Hmmmm
We've got three resent political debates going on that I deem worthy of discussion. First, it was the Don Imus (liberal bastard) comments that led to him getting fired. Is there a double standard in America when it comes to racism? Should he have gotten fired? Second, it was Steve Spurrier (although he isn't important to the discussion) saying that we should get rid of the confederate flag. The "it offends people, so why not" argument. Is this reason enough? Finally, what will be a huge story for quite a while, the VT shootings that left 33 murdered. Would gun control prevent this from happening again? Would it make it less likely? Would a Wild Wild West setting actually deter this kind of behavior?
I want to hear Paul's opinion before I state mine because he tends to just oppose me. I'd like to know where he actually stands on these.
Labels: Politics
posted by Rob Turman @ 5:52 AM
6 Comments:
re: Imus
Basically he was making a joke and it was on the racist side of things and for whatever reason it picked up traction. I'm not opposed to him getting fired, per se. In fact, I don't really give a fuck about Imus. He got fired. It isn't my call to make, and it isn't my place to tell the man in charge that Imus shouldn't have gotten fired. Funny thing about the whole situation is, the guy they are replacing Imus with @ MSNBC has his own past of racist remarks and so on. So the whole situation is just obviously bullshit. (also, for the record, the TV never showed the funny part of the Imus clip, when Imus' assistant says like, "The more I look at this Rutgers girls basketball team the more I can't tell the difference between them and the Toronto Raptors".
re: Spurrier
Eh the take I've heard on this thing that makes the most sense is that Spurrier is doing this to help with recruiting. Makes a bit of sense. Spurrier's hip, he hates the Confederate Flag. And son on. As for my views on the Confederate Flag in general, again I mostly don't give a shit. In my mind the Stars and Stripes represents slavery and oppression and so on just as much as teh Stars and Bars, so people taking a moral highground against the Confederate Flag seems pretty hypocritical to me. Also, I can understand why some feel the Confederate Flag is important to them, afterall many probably had relatives and such who died in the civil war. The only thing that annoys me is when Northerners start rolling around flying the Confederate Flag cuz they hate black folks. Fucking weak.
re: GUNS
Two ways to look at it. Would "gun control" (a la the "beueacratic badassery" that the Chuckster heralds) have stopped this? Oh I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. I lean towards not, though. Violent sociopaths will be violent sociopaths afterall. Beueacratic badassery can only do so much to stop people from buying guns. A competitive black market would emerge, of course.
The other way of looking at it is sure, if we ratcheted up taxes a bit and implemented a sort of police state, we could probably make it all but impossible for Joe Blow to obtain a gun. But yeah, I don't believe in social engineering, nor do I trust Governments (ha, i should end the sentence there) that don't allow people to protect themselves. No no, the Government must protect us. Just such a line of BS. Really infuriates me quite frankly. I mean, US is bad enough as it is, as I can't buy a Nuke or a Tank at my leisure, but if all of a sudden extreme measures started being taken to prevent me from buying some sort of kickass gun... well i'd probably move.
But yeah, I believe in individual freedom,
I was reading about the VaTech/Gun Control debate on a forum that I frequent and it was really quite interesting. The forum is mostly American but there are a good number of posters from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, and other parts of Europe. All the Euros/Canucks/Kiwis etc were all up in arms talking bout how we need to revamp our gun laws, outlaw guns, and so on. the crux of their point was that this type of violence is an "American" problem, thus it is a result of our relatively lax gun laws. Now this board is full of liberal ballsuckers and not a one of the american liberals would buy into this. It was like tooth and nail. So yeah, it is was an interesting example of how different American culture is with say, Euro culture. Not to say there aren't Americans who think we ought to ban guns, just interseting that is all...!
Flag:
What I think is weak is when Northerners impose their opinion that the flag means slavery. I've heard about and seen many southern black families that care about the flag. It isn't really a racism issue, it is just stupid Whites telling everyone that it is a slavery issue.
As for Spurrier...his job is to help that team out, and by saying what he said, he has not only put himself on a short leash, but will in the long run destroy funding to that program. He should have kept his mouth shut. But what do I care about South Carolina football?
Imus:
He is a liberal bastard who should have gotten fired for being such. He shouldn't have gotten fired because Jackson and Sharpton started a lynch mob. I'd like to think national news has more backbone than to pander to these losers, but they do it over and over again.
Guns:
I agree. A ban on drugs didn't work out too well, and I would say they are pretty comparable.
It appears we are in line on all these issues.
The Husker board had a very long and in-depth debate about American violence. It got into how certain cultures in America tend to float towards violence, but then we were called racist for saying any culture might have any sort of problem (white guilt).
It was me, saying the problem is a mix bag of mentality that has been hammered into their heads through the years, poverty, and drugs, vs. people saying that it has nothing to do with a mentality of any races. IMO, those people were just too afraid of being branded racist so they would rather ignore the problems.
It got moved to the hidden forum, though.
yeah that is the funny thing is that the "North" is and has been just as racist as the "South" throughout United States History. Randy Newman wrote a pretty sweet song about it, it is entitled "Red Necks"
also rob pretty tool-ish of you to think Imus shoudl be fired cuz his views disagree with yours. we aren't living in Robtopia, afterall.
I think you should die. Is that toolish? Or is it only toolish to have an opinion?
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