US Political Discussion: Biden/Harris Edition (Rules in OP)

[narad]

E
If we're kicking back, you crack open a beer and say "We hired this Canadian dude at the plant today- guy can't operate a fidgeridoo to save his damn life" and I say something like "well yeah what'd you expect? Those leafs can't operate anything that requires attention to detail, they just slap it together and say it's good to go," I'm being pretty racist, no two ways around it, really.

Canadian isn't a race, so, I guess that's the one way around it

 

[Yul Brynner]

Canadian isn't a race, so, I guess that's the one way around it

Yikes! How racist was that, eh?

 

[Xaios]

Yikes! How racist was that...

Well, I don't think it's possible to be racist against a race that doesn't exist, so not at a...

...eh?

Hey now, ya hoser. That is our word.

Sorry.

 

[thraxil]

Meanwhile Trump walked away from talks with North Korea. I thought they were supposed to be best buds and he'd single-handedly saved the world from the North Korean nuclear threat?

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Meanwhile Trump walked away from talks with North Korea. I thought they were supposed to be best buds and he'd single-handedly saved the world from the North Korean nuclear threat?

Trump still thinks the Kim regime cares about economic growth, money, and optics.

 

[jaxadam]

Virginia First Lady Handed Out Cotton to Black Children

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/po...apologizes-after-handing-cotton-black-n977546

 

[Ralyks]

I'm pretty sure the last 24 hours were pretty brutal for Trump overall.

 

[Dumple Stilzkin]

I'm pretty sure the last 24 hours were pretty brutal for Trump overall.

Cohen's testimony is making him look pretty bad. Though it shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone whose researched ol Trumplestilzkin.

 

[Ralyks]

Cohen's testimony is making him look pretty bad. Though it shouldn't really come as a surprise to anyone whose researched ol Trumplestilzkin.

Not even just that. Add the N Korea situation to the mix, and it's like failure on multiple levels. And the Republicans during Cohens testimony attacked Cohen, but didn't defend Trump.

 

[Drew]

Is racism not about skin color? I would think white people hating other white people would fall under some other ism?

"Wait, you really believe that Slavik scum is as good as a pureblood Anglo-Saxon like myself?! Those pigs? Blood and soil, jackass! Next you're gonna be telling me the goddamn Jews are white."

See what I mean? "White" isn't even a race, it's just a generic catch-all, and just as racially specific as the "brown" I've been using tongue-in-cheek in this conversation which is also clearly not a race, just a difference in appearance.

And for those of you whose irony detectors are broken, I'm not Anglo-Saxon and I obviously don't mean any of that first sentence.

 

[Drew]

If we're kicking back, you crack open a beer and say "We hired this Canadian dude at the plant today- guy can't operate a fidgeridoo to save his damn life" and I say something like "well yeah what'd you expect? Those leafs can't operate anything that requires attention to detail, they just slap it together and say it's good to go," I'm being pretty racist, no two ways around it, really.

A friend of mine and a college buddy of his spent a LONG time looking for the appropriate slur for a Canadian, before one of them saw someone tell a Canadian to "....and stop being such a little bitch, you syrupy little bitch!" in a news article comment, internet news articles of course being the cesspit of humanity. "Syrupy little bitch" is perfect, and yes, absolutely racist as fuck if used unironically.

 

[Ordacleaphobia]

@Drew, I've got to say, if there is one thing that internet comment sections are good for, it's expanding your repertoire of insults.

 

[Drew]

@Drew, I've got to say, if there is one thing that internet comment sections are good for, it's expanding your repertoire of insults.

No shit, huh?

 

[Randy]

If they don't get Ben Stiller to play Cohen on SNL this week...

 

[Ralyks]

Considering Alec Baldwin is an unofficial cast member at this point, I'd put money on Stiller reprising his role this weekend.

 

[Dumple Stilzkin]

Not even just that. Add the N Korea situation to the mix, and it's like failure on multiple levels. And the Republicans during Cohens testimony attacked Cohen, but didn't defend Trump.

You got Trump and Korea both saying different things about why no deal was reached. Both are full of shit.

 

[Drew]

You got Trump and Korea both saying different things about why no deal was reached. Both are full of shit.

Colleague of mine, who full disclosure IS a Republican, thinks that this might have been a tactical choice on Trump's part, to bail on NK to show China he wasn't afraid to walk away without a deal.

That seems way more calculated than I'd normally attribute Trump's decision making to, but it's worth at least mentioning in passing even if I don't personally see it.

