My sure-to-be-unpopular opinion/rant...

[Mrs Mungo]

I really don't know what you want me to explain.

How does the later post that I linked relate to your original complaint?

[Slartibartfast]

When I was in school- we had all this going on. We had gangs, kids who did drugs, kids who disrespected, a kidnapping at my school by other kids, etc. It happened. Now I know I went to school when the dinosaurs roamed the earth according to DS but none of the things you listed are new problems.

 

 

One of my classmates went missing from the parking lot of my high school my Senior year. They never found her. We went to school in a nice area. It is still one of the top schools in the state.

[Joanne]

I am not remotely surprised that you disagree with me.

 

I am responding to the content of the thread and the ideas - not to *you*.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

 

 

Maybe I didn't live in the real world, but whatever it was, it seemed a lot better than what it is now.

 

That's the point.  If what you said is all true, you did grow up in a community that was very different than the average.  Expecting the country to return to a world that never existed for the vast majority will leave you disappointed.

[Mrs Mungo]

I think people have to worry about saying whatever is considered "politically incorrect" at the moment. Soon people will be afraid to say anything that goes against the norm. I think we're getting closer and closer to that point, and it will work against most of us eventually.

I think people are using "politically incorrect" to mean "bigoted." I do think we are moving toward bigotry not being tolerated. I think that is a good thing. People have *long* put their very lives on the line to fight bigotry. Speech that is against the norm has *always* held repercussions. There are two major differences NOW: 1) intolerance of bigotry is the norm instead of bigotry being the norm and 2) the repercussions are more along the lines of hurting your own business instead of someone *literally* hanging you because of the color of your skin.

[StaceyinLA]

How does the later post that I linked relate to your original complaint?

 

Well, my original complaint was that in general it seems like any unpopular, and yes sometimes offensive, opinion stirs people up, and that sometimes we just need to move on. In truth, it wasn't because I defended the basketball guy or anything like that - just that I think sometimes people hold opinions or beliefs that are offensive to others, and that I don't think we will ever really change that 100%. 

 

My latter post, wishing for a time when *I* felt like things were better, was just that - wishing for a time that *I* remember things seeming better, safer, etc. It is NOT because it was a time I remember people being racist and getting away with it, or being gay but having to pretend they weren't, or anything other than just looking back thinking people seemed kinder, more family oriented, more patriotic, stronger morally.

 

​Was it in my own mind? Maybe. Was it just in my life or my little corner of the globe? Perhaps. But that is all there is to the two posts. No ulterior motive. No evil intent. Just wishful thinking.

[Mrs Mungo]

Well, my original complaint was that in general it seems like any unpopular, and yes sometimes offensive, opinion stirs people up, and that sometimes we just need to move on. In truth, it wasn't because I defended the basketball guy or anything like that - just that I think sometimes people hold opinions or beliefs that are offensive to others, and that I don't think we will ever really change that 100%.

Are there times when it isn't worth fighting? Sure, I think that is true. Do I think it's true for someone as financially powerful and as public a figure as Donald Sterling? No.

 

 

My latter post, wishing for a time when *I* felt like things were better, was just that - wishing for a time that *I* remember things seeming better, safer, etc. It is NOT because it was a time I remember people being racist and getting away with it, or being gay but having to pretend they weren't, or anything other than just looking back thinking people seemed kinder, more family oriented, more patriotic, stronger morally.

 

​Was it in my own mind? Maybe. Was it just in my life or my little corner of the globe? Perhaps. But that is all there is to the two posts. No ulterior motive. No evil intent. Just wishful thinking.

The people in my circles now are generally kind, patriotic, moral, etc. It might look different than what you remember, but I think these things are still generally true. I think the bad elements of society whether that's sociopathic behavior on the part of a minuscule number of people or societal-approved-bigotry have always existed and will always exist. I don't agree that we therefore should ignore those negative elements.

[Lisbeth]

I only read to page 2, so I'm sorry if I am repeating someone else's point.  There is a double standard.  It is a double standard when the mainstream media pounces on one person's comments, and plays it over, and over, and over, as a news story, for days.  It is a double standard when they IGNORE when other people make similar or worse comments, because they are in a protected minority.  It is a double standard when the justice department and president will jump into the fray over one racial beating or killing, but will remain silent in another (races reversed.)  You can absolutely be RUINED (witch hunt) by the media, activists, etc.  Yet, other groups can say or do racist things, and there is silence.

