this post was submitted on 24 Dec 2023
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Uh... I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can though. Here's a little example:
There problem solved: now little Timmy doesn't have to feel guilty about being the oppressor anymore! :-P Next week we'll cover how chaining native Americans to (active) hot stoves in >100 degree temps in the desert will help teach them the true meaning of Christianity...
The scary thing is that I've heard the "we civilized the Africans" claim made seriously before.
Believe it or not, but the "we gave them sandwiches sometimes" statement has also been put forth as an argument for why slavery was not so bad. FOR REAL!
Some have even been proposing - unironically mind you - that we return to using it!? (To be clear, I mean slavery, not offering anyone sandwiches. In fact, anyone offering free sandwiches should just be sent to jail. I am not making that up either, it's a real thing somehow!?!? Despite what the Bible has to say about it, the "Bible-belt" states are making it illegal to offer food or water to the homeless😔)
Apparently they do not realize the truth that slavery has already been brought back -> there are more black people behind bars today than ever existed as slaves, and not always for "crimes" but sometimes trumped up charges in order to meet a quota, or minor offenses that a white person would be let off with a warning for (yes, many actual criminals too so hard to know the reality of the scope of the issues involved when so many falsehoods are mixed in along with the truths).
I think you missed to attach a link somewhere?
Thank you! It was https://youtu.be/hsxukOPEdgg?si=bHZrY9n2qSygpBPf, especially starting about 6-7 minutes in but really the whole episode talks about the topic of the OP. The sandwiches comment is at ~7:45. Enjoy!:-)
People have been evil since practically the dawn of mankind, but that seems no excuse to act that way ourselves? Also, many people from that continent may be shitty human beings (especially a hundred or so years ago, though also in modern times), yet I can think of a few shitty people from my own continent... past and present, and all of the other ones too? (in fact, several people that Donald Trump seems to be quoting from lately top the list)
Also, I never said that white people invented slavery - I only implied that slavery was bad, and tried to imply further that it doesn't matter who started it, only that we chose to do it, and that in that decision, we were wrong. More importantly, since some people are unironically suggesting that we return to allowing slaves to exist, that we would be wrong if we were to start up the practice of slavery anew.
And no, your entire last paragraph I must vehemently deny: the likes of petty crime come NOWHERE CLOSE to the evils of slavery, ffs. Violence is likewise a form of evil, but the magnitude and the differing psychological impacts on the brain are nowhere close.
As for making progress, remember that time does nothing to change things, only effort does, e.g. the first law of thermodynamics: an object at rest will sit there for all of eternity, unless acted upon by a force strong enough to get it to shift. An analogy: imagine a car driving for 1,000 miles over the course of a very very long day's drive... (I've done almost that actually - it's exhausting!:-D) except now imagine that the car is up on cinder blocks, or like held up in a car lift in sth like a mechanic's shop. You can run the engine at the same intensity for the same duration of time, point the car in the same direction, maybe use up a similar amount of gas, but until that rubber of the tire hits the asphalt of the road, that car is not going anywhere, not even 1 mile much less 1000.
The slaves were uprooted from their homeland(s, plural), brought to a new country with an entirely different ecosystem - different plants, different trees, different animals - and then further, children were ripped from their mothers' arms ASAP, and often forbidden to be taught any knowledge whatsoever, except what their masters wanted them to know. They did not know how to hunt, fish, trap, or anything anymore - even if that knowledge would have transferred from Africa to the new place (somewhere in the Americas or whatever), it is not genetic and would have needed to have been taught, but largely b/c of concerns that the children be taught a particular subset of Christianity without being tainted by the old religions of their homeland, any kind of teaching of old knowledge was expressly forbidden. Those multi-generational slaves certainly did not know how to read, write, balance finances, perform maintenance/upkeep of a home or farm - except those activities that they used to perform as slaves, and even those were often so highly narrow & specialized as to be almost useless on their own - e.g. if you knew how to hammer nails into wood, then how would you learn where do you get the nails from in the first place? (or the hammer? and why/when would you even do it in the first place?). It is no wonder that starving people turned to crime, in order to eat! And yes, depression, and even drug use (though "drug addiction" is by no means in the sole purview of former slaves: one look at how many middle-class white people who have fallen prey to it in recent years is enough to show us that!).
