World is Falling Apart Thread (Locked forever)

[ElkinFencer10]

I'm extremely lucky that, despite growing up in a poor family, I went to school in a system almost entirely comprised of rich white folks, so I had a lot of opportunities made available to me from which I'd have been excluded had I gone to the county school I was supposed to (I went to a public school, but it was a city system in the next county over, and my mom made sure she scraped together the $300 every year that it cost to send me out-of-district).

[marurun]

Without going into heavy detail, I faced many of the same challenges as your wife, Blu, so I can empathize. Life isn't fair, but I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. It's made me a stronger person in the long run.

Sarge, I'm sorry you've faced challenges, but I'm glad you are able to incorporate them into a stronger you. That said, there are a lot of people who face these kinds of challenges simply because they have different skin color from the majority, or are not a man, or any number of other reasons that have little to nothing to do with their potential and everything to do with stuff that has no reasonable basis for being a roadblock. That's why some of us push so hard.

This is part of what feeds into the Black Lives Matter movement, believe it or not. Policing practices in the US have a systemic bias against black men, and even the most well-meaning cops, and black and women cops, too, end up exhibiting racially biased policing behaviors, even when they don't intend to. It's because police training and philosophy is geared toward certain kinds of snap judgments, and many of those judgments are biased or create bias. It is actually hard work for police departments to try to counter these biases, because they require so much extra outreach and training and mindfulness to overcome the embedded biases of their standard practices.

It should be noted that studies based on the limited data available (police departments don't like operational transparency, typically) show that shootings don't exhibit racial bias (I haven't seen a separate analysis of shootings of only unarmed suspects), but all other forms of touching and violent handling or treatment do show racial bias. I have no idea if better data would change this, but until police culture on information of this sort changes, we'll never no. My suspicion is that the more open police departments are likely to have less bias, and that getting at data from more reluctant departments will skew numbers further.

[dsheinem]

I just want to say:

I want the old thread title back.

Seriously:

I appreciated the contrast of the doom and gloom of the original thread title (even if it was a bit tongue in cheek) against the general frivolity of topics about video game discussion. I also don't care for being "told" in a title how I am supposed to act.

Any chance we can go back?

[marurun]

The thread title change was to help make sure people know exactly what this thread is about and to set expectations.

[prfsnl_gmr]

The thread title change was to help make sure people know exactly what this thread is about and to set expectations.

For what it's worth, I like the new title. (Sorry, DSH!)

[dsheinem]

[prfsnl_gmr]

On topic, the Republican-led legislature in my state will be making, as predicted, a gross power grab in the wake of an election handing the Governor's Mansion and NC Supreme Court to Democrats in a year when Donald Trump won the state by about 3% points...demonstrating the party's extreme unpopularity in state government. (If you are only interested in the highlights, the proposals are summarized well on Slate.) Through the magic of gerrymandering, almost half of the legislative districts in my state are not competitive at all, and even more are competitive only through the primaries. The magic of gerrymandering has also allowed the Republicans in our state legislature to maintain a veto-proof, supermajority despite the fact that the state's population is split approximately 50/50 between Democrats and Republicans.

I understand politics, but the disdain displayed by my state Republican party for the results of elections (and the democratic process generally) is disgusting, IMO. (Although I have read that the "government closest to the people serves the people best," they also aren't huge fans of local control over local issues.) With the efforts that they've taken to solidify their grasp on power, however, I am not sure that there is much that the voters in this state can do to reign them in a bit.

[ElkinFencer10]

The North Carolina GOP has gone out of their way to overturn local ordinances. Also fuck teachers.

[jp1]

I appreciated the contrast of the doom and gloom of the original thread title (even if it was a bit tongue in cheek) against the general frivolity of topics about video game discussion. I also don't care for being "told" in a title how I am supposed to act.

Marurun told me in a PM he was going to make the title a police state and that is why I pulled out. I agree completely about being "told" how to act in a thread title.

The first sentence was a lie, the second...not so much. I'm still not participating in the thread for previously mentioned reasons, but I found your post funny. I love that you take umbrage with the thread title change.

[CRTGAMER]

The thread title change was to help make sure people know exactly what this thread is about and to set expectations.

For what it's worth, I like the new title. (Sorry, DSH!)

I like it too. The "Be Civil" is a necessary reminder on every page due to some personal attacks and just plain disrespect when some let Political Opinions get to them. I mentioned the below in a PM to Flake, but he has been hands off to this Thread due to all the fire.

I think JT's thoughtful post a while back should be quoted in the OP as a reminder pace.

That is at the core of people's political differences. The left wants to do the most good for the most people, and will leverage governmental power to do so. The right champions freedom from government involvement, particularly through taxes and business regulation. The right generally follows a kind of equality based on the principle of everything being equal in the rules for everyone, whereas the left champions equality by looking at existing inequities and trying to leverage the system to balance them out.

At least that's how I typically think about it. It's a bit of an oversimplification, but I have to remind myself of the core differences as I'm feeling my blood boil every time I hear the word "handout."

Oh and this too, This Thread tends to get passionate at times and needs the additional reminders.

http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 44#p223377

Forum Guidelines

B. Overall Community Attitude

1. Always display a positive, friendly attitude
2. Be respectful of others' opinions
3. Try to lurk for a while and get to know the forum before you post.
4. Do not deliberately start arguments. Debates are great, as long as they remain respectful!
5. Be nice to each other and respect the moderator. If you have a problem with another member turn to the respective moderator and if the moderator can't help, you can send a private message to an admin.

C. General Rules

1. Do not post anything which is offensive, hateful, racist, sexist, discriminatory, obscene, vulgar or in violation of local or international laws.
2. No personal insults. Direct personal insult of another member, i.e., "You are an idiot." and all the variations. Why? Because this isn't grade school.
   Bottom line -- don't try to tick off others.