 

It is a double standard when the news media makes it a policy to NOT mention the race of perpetrators UNLESS it is someone in the racial majority. 

That is not.ok. 

 

I think when such double standards are exhibited by those in power (media, government), the person who is pounced on in an uneven way, should be able to sue for harassment, especially when it can be proven through stats of news stories vs. crimes, or slander, that one racial group is being targeted for reporting more than others. 

 

Edited to add:  the same should be the case for people in certain religious groups vs, others, one sex over another, one sexual orientation over another, or etc.  Race is just one example.

 

 

 

[plumshadow]

That's the point.  If what you said is all true, you did grow up in a community that was very different than the average.  Expecting the country to return to a world that never existed for the vast majority will leave you disappointed.

 

Exactly. Maybe it's my growing up in the real world along with those closest to me  that make it hard to relate to the distant but not too distant utopia.  Nor am I coming from the down and hard trodden life of the oppressed. Being biracial the man I love more than life itself who showed me how I was to be treated in this world is white. Him and his culture is also ingrained deeply into who I am but I still lived with my eyes wide open and keep wondering when this magic time that also includes  only one lynch mob and no acts of abuse. I guess there would be no whining in that space and time. 

[StaceyinLA]

<<If by Christian, you mean Jesus-inspired, I think inclusiveness, love, tolerance, and equality are Christian principles. Not that the Founding Fathers used Christian principles; they were mixed in their spirituality. I don't see Jesus principles involved in the hate being "protected" by the anti-PC rhetoric.<<

 

Joanne, I do agree with you for the most part here. I struggle with the fine line between what I feel is the proper Christian tolerance (i.e. WWJD), versus where I believe a moral line should be drawn. It's a struggle for sure. I certainly believe we are to show love and tolerance to all people, but I do NOT believe that means we must agree with and approve of all things people do.

 

I will say this - I have thought a lot more about these things, and considered a lot more because of this forum, and the people on it who truly have challenged me in my way of thinking.

 

A couple of years ago, I was staunchly against gay marriage. Though I still cannot say I support it, I know that the Christ-like thing is to love everyone and treat everyone with respect. Even though I may never reach the point where I can get past believing that God's plan for marriage truly was for a man and woman to procreate, etc., I have certainly become more accepting of the fact that there are many who love the Lord, and feel his love for them, that are homosexuals. I realize that it is NOT my place to judge anyone's heart on the matter.

 

(And I will thank you all in advance to not criticize my position regarding what I believe is God's plan for marriage. I have been taken to task enough for one day. I am a work in progress. My faith is off limits.)

[StaceyinLA]

Are there times when it isn't worth fighting? Sure, I think that is true. Do I think it's true for someone as financially powerful and as public a figure as Donald Sterling? No.

 

 

The people in my circles now are generally kind, patriotic, moral, etc. It might look different than what you remember, but I think these things are still generally true. I think the bad elements of society whether that's sociopathic behavior on the part of a minuscule number of people or societal-approved-bigotry have always existed and will always exist. I don't agree that we therefore should ignore those negative elements.

 

And I can certainly understand that now that I have read the full extent of his comments. I certainly believe in his position, there are many who would be very personally offended. I have NO issue with him suffering the repercussions here.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

I only read to page 2, so I'm sorry if I am repeating someone else's point.  There is a double standard.  It is a double standard when the mainstream media pounces on one person's comments, and plays it over, and over, and over, as a news story, for days.  It is a double standard when they IGNORE when other people make similar or worse comments, because they are in a protected minority.  It is a double standard when the justice department and president will jump into the fray over one racial beating or killing, but will remain silent in another (races reversed.)  You can absolutely be RUINED (witch hunt) by the media, activists, etc.  Yet, other groups can say or do racist things, and there is silence.

 

It is a double standard when the news media makes it a policy to NOT mention the race of perpetrators UNLESS it is someone in the racial majority. 

That is not.ok. 

 

I think when such double standards are exhibited by those in power (media, government), the person who is pounced on in an uneven way, should be able to sue for harassment, especially when it can be proven through stats of news stories vs. crimes, or slander, that one racial group is being targeted for reporting more than others. 

 

Edited to add:  the same should be the case for people in certain religious groups vs, others, one sex over another, one sexual orientation over another, or etc.  Race is just one example.

 

Evidence of the first bolded?  Oh...wait. It doesn't exist.

 

Evidence of the second bolded? Oh...wait. It doesn't exist.

