ProfD

@Pioneer1, your questions and opinions may get challenged but remain valid and relevant nonetheless especially to this discussion forum.

From the time we're born, we collect a lot of data and eperiences. Over time, we can make reasonable inferences from that information stored in our database=brain.

Even if a hammer never hit our hand, we would assume that it would be painful based on the experience of another object (size, weight, force, etc.) hitting our hand and causing pain. 

Despite the stupid and ridiculous things we sometimes do and say, the human brain can be a very sophisticated computer. 

On 9/3/2022 at 4:29 PM, daniellegfny said:

If we want peace in that region we need to normalize relations with North Korea and open up economic opportunities. The North Korean people are suffering from the horrors of deprivation. We need to help them find peace and prosperity.

North Korea isn't interested in being imperialized. Otherwise, a country with a population of nearly 26 million people would overthrow its dictator, Lil Kim with the bad haircut.

Once Lil Kim is out of the way, North Korea  could either align themselves with South Korea or allow the US to set up their government, er, show them how to conduct free and fair elections and build a democracy. 

Otherwise, I'm not convinced that the majority of North Koreans want to be rescued from living a deprived life under their dictator.

@Pioneer1, I didn't type that Section 8 was a great idea. 

To disperse or desegregate the poor is a way to enrich the greedy and keep confusion among the masses. 

IMO, welfare doesn't encourage people to stay in poverty. It's a convenience that is attractive to folks who are naturally insolent.

I know many people who grew up on welfare and in poverty and successfully got out of it. Takes a strong will and desire to overcome the obstacles. 

While I can agree that the projects should not have been torn down, I also understand the thought process behind it and expanding Section 8 to desegregate the poor.

There's ZERO real reason for homelessness in America. No shortage of housing inventory. 

Poverty maintenance and criminalizing folks is an unfortunate by-product of hyper-capitalism. Greed forces people to make money by any means necessary. 

1 hour ago, Cynique said:

Why does "trash" sell? Could it be that "one man's trash is another one's treasure", and that there is no accounting for taste? 

Absolutely. Trash and treasure have been interchangeable for a long time especially as it relates to art.

Many folks considered Rap music and Hip-Hop garbage. Yet, the music has generated billions of dollars and created a bunch of millionaires. 

Beauty and trash are ultimately in the eyes and ears of the beholder. Then, there's the folks who control the purse strings. 

2 hours ago, Cynique said:

@ProfD What is it about this ongoing situation that perpetuates your eternal optimism?

As long as we exist as human beings and have the mental capacity, I believe humanity can do a better job of taking care of each other and life in general. 

18 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

Define or describe?

Valid question.

Human beings have come up with definitions from a combination of shared and/or similar experiences. 

But, we also have the capacity to describe things we haven't experienced directly by collecting information.

Artificial intelligence is good example of how scientists are trying to bring it all together.

On 9/1/2022 at 9:36 AM, Michel Montvert said:

Some of us (whites) see through the game. Most do not.

Therein lies the stalemate. It's like any other fight, cause or bad accident. Folks are just glad it isn't their problem. 

As long as people do not see a problem, there's nothing to solve and/or fix in their eyes. Most often it has to punch them squarely in the face.

3 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

A lot of Black "Conservatives" are simply confused.

Agreed.  But as you already know by now, I believe Black folks have been bamboozled by spineless and weak Democats too. 

Our current political parties are two sides of the same coin. The maintenance of racism white supremacy by any means necessary is their main objective. 

1 hour ago, Cynique said:

The human mind is a wonderous, versatile thing. I would never place any limits on what it has the capacity to do...

Pardon me for butting into the conversation but I had to quote this for truth.

The human mind is extremely complex and capable as evidenced by our extraordinary accomplishments and failures.

It's the capacity and capability of the human mind that inspires my eternal optimism as it relates to human beings doing a better job of making the world a better place by taking care of each other.

So far, humanity is failing on several levels but there's always hope for the future. 

Back to your regularly scheduled program...

2 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

I expect to hear some push back from @ProfD over my comment.....lol...but an observation is an observation.
 

On cue and as expected, while I do not disagree with your sentiment, there's no shortage of AfroAmerican talent.

You'll find a whole lot of AfroAmerican talent in black churches, performing arts schools, colleges and universities all over this country.

Unfortunately, you will not find the best of AfroAmerican talent on the radio or music videos. Those outlets are designed to sell the McDonald's equivalent of music. 

There's a reason Jazz lost it's popularity. Not because it's unsophisticated music. To the contrary, one has to be talented in order to play Jazz at a high level.

The reality is Jazz doesn't sell well. Any type of music or art in general that requires the listener to pay attention is usually an acquired taste. 

OTOH, simpler  art is easier to consume whether it's music, movies, plays, paintings, etc. 

Commercial music has been dumbed down for many years. But, that doesn't negate the fact that plenty higher quality music is still being composed, written and produced. You just have to look harder for it. 

As long as AfroAmericans rely on White folks to finance, market and promote their music, rest assured they're going to invest in the trash that sells and makes the most money. 

Prerequisite of being a politician is having the ability to speak with a forked tongue when necessary. 

