Posts Made By: James Brown

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

If you believe that most people have biases based on race, that's fine.  I really am not interested in the subtleties of the situation.

You never are interested in subtleties.  This feature is the core of your being.

What I am talking about is not all that subtle though.  Bias is the way all of us are predisposed to take in and process information.  For example, It is indisputable that you are predisposed to believe conservative news sources and distrust liberal news sources.  This is a bias, formed through your experiences, education and so on.   This bias hampers you when a conservative source happens to be wrong and the liberal source is correct.  I have the same bias with respect to news sources, but maybe a bit less.  Acknowledging this bias helps us understand others.

Perhaps you have no racial bias at all.  If so, good for you.  You are where all men of goodwill strive to be on race issues.

Racism is different than bias in my view.  Bias can be introspectively acknowledged, understood and overcome if the bias is negative or harmful.   When a person instead chooses to pass judgement or act according to a negative racial bias he is being a racist.  The racist act might be subtle, it might be overt.  I asked rhetorically yesterday whether Derek Chauvin would have kneeled on the neck of a white suspect for 9 minutes?  We can never know of course, but to the extent his crime was motivated by bias against blacks, this is an extreme and horrible example of racism.

What you don't see is that I am subscribing to a very old-fashioned and accommodating definition of racism that is in line with Martin Luther King, and which is something you and your dad would no doubt agree with.  "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."  MLK

I disagree with the modern definition that all white men are irredeemably racist because we are the beneficiaries of a racist legacy.   I try to understand where this sentiment comes from, but I think it is a destructive and non-progressive sentiment.  I know that this makes me a "Racist" according to the modern definition.  So it goes.  

Jim

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

You see what Leftists and liberals will give you, and you see Kamala Harris say "we need to defund police", and you actually would consider voting for that Mindset?

It would be nice if you actually read and responded to what I wrote.  As I noted just yesterday,  If the Biden campaign makes "we need to defund police" a central plank, that will lock down my vote for Trump.

J

Originally Posted by James Lacey

I haven't bothered to read one of his tirades in many months. They rarely address what you said, and seem to be sweeping outbursts where he airs all kinds of gripes and grievances that are lacking in details or subtlety. The best course of action is to ignore them as you would a child's temper tantrum.

Hi James:

Understood.  I wrote detailed replies to Richard this morning knowing full well that the discussion was beyond him; "he who is without bias."  I guess the purity of his viewpoint makes Richard God?

Anyway, it is useful to me to write some of these complicated things out, re-read my thoughts and consider my positions.  Sorting out the bias we all have vs. the classical 1968-ish definition of racism versus the modern definitions of racism warrants a lot of thought.

It would be easier to simply say: "I have no bias and I am the sole purveyor of objective fact, so to hell with you and your subtleties."  But who would want to live a life so completely lacking in self-awareness?    

Jim

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Can you even fathom the "Joe Biden America"?  

It would be a horror show.  

Hi Rich:

For the millions of regular people in the communities of America going about their daily lives "Joe Biden America" will be about the same as "Bush America," "Obama America," or "Trump America" -- Pretty darned good for most, bad for some, with occasional set-backs and personal triumphs for us all, now and then.  There will be strife and discord of course, but at about the same levels as usual.  There will also be billions of small incidents of love, warmth and happiness every day, that go unnoticed beyond the event.  Some folks will see their lives improve, some will falter.  All will carry on.  Our system is beautifully robust.

In the professional media and in social media on the other hand, including our little forum, "Joe Biden America" will be one of: 

(A) Nirvana, heaven on earth, a "just in the nick of time" salvation of the Union (or perhaps the world) from ruinous fascist dictatorship at the hands of Trump, or

(B) A disaster that certainly presages the end of the Union, (and possibly the world) as we spiral into a Venezuela-like communist cesspool of corruption and starvation.

Both A and B are wrong of course.  But dichotomies with no middle ground make for good reading and hearty debate, luxuries we will still have in "Joe Biden America" since A and B are each so wrong.

Jim   

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

Grow up Rod.....he dissed you and obviously it had its intended effect.

Hi Greg:

You and I both recall a time when Herb would have, and did in fact, delete many accounts for the foul language and hostile tone that is now common here.  Herb usually let those accounts back after a while of course, but some were deleted permanently.  

