And now on to a real story news: AG Holder: U.S "a nation of cowards" on race.

[Gogf]

I think you completely miss the point of what "Stuff White People Like" is about. It is most certainly not saying that recycling is a bad thing.

Edit: crosspost with Lightfang.

I'm so sick of that guy vilifying people being open minded and trying to make the world better by having friends of other races and being open minded and doing good things like being open minded. I'll bet he doesn't even believe in peak oil !

 

[Ulyaoth]

What's the point then?

 

[LightFang]

What's the point then?

Please, don't go into an existential crisis because of a silly CFC thread.

 

[Neomega]

I remember once a friend and I were talking about race. He said, "you see, even our discussions are racist, we never talk about anything political, except race relations"

Interesting tack. On a related note, he also said with absolute certainty there would never be a black president. I need to find him and give him a big "I told you so"

As far as the "stuff white people like" list.
All jokes seem to be recycled from 1991-1995 Comic View. They were pretty funny... then. Chris Rock is still the king of making race issues funny, in my mind.

Although The Daily Show's "resident black analyst" Larry Wilmore is gently pushing the bounds.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/?searchterm=larry+wilmore

 

[Ulyaoth]

Please, don't go into an existential crisis because of a silly CFC thread.

duh, what?

 

[GoodGame]

I was under the impression that how we spend our free time on the weekends would fall under a right to privacy or a right to assembly. Sounds like this new office holder is trying to grandstand for some attention here.

 

[Earthling]

Weak, pathetic statistics are the sole basis for any such claim - though I'd like to be a little more serious about the issue. For one thing, I DO think it's true that many (white) Americans don't associate very much with other races. But it's much more than just socioeconomic lines. The thing is, OLD people just aren't going to change lives they've lived for decades. For instance, say you wanted to compare the % of whites who had black friends (if you could even quantify that, but we're just making an example here) now vs. 10 years ago. Well, the problem is that you can't expect that number to change for all the same demographics - 60 year olds aren't going to go out and make new friends from different backgrounds that much in the first place (Of course this is a generalization, nothing against anyone in particular - but really, retired grandparents don't just up and move to the inner city...)

So I think a much more meaningful statistic, if such a thing was even possible in examing who people's "friends" are - would be how YOUNG people associate. The 20-25 year olds in 2009 are different than anyone who would have been surveyed a decade ago (since assumedly you're only looking at adults).

Btw, if you're wondering where I've skimmed some of this logic from, it's from another controversial and complicated topic, but doesn't quite belong in this thread. But the fact is that if you put it in terms of something like "50 year olds didn't have black friends in the 1990s, but now that they are 60 years old in the 2000s and Barack is President Everyone should have black friends..." the argument seems monumentally stupid. Change in the younger generations is what our society will reflect in the future.

Spoiler :

The other thing that is statistically related to this is the wage gap (between genders and races I suppose). The same things are true in this case - just because it's 2009 doesn't mean 60 year old men and women (who've been working for decades) are making the same amount of money, due to past imbalances. But we CAN look at how young people are doing and try and aim for equality/progress there

Side note: Seriously, an advertisement when I go from "Quick Reply" to "Go Advanced..."

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

We have a black president that most Americans approve of. Theories of a white "good ol' boys" club controlling all of the US are starting to sound like 19th century Jewish financial conspiracies. That leftists still take them seriously is laughable.

Obama's Presidency is hardly a social revolution.

I'm so sick of that guy vilifying people being open minded and trying to make the world better by having friends of other races and being open minded and doing good things like being open minded. I'll bet he doesn't even believe in peak oil !

 

[Imaginos]

Here in Singapore, topics on race or religion are just not allowed, to 'safeguard racial/religious harmony' according to the powers that be. Only they are allowed to speak about it.
I have noticed many people self-segregating here since the 90s, in schools/workplace and on weekends. People seemed to mix around more during the 70s & 80s. I happen to be one of them.
I've put it down to the "Speak Mandarin" campaigns by the govt in the 90s that have now become too successful leading to many Chinese speaking Mandarin all the time. This also happens even when there are non-Chinese in their midst.
This eventually caused the Malays and Indians to also segregate accordingly at the schools/workplace and on weekends. Till the early 90s, most of my friends were Chinese. Now I don't hang out with any of them anymore and the few Chinese friends I do have now are either married to non-Chinese or prefer to be in an English speaking environment.

 

[Bugfatty300]

WASHINGTON — Eric Holder, the nation's first black attorney general, said Wednesday the United States was "a nation of cowards" on matters of race, with most Americans avoiding candid discussions of racial issues. In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

Well my fiancee is 100% Mexican so I guess I'm doing my part! Or does she have to be black to count? Or maybe I just don't get it. Am I lacking in this area since I don't have any black friends?

 

[GoodGame]

Well my fiancee is 100% Mexican so I guess I'm doing my part! Or does she have to be black to count? Or maybe I just don't get it. Am I lacking in this area since I don't have any black friends?

Comrade, In Communist Russia, Race busses you!

 

[Formaldehyde]

I was under the impression that how we spend our free time on the weekends would fall under a right to privacy or a right to assembly. Sounds like this new office holder is trying to grandstand for some attention here.

By wanting people to understand that racism still exists despite all the efforts by many to pretend it doesn't?

Disneyland with the death penalty.

Best CFC location ever.

 

[GoodGame]

Originally Posted by GoodGame
I was under the impression that how we spend our free time on the weekends would fall under a right to privacy or a right to assembly. Sounds like this new office holder is trying to grandstand for some attention here.

By wanting people to understand that racism still exists despite all the efforts by many to pretend it doesn't?

A few things, should the head legal counsel be pontificating on race as regards to how individuals spend their free time? His main implication it that we are a nation of racists, cowering behind a desire not to speak about race, mainly because we have some self-segregation tendancies. To me, that's a ludacris conclusion. period.


He should be worrying about crime, etc... or even, how racism impignes on the scope of his job (e.g. people being denied work on the basis of race). That's his job. Discussing race for the sake of bridging cultural differences is something more for an education czar. So I still say, sounds like the man is grandstanding, even quoting his boss out of context (which Obama was clearly distancing himself from Rev. Wrights rather racist rhetoric).

At any rate, I'm not really impressed by this story. I be more impressed if he congratulated America on standards of racial integration in the law.

 

[Berzerker]

its funny reading all these exceptions to the rule

Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

duh, this form of "racism" is evolutionary

Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, but "we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race."

Its kinda personal, like politics or religion. Most people avoid discussions that can put stress on relationships. After winning the battle over integration, many blacks self segregate. We all do it to varying degrees for the same reason - comfort. Race or skin color etc is just one of the many ways we discriminate to achieve comfort, our 'primitive' past required it even more than today.

 

[QuoVadisNation]

I only disagree with the guys choice of rhetoric.. In some parts it isn't because they're being cowards, it's because each side refuses to compromise with each other in their private lives. For comfort, becoming brainwashed, whatever, they just tend to cling to their polar sides and then claim it's an intrinsic part of their race, both sides. Talking about it would just cause lots of hurt feelings, broken friendships, claims of racism by both sides, and long-lasting bitterness. What I'm saying is, I'd like to see the attorney general live up to his talk without showing favorites. And even if he does, not enough people will.

This is really just a problem that requires the old guard to die and start over with the new.