Well done! You are a good guy too!
Is America great?
- Thread starter Nathon Detroit
- Start date
Dan Emanuel
Active member
Sometime's as terrible as it taste's, the medicine is good for you though.
A spoonful of sugar doesn't hurt though, agree to that!
DJ
1.1
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Caledvwlch
New member
Why did you change all of Granite's personal pronouns to "there"? Which is not a pronoun at all.
Dan Emanuel
Active member
Caledvwlch
New member
Sorry, I got a little grammar-nazi there for a second. Carry on.
Dan Emanuel
Active member
I mostly agree here. There were. however, real problems in those halcyon days of clover. I'm not sure how much of this you have seen; I have seen those times when we lived in a caste system, and no one readily questioned it.
Of course, I was well insulated form the dark side of life. Even taking into consideration, the rose colored illusions among the middle class white culture, there were times I was confounded by what seemed off script. Those times when I saw those dirty crackers mocking blacks, following them in town and imitating what may have been seen in stereotyped programs, the shiftless walk. Then there were always some who went that extra step, those who broke though the tranquility, kicking, as if they were guarding against the changing tide, and yet it seemed so unreal?
They were the poor people, the ignorant, and misguided, but where did they come from, and what were they defending?
No one I knew saw any reason to question the natural order, it was the way life should be. Blacks could not go into main entrance of a theater; they had to go around the side, up the exterior steps, pay their ticket to a black man with a can, and to sit up in the balcony in metal chairs. No one really mined when a few rambunctious boys went up in the balcony, throwing popcorn boxes, after all, boys will be boys, and no one was harmed, not really, just a few black people who were asked to leave the theater, while the boys were sunk low in their seats, laughing.
There was not much notice that all, the public facilities were divided, white and colored. Our public swimming pools were whites only.
Many people my age believe the welfare system ruined black people; i never comment much on this since I know they never will come to believe not all black people were more happy in those days.
We were a very prosperous nation! Everyone worked, my father went to work in a suit, while after school I saw black people working right in our neighborhood, as maids, gardeners, and caretakers.
There was no fear, no one thought too much about children being hurt and when, or if some children were hurt, it was never made public, never if they were black people, or if it was just a domestic incident.
Yes, you have to stand for something more than individual liberty at some point to survive.
I know this all too well. We who knew all too well, did not believe we need to forsake anything, and with that thinking, we did leave our responsibility behind, to be moved forward by a younger generation who would have to pay for our days in clover.
Sorry does not seen to cut it?
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He thinks i am alright too, just dogmatic, or is the katmatic?
PureX
Well-known member
I think the thing that people don't want to realize, and acknowledge, even to this day, is how that systematic humiliation effects the victims psychologically. How they come to believe they deserve it; that they ARE lesser humans, even as they quietly rage against it in their own hearts.
Welfare is just as much a humiliation as forcing people to serve their oppressors as maids and nannies, (or burger-flippers) to survive. Because both instances are proof that the oppressed will never be good enough to work side by side with the privileged oppressors. Never. Sure, a few token negros may be allowed in, so long as they prove themselves to be obedient and grateful over and over and over, and so long as they surmount every obstacle and stumbling block placed in their way. But that's really just an excuse the white people use to pretend to themselves that they're treating their lessors fairly, when they aren't.
My point is that the psychological damage is as bad or worse than the physical poverty. The constant fear and humiliation do more damage the psyche than the low wages and physical abuse do to the body. This was the real horror of racism. And it's still the real horror of systematic social ostracism and neglect, based on race.
We lie and pretend it's all behind us, now. But it's not. Not really. Things are better, but not that much better. Because the damage is still being done. And its still so much more pervasive and generational than physical poverty.
This is something I do believe the youngest generation of adults have a better understanding.
People of my generation are publicly polite, and 'careful' although they so often believe what they still consider as different, for behaving in ways where they see as evidence for a claim that these persons are their own worst enemies.
Such, they will not change:nono:
Not that they are ignorant, although some are, yet most do not want to be bothered by it.
PureX
Well-known member
Yes. It is a "bother" to have to face our own bigotry, and ignorance. But the damage we do to ourselves and to others when we don't face this poison within ourselves is great.
America is in denial. It's in denial of it's own willful ignorance, and it's own greed, and it's increasing mercilessness. We are creating our own hell and trying to blame it on each other while taking no responsibility for it, ourselves. And we can't change any of this until we're willing to accept our part in it.
We need to see how we are hurting each other through our self-righteousness and presumed superiority. We need to see how "looking out for #1 and to hell with everyone else" ends up with everyone living in enmity with each other; in competition with each other, instead of in unity and cooperation. And so far as I can tell, we are not even remotely close to opening our eyes to this.
