Posts Made By: James Brown

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

What racism is that? Everyone of them is making over a Million per year.  The blacks in the NFL outnumber the Whites at least 2 to 1, so where's the Racism?  

I think everyone knows that the NFL players are focusing on racism in society at large, not racism in the NFL.  Do you really think these athletes lose the right to protest racism, just because they are wealthy?  

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

James, do you think that racism is a significant problem in the US? As I've previously stated, I don't buy into this idea that blacks are an oppressed minority in the US. IMO, this is all for "show" and will accomplish nothing more than driving away more fans. 

That is a loaded question Darian, but I'll try to answer. 

I think racism is still a problem in the US, although I think it is lots less of a problem than it was in the past.  I don't think blacks are "oppressed" according to the traditional definition of that word, but I do think blacks are treated differently and far less fairly in many aspects of modern society. 

I recognize that the black social structure in many communities contributes a lot to the problems experienced by blacks in the US.  I am unsure whose fault that is - the absentee father or the society that limits his opportunities?  Probably a mix of both.

I recognize personally that I am not a black man and therefore do not appreciate the daily slights large and small that come with being a black man.  I give weight to the anger and sense of injustice felt by many in the black community - I don't think it is all for show.  I also give weight to contrary black voices.  I am biased to agree with Thomas Sowell more than I am biased to agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates.   I have read them both.  I think my bias is reasonably well founded (we all do), but it is a bias.  I can't forget that and still keep an open mind.  

I subscribe to Dr. Martin Luther King's definition of a racist as someone who judges another by the color of his skin rather than the content of his character.  I try to meet that ideal.  I do not understand the more modern definition of racism being an immutable characteristic of basically all whites of privilege.  In summary, I think that racism is still a problem, and a problem that we should be working on, but I do not think racism is the defining characteristic of modern America.  

Jim

Originally Posted by David Cotterell

Scary but also optimistic...

Dave

Hi Dave:

Interesting article.  The bit about vitamin D about 4/5 ths of the way down reflects a podcast I listened to this weekend.  There is apparently a strong but poorly understood correlation between the severity of  a CV19 infection and vitamin D deficiency.  

Jim

Originally Posted by James Lacey

If you are talking about the common phrase "white privilege," then what it doesn't mean is that whites got something for free, or don't have to struggle, or don't have hardships. We all have our crosses to bear.

All white privilege means is that you don't have struggles or hardships that are simply a result of your skin color being non-white. Think of it this way. If you have autism, then you have a mental disability that is no fault of your own that causes you significant and real difficulties. Just because another non-autistic person cannot identify with or truly understand those difficulties does not make them any less valid for the autistic person. In a sense, if you don't have autism, then you have "I'm not an autistic privilege."

Hi James:

Good explanation and very good analogy. 

To some extent white privilege is now equated with racism and is trending toward equivalence with white supremacy.  See the link below.  This devalues the words racism and white supremacy because these become words or statuses that whites can not ever elevate above.  I do not think that is good for the dialog and I don't understand the benefit to blacks of this transformation of words.

https://www.adl.org/racism

Jim

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

"I recognize personally that I am not a black man and therefore do not appreciate the daily slights large and small that come with being a black man.  I give weight to the anger and sense of injustice felt by many in the black community......"

Jim, do you think that black men are capable of "appreciating"  the daily slights that come with being a white man? Do they "give weight" to the anger and injustice felt by many in the "white community"? I'm assuming that since there is a "black community", there must be a "white community" as well? I guess I must be part of it, although I've never had a sense of belonging to any sort of racial "community".

Hi Darian:

I think there are orders of magnitude of difference between the negative social treatment of blacks and black men and any possible negative treatment of white men based upon the color of their skin.  I am not talking about individual bigots spewing hatred.  Those sad people come in all colors.  I am talking about larger social effects.  

Jim

Originally Posted by Richard Davis

Why would I want to watch someone who hates my guts because I don't support their idiocy?

