Stupid people...

[philbo]

"Ummm.... Doc? I see stupid people. They're all around me. And they don't even know they're stupid!"

[Super 8]

Christ. Whenever people say "I have black friends", you know that they are racist. It couldn't do well enough to say "thugs". Yah, people are morons, but so are racists.

 

 

And you're being no less a racist for being so riddled by white guilt that you can't apparently call a situation for what it is.

 

[YOUTUBE]FqsDRQJesMI[/YOUTUBE]

 

Phait wasn't being racist. He just looked at the situation and took it at face value.

[BlueStrat]

This whole thing reminded me of a story I experienced at age 28, after just having gotten married and moving to LA from the lilly-white inland Northwest. I got a job moving furniture and my helper was a Filipino kid, really friendly and helped teach me how to get around in LA. Anyway, we moved a black woman from Watts to Southgate. I had heard of Watts from the riot days but knew nothing about Southgate. Turns out it's in the heart of South Central near Compton. The woman we moved was really sweet and was elderly. She had her daughter and grandkids living with her, so her house was PACKED with furniture. It took two trips in a 20' truck to move her. The second trip, it was getting dark and I started getting nervous, as I stood out like a sore thumb in that neighborhood and carloads of young black guys driving by would slow down and look at me quite intently as I unloaded her furniture from the truck. I commented to my helper something like "Man, I hope we can get out of here before one of these cars stops and wonders what we're doing in their neighborhood." And my helper just smiled and said "WE? Whaddya mean WE, white boy?!"

 

And for the first time in my life, I got a very tiny inkling of what it must be like every day for a lot of non-white people living in the minority.

 

I confess to feeling relieved when I got back around "my" people, so I don't at all resent blacks or any other group for feeling comfort in seeing others like them and identifying with them. And though we've come an incredibly long way in 40 years, I just wish we could get beyond race altogether, but I don't see it happening in my lifetime.

[Lee Knight]

Hey! I have black friends!!! Mexican and Asian too! I'm all rainbow 'n {censored}. Gays? Them too. Totally rainbow I am.

Hey Phait, I was not bagging on you if you read my post that way. Just making fun of racial tension and our social growing pains.

[Phait]

Yes I know, I trust you.

[nerol1st]

Hey! I have black friends!!! Mexican and Asian too! I'm all rainbow 'n {censored}. Gays? Them too. Totally rainbow I am.

I have a black adopted sister... I didn't think it had {censored} to do with the point though, because I was referencing persons in gangs (and us white guys do that {censored} to ).

[tucktronix]

I have a black adopted sister... I didn't think it had {censored} to do with the point though, because I was referencing persons in gangs (and us white guys do that {censored} to ).

 

If you actually read the other posts, you would know that he was really kidding

[Inazone]

 

Through '07 and '08, I've noticed many of these thug type asshats coming in from Milwaukee and Chicago. And don't get me wrong, I have black friends. But you know the type of people I'm talking about. They walk around acting all hard and talking {censored}. It's god damn annoying.

 

 

Same thing in and around Minneapolis. Over the past few years, a lot of the violent crimes here were committed by *ding ding ding* gang members from Chicago. My first year out of college, I lived in what I'll call a "gang infested" apartment complex. Gunshots at night, fights in the stairwells, mostly Illinois license plates on cars in the parking lot, and cops hauling someone off almost nightly. Cheap rent and easy freeway access were not enough, so that lasted less than a year. It was unfortunate though, because nothing in that neighborhood was immune. The local shopping mall was crawling with gang members, there were always "disruptive" people in the restaurants, and rampant robberies of homes and businesses.

 

I firmly believe that the same is true in certain types of areas anywhere in the world, which is that if someone isn't happy with their lot in life, it's easier to bring those around them down to their level than to find a way to improve their own situation.

[hogberto]

Christ. Whenever people say "I have black friends", you know that they are racist. It couldn't do well enough to say "thugs". Yah, people are morons, but so are racists.

and there's always some judgmental twat hovering around dying to call someone else a 'racist'.

by instantly applying this definition to another person, and failing to recognise that we all have our flaws, none of which wholly define us, you are acting on prejudice.

which makes you no better than the 'racists' you are so anxious to label.

perhaps a gentle comment on the irrelevance of race to the story might work better than pulling out the 'r' word.