 

I am trying to weep for the white Christian males who are now being discriminated against and victimized...but wait...that just isn't happening.

[Lang Syne Boardie]

Why do people have pretty memories of suburban enclaves peopled only by the right sort? I mean, back in the good old days?

This is extraordinarily simple: Only one kind of folks lived there because the folks who lived there kept (or drove) all the other folks out.

They didn't just put up a fence keeping out the obviously unwelcome sorts. They also reacted when somebody previously approved found themselves on the wrong side of conventions, whether it was their fault or not. Keep that garden weeded! Keep up appearances!

Churches with no divorcees. Really? Because none of the people who get divorced were regular churchgoers with strong faith who would have liked to keep their faith community? Because nobody ever found themselves divorced against their will? Or is it because some churches made divorced persons feel so unwelcome that they decided to leave the church and moreover the town that was no longer home?

Lovely neighborhoods with lots of stay-at-home moms? That was history, but for a mighty long time now that particular convention has been spelled M-O-N-E-Y. The fact that times have changed financially has not dampened a mother's love, no matter how she utilizes the community to help her raise her precious children. I'm talking about daycares and public schools that are necessary, not optional but necessary, for the majority. That mother is no less a mother than the June Cleaver who was fiction.

Better teens in the past? Hmm. Maybe today we have a little less shipping off the ugly situations, with pregnant girls sent off to relatives in quiet shame or unruly boys installed in military academies. Our kids at risk tend to be all mixed in with our kids not at risk, for lots of reasons. I'm not sure about that theory, just wondering aloud, but I do know for a fact that my nearest inner city neighborhood (where my son happens to work at a fast food restaurant) has been exactly as bad as it is now for 60 years. Avoid being out in the dark and on everybody-knows-which streets and you'll probably survive. Get it wrong on the weekend and you mightn't. Yet here we all are. And my son, and his friends at work, are very fine young people with a future and a hope and they fix the tacos. Y'know? Realities of city life.

Having lived with one foot in that neighborhood and one foot in the nearby "nice" town I don't always prefer the nice town. In rougher areas the battles are out in the open. The Veneer Keepers scare me sometimes. Their kids can be just as full of devilment and destruction but nobody knows because they dress so fine and drive nice cars and have a college scholarship. But alcoholism, abortion, crimes of revenge, drug addiction -- there's a heap of trouble behind the brand names. At least in the rough part of town, if you are on a collision course to self-destruction it's soon obvious. Maybe quick enough for somebody to notice and help.

I'm with the others in this thread that come from families that would not have been approved in the good old days, if there were such a thing. Native Americans were not invited to that party. My German American ancestors (some yet living) had their upward mobility interrupted by their stint in an internment camp during the war. (Oddly, that was not in my high school history book but it happened.) They never quite got over that. Christian families, no divorce, stay at home moms, awesome kids, patriotic to the point that some of their kids were fighting in the US military while their parents were in camps...

appearances mean nothing. Personal integrity on an individual basis is ALL there is. Character comes one person at a time. There was no holy moment in history. This is not the worst its ever been. At least now we're all talking, and those of us who choose to opt out of isolating and rejecting others as a community may do so. We have every freedom to run away from bigoted gatekeepers of any kind, and our decision to do so is the only decision that matters in the race/class/religious/political wars.


 

[Amy in NH]

[snip]

 

My latter post, wishing for a time when *I* felt like things were better, was just that - wishing for a time that *I* remember things seeming better, safer, etc. It is NOT because it was a time I remember people being racist and getting away with it, or being gay but having to pretend they weren't, or anything other than just looking back thinking people seemed kinder, more family oriented, more patriotic, stronger morally.

 

​Was it in my own mind? Maybe. Was it just in my life or my little corner of the globe? Perhaps. But that is all there is to the two posts. No ulterior motive. No evil intent. Just wishful thinking.

 

Is it possible that you are longing for a time when the world felt safer because you were a young child and didn't understand all of the world's realities?  Perhaps you are longing for your infancy/youth?  (in earnest, not being derisive here)

[Mrs Mungo]

Lovely neighborhoods with lots of stay-at-home moms? That was history, but for a mighty long time now that particular convention has been spelled M-O-N-E-Y. The fact that times have changed financially has not dampened a mother's love, no matter how she utilizes the community to help her raise her precious children. I'm talking about daycares and public schools that are necessary, not optional but necessary, for the majority. That mother is no less a mother than the June Cleaver who was fiction.

