If I can identify myself as a specific gender

[Derek1234]

I want to let you know that I have decided I am no longer Caucasian - I am now identifying as black so I can some reparations!

I bet some of your best friends aren't white, too, eh?

 

[JimR-OCDS]

I think in life there’s always going to be situations where someone feels they’ve been wronged and don’t know why and I think in many cases POC have a tendency to view these situations as racial discrimination. But these types of situations happen to everyone of all races. I’m not saying that racism is never the cause but I think it gets considered as such more than it actually is.

We live in a society where victimhood is prized. Being a victim helps a person blame others for their failures rather than take responsibility for themselves.

Such people will mandate that the government make laws for their hysterical victimhood and the worse people will be the one's to enforce those laws.

 

[Derek1234]

We live in a society where victimhood is prized. Being a victim helps a person blame others for their failures rather than take responsibility for themselves.

Such people will mandate that the government make laws for their hysterical victimhood and the worse people will be the one's to enforce those laws.

If there were a level playing field, this would be fair. But the social outcomes of many people (and groups) are much poorer depending on their race or ethnicity, class, and sex (among many other factors). This is indisputable.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

If there were a level playing field, this would be fair. But the social outcomes of many people (and groups) are much poorer depending on their race or ethnicity, class, and sex (among many other factors). This is indisputable.

Nonsense !

People in the West regardless of race, have the best living standards ever and compared to other parts of the world, things could be far worse.

The biggest problem people have today is ingratitude. They believe society owes them.

Their own bitterness is what keeps them down, not racism or sexism. Poverty isn't the cause of crime. If it were, there'd be no wealthy crooks. Such is not the case. Also, India would have the highest crime rate on earth.

The root of crime is the lack of moral values which are the tenets of the Judeo/Christian ethics that the west has evolved into.

We're losing all of this and we're not far from losing the freedoms we take for granted.
The leftist are the force driving this, while they think they're on the side of good.

 

[hislegacy]

I bet some of your best friends aren't white, too, eh?

In real life, I am not white. Most of my family is not white either, my friends are white, black Asian and brown. But I just identify them as my friends.

Thanks for asking. I’m sure it was under the purest motives.

 

[Derek1234]

In real life, I am not white. Most of my family is not white either, my friends are white, black Asian and brown. But I just identify them as my friends.

Thanks for asking. I’m sure it was under the purest motives.

Pure motives (I think) but you're right that my comment was not entirely serious. I have no idea what ethnicity you are, though you did imply Caucasian, but your flippant comment that you would identify as black to get reparations is hardly empathetic.

 

[Derek1234]

Nonsense !

People in the West regardless of race, have the best living standards ever and compared to other parts of the world, things could be far worse.

The biggest problem people have today is ingratitude. They believe society owes them.

Their own bitterness is what keeps them down, not racism or sexism. Poverty isn't the cause of crime. If it were, there'd be no wealthy crooks. Such is not the case. Also, India would have the highest crime rate on earth.

The root of crime is the lack of moral values which are the tenets of the Judeo/Christian ethics that the west has evolved into.

We're losing all of this and we're not far from losing the freedoms we take for granted.
The leftist are the force driving this, while they think they're on the side of good.

You're wrong on so many levels. There is ample evidence that shows inequality (whether that owes to race or sex, or another factor) is a major driver of exclusion, deprivation and crime. I defy you to find me a reputable study that backs up your dogma that it's down to "bitterness" or "ingratitude" [to whom should "they be grateful?!] or "the lack of moral values". If you can find me anything more intelligent than Jordan Petersen declamation, I promise to read it with interest.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

You're wrong on so many levels. There is ample evidence that shows inequality (whether that owes to race or sex, or another factor) is a major driver of exclusion, deprivation and crime. I defy you to find me a reputable study that backs up your dogma that it's down to "bitterness" or "ingratitude" [to whom should "they be grateful?!] or "the lack of moral values". If you can find me anything more intelligent than Jordan Petersen declamation, I promise to read it with interest.

Don't need a study to prove my point as most are biased anyway. Just look at life. If poverty were the root of crime, there would be no wealthy crooks. India and other nations where our poor are rich in comparison, would have higher rates of crime. Such is not the case. Our crime rate dwarfs theirs.


I also have spoken with black men from Kenya. They're successful college educated and hard working at a company as a manager. They see the American blacks who blame their condition on racism today, as nonsense. How did they make it, being black immigrants to the US and American blacks can't ? It's blame racism for their own failures.

In other words, take responsibility for yourself and stop making yourself a victim, which only allows you to pass your failures onto someone else.

 

[Derek1234]

Don't need a study to prove my point as most are biased anyway. Just look at life. If poverty were the root of crime, there would be no wealthy crooks. India and other nations where our poor are rich in comparison, would have higher rates of crime. Such is not the case. Our crime rate dwarfs theirs.


