The Ferguson thread

[rhino]

It also illustrates how easily situations can arise that will at some point result in martial law. It's not just tinfoil hat ranting anymore.

 

[Trigger Time]

It also illustrates how easily situations can arise that will at some point result in martial law. It's not just tinfoil hat ranting anymore.

Yep

 

[hornadylnl]

Oh ya -
Any reason will do. As long as they feel sorry for you.
Like being in a tornado, being in a flood, being a libertarian, being a cartoon character, being wrong all the time, etc...

You know, stuff like that....

Not paying your business taxes opens up the INGO well of sympathy and go fund me donations. Did anyone question whether papa spent his money on cigarettes and booze?

 

[DoggyDaddy]

You are among the majority who I believe can actually see what is going on. The main problem in black communities is black people who are allowed to act foolish and then find protection to avoid paying for their acts: don't snitch! The CULTURE needs to change! I'm not afraid of this discussion. Im also not afraid to discuss the reason for fears on both sides. This discussion needs to be had in order for everyone to see and know their concerns are being heard. I Am NOT interested in a "we are all God's children" discussion, though! I want to wrestle with this problem until we are all tired of it.

I think this is the key (or certainly one of the keys). I grew up in the 60's and 70's. In school, we had one or two black students throughout most of my K-12 years. We may have had 5 or 6 in my graduating class of nearly 700. Not to disparage my parents, but they were raised WAY before the civil rights movement was even a twinkle in someone's eye. To add to that, my next door neighbors as a kid were from the hills of Tennessee, and being from the south, they came with their own set of baggage when it came to their view of black people. In that environment, I grew up fearing black people. Black people lived "downtown" - that's what I thought, and that's all I knew. They were "scary" and did "bad things" or so I was taught. Consequently they (and downtown) were to be avoided. The "N" word was commonly used when referring to "those people". I am not proud of this, but it was a different time and that's just the way things were, being not all that far removed from the civil rights movement and desegregation.

That being said, it is human nature to fear, or at least be distrustful of people and things that we are not familiar with. It wasn't until I moved away to college that I was really exposed to blacks and other races in any kind of meaningful way. When I started working in the restaurant business, my exposure to folks that "weren't like me" increased. Now I was working "shoulder to shoulder" with these people. What I found was that contrary to my upbringing and previous experience, these people that were "not like me" weren't really scary after all. Oh some were, make no mistake, but the same could be said for certain white people too.

At one restaurant in particular, a lot of the dishwashers and cleaning crew were involved in criminal activity (by their own admission - and it wasn't unusual for one of them to call in "sick" because they were in jail.) We DID have plenty of conversation about our differences and our similarities. Much of it was good-natured ribbing about the stereotypes that whites held about blacks, and vice versa. There was no concern about being "PC". It was frank and open conversation. It resulted in me trusting them, and them trusting me. I think that the effort to avoid this type of conversation simply for the sake of political correctness has had a detrimental effect on race relations. Instead of emphasizing similarities (discovered only through getting to know one another), we've once again brought the differences to the forefront. Folks like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson don't help in this regard. This is a step (or many steps) in the wrong direction.

Why has this happened? Well, I think there are many factors at work. The 24/7 news cycle, and social media keep anything "bad" right in our faces all the time. Crisis sells (I'd say papers, but those are going the way of the dinosaurs) clicks and generates ad revenue. Nobody wants to hear a story about folks getting along. We want to hear of conflict and discord! The anonymity of social media and news site comment sections have once again made name-calling and hateful expression "easy". People feel free to say things sitting behind a keyboard that most would never dream of saying if they were face to face with a person. This only serves to exacerbate the "us vs. them" mentality of all sides. People that might be on the fence or neutral otherwise, are easily whipped up into a frenzy and quickly side with "their people". As a result, we're right back where we started 50 years ago, with polarization of (now) like-minded individuals into like-minded "groups". It is a vicious cycle that won't be broken unless and until we can have honest conversation with each other again.

 

[Hkindiana]

Anything happen last night?

 

[churchmouse]

Anything happen last night?

I can no longer watch.

 

[KittySlayer]

It also illustrates how easily situations can arise that will at some point result in martial law. It's not just tinfoil hat ranting anymore.

Good point. These protesters are the poster children of the Administration "peacefully" exercising their 1st amendment rights and they chose to bring out the Nat. Guard. Imagine how quickly they would impose Martial Law on a "peaceful" gathering of INGOers. They are just waiting for an excuse.

 

[Doug]

It also illustrates how easily situations can arise that will at some point result in martial law. It's not just tinfoil hat ranting anymore.

Good point. These protesters are the poster children of the Administration "peacefully" exercising their 1st amendment rights and they chose to bring out the Nat. Guard. Imagine how quickly they would impose Martial Law on a "peaceful" gathering of INGOers. They are just waiting for an excuse.

I suspect those enforcing Martial Law would be more concerned with those guarding their businesses with guns than with those blocking highways and burning buildings.
After all, they demonstrate that "great things can be effected by a few men well conducted," which is anathema to progressive socialism.

 

[chef larry]

I think this is the key (or certainly one of the keys). I grew up in the 60's and 70's. In school, we had one or two black students throughout most of my K-12 years. We may have had 5 or 6 in my graduating class of nearly 700. Not to disparage my parents, but they were raised WAY before the civil rights movement was even a twinkle in someone's eye. To add to that, my next door neighbors as a kid were from the hills of Tennessee, and being from the south, they came with their own set of baggage when it came to their view of black people. In that environment, I grew up fearing black people. Black people lived "downtown" - that's what I thought, and that's all I knew. They were "scary" and did "bad things" or so I was taught. Consequently they (and downtown) were to be avoided. The "N" word was commonly used when referring to "those people". I am not proud of this, but it was a different time and that's just the way things were, being not all that far removed from the civil rights movement and desegregation.