To add to this: my great-grandmother was a welder in the California ship yards during WW2. So, does that make her a worse mom or better patriot? At some point trying to figure this stuff out can get really convoluted.

[StaceyinLA]

Evidence of the first bolded?  Oh...wait. It doesn't exist.

 

Evidence of the second bolded? Oh...wait. It doesn't exist.

 

I am trying to weep for the white Christian males who are now being discriminated against and victimized...but wait...that just isn't happening.

 

 

Actually, there are incidences of these things, and in the very recent past. I would have to look them up.

 

Sometimes there is a double standard in the mainstream media. I wonder sometimes if they don't do it to stir up trouble and make more news.

[SemiSweet]

I only read to page 2, so I'm sorry if I am repeating someone else's point. There is a double standard. It is a double standard when the mainstream media pounces on one person's comments, and plays it over, and over, and over, as a news story, for days. It is a double standard when they IGNORE when other people make similar or worse comments, because they are in a protected minority. It is a double standard when the justice department and president will jump into the fray over one racial beating or killing, but will remain silent in another (races reversed.) You can absolutely be RUINED (witch hunt) by the media, activists, etc. Yet, other groups can say or do racist things, and there is silence.

 

It is a double standard when the news media makes it a policy to NOT mention the race of perpetrators UNLESS it is someone in the racial majority.

That is not.ok.

 

I think when such double standards are exhibited by those in power (media, government), the person who is pounced on in an uneven way, should be able to sue for harassment, especially when it can be proven through stats of news stories vs. crimes, or slander, that one racial group is being targeted for reporting more than others.

 

Edited to add: the same should be the case for people in certain religious groups vs, others, one sex over another, one sexual orientation over another, or etc. Race is just one example.

I have been reading with lots of interest and my own opinions but I cannot not respond to this. There is a huge double standard, the one where the stand your ground law got a guy off for killing a black guy and in the same state got a black woman 20 years for shooting a ceiling. The one where a white guy got away with drunk driving and killing someone (I think) because he was suffering from affluenza. The one where a rich heir in the northeast was CONVICTED of r*ping his children and got nothing more than probation because "he wouldn't do well in the prison system". Those are double standards, those are real issues, things going on here and now. Look at the populations of prisons, there most certainly is a double standard. One in six black men will serve time and you can be darned sure but isn't because they are more likely to commit crimes. Every aspect of the system has been created to work against the minority population and when that starts changing it makes the people who are historically favored uncomfortable and they resort to the "days gone by" rhetoric which is code for, "I liked my privilege and I want to keep it!"

[Lang Syne Boardie]

My great-grandmother was a welder in the California ship yards during WW2. So, does that make her a worse mom or better patriot? At some point trying to figure this stuff out can get really convoluted.

Huh. That's a toughie.

 

 

Coin toss?

[StaceyinLA]

Is it possible that you are longing for a time when the world felt safer because you were a young child and didn't understand all of the world's realities?  Perhaps you are longing for your infancy/youth?  (in earnest, not being derisive here)

 

Well, I guess those days of feeling safe do seem awesome compared to today when I'm reminded of the double homicide of my neighbors 2 days ago at every turn. Life back then was infinitely more simple than the reality of knowing the depravity that can be out there.

 

Other than that, I don't really believe that's what I'm longing for (God knows that means I'd have to relive my teens, and who wants to go there).  ;-p

[elegantlion]

My grandmother was a stay a home parent. They lived in the country, 8 kids, dad working out of town most of the time. Raised everything on their own, no indoor plumbing. My mom had to figure out her own way to finish high school as they were 12 miles outside of town. Her parents didn't care and told her so. She had to move to town, get a job, and work full-time just to finish high school. She graduated in 1954, the height of those wonderful 50s. 

[ChocolateReignRemix]

Actually, there are incidences of these things, and in the very recent past. I would have to look them up.

 

Sometimes there is a double standard in the mainstream media. I wonder sometimes if they don't do it to stir up trouble and make more news.

 

There is no uniform policy (ie double standard) of not mentioning race if the perpetrators of a crime are members of a certain racial group.  In general, reporters do try to not mention race when it is not related to the story.

[Rosie_0801]

Oh honey. You sure did get led off course. Maybe you want to walk away from this one. I'm sure this is not what you were planning to do with your afternoon.

 

I'm sure she knew what she was getting into. I'm almost certain this isn't the first thread of this type she's started.

[idnib]

[Lady Florida.]

