America's Second Civil War

Clearly.

you do realize that a lot of this progress involves folks coming there who were not cooked in the fever swamp of southern racism all their life coming INTO Georgia from elsewhere though - right?

Not to say that there's not racism elsewhere (oh hell naw) but if you're going to say "look at Georgia! proves racism is no longer a thing in the South!"....

yeah, that's bullshit.


(also, gonna be pretty hilarious when all these new Georgians flip the state blue and conservatives have to turn around and start bitching how they ruined your state)

honestly, IF such an internal insurgency occurs (might, might be another false alarm) It'll be a race war. The beginnings of which will look a lot like the bloody summer of 1919 - but with a helluva lot larger backlash.

Dirty little secret: the more/less government debate has only ever REALLY been a concern for the very well off elites. Buckley and his heirs learned how to use that propaganda to seduce disaffected segregationists but the only extent to which the rabble REALLY cares about "more government bad" is when the government gets in the way of their bigotry. All the rest is tribalism.

[Obligatory "not all" disclaimer]

Yeah...No.

That's propaganda bullshit that you should be too smart to believe. The gun thing, yeah sure. But the left is NO WAY any more of a threat to freedom of speech than the right, likely less. and "Freedom of religion" in the current debate only means "freedom to force everyone to comply with my evangelical doctrines"

Pop quiz: which side is in an abject panic about the possibility that people might freely practice Islam in this country?
It ain't the left.

That is what you would associate with the term. However, that is not what I would put on the term. His racism is a good reason to put him in that category. Most white trash is not "lazy" as they spend a lot of effort in ways they want to. As for irresponsible you do realize he is one of the people who spreads bad info about black people and then claims he was just repeating the news. How is that responsible? You find him continually supporting guntardism, making excuses for racists, and generally promoting the problematic side of the right wing. So yeah, white trash.

Oh, and please do not do me any favors like defending me if the purpose is to get me to be more quiet about racist right wing trashy behavior. I could have told you I don't need the help, and I don't care to make the concession anymore. When you overlook racism and white trash bullshit it does not improve or go away. It just festers and gets worse. So I am done with not giving it the consequences it deserves for being a bane on society. We tried that here in america and we got trump for our efforts.

Kinda rich coming from a guy who lives in a state which has an area that's sometimes referred to as "the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex."

It's not "the purpose" of anything, I just don't see oldfella as being deliberately harmful and is very much open to persuasion when he isn't on the defensive.

I've no desire to squabble with you over this, I just feel at times there's a case for being willing to engage positively with people who aren't completely entrenched.

Is Your Rascal Scooter Fully Charged In Preparation For A Second Civil War?

I do understand, he is a shaky platform to argue from. It is the same problem I ran into for a long time while trying to make excuses for racist trash. It is why I don't do it much anymore. The older they are the less they grow. Actually, it seems the older they are the more they dig into their hatreds.

I do get that and there are people I would give a lot less goodwill to than oldfella in that regard. I just don't see any point in exacerbating that intransigence by alienating those who show signs of being willing to engage in good faith, which he on many occasions has.

I am not really sure what you are expecting to happen either way. Is there some sort of value that I am missing by alienating people around here? It is not like any of the relationships I have around here rise to a level much beyond acquaintance, or ever will. There are groups I am online with which have such opportunities, but this one does not seem to be such a one over all, or better I should say not for me personally as it may be different for others. In all seriousness the cashier at the local publix has a bit more influence on my life than people here will or are willing to.

Maybe you get something a bit more out of things than I do, but I get plenty of reminders around here of why looking further than a diversion from more personal areas of life tends to not be something I would consider too healthy around here.

explain how I'm "triggered" please. Because I disagree with your political leanings? Because I may express opinions that differ from yours?

Ok.

I didn't nick name it "Chicagoland" and a lot of the towns have been there before strip malls were even a thing. I don't know where Delmarva is or it's history.

so I'm catching up on this thread - Tererun called me "white trash?" I better get on Amazon - that broke my irony meter!
Let's see if I measure up.....

1) squeaky clean police record? Check
2) held respectable jobs for my entire working life? Check
3) no meth, crack, opioids, or any other controlled substance abuse? Check
4) keeps "inside" furniture in the house not on the porch/carport? Check
5) never laid a violent hand on a woman? Check

I'm sure there are other indicators but by these commonly accepted basic points I fail miserably at being white trash

Don't underestimate yourself. You are quite the throwaway.

To be honest I fail at least one of those.

