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Whelp, I know very little about anything you've discussed here...except that I agree that many, many, many people will pounce on anything that sounds remotely like putting one's ethnic group ahead of other ethnic groups and they'll call it bigoted and wrong...which is often unreasonable.
Sometimes, some people just understand needs of their group in ways that people outside that group are less likely to see, so it makes perfect sense to put the needs of their racial or cultural group before then needs of other groups. On occasion, those other groups wouldn't know how to assist your group even if they desperately wanted to.
I will say, I have an instinctive distrust of culture, and group-think, both of which you've advocated a kind of spreading of. I don't think I've learned anything useful from my culture. Maybe I just have an unusually bad culture, or one that's just a bad fit for me.
May your movement genuinely help people...and never turn into turn into something oppressive that only survives by insulting people who don't join it. If it reaches that point, I think it should probably just die. It probably could genuinely help people.
I think a lot of times why people are so hard on the types of things you've advocated is because they see you as a threat to their individuality, which your movement could very well become, if it were to succeed.
Merely advocating unity of black people means people are going to have to sacrifice something else...and of course helping other black people isn't necessarily the best use of their resources. Even for the purest of humanitarians it might be best to completely ignore the plight of broke, intercity African Americans and will all of one's money to go to some company that provides clean water to third world nations after they die or something.
I think people know that, and that's why we're not seeing massive assistance of broke, intercity youth. There are just many things people could spend their time and resources on that might be more fruitful. That's different from the Civil Rights movement though. With the Civil Rights movement, the government was engaging in intolerable unfairness, and there was a clear solution: just change the laws. It's much harder to alter culture though. That's quite an uphill battle, I think. I think that's why there's never going to be any massive movement, but there could be smaller, local movements.
Any society that is all about "individualism" or any society that is all about "collectivism" will eventually become its own worst enemy. Part of the problem with America in general today is we have tilted too much towards individualism. Individualism is the fuel that capitalism needs. However, keep in mind that the "Family" is a "Collective" construct and hence the family gets eroded in societies where individualism has run amok. No society will stand long without a strong foundation of families and the family structure of America is in descent.
That said, what does "black unity" look like? Black unity looks like black mothers and fathers in the home. Certainly if one is an advocate of individualism, then they should be a fan of fatherless home and the man just doing what is best for him and only thinking of himself and not bound by any family "group think". It also means not shooting down your brother in the street in a quest for "respect". It also means buying from black owned businesses instead of spending 95% of our money outside our community. It also means learning YOUR history as a person with African roots. Why teach the mountain lion the history of the Polar bear? Black people need a history that shows them as something other than slaves. It also means visiting black countries to help boost the economies.
Certainly there are many issues with adopting black unity as a solution, but the attractive aspect of it is that its a solution that is totally in the control of black people. Certainly the goal is for all of gods creature to live TOGETHER in harmony and mutual respect. However, after 300 years its clear that America is not that place in regards to race and consequently groups must do what they must do to preserve their dignity and respect among themselves, if not from others, whether its a perfect solution or not. Waiting for the "perfect" solution means there will be no attempts at a solution.
Well, she played the sexism-card against Trump, become a heroine of the Left, and the they drop her like a piece of garbage after the black community played the race-card.
Well, she played the sexism-card against Trump, become a heroine of the Left, and the they drop her like a piece of garbage after the black community played the race-card.
She made her own bed. I don't feel sorry for her as she is getting a nice, big buyout from NBC, and some other network, or cable outlet will pick her up.
Though her comments were certainly ignorant or insensitive, I do not think she actually meant to be racist.
I think the overall response was a bit extreme. Then I also think all kinds of people have gotten a little thin skinned, so to speak, in recent years.
I admit to being a white male but I think there is a difference between someone being intentionally, blatantly, aggressively racist and the average person that uses color, or religion as a descriptor or even in a friendly, kidding way.
People can usually tell the difference but these days it seems everyone is just looking for an excuse to accuse anyone of the most vile things for the most minor infraction so to speak.
I try very hard to treat everyone with respect. I also think back to days in Viet Nam where every man next to you, regardless of 'flavor', was your brother and you cold depend on him. Now when we were 'in the club, on R&R, having a few drinks or just 'jaw jackin' we would say things to each other that would make most political 'correctness' today pale in comparison. But we knew where we stood with each other and we knew we could depend on each other. It was a unique situation and I would not dare try to have the same kind of conversations with people of color today for fear of misunderstanding. I doubt seriously anyone of color would talk to me in that way either. Bluntly, matter of factually, but without hate and with the intent to understand.
Any society that is all about "individualism" or any society that is all about "collectivism" will eventually become its own worst enemy. Part of the problem with America in general today is we have tilted too much towards individualism. Individualism is the fuel that capitalism needs. However, keep in mind that the "Family" is a "Collective" construct and hence the family gets eroded in societies where individualism has run amok. No society will stand long without a strong foundation of families and the family structure of America is in descent.