Especially since slavery was only one, admittedly large, part of the overall problem. Driving while black, walking while black, running while black, buying while black, selling while black - it's almost like doing ANYTHING while being black is enough to get someone killed! - and not just by a criminal, BY THE POLICE, WHO HAVE LEGALLY GOTTEN AWAY WITH IT, for centuries now!! (the number of black people who manage to shoot themselves in the back, then subsequently also in the head, is staggering...; and just so we do not gloss over that too quickly, keep in mind that it is medically, physically impossible for someone to shoot themselves in the back, and then also the head - i.e., it is 100% more likely that the policeman shot the person in the back, and then the head, but then the friendly coroner ruled it as a "suicide" for...reasons) The persecution of black people, often for no reason whatsoever but yes, sometimes b/c they did not act conciliatory enough (though again I direct your attention to sometimes it happening for no reason whatsoever, so even being 100% conciliatory, 100% of the time is insufficient to avoid incurring the wrath of an angry young white person who just felt like raping/killing/stealing from a former slave, AT ANY TIME), has continued ever since slavery ended.
But I have hit the word limit. :-|
I have heard that the younger generations are the opposite actually - b/c of having access to the internet and reading, they are being exposed at a younger age than ever before to things such as the fact that USA killed off the native Americans (genocidally murdering/raping/thieving/etc.), and also owned human beings. The parents ofc are freaking out, and trying to stop this "knowledge", or at least they say that they want to slow, and not expose little Timmy to things that he doesn't need to know about until he is older.
The odd part is that children are extremely resilient - they can accept death as natural, and the fact that this nation in its past has made some questionable (okay so fine: downright EVIL) choices - but it is the PARENTS that are the ones who cannot accept that.
The Baby Boomer generation in particular, I've noticed, seems to prefer this "let's pretend" attitude, perhaps as a result of growing up emotionally scarred from all the wars (WWII, Korea, Vietnam), they just want to pretend that everything is fine, even as the world burns (in some cases, literally) around them.
Absolutely. Though as we were discussing elsewhere in this post, humans can be evil, and selfish, and greedy, and people can literally help bring back slavery rather than force themselves to truly look at it, call it out as "bad", and do something about it.
I somewhat understand the other side of the argument as well - like, if someone was old and just wanted to lie back and enjoy life for awhile (as we all will be someday, unless we die first), then who am I to take action or even desire to stop such a one from doing exactly that? On the other hand, someone who ACTUALLY does that causes little to no harm, whereas someone who does the OPPOSITE of that, e.g. by taking the action to vote - whether at a local school board, or on the state or especially federal level - that is when such a person's rights end, the very moment that they begin to infringe upon the rights of others.
And like, if a child were to take a book out of the library and burn it, wouldn't that child get in trouble? Maybe they would have to pay a fine, perhaps have disciplinary action taken against them such as being suspended, or if mitigating circumstances coexist then at least be sent to counseling? So how much more in trouble should an adult get into, if they likewise burn a book, or maybe... oh... let's say that they lead a violent attempt to overthrow the democratically-elected government, shitting on the constitution and in the process, cause at least one police officer to be killed, brutally, with his screams of agony caught on video - how much should such a person be punished? (That is a trick question obviously, b/c it presumes that "justice" is what is dispensed at all.) Let us call this "individual 1", but moving past that, how much responsibility would a new person hold, let's call them "individual 2" if even AFTER all of that occurred, and I mean it is not secret but rather came to light and was publicly condemned by people in positions of authority everywhere (Democrats, Republicans, Independents, in the Executive, Legislative - both House and Senate - Judicial, as in Supreme Court, DOJ, federal lower courts, etc.), this person (individual 2) actually votes for individual 1?
