It's Kamala!

[hollodero]

(08-20-2020, 08:36 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: What you're encountering here is the political extremes in this country and how obsessed they are with race.  To the far left race is a cudgel to attack opponents and to force the kind of diversity you alluded to above, quality of the applicant be damned.  To the far right race isn't even an issue, it's something to be ignored at best, except when a particular example or category (violent crime immediately leaps to mind) helps them diffuse the cudgel being wielded by the far left.

I disagree - meaning of course, as a foreigner with no real idea I came to a different impression. When it comes to the "far left", well, you saw my posts, there are aspects within your response I do not disagree with. I also feel that the word "racism" is thrown out too loosely at times, and the accusation does get misused to silence opponents. Aside from that, I guess in many cases the intentions are pure and good, and also very often totally appropriate.
Which leads me to the "far right". For sure, being far right is in no way akin to being racist, but there are quite a few racists (a little racists to full-blown racists) among the far right. Maybe you don't count David Duke or Richard Spencer or whatever white supremacy group that marches in an unite the right rally as "far right", but I would. But aside from that, there is also the Breitbart mob, which basically is a bunch of dogs barking as intended at every racist dog whistle that gets thrown out. This imho is not a neglectable, tiny group, and it's definitely a far right group, and boy many of them are quite racist.
Which leads me to Donald Trump, for sadly everything also is about Donald Trump these days. This president imho is racist, or say he says a lot of racially precarious things. I made a list once somewhere. And while I'm usually rather cautious with racism accusations, Donald Trump fits the bill. And he has quite a lot of fans. Now while I am in no way accusing all Trump voters of racism, I can't quite acquit them of at least being somewhat indifferent to Trump's racism and of more or less consciously voting for a racist. And some are racists, Trump does not throw his tropes out for no one to digest, he has folks who actively like it.

(08-20-2020, 08:36 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Most US citizens have no issues with people of different ethnicities.  I've long been either the only, or one of the few, white men at my workplace.  At one location, in which I was one of two white men, one of the older, black, clerks approached me and called me by the other gentleman's name.  When I corrected her with my actual name she stated, "Oh, you're the other one", which I found funny for a reason that apparently perplexed her.  Point being, most of us inhabiting the middle, which doesn't get a lot of attention these days, don't have an issue with race.  We certainly acknowledged that in some cases it holds people back and in others it is used to unduly advance people, but by in large we just live our lives and treat each other like human beings.

I think so too, and I'm not so sure many really dispute that. Regarding your example though, of course things are quite different and easier to laugh at when you're still the majority and only are not in a certain setting. If you're the minority and have experienced racism throughout your life (and I'd suppose pretty much every black person has experience with some form of racism), things are different.
Also, when it comes to black people, it's not just that people are held back, it's also that they get arrested and imprisoned more often, and mainly that they are victims of police killings more often. And of course by often being systematically targeted, like when this one police chief called for a "black day" and whatnot. With that I am not so much saying that just police is disadvantaging blacks, I claim that society (not every individial, some more or less unconsciously, it's this "systemic" thing folks often might not be even aware of) as a whole does; and police is just the example where the consequences of that are most dire. It is a topic that deserves attention and not just some kind of leftist identity politics issue. Imho.

(08-20-2020, 08:36 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Unfortunately both extremes will never let that be the end of it.  The left's particular brand of insanity is in ascendancy now, hence the stated reason for the VP pick that your correctly criticize.  Just don't expect someone who approves of that reason to ever begin to understand the reason you have issues with it.  Because you're European you're given a bit of leeway.  Trust me when I say if you were an American someone would already have called you a racist for raising the exact same questions. 

Hehe... I had thoughts about that, but I don't quite know if that's true. I supposed Dill won't. And the reason is of course that nothing I said imho can reasonably be deemed racism. I claim that I am not a racist, sure at times others reach different verdicts. We do have the more passionate kind of leftists here as well, and yeah they call me names at times for not fully agreeing with every racist, sexist or whatever conventional leftist wisdom thing, I know what you're referring to. Often though, it depends on the tone one uses. Meaning, folks are more likely to be berated as racists when they in return berate others as mindless, CNN-worshipping soreheads. The conversation between the two sides is full of ire for sure, but that imho isn't that much a leftist thing, but an american thing.