Posted on 12/08/2009 8:43:16 PM PST by B-Chan
I’m here on a contract basis supporting the Marines. That picture was taken on my third day in country. The Marines loaned me the little black gun for a post-mission “hoo-ah” picture since I hadn’t been issued a weapon yet.
Please note that I do not necessarily agree with all of the opinions posted at the link.
I did and I do not understand what you are looking for. It appeared to me that there were a few ignorant racists spewing some crap that blacks are not intelligent or whatever.
I will tell you this, I do not recognize nor wish to try to understand racism by anyone. It is stupid, repulsive and irrelevant.
People are people, they are defined by what they do individually. We all make choices in life whether to be successful or not, whether to be educated or not, and whether to be good or not. That is what makes an individual, not their race.
BTW, that site is repulsive as well. You would do yourself a huge favor by leaving such ignorance and hatred behind...
I disagree. I prefer to examine all sides of an issue, even those which I find personally distasteful. I rule nothing out. Only by listening to and considering all truth claims in the light of reason, revelation, and experience may a educated opinion be formed.
I’m sorry you disagree. I’ll refrain from pinging you further in relation to controversial topics.
Each individual makes choices in their life. We don’t need to rehash things over and over again. There is also something we call morality which are certain truths which bear out under any circumstances. One of those is racism is evil and bad. At best it is ignorance, but in reality it is a force of evil.
At some point in our lives we should be educated enough to understand that, among other moral truths. If we “have an open mind” on everything, we are first of all not being honest with ourselves, but also not allowing ourselves to be guided by universal truths that have been given to us by God. For example, I doubt if you need to really consider “all truth claims” of Jeffrey Dahmer about killing and eating human beings to understand it is wrong. His reasoning for doing such acts does not lend itself to enlightening us about the evil of what he has done really. The act is enough. For me, that is the same for racism. It is wrong, period. And, if you know someone who tries to cloud that truth with some hyperbole, just ask them then why would it be wrong for others to be racist against them?
If you reread your post you will note that your last paragraph does not logically match what your first paragraph states. Are you saying in the second paragraph that you do not wish to discuss with people who disagree with you?
Sorry Windflier, I have a different perspective.
You see, I am one of those police officers that work gangs, narcotics and violent crime. I have seen far more vigils against the police doing their jobs than against gang violence. Oh sure, everyone wants to clean up gangs (not really) until it’s their kid that is caught up. I cannot count how many times over the last fifteen years I told someone that their kid was running in a set, and was told that I was lying.
Mothers, (there are no dads) simply won’t even believe it when you show them the Myspace or Bebo site their kids created with all the gang trappings. They just make excuses like, oh that’s just the style, or that’s someone elses gun.
I have met with a few mothers who desperately tried to keep their kids out of gangs but because they are working two jobs to keep food on the table, (something a real man who gave a chit about his kids would do) they lose track of their kids. Those kids have to join a gang or be a punching bag everyday. The gang becomes the leading influence in their lives.
Someone made a comment that the US is looking at third and fourth generational gang families. That is absolutely true.
Folks, gangs are a huge problem. The best way to keep one out of your neighborhood is to crush it right away. Don’t let your children adopt thug behavior. Keep the police informed about what is going on. Work with them. The first house that shows signs of gang activity, the men need to go down there and make it ABSOLUTELY known that gang activity will not be tolerated.
You can’t save the inner cities. They are done. Fini.
But you can save your suburban neighborhoods if you want to.
You are correct that some things are evil in and of themselves. Racial hatred is a good example. We know this because God has revealed moral Truth to us. Since this Truth tells us that hatred is not of God , we may therefore know with certainty that hatred is immoral under any circumstances.
However, determining the truth on matters outside of faith and morals is not so simple. The only tools we have with which to judge the truth or falsehood of a given claim of fact are our reason and experience. In order for us to do so, reason requires that we first define the terms of the claim, then seek objective evidence to support the claim from as many sources as we can find. We then weigh the evidence in the light of experience, and finally render a judgment.
