I agree with your post. Let's look at the first few lines of the article quoted above: Should we try to understand Governor Northam or demand that he Al Franken himself? Is the Democratic Party the party of no forgiveness? Does it need its own guy to kill himself because they want to be able to kill other people? Unquestionably, if a picture like this... ... had shown up from President Trump's old yearbook, Democrats would yell that he must resign. How can they retain their credibility to ruin Republicans if they don't destroy their own? I see Kamala Harris jumped right in to lead the pack. Harris is to Northam what Gillibrand was to Franken. Instant death. No pausing to reflect on human frailty. No empathy for the the imperfect judgment of young people. No contextualizing, even so soon after people misread what they saw in the photograph of the Covington Catholic boy and the Native American elder. The goal of the "Politically correct" Democrat left here will be to "retain their credibility to ruin Republicans". I get that many on the right are incensed by this kind of evil treatment of people that they politically support by the Democrat left, and that for some of these people on the right, their first instinct is to call for the Democrat leftists to be treated the same way when they are caught in similar, or in this case worse circumstances than what Republican right people accused have recently been treated. This is a mistake. Instead, we must advocate for a better and wiser social standard for everyone in our society. Also, if the Democrat left fails to apply the same standards to their political friends that it recently has to their political adversaries, this will severely undermine the credibility of their entire "Political correctness" and "Identity politics" agenda. Yes, this path requires a bit of restraint and forbearance, but this is the path to eventually rid our society of this vile filth. It is the right thing to do here, not just for Governor Northam, but also for our society. And yes, even though the Democrat left consistently does not extend the same courtesy to its political adversaries, for example Justice Brett Kavanaugh. And no, you people on the left are not going to hear the end of that for many years to come and maybe never. So please, if you lean right, do not advocate for the destruction or ruin of this man here. His behavior was not attractive, that is for sure. But the political death penalty for this? Does that sound right to you? If not, then let's stand against these sorts of media led lynch mob style type social purges. This is not who we are and it is not who we want to be.
How simultaneously paranoid and yet completely full of yourself do you have to be to think that everything in the world somehow ties back into a conspiracy to "get" you. I hate to break it to you but I probably make three or even four decisions a day without contemplating how it furthers my plan to ruin all Republicans [insert maniacal laugh]. Also, I love the conceit that the party of Paul Manefort and Roger Stone is "above" doing anything.
Eh - the right has the done the same, if not far worse, over the years. The whole "politics of personal destruction" stuff started in its modern form during the Clinton Admin during the 90's. The GOP spent 8 years under Obama trying to convince the country that he was an un-American foreigner. They turned Hillary Clinton into the devil. They used out-of-context quotes endlessly against them with no regard for facts. They used racism against both Barack and Michelle Obama. And on and on. This is a problem in society in general, and it gets worse over time because of the power of the internet and then social media.
To be fair, the issue was not just verifying the photo was real - that part is easy. It was also whether he's the guy in the photo, which apparently still isn't clear.
Not sure his answers make a lot of sense or what's true/not true, but I give him credit for standing here and taking 30+ minutes of questions. Not really sure where this goes from here.
The 80's were definitely very different. I was in highschool in 1985, and that thread you reference is really relevant to highlighting how much things can change in terms of standards. Like you (and maybe because I'm older than some people on here), I'm really not sure where all the what-you-did-3-or-4-decades-ago stuff will end. Especially when today's teenagers start running for office in 20 or 30 years; their entire stupid adolescence will be recorded, moment for moment. Ugh. I think most people "knew better" than to try blackface in the 1980's, but then, I still knew some people who thought it was hip to "rediscover" Al Jolsen, for instance.
How familiar are you with the history of Africans (or black people if you prefer) in the Western Hemisphere? Serious question.
.........that doesn’t inherently mean anything. I’m 25% Chinese but I don’t know their history. Up until 4 years ago, I had no idea where my African ancestors came from. So let me rephrase, How many years of study, outside of K-12 requirements, have you spent studying the history of African people in the Western Hemisphere?
must everything here constantly have to come back to demands to prove one's credentials, authority, education, background, qualifications to speak? just try to attend to the man's arguments perhaps. just a suggestion.
How many years of study? K-12, a few elective college classes, independent readings & studies along with an entire lifetime of teaching within the confines of my family & black church. Do I know everything? No. Not even close. But I have plenty of drawings,memorabilia, notes, in some cases actual decently worded journals which have been passed down through my family from ancestors who'd described experiences, feelings, thoughts to a pretty good degree of depth. Did they write it all? No, but it seems there were plenty of volunteers to write for them. Gives a good perspective on things, many harrowing, some good. If you're asking if I have a college degree in this particular area, I don't. I don't have a college degree in business either, but I do own a fairly large & successful business which has employed members of this very message board and in which has demolished all other businesses' within my industry, many whom I imagine were operated by someone with a business degree.
But getting back to the topic of the discussion... Northam should have stepped down. Now he is simply asking for more criticism and extending the controversy. He received bad advice if someone suggesting this path for him.
The person I responded to has stated he doesn’t know why black face is offensive. I provided him a relatively short article that briefly explained the history of black face and why many people of African descent find it offensive. After reading my link (I presume) he responded that he still doesn’t understand why it is offensive. This leads me to believe that his knowledge of African history in the Americas is lacking...hence my question. If he doesn’t know much about our history then it isn’t proper for me to debate him. I’d rather educate him about our history. I’m sorry if that upsets you.
no it doesn't, and honestly I thought hard about sticking my nose into the conversation. maybe that was a mistake on my part
just did a search of the thread for the word "credentials" in a post by " @Realjad " . . . nothing turned up. so perhaps you are paraphrasing or making an inference?
Sounds like you have a pretty good foundation. Nobody knows everything. I wasn’t asking if you had a degree in Africana studies. Honestly, that’s one of the most worthless degrees imho (another topic for another time). I’m still somewhat confused. You seem to have a higher than average understanding of our history, yet you don’t understand how someone of African descent could find black face offensive? Especially considering it’s history?
