Race, lets make this serious! It is nearly 2013.

[neoplacebo]

I didn't mention in my original post about Rush that he admitted in that spew that he'd not seen the movie.

[Wneglia]

Every time I have been on jury duty I have been struck when asked I did for a living, even though the cases had nothing remotely to do with medicine. I consider it a blessing to be excused.

[JTA]

If Asians Said The Stuff White People Say (video)

The part where the guy said he's really into Western religions was spot on. I have a couple of self-loathing white friends that are real into Eastern culture and religion. They rip bits and pieces of these cultures out of any context and exclaim how much more advanced and in-tune with nature or whatever they are than their western counterparts. Never been to the actual places needless to say, barely ever interact with people from those places, so they unknowingly shove these things into a Western mold, disfiguring it beyond recognition probably, and the end result is nothing more than a Westernized bastardization of what they think Eastern culture or religion should be.

I dub these Barnes-&-noble religions.

[bannination]

Watch this epic Cliven Bundy political ad
Cliven Bundy of Bundy Ranch standoff fame, calls out Attorney General Eric Holder in a new western-themed ad for Nevada congressional candidate Kamau Bakari. It's an instant classic.

:?: :?: :?:
:!: :!: :!:

I don't even????

[JTA]

Watch this epic Cliven Bundy political ad
Cliven Bundy of Bundy Ranch standoff fame, calls out Attorney General Eric Holder in a new western-themed ad for Nevada congressional candidate Kamau Bakari. It's an instant classic.

:?: :?: :?:
:!: :!: :!:

If I could moon walk like Michael J, rap like Barack Obama, and act like Clive Bundy, my life would be complete.

[JTA]

If you could moon walk like Michael J and rap like Barack Obama you could act like Kamau Bakari.

[rstrong]

Race still plays a part in deciding who is sentenced to death in North Carolina. There is clear statewide evidence that African-Americans have been systematically excluded from capital juries and that crimes against white victims are punished more harshly.

True story: Mr. T reported for jury duty in Chicago last month, but ultimately was not picked for the trial.

I guess prosecutors thought he'd show too much pity.

[Mr.B]

Because I'm Black!!!


Actress Daniele Watts and Brian Lucas speak during an interview with KABC-TV in Los Angeles, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2014.
The Los Angeles Police Department said Sunday that officers detained Watts and her companion last week after a complaint
that two people were "involved in indecent exposure" in a silver Mercedes.
Watts was detained until police determined no crime was committed. (AP Photo/KABC-TV)

Actress detained by police defies calls to apologize for claiming racial profiling

Sandy Cohen, The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – An actress who was detained by Los Angeles police is refusing to apologize for claiming race played a role in the incident, despite calls from local civil rights leaders.

Daniele Watts issued a statement late Friday through her publicist after civil rights activists demanded she apologize for suggesting she was
handcuffed for kissing her white boyfriend.

Watts and boyfriend Brian Lucas were questioned last week by officers investigating a report of lewd conduct in a parked car.
Watts, who is black, refused to provide identification. She was briefly handcuffed until police identified her.

The incident went viral after Watts and her boyfriend claimed on their Facebook pages that the detention reflected racial profiling.

Audio later surfaced that indicated it was Daniele Watts who introduced race to the interaction with police.

[Mr.B]

Race.... lets make this serious! It's nearly 2016.

New title

[JTA]

I went to a Harlem Globetrotters show tonight, mostly because my niece and nephew were part of a karate/jujitsu demo during halftime. HG was fun, but not as much as when I was a kid.

Anyhow, on the way in I saw a race and gender mixed group of about 16 also heading in, mostly kids. 4 of the 5 pairs of folks walking and talking together were a black and a white. Cool.

I'm guessing that none of them referred to their walking partner as "Bitch".

If I walked up to a total stranger, male or female, and said "Hey Bitch!" I'd get my ass beat. A woman would be more offended probably, I'll agree with you there since it is a more charged word for women. But then again I don't walk up to any stranger and start yelling profanity. I wouldn't call a black person a "Nigger" because I get that it's still a super charged derogatory word and I don't like it. I'm also not a dick, I don't like offending people, and I know calling a black person a "nigger" would be super offensive as well as tacky. This is why I also don't refer to females as a group as "bitches". In that context it's super offensive and makes me sound like a dick/douchebag/asshole, which I am not.

I have called my female friends "bitch", and they have called me bitch. I have called my male friends "bitch" and vice versa. My female friends call their female friends and male friends "bitch". I've never had any of my female friends, not one, get mad for anybody saying something like "He's a bitch, she's a bitch, stop bitching, I got bitched out by...". When I get a hook stuck in my finger I may yell "Bitch!".

