Comments on: Business Party II slithers by Business Party I

By: Discovery of nexium.

Discovery of nexium. — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:55:37 +0000

How can i lose the weight i gained on nexium.

Prilosec vs nexium. Nexium.

By: Privileged

Privileged — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:16:26 +0000

I don’t really believe that barriers are created or placed in the path of individuals consciously (although I’m sure it still happens on small scale)but rather unconsciously. People don’t even realize they are part of the systemic problem. If a majority of people hold power positions it’s a natural tendency to hire people you may either know directly or are introduced to through a third party or beyond. We call it networking but it can still have a negative impact on opportunity. I understand there’s a comfort level in this type of hiring/recruiting practice but it still limits opportunity to those on the outside looking in.
Sputtering is correct in his assumption that I believe the real labor will be surviving the collapse. Can someone teach me how to grow a carrot?

By: Turboguy

Turboguy — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:13:39 +0000

It’s not only they that perpetuate the socialization onto themselves, on this note Privileged and I agree that it is a systematic problem. Where we disagree is that I believe that Minorities are told time and again that they are in plight to the point that they not only believe the plight is there, actively seek to keep to keep it in effect. Though it is not a conscious choice typically, there are dirtbags like AL Sharpton or Jesse Jackson who genuinely seek to keep the problem there for monetary gain. (If anyone actually thinks Al or jesse are beneficial to any problems facing blacks, I’ll gladly hand the Kool Aid right back.)
Privileged believes that it is the system that specifically places obstacles to the sucess of minorities. I don’t think it’s this overt, but instead believe it’s far more insidious. This is our disagreement.
Surviving it will be terrible, particularly for those that inhabit the simmering disasters major cities have become, and absolute infernos of violence and despair they will be.

By: Sputtering

Sputtering — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:56:20 +0000

So help me understand this. It sounds an awful lot like you blame the plight of “Minorities” on the minorities. They are responsible for “socializing” themselves into a state of despair?
I’m sorry, but I don’t really get that. And I think by putting the blame on the community that is suffering, you are ignoring your own dictate of “personal responsibility”. If there is oppression, then there must be privilege. It can’t be ignored.
And I don’t think Privileged was saying that “making” collapse is hard work. Surviving it will be.

By: Turboguy

Turboguy — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:34:42 +0000

Naw Sputtering, we’re having our debate here instead in the current topic so we don’t detract from what Guy’s talking about. It’s a courtesy to the owner of this blog, and I hope Privileged abides by it too, to keep this debate here as opposed to the current blogs.
If you want my position on racial inequality and the disparate numbers on Minorities represented in the penal system, read above. I believe that it is a Socialization issue rather than inequality and that an entire race of people has been socialized into the rut they’re in rather than any other people specifically oppressing them.
Now if the argument was made that some wonk in a high place came up with the bright idea to begin this Socialization within, let’s use Blacks (Or African Americans, whatever you prefer) as an example, it would be passed down generation after generation of self fulfilling prophesies amongst the majority of the black population and they’d be too busy focusing on all they had to overcome to actually do so, I’d agree.
Call it “Non-beneficial Self Socialization.” Among that population there is a distressing mindset that says, “It doesn’t matter, I can’t get ahead anyway, it’s because I’m black” and it wasn’t passed onto them by any law or white person, it gets passed onto them by their peers. I happen to believe that they’re wrong. I would sooner believe that it’s a class issue and the disparity between wealthy versus poor in the penal system. Because of the years of socialization in the Black population they happen to be over-represented amongst the nation’s poor and thus are over-represented in the penal system. That same wonk that came up with the Socialization probably came up with the divide and conquer between us relatively poor people so we’re too busy pissing at each other to actually reach out and take that opportunity.
I guess I’m an optimist that thinks anyone can get ahead if they but choose to, fie on me.
And Privileged, making collapse doesn’t seem like a lot of work at all. Hell we’re sitting at our respective computers having a debate on this while it comes down around us! I don’t think it’ll take any more work from either of us than it already has to just sit back and watch the Hyperinflative Depression we’ve got brewing kick off in the next year or so after they get the printing presses rolling out the dough for payola.

By: Sputtering

Sputtering — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:20:41 +0000

This is a strange place to have an argument about privilege. But Turboguy, you have to be kidding if you think this whole pile of capitalistic B.S. has provided some sort of equal opportunity for all people in this country. If you believe that, then “Privileged” has made a good point above. You must believe the only explanation for racial disparities in the penal system must be attributed to racial inequality.
Want it or not, I think the whole thing is coming down. Place blame on Obama’s stimulus package if you want, but it seems that our future chaos is the natural, or at least predictably possible, outcome of unchecked capitalism over decades. I have no desire to suffer. But in the end, if the crash happens quickly enough, it may mean a balancing out of the injustice that has been heaped onto indigenous peoples of this planet. And, as Guy has pointed out, on life as a whole.
Perhaps that would make the native 1/3 of you very happy.