When we step up to become leaders, then we take on additional responsibility beyond the common man. Voting is similarly a position of responsibility, in determining what will be done in the USA. As people vote - again, whether in small, local matters such as school board issues, or even more so at the larger levels that affect so many more people besides one's own self + family + even neighbors - I would hope that they would remember the lessons of history, so that we do not have to repeat them. However, since that turns out not to be true, it seems that slavery will be coming back... it is here already in fact, in many areas in the south where there are more incarcerated black people than there ever were as slaves, and I am not entirely convinced that everyone in there is fully a "criminal" (maybe, but the systems that push for convictions based on quotas, in those for-profit institutions, lends credence to the thought that not ALL of them are that way...); plus in any case employment seems to be becoming more slave-like all the time, as the "American dream" of potentially owning a home and thereby becoming financially independent is increasingly being taken away from so very many. We are already re-walking those paths, that so long ago we turned away from in disgust, but like a dog returning to its vomit... we cannot seem to help ourselves. Finally, I want to add that many people, e.g. in WWI and WWII both, literally gave their lives to fight against fascism spreading in other countries - however, fast-forward to today and a goodly fraction of people in America are indicating that they want to fight on the side for fascism, rather than against it. We are moving backwards, and not slowly either, but practically at a run:-( (though precisely how fast nobody seems to know, and I for one do not trust any media source anymore, nor do I see that changing anytime soon, which in itself should be an extremely troubling warning sign of things yet to come).
It seems difficult to put such people in jail for such "crimes" when for one thing, >40% of Americans think that it was a good thing, and for another thing, several congresspeople have stated that they were there and participated - some even lying about that - as a badge of honor and pride. Truth has gotten "twisted" so that it is not "True" anymore, in some people's minds. Brainwashing techniques - e.g. repeating something ad nauseam so as to bypass the logical thought processes and instill it as "simply a fact" (even/especially when it is no such thing) - are extremely powerful, and I see efforts to use it on both sides of the political divide.
Speaking of, at one point in our history we were Americans first, members of a political party second, but this is no longer true, and nowadays someone's political affiliation is the single greatest defining characteristic of them (that btw is not true - or at least might not be!? - but it seems to be many people's perception in any case:-D).
And therefore, in order to stop the badness that whatever the "other side" will do, yes even murder captured on television apparently can be excused, and even celebrated for just how "peaceful" that protest was, and b/c it was so "peaceful", perhaps it should be done again, around... oh, let's say... the time of the next election maybe?
I guess we will see what happens.
If you will allow me, I beg to differ: violence is the APPROPRIATE response, sometimes - rarely but not never. e.g., if you had a child who was being mauled by a dog, wouldn't you go to their aid, and strike the dog to get it to go away? Of course you would - any sane, responsible person would.
These people are being brainwashed into thinking that by rising up, they are protecting the "true America". Their heartfelt desire to protect things is GOOD. Their willingness to rise up and actually do something is GOOD. They are not complacent - they are literal heroes, in their own minds at least, but also called thus by those they respect, on the television, in the radio, in the "news" sources they choose to read, etc.
That is what is so twisted about the whole thing - it is not their badness or weaknesses that are being exploited (greed, lust, laziness, etc.), so much as their STRENGTHS, which are being re-directed towards an end that those who employ violence have not bothered to think through and understand. There IS a weakness involved, probably several (crowd mentality, giving up your agency to another rather than questioning everything - e.g. I Thessalonians 5:21 commands, though many preachers, especially evangelical Christianity, behind the pulpits in the Heartland of America do not teach that anymore... and instead are laying out the exact opposite message), but I do not think these people are themselves insane, so much as they are merely "normal".
Which is not to say that the overall effect is not insanity, ofc.
