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I thought he was dead. Spike Lee is a has been that never was. Even his "best" movie, DO THE RIGHT THING, was a steaming pile of crap that portrayed blacks as lazy, lascivious, loud, angry, disrespectful, self-pitying and violent. But we were all supposed to be understanding at the end when a viscous pack destroys a man's livelihood because he used the "N-word" when he is fed up with their awful behavior.
Whatever. To me a word is a word and it is the victims of violence that have my sympathies. Like most liberal casuist films, it turned more away that it converted. In DO THE RIGHT THING Danny Aiello asks his screen son why he has so much hatred in him towards blacks. When they cause trouble, blame him for their troubles and destroy him, perhaps he understands, if not hatred, at least anger. I guarantee that most of the audience did, and it was courtesy of Mister Lee. Thanks.
As for this one, yeah, white people will be blamed. Even if Spike Lee came out and told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but... that black people in the united states are causing their own problems by violence, illegitimacy, drug use, lack of effort in school, etc. It is still too damn late. His entire career has been a misdirected attempt at apology, and he could not possibly do more good than harm at this point.
The very cynical might be tempted to say that at this point he would do or say whatever he has to do or say to revive a career which could not be more dead.
Last edited by cachibatches; 06-07-2015 at 06:56 PM..
I don't always agree with him but at least he has the balls to go through with what thinks is right and might just be able to stand up to the crapstorm of political pressure he's about to get.
What he's doing is the equivalent of Rush Limbaugh turning on the fracking industry.
I've long pointed out that Chicago is a tale of two cities where "guns" and "gangs" are the excuses used by the politicians to under-serve those communities with complete political immunity due to the single party oligarchy in power.
There are neighborhoods just 3 miles apart in Chicago that have murder rates similar to Japan vs. a mexican border town.
All a legacy of papa-Daley and then his son. Dad kicked Martin Luther King out of town, all brushed under the rug though.
Tell the truth Spike. Don't be bought\threatened off like Sharpton was a couple years ago when he started complaining about how the city isolates and ignores minorities.
I read on some urban planning blog. That crime in some wards of Chicago are higher than what they were in the 90s with less residents today.
Chicago is on the same track as Detroit, just on a slower pace. The crime and violence was a big reason why I moved away 30 years ago. I had cars stolen, apartments broken into, got mugged, etc.
Where I live now (Bellevue, WA), I have literally never seen any crime. The closest was when I saw a guy lying face down in a parking lot. I went over, asked him if he needed an ambulance, and he responded, 'no.' I left him alone and went on my way. Oh yeah, and I got jostled out of 3rd place one year by a pretty young girl in the Spirit of Bellevue 5K. Heinous crime....
Chicago is not even in the top ten for homicides. One might not realize this , given the media attention.
Most homicides are concentrated in certain areas and are gang, alcohol or drug related. It's common for family and neighbors to cover for the perpretators and instead blame the Police.
The amount of neighborhood gentrification that has and continues to occur is astounding. Who knew hipsters had so much money? Baby boomers who can choose to live anywhere are flocking back to the city from suburbia.
Most people who live outside the hot zones have never been a victim of crime.
Couple points.
1) Yep 75% of chicagos murders are gang related.
2) Chicago's overall rate doesn't really matter. To me it's the radical difference between areas which is 100% intentional city policy.
3) Hipsters don't have that much money. What they have are incredibly low interest rates. Great as long as rates don't spike back up to 7-8% for a 30 year fixed and then they'll be stuck there for a looong time upside down.
I read on some urban planning blog. That crime in some wards of Chicago are higher than what they were in the 90s with less residents today.
IDK but the Austin neighborhood has around 100k residents and 30-40 murders a year.
3 miles to the northeast Lincoln park has around 100k residents and about 1 per year...and almost ALL of those are in the far western parts of lincoln park by the interstate.
That's a comparison I would love to see Spike delve into.
Oh, and cook counties gun murder rate is around 8 per 100k, the rest of the state is around 2 per 100k.....but they keep telling their citizens that the problem is that the rest of the state has looser gun laws.
Mathguy and MOM are exactly right...simply put, it's not a very dangerous place. Most of Chicago is pretty damn nice. Crime is highly isolated...it isn't Detroit by any stretch of the imagination.
Crime is concentrated in certain areas, to be sure, but you don't isolate crime. Criminals have transportation like everyone else. When I lived in Chicago a friend was mugged and stabbed in the near north side, which is a pretty nice neighborhood. I was mugged and beaten by several urban youths where I lived in Hyde Park, not far from Pres. Obama's mansion. Thanks but no thanks. Where I live now, I can get a CCW permit upon 5 minutes of paperwork, and crime is at a low ebb. You can have your "pretty damn nice" with stabbings, muggings, burglaries, etc.
If Chicago goes the way of detroit, it will be because of public pensions....not gangbangers. You can blame the same political party, but the robbery is happening with guns.
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Great as long as rates don't spike back up to 7-8% for a 30 year fixed and then they'll be stuck there for a looong time upside down. 
