What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today?

[samsonlonghair]

On a related tangent, why isn't there as much outrage about life insurance and auto insurance rates based entirely on statistical profiling?

Damn those actuarial bastards!

[Forlorn Drifter]

As in what was the conversation about, or as in what things am I questioning?

the conversation

I was just standing around talking with some people, real general conversation. Got left with just three of us there and it suddenly got serious. It was some kind of drama or something for those girls, but one of them looked at me and asked "if you ever did anything you regretted", I said yes, and when she asked me what, I listed a couple of things then kind of left the conversation. Been thinking about everything since then. There's a lot more the more I think about it, and some things I don't necessarily regret but I wonder if were the right choice...

[oxymoron]

Stolen from Reddit

[KalessinDB]

KalessinDB, I think we're on the same page and my response was more towards what I read as a giant shrug from Popo

My only distinction would be swapping race in your statement for socioeconomic status, as I feel they are conflated way way too often.

But much like with shootings (any shootings, I don't care if it's civilian/police, police/civilian, civilian/civilian, black/white, white/black, white/white, black/black, whatever), one instance of the law being abused is one too many.

Not to go on a tangent, but even if accounting for socioeconomic status there is still a clear RACE problem in how police choose to engage people. The problem is that, perhaps intentionally, police don't keep very good stats on this stuff. That said, the stats we do have suggest that, regardless of one's income or neighborhood, being black (or brown, and usually male) makes you much more likely to get shot (here's a clearer chart showing that same data). Other folks who have done additional investigating have shown the same.

Yes, class matters. Yes, all lives matter. But, at some point, erasing RACE as THE KEY POINT in this recent national discussion starts to minimize or dangerously re-contextualize what is clearly first and foremost a race problem.

We're mostly agreeing, yes.

And while I still stand by SES being conflated with race, I suppose I will agree with you on race as a problem in the US. However, the next thing I'm going to say will likely get me labelled as a racist so I hesitate to post it, but I like intelligent discourse so I'm going to. I don't like that label, as I firmly believe the issue is low SES, not anything inherent about being a POC, but I accept that it will likely come out:

Where I work, we get Officer Safety bulletins on a nearly daily basis and, without exaggerating, 85% or more of the suspects listed as "use caution when interacting with" or "do not stop subject" because they've made threats to kill any police they see are black males. It's a problem of the chicken or the egg, really. Black males tend to have worse interactions with police because the police know that black males tend to react violently because the black males know they tend to have worse interactions with police because...

Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of shootings and stabbings reported (at least in the jurisdictions we handle) are in the inner city, and one or both parties are black -- but also, the inner city here (as with most inner cities) suffers from a problem of pretty extreme poverty (I could link articles talking about the income disparity in my county but I doubt anyone would be interested, plus it's mirrored in many areas of the country). Good lord that was a poorly constructed sentence This obviously leads to an increased vigilance on the part of officers in that area of the city, as it's more likely that they can die there. And, sadly, have died. We just recently had our first LODD in decades, although there are certainly officers shot at least yearly - I was on the channel 2 years ago when a sergeant was shot in the back and only escaped being paralyzed or killed because, in something out of a movie, the bullet deflected off his cuffs on his belt. Which leads to cries of police unfairly targetting inner city neighborhoods which are primarily made up of POC. Again, chicken and the egg.

But I agree, we're getting off topic. To bring it back to where it should be:

I just have to survive this double and then I have Sunday night off, with my bar's christmas party (private party for the regulars where the booze flows freely and presents are given!), and Monday I'm doing Hobbit marathon with my best friend in a theatre that has giant leather recliners!

[Hobie-wan]

I was just standing around talking with some people, real general conversation. Got left with just three of us there and it suddenly got serious. It was some kind of drama or something for those girls, but one of them looked at me and asked "if you ever did anything you regretted", I said yes, and when she asked me what, I listed a couple of things then kind of left the conversation. Been thinking about everything since then. There's a lot more the more I think about it, and some things I don't necessarily regret but I wonder if were the right choice...

Obviously everyone makes some bad decisions. The question is whether one learns from them or attempts to try and at least be better informed for next time.

[Forlorn Drifter]

But I'm not sure if some of these decisions are ones I can learn from. If they were something I could learn about, I don't know if I did, or if I learned the right thing. I never got into sports- was that a bad decision? I could have been in better shape, I could have been stronger. If I had been good, it might've fixed some of my confidence issues. If I had been good, I would have been popular, no question about it in a Texas school in the middle of a damn corn field. How many of my issues would have been fixed by that? I could have stood up for myself and had people on my side- the few times I got in a fight, or got in trouble, I took the fall. I got the punishment, and half the time the ass kicking. Some of the people I grew up with put people in the hospital and got off because they were "good, nice kids" in the eyes of everybody around.

And that's just one decision. What if I had started dancing earlier in my life? What if I would've made a move on that girl? What if I had gotten a different car to start with? What if I had gone into the military? Is college really right for me? Is dealing with my anger by pushing it down and ignoring it the right way to do it? Would anything have changed if I hadn't slapped that girl that time? Would things be different if I hadn't developed social issues?

Everything just swirls around my head and drives me nuts and I can't stand it. I'm literally twitching as I type.

[darsparx]

Ok just wondering why does this thread constantly turn into a political debate either every other day or every other week? (I've noticed it happens a lot lately for some odd reason )

[pepharytheworm]

Ok just wondering why does this thread constantly turn into a political debate either every other day or every other week? (I've noticed it happens a lot lately for some odd reason )

It's called "What Made you Smile/What Ticked you off Today" It's pretty easy to see how when it's pretty much a forum to bitch and complain and give your personal world views and opinions.

If liking chocolate ice cream or not was the extent to what made us smile or ticked us off I doubt it would get political.

[AppleQueso]

But I'm not sure if some of these decisions are ones I can learn from. If they were something I could learn about, I don't know if I did, or if I learned the right thing. I never got into sports- was that a bad decision? I could have been in better shape, I could have been stronger. If I had been good, it might've fixed some of my confidence issues. If I had been good, I would have been popular, no question about it in a Texas school in the middle of a damn corn field. How many of my issues would have been fixed by that? I could have stood up for myself and had people on my side- the few times I got in a fight, or got in trouble, I took the fall. I got the punishment, and half the time the ass kicking. Some of the people I grew up with put people in the hospital and got off because they were "good, nice kids" in the eyes of everybody around.

And that's just one decision. What if I had started dancing earlier in my life? What if I would've made a move on that girl? What if I had gotten a different car to start with? What if I had gone into the military? Is college really right for me? Is dealing with my anger by pushing it down and ignoring it the right way to do it? Would anything have changed if I hadn't slapped that girl that time? Would things be different if I hadn't developed social issues?

Everything just swirls around my head and drives me nuts and I can't stand it. I'm literally twitching as I type.

I'm noticing that most of those "regrets" aren't actions, but inactions.

Might be worth thinking about.

[BogusMeatFactory]

Ok just wondering why does this thread constantly turn into a political debate either every other day or every other week? (I've noticed it happens a lot lately for some odd reason )

Because this thread should be renamed to the, "What ticked you off today?" thread.

Hey Darsparx, I know your avatar is from Kingdom Hearts. What about Kingdom Hearts makes you smile?