True racism - what is your definition?

[Pat Hartman]

If people are unwilling to stand up and be counted, we are doomed.

 

[ColinEssex]

I think Americans are funny. The way they pretend to be appalled by racism. I don't know why they do it when everyone knows the USA is probably the most racist country in the world.
I get the impression (reading between the lines) from our Yankee friends here that if they could go back to segregation they would like a shot.
Quick question - why do people (like sports people) 'take the knee'? Is it to re-enact the killing of that black bloke by the policeman?

Col

 

[The_Doc_Man]

everyone knows the USA is probably the most racist country in the world

As usual, you take a "hearsay" viewpoint that is incorrect. If you look it up you can find that Qatar, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, Slovakia, Myanmar, Israel, and the Ukraine are all rated as worse than the USA. So "Most Racist Country" is not correct.

Granted, we could do a lot better. We're no angels. But a lot of us try to do better. I would not vote in favor of a return to segregation. However, I must admit that I do not speak for my black acquaintances because to be honest, that question has not come up in any recent conversations.

 

[ColinEssex]

It may be hearsay, but we hear it on the news, we read it in the papers, comedians make constant jokes about the USA, about guns, drugs, racism, love of money, police killing people (over 1000 killed by police in 2020) etc etc. So I suppose it gives us a certain impression of life in the USA. The way you can get gunned down and robbed in the street, certain places a white person will never go. You get carjacked if you stop at lights. The way the (previous) president and senators are corrupt and take bribes from big businessmen. America being the one of the biggest polluter in the world. Shall I go on?

It's no good chastising me, I'm just saying our UK perspective of the USA. I have no idea what's true or not.

Col

 

[The_Doc_Man]

So in other words you repeat things you don't know are true, seeing what that statement stirs up? Col, you know better than that. It is THAT behavior that gets you tagged as a "troll" whereas you have claimed innocence many times - and I have even agreed with you some of those times. But at the moment, this isn't one of those times.

The UK news perspective of the USA is EXACTLY the same as we might expect it to be based on our own experiences in the USA with biased or useless news channels ... Call attention to someone else by exaggerating the claims of bad behavior so that your scandal-hungry populace can wag their fingers in our direction and go "tch tch" (or whatever is the appropriate sound). But of course in the meantime they will gloss over, ignore, or sugar-coat your own inequities. We've had this discussion before.

 

[ColinEssex]

So none of the things I said are true? I'm pleased you've eliminated gun crime, drugs, racism and there are no no-go areas in places. Plus, thanks for confirming that the official figures regarding US police killing over 1000 people in 2020 are wrong. Reports of corruption in US government is also lies, even if there is hard proof.

Do you have spectacles Doc? If so, What colour are the lenses?

Yes, the U.K. Is not squeaky clean, we have loads of knife crime and some no-go areas in bigger cities, murders, road rage etc.

My apologies for posting.

Col

 

[AccessBlaster]

Yes, the U.K. Is not squeaky clean,

Yes, we know Col...

Britain was built on the backs of slaves.​

one reason that British people feel complacent about Britain’s role in pioneering slavery, and the racism that underpinned it, is that it happened slightly farther away. The Caribbean is Britain’s own Deep South, where enslavement and segregation as brutal as anything that existed on American soil took place at the hands of British people. And that distance facilitates denial.

 

[NauticalGent]

"He who stirs the pot should lick the spoon..."

I cant read any of the Jack-Ass's posts but I see he is at it again. WHY do you knuckle-heads enable him...?

 

[ColinEssex]

"He who stirs the pot should lick the spoon..."

I cant read any of the Jack-Ass's posts but I see he is at it again. WHY do you knuckle-heads enable him...?

Never heard of your pot and spoon comment, must be a Yankee thing.

Are you advocating that I should be banned? Yet I'm not the one calling another member a 'Jack-Ass' and calling moderators 'Knuckleheads'. I merely made comments on what we perceive life is like in the USA.

Col

 

[Jon]

I think one of the things us Brits need to factor in is population size. Given that the USA has 5 times our population, we should expect to hear:
- 5 x the number of murders
- 5 x the number of terrorist incidents
- 5 x the number of illegal immigration

...and so on.

When you hear of so many things going on in the USA, it may be of a similar ratio to what goes on in the UK. It just seems like it happens more often over there than over here. We are used to having a smaller number of this and that, so expect 5x this and that over in the USA.

I did just look up one statistic that was no where near 5x though and that is the murder rate.

2018 murder count:
UK: 809
USA: 16,214

Equalising for population size, using 5x:
UK: 4,045
USA: 16,214

Maybe it is the guns thing, where conflicts might be deadly, while in the UK we use knives and pea shooters.

Edit: Just compared these to South Africa...

South Africa: 21,036

Equalising for population size:
UK: 4,045
USA: 16,214
South Africa: 166,000

Absolutely shocking!

 

[Pat Hartman]

Anybody taking notice of the large number of Haitians sneaking across the southern border? Don't they know what a racist country the US is? Are they really that stupid that they want to come here? OR, perhaps the rumors of our racism might be over blown and the Haitians know something the media doesn't know.