Definitely agree. The leading cause of problems in society in general is broken families and broken moral values. African American communities have been particularly hard-hit. Fatherlessness is a epidemic. And sure, it's getting worse in white, Hispanic and Asian communities. But you tend to find the highest crime rates wherever you find the most fatherlessness and fatherlessness is far more prevalent in black communities than any other demographic. A mother and a father plus a community supporting and encouraging them -- that's what you need to make any and all kids grow up to be good people as adults. So how do we get there?? To be honest, I want to help and have no idea how.
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That said, what does "black unity" look like? Black unity looks like black mothers and fathers in the home. Certainly if one is an advocate of individualism, then they should be a fan of fatherless home and the man just doing what is best for him and only thinking of himself and not bound by any family "group think". It also means not shooting down your brother in the street in a quest for "respect". It also means buying from black owned businesses instead of spending 95% of our money outside our community. It also means learning YOUR history as a person with African roots. Why teach the mountain lion the history of the Polar bear? Black people need a history that shows them as something other than slaves. It also means visiting black countries to help boost the economies.
This is where the new culture and Third Wave Feminism are of no service to African Americans at all. Women are told they don't need a man or marriage. They're taught to be selfish and self-serving. The men are learning the same thing. The black community is in many ways the canary in the coal mine for where our culture is headed. Everyone putting themselves first and building cohesive families and communities leads to chaos, crime, mass-incarceration and death on a horrific scale.
As to black history, this is tricky. Africa, mostly by shear dumb luck, ended up being the least advanced place in the ancient world. It was just as likely to be Northern Europe or Central Asia, truth be told. Going all the way back to the ancient Egyptians, black Africa was "that place where you go to get slaves." The powerful civilizations of Mesopotamia did the same thing. The Greeks, the Romans, they all did it to. The Islamic world imported far more slaves than the West, but for some reason history books told tell you that. Swahili -- a cross between Arabic and several indigenous African languages -- became the most commonly spoken language in Sub-Saharan Africa. After being culturally dominated by the Muslim world, on came the Europeans. They took a lot of slaves, often using the established slave markets that had been selling to Muslims, and the Europeans dominated the continent. For reasons I can only guess at, the lines on the map in Sub-Saharan Africa today are still the lines on a map that Europeans put there. You have several bright spots where Africans did big things. Mansa Musa, Shaka Zulu, the Great Zimbabwe, etc. But for the most part, there's not much of a story to be told and that is incredibly frustrating. Most of African history is a story of Africans being dominated by people from elsewhere. That hasn't changed much to this day. I don't know that you'll glean much wisdom from Sub-Saharan Africa. The place is a mess.
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Certainly there are many issues with adopting black unity as a solution, but the attractive aspect of it is that its a solution that is totally in the control of black people. Certainly the goal is for all of gods creature to live TOGETHER in harmony and mutual respect. However, after 300 years its clear that America is not that place in regards to race and consequently groups must do what they must do to preserve their dignity and respect among themselves, if not from others, whether its a perfect solution or not. Waiting for the "perfect" solution means there will be no attempts at a solution.
The only thing you can ever do is to do everything within your power to make things better. Honestly, less focus on being offended by other demographics and groups and more focus on just improving black America from within is exactly what the doctor ordered. There's always going to be some racist a-holes. Why waste time and energy on them?
I have no respect for Megyn Kelly because of that comment. However, I can let it go because I don't watch her stuff. I don't know much about her. I don't watch MSNBC or FOX News.
I will say this. If someone I admired and respected said something like that, I would be heartbroken. If a person who had been a friend of mine for years decided to dress in blackface or endorse blackface, it would disturb me alot. I couldn't look at that person as my friend. I would look at that person as a bigot and an enemy of mine. Megyn Kelly is just a stranger to me, so I look at her is an idiot. If it was one of my friends or someone I admired and respect, it would hurt me alot.
Why is "black face" so socially unacceptable? Should Italians be offended by the stereotypical pizza chef picture on the pizza box? How about the guy with the sombrero at the Mexican restaurant? Where does it end?
What about clowns painted in whiteface? Raaaacist.
I have no respect for Megyn Kelly because of that comment. However, I can let it go because I don't watch her stuff. I don't know much about her. I don't watch MSNBC or FOX News.
I will say this. If someone I admired and respected said something like that, I would be heartbroken. If a person who had been a friend of mine for years decided to dress in blackface or endorse blackface, it would disturb me alot. I couldn't look at that person as my friend. I would look at that person as a bigot and an enemy of mine. Megyn Kelly is just a stranger to me, so I look at her is an idiot. If it was one of my friends or someone I admired and respect, it would hurt me alot.
You are entitled to feel however you want, but your unreasonable feelings should not dictate what others can say, do and what they meant. I would suggest you are too wrapped up in all things related to and beneficial to your race. I honestly don't see how your mentality and motivation and intolerance of those that differ is any different in principle to a white supremacist's or neo-Nazi's.
What about clowns painted in whiteface? Raaaacist.
I went back, and watched the vid of what she said. She may have said it in an awkward way, that was offensive to blacks. However, I think what she was TRYING to say was why are people so offended by both black face, and white face, especially on a day when people dress up as something they are not. Yes, she should have been more eloquent and known this was a BAD topic to bring up knowing the overly PC world in which we live.
She went to a far left network, so you reap what you sow Megyn.
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