[Lee Knight]

and there's always some judgmental twat hovering around dying to call someone else a 'racist'. by instantly applying this definition to another person, and failing to recognise that we all have our flaws, none of which wholly define us, you are acting on prejudice. which makes you no better than the 'racists' you are so anxious to label. perhaps a gentle comment on the irrelevance of race to the story might work better than pulling out the 'r' word.

But wait, you...

Crap, this is a deep hole.

[hogberto]

But wait, you... Crap, this is a deep hole.

[Ides of March]

I do understand what the OP is saying. And I also understand that certain individuals who live in gang related neighborhoods sometimes have no choice but to join and that's fine I guess, I wouldn't know. But alot of times those thugs are just a bunch of pussies that fight in groups or pull out a gun instead of fighting it out with their hands. It;s alot easier to be a bad ass when you have 6 guys with you rather than yourself or with another. And I agree those guys need to all be put on an island somewhere and they can shoot each other and sell, steal and talk {censored} all day long to each other and leave the regular people alone to enjoy a meal.

[BlueStrat]

Originally Posted by kenlacam Christ. Whenever people say "I have black friends", you know that they are racist. It couldn't do well enough to say "thugs". Yah, people are morons, but so are racists.

 

Ironically this is an indication of how far we've really come. Used to be the term 'racist' was reserved for KKK types and white supremacists. Now, even discussing race is 'racist.' The definition of 'racist' has been changed to mean any offense whatsoever taken by the offended, real or imagined. The charge of racism is the new weapon of PC McCarthyites to stifle discussion or deflect criticism of anything people of color may do. This is why I don't think we'll ever get beyond racism in my lifetime-it can't be discussed openly and honestly. Being called a racist is almost as bad as being called a child molester.

[the stranger]

The obvious point here is what happened was something racially charged considering what was overheard during it, and from a set of thug wannabes. I made my point clear what I am tired of, it's the posing that causes this. It has nothing to do with race. And for whoever it was to imply I am racist, that's a load of {censored}. I know how people get out of hand, which is why I said, don't get me wrong.. I didn't come back to HC to get {censored} on.

Yeah. I think the same armchair psychology that accuses you of racism could be applied to those that automatically labeled you a racist.

I must admit that I was a bit shocked, but could expect a response such as this. In fact, I knew it would come to this when you first posted it. I was hoping that our friends here wouldn't let it go there.

I think that it's a commentary on racial progress that you can't even talk about race without being labeled a racist. The fact is, race does play a part in the posted scenario. Trying to say it doesn't and then labeling the op as a racist is a bunch of bull.

Chuck D says the same thing Phait is saying, is he a racist? He's black and damn proud of it, but he abhors the thug culture. He says it right in his lyrics. He also says a whole lot of things that would surely get him classified as a racist, if you are familiar with PE's lyrics. Lots of black people have serious issues with certain aspects of black culture. Are they racists? Sure, they happen to be a particular race.

I think they are just able to be open and honest about his feelings regarding race instead of buying into the sort of thing that trashed this thread.

Damn people, for so-called tolerant views, I'm not seeing it.

I've got a thing for quality gangster raps, but only if it's real and not this manufactured "thug life" that these trendy wanna-bes latch onto. And yeah, it doesn't really matter what color they were in one sense, some white "wiggers" would have looked equally or more stupid.

But, on the other hand it means everything. What is this whole thing a product of? Economic oppression of minorities...that eventually manifests as chaos. The entire gang culture is economics. No race needed. Who's got the money? And look at the neighborhoods that spawned the gang culture...the most economically depressed areas in the country.

These people are just trying to survive. Streets are the battlefield. People just do what they have to to survive.

Then the scum media goes and exploits the whole tragedy, and then we see the masses hop on another cultural bandwagon.

So, the entire human race is overall unfit to exist in any civilized manner and one hopes we can just get our {censored} together and stop killing each other. Black killing blacks, nations killing innocent children, and killing any semblance of actual culture.

But, it does have everything to do with race in the bigger picture. The persistent economic oppression of minorities is the number one cause of gang culture.

It isn't even one race oppressing another, it's the government oppressing the poor man and making us blame each other. The common man is a slave, regardless of who your masters tell you to blame.

And it's a real pisser that I have to work so hard at typing this response because of the wall of stigma built around this subject.

It's like trying to criticize certain aspects of foreign policy...watch what you say or they'll call you a radical...or the worst label of all...bet you can't guess which that one is?

