The touchy subject of race, racism, and race relations Page 5

Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 17th February 2018, 9:39 AM
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I get it. Stephen lying in the arms of Da Butt.

Quote: Definitely Tarby @ 17th February 2018, 8:04 PM

:D Give a little respect...

Great pics Dabutt. I don't like to argue with anyone and don't like to see other people rowing especially when the chances are they could otherwise get on if they saw past the differences of opinion.

I'd never get on with this person. In real life, if somebody pisses me off, I just avoid any contact with them. That's difficult on a message board when they're right in your face.

Quote: DaButt @ 17th February 2018, 6:31 PM

I've never written, said, nor thought such a thing. It only exists in your imagination.

Upmarket? I've never described my jobs as such, and I think of them as decidedly mundane. I've also worked at a burger joint and one summer I picked up dead fish on a beach, if that helps.

As I said earlier, I have never been fired from a job. So now, as promised, I present photographic evidence of my mundane jobs in the military, satellite communications, and journalism. Hold onto your hat, because this is going to get...boring.

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1) A 1987 photo of me taken as I was completing 12 months of Army training in satellite communications. One of the schoolhouses is in the background, along with one of the types of satellite antennas upon which we trained.

2) I don't have any photos of me at work at the newspaper, but one of the photographers took this shot of me and my kids for an article about single fathers that ran on Father's Day.

3) A much skinnier me being awarded an Army Achievement Medal for work that I did while temporarily assigned to Panama. Four months later the United States invaded and deposed Manuel Noriega, although I had left the Army by then.

4) A portion of my enlistment papers. It's hard to read because it's a carbon copy, but it shows that I scored in the 98th percentile in the Armed Forces Qualification Test. I told you I is smart!

5) A certificate I received from NASA for work on the GALEX (Galaxy Evolution Explorer) program. Here's one of the thousands of photos taken by the spacecraft:
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And here's a letter proving that I was not fired from my job, but rather laid off (after 13 years!) upon the sudden cancellation of a contract:

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I hope these images satisfy your need for proof. If they don't, I guess you'll just have to keep on doubtin'.

Wee question - since you're always obsessed with sources - how do we know this is actually you? These could have been taken from the internet no bother. I remain unconvinced. Maybe if you stopped boasting about your high IQ I'd listen more. High IQ doesn't cut a lot of ice with me - I know too many kids/adults in that position.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 17th February 2018, 8:38 PM

It's a very easy joke to get I thought. Some on here not just Stephen like to do a spot of fishing and one or two on here are easy catches, especially the one Stephen had landed who bites on absolutely everything. The only quibble I have is with the choice of pic as a piranha would represent her much better.

Stephen 'landed' bugger all. As usual he just jumped on a bandwagon since he's not accomplished at doing much else.

Quote: Davida @ 17th February 2018, 7:55 PM

You aren't biased, you just have a problem with 'biased media outlets', and by that you mean media outlets with media produced by people who haven't been in the military, have never fired a gun, were not religious, and were white. Right. So if someone falls into all of those categories then they can't help their 'bias' from creeping into anything they create/write/produce?

We're all biased to some extent. I was only trying to point out what an echo chamber the rest of the newsroom was, and how they weren't exactly a cross section of their readers' demographics. In private they were open about their political affiliation and their disdain for the opposition, but they also made attempts to broaden their coverage in order to avoid alienating readers. And I'll give them credit for thanking me on occasion for bringing up a veteran's point of view that they wouldn't normally have considered.

Quote: Davida @ 17th February 2018, 7:55 PM

In any case, it still sounds like you're biased against trusting or finding anything valid that's said or written by someone with the worldview of 'white, non-religious, gun-avoiding, non-military' person.

That was only a description of my former workplace, not a central part of the point I was trying to make regarding outlets like Fox News and HuffPo.

Quote: Davida @ 17th February 2018, 7:55 PM

The reason I don't see your argument regarding twice as many black people being shot as white people is because as someone else pointed out, only about 13% of the population is black. Proportionally blacks are much more likely to be killed by a police officer than white people. That's the disparity.

It's not a disparity if they're overrepresented in the figures for the kinds of actions that get people shot by police. As you said, blacks are only 13% of the nation's population, so how do you explain the fact that there are 45% more black murder victims than white murder victims, and there are 20% more black murder offenders than white murder offenders? Clearly there's something going on in part of the African American community as far as murder goes.