Kathy, your post brings to mind some recent thoughts that I have had.  It seems that many people of my generation are working overtime to badmouth "kids these days" as a former generation did about us.  And we did not turn out too badly! 

 

I don't know about everyone else but I know some fabulous young people (teens and twenty-somethings) who are doing some very cool things.  Sure, they are making different decisions than their parents made but there are some innovative minds out there.  I am so proud of my nieces, nephews, friends' kids, my son, his friends.  They are doing us proud!

 

 

I agree! I taught high school in the 80's and 90's and even back then people were saying teens were horrible. Most of the ones I knew were perfectly nice, normal people. They were teens and sometimes made poor choices, but they weren't going to ruin the world. The same is true for today's teens. 

[StaceyinLA]

I have been reading with lots of interest and my own opinions but I cannot not respond to this. There is a huge double standard, the one where the stand your ground law got a guy off for killing a black guy and in the same state got a black woman 20 years for shooting a ceiling. The one where a white guy got away with drunk driving and killing someone (I think) because he was suffering from affluenza. The one where a rich heir in the northeast was CONVICTED of r*ping his children and got nothing more than probation because "he wouldn't do well in the prison system". Those are double standards, those are real issues, things going on here and now. Look at the populations of prisons, there most certainly is a double standard. One in six black men will serve time and you can be darned sure but isn't because they are more likely to commit crimes. Every aspect of the system has been created to work against the minority population and when that starts changing it makes the people who are historically favored uncomfortable and they resort to the "days gone by" rhetoric which is code for, "I liked my privilege and I want to keep it!"

 

I'm not gonna argue the fact that there has been plenty of unfair treatment and prejudice, and it is inexcusable. However, it doesn't negate that there are underreported events of crimes committed by blacks against whites. Sometimes I think incites racism with the way they handle their reporting.

 

In Baton Rouge, where the crime rate has gotten extremely high over the years since Hurricane Katrina, the majority of felony crime is committed by blacks against other blacks. These aren't robberies and burglaries; these are murders. It isn't made up. It isn't a racist opinion. It is a statistical fact. It's a terrible, statistical fact.

 

I'll tell you this; NO ONE deserves to go unpunished for crimes against children. It DISGUSTS me to think of some rich a**hole who couldn't survive in a prison getting only probation. The fact that he couldn't survive prison is all the more reason to send him there. People who hurt children are the worst.

[StaceyinLA]

I'm sure she knew what she was getting into. I'm almost certain this isn't the first thread of this type she's started.

 

I certainly knew what I was getting into, but I can assure you, I haven't started very many controversial threads in the last 16+ years on these boards.

[zoobie]

To add to this: my great-grandmother was a welder in the California ship yards during WW2. So, does that make her a worse mom or better patriot? At some point trying to figure this stuff out can get really convoluted.

That's part of the whole "good old days" myth... Women worked in factories and everywhere while the men were all fighting in WW2. Then the men came home and had no jobs. So they fired all the women and told them to go back to the kitchen. The women didn't necessarily want to do that. Similarly, people of different races who had served together and worked together during the war were thrust back into their old roles. The men were supposed to pretend that they weren't screwed up from years of killing and almost being killed. The women were supposed to pretend they were happy to be back in the kitchen and their men were exactly the same as before the war. The 50s were spent trying to pretend everything was perfect and rosy. I think that's why the 60s and 70s were such a time of social change.

 

Anyway, I guess your grandma was perfectly patriotic so long as she passed her rivet back to the big, strong men and went back to the kitchen, wearing pearls and heels and a smile on her face. ;)

 

Edited to add not wholly related thoughts:

Women back then and SAHMs now are two completely different animals. It was hard, physical labor from sun up until sun down unless you could afford help. They were not doing enrichment activities with their little ones. Kids roamed unsupervised because mom was too dang busy to supervise.

[Lady Florida.]

This isn't true. I remember praying with our teacher leading, in a public school in 6th grade. That wasn't a ridiculous number of years ago. There were no lynch mobs. I know of only one person who experienced abuse during that time. Most of my friends' parents were married to one another (I think by high school I had met 2 people who had parents that were divorced). The majority of my friends had moms who stayed at home. There were always moms involved in the schools, being room mothers and the like, so I know a lot of the moms stayed home.

 

I also babysat for a LOT of families in middle school and high school. I don't remember ever babysitting for any who had been divorced, and most of them were single income families. One couple I sat for had 2 jobs. I kept the kids from 3-5 which was between when she left for her nursing shift and he got home from work.

