Old DVDs

It really comes down to the statistics. The unfortunate truth is that black people, for whatever reason, have more violent interactions with the police. Whether that's a product of them actually committing more crime, simply being policed harder than whites, or having an anti-authority culture or some combination is up for debate. And they're such a small part of the population, roughly 12-13% vs. roughly 65% white people that every issue gets magnified.

As for the whole black history month, etc., it's kinda complicated. The argument for it is that "every other month is white history month", which there is a grain of truth to. The argument against that sort of thing we shouldn't need a month for any specific race or culture and all of that sort of thing should be threaded throughout the regular history curriculum. It isn't just Black history month, there are also months for Native Americans and Hispanic people, though those don't get nearly as much focus in schools. Asian people also seem to be left out of these things.

The fact is that Black culture has always been kind of separate from the larger American culture, but also at the same time has a hugely disproportionate influence on it. There is also, I suspect, a pretty large component of guilt to the whole thing.

I don't really understand there being any current day guilt. Why should current generations have to pay for what their forefathers did? Not to get religious - only an analogy - but the New Testament pretty much got rid of the Old Testament sentiment that a person's offspring would pay for their sins. My mind is free for all guilt or responsibility, and I think everyone should move on. History isn't there for atonement, it's there so we (hopefully) don't make the same mistakes by learning from the errors of others.

And not to get technical, but all races realize that there have been slaves of all races, sometimes slave owners being the same race as the slaves? I get it might not compare to the African Slave Trade explosion, but it's not pertinent to only one race. White people that couldn't afford coming to American would become slaves to those who footed their bill, and I have to assume there have been plenty of Asian slaves in their given countries (most of which have a long history of being isolated from the outside world).

I agree with you, I don't feel in any way responsible for what some guy in my family 8 or 9 generations back might have done. And yeah, everyone has been subject to some form of slavery at some point. Far more African slaves went into the Caribbean and Brazil than went into America. And many went to the Arab states, not to mention they were sold by their own people.

Many nations in the middle east and Africa still practice slavery. The United Arab Emirates and Qatar especially import migrant workers from very poor Nepal and Bangladesh and then confiscate their passports at the border, pay them next to nothing and treat them awfully. Libya has slave markets on a level never seen in the world. There are more slaves today than ever before. You often hear the argument that other forms of slavery aren't as cruel as American chattel slavery, which is true. A lot of the time you see this as an argument to highlight American slavery and direct attention away from European slavery which was very much practiced. Also, slavery as an institution was implemented in the Americas long before independence but you hardly ever see the colonial powers get flak for it, even though the 13 colonies were controlled by the UK. Colonial history gets lumped in with American history though.

« Last edited by steelersrock01 on Dec 6th 2021 »

I would have to assume all 1700-1850 slavery, no matter where in the world, was rough. But then again, I usually fall back on the mindset that no ones trial and tribulations are any greater than any one else?s. Might there be some that have it worse off, of course, but I think life is usually tough for everyone at some points.

But yeah, move forward and stop dwelling on what can never change (and by that I mean the past). What good does it do for you? Waste of time and energy for the most part.

I'm of the same opinion, really. Nobody alive in the US has experienced slavery. Some have experienced segregation, which is awful. But nowadays I don't think there is any excuse. I think a lot of people use the legacy of slavery as an excuse to avoid any self-improvement and as a shield from criticism.

There are lots of girls in Europe that are basically slaves. They come from poor countries and those in turmoil from wars with the promise of a good life. They pay a fee, have their passports and identification taken away and are quickly put to work as prostitutes when they arrive. You see them sitting on little white plastic chairs on the side of motorways. It's a big problem in Barcelona. If the girls don't make a certain amount of money each night they get beaten by their pimp for not trying hard enough.

Am I right in saying prostitution is legal in the US? I seem to recall seeing a program on TV where all these girls worked in a house that was fully licensed to be a brothel. It's illegal in Europe as far as I am aware but the practice is rife anyway.


