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I give up, you are incapable of grasping how idiotic your argument is when it's staring you in the face. You willfully ignore my argument. Every time you say "known fact" to a complete falsehood, my head explodes with amazement at the stupidity. Man, I am stunned at how ignorantly stubborn you are. All you do is repeat yourself.
Answer one simple question... If a person never uses an addictive substance, will they become addicted to it?
Simply CHOOSE to not use the addictive substance. Period.
Status:
"Do not pass GO, do not collect $300 (used to be $200)"
(set 6 days ago)
Location: TN
600 posts, read 274,006 times
Reputation: 385
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElectronicOverlord
Did you really believe in 'hope and change' or were you more interested in him because he would be the first black president? I think so... was still young at the time
Edit: "I think so" referred to the hope and change part. As far as the first black president part, no; that was a consideration, but it wasn't at the top of my considerations.
I disagree. Stiffer laws are being passed all the time, specifically in regards to opiods/painkillers. You do not hear about it becasue no one is interested in the drug addicted white person and it openly discredits the 1980's cracks laws as being implemented due to racism. Same thing is happening all over again, except there is not the violence that was associated with the crack epidemic.
I keep abreast of all laws and political issues in my area. There have been no laws to give harsher penalties to opiod users. Our area is majority white and heroine especially is wrecking havoc for many families here. I know people whose children have died from overdoses. Instead of getting harsher penalties for drug use, as stated in my comment which you responded to below, they are instead pushing harsher penalties on drug dealers, who are more likely to be black and hispanic than the users. And honestly, violence began to decrease during the crack epidemic. There are many studies about why the sudden decrease in violence worldwide in that period and nothing is substantiated yet, but violent crime in our country was much more prevalent in the 1970s and early 1980s before crack came on the scene. And FWIW, there was a heroine epidemic in black America in the 1960s and 1970s that people overlook.
Three things about this argument. 1. Its rooted in assumptions with no empirical evidence to support it. This happens in almost all discussion about drugs. It's assumed the crack laws were passed becasue of racism, however there is no empirical evidence to suggest racism was the reasoning used to pass these laws. Now, you are making an assumption that increased penalties of drug dealers is somehow racist too, with no empirical evidence. You may not be saying it's racist explicit, but it's the visual you want people to have.
I stated that that was my opinion (IMO means - in my opinion). There is circumstantial evidence that both the crack laws and the current dealer laws in regards to opiods/heroine are also race based. As stated, these are my opinions, which are the opinions of someone who grew up in the midst of the crack epidemic with a parent who was both an addict and a drug dealer at one point. My perception is entirely mine, but it is shared by others both black and non-black. And I do feel that many aspects of our criminal justice system is both class-ist and racist. I personally believe that our criminal justice system is wrought with racism and is one of the only elements of our society here in the USA, that still has "systematic racism." Even though it is my opinion there are many studies that do show empirical evidence that systematic racism is at play in our criminal justice system and was at play in regards to laws back then that were enforced primarily on the black population.
2. When it comes to opiods, the drug dealers are doctors.
Dealers can never be doctors. They are businessmen. They sell a product that people buy. If people didn't buy that product, they would sell something else. They don't care about addicts, they care about money. As stated, I grew up entrenched in this. The majority of the adults in my life as a child were addicts and/or dealers. As such, I knew them personally and know that dealers are not some sort of Hollywood created evil doctor. They are regular people who found they could make some money off of other people's desires and addictions to substances that those people could not openly obtain, so they create niche markets to sell those products. They are shocked at how much money they can make. Many times curiosity about their product gets the best of them, like it did with my father, and they use those drugs one too many times and become addicted themselves.
3. What does it matter what the drug dealers race is, they are still dealing drugs. It defies common sense that I should care more about the skin color of the people dealing drugs, rather than drugs being sold. I do not want to come across as support such laws, as I'm a proponent of decriminalization of drugs, but rather, every discussion we follow this same racial argument down the rabbit hole and miss the bigger issue, people are dealing drugs. You should not care that drug dealer is brown, white or black, yet you felt it important to point it out, why?
Many non-black people don't like to discuss the systematic racism and criminalization of brown and black people that readily occurs in this country. And please note, I am not mad about it nor do I think I will convince you or sway your opinion to that of mine. We have different experiences in life, different observations and so we come to our own conclusion. I do care if a black drug dealer is convicted of murder of a white heroine addict. I care because back during the crack epidemic, black dealers were not convicted of murder after they sold drugs to a black person and that black person overdosed and died. These laws are a way to show how black people are not as valued as white.
