Which is more evil, meat, soy, gluten, or southpaws?

[redpoint5]

Doublepost

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by jamesqf

The real problem, though, is that they're still stuck on classifying things by racial groups, which is really nothing more than perpetuating racism. If you look instead at the way cops tend to treat individuals down on the lower rungs of the economic/social ladder, you see a very different picture than the sort of "racist cops" theory they're pushing. And which IMHO looses them a lot of supporters from all the non-black people who've experienced the same sort of mistreatment.

I've had a higher than average rate of contact with law enforcement, some of which was justly due, and some of which was not. My experience is there are good and bad people in all occupations. The reason bad people in law enforcement is a problem is due to the frequency they are thrown into high stress conflicts. Coupled with this is the training they receive which is basically when in doubt, shoot, and we'll cover any decision that could have been made in good faith.

I've been held at gunpoint on my own property by a pack of deputies because neighbors called in suspicious activity. That suspicious activity was sitting around a campfire laughing and joking. I could have been killed if the deputy couldn't see my hands in the dark, and he certainly would have been acquitted of a crime. I was held and questioned in the car for an hour, which is ridiculous.

"What were you doing"

"Having a campfire"

"Whose property is this"

"My parents"

"Were you drinking or doing drug"

"None of your business" (I wasn't)

"Let me smell your breath"

"No"

The guys were grade A-holes.

My point is that while there is likely racists performing their duties in any job, the US has mostly trained their law enforcement to be an overaggressive untouchable gang. If they view you as a suspect, you are likely to be mistreated regardless of color.

I just found out about, and watched the video of Daniel Shaver being killed, which was extremely disturbing. I can see why he was shot, but a person with the proper attitude (protect and serve) and training (identify aggression vs submission) would not have acted that way. Telling someone they will be shot for the smallest deviation of orders does not justify it. I'm not saying the officer should necessarily be charged criminally, but I am saying our law enforcement over-emphasises aggression and under-emphasises de-escalation.

The reason poorer people encounter law enforcement more frequently is because there is a higher concentration of criminal activity in those areas. The higher crime is due partly to having a higher density of people (apartments vs large, spread out homes in wealthy neighborhoods), and other factors such as single parenting, addiction, and mental/behavioral problems.

[Natalya]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I just found out about, and watched the video of Daniel Shaver being killed, which was extremely disturbing. I can see why he was shot, but a person with the proper attitude (protect and serve) and training (identify aggression vs submission) would not have acted that way. Telling someone they will be shot for the smallest deviation of orders does not justify it. I'm not saying the officer should necessarily be charged criminally, but I am saying our law enforcement over-emphasises aggression and under-emphasises de-escalation.

I don't think that's the mentality they're supposed to have -- protect and serve. Like all super authoritarian hierarchical institutions the only meaningful job requirement of the people doing the job is to follow orders. Everything else be damned. There's moral cops, there's the cops who have a chip on their shoulders, there's the patriotic cops, there's ex-military, and there's the quiet guys who just want a simple beat to work on. But all of them understand that the only objective they actually have as far as their job is concerned is to follow orders. This is needed for the dangerous situations they may from time to time find themselves in, but it doesn't foster the civil goal of having a "noble" police force.

Also, going back a page, I take it by the quotation marks that you think the Japanese internment wasn't racist? Like, if that wasn't racism, then I guess you don't really believe in racism as a concept?

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Natalya

Also, going back a page, I take it by the quotation marks that you think the Japanese internment wasn't racist? Like, if that wasn't racism, then I guess you don't really believe in racism as a concept?

Lacking a better word, I wanted to differentiate the common usage of racism from the actions taken by the government. I cannot say that those responsible for arresting Japanese Americans were acting out of a hatred or fear. It's racist in the most true sense in that it treats individuals based on preconceived ideas about their associated group. It's not racist in the more modern usage that the majority is targeting a minority just to oppress them. After all, the US didn't round up all the Mexican Americans after Pearl Harbor was bombed.

Not sleeping in on a Saturday, huh? :P

[Natalya]

The shortened daylight, overcast skies, and working indoors is destroying my sleep schedule. Also, I drank like a small amount of caffeine around 10 PM, I think that might have put me in my current position. I tried to sleep but I couldn't. I'm frustrated because I have like 3 obligations today and now all of them are threatened.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Natalya

The shortened daylight, overcast skies, and working indoors is destroying my sleep schedule. Also, I drank like a small amount of caffeine around 10 PM, I think that might have put me in my current position. I tried to sleep but I couldn't. I'm frustrated because I have like 3 obligations today and now all of them are threatened.