 

Maybe I didn't live in the real world, but whatever it was, it seemed a lot better than what it is now.

You seem to be younger than I am. If you  were a child in the 70's, 80's, or 90's, I can tell you everything wasn't as rosy as your world made it seem.

 

Under God was added to the pledge only a year before I was born. I was in 6th grade a ridiculous number of years ago, 48 years ago actually. We didn't pray in school, at least not in New Jersey in the 1960's. Actually, I experienced prayer in school up to 3rd grade while I was in Catholic school. Once I entered public school, we didn't pray. Why did I go to public school from 4th grade on? Because my parents divorced so my brother and I were no longer welcome at that Catholic school. You no longer have to even be Catholic to attend Catholic school, but a ridiculous number of years ago you did.

 

Many people who didn't divorce "in my day" stayed together because of the stigma of divorce, not because their marriages were necessarily happy. I'm not saying there were no happy marriages. Just that the divorce rate is not an accurate indicator of such. 

 

The problem with nostalgia is that it relies on selective memory.

 

 

[SemiSweet]

I lived in Southern Mississippi for awhile and I agree, the crime and blatant racism are real problems and they absolutely should be punished for their crimes. My question is, as the historically "favored" what are we doing to lift these people up out of poverty, which is absolutely intertwined with crime? To provide real education? The US has this backward way of funding schools that ensures those in the lowest performing schools get the least resources. The US will not raise the minimum wage to anything even resembling a living wage (see Oklahoma's awesome governor). The issues are systemic and go way beyond anything I'd ever imagined, especially when it comes to prisons. Check out The New Jim Crow (http://www.amazon.com/New-Jim-Crow-Incarceration-Colorblindness/dp/1595586431/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398816036&sr=1-1&keywords=the+new+jim+crow). I've only started it but the system is set up for this, it's by design and now we have this awesome for profit prison system that is just mind blowing.

[StaceyinLA]

Just FYI, I looked up violent crimes by race, and in 2011, the ONLY two crimes that were committed more often by blacks than whites were murders (49.7% - 48%), and robberies (55.6%-43%). The other percentages were other races and were clearly minimal.

 

Whites do commit higher percentages of ALL other crime, including, rape, aggravated assault, burglaries, and more. Overall, whites commit 69.2% of crimes and blacks 28.4% of crimes. 

 

This is on the FBI website and I'm assuming it's for the entire US. I would've linked the table, but I'm link-illiterate.

[SemiSweet]

Just FYI, I looked up violent crimes by race, and in 2011, the ONLY two crimes that were committed more often by blacks than whites were murders (49.7% - 48%), and robberies (55.6%-43%). The other percentages were other races and were clearly minimal.

 

Whites do commit higher percentages of ALL other crime, including, rape, aggravated assault, burglaries, and more. Overall, whites commit 69.2% of crimes and blacks 28.4% of crimes.

 

This is on the FBI website and I'm assuming it's for the entire US. I would've linked the table, but I'm link-illiterate.

And then look at the prison populations. That is not reflected at all. :(

 

http://www.sentencingproject.org/map/map.cfm

[Mrs Mungo]

That's part of the whole "good old days" myth... Women worked in factories and everywhere while the men were all fighting in WW2. Then the men came home and had no jobs. So they fired all the women and told them to go back to the kitchen. The women didn't necessarily want to do that. Similarly, people of different races who had served together and worked together during the war were thrust back into their old roles. The men were supposed to pretend that they weren't screwed up from years of killing and almost being killed. The women were supposed to pretend they were happy to be back in the kitchen and their men were exactly the same as before the war. The 50s were spent trying to pretend everything was perfect and rosy. I think that's why the 60s and 70s were such a time of social change.

 

Anyway, I guess your grandma was perfectly patriotic so long as she passed her rivet back to the big, strong men and went back to the kitchen, wearing pearls and heels and a smile on her face. ;)

LOL, she didn't. She was married 3 times, but only had kids with her first husband. She worked her whole life.

 

Her first husband (my great-grandfather) later married a woman who was also divorced. She had gotten a divorce after having a baby in the hospital when the nurses told her that her husband at the time was with another woman who was *also* having a baby at the same time. My family is into genealogy and family stories. It's how I know that the good old days were largely a myth, as you say. ;)

[StaceyinLA]

nm

 

Edited April 30, 2014 by Moderator
Removed speech from hate site.