On a lighter note, if he would have stated that they were whites guy everybody would have laughed and I doubt would have called you a racist...

[the stranger]

Ironically this is an indication of how far we've really come. Used to be the term 'racist' was reserved for KKK types and white supremacists. Now, even discussing race is 'racist.' The definition of 'racist' has been changed to mean any offense whatsoever taken by the offended, real or imagined. The charge of racism is the new weapon of PC McCarthyites to stifle discussion or deflect criticism of anything people of color may do. This is why I don't think we'll ever get beyond racism in my lifetime-it can't be discussed openly and honestly. Being called a racist is almost as bad as being called a child molester.

 

Thanks for stating what I tried to above this post...

 

And make it quote of the year. Don't forget anti-semitic in there. You can molest kids and hold all sorts of offices and positions of power in this country, but pull a Mel Gibson and we shut you down...makes me wonder if that Passion flick got his ass in trouble.

 

So, now you people can call me an jew hater and all that stuff because I don't understand the religious aspects of foreign policy. Why call Phait a racist when you can accuse me of hating Israel and the Jewish people, hot dogs and american pie, and whatever else makes you fell better. Whatever makes you fell like you got your PC wad off.

[the stranger]

This will be an incredible generalization (and not at all meant to be racist or prejudiced), but it seems to me that sometimes when two black people get together, all of a sudden they are "them" and we are "not them," no matter who we were beforehand. Native Americans from my tribe and others do the same thing. It's kind of an "ah, you're one of us" sort of thing. Some women do a similar thing if there are more women and few men around. I think people sometimes unconsiously do it and others very specifically go out of their way to do it.

 

 

Economic oppression increases tribalism.

[the stranger]

Gangs have got to be the stupidest {censored} grown men engage in. Like watching 5 year olds do whatever they want.

Perhaps they don't have a choice. (I'm talking about people in adverse economic situations that necessitate drastic survival mechanisms, not trendy jokers at Perkins. )

And I can think of a whole world of things that are stupider. Survival, which is the roots of actual gang culture, is not really stupid is it?

The US gov is the biggest gang of all. Just look at DC for an example. Your government is organized crime, but gangs are stupid? Perhaps they are just emulating our leaders?

[UstadKhanAli]

Gangs are stupid. And they are also about survival. And they are about belonging to something. It's all of the above and more, not exactly a simple thing to try and break down into a sentence or two.

[UstadKhanAli]

 

 

Did this sort of thing occur before then, or is this more of a recent phenomenon? If so, why do you think that is?

[UstadKhanAli]

Hey! I have black friends!!! Mexican and Asian too! I'm all rainbow 'n {censored}. Gays? Them too. Totally rainbow I am.

I wanted to come clean and let you know that some of my best friends are white. Totally rainbow I am.

[Phait]

Did this sort of thing occur before then, or is this more of a recent phenomenon? If so, why do you think that is?

 

 

I'm sure it's happened before, but nothing that I witnessed and I cannot imagine the potential frequency was high prior to then either. I'm basing this moreso on the 'hood types I see more often than I have in recent years. Others will attest that many have came up from Chicago and Milwaukee, and how Appleton (city here) is growing... hell apparently we have a bit of a drug/meth problem. I wasn't aware of this, read it a few years ago in a local indie paper.

 

I can say, while my city for the most part resembles what I grew up familiar with, I see it changing too.

[BlueStrat]

 

I'm sure it's happened before, but nothing that I witnessed and I cannot imagine the potential frequency was high prior to then either. I'm basing this moreso on the 'hood types I see more often than I have in recent years. Others will attest that many have came up from Chicago and Milwaukee, and how Appleton (city here) is growing... hell apparently we have a bit of a drug/meth problem. I wasn't aware of this, read it a few years ago in a local indie paper. I can say, while my city for the most part resembles what I grew up familiar with, I see it changing too.

 

 

I don't know a single town that doesn't have a meth problem. That {censored} is everywhere.

[Lee Knight]

I wanted to come clean and let you know that some of my best friends are white. Totally rainbow I am.

Mine too!!! This is one big happy frickin' world this is!!

[BlueStrat]

[the stranger]

Gangs are stupid. And they are also about survival. And they are about belonging to something. It's all of the above and more, not exactly a simple thing to try and break down into a sentence or two.

Yeah. But, gangs are cool.