I guess it just depends on the group of people and how uptight they are about certain things. A group of posh white people sitting in their gated community sipping champagne and eating fondue discussing abstract theories on race/sex may be offended by the use of the word bitch. A group of mixed race/mixed sex working class people may not, but the next group over may.

If I told my lady friends to stop using the word "bitch" because it's offensive to them because they're women they would probably tell me to stop being a little bitch and get over myself. They'd probably be offended by me trying to tell them what's best for them and assuming they're too stupid to make that decision themselves. I shall try this next weekend and report back with my findings if I don't forget.

Ah, the finer points of profanity!

Long story short, just don't be a dick to people, that's all I can really say.

http://southpark.cc.com/clips/254819/in ... good-sense

Now, Vrede ,don't take all this the wrong way, I totally see where you're coming from and I'm not busting your balls or anything. Growing up when some of you guys did when all that civil rights stuff was going down has probably given you guys a vastly different outlook on things than I, which is good.

[O Really]

Good points - to summarize: language is made up of words and context. Change the context and the words have different connotations.

[O Really]

Here's a good on point article "10 Ways White People are More Racist than They Realize"

http://www.salon.com/2015/03/04/10_ways ... e_partner/

[O Really]

Mr. B noted that it's acceptable for Black people to call each other "nigga" and "bitch" but not for White people to do so.

To reiterate: "language is made up of words and context. Change the context and the words have different connotations."

When you think about it, though, it's interesting that even Black people don't call each other "nigger." The "nigga" is a softening of the term and a use of common Black dialect that serves to create some proprietary use.

The term "bitch" has many connotations, depending on context and of course starting with a female dog. But when used in a commanding voice as a name substitute, it has only one result, which is to attempt domination and degradation of the female to whom it's directed. Try this: "honey would you bring me a beer, please?" "yo, bitch - bring me a beer." Same request, different probable result.

Put another way, white guys calling people "niggas" is as stupid as them wearing baggy pants, no laces in their sneakers and flat-billed caps turned sideways. Or black guys wearing a t-shirt with a confederate flag saying "Proud to be a Redneck"

[JTA]

Mr. B noted that it's acceptable for Black people to call each other "nigga" and "bitch" but not for White people to do so.

To reiterate: "language is made up of words and context. Change the context and the words have different connotations."

When you think about it, though, it's interesting that even Black people don't call each other "nigger." The "nigga" is a softening of the term and a use of common Black dialect that serves to create some proprietary use.

The term "bitch" has many connotations, depending on context and of course starting with a female dog. But when used in a commanding voice as a name substitute, it has only one result, which is to attempt domination and degradation of the female to whom it's directed. Try this: "honey would you bring me a beer, please?" "yo, bitch - bring me a beer." Same request, different probable result.

Put another way, white guys calling people "niggas" is as stupid as them wearing baggy pants, no laces in their sneakers and flat-billed caps turned sideways. Or black guys wearing a t-shirt with a confederate flag saying "Proud to be a Redneck"

Its acceptable for people to call each other whatever they please so long as there's a mutual understanding and everyone is cool with it. But man, keep the profanity to a minimum, especially around the childrens. When I worked at a gas station I got called racist a couple times for refusing to take someones money until they cranked down the music. Literally man these jerks had some raunchy stuff playing and there would be little kids about. Stuff in my booth was shaking the music was so loud. I did the same to everyone regardless of race!

Me personally, if I hear someone say "nigga" this and "nigga" that I write them off completely as an uneducated idiot. Likewise if I hear a Jim-Bob speaking like his Dad-Uncle just got done keeping-it-in-the-family with him out yonder behind the hog pen I'll also write him of completely. And so as to not insult just my Southron brothers and sisters, I also do the same for those stupid-ass sounding NJ-Hicks redneck-guido hybrid wannabes, too. Ever seen a kid of Italian descent, who's family probably came here in the 1920's or something, flying a giant confederate flag on his over-sized pickup truck pretending to be a redneck as he pulls out of his subdivision to go work at a deli? Head on down to south jersey and you shall see for yourself!

[O Really]

I also do the same for those stupid-ass sounding NJ-Hicks redneck-guido hybrid wannabes, too. Ever seen a kid of Italian descent, who's family probably came here in the 1920's or something, flying a giant confederate flag on his over-sized pickup truck pretending to be a redneck as he pulls out of his subdivision to go work at a deli? Head on down to south jersey and you shall see for yourself!

They're not pretending to be a redneck, m'friend. They are rednecks. Redneckiness isn't limited to any geographic area.