Let us examine by these means the core claim of racism: that persons from one racial group are innately superior to persons from another racial group. In order to address this claim, we must first define what constitutes a “racial group”, then define what we mean by “innate superiority”. Once these steps have been completed, we may then examine the evidence that tends to support the claim (if any), using our experience to decide whether any given item of evidence is credible or not. Only by doing so could we hope to judge whether or not the core claim of racism is true or false.
It goes without saying that none of these steps has yet been accomplished in our society. The question itself is considered unthinkable, as your post proves. We have no universal definition of race, no scale by which to measure superiority, and no way to determine if a demonstrated instance of superiority is innate or learned. Until we have these things, we have no way by which to know if the core claim of racism is true.
Abesent these, all we have are statistics and personal experiences, and each can plausibly be offered as evidence to support the claim that people from certain races tend to be superior to people from other races in specific areas of performance. We know from statistical data that persons who self-identify as Asians tend to excel at taking standardized tests, for example, while those self-identifying as black/African tend to excel at long-distance running. It is therefore true that members of Racial Group X actually are better at some things than are members of Racial Group Y. To deny this is to deny reality.
But even if some evidence were to come along someday demonstrating to a scientific certainty that one of the races was superior to the others in every area, and that this superiority was genetic, what of it? Superiority would only morally obligate the “master race” to act as a protector and caretaker of the “lesser breeds”; it would not be carte blanche to exploit them, and hating them would still be morally wrong.
Racism is the claim that one of the races is innately superior to the others in every area. Is this claim true? While I’m willing to entertain the question, the evidence I’ve seen to support various such claims of superiority hasn’t been substantive enough for me to judge it to be true. I judge individuals on an individual basis, and groups on a group bases, in the light of my personal experiences. It may be that some races truly are innately better than other races, but based on my own judgment I’d guess that each race has its own unique superiorities and inferiorities.
What I do know is that it is wrong for a person to hate another person, on the basis of race or any other factor. This claim is one upon which I think all men of good will and properly formed conscience can agree.
Oh sure, everyone wants to clean up gangs (not really) until it’s their kid that is caught up. I cannot count how many times over the last fifteen years I told someone that their kid was running in a set, and was told that I was lying.
I defer to your expert testimony on this. Perhaps my personal experience with this has become too stale-dated. I haven't lived in the black community for over 25 years now.
But, I'm all too familiar with the sort of denialist mindset you spoke of. That, I have seen firsthand, many times. Heck, I used my own mom's naivete' and disbelief to my corrupt advantage when I was a teenager. I think all kids do.
To your last statement, yes, it's important for the men of a community to stamp out any budding gang activity they see springing up, before it grows too entrenched for them to stop. When I was a youngster in the late 50's and early 60's, the men of most communities would have cleaned out that sort of thing without question.
I know this thread was a long time ago but I don’t guess you realized that whatisthetruth is black.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2313244/posts?page=10#10
He said for me to bring my argument against him over here so I did.
Obviously whatisthetruth is now black or was. I am not sure.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2313244/posts?page=10#10
Link to current topic
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2313244/posts?page=10#10
I very much doubt that claim, considering what that poster wrote, which I offer to you here:
Must be some sort of innate jungle tribal instinct just too difficult for their race to overcome.
Why would the poster phrase that statement that way, if they're black? Why would they even such a negative comment, if they're black?
Incidentally, the post that I replied to (#319) by whatisthetruth was deleted by the moderator.
I very much doubt the claim too. We brought up the fact that he was lying in another thread and he cried foul and said to bring it back to the original thread so I did. :)
Can’t be “hate crimes” - the victims are not of a minority, preferably male. Further, minorities themselves are incapable of committing “hate crimes”.
Personally - my feeling are that these are Obama’s minions now free to express their “love”...
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