Just kidding. Apparently the cat has no one’s tongue on this blog! I have heard from all sorts of people who are itching to comment on various issues but there just doesn’t seem to be a thread for their topic.
So here you go. Another open thread. Now I hope to see all those comments!
M-H
Elena, Alanna, MH I’m so sick of mackie’s racists comments. Have you ever considered warning him or editing some of the worst ones out? It gets a little old, and simply encourages more racisim from him. I encourage his free speech, but I find it very offensive racism of the type most of you claim you would NEVER tolerate.
Mackie, your comments would make so much more sense (and show you to be more rational, rather than hateful and full of anger) if you left race, gender, religion and ethnicity out of the target stetement and simply discussed “justice” and “injustice” for people regardless of race, gender, religion and ethnicity.
Mackie you have no concept that people are “individuals”, regardless of their race, gender, religion and ethnicity, and are accountable for their personal actions, not the actions of other members of their race, religion, gender or ethnicity. When you make race part of the equation you become a “racist”, full of racial hatred. It is so obvious.
Censored, we discuss “race” by not discussing “race”, instead we discuss “individuals” all deserving of the same respect, regardless of their gender, religion, race or ethnicity. We cleave good from “bad” by law and lawlessness, not by race, gender, religion and ethnicity, and punish “individuals for their “lawless” and “illegal” behavior, not the behavior of their race, religion, gender or ethnicity.
This is Mackie’s blindness, he cannot see that “individuals” can be either “good” or “bad” in how they treat others, including how law enforcement “behaves”. You have to hold the “individual” law enforcement person accountable, not the entire Department or Profession, as he often does.
On this Blog, you hold “individuals” accountable for their comments, and on BVBL you must also hold “individuals” accountable for their comments, not the entire community of bloggers, just because they post there, rather than here does not make all of them better or worse. You must pay attention to indivudual behavior and character, just like you have to hold “illegal” people accountable for their behavior as “individuals” not members of a race, gender, religion or ethnicity.
It is when you forget this that ALL of you go wrong. Focus on the “individual” right or wrong of the behavior and you will be able to clearly judge who is bad and who is good, by their actions.
Mackie, you might be right but you need a better delivery system if you are going to get people on your side. I don’t think you could probably find a more solid group of people who feel strongly about people being treated decently. Your rhetoric is alienating them rather than having them see your point of view. I don’t think that is what you want.
We all don’t feel the same way about issues. But I think all the regulars believe we should not set public policy by mob rule of a few.
Michael, Mackie knows how we feel You are free to reinforce your feelings with him. I applaud your civility in doing it.
One thing about me: I will not call a person out by name the first time. I will make a general remark. After that, I am fairly unpredictable.
One word of caution: If you are emailing people here in groups, it is a real good idea to create an online account that doesn’t have your real name. Twinad brought up a real close call for her. Thanks Twinad for reminding us all. It doesn’t happen intentionally, but when groups get your email, the chance of mistakes happening goes up exponentially. The black velvets spend a great deal of time speculating. You don’t want to get caught and star on their website.
Michael, I think each person is accountable for his or her remarks here. One blogger does not speak for the entire blog. I believe Elena, Alanna, and I pay fairly close attention but this is not a paying job.
It has always been the intent of this blog not to censor people for their ideas, thus ANTI-bvbl. We do censor for rudeness and vileness by placing a comment in moderation or a person’s identity in permanent moderation. We have removed personal remarks and we don’t allow spam to come through. We aren’t perfect. It is Alanna’s blog and she will have th efinal say in all cases.
I hope this clarifies. We aren’t all going to agree but hopefully we can strive to agree to disagree rather and be disagreeable.
I’m not really trying to get people on my side. I prefer to express my opinion unfettered by alliances.
And I don’t really want to sell my ideas, as most of them are actually borrowed. If my comments offend all others, it is what it is. As long as my comments are not meanly spoken, my conscience is clear. ‘Manners are for the unmannerly’
I see that proper the nickname is sticking for Chris “Bitter Boy” Royce.
I think Bitter Boy’s latest pitiful spasm of sore loser resentment toward Frank Principi is even worse than the first.
Re. the Mackie debate, I am a person of color and I interpret his rants as authentic, not a “James” ruse to make the rest of us look bad by association. He is angry and I get why. But we have different ways of coping with the why.
M-H and others who are embarrassed by what Mackie writes: remember that Gospel Greg Letiecq lost credibility over racist comments on his blog BECAUSE he censored all the others. That showed he had a preference for the racist comments. Since AntiBVBL does not censor, no one can judge you for what Mackie says, whether he is a plant or not.
The ‘shanda factor’ is only a small part of this discussion. I have nothing to be embarrassed over. I have addressed concerns to the best of my ability. Hate speech is hate speech, regardless of who you slap into the object of the sentence.
I see allowing hate speech to go unchallenged as the pinnacle of hypocrisy in my role here on this blog.
Antibvbl has censored and will continue to do so when bounds of decency are crossed. I addressed that issue earlier.
I have said what I have to say on this subject. Finis
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I happen to agree with NGL on this one. Obviously, being white, I take offense at some of Mackie’s comments. However, to deny that racism does exist is just not accurate. I still hear the N word, I still hear racist jokes, and I still hear fear based on people’s color. To the degree that Mackie believes there is a big conspiracy theory against blacks, i.e. the war on drugs, is not based on race. It is based on a system that believes in spending/wasting money on jails as opposed to social programs like head start, etc.
Mackie, I understand the desire not to put too much info out there, but what suggestions would you have for addressing the problems with race or ethnicity at the local level? Where would you begin? Or do you think we’ve gotten beyond needing to address issues locally? Pre-Letiecq and HSM, did you think there was something in particular that needed ro be addressed and by which agencies?
I understand your anger about the disparities that existed in drug sentencing – particularly sentences that involved cocaine possession.
Elena,
I don’t think there’s a secret cabal someplace conspiring against blacks. I think the problem is massive denial. Massive neglect in our legal system to protect minorities against bigotry. If you go to trial, you’re supposed to be judged by a jury of your peers. Long ago this should have been redefined to require, at the behest of the defendant, that the jury be all of the same race as the defendant if the defendant is a minority.
White people get caught up in the War on Drugs too. But they tend not to be convicted at the rates that blacks are. How does your theory explain that?