Hey Psy, I think you are really off base on a lot of this. If you don't mind, I'll tackle your post a piece at a time. It might be a bit long; sorry in advance if it is too much to process.
Just a bit of background. I'm a pretty average white dude. I've known a lot of black people though, and quite well... one of my three degrees at Duke was African American History, I've worked with a LOT of black athletes in my former profession, and I even lived in Alpha Phi Alpha, a traditionally black frat (Long story... basically Duke required all frats to have some independents living in their house, and I was buddy's with the APA president who offered me and my best friend one of the best rooms on West Campus... not going to turn that down!). Nowadays I chat socially with a group of black dudes between the ages of 35 and 42 on an almost daily basis, and we discuss a lot about current events and the like; I am always curious about things I don't experience, and as a rich white dude I've definitely not experienced life as a black American man
Anyway... on to my points.
My hometown ... The news/media/ social/ whatever is the biggest problem in the world imo..nothimg but cancer...too many people see,believe, assume,carry out so much from what this cancer spreads ... and makes things so much worse!! ..sad..
I do not believe that to be true, and I think that really shrugs off responsibility. Listen, the media in general is a for-profit industry that has issues. But they do not create reality or the news. The media is largely information. Now, unfortunately some political forces have turned "the media" into a tool for propaganda like we've never seen. There are certainly media outlets that are nothing but rabble rousing nonsense... for example, Brietbart or Occupy Democrats. But to dismiss the American media wholesale is dangerous. The media is the only way any of us have any ability to gather information from outside of our immediate area, and the American news media has, for the last two centuries, been the best on earth, the envy of the world, and a key component in keeping America free. There is a reason that the media is called "The Fourth Pillar of Democracy"... (Judiciary, Executive, Legislature and Media)... the news media is what allows us American citizens to know what our government is doing, a government that has a tremendous amount of power, and the news media is the only way we will ever know if our government is doing wrong.
Dismissing the media as the problem, I think, is foolish. For the most part, the media reports the problems. Without our news media, we would be doomed to nothing but government propoganda and ignorance. Just ask the North Koreans
If you guys genuinely got and read the New York Times for a month... like, actually did it... I think you'd likely realize that we have a lot of important news media out there... people just don't have the patience to read it.
just so a lot of people know, the majority of hate came from out of state.both sides were wrong! Imo..I don't agree with removing the statue either but it could have been protested better and for the anti protesters y'all were way worse imo..
I sincerely doubt the anti protestors were much worse. The white supremacists arrived armed to the teeth, with guns and body armor and shields. They walked the streets chanting Nazi slogans (remember, the Nazis killed twelve million people and caused World War 2, a war many Americans fought and died in.)
To say that the people protesting against hate who were attacked by a terrorist were worse than the haters themselves seems difficult to accept.
It does seem that the majority of the real problems came from out of state. My guess is the same will happen at the Nazi rally in Texas on 9/11.
just unbelievable..2nd biggest problem is people have became way to sensitive .(both sides )..for the neutral people in between like myself it sucks and Affects us everyday negatively because of this .and sooner or later we'll be peer pressured to chooce a side ...its coming!
I am not sure you understand the sides.
I think you see this as a white vs minority thing.
It most assuredly is not. Just look at any of the photos and you can see that.
It appears to me that there are maybe three sides.
There are the people who have outright hatred in their hearts.
There are the people who want change in systems that are damaged and to right injustice.
There are people who just want to bury their heads in the sand and pretend everything is, and was, okay.
I, and everyone I know, are part of side #2. I would hope you would be too.
This is just the start imo and will get worse..god bless and forgive..I blame Obama ..sure there was racism but not like now !!BLM was the last straw.. Nowhere close imo.. not from me or my opinion but the whites have just gotten tired of the catering/sensitivity/ opportunities / excuses/ attention/bs/pity the minority's are demanding!
To blame Obama for the problems we have seems, to me, to be a total reputation of personal responsibility.
Obama, a half black half white American who I never heard say a racist thing, most assuredly is not to blame for race problems in this nation.
And it isn't about catering or excuses or bs or pity.
I'll put this as plainly as possible.
There are a number of racist people in this country.
There are a number of systems in our country that seem to be tilted in favor of some races over others. Look at the race numbers in the legal system. Look at the race numbers in our government. Look at race and salaries.
These systems were put into place early on, and made concrete during Reconstruction. They formally continued through segregation, and unfortunately, in some avenues of American life, they continue today.
And to blame Black Lives Matter shows a distinct lack of understanding of three things:
First, what the actual goals and motivations of the Black Lives Movement are. Go read their goals and beliefs.
"We are committed to collectively, lovingly and courageously working vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension all people. As we forge our path, we intentionally build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting."
"We are committed to acknowledging, respecting and celebrating difference(s) and commonalities."
"We are committed to practicing empathy; we engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts."
These are not the words of the group that is the problem, the group that is supported by millions of Americans of all races, myself included.
Second, how to differentiate between millions of BLM supporters who are peaceful, caring Americans who want to bring harmony to the races, and the small number of criminals and racists who took advantage of the BLM unrest to commit crimes and violence.
Third, exactly how the BLM movement came to be.
For many years in our country, black people have suffered. In our lifetimes (well, for those of us who are older) they were not allowed to marry white people, not allowed to serve with whites in combat, not allowed to eat at certain restaurants, not allowed to shop in certain stores... and when segregation ended (again, in the lifetimes of MANY Americans, including the VAST majority of the people who run this nation) the problems didn't end... black Americans still faced discrimination when applying to school, discrimination when trying to buy a home, discrimination when trying to get a loan, discrimination when applying for a job, and yes, discrimination often when dealing with law enforcement.
And when it comes to law enforcement, that has been a particular difficult relationship. Part of that relates to the inner city issues (btw, the reason there are so many black Americans in the inner city? Because when they fled the South post-Reconstruction, the were not allowed to live in many of the suburbs and the like...) of poverty and crime, which make the jobs of our law enforcement officers so very difficult. (On a side note, a lot of people won't discuss this piece of it, and doing so can really invite down wrath. It's a shame. But note; it is FAR more about poverty than race.)
But part of it also deals with race.
And if you ask any black person of a certain age, they will tell you... the police were the ones beating them with clubs, the police were the ones setting dogs on them, the police were the ones knocking them down with water cannons... the police were the ones who enforced segregation.
Then, when that ended, we STILL heard these extraordinary numbers, of how the white experience with law enforcement was so very different than the black experience. Huge disparities in jail time for similar crimes, huge disparity in conviction rates, and yes, a huge disparity in violence at the hands of police.
This is something that has been happening for a long, long time.
Do you want to know what changed in the last eight, ten years?
It wasn't Obama.
It's simple; the iPhone.
Yep. That simple.
Because what was only seen by black Americans on a local level, and never able to be proved because there was no video, is suddenly being recorded by everyone, seen by everyone. Ask any black American and they'll tell you; it isn't any worse now. Not at all. It's just VISIBLE now, and white Americans are seeing it for the first time.
In the end, this will be a positive. This will lead to positive change. I believe that, because I believe people are good. But it will take some time, and right now the bad people are pushing back.