White addicts then and now are given a pass in our society (though not personally, as they suffer just as bad IMO as any others on a personal level). They are empathized with and sympathized with. I personally also empathize and sympathize with them as drug addiction is a horrible affliction and due to it touching my family, I wish it on no others. But as a black person, I see the differences in treatment and differences in the way the media is portraying this opiod and meth epidemic. It is not on the news everyday. No one is criminalizing these addicts like they did the black addicts, giving them 10-15 year sentences. Rarely do you hear reports about the growing crisis of meth and heroine addicted white babies like you did black "crack babies" who were predicted to be mentally retarded and to be violent criminals (luckily studies show those predictions were false in regards to babies born addicted to crack back then not having any extraordinary negative outcomes in life based solely on their birth as an addict).
You may not want to admit it, but there is a difference and I care because drug dealers many times have issues that trump those of addicts, many are addicts themselves. Both groups need assistance and help and a low level dealer getting sentenced as a murderer is just outrageous to me and is evidence of another form of systematic racism.
That is your perception, not the reality. Black incarceration is decreasing, white incarceration is increasing.
I know that black incarceration rates are decreasing, but black people still get harsher sentences than whites for similar crimes and with similar backgrounds. Hispanics also get harsher sentences. Blacks and hispanics are still more likely to be stopped, questioned, and arrested, even though whites are more likely to drive drunk and be drug addicts.
I state all the time around here that contrary to what people think, black crime rates have decreased substantially and will continue to decrease. Many Americans, black and non-black don't think this is true, but it is true. Regardless of that though, as stated, white addicts are still sympathized with and empathized with. They are less likely to be lambasted for their "poor choices" and inferior "culture" than non-white people. They will be mentioned as having been from a "good family" and how no one could "believe" that they became addicted. This is especially the case of the suburban, wealthier white youth who are being ravaged by drug addiction today.
Now the poor white people, they are just ignored. No one pays attention to them IMO. As stated above, classism is at play just as much as racism IMO in regards to the "War on Drugs."
It's easy to say that, but the culture that was created lasted for generations. There is a reason Compton has the stigma associated with it. That environment is not a positive for kids growing up in it, and kids everyday who are destined to repeat and embrace that culture that surrounds them, mainly because it's the only thing they know. This has gone on in perpetuation for generations of all races.
I know many people from Compton who I went to college with. They are wonderful people and today it is not the same as it was during the crack epidemic, like most places around the country are not the same. How do you know that it is not a positive place for kids growing up? Do you live there? I don't so I wouldn't be able to say.
But I will say that today there is no longer a crack epidemic afflicting a large portion of black America. I am a young Gen-Xer and my generation and the millenial black generation are doing pretty well for ourselves. Many of us were reared in areas that you see as a culture of inferiority. Even though people around me had issues, I don't see it that way. Even during that era, I was encouraged by people on the streets, by addicts, dealers, gangsters, and prostitutes and contrary to what you may believe there has always been drugs and a subculture of crime in our country that is in no way related only to a particular ethnicity or skin color.
My great grandmother grew up in a very integrated neighborhood. She was born in the early 1900s. Her neighbors were primarily Jewish and German or children of Jews and German immigrants. I do a lot of local history and genealogical research and she regaled me with stories about the "gangsters" in her neighborhood in the 1920s. They had ***** houses and lots of crime and certain parts of the neighborhood where people didn't go because of the gangsters. A majority of the gangsters were Jews and German. I did some research and read newspaper articles about this area, which was considered one of the worst areas in our city. The city actually demolished the majority of that neighborhood and created public housing in order to quell the crime and gang culture.
Serious questions to our black posters on CD.com:
Did you vote for Obama?
No.
Quote:
Did you really believe in 'hope and change' or were you more interested in him because he would be the first black president?
Never believed any of it. Never thought about race at all. My first thought was "Yeah it's incredible that he's an African-American candidate but is he qualified? Does he have experience?"
Quote:
Has your life changed for the better or worse in his 8 year presidency?
My life hasn't been affected significantly because I don't allow it to. It's all about your mindset and attitude really. The only thing that really annoys me is the fee he charges for not having Obamacare.
Quote:
Do you think race relations in the US have improved over the last 8 years?
No. But that's primarily the fault of race baitors.
Quote:
If he could run for another term, would you vote for him?
Had Condi Rice been elevated to an office of higher power, I don't think that is how everyone would have behaved. They are not racist if the blacks are not in a position of power. If, all of a sudden that black person has power or imagined power over them, then they feel threatened and the racism emerges.
If you saw what I saw written on people's pickup trucks when Obama won in 2008, you might think differently. Lots of really racist gross stuff. Don't kid yourself.
Michelle Obama, Sasha and Melia have pretty much had to be f*cking perfect during the last 8 years, and the 'non-racists' have still found disgusting things to say about them. Not because they were disgusting people--it is because they are black. And if you think that is not true--go back and do a search on this forum alone.
Anyone that thinks Michelle Obama has been perfect doesn't even have a tenuous connection with reality.
Course all the race pimps love everything that you said here. Y'all are so saturated with the Kool Aid that it is impossible to discuss the issue with you.
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