However, POTUS PJB should not be accused of speaking out of both sides of his face this  time.

There's a clear and present danger being stirred up on the Right. POTUS should do whatever it takes to tamp down and/or extinguish it. 

4 minutes ago, Michel Montvert said:

Perhaps from outside the "white" group it seems that we are all one big family but that is NOT the case. Ethnicity can be far more powerful than "race". 

 

You cannot say that Belgium is homogenous. It is not. Flemish and Walloons are NOT the same people. Any more than Irish and Scots-Irish in Ulster. Or Serbs and Bosnians.

 

Did the Hutu stop to think, "Wait, these Tutsis are BLACK like us", before killing them with machetes? No. Ethnicity is what mattered. not color.

 

Demosocialism works anywhere. There is no reason the ethnic configuration of a country matters. Where there is RACISM, nothing functions well. Racism is a poison which contorts everything. But even in countries like Spain with multiple languages and ethnic groups, demosocialism works just fine.

 

We need to improve the system in the USA. Demosocialism is the only way. We cannot give up on it because, oh well, we've got too many ethnic groups! That's just laying down for the racist white-rights.

Belgium and Ireland are homogenous in terms of race.  

As I mentioned above, infighting within a race has been happening since the beginning of humanity.  Ethnic cleansing and other dust ups similar to the current *war* between Russian and Ukraine is an example.

The Hutus and Tutsis had their differences but they didn't come to major blows until the colonists (Germans and Belgians) instigated it.  Interesting how Europeans have always traveled around the globe starting sh8t. 

Racism white supremacy is definitely the poison that keeps the world out of balance.  Peace and harmony and demosocialism cannot thrive where racism rules the roost. 

While a demosocialist nation may not be 100% homogenous, the minorities know their place.  As a result, those countries do not have to deal with racism as it is practiced in the United States. 

36 minutes ago, Michel Montvert said:

Belgium has 2 large ethnic groups (Flemish and Walloons) who pretty much hate each other. 

Case in point.  The overwhelming majority of the population is White. Just like within families, infighting among the same groups of people happens everywhere.

Australia has an interesting history.  The Europeans jacked the whole d8mn country from the indigenous people and relegated them to 2nd class citizens. White folks have been running the country for over 400 years.   Then, there was the Stolen Generation where they took mixed race kids from their parents and raised them in orphanages.  Since 1998, the Australians have been celebrating National Sorry Day for their mistreatment of indigenous people.

Demosocialism definitely works in countries where over 90% of the population is homogenous and the majority rule it. 

10 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

I'm not sure if I even WANT a society like this.

 

First of all, I'm not sure I want everything to be "equal"...

 

Rather than "equal" I think the word we're looking for is FAIR.

I like the term @Michel Montvert uses...Demosocialist. 

It seems to work in Nordic countries. But, it also ties back to a homogeneous society. 

Capitalism and socialism can peacefully coexist.

There will always be people who are more industrious and driven than others. They deserve to make as much money as they can generate.

OTOH, there will always be people who need help in one way or another. 

Unfortunately, American capitalism was built on  it's original sin and it has has been corrupted by greed.

Then, the United States isn't homogenous either. A lot of moving parts in this country. 

On 8/30/2022 at 11:28 AM, Michel Montvert said:

Welfare in the USA is poverty maintenance. It does not provide what a person needs to get a job while also raising a child.

When welfare was established back in the 1930s, it wasn't intended for poverty maintenance.

Initially, welfare provided assistance to widows and working class folks to ease the burden of providing for their families.

Welfare didn't become a way of life or poverty maintenance until the 1960s. Another by-product of that watershed time period. 

Fewer job training programs and shipping jobs overseas insured that under-educated and unskilled people would have a harder time finding work. This reality also insures despair, poverty, crime and addiction. A powder keg of negative forces.

There's a reason a college education is so expensive and folks are pushing back against free community colleges and trade/technical schools.

Colleges and universities have become big business. They pay tenured  professors a hefty salary. They pay football coaches millions of dollars. 

The American job market caters to certain people. There's a finite number of slots.

Meanwhile, welfare has gone from a hand up to someone working for a better life to an ankle weight especially for those who either don't want more and/or who don't feel like doing better. 

3 hours ago, Michel Montvert said:

If they split the stats for "whites" by socioeconomic level, they would find that the poorer strata have a LOT in common with oppressed non-white groups.

 

Of course, as always, my opinion is that we ought to all unite around all of this injustice. Many fingers, one fist, and all that... but I'm a naive idealist, apparently.

I wonder why White folks aren't complaining about their socioeconomic conditions instead of trying to overturn elections and worrying non-white folks stealing their stolen country.

The system is designed to keep the poor, disenfranchised and marginalized separate. If all of these folks realized they shared similar interests and struggles and united, they could be a major force.

Instead, the majority of poor and/or  disenfranchised White people will gladly accept their station in life because they're still better off than non-whites.

A homeless white person  could clean up tonight and have a job, food, clothing and shelter in less than 72 hours. 

There was a video around here a couple months ago showing what it meant to be White in America.

One unemployed White couple got a $100k line of credit. They told the bank about their situation and inability to pay the bill. Didn't matter to the bank. They were good for it.

