Should our statistics about race be disqualified now that we need to know the breakdown of someone’s genome ? When we talk about crime, unemployment, income, graduation, etc, do we now need a blood test to prove how white or black someone is ? I would like to think that we don’t.
Now let’s get back to beating up on that piece of shit Trump.
I’m not sure we’re allowed to?
We need to examine whether or not what we perceive as his personal deficiencies are fair game.
Granted, he’s a rich white guy, but he does that chromatically ambiguous thing with his hair. Saying that he’s a rectal oculus may not be fair without knowing whether or not he was born that way or chooses to be one.
There’s just too much there that could be problematic or offensive to others.
Happy New Year!
Guys!
PLEASE don’t abandon the discussion…just re-start it as another thread!
I haven’t posted in the topic because I just got into it WAY too late. (Like the FDA back-and-forth that has been going on in another thread…fascinating back-and-forth…).
happy new year buddy. really glad I stumbled upon this forum.
I’m not saying that those disparities are necessarily genetic. I’m saying that there is no evidence to say they aren’t. Moreover, even if they aren’t genetic, they might be cultural. All I am saying is that I see no evidence of bias in the modern world that can’t equally well be explained by either genetic or cultural factors. Given that, the social justice movement to rectify bias is premature.
If you start with the assumption that all races are genetically and culturally equal, then any disparity is evidence of bias. But that is a big and unfounded assumption.
Thanks. I’m glad you did too. We need some different views that present some real world experience and challenges to what was becoming some very homogeneous thinking.
Bolt, can I ask you what you’re doing with regard to party affiliation. Are you an independent? I’m curious to see how many people are moving toward unaffiliated, or third parties.
As for the rest of you - You were supposed to keep to boring topics over the holidays. Stuff like debating the intricacies of the corporate tax code, NOT getting off on tangents that might be interesting to me. You jerks.
Very well played sir.
(I was JUST getting ready to write “Anyone seen Puff”?)
Well, Puff…to use the famous words of Micheal Corleone in “Godfather 3”:
“…Just when I thought I was out…ZEB pulls me back in…”
Sure, I don’t have one, I am an independent. I’ve been that way for years. There just isn’t one party that I think is pointed in the right direction enough to have warranted that commitment.
And I am not an idealist - I don’t need to agree 100% with a party platform to affiliate with one. I just need a party that I think assesses the same public priorities I do and generally looks to solve them in a way I think is the best. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans currently do that for me.
Republicanism is just simply too anti-government and they just constantly stay behind the curve of what even constitutes a public problem. The writer Irving Kristol years ago said about conservatism that it has shown an “amateur helplessness before the specific problems of a dynamic industrial society.” I’d say that sums up my view of the GOP since at least the 1990s.
Democrats do the opposite - they overdiagnose public problems and want a government program for tons of things that aren’t even actual problems, and also for real problems for which government simply can’t provide a solution.
This is a simplification, there are other reasons, but I am trying to avoid too lengthy a post.
And there really is no decent third party for me. Though I share some common ground with little L libertarians, I am not a libertarian and part ways on some very fundamental first principles. The other third parties otherwise appear to be weirdoes and cranks.
I can see your point of view as I have registered GOP, Dem, or Ind based on wanting to vote in a specific primary or local race. And to your Kristol quote, I know governance can’t be boiled down to Dont do drugs as a solution to illegal drugs issue.
But I swear people try to jazz up and complicate matters that seem common sense to most of us. 5 screeching wheels wanting same sex bathroom access answered with a resounding NO from 300MM people. End of story.
Mass communication has quit educating and now dumbs down its users.
You just about summed up exactly how I feel, Bolt.
I would add that I hate…and I mean hate it when someone assumes you have a broad set of views simply because you have a certain view on a particular topic. The same thing happens if you “box” yourself into either being a DEM or a Republican.
I also think that I’ve made my views pretty clear on my disdain for 1) having more respect for a dictator and International Thug, than a sitting U.S. President and 2) thinking that one of the two major parties is "all good/all knowing/blessed of God/the true “Americans” and the other is somehow “Evil Incarnate”.
With that said; I agree 100% with you overview of the two major American Parties.
With the exception of briefly flirting with the idea of what Perot wanted to create…I tend to not give third parties much credence.
…and we all wait anxiously for Puff’s thoughts on all this…!
[quote]You just about summed up exactly how I feel, Bolt.
I would add that I hate…and I mean hate it when someone assumes you have a broad set of views simply because you have a certain view on a particular topic. The same thing happens if you “box” yourself into either being a DEM or a Republican
…2) thinking that one of the two major parties is "all good/all knowing/blessed of God/the true “Americans” and the other is somehow “Evil Incarnate”.[/quote]
Yes, I abhor this stuff. This is another reason I am not a party man, as the parties have gotten collectively more stupid based on the rise of more and more mindless, hyperpartisan, sycophantic hacks who make up the parties.
It was hard to box Trump in because he didn’t fit the stereotype of either party. Socially liberal yet fiscally conservative, it’s hard to label someone like that, and I think most people don’t belong to some political checklist.
I would disagree that Trump is either of these. Given the breathtaking inconsistency of his public pronouncements, I can’t say how I would characterize him with respect to either of these dimensions, but I feel confident in saying his words and actions warrant neither of these labels at this juncture.
So far, all we know for sure is that his campaign rhetoric was purely populist demagoguery (he has admitted as such, in so many words). How he will actually govern is anyone’s guess.
You can look at his words, I will look at his actions.
You’re allowed to change your mind over the course of a couple decades.
How about over a couple of days–specifically just prior to and after an election?
Dazed and confused? Ha! I feel a little thrown these days. I think I’m in the same group as you and Bolt right now. I’m not sure what I’m going to do about party affiliation. I started lurking the CA Libertarians a little bit this past fall and there are some bright, sensible people, some are more small l, maybe like me. BUT also some quirky people who seem to be defined by being anti-vaccine, or seem to be young anarchists. It’s a weird group. I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I’m still officially a registered a Rep but I may just go Independent for awhile.
True, but I’m probably at a point where I should make a checklist. It might help me. I’ve flipped on how I feel about several social issues, in terms of public policy at least. I’m really sad to see what we’re doing with the war on drugs. Making people felons over stuff like a DUI, and then making it forever difficult for them to get on their feet again. I can’t get over the financial and economic costs of these guys trying to get back to work after prison. I guess I’ve gone soft on crime, Max. And I’m angry about the state of public education for our poorest kids.
Yeah, I agree. I don’t think we know enough to put him in a category. I think people are hopeful, and the hopeful thing is to try to look for evidence where he might match up with our ideas. He has yet to take office so… I’m cautiously hopeful that he’s going to turn out to be more reasonable than the way things looked on the campaign trail.
I think we need to start new threads more often. I can’t keep up. We’re home now, but I still have kids out of school for a couple of days. The talk about biology and race and culture is really interesting to me and EyeDentist has the right of it I think, but some of the current talking points in our colleges is going the other way in terms of emphasizing our differences, not only to try to make sure different groups are represented, but emphasizing how we bring such different thought processes to say, the geology department. I’ll try to come back to that with my super deep thoughts, but I won’t do it here since you guys are trying to talk Trump.
edited for clarity