I also have spoken with black men from Kenya. They're successful college educated and hard working at a company as a manager. They see the American blacks who blame their condition on racism today, as nonsense. How did they make it, being black immigrants to the US and American blacks can't ? It's blame racism for their own failures.

In other words, take responsibility for yourself and stop making yourself a victim, which only allows you to pass your failures onto someone else.

Your failure to provide any evidence for your bare assertions is noted, and your opinions summarily dismissed.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Your failure to provide any evidence for your bare assertions is noted, and your opinions summarily dismissed.

Try thinking for yourself instead of having survey's do all the thinking for you.

People can have a survey come out they way they want it to.

So answer the question then, if poverty is the cause of crime, how come there is so much crime among wealthy people ?

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Your failure to provide any evidence for your bare assertions is noted, and your opinions summarily dismissed.

So just to satisfy your need for evidence, read this article.

This Criminologist Debunks the Dogma that Poverty Causes Crime - Encounter Books

and here's another

Poverty Isn't the Chief Cause of Crime | Manhattan Institute

 

[Derek1234]

So just to satisfy your need for evidence, read this article.

This Criminologist Debunks the Dogma that Poverty Causes Crime - Encounter Books

and here's another

Poverty Isn't the Chief Cause of Crime | Manhattan Institute

Sigh. My argument was about inequality, not poverty. There is sooooooo much evidence of this and soooooooo many studies that I almost can't be bothered to post them. Your links are both to commentaries, although I did look up Barry Latzer (the person referenced in your first link). He appears to be something of a one-trick pony, albeit with good credentials. But the meta-analysis shows clearly, crime is more prevalent where inequality is higher.

 

[KarateCowboy]

Your failure to provide any evidence for your bare assertions is noted, and your opinions summarily dismissed.

I didn't see you showing any studies proving that wealth causes morality. It's be particularly interested in research explaining why clergy take vows of poverty, if is so guaranteed to make people evil.

The idea that income diversity makes people evil is pretty far out

 

[Derek1234]

I didn't see you showing any studies proving that wealth causes morality. It's be particularly interested in research explaining why clergy take vows of poverty, if is so guaranteed to make people evil.

The idea that income diversity makes people evil is pretty far out

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/67733/3/blogs.lse.ac.uk-How_neighborhood_inequality.pdf

Dynamic linkages between poverty, inequality, crime, and social expenditures in a panel of 16 countries: two-step GMM estimates | Journal of Economic Structures | Full Text

Does inequality increase crime?

Is poverty the mother of crime? Evidence from homicide rates in China

I really could go on. But so could you, if you were genuinely interested. It's not a perfect correlation, which inevitably means that there will be many exceptions. But the overall trend suggests that, where there is pronounced (especially ostentatious) income inequality, there will be more crime.

You can argue that this should not be so, that this is wrong. And of course, as a Christian, I agree we are fundamentally accountable before God for our own life choices. But as a relatively well-off male, I am committed to doing what I can to reduce the income gap and playing my modest role in tackling the environment that contributes to crime. Is that unreasonable?

 

[DamianWarS]

Can I self identify as a specific race?

it was an interesting question posed in a group I am part of.

if you are born biologically one gender and at some point later in life you identify as another, could the same be true for race?

I grew up in an area very close to a strong Polish community, love the culture, love the food, even learned a little of the language.

I think I’d like to identify as Polish, the immediate benefit is that I would then be considered white by race.

Thoughts?

your sex is male/female and is a part of your biology but your gender is how you identify yourself (boy/girl, man/woman) and does not have to follow biology as it is more of a subjective preference of how you see yourself. For example, I am a male but I may choose to dress and act like a woman but this doesn't change my sex and your biology is not inherently connected with gender associations and those things are driven by our culture and social norms.

Ethnicity (race) is also biology and it's not something you can just declare away, you either are or you are not (even if you hide it). however, how we identify ourselves connected to an ethnic community and or culture is more preferential and arguably something we can choose.

I would however differentiate this with ethnicity/race itself. We hear things like [ethnic-group] American where the named ethnic-group is the ethnicity/race and American is more representative of the home culture. If you flip it and say American [ethnic-group] it would suggest your heritage is American (American is not really a race) but the named ethnic-group is playing the home cultural identity. So if you want to declare you're "a different race" I would phrase it as first stating your biological ethnicity then stating your desired community/cultural identity second.

I know this is hypothetical but because ethnic groups are protective of their identity this will be met with hostility among some and probably best avoided. What is always better is to be embraced by an ethnic community as "one of their own" rather than declaring it for yourself. with gender, it's different as although there may be offence among some it's too great of a community (ie, all men or all women) and too varied plus there will be enough that will allow the gender association without insult so you can always find community with it. With ethnicity, some groups may have a greater collective response that rejects your interpretation of "race".