Meanwhile, a credit score of less than 750, an outstanding student loan and one jaywalking ticket will keep a Black couple bringing in $250k per year from being able to buy a condo because a bank won't give them a mortgage. 

Otherwise, I think it would be awesome if people united and started a movement to truly make America great...for the first time.

The 1960s was a watershed moment that forced the United States to deal with its disenfranchised folks. 

Civil rights for AfroAmericans.  Equal rights for White women.  Calm down rebellious White folks (sex, drugs and rock & roll, antiwar protestors, etc.).

The strongest AfroAmerican voices were assassinated.  We haven't had a voice like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in over 50 years now. 

Voting rights and affirmative action were supposed to be some kind of panacea providing AfroAmericans with equal representation politically and quotas in the education and job markets.

During the 1970s, AfroAmerican communities were flooded with heroin.  Meanwhile, many of those former hippies only had to cut their hair and put on casual clothes and they were absorbed into affordable higher education and well paying jobs.

During the 1980s, POTUS Ronald Reagan created opportunities that provided White folks with a windfall of cash.  AfroAmerican communities were flooded with more drugs in the form of crack cocaine. 

During the 1990s, POTUS Bill Clinton stamped mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines for drug offenses disproportionately affecting AfroAmericans.  The prison industrial complex sprawled into big business. 

America definitely looks different than it did back in the 1960s.  The middle class of America has been expanded and anesthetized with gross consumerism.  Yet, racism and socioeconomic problems remain unchanged. 

Now, Americans are being pitted against each other....Folks on the Right feel their sense of entitlement is being infringed upon.  Folks on the Left believe a few  handouts and  benign neglect will make the real problems disappear. 

Overall, under the system of racism white supremacy, it's just a different generation of folks executing the same old plays. The promissory note of Dr. King's dream is still a bad check for many folks.

On 8/27/2022 at 7:44 AM, Chevdove said:

It seems like America and many other countries have turned back and are now racing for Africa.

But it seems like Africa has endured this racing and competition for control over it before though.

Africa has always been rich from human capital (slave trade) to natural resources including diamonds, gold, oil, natural gas, uranium, platinum, copper, cobalt, iron, bauxite and cocoa beans just to name a few things.

As a result, other countries waltz into and out of Africa taking whatever they want and leaving the African people with proverbial crumbs.  Sure, a handful of Africans become wealthy in the process but overall, the entire continent of Africa has been carved up by outsiders.  

Unfortunately, for a thousand years and counting, Africans haven't been overly interested in closing its borders to foreigners.

20 hours ago, Chevdove said:

I think that being in a multi-cultural environment has its' benefits when I hear about these stories. 

I hope that by the people in China shining the light on this situation will help.

I feel that when a culture or government allows this sort of horror to go improperly punished, then eventually the whole world will be affected. 

As I wrote in another thread, living in the melting pot (multicultural)  that is the Unites States is a blessing and a curse. 

The US offers *freedoms* and access to opportunities that may not exist in other countries. But, the US still has its warts.

Homogenous countries like China have operated the same way for thousands of years.  The people living in those countries already know the deal from the time they were born. 

While millions of Chinese people have left to seek better lives in other countries around the world, the population of China hasn't dipped below 1 billion people.

23 hours ago, Cynique said:

I am amazed at how biblical interpreters read the mind of a god they've never seen nor heard. And how much credence they give to what has been revised,  edited, omitted, manipulated and incorrectly translated. 

 

I, of course, speak as a person of little faith.

@Cynique, in that thought process we are conjoined my sista. 

I'm not absent from these discussions due to ignorance or as an agnostic. 

I know religion is a deeper rabbit hole than politics. 

Telling kids there is no Santa Claus is relatively easy and/or they grow out it. 

But, when it comes to the sky fairy and questioning folks about their faith...some are ready to cut and shoot for their beliefs. 

15 hours ago, daniellegfny said:

We need to create support systems for mothers or fathers who wind up as single parents.

It already exists...here in America we call it welfare.

While welfare provides for basic needs, it does not replace or repair a broken home.

As mentioned in another thread, there are countries on the planet that are pretty much utopian. 

Those countries have something in common...homogenous.  While there may be minorities living there, they know the deal.  

IMO, the United States as a melting pot is a blessing and a curse because it has failed to deal with its original sin.

Despite its flaws, millions of people thrived and survived in the imperfect union that is the United States.  It's not impossible.  But, there's no reason for it to be hard either. 

Unfortunately, the system of racism white supremacy and human greed makes life in the United States less utopian.

The amount of money the US prints, er, spends on defense and aborted space missions and other irrelevant sh8t could improve life for millions of people. 

18 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

...most of those nations mentioned above are for the most part homogeneous.

Bingo.  That's precisely why socialism and capitalism work so well together in other *developed* countries. 

The melting pot that is the United States is far more complex in its approach to all -isms (racism, socialism, capitalism).

IMO, there's no baby genocide among Black folks.

In fact, many Black women keep babies they cannot afford fo raise financially. There's a connection to poverty as well. 

Black women do not routinely use abortion as a form of birth control.