« Last edited by Sanzano on Dec 6th 2021 »

Mike: Work feels like slavery some days. XD

Dennis: Yea, human trafficking and where most of them end up is modern slavery. Might not be work slavery, if you know what I mean, but definitely illegal ownership.

Dennis - prostitution is 100% not legal at all in the US besides a few counties in Nevada. Like you said, the same sort of thing happens everywhere though. Not so many refugees as you get in Europe but people in bad situations nonetheless.

The number of homeless people I see living on the streets now is alarming. It's not just the US that has refugees trying to enter. It's a massive problem in Europe with refugees trying to enter places like Spain and Italy from Africa and the middle-east by boat. I fully understand why these people literally risk their lives trying to reach Europe by boat but once they do successfully reach their destination they have no way of getting any money as the European countries don't give handouts if you have not worked and paid into their system. Germany welcomes them but it has now caused problems there because of the culture differences. Lots of incidents of european girls being inappropriately touched at public swimming baths by muslim men who have never seen almost naked girls before.

Yeah I've heard all about that kind of stuff with Germany and Sweden and Italy. It's a real shame. These people need help but so many of them refuse to assimilate at all to the culture they are moving into. It's almost like they are desperate to bring all the crappy parts of their old country with them. Not to mention the fact that so many come from Syria and travel through at least a dozen safe countries to wind up in Germany and Sweden because they know that's where they'll get the most handouts.

Less serious, but there's a big thing here in the US where Californians get tired of the crazy taxes there and move to Texas. And now they're in Texas and voting Democrat and starting to bring all the same policies over from California.

Dennis: Homelessness is crazy in a few states in the US, and nothing seems to ever get done about it.

Mike: Yes, leave the state you hate because of its policies to only do the same in another state. lol

Is it true homeless people live underneath Las Vegas? I've heard of a place called Skid Row, is that the same place. I think it was on an episode of C.S.I I saw it.

Steelersrock01, you are 100% correct, Germany was the only country that welcomed the refugees because they wanted the workforce, Councillor Merkle didn't realize the cultural problems that would arise and how it would upset the German public.

The Skid Row I know of is in LA and does have tons of homeless people. Homelessness is especially bad in California, I've heard there are some states that buy their homeless a one-way ticket to California cities to get rid of them, not sure if it's true.

That's outrageous if it's true. Thinking about it though, homeless people probably head to the big cities anyway as that's where the opportunities lay.

I've heard lots of homeless people go missing in the US, the victims of snuff movies.

Plus homeless people flock to warmer cities like LA generally as well as bigger cities that have more resources to help them out. There's also some here that have made being homeless a professional gig here and have mastered ways to get people and tourists to give them all kinds of money. There are "homeless" people here making more than 100k a year.

Cali is way bad, and their politicians, both local and federal, do not seem to do anything about it. You always hear about Cali being the best place ever, when in all actuality, they have far more bad pockets than most states and said rough areas are like ten times worse.

Yeah, but Cali's a big place. It's basically its own country. There are good and bad. But the people pointing to Cali as some beacon for the rest of the country to follow are probably young, rich, tech workers at Apple, Google, etc. and not at all representative of 99% of people.

I have no idea why they just seem to allow homeless people and druggies to just camp out in the streets. Even in the worst parts of Albuquerque, the homeless would never get away with that. I never really cared for the alternatives - underpasses, parks, squatting in condemned homes - but I think it is better than hundreds of people in tents down the sidewalk.

Yeah having them literally on the sidewalks is such a bad look. I'm not sure what the solution is. The problem with shelters is that even if there is room they have rules that you can't be under the influence of anything or a danger to yourself or others because those places need to be safe. And the vast majority of homeless have some kind of substance or other mental problem.

The cities should get the ones that are not safe into mental facilities and drug rehab centers. Even scarier for them to be on the street than in homeless places.