Something doesn't feel right about BLM

[rjs330]

BLM is a radical far left Marxist organization. All you have to do is read their manifesto.

 

[Sketcher]

Please be respectful in this thread regardless of the opinions of others! Thank you!

I don't know about you, but for me, something about the Black Lives Matter movement just seems a little... off to me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about it doesn't seem right, and it's deeply unsettling to me that everyone has jumped on the bandwagon to declare that they stand with BLM.

Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with believing that "black lives matter" because, in actuality, they DO matter! Everyone's life matters, and I think that it's okay that we're focusing on black lives mattering too right now... BUT, at the same time, I think there's something very wrong going on when there are "white" people apologizing for being white, police officers being targeted with awful slogans that say that they're ALL terrible people, and people are using the name of BLM to violently riot in the streets.

But I think one of the things that unsettles me the most is the fact that just about every single company and celebrity, even overseas, have said that they are standing with BLM. Something about that tips me off as very blatant "virtue-signaling" and like they're using this to profit off of us. Maybe this last point has more to do with the companies and not the BLM movement itself, but it still makes me thing something really "not right" is going on here. In other words, I'm highly skeptical of everyone and everything right now.

Is it just me? Am I crazy in thinking that something might not be so right about the BLM movement?? Someone please let me know.

Well, I don't expect a movement started by pro-homosexuality socialists to feel right. Much of what they stand for won't be right. This isn't to say that black lives don't matter to me, or that I can't say "black lives matter" or that I'm not open to addressing issues of racism that have not been adequately addressed. Those two concerns aren't exclusive to BLM, that's all. I think we should look at what the Libertarians have to say on police reform and repealing racist laws. There will be differences between that approach and what BLM seems to push for.

 

[LostMarbels]

Ahhh, so I see you want to hang the current racial strife on the Democrat party based on the Democrat party of over 100 years ago. I sense you are Percival Dunwoody from 1909! Check your watch. It's the 21st century...the democrat party is NOTHING whatsoever like the segregationist democrats of 150 years ago.

What are you talking about? Black democrats are segregating from whites all over the place. They are completely banning whites in certain areas. The Dems are also yet again supporting a racially motivated separatist group that is utilizing violence to enact political means. We got a black KKK in it's infancy here. They are already beating people, and even lit occupied dwellings on fire. Not to mention forcing whites to kneel before them, apologize for being white, and kissing their boots. How much more racist do they need to get?

One thing I DID forget (but you didn't catch) is that Clinton passed the crime bill that lead to a real amping up of the mass incarceration that is currently a significant problem. Of course that was ROUNDLY supported by the GOP.

It seems you are more worried about who is at fault than about acknowledging the issues.

To Trump's credit, however, he is making moves toward dialing this excess back. When he's not actively working to keep more black people from voting using mail-in ballots. Oh, yeah, and he's also got a long personal history of bigotry and racism.

Seriously? What is this? Blacks are what? Too stupid, lazy, and/or uneducated to figure out how to get an ID or vote? Why is it in your mind that blacks constantly need to be coddled, and the entire world must be made easier for them or dumbed-down down? I don't get it. Seems kind of racist to me. I think they will manage just fine.

 

[KCfromNC]

BLM is a militant group that has nothing at all to do with racial inequality. If they were an advocacy group fighting in the courts I would get it. If they marched (actually peacefully) like MLK I would have their back.

Oh look, another "but protesters are doing protesting wrong" diversion.

 

[KCfromNC]

Whites are just lazy and unmotivated.

Maybe it is white culture that's the problem?

 

[Speedwell]

Seriously? What is this? Blacks are what? Too stupid, lazy, and/or uneducated to figure out how to get an ID or vote? Why is it in your mind that blacks constantly need to be coddled, and the entire world must be made easier for them or dumbed-down down? I don't get it. Seems kind of racist to me. I think they will manage just fine.

Yes, they will manage just fine--but they will rightly be annoyed that they have to go to the extra trouble to deal with bumbling attempts by racists to make it harder for them to vote.

 

[BNR32FAN]

This must be a really confusing topic for you. No one said that. No one even came CLOSE to saying that. This is about systemic racism and a discussion of black poverty RATE.