And yeah I suspect the "Americans first" thing would be more the previous generation, like during WWI & II, when people had to stand together regardless of political affiliation, against an outside aggressor. Whereas today, that outside aggressor has patiently lain in wait for so long that the call (for violence) is now coming from inside our own house... even if its' true origin derives from outside of it, e.g. Faux News dictating the talking points that Americans should follow, even if those came originally from Russia. Even if the latter country were to cease to exist literally today, the damage has already been done, and people in the USA now think how they wanted them to; but conversely even if the Republican party were to cease to exist today, those outside forces would continue to push for their desired ends... It is pressure from outside, and yet people today do not see it as that, and willingly go along with it.
(I am giving up on kbin working)
We might agree more than we are letting on. I am doing a horrible job explaining my position though:-(. For one, I think we both agree that hypothetically there are SOMETIMES cases that only violence can solve, and then the real trick is to figure out when & where those cases are, yet they are EXCEEDINGLY rare and caution is best advised until people are ABSOLUTELY certain. And politically speaking, they almost never happen, but when they do they involve great deliberation and care, e.g. the USA entering into WWI and WWII in order to stop the spread of aggressive, violent nations at the expense of our allies; or like Ukranians defending their homeland from an imminent and ongoing invasion attempt.
But none of that describes what happened on January 6. I mean, how does defecating on a desk "protect the constitution"? Or smashing random stuff, rioting, looting, or crushing a police officer literally to death? Some of the people there, during the earlier peaceful phase, truly just wanted their voices to be heard, while others just were angry and took the excuse to do violence. But if someone truly wanted to "protect the constitution" as they claimed, then I happen to think that it might be worth, you know, reading it first!? Which takes real effort - maybe literal years of study in order to fully understand the context and all parts involved.
I suppose what I was trying to say then is that these outside agitators take a very real, honest, and good desire to do something - protect the homeland from badness - but twist it into conveying that you do NOT need to do the hard stuff like "study", and instead you can simply show up at such and such an address at such and such a time, and your presence alone will be mostly enough. Bonus points for bringing guns, whether loaded or not they make a good "tough" image. Some very few people go a step further and do the actual violence, but it really helps to be able to blend into a crowd, i.e. the gullible people who have a conscience but weak follow-through (to actually understand any of what is going on) can be useful to those who desire to use them as meat-shields.
And to be clear I am neither advocating for the political violence, nor especially for the intentional gullibility that allows someone to be used as a meat shield by someone who actually does intend harm to innocents. I only meant that I understand that feeling at the very core, the feeling that is the targt that is being twisted and subverted by those with crafty plots, that to protect one's home country is a good thing:-). Which is what makes the whole thing all the more sickening - b/c it is not merely greed or malice or gluttony or lust or some such that is being exploited, but rather the very GOOD desire to protect the innocents in this nation! i.e., those who are causing the spread of violence, whether they actively do the violence personally are not, they think they are actually doing GOOD (in the same way that you or I would use violence to protect a child from an animal's attack - it actually can be a GOOD desire, at least when used solely in the appropriate context), however in reality they are causing grievous harm (by taking that good and doing it in an incorrect context).:-(
But that is the boundary up to which I feel like I understand. Beyond that, I am hella confused - especially what can be done about it, if anything at this point.:-(
When Reddit began its collapse, Lemmy really was not quite ready, but it was roughly in beta stage, so it was close enough, plus the influx of programmers helped spur its development into high-gear, including mobile apps and all sorts of back- and front-end work.
kbin on the other hand was still in alpha stage, and then Ernst had all those family/health/personal problems, while at the same time refusing to let anyone share even minimal control of the project (reportedly?) - he also had a similar influx of programmers, who literally fixed problems that then just sat there in the code repositories, waiting for Ernst to look over & approve them. I liked the philosophy and look of kbin better, but c'mon, I've waited since July or whenever it was (e.g. I just tried to look that up to confirm the date, but ofc even multiple attempts I cannot b/c it will not connect to the server), and it is basically still in the alpha stage even now. I stopped recommending it soon after joining, starting actively warning people away soon thereafter, and finally decided to be the change I needed to see in the world, and switch. Without an account switching process, it has taken me HOURS to find and set things up, and I still am not entirely done:-( - thus even if kbin decides to fix itself, I doubt I would want to invest in all of that again in order to switch back. I wish kbin luck in its future endeavors but... it does seem unlikely to change its ways anytime soon at this point, tbh. As the famous saying goes, "When someone tries to tell you who they are, it is best to listen to them the first time."