That being said, it is human nature to fear, or at least be distrustful of people and things that we are not familiar with. It wasn't until I moved away to college that I was really exposed to blacks and other races in any kind of meaningful way. When I started working in the restaurant business, my exposure to folks that "weren't like me" increased. Now I was working "shoulder to shoulder" with these people. What I found was that contrary to my upbringing and previous experience, these people that were "not like me" weren't really scary after all. Oh some were, make no mistake, but the same could be said for certain white people too.

At one restaurant in particular, a lot of the dishwashers and cleaning crew were involved in criminal activity (by their own admission - and it wasn't unusual for one of them to call in "sick" because they were in jail.) We DID have plenty of conversation about our differences and our similarities. Much of it was good-natured ribbing about the stereotypes that whites held about blacks, and vice versa. There was no concern about being "PC". It was frank and open conversation. It resulted in me trusting them, and them trusting me. I think that the effort to avoid this type of conversation simply for the sake of political correctness has had a detrimental effect on race relations. Instead of emphasizing similarities (discovered only through getting to know one another), we've once again brought the differences to the forefront. Folks like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson don't help in this regard. This is a step (or many steps) in the wrong direction.

Why has this happened? Well, I think there are many factors at work. The 24/7 news cycle, and social media keep anything "bad" right in our faces all the time. Crisis sells (I'd say papers, but those are going the way of the dinosaurs) clicks and generates ad revenue. Nobody wants to hear a story about folks getting along. We want to hear of conflict and discord! The anonymity of social media and news site comment sections have once again made name-calling and hateful expression "easy". People feel free to say things sitting behind a keyboard that most would never dream of saying if they were face to face with a person. This only serves to exacerbate the "us vs. them" mentality of all sides. People that might be on the fence or neutral otherwise, are easily whipped up into a frenzy and quickly side with "their people". As a result, we're right back where we started 50 years ago, with polarization of (now) like-minded individuals into like-minded "groups". It is a vicious cycle that won't be broken unless and until we can have honest conversation with each other again.

The art of conversation is lost on texting or being on the phone. No one wants or will talk to another person. The family spending time together is lost forever. I'm lucky to spend quality time and conversations with the wife, kids, grandkids, and good friends. I am rich with friends, not money.

 

[1911ly]

Sounds like the protestors in New York just interrupted the Macy's Parade.

 

[printcraft]

Isolated incident? Friend of Dorian Johnson....... you know, the one who started this whole mess.
DeAndre Joshua Shot Dead in #Ferguson Riots ? Was Good Friend of Murder Witness Dorian Johnson | The Gateway Pundit

Possible grand jury witness...........

ALERT: Murdered Ferguson Man May Have Been a Grand Jury Witness... | RedFlagNews.com

 

[churchmouse]

Sounds like the protestors in New York just interrupted the Macy's Parade.

They should be gathered up and deposited on Rikers island.....to the man/woman

 

[churchmouse]

Isolated incident? Friend of Dorian Johnson....... you know, the one who started this whole mess.
DeAndre Joshua Shot Dead in #Ferguson Riots ? Was Good Friend of Murder Witness Dorian Johnson | The Gateway Pundit

Possible grand jury witness...........

ALERT: Murdered Ferguson Man May Have Been a Grand Jury Witness... | RedFlagNews.com

This is getting way the **** out of hand.

 

[Yup!]

Sounds like the protestors in New York just interrupted the Macy's Parade.

Source?

 

[1911ly]

Source?

Announced it on Fox news. They were throwing stuff off buildings and other things.

 

[1911ly]

[video]http://pix11.com/2014/11/27/multiple-arrests-at-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-after-protesters-target-parade-route/[/video]

This is not the Fox info

 

[DragonGunner]

I'm confused…..Last evening they had a guy on the news talking about how the protesters had looted and burned the store down where Brown had stolen the cigars. This man said that it was white supremacists that came and done this. This morning I get up and I see the released video of the said crime and I saw nothing but people who were black destroying that store……..when did blacks join the klan…..I'm so confused why they would do this.

Sad thing is I can see all of our cities being burned down to the ground. Not over this, but the next event who knows.

 

[churchmouse]

I'm confused…..Last evening they had a guy on the news talking about how the protesters had looted and burned the store down where Brown had stolen the cigars. This man said that it was white supremacists that came and done this. This morning I get up and I see the released video of the said crime and I saw nothing but people who were black destroying that store……..when did blacks join the klan…..I'm so confused why they would do this.

Sad thing is I can see all of our cities being burned down to the ground. Not over this, but the next event who knows.

Not if we all just say **** this and stand out ground.

 

[DragonGunner]

Not if we all just say **** this and stand out ground.

Be nice but it won't work, they be burning cop cars, cops won't even be able to stop it. They couldn't stop Fergusan and they had weeks to prepare, you won't be able to stop it in the bigger cities. Many years ago, around 88' maybe, my pastor at the time, who happened to be black, said he believed racial tension would get worse and just the right spark could ignite the entire country. Hopefully good will triumph over evil.

 

[1911ly]

I'm confused…..Last evening they had a guy on the news talking about how the protesters had looted and burned the store down where Brown had stolen the cigars. This man said that it was white supremacists that came and done this. This morning I get up and I see the released video of the said crime and I saw nothing but people who were black destroying that store……..when did blacks join the klan…..I'm so confused why they would do this.

Sad thing is I can see all of our cities being burned down to the ground. Not over this, but the next event who knows.

My fear is that is will embolden a few to do this every time they think something unjust has happened. It's not a good path to be on. This is not an American behavior! That's 3rd world We are a better country then this.