Why is this so hard for you? I am not a great mathematician myself, but gosh ahmighty you need to slow your roll there a little bit and think through the arguments.



-sigh- What is the point? Why are you resistant to engaging in the topic on an intellectual level?

your only taking that position because it fits your agenda. You want to ignore the actual majority of people in poverty because it nullifies the validity of your claim that poverty is the result of racism which is why you are frustrated and resorting to unnecessary insults. But it’s fine it doesn’t strengthen your position at all it only reveals your desperation.

 

[BNR32FAN]

So, you think that blacks have lower motivation? Why do you think they have lower motivation?

Im confident that there would be a completely different answer to that question for each individual. I couldn’t possibly speculate as to the determining factor for millions of individuals with and kind of accuracy and I doubt anyone could.

 

[BNR32FAN]

So do you think that white people are more motivated and willing to put in the effort than blacks and Hispanics?

Do you think more whites graduated college being less motivated than Hispanics or blacks?

 

[cow451]

Maybe it is white culture that's the problem?

Apparently. Meth and opioids, too.

 

[cow451]

On a serious note, I'll own my particular biases here. I think that crime is more a cause of poverty than the other way around. Criminal activity drives out business and creates the "us v them" with governmental entities. However, the solution is still not "tougher" law enforcement, but smarter, community-based efforts. We've seen that the mandatory sentencing laws have not helped. In fact, they may well have had the opposite effect.

Interestingly (yes, anecdotal) I was talking with a White guy that did close to a decade on drug charges. He is as "anti-Black" as anybody. However, during a rant about "those people", he said he did time with quite a few Black inmates that had double his sentence for far less serious offenses. And, he said that the "mandatory sentences" were a crime committed against these inmates.

I say that to point point out that even the most strident people on both the left and right still have common ground. Another acquaintance of mine (not an ex-con, BTW) was ranting about "Black people" when he surprised me by saying he thought "they" should have a day (Juneteenth) to recognize the "wrong" that was done and celebrate the emancipation... including paid time off.

And, finally, if poor Whites, Blacks and Latinos ever figure out what they have in common, there will be real change.

 

[gaara4158]

I think we all have to be honest and say that the black community absolutely has it more difficult than the white community as a whole. There has been severe racism in the past by white Democrats.

And the current state of the African American community can still be laid squarely at the feet of Democrats as well. They have had the power of local government in these communities and often in the states for years. Yet not much has changed.

Police are heavily involved in these communities due to there is more crime there which leads to higher rates of police contacts.

Fewer blacks graduate
Fewer go to college
High rate of single moms
High rate of absentee fathers
Higher crime rates

The question is why? Is it all due to racism or is there something else at play?

What you have just described is the very definition of institutional racism. Modern institutions fail to mitigate the lingering effects of overt racism of past practices. You can blame the Democrats if that comforts you, and I don’t doubt they’re largely to blame (Clinton’s crime bill was absolutely horrific, for example) but pointing the finger doesn’t actually help. It’s reactionaries and conservatives who typically oppose the type of reform — almost exclusively introduced by Democrats — and social programs proposed to reduce the institutional racism that currently exists.

 

[istodolez]

What are you talking about? Black democrats are segregating from whites all over the place. They are completely banning whites in certain areas.

<insert rolling eyes emoji>

The Dems are also yet again supporting a racially motivated separatist group that is utilizing violence to enact political means.

<more rolling eye emoji>

We got a black KKK in it's infancy here.

Absurd. But, here's the thing. The thing you seem to be clutching your pearls over is something that probably SHOULDN'T surprise anyone. There's no "black KKK", that's a rightwing delusion. But the fact that black people are angry and getting angrier is the exact same response white people would have if after 400+ years of systemic treatment as second class citizens little had changed.

Look at 3 months ago. White people got so upset being asked to stay indoors due to a global deadly pandemic that a bunch of them started marching on state houses carrying high powered weapons and intimidating lawmakers. So they could get a HAIRCUT. A HAIRCUT.

So please, let's dial back the fever dreams you folks on the Right seem to be suffering from. NO ONE is taking anything from you.

It seems you are more worried about who is at fault than about acknowledging the issues.