[neoplacebo]

Blush....I was born in NJ at the Army hospital at Ft. Monmouth but was lucky that I was spirited away within a matter of months to TN where I grew up trying to not be a redneck. Actually came across the hospital bill recently while rearranging things and trying not to be a redneck; it was $8.50 which by all accounts should make me a good redneck candidate. Cheap and easy.

[JTA]

I also do the same for those stupid-ass sounding NJ-Hicks redneck-guido hybrid wannabes, too. Ever seen a kid of Italian descent, who's family probably came here in the 1920's or something, flying a giant confederate flag on his over-sized pickup truck pretending to be a redneck as he pulls out of his subdivision to go work at a deli? Head on down to south jersey and you shall see for yourself!

They're not pretending to be a redneck, m'friend. They are rednecks. Redneckiness isn't limited to any geographic area.

I agree... But when I think of rednecks I dont think of people that go out and spend lots of money on redneck memorabilia so they can wear their fake identity like a fashion accessory. Sometimes its almost laughable.

[O Really]

That's interesting - Fox5 is probably the only Fox station in the US that isn't "all crime all the time." In general, they were doing it before everybody else started. And I have no basis for doubting their numbers - they are what they are. But I don't think in this report that they've shown intent. Nor have they demonstrated the various bases on which stories were selected. I mean, this is NYC, man. Manhattan has reduced its crime rate way down from what it used to be, but in Queens it would take more than general mayhem or a garden variety assault or murder to attract anybody's attention. So we're asked to envision a scenario where they have two similar crimes and the news director - consistently - says "cover the one with the black guy (and by implication) because he's the black guy. And we have to envision that happening not just one place, but at three major stations, in all newscasts by all the news directors. In essence, all the stations would have to have a policy, understood by all the news directors, to take the black guy whenever there is a choice - because he's the black guy and we want to make the black guy look bad and scary (or protect the scary white guys). I don't see that as likely. I think there are other factors that determine story selection and maybe those factors do tend to favor the black guy. Applying the same standards to everyone can have a disparate impact on a given group if the standards themselves are distorted.

On the other hand, I have mentioned and complained that WLOS (among others) always seems to pick some half-wit to comment on whatever story they have. I never really understood why they do that, but apparently they do, so maybe all the NYC stations intentionally pick the black guys.

[O Really]

Hard (raw) data is relatively worthless without analysis, including causal analysis. They point out that 3/4 of those shown in the news as criminals are black, but only half of all arrested for those crimes are black. That would appear something might be amiss, but it immediately begs the question, "why?" The article then proceeds with the conjecture of the effect this reporting has on society, which albeit likely, is still conjecture. Unless you know the actual cause of the data, you can't change the cause - other than with an arbitrary affirmative action type plan that requires the station to report stories with black/white quotas or worse still to over-report white crime to make up for past reporting.

If the station's marketing people have done a study that shows that reporting black crime fits better with the ubiquitous practice now of "let's scare people and then tell them we'll take care of them" then it's a shitty practice, and probably does have the effect the article projects, but the effect on black people is collateral damage. Not that that's acceptable, but the reason is marketing-based, not race based. If their study showed people were more scared by showing Asians or Hispanics or white people, that's what they'd report.

I do think TV news create boogie-men (sp) intentionally, though. The "all scare all the time" drives me nuts. If I had a dollar for every time they say, "something bad happened in Upper Boondock. Stay tuned and we'll tell you how to keep your family safe," I'd be living full time in Cabo. Nevermind that what happened in Upper Boondock was unusual and not likely to happen anywhere else. We'll scare you and act like we can keep you "safe." Arrrrgh!

[O Really]

Well, yes, as I mentioned, you can have a disparate impact without a specific discriminatory practice. That is, if the result has a greater negative impact on a protected group then it doesn't matter that the process is neutral on its face. So if black people are negatively impacted by the reporting ratio, then the process causing that should be changed even if it is neutral on its face. I'm past that. I want to know why the numbers are what they are.

Stations are ratings and ad-revenue driven. They don't care if it's cute kittens or dead kittens as long as they can get people to tune in to watch the kittens. Did you see "Nightcrawler"? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872718/ Just a film, sure, but not that far off if you listen to people who actually do that type of work.

So what is it? Part of the scare program? Maybe black guys in baggy pants and heavy tats really are scarier than white guys in less baggy pants and heavy tats. And maybe gang-related crimes aren't so scary because most gang crime occurs against each other and nobody cares. Maybe out of the available crimes, they pick the perp they think is the scariest. Or the crime they think is the scariest.

BTW, did anybody consider the disparity in having 50% of those arrested for the crimes being black while being 17.5% of the population? Stop and frisk result? Discrimination? Profiling? Or actually committing the crimes at a much higher rate? I don't know, but I'd find that interesting, too.