By: matt

matt — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:41:42 +0000

apologies for mentioning ms rice!
she was being interviewed on PBS
the other day, and she was asked
how did she achieve so much, (given her obvious ‘encumberances’)
she cited her parents and their advice as her inspiration.
Obviously a sample of one does not make a mean,
this goes without saying, it is an interesting story
none the less.
From here (australia)for what it is worth,(very little I am told)
for want of a better description she does not ‘read’ as a
‘black’ person, similarly with Barack Obama.
There is no seething resentment, anger, perverse sense
of entitlement, ie she lacks the media stereotype.
Legislated racism even in the past is difficult
to overcome for those living in the present,
as we can be the beneficaries of our forefathers
we should also bare some responsibility for their misdeeds.
These sins do carry forward and affect perception,
opportunity and self worth.
I am not there so I am only pissing into the wind.
be nice

By: Privileged

Privileged — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:02:13 +0000

There is a reason they make movies like “The Pursuit of Happiness.” IT’S RARE! Most individuals do not move out of the class in which they are born. What about Condoleezza Rice? What about Madame C.J. Walker? She was one of the first black millionaires. She helped open the market place for black beauty products…in 1911. The same year in which sixty-three black folks had been lynched in the US. That’s more than one per week. To suggest that every black person during that time could have been successful like Ms. Walker and that there must have been something wrong w/ them because they remained oppressed is ludicrous. Just because some individuals overcome great obstacles does not end the debate and is really shortsighted. This would suggest that the people at the bottom have not worked as hard. In many cases these individuals have worked harder. There are countless numbers of people today and in our past that have had multiple jobs and worked very hard, only to remain in the class to which they were born. How many more successful black women might we have if the remaining obstacles were removed from our society? Opportunity is there but equal access is another story. If I’m a white, Christian, male, able bodied, upper middle class, heterosexual, who happens to be college educated, and who stands to inherit land that has remained in my family since the Homestead Act, well then I may have a slight advantage over a black woman. At that point my self fulfilling prophesy might not get me over the hump so to speak. There is a reason we have had 43 whites guys before Obama. There is a reason we currently have one black Senator. There is a reason we have had so few women and men of color appointed to the highest court in the land. There is a reason most major corporations in this country have male CEOs. Every generation since the question was asked (Is there equality in the US?) white people in this country have thought all individuals were on equal footing. Every time we were wrong. Now you’re telling me just go out and grab it. Access is key and not easily available. Our future is linked to our past.
Do I want our society to collapse? That sounds like hard work and as you can tell I’m obviously against labor.

By: Turboguy!

Turboguy! — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:53:10 +0000

Okay, So your solution to this is…? Bring it all down, anarchy in the streets, no laws, if it doesn’t work, throw it all away? As much as I’m sure you’d love to see something like that, be careful what you wish for, you’ll get it, and a hell of a lot more than you bargained for. Especially considering the ruinous bailout (and payola) bill we’re getting crammed down our throats that’s going to wreak havok on our economy for decades. Actually considering your positions you’ve revealed thus far, you’re probably all for it! Nothing like a hyperinflative depression to really bring out the Anarchy in us all.
All of the legislation you’ve listed means nothing if you take your future into your own hands and do what you want. Opportunity sits in front of us all, all that needs be done is reach out and take it. It happens every day. I need to as little as point out the Condoleeza Rice as an example of someone that had the cards stacked against her in every conceivable way as you see it, and become the most powerful woman on Earth for eight years. I know your next point is going to be that “She’s just one person!” Well just like her, if anyone wants to do well, the opportunity is there, to deny it is a travesty.

By: Privileged

Privileged — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 00:48:56 +0000

You insinuate that if ‘we’ just stop mentioning oppression to people things will improve. If that’s not a superiority complex I don’t know what is.
“Instead of focusing on everything they can do to get themselves ahead they’re too busy looking at all the reasons they’re kept behind, but face no more or less hardship, have no more nor less opportunity than anyone else.”
My friend please put the Kool-Aid down and think about the absurdity of that remark. Are you telling me that despite the overwhelming data that states otherwise about opportunity in many areas we have both covered, that all ‘they’ have to do is just look ahead? Ignore the hundreds of years of ‘white affirmative action’ and preference? Just pull ‘themselves’ up by their bootstraps? Holy crap are you privileged and blinded by the BS you’ve been fed about the American Dream. By the way you never actually say who ‘they’ are. You really don’t need to because most of the crap you spew on this blog is code for people of color. Let go of it Johnny Fun Buster and start to see the world for what it truly is. Here are a few examples of white affirmative action.
White by law
In 1790 Congress passes a citizenship and naturalization act dictating “that any alien, being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof.” This leads to land ownership. This provision was not changed until 1952.
1830: The Indian Removal Act
1848: In The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Dred Scott decision of 1856
In 1882, The Chinese Exclusion Act
In 1887 The Dawes Land Allotment Act
Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896
Ozawa v. United States (1922)
Alien Land Laws (1913, 1920, and 1923)
“Asia Barred Zone” (1917)
Supreme Court Decision regarding South Asian Immigrations (1923)
Immigrant Act of 1924: Exclusion of Japanese
“No colored barber shall serve as a barber to white women or girls.”—Atlanta, Georgia, 1926
“Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.”–Missouri, 1929
“Separate free schools shall be established for the education of children of African descent; and it shall be unlawful for any colored child to attend any white school, or any white child to attend a colored school.”–Missouri, 1929
“It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers.”–Birmingham, Alabama, 1930
Magnuson Act (1943)
Asian Exclusion Repeal Acts (1946, for Filipino and East Indian)
Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934): Exclusion of Filipinos
McCarran-Walter Act (1952)
1954: One of the most significant effects of Brown v. Board of Education is the firing of thousands of Black teachers and principals in southern Black schools, after these schools are integrated with white ones. School Boards say the white parents will not let their kids be taught by black teachers. So the major beneficiaries of Brown v. Board of Education are the thousands of white (mostly female) teachers and white (mostly male) principals who get the jobs in these newly integrated schools.
Immigrant Act (1965)
Indochina Migration and Refugee Assistance Act (1975)
Refugee Act (1980)
Amerasian Homecoming Act (1987)
Immigrant Reform and Control Act (1986)
Immigration Act (1990)
California’s Proposition 187
Somehow I’m sure you feel over the last 40 years that affirmative action (which is currently being repealed in many states) and civil rights have washed away any advantage that white people may have gained over the last few centuries. I just scratched the surface w/ the laws that have favored me and my ancestors.
Feel sorry for yourself…DONE.