 

[Flappydoodle]

Virginia First Lady Handed Out Cotton to Black Children

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/po...apologizes-after-handing-cotton-black-n977546

It's hilarious, given the controversy around her husband, but it was part of a standard tour, about the history of the state. And having children imagine what their ancestors through isn't exactly racist. I dressed as a Victorian chimney sweep one time for a school trip. I don't think my teachers were advocating for child slave labour.

Presumably she was doing this before the blackface controversy, and only now has somebody made a fuss to the media.

 

[Flappydoodle]

Who says racism is always about the color of someone's skin? The UK's dislike of Poles and the Poles' dislike of Ukrainians is already racist, I'd say. Europeans have always tended to discriminate against ethnic groups further east of them.

That's an interesting hypothetical about flipping the racial groups at the various borders... But, in that scenario, I'd say we'd suddenly become a WHOLE lot more concerned about our northern border than our southern one.

As a Brit, I remember the fuss over Polish immigrants very well.

It really wasn't about race. It was about them being willing to work crazy hours, in poor conditions, for much less pay. Employers loved it, but it pissed off a lot of working class. Labour (Tony Blair's party) were supposed to be the working class party, but they were the ones who "opened the doors" to mass immigration from much poorer countries.

Some element of it was about a large influx of foreigners changing certain towns - street signs and shops popping up written in foreign languages. That isn't really racism. Xenophobia if anything. But really it was simply human resistance to change - not a hatred of a particular group.

Culturally, Britain and Poland have quite a lot in common, and 10-15 years after the peak immigration from Easter Europe, I don't think anybody gives a shit any more. Polish people were accepted as hard workers, they mutually enjoy beer and football, they speak perfect English etc, so no problem befriending Brits. If anything, they're a model of successful immigration, even though it all happened a bit too quickly.

Eh, I wouldn't say so.
Asians for example still have white skin (I don't know where 'yellow' came from), yet they still experience racism. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot of Americans that are racist against Russians now- they're white. It's just easier to understand and explain to others with skin color because it's a blatant physical difference.

If we're kicking back, you crack open a beer and say "We hired this Canadian dude at the plant today- guy can't operate a fidgeridoo to save his damn life" and I say something like "well yeah what'd you expect? Those leafs can't operate anything that requires attention to detail, they just slap it together and say it's good to go," I'm being pretty racist, no two ways around it, really.

I think it just doesn't provoke as visceral of a reaction because for whatever reason it seems acting racist toward white or Asian people is "not as big of a deal," people are more willing to chalk things up as harmless, joekz, banter, etc if it's aimed at a white person.

What you're talking about is called stereotyping. It isn't racism.

Stereotypes about a country isn't racism. Disliking Russia due to their support of Putin isn't racist. Disliking people from other countries already has a term - "xenophobia".

Disliking Islam, Scientology, Mormonism, Flat-Earth Society (all ideologies) isn't racism either.

Racism is where you discriminate or hate somebody based on their race. Like, if you think white people are inferior to black people, that's racist. If you think Pashtun people are inferior to Punjabis, that's racist. If you refuse to hire a black person because you think he is lazy, that's not racist. If you refuse to hire any black people because you believe they're all lazy, that's racist.

 

[vilk]

^Maybe so, but you might wanna be careful that you don't get mixed up with these characters:

I ain't racist cuz Muslim aint no race. now someone oughtta round up them terrists an rip off their garbage bags and make them eat bacon. aint racist to say that, no way no how, that just their eivl terrist religin they can quit any time they want

It dont make me no racissis to say we should jus kill all them illegal mexicans. mexico is a country, not a race, so i aint racist.

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I agree with you that people are frequently accused of "racism" for doing something that is not racist or even discriminatory or prejudiced by nature. Handing out cotton to school children learning about state history, for example. Making jokes about food culture. There's literally nothing offensive about saying black people eat fried chicken. Everyone eats fried chicken. Fried chicken is good. And even if hypothetically only black people liked to eat fried chicken, it still wouldn't be inherently denigratory to reference it.

However, I don't have any issue with people using racism to describe actual cases of discrimination, prejudice, bias on the basis of the circumstances of someones birth: their skin color, their nationality, their culture, etc.

"Race" has in some ways been "debunked". It's an archaic terminology in the first place. I don't think it's worth pointing out that someone isn't """"racist"""" for saying some offensive shit about Muslims/Canadians/Poles/etc since "that's not a race"....
I think the same effort would be better placed in calling out people who cry "racist" about something that is not even objectively discriminatory/prejudiced/etc, like handing out cotton to all the children on a class trip.