I'm in a similar situation. Just now finishing work from yesterday, which I said would be completed at 1am.

I'll grab a couple hours of sleep, drive 2 hrs, do some yard work at my house, then drive back to attend my wife's Christmas party. She just started as a PA a couple weeks ago, so this will be my first time meeting her coworkers.

[Xist]

Fat Charlie, you are comparing:
the numbers of blacks killed by blacks and whites killed by whites
With
the percentages of blacks killed by whites and whites killed by blacks.

“Of the 13,455 cases from last year in which the FBI listed a victim's racial information, 7,039 victims – or 52.3 percent – were black. That compares with 5,854 cases – or 43.5 percent – in which the victim was white“
“[W]hites account for 77.1 percent of the overall U.S. population of roughly 321 million, while blacks comprise 13.3 percent.”
There were 15,696 murders reported in 2015, 13,455 where the FBI listed the victim’s race, and about 6,000 where they knew the race of the murderer and the victim, so these numbers are not going to match up.
Are we supposed to demand they always record the race or never?
Taking the percentages from one set of data and applying it to the numbers from another set:
8.6% of 7,039 = 605
15.8% of 5854 = 925

When I talk to English speakers, I call myself Guatemalan. When I talk to Latinos, I call myself “Estadounidense”--dense person from the States (literally “Person from the United States”). Latinos call me “Americano” and English-speakers call me white.
My grandfather is a full-blooded Guatemalan, but was born in California, and never learned Spanish. I am fluent in Spanish, my sister can speak it when she wants to, and my other sister learned French from a high school teacher from Vietnam.
Once I have paid off my credit cards and can pay cash for it, I will visit Guatemala. Maybe I can find some information about my family besides the fact they emigrated a hundred years ago.
I also identify as poor, although I believe there are entire countries that operate on less than the $39,000 that I will be earning in nine months.
I need to figure out how I am supporting myself over the summer…
I am not doing the “smart” thing and having the district withhold money from each paycheck, throw all of it at me at the end of school year, and then running out before school starts back up.
No, I am going to run out before summer starts.
I had planned on stockpiling money in that checking account that I found that pays 5% interest, but I have not been able to stockpile anything.
I pay $395 to rent a 10 x 10 room, $531 in student loan payments, I think $110 to insure two old cars and my life for half a million dollars, and $69.50 for My Precious.
We mentioned overcoming poverty the other day. I started this math and realized that I could not account for the majority of the $2,552 that gets deposited to my checking account every month.
I am going to try to sort out that.
Be righteous to each other!

[freebeard]

Save a little money each month and at the end of the year you'll be surprised at how little you have.

-- Ernest Haskins

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

My experience is there are good and bad people in all occupations. The reason bad people in law enforcement is a problem is due to the frequency they are thrown into high stress conflicts.

Sure, there are good and bad people everywhere, but some fields tend to attract a disproportionate share of one or the other.

I have to vehemently disagree about high-stress situations being the cause of bad cops. In the great majority of instances, the cop has exacerbated the situation, if not created it in the first place, by acting like an authoritarian jackass. And that really is the reason you have a lot of bad cops out there. It is really the one line of work in which bullies can satisfy their natural urges without fear of consequence.

My point is that while there is likely racists performing their duties in any job, the US has mostly trained their law enforcement to be an overaggressive untouchable gang. If they view you as a suspect, you are likely to be mistreated regardless of color.

A suspect, or someone they can push around with impunity. That is where the racial differences come into play. Cops tend to push black people around not because they're black per se, but because they're perceived as people they can push around with impunity. Same reason they push around poor white people. Same reason your high school bully picks on the skinny geek kids, and not the 6'4" football player.

[redpoint5]

Obviously my experiences with police encounters are unique to me, and it's impossible to know what it's like to encounter police as a different race. That said, the same is also true of other races. It might be that some minorities are treated worse than others, but part of it may just be perception. I might view an A-hole cop as an A-hole, while someone else might view the A-hole cop as a racist, when he might just be a regular A-hole. Again, police tend to spend their time where the crime is, and that entails more encounters with those communities.

I'm ashamed to say that I used a racial slur once in my life, not out of racist motivation, but out of regular old anger for someone acting completely inappropriate (yelled at a 17 year old girl in our group about a sex act he was going to do to her). In my anger I thought of the worst thing I could think to yell at the guy, and what came out was a racial slur. I'd have yelled something non-racial yet equally vile if it had been a white guy.