I find this very sad.
It may be denial, yet not ignorant, at least not with older educated persons I know. It is an unwillingness to be uncomfortable.
I know the way many persons my age think. They feel their lives are not affected by it, and this is true.
Most i know never go on forums, they never hear about much, which is outside their own community.
Where they fail is not realizing their kids and grandchildren will have to deal with it.
lifeisgood
New member
this is what america has become - a country where this is legal:
It sadden me to no end that we have more regard for an animal then for a human life.
But I would not want to live any place else as this Nation is still the greatest Nation in the world. NOT perfect though.
All these things could be reversed if the church would open its mouth up and speak against all evil from all pulpits. But the church has decided that it must follow the world instead of the Word.
The same is happening with the SC stating that man/man, woman/woman is the law of the land. What is going to be next?
Do we see the church protesting?
Where are the sermons from ALL pulpits condemning such?
PureX
Well-known member
Where they fail is in not acknowledging the real and severe damage being done to their fellow human beings, and their fellow citizens, right now. Right in their own back yards. And the longer they stay silent, and in blissful ignorance because it's not them that's being harmed, the longer this goes on and the more lives are ruined.
Many of them call themselves Christians. Do they think they will not be held accountable for this willful neglect and mistreatment of their fellow humans?
We follow the religion of America. There are certain ideas you can't formulate, certain taboos you can't violate. We worship America and defying the faith leads to shaming, ostracism, ridicule, banishment, and the like. The digital age has perfected the art.
The religion of America is a McDisney myth and a carnival barker's sales pitch. You, too, can be rich; you, too, can be famous; you, too, can, at the very least, be better than the next guy.
It's a casino luring in suckers who think they'll hit it big on penny slots and stroll right in to the high rollers table.
Stray from the faith at your peril.
A country that mocks intellectualism and sneers at introspection is not great.
The religion of America is a McDisney myth and a carnival barker's sales pitch. You, too, can be rich; you, too, can be famous; you, too, can, at the very least, be better than the next guy.
It's a casino luring in suckers who think they'll hit it big on penny slots and stroll right in to the high rollers table.
Stray from the faith at your peril.
A country that mocks intellectualism and sneers at introspection is not great.
What college did you attend?
The good news on the poverty front, relative to race, is that in 1966, a couple of years after Johnson declared war on it, about 42% of blacks lived in poverty. By 2012 that had fallen to 27%, if still twice the average for white Americans. So the War on Poverty has significantly impacted poverty among the most systemically disadvantaged group in the nation. (Who's Poor in America, Pew Research Center, 2014)
What many saw though was a strengthening in the black community. Oppression has a way of doing that too. It fostered a strong moral fiber that was missing too often in the privileged class, or diminishing, as it began to diminish in black communities post Civil Rights Movement success. Sadly, as peoples we seem to deteriorate morally and cohesively as we become more empowered and affluent. We become less God centered and more narcissistic.
Maybe that's the lesson of the rich young ruler. I mean that as a cautionary tale, not an argument for oppression.
No, they're remarkably better. In my part of the world and in living memory black children weren't allowed in better, white schools. They had discarded books and little opportunity for higher education and the success that comes with it. Now? Now you see black and white kids playing and growing together without race factoring for them. I've noted the larger landscape, politically and culturally, but you also have to realize it takes generations to reshape traditions within families.
So the kids that started with desegregation programs in lower Alabama as late as 1970 were from homes mostly without particular education and the sort of support, advantage and expectation that comes with it. Their grandchildren are now rearing a generation of kids with the first real vestiges of that tradition. If you were six in 1970 and had children in 1990 then your children would be about ready to send their kids into the system.
When you think of it in those terms what's happened is more remarkable and what's going to happen becomes more understandable. Keep watching. It's going to keep getting better.
I'll PM you my answer if you really insist, I don't share personal info here if I can help it. I notice that information's usually used as a rock for throwing later on.
That caveat applies to all of us. The thugs in the ghetto burning down and robbing local businesses. The people who will not work yet have their hands out for entitlements. The tragedy of choosing violence over problem solving. The very real violence done to society when people refuse to grant the freedoms which they enjoy to all citizens.
Also the sneering, caustic criticisms flung at those who disagree in the slightest with the dogmatism of the personal choice of in groups.
I believe we have become so polarized in our dogmatism that we no longer comprehend the idea of a middle ground wherein we might reconcile our differences for the sake of the greater good.
Most of us wish to live in peace.