 

[ColinEssex]

Are Haitians what Americans call 'Spix'? I heard it used in a Dirty Harry film, never really was sure what it referred to.

Col

 

[Steve R.]

Anybody taking notice of the large number of Haitians sneaking across the southern border? Don't they know what a racist country the US is? Are they really that stupid that they want to come here? OR, perhaps the rumors of our racism might be over blown and the Haitians know something the media doesn't know.

The immigration policies are of the Biden administration are racist. The Biden administration is continuing with Obama's "transformation" of the US by actively importing minorities from Latin America, evidently now including the Caribbean area (except for Cuba) and Africa. The Democrats misleadingly portray this as a "natural" demographic shift, but it is not. It is a planned "invasion". The presumed intent is to create a permanent underclass in the US that will be beholden to government welfare and will consequently vote for the Democratic Party.

Anyway, now for some obvious logical pretzels. Why is the southern border with Mexico "open", but the Canadian border is "closed"?
The White House recently issued a statement that the construction of the wall was ended since it represented an inhumane obsolete/expensive approach to preventing immigration. So why is no one apparently asking the the Biden administration to explain what measures they have implemented to stop illegal immigration? To my knowledge, nothing. The fawning pro-Biden press continues to give the Biden administration a pass therby hiding their malfeasance.

One, has to wonder if the caring of illegal immigrants (housing, medical care, food, education, travel, etc.) now exceeds the cost of the wall, should it be completed? Now that the illegals are being settled here, who is going to be paying for their continued welfare?

 

[ColinEssex]

Jon, your X 5 theory falls down when you look at police killings by country in 2020.

There were approx 1050 people killed by police in the USA in 2020. In the UK, there was 3. That's according to official stats. I think this indicates that the USA has a problem.

Obviously the Yanks here will accuse me of lies, hearsay, a troll and generally a nasty troublemaker, oh and what was it - ah yes, a jack-ass whatever that is, not something we have in the UK.

Col

 

[Jon]

Colin, I see your point, but it wasn't quite the point I was making. My view is that when we look at America from the UK, we have to factor in a 5x calculation to get a baseline. Only then can you compare. If you don't, things will always look distorted. That was my point, not that there are no differences.

Then I pointed out that there are differences. There is a disproportionately high number of killings in the US compared to the UK, at a rate 4x of the UK, and that is after already factoring in the 5x to account for population differences. I think the 1050 people killed by police is because of the gun situation over there. Police are meeting deadly force and so respond with deadly force. I covered the gun thing in my previous post.

I may be wrong, but I suspect a lot of the murder rate in the US is drug related, as there is a big drug problem over there. But then some might say there is a drug problem because of a poverty problem. Yet this is something I have always been confused about. Does the state provides a similar level of free income benefits regardless of where you live? Or does it differ state by state?

 

[Pat Hartman]

Each state sets its own rates for unemployment compensation as well as direct welfare. During the COVID "crisis", the Federal government has been giving extra benefits on top of what the state gets.

Here's a very silly example of how Congress wastes my money. When everything shut down last year my twin granddaughters got laid off from their job in the afterschool program. They'd been working at this job since they were 16. It was a perfect part time job for kids in high school and college because it never interfered with school. They made about $11 per hour (minimum wage in Connecticut) and worked 20 hours per week. Their unemployment benefit was $100 per week. Congress decided that everyone who collected unemployment deserved an extra $600 per week. So for 7-8 months last year the girls were paid $700 ($100 + $600) per week for their $200 per week job. Good deal for them. I was happy because at least this time someone in my family benefited from the stupidity of Congress. Usually I just pay and pay and pay.

We are still in this stupid situation because of extra payments from the Feds. Why would people ever to back to work at minimum wage jobs when they can earn more by just staying home with their hand out. When you think about this, it looks like a back door way for the Democrats to implement their plan to provide a minimum income for everyone whether they want to or not.

 

[Steve R.]

When you think about this, it looks like a back door way for the Democrats to implement their plan to provide a minimum income for everyone whether they want to or not.

It is the hidden/undisclosed "back door" by the (dishonest) Democrats to strong-arm an increase in the minimum wage and to get the public addicted to "free" money to make establishing a "Universal Basic Income" palatable to the public. Let's see what the Democrats propose this coming September when the current round of "free" money begins to expire.

 

[Harrybrigham]

Until BLM I was not racist at all. Now with wokism and diversity I am racist, and bigoted as well.

 

[ColinEssex]

Perhaps it would help if white people were to try to integrate a bit into black society, go to predominately black bars and mainly black areas.
One could also learn their language, I notice they call each other 'homey' or 'blood' and they refer to a house as a 'crib' - all rather strange but there it is.

Col

 

[AccessBlaster]

Perhaps it would help if white people were to try to integrate a bit into black society, go to predominately black bars and mainly black areas.
One could also learn their language, I notice they call each other 'homey' or 'blood' and they refer to a house as a 'crib' - all rather strange but there it is.

Col

Maybe stop relying on old Clint Eastwood movies as a source of factual information