So being that is the case why don't you remind me again why I should be offering up goodwill to a man who continues to embrace his racism with no steps forward or even regard for it existing? Why would I expect any of that to change? You say @oldfella1962 is capable of change and maybe not being so racist, but does he actually change his ways? If he is capable of doing so and yet doesn't what does that say about his character? Being that is his character why would I even want to try any harder to interact with him on a deeper level? I am willing to visit almost anyone if I am in the area, but why would I leave the friends I have to go see him? Or let us say I am not doing anything meaningful at all. Why would I go to meet a rather racist old dude who likes his racism if there were other options like meeting some random person I don't know yet who might not be such a POS?

I am just thinking things through to their conclusions.

Oh, and how is that defense going because OK isn't really defending against anything I have said.

"Ok" is me choosing not to engage further as I have no desire to fight with you, I'm finding the fact we can't find middle ground here a little gutting to be honest but I can't change that we see things differently.

I've noted oldfella on many occasions be willing to consider alternative viewpoints but clearly your experience is different and it's not for me to tell you what to think or do. I just don't see him as being someone who deals much in anger, malice or hate, merely someone who's a little stuck in his ways and responds better to persuasion than insults. To my mind the difference is important, but that's just me.

I am just enjoying playing off of you as @oldfella1962 has taken to bragging about how great he is in some pretty run of the mill ways. OMG he is so not really noteworthy in any aspect at all. Even his racism is just plain old racism. If he didn't hsve the old thing going for him he would be @Forbin .

I wasn't the one who brought my name up in a wholly separate thread. You did that. Clearly, I was on your mind when you did it.

I have challenged Tererun on many occasions to offer one shred...one sliver....of actual (untampered with) evidence in which I claim that any one race is superior over another or should get special treatment or consideration over any other race. That challenge has gone unanswered to this day.

I will not kiss another race's ass - nor should they kiss mine. Every member of every race should be called on their bullshit when warranted, full stop.
I don't play the white male self-loathing game. If they happen to be black, Asian, white, whatever too fucking bad. We all have to be something and we are....humans/homo sapiens with a little Neanderthal/Denisovan thrown in for us whites and Asians just to add some variety.

If facts, statistics and situations that may not put certain races in a favorable light offend you, don't shoot the messenger over it. These are not examples of racism, but certainly are "trigger points" for some people. If you want to be triggered, have at it, it's a free country. I am not obligated to appease anybody, and vice versa.

That’s a hellscape, too.

As the song says, “I don’t live in Dallas, I live in Texas.”

I'd make the case that what we call "race" is far from being made up of the discrete categories that we make it out to be. As humans we have a tendency to put things in boxes and if there isn't a neat fit we just....pretend there is.

Geographically skin colour and racial traits vary on quite gentle gradients, they aren't tied to specific countries, cultures or religions. There's no clear line on the globe where black stops and white begins, rather the further north you go the paler the "native" skin tone.

Think of it this way, if you take someone from Norway they'll obviously look very different to someone from Kenya, which makes it easy to see a black/white distinction.

But if you look at someone whose genes come from the northern end of Norway they'll tend to look subtly paler to someone from the south, who in turn will look subtly paler than someone from northern France and so on down through the Mediterranean. Nowhere do you find a point at which white suddenly becomes black, rather as you head towards the equator each group look slightly darker than their immediate northern neighbours, it's only when you put the extremes next to each other that there seems to be a clear divide.

As for statistics which present one "race" in a negative light compared to another I do believe that by and large that tends to be the result of other, broader, factors. For instance crime tends to be highest in areas with dramatic contrast in socioeconomic status, where some people attempt to bridge divides by illegal means when legal ones are stacked against them. Where there are such sharp disparities history has left us with a clear legacy of "white" people having greater power than their peers. That wasn't always the case, the Egyptian and Romans dynasties saw much the opposite pattern, but in the modern world we do tend to have advantages come more easily to us.

In other words black people tend to be the poorer, less advantaged group and thus appear to be more prone to criminality if you don't look below the surface and realise that comparative poverty underlies and better explains the patterns. In the same disadvantaged position white people are also more prone to criminality than their more well off or powerful peers.

I fail three of them.

Seriously? Which side is it that needs "safe spaces" on college campuses so the poor widdle children won't hear ideas they might dislike? Which side is it that continually adds perfectly good words to the naughty list? Which side is it that has striven to remove all traces of christianity from public discourse? Which side is it that hounds conservative voices out of Hollywood? Which side invented "political correctness"? The ideological left is all about controlling the narrative such that competing ideas get no mention.

Goddam, you're an idiot.

For the umpteenth time, I vote based on the candidates' platform and record (if any), not what letter is next to their name. For ballot measures I consider the proposal and its likely impact. I am not Republican, nor am I Democrat. I'm registered independent, tho I lean libertarian.

The sixteenth and seventeenth amendments leap to mind.