I really do think you aren't reading ANY of my posts...just hitting reply after you see my avatar. I have proposed solutions ad nauseam but I am of the firm opinion that we need to accept that ROOT CAUSES before we start "fixing". Maybe in your job "root cause analysis" not something you do much (you certainly don't seem to read things before you reply).

Seriously? What is this? Blacks are what? Too stupid, lazy, and/or uneducated to figure out how to get an ID or vote?

The amount you DON'T know on this topic is shocking.

Rather than waste my time actually explaining this to you so you will simply ignore it I'll provide a few citations:

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/688343

What We Know About Voter ID Laws

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ress-minority-voting-yes-we-did-the-research/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...5474ec-20f0-11e6-8690-f14ca9de2972_story.html

Why is it in your mind that blacks constantly need to be coddled, and the entire world must be made easier for them or dumbed-down down? I don't get it. Seems kind of racist to me. I think they will manage just fine.

If you don't understand the topic or the realities on the ground then you would probably oversimplify the situation as you have done here. You don't seem to know much about this topic and there have been a LARGE number of studies out on it over the past several years. You can probably learn but it will require you to read for content. I suggest you get to it.

 

[istodolez]

your only taking that position because it fits your agenda.

Ummmm, no because that's how one deals with DATA.

You want to ignore the actual majority of people in poverty because it nullifies the validity of your claim

Sorry, I have developed a habit of dealing with data over my 25+ years as a research scientist.

that poverty is the result of racism which is why you are frustrated and resorting to unnecessary insults. But it’s fine it doesn’t strengthen your position at all it only reveals your desperation.

Well....I'll stick with a career's worth of experience with data over what you bring to the table any day of the week.

Let me ask you something...

If we have 1000 people: 870 are white and 130 are black. 122 white people are poor and 18 black people are poor which population has the higher rate of poverty?

By your estimation the whites are much worse off, right? I mean look at the numbers! 122 poor white people and only 18 black poor people.

Is this an example of runaway white poverty?

Just curious what you see.

 

[istodolez]

Then maybe whomever is doing or dealing the drugs should stop? That might actually keep them out of jail.

If justice in the USA were actually blind I would 100,000% agree with you on "don't do the crime" approach. But that's the whole point of the conversation. It isn't. Now a lot of the injustice is economically linked but there's also a significant racial component.

A white kid from the suburbs is caught dealing pot. A black kid from the inner city.

1. The white kid is far more likely to get a slap on the wrist from the judge if its his first offense

2. The black kid, if he is less well off than the white kid, will face a DA's office that desperately wants "plea deals" as opposed to jury trials. The less well-off black kid will be stuck with a public defender who is overworked and not giving top priority to all cases. The DA's office will scare the black kid by using a tactic in which they hypothesize a bunch of charges that they might level against the kid that will convince the kid that they face the very real possibility of decades in prison so they cop a plea.

No one was given a death penalty for selling loose cigarettes or passing a phony $20.

[/quote]

So tell me why George Floyd died. I watched the video tape.

There have been plenty of unarmed white people killed by police. But you don't hear a peep out the media or the left on that.

Perhaps you can show us some examples and then show us how common it is for white people to be killed on the street by strangulation by police officers vs black people. That would be much appreciated.

I tried to do a google search on white people killed by police and I got page after page of black people killed

I wonder why that is....

Then we get the nonsense that police are all racist

I have certainly never said that nor do I believe that to be the case.

 

[jardiniere]

They killed you to keep you from voting republican. Then they killed white republicans because they were attempting to get Blacks rights that undermined their ability to control that voting block. The KKK went after blacks that did not follow their rules. Called them 'uppity' and set examples. They are terrorist arm of the Democratic Party.

It wasn't that you were black. It was that you should still be someone's slave or property, and they were determined to continue 'owning them', one way or another. Arians and the like, actually believe in racial purity and superiority.

It really was about white supremacy. Read some of the history of the KKK, please.

Its members waged an underground campaign of intimidation and violence directed at white and Black Republican leaders. Though Congress passed legislation designed to curb Klan terrorism, the organization saw its primary goal–the reestablishment of white supremacy–fulfilled through Democratic victories in state legislatures across the South in the 1870s.

For its part, the Ku Klux Klan dedicated itself to an underground campaign of violence against Republican leaders and voters (both Black and white) in an effort to reverse the policies of Radical Reconstruction and restore white supremacy in the South.