Wow, this line sure resonated with me, as a person who has enjoyed the Astromart Politics Forum for over 15 years.  More and more though, I find myself wondering if the welcome and educational interaction with most participants plus the guilty pleasure of slapping you around now and then is worth it.

Jim

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

".....the absentee father or the society that limits his opportunities?"

Jim, society is not limiting the opportunities of these individuals; that(IMHO) is just another leftist lie. 

Darian;

You and Rich seem pretty sure of that.  At least I know I got a 50-line rant from Rich, but I did not read much of it. 

I have a hard time believing that the blacks I know plus the blacks I've read who talk about the systemic social challenges they face are all suffering from self-delusion, or worse yet actively propagating a leftist lie.  I believe them.  Even so, do I think that BLM and other activists over-play their hand?  Yes I do.  But that does not make the underlying issue a lie.  

Jim

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

Jim, in my earlier post I mentioned a number of negative characteristics pertaining to a segment of black men, one which is the relatively high murder rate. The weekly murder rate in Chicago would be a good example. If 10 or 15 people are murdered in Chicago over the weekend it's no "big deal"; it's only blacks killing blacks, and that's what blacks do to each other. That's pretty much the attitude regarding this specific matter. 

That being said, don't you think what I've described above(just to use one example) just might have something to do with the "negative social treatment"?

I imagine that the murders in Chicago are a very big deal to those who live in those neighborhoods.  The following is a set of difficult points to make properly and succinctly, but I'll try: 

Anyone, white or black, who ventures into gang-war territory in Chicago ought to be very fearful of any young black men idling on the street.  That is a rational response to a very real and dangerous circumstance in a certain locale.

Anyone who takes that fear and extrapolates it to blacks elsewhere is being racist.  Maybe in a very small way, but it is still racism, even under the MLK definition.

The situation in Chicago is a clear disaster.  Is the fault solely with the young black men?  You say yes.  I think the answer is much more complicated.  I say that without giving the young black criminals a pass for their share of the blame.

Jim

New MorningConsult Polls:

MI; Biden 52%; Trump 42%
WI; Biden 51%; Trump 42%
MN; Biden 49%; Trump 44%
PA; Biden 50%; Trump 45%
FL; Biden 50%; Trump 45%
AZ; Biden 49%; Trump 46%
NC; Biden 48%; Trump 47%

Most of these polls are showing a difference way outside the margin of error.

Hi James:

I think Nate Silver's analysis is about right at this point in time.  Based upon current polling 538 has the odds at about 75% to 25% in favor of Biden.  The underlying data is very fragile though.  Go here and scroll down to the "snake" chart. 

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/

538 currently has AZ, FL, and NC as Biden states, but the odds are at about 50/50.  I think it is likely that AZ, FL, and NC ultimately vote for Trump, assuming that nothing really weird happens between now and then.  If that comes to pass, PA is the tipping point state.  Trump wins with AZ, FL, NC and PA or maybe without PA if he picks up 2 out of 3 of MN, WI, and MI instead of PA.  

Since PA is so close, I think the race is actually a toss-up at this point in time.  All eyes are on PA.

Jim

p.s.  I really don't like 538's cutesy new "Fivey Fox."  I'd bet that does not last.

Jim 

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

For clarification:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/04/us/biden-lightbulb-black-man-trnd/index.html

That's not clarification Rod.  That's blatant spin.  Biden has presumably moved on and his shills at CNN are only making things worse.  The world is chock full of people who made the light bulb better.  I myself have worked on LED technology patents that arguably represent later generation technologies of "making the light bulb better."

p.s.  I just read the short history of the invention of the incandescent light bulb from MIT.  (Linked in the CNN article).  Latimer's improvement was important and many people were working on electric lights at the time of Edison's first success.   This is not an issue where nuanced views are going to be well received by the public though.  Joe stepped in it.  I bet that his talking points were about the improvements made by Latimer, who was no doubt a talented black scientist.  Joe flubbed that into a counter-factual that no spin is going to fix.
  

Jim