About “well my vote doesn’t matter,” - tbh that's actually true though, in one narrow sense at least. From the numerical standpoint, if you live in a county that always votes one way, then whether you vote or not or whoever you decide to vote for, literally will not influence anything at all. More to the point, you need to do heavy research prior to voting especially in the primaries. e.g. I was drawn to Bernie Sanders, but after hearing what people such as Obama had to say about him, am perhaps glad that he did not win the primary? He is authentic like a prophet, but could he make the tough decisions that a King (in our case President but the quote related it in Old Testament Biblical terminology) must sometimes make? Plus, there is a goodly chance that him running on the Dems ticket could have turned the middle-ground folks to Donald Trump on the Repub ticket? After like a year of studying him, I understand the whole situation much better, but back when I first heard about him I was working 80-hr weeks and then lost my job so... I could have made a decision that I would later regret? i.e., I am saying that it is not so simple as "we must all go out and vote" - in order to be proper CITIZENS we must first prepare ourselves to become good leaders of the nation, and THEN do the proper research, before we finally VOTE to help select the course that literally the entire nation will be following for many many years to come. It does no good to skip those first two steps and THEN vote, and conversely it really does active harm if in doing so we hollow ourselves out to become the puppets of whoever it is whose thoughts we decide to echo as if they were our own, e.g. if we watch Faux News and then vote according to what THEY say, instead of what we KNOW to be true ourselves. In the latter approach, we do harm by converting the nation from a democracy of informed citizenry into a plutocracy where whoever buys the largest media coverage wins the election. So... I know this is an unpopular opinion, but if all the people who don't know shit would STOP voting, I thnk this would be a much better place, overall! And yes, I include myself in that as well, especially my past self that knew less than I do now - but also my future one, if e.g. I get busy and do not put in the proper time to study the situation, then wouldn't it be better to recuse myself from voting in that particular instance, than to just take a wild guess? That's not how doctors do surgery, or scientists/engineers do their thing, that's not how soldiers advance on the battlefield, or cops patrol an area - there, when you pull a gun, you know that you better mean it. And those jobs all require years... or at least days of training, so why is it that we push people to vote, without asking anything more of them at all? To be fair, probably it was implicit in your statement to "get out and vote", but I think most people today - all the way from the youngest up to the most senior - have culturally and collectively forgotten that original meaning, and now we just watch TV and vote however it says we should, on both sides.
Plus then there's the aspect that dumb people still feel frustration - bless their hearts, but they do, and yet they do not know how to deal with it. Even if they vote, they still KNOW that that is not enough... to stop all the badness that the "other side" will do. It is a very effective psychological weapon that is used against the most vulnerable in our society. Who then also are the most likely to turn to violence. Perhaps the real crime is not even them, or at least not only them, but those who put out those calls to violence in the first place? Oh but wait, that is "protect free speech" - and yet... is it, is it really, when it is designed to cause violence & death, and then it actually causes violence & death, almost like the call somehow caused the response? If only facts actually mattered, then something might be done about it! But sadly, they do not, in this corrupt environment:-(.
Is it okay if I say that I agree with you 1000% there? (something, I mean I know that is not mathematically possible but... it certainly feels like it:-P)
Africa is a continent. You can fit all of Europe as well as the entire United States inside of it. What you quoted is really fucking dumb.
Ah good, so you understood the joke.
It wasn't meant to be intelligent.
No shit Sherlock
Elon Musk is African-American. Makes sense Trump is retarded enough to mistake his allies for enemies. Hopefully they both lose everything, fuck billionaires.
Anyone who would make that claim unironically is indeed really fucking dumb. Plus it's mean so they must be an absolute shithole person to even think that way in the first place.