Quote: Davida @ 17th February 2018, 7:55 PM

No one is accusing you of being racist, but it does seem like you want to write off racism as not being your problem. It's everyone's problem.

Sure, but there's nothing I can do about it. I've been the victim of racism a few times, while I've never victimized anyone. I don't behave like a racist, I didn't raise my children to be racist and that's about all I can do. If everyone else does the same thing the problem will be solved.

Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ 17th February 2018, 8:38 PM

It's a very easy joke to get I thought. Some on here not just Stephen like to do a spot of fishing and one or two on here are easy catches, especially the one Stephen had landed who bites on absolutely everything.

Ok, I get it now. I guess I was thrown off by the photo of the redfish. I thought it was part of the joke, or that the man holding it was some celebrity who had a bearing on the discussion.

Quote: Briosaid @ 17th February 2018, 10:02 PM

In real life, if somebody pisses me off, I just avoid any contact with them. That's difficult on a message board when they're right in your face.

It's just as easy to ignore someone online as it is in the "real" world: just ignore them.

Quote: Briosaid @ 17th February 2018, 10:02 PM

Wee question - since you're always obsessed with sources - how do we know this is actually you? These could have been taken from the internet no bother. I remain unconvinced.

Surely I would've chosen a more handsome individual with more impressive accomplishments had I been trying to pull off a ruse? Anyway, several of the people on this forum have met me in person. I'm confident that I've supplied all of the evidence that you demanded, so if it's not enough to satisfy you then you'll just have to remain unsatisfied. :)

Quote: Briosaid @ 17th February 2018, 10:02 PM

Maybe if you stopped boasting about your high IQ I'd listen more.

I don't think I've ever mentioned my IQ unless you or another poster prompted it by either implying, or openly declaring, that I was stupid. Reap what you sow, etc.

Quote: DaButt @ 17th February 2018, 11:50 PM

I don't think I've ever mentioned my IQ unless you or another poster prompted it by either implying, or openly declaring, that I was stupid. Reap what you sow, etc.

Laughing out loud: Gawd! You never stop mentioning it. I don't know of anybody else who ever mentions it about themselves. You can't get enough of yourself. Plenty of folk have aspersions cast about their level of intellect, but you're the only one I've ever seen who prattles on about a Mensa level IQ. No doubt you think nobody else is quite as clever as you. Aye, right.

Quote: Briosaid @ 18th February 2018, 12:30 AM

You never stop mentioning it. I don't know of anybody else who ever mentions it about themselves.

Quote: Briosaid @ 16th February 2018, 8:33 PM

The main threat is he's so effing stupid

As I said, I bring it up when someone calls me stupid, or airs their doubts about my intelligence.

Quote: Briosaid @ 18th February 2018, 12:30 AM

No doubt you think nobody else is quite as clever as you.

No, about 2% of the population are demonstrably more clever than I am. ;)

Quote: Briosaid @ 17th February 2018, 9:29 PM

I get it. Stephen lying in the arms of Da Butt.

Laughing out loud Good one. Look he's puckering his lips up to kiss his American arse, oh sorry that's ass. Ha ha.

Quote: beaky @ 17th February 2018, 7:23 PM

I hope no one's expecting me to post a picture of myself - jealousy is a terrible thing.

Laughing out loud Sorry Beaky I missed that one. So that's not a self portrait then. Didn't think it could be.:) I'd put mine up but I don't want to make George Clooney insecure.

Back to topic I heard a Radio 4 prog in the week about Englishness in comedy or something to that effect and it boiled down to ethnic comedians doing such xenophobic jokes about Brits to an audience of obviously wet white metropolitan liberals who were loving it. Ie. anti racism laws or the PC censorship code prohibit anti ethnic minority jokes but actually encourage and reward anti white British majority jokes. Huh? that's equality isn't it.

That's exactly why liberals are by default banned from governing this country.

The wondrous world of on-line debate.
1. A has opinion A; B has opinion B.
2. A expresses opinion A; B expresses opinion B.
3. A expresses opinion A again but with some exclamation marks, swear words and a couple of 'I mean, HELLOS?'s; B expresses opinion B again but with some exclamation marks, swear words and a couple of 'I mean, HELLOS?'s.
4. A has opinion A; B has opinion B.
5. Repeat until you find someone to f**k.

Goading ain't good.