For whatever reason, Herb has chosen not to delete accounts for foul language and over-the-top hostility anymore, and frankly I never liked seeing people who were my friends or opponents deleted.  I don't think much of the foul language and over-the-top hostility either, but apparently there is nothing anyone can do about that.

Jim

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll

He will be fine. Biden will look like Thomas Freaking Jefferson compared to Skippy.

Latest image from observatory. The Ha really made it pop.

Wow Russ, that is gorgeous!

Jim

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

You're free to look the other way and minimize what is going on.  

I won't.

141 Buildings burned to the ground in Minneapolis alone.  

1/10th of a Billion dollars in damage in that city alone, and your response is "Our system is beautifully robust".

Certainly our system is "robust", but that is only wwhen law and order rule the day.

Open lawbreaking is NOT acceptable, even if those like yourself act as if it is no big deal.  

In virtually every big city that had huge leftist protests, the damage and carnage was massive.

You can ignore that fact, and recite your platitudes such as Our system is robust, but you enjoy that pleasure to do so because it didn't occur in your neighborhood. 

If your house, the Wendy's you visit, or your neighborhood Walmart WAS burned to the ground, I would guess that your response would be a bit more animated.

I lived through the '60s and I don't recall the same level of intensity then as I'm seeing today.  If they were, which I'm conceding is possible, the average person then didn't exhibit the lackadaisical attitude that you are exhibiting here, about our latest uprisings. 

Your Pollyanna-ish response is what disturbs me, because you're supposedly a Republican who should be for law and order, not chaos and anarchy, and when you blow it off as you do, I find that to be a big problem.

And there are millions of so-called Republicans like you out there.

I noticed you made a point to respond to my posting, however once again, you failed to make a posting either criticizing or condemning the carnage that the left AND the leadership of the Democrat party is supporting. 

Then again rarely do you ever make postings condemning what the left is doing in our nation and our big cities, let alone on campuses.

I don't recall you ever making a posting about the utter shutdown of Free Speech on College Campuses is being stifled by the left. 

I doubt you ever will.  

Rich:

Just to appease you, and for the record, I am opposed to arson, rioting and lawlessness whatever the motivation.  I am opposed to censorship, squashed free speech on campus and I support the cops.

It is frankly pretty silly of you to argue against what I "did not say" on this forum or in any forum.  It is not my goal or desire to post each and every minute thought that crosses my mind, although I know that you employ that strategy.

Jim

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

Rich, when I read James' post this is what crossed my mind, and I really do not mean my "observation" to be critical of James, just what occurred to me. 

From reading some of James' previous posts, I get the impression that he is extremely well off financially(at least by my standards), is very happily married, has a nice home(and a second home in the mountains), has an expensive car(s?), a good job, and a good family. Of course one never knows, but I suspect his life will, for the most part, be unaffected if Biden is elected, the Democrats gain control of Congress, and more leftists are put on the Supreme Court. I'm just guessing, but I don't get the impression that he sees the media as a problem or necessarily views them negatively.

Of course, I may be absolutely mistaken. But, as I said, it was just what crossed my mind as I read his post.

Hi Darian: 

No offense taken.  How do you reckon your life will change if Biden is elected and "leftists" are put on the Supreme Court?   

Jim

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

I lived through the '60s and I don't recall the same level of intensity then as I'm seeing today. 

Dude, we are exactly the same age.  We were both six (6) years old during the Summer of Love.  Even if it is technically true, I don't our birth in '61 actually qualifies us to say that we "lived through the '60s."  Unless of course you were a very precocious little activist!

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

My take on Darian's response was that he simply indicated that Jim's putlook on a Joe Biden Presidency, is partly formulated because a Biden Presidency wouldn't affect him in the least since Jim is very well off (now that is my Opinion and my Guess about Jim B's financial situation)

For both Darian and Rich:

Sure, I'm well off.  That is probably biasing my outlook too, as you both have noted.

(I'm certainly not filthy stinking rich though.  I still had to work to amass what wealth we have.  My parents paid for college (in-state), and that is a great gift.  I paid for Law school by working part time.  It was very affordable since law school was also in-state.  The picture is the house I was born and grew up in.  It looks nice - the big trees are after my time.  We were not poor, but we certainly were not part of the country club set.  Two blocks to the East where some of my pals lived, people were poor.)

Assuming my financial circumstance do bias my outlook, why do you think that the poor will be worse off under a Biden presidency?  What will Biden do that causes the poor to suffer more than they do under Trump?

Jim