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Sigh. My argument was about inequality, not poverty. There is sooooooo much evidence of this and soooooooo many studies that I almost can't be bothered to post them. Your links are both to commentaries, although I did look up Barry Latzer (the person referenced in your first link). He appears to be something of a one-trick pony, albeit with good credentials. But the meta-analysis shows clearly, crime is more prevalent where inequality is higher.

There will never be income equality. The Soviet Union tried it and it was a dismal failure.

You also could only post opinions which don't support the reality of life. I don't blame you for not bothering.

People have different talents and should be allowed to express those talents freely, even if it means one person will become a billionaire and the other fails and ends up poor or at least middle class.

That being said, there will always be thieves who are wealthy and those who are poor. However, most of the crime we're seeing today isn't to feed or clothe oneself or a family, but to buy drugs or support the gang they belong to. They see easy victims and take advantage of them.

As the articles I posted show which you reject, drug dealers who are wealthy, are corrupt and will kill to keep their wealth. So, poverty isn't their motivation, but the absence of moral values. It's the same for all crime in most cases, it has to do with a lack of moral values and many inner city thugs were raised in broken homes without fathers and no moral values. They'll take advantage of the naïve which we see happening today.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

your sex is male/female and is a part of your biology but your gender is how you identify yourself (boy/girl, man/woman) and does not have to follow biology as it is more of a subjective preference of how you see yourself. For example, I am a male but I may choose to dress and act like a woman but this doesn't change my sex and your biology is not inherently connected with gender associations and those things are driven by our culture and social norms.

Ethnicity (race) is also biology and it's not something you can just declare away, you either are or you are not (even if you hide it). however, how we identify ourselves connected to an ethnic community and or culture is more preferential and arguably something we can choose.

I would however differentiate this with ethnicity/race itself. We hear things like [ethnic-group] American where the named ethnic-group is the ethnicity/race and American is more representative of the home culture. If you flip it and say American [ethnic-group] it would suggest your heritage is American (American is not really a race) but the named ethnic-group is playing the home cultural identity. So if you want to declare you're "a different race" I would phrase it as first stating your biological ethnicity then stating your desired community/cultural identity second.

I know this is hypothetical but because ethnic groups are protective of their identity this will be met with hostility among some and probably best avoided. What is always better is to be embraced by an ethnic community as "one of their own" rather than declaring it for yourself. with gender, it's different as although there may be offence among some it's too great of a community (ie, all men or all women) and too varied plus there will be enough that will allow the gender association without insult so you can always find community with it. With ethnicity, some groups may have a greater collective response that rejects your interpretation of "race".

Read below.

Sex is the biological apparatus. The construction of gender identity is a psychological process. (It is also a biological process; all psychological processes are biological processes—but not all biological processes are psychological processes.)

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...me-move-beyond-gender-is-socially-constructed


The idea that gender is a social construct is nonsense and has society confused.

 

[Derek1234]

There will never be income equality. The Soviet Union tried it and it was a dismal failure.

You also could only post opinions which don't support the reality of life. I don't blame you for not bothering.

People have different talents and should be allowed to express those talents freely, even if it means one person will become a billionaire and the other fails and ends up poor or at least middle class.

That being said, there will always be thieves who are wealthy and those who are poor. However, most of the crime we're seeing today isn't to feed or clothe oneself or a family, but to buy drugs or support the gang they belong to. They see easy victims and take advantage of them.

As the articles I posted show which you reject, drug dealers who are wealthy, are corrupt and will kill to keep their wealth. So, poverty isn't their motivation, but the absence of moral values. It's the same for all crime in most cases, it has to do with a lack of moral values and many inner city thugs were raised in broken homes without fathers and no moral values. They'll take advantage of the naïve which we see happening today.

You're back to mere opinion again. If you're looking for a Biblical model of how to use wealth, it's to share it - whether with the widow and orphan, or the brother and sister in Christ. Forced income redistribution did not work, but redistributive taxation and/or voluntary giving and/or improved welfare access will all tackle the drivers of inequality, and likely lead to a corresponding reduction in crime. This is what the science shows us, whatever your gut tells you about moral compass.

 

[hislegacy]

~snip ~your sex is male/female and is a part of your biology but your gender is how you identify yourself (boy/girl, man/woman) and does not have to follow biology as it is more of a subjective preference of how you see yourself.

Then it is not science based, but personal preference based.

 

[Derek1234]

Then it is not science based, but personal preference based.

aren't you arguing with a straw man here? Gender identity is a choice, I agree with DamianWarS. But that doesn't mean everything about you is a choice. You seem to be arguing that, if you can change the way you identify in *one* sphere if life, you can change the way you identify in *any* sphere of life. That's tendentious and untrue.