[Mrs Mungo]

When I search phrases from that block of text, Stacey, all I get is white supremacist websites. Source? Link?

[ChocolateReignRemix]

nm

Sources?

Even in the obviously slanted wording of whatever that is you linked, most of the crimes cited don't seem to have any racial motive.

 

I should also add that not every hate crime (even those resulting in prosecution/conviction) involving African American victims result in a major news story.  In fact,based on FBI statistics, very few ever make the news.

 

 

Edited April 30, 2014 by ChocolateReignRemix
Removed quote

[zoobie]

nm

I don't understand the point of posting this "information."

 

However, here's an actual news story from the Atlanta paper on the Marine from Smyrna, GA. It was not a hate crime. Not that it's ever okay to kill someone, but the Marine was not randomly attacked while walking around all pearly white.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/hearing-delves-into-night-of-iraq-vets-death/nQTwx/

Edited April 30, 2014 by Moderator
Removed quote

[ChocolateReignRemix]

So I looked up the "black mob chased and killed a US Marine" story.

 

Apparently the story is a bit different.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/hearing-delves-into-night-of-iraq-vets-death/nQTwx/

 

 

It was a birthday party for an old middle school buddy with drinking and drugs when former U.S. Marine and Iraq war vet Zachary Gamble started talking about the atrocities he’d seen in combat and the night took a turn for the worse.

 

A Cobb County detective testified in court Friday that Gamble’s friend asked him to leave. The detective said witnesses told police that Gamble, who had been drinking and twice left the party to buy cocaine, went outside and was pacing back and forth in the parking lot and yelling.

 

At some point, he texted his friend a three-word taunt that’s unprintable in this newspaper. Another man from the party went outside and confronted him. Gamble threw the first punch. Three other men joined the fight. Gamble, 34, fell to his knees and was punched in the face and kicked while he was lying on the ground.

--------------------

 

I would suggest you look into your sources a but more in the future.

 

[StaceyinLA]

Here's the numbers from the Baton Rouge Police dept.  Are they telling the truth?

http://brgov.com/dept/brpd/csr/default.asp?GetYear=2013

 

I don't really know what the purpose of you writing it was, though.  I do remember hearing much 'blame the black people' talk after Katrina. In my town, they claimed the government sent only black families high on drugs to our shelter, thus causing Brenham's school ratings to fall the next year. I think, in reality, there were about 4 families that stayed.

 

 

Well, the purpose of my writing it is because most of the murders HERE are black on black crime, and it is relative to the crime comments made. If you notice, I also posted the nationwide percentages of crimes committed by whites and blacks. 

 

As far as how Hurricane Katrina affected our murder rate, for whatever reason, Katrina was in 2005. In 2005, we had 49 murders in BR. From 2006-2012, they rose as follows:

 

57, 71, 67, 75, 64, 66

 

 

What I'm finding on Red Stick Crime News for BR for 2013 is a total of 74, with 65 being intentional. The BRPD would be within the actual city limits, but not all of Baton Rouge.

 

• Intentional – 65
• Accidental * – 3
• Justified ** – 5
• Negligent *** – 1

By Agency:

• BRPD â€“ 60 | 40 Cleared, 20 Open (66.6%)
• EBRSO â€“ 14 | 13 Cleared, 1 Open (92.8%)

[Scrub Jay]

Well, this is the first time I have ever reached my Like Maximum and I think it was 100% done in this thread.

 

You know, as sad as it is to see some people call speaking out against racism (etc) as being PC (which is a ridiculous term and needs to be put up on a shelf somewhere), it is so nice to see so many people speaking up against that idea.  Yah bunch of whiners! :patriot:

[ChocolateReignRemix]

And just because it is the way I am, I looked up the "soldier killed at random" story.

 

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20130918/NEWS01/309180021/State-rests-case-trial-over-slaying-Fort-Campbell-soldier

 

It wasn't "random" - the suspects were charged with aggravated robbery. (Side note: they were convicted.)

[StaceyinLA]

I didn't have time to even mention anything about what I posted because I've been trying to look up statistics for BR crime.

 

The list was an article in The Examiner, which is definitely a conservative publication. I haven't had time to look up anything yet, and was just going to note that this might be some of the incidents the other poster above was referring to.

 

I absolutely expected that some of you would look these things up to see if they were, in fact, truth.