The KKK would have been killing Democrats and blacks, if it would restore white supremacy. So, it's not the political party that is the issue. It's the darkness of someone's skin. What a frelling terrible thing to kill someone over.

 

[LostMarbels]

Yes, they will manage just fine--but they will rightly be annoyed that they have to go to the extra trouble to deal with bumbling attempts by racists to make it harder for them to vote.

I've got to be honest, this makes not a lick of sense to me. I do not see minorities as too (whatever) to accomplish something as simple as what is presented. How does race have anything to do with ID? Don't you need ID to even cash a check? Or is that racist too? People keep talking about a victim mentality, well, there's an example. Oh, and it's racist to have to go vote.

Secondly, I keep being told there is no push for mail in ballots. We can't have mail in ballots. We will have fraud all over the place.

 

[Robban]

Please be respectful in this thread regardless of the opinions of others! Thank you!

I don't know about you, but for me, something about the Black Lives Matter movement just seems a little... off to me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about it doesn't seem right, and it's deeply unsettling to me that everyone has jumped on the bandwagon to declare that they stand with BLM.

Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with believing that "black lives matter" because, in actuality, they DO matter! Everyone's life matters, and I think that it's okay that we're focusing on black lives mattering too right now... BUT, at the same time, I think there's something very wrong going on when there are "white" people apologizing for being white, police officers being targeted with awful slogans that say that they're ALL terrible people, and people are using the name of BLM to violently riot in the streets.

But I think one of the things that unsettles me the most is the fact that just about every single company and celebrity, even overseas, have said that they are standing with BLM. Something about that tips me off as very blatant "virtue-signaling" and like they're using this to profit off of us. Maybe this last point has more to do with the companies and not the BLM movement itself, but it still makes me thing something really "not right" is going on here. In other words, I'm highly skeptical of everyone and everything right now.

Is it just me? Am I crazy in thinking that something might not be so right about the BLM movement?? Someone please let me know.

What is a blacklife?

Black is black it is not even a colour.

Black is unpersonal, looking at clergy for example,
they are draped in black gowns,

was told it is because there should be nothing personal in their dressing
so as not to attract attention away from what they are preaching.

But black has been used in negative ways too, blackmail,

my e-mails are printed in black, so maybe I'm being blackmailed.

So, what is a blacklife?

 

[Speedwell]

I've got to be honest, this makes not a lick of sense to me. I do not see minorities is too (whatever) to accomplish something as simple as what is presented. How does race have anything to do with ID? Don't you need ID to even cash a check?

Is it necessary to have a checking account in order to vote? Is the ID required to cash a check the same kind of ID required to vote?

People keep talking about a victim mentality, well, there's an example.

Does putting up with an unnecessary nuisance make one a victim? I hardly think so.

Secondly, I keep being told there is no push for mail in ballots. We can't have mail in ballots. We will have fraud all over the place.

Maybe you've got a point. The only recent mail-in ballot fraud I am aware of was perpetrated by a Republican.

 

[LostMarbels]

There's no "black KKK", that's a righting delusion.

It's just another Democratic faction is all. Different race, different acronym, same goals: to sway an election, and use terrorist actions to achieve it. The only difference at all is they have not started killing people outright, yet.

They are still targeting black communities, churches, blacks that do not agree, and white republicans. Same exact group minus the burning crosses.

Look at 3 months ago. White people got so upset being asked to stay indoors due to a global deadly pandemic that a bunch of them started marching on state houses carrying high-powered weapons and intimidating lawmakers. So they could get a HAIRCUT. A HAIRCUT.

And yet you somehow believe we would actually be oppressed for hundreds of years. Truth about that is, not a single person, building, car, or small farm animal was harmed in those actions. Not a single piece of trash was left on the ground. But the message was received loud and clear.

We tend to go directly at the issue. The car out front didn't do anything. Punishing the car by giving it a spanking achieves nothing. It just looks petty and weakens your own position. It's foolish in many people view.

So please, let's dial back the fever dreams you folks on the Right seem to be suffering from. NO ONE is taking anything from you.

You are correct. Hence, the response above this one, in this post. We won't allow it.

I really do think you aren't reading ANY of my posts...just hitting reply after you see my avatar.

Do you like tacos?