it is much more difficult for other races.
In short, it's not necessarily clear-cut "bullshít," to use the phrasing of some of our more esteemed members.
One theory that supports systemic racism, that I have seen personally in my travels on this earth, is that blacks were moved into inner city ghettos when white flight to the suburbs occurred in the 50s and 60s. We can argue the merits of that but I would prefer holding off for a second because I don't want to distract the evidence with the argument.
Here's some evidence to ponder for a second. There are few jobs, certainly well paying jobs, in the inner city, and personally owned transportation is more scarce in the inner city because public transportation is readily available and with more people per square mile, there is a lack of space for everyone living in the inner city to store and maintain personal vehicles. This results in those who live in the inner cities having lower paying jobs on average and not having the resources to travel outside of their native land, so this week.
Many have such low paying jobs that they can barely scrape together rent, let alone food. When they procreate, which is a natural human function and desire that all of us have participated in, they don't have the means to take care of their families. The local state and federal governments don't have the infrastructure to ensure their care, so they use the infrastructure that already exists, namely the schools.
The inner city schools, which were left behind by white flight, are too small and too scarce to service the number of children who attend. This results in overcrowded classrooms. Teachers don't like overcrowded classrooms, so they teach in the suburbs that have more resources and can pay more and have fewer children.
This creates competitive job markets in the suburbs for this industry, which results in the best teachers getting hired. There is still a group of teachers left who are not the best. They work for less money in the inner cities because that's the only place that they can find work in a competitive market. They are further behind the eight ball because they have to teach 40 kids per classroom instead of 20 kids per classroom, meaning that each child gets less individual attention.
To further exacerbate the situation, most of the socioeconomic poor children who attend the schools don't have enough to eat, don't have shoes, don't have clothing. The local governments, having no other infrastructure available, use the schools to take care of these children so that they literally don't starve or go naked. So then the school takes educational minutes that your children spend in social studies or science, and they use them to run kids through two meals a day instead of one, a farmers market every Friday, and shoe and clothing lines once once a month.
The result of all of this is that the children, even if they are in the same school district as your children, receive far inferior educations. This sets them up without the resources needed for upward mobility in the American class system. Since so many of them, one in five, never move out of the neighborhood, they don't even have relatives they can look to in other markets to help them start a new life. If they do, then it's likely that these relatives also live in inner city environments, just in a different city. They end up taking lower paying jobs near the neighborhoods they grew up in. They then have children in those neighborhoods who go to the same schools that face the same challenges from the previous generation.
This model doesn't even speak to the environmental pressures that are present, both from the ruling class (funding, man hours, infrastructure, leadership) as well as those that are self-imposed (crime, peer pressure, degradation of the nuclear family}, which make it even harder to get a suburban level education that provides the tools for upward mobility.
In Vegas we have another condition that contributes to it, which is the Latino population and It's collective language disadvantage.
Sure, if you play basketball or can sing or invent something cool, you can get out. But let's be real. I'm actually surprised it's only one in five.
I think a lot of privileged white cigar smoking people hear the term systemic racism and they inaccurately think that this is some sort of imposition or blame game. It is not. I personally think that aspects of it are real and it is a sort of hangover that resulted from the accelerated civil rights movement of the 60s.
In short, I think that our mindsets and attitudes have accelerated faster than our societal systems, which has resulted in a leftover system that is less advantageous to blacks. While we (as a people) may not have racism prevalent in our everyday lives, our legacy systems trip up certain races more than others.
Apparently it's at a 20 to 1 clip.
Reading Ironhorse by Robert Knott for Robert Parker. Set in the west 1870's rousing tale about train robbery, outlaws,Texas, horses, and lawmen. great read.
Sounds awesome!
flame retardants and autism
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00204-021-03163-4
https://www.quantamagazine.org/cosmologists-close-in-on-logical-laws-for-the-big-bang-20211110/
Numbers Stations (radio, spy)
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-24910397
Before the internet I got the news via short wave and frequently came across number stations. thanks for reminding me of them.
It's been too long since I've listened to short wave.
this is very cool:
https://phys.org/news/2021-11-holographic-camera-unseen-high-precision.html
Very cool, Edward.
But will it come on the next iphone?
Trapped in the People's Communits Republic of Massachusetts.
how and why exercise decreases inflammation and improves arthritis symptoms:
The anti-inflammatory effect of bacterial short chain fatty acids is partially mediated by endocannabinoids
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19490976.2021.1997559
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION & BEING MIXED
https://mixedmillennial.co/blogs/news/cultural-appropriation-being-mixed
Blah blah blah blah blah.
Trapped in the People's Communits Republic of Massachusetts.
What? Frank's not gonna chime in ? I figured that would get him going.
Trapped in the People's Communits Republic of Massachusetts.
Does someone feel lonely?
a little early morning readin
https://psyche.co/ideas/why-neurodiversity-and-entomology-so-often-go-together
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11245-018-9546-4
https://www.ent.iastate.edu/dept/research/systematics/bleph/biology.html
Running Blind. by. Lee Child. Reacher is at it again.
EXPLAINER: Veteran Hubble vs. new Webb space telescope
https://phys.org/news/2021-12-veteran-hubble-webb-space-telescope.html
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210621-why-single-people-smell-different
I read between the lines but that study proves that bacon makes your BO smell better.
There's nothing bacon cannot do.
The Secret History Of Food by Matt Siegel. An exploration of the historical, cultural, scientific, sexual, and culinary properties of food. Good read.
interesting read:
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/12/28/inflation-interest-rates-thomas-hoenig-federal-reserve-526177
More reading on the Civil War.
"Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another." - Proverbs 27:17
The guys in blue won. Saved you some reading. You're welcome.
Trapped in the People's Communits Republic of Massachusetts.
So, bacon?
"If you do not read the newspapers you're uninformed. If you do read the newspapers, you're misinformed." -- Mark Twain