 

[StaceyinLA]

Do you realize that for every story about black on white crime you talk about, someone could counter with more of the opposite?  Really, this seems like a great time to slow down. I'll stop for now, too,since things are veering into really unsavory ideas.

 

I absolutely do. I am not belittling the fact that MUCH racial crime still exists. I posted those incidents for people to look at and see if they did indeed exist because someone above posted about underreported black on white crime.

 

I also posted statistical information about how little overall crime nationwide IS committed by blacks, in support of another poster above. It's a telling number, and is very much in support of her theory that our prisons should have many more whites in them than they do.

[Mrs Mungo]

In kindness? Just stop. Nobody believes that you are a terrible person, but you are digging yourself into a seriously deep hole. It isn't worth it.

[Joker]

I do not understand the idea that things used to be better way back when. I really don't get the no divorces and stay home mom thing, either. Both of my grandmothers worked outside the home and I knew as many people growing up who were divorced as I do now. There was bullying going on in my little hometown long ago and my mother experienced a great deal of bullying in elementary school due to a speech problem. We once had a friend not come into our home because he didn't know if our parents allowed black people inside. My dad set him straight and brought him inside but I can't imagine the things that must have been said to him prior to make him think that way.

 

I see my dds and their friends and I'm not saddened but instead am hopeful. I see many great things from teenagers today and I think many things are getting better, not worse.

[StaceyinLA]

So I looked up the "black mob chased and killed a US Marine" story.

 

Apparently the story is a bit different.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/hearing-delves-into-night-of-iraq-vets-death/nQTwx/

 

 

It was a birthday party for an old middle school buddy with drinking and drugs when former U.S. Marine and Iraq war vet Zachary Gamble started talking about the atrocities he’d seen in combat and the night took a turn for the worse.

 

A Cobb County detective testified in court Friday that Gamble’s friend asked him to leave. The detective said witnesses told police that Gamble, who had been drinking and twice left the party to buy cocaine, went outside and was pacing back and forth in the parking lot and yelling.

 

At some point, he texted his friend a three-word taunt that’s unprintable in this newspaper. Another man from the party went outside and confronted him. Gamble threw the first punch. Three other men joined the fight. Gamble, 34, fell to his knees and was punched in the face and kicked while he was lying on the ground.

--------------------

 

I would suggest you look into your sources a but more in the future.

 

It wasn't a "source." It was a list and I assumed people would look into it. I didn't have the time to look up and find all of the details. I was posting so that it could be determined whether these cases had merit as un- or underreported white on black crime.

[KidsHappen]

Everything is not a hill to die on.

 

But it is not for you to decide what is, a hill to die on, for other people. It may be, a hill to die on, for them even though it is not for you. 

[Indian summer]

The skeptic in me wonders if the push to pc behaviour is just another divide and conquer scheme. It seems counterintuitive, but doesn't it actually make people less tolerant? There is this whole new set of social rules and anyone who doesn't follow them is harassed by those who do = more division. To teach people not to notice differences, you have to first point out the differences they are not to notice.

 

Not sure if I'm making any sense, it's getting close to my bedtime so my thinking probably isn't as sharp as it could be. Lol!

[StaceyinLA]

In kindness? Just stop. Nobody believes that you are a terrible person, but you are digging yourself into a seriously deep hole. It isn't worth it.

 

You know, I am looking for information and hoping to get some real answers. I am not trying to dig a hole. I am trying to get at something that could really make a difference for me in the way I have viewed things in the past because of where I live. If I can put this stuff out there and see that it is sensationalized crap that isn't true, and that gives me a stronger perspective on unfairness, how is that a bad thing?

 

All during this thread I have been accused of supporting racism because of one comment about some stupid coach who I didn't even know before yesterday. I live in what is probably the only area of the country that still has racism, (although in my city, I am very much in the minority). I am looking for answers. I want to see the facts. I want people to help me see information that could possibly help me change attitudes of people around me for the better.

 

If that isn't worth it, I don't know what is.

[StaceyinLA]

But it is not for you to decide what is, a hill to die on, for other people. It may be, a hill to die on, for them even though it is not for you. 

 

This is true.

[Χά�ων]

Well, this is the first time I have ever reached my Like Maximum and I think it was 100% done in this thread.

 

You know, as sad as it is to see some people call speaking out against racism (etc) as being PC (which is a ridiculous term and needs to be put up on a shelf somewhere), it is so nice to see so many people speaking up against that idea.  Yah bunch of whiners! :patriot:

I am out of likes but I agree 100%