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disgruntledemployee

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7 hours ago, joe1234 said:

To paraphrase an old quote, it's going to be difficult to get someone to understand something when their relative station in life depends upon them not understanding it.

Another stupid comment designed to make you feel better about your virtue. My station in life is completely unaffected by policing and black people. But I have an ethical interest in the matter. Misguided progressive policy, often based on gross misinterpretations of cause and effect, have a historical and frightening way of creating the problem they claim existed the whole time before failing to solve it.

 

We all have an interest in preventing this.

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40 minutes ago, Swamp Yankee said:

I suggest talking to a black person (or better, people) who disagrees with your position above.  It might be enlightening. 

However, for arguments sake, let's just assume you're correct in that police interaction is not biased again black people. Then why is the African-American community complaining so much?  What is your explanation? 

Bias and racism are not synonyms. If you are a police officer and the overwhelming balance of interactions you have with criminals are of a certain skin color, as a human you are going to develop a bias. That does not make you racist. We know this because minority police are subject to the exact same bias. Remember how stupid we all thought it was when TSA was patting down elderly white women in wheelchairs?

 

This is a problem to be solved, but any solution is immediately precluded by calling the participants evil, which racism very much is. 

 

I think well meaning liberals gravitate towards this narrative because it is a much easier solution. With racism, you just go after the racists. People and policy, find and destroy. But the real solution is probably going to involve the breakdown of the black family unit, and the incarceration of young black men for decades. Nothing about that is going to be quick or easy. Or cheap.

 

Affirmative action in colleges is another example of this phenomenon. The easy answer was to just twist the numbers to get more black people in college. But in many ways black people have paid the price of that ill-conceived solution. The real answer was always to fix black education at the elementary school level, and work up from there. But the results from that endeavor would not be seen for decades, whereas changing college admissions only takes four years to yield hypothetical results.

 

Perception is not reality, but it guides how we act. The more we scream about systemic racism, despite the hard evidence, the more people will believe it.  Just like election fraud. I find it almost amusing how each side sees the riots of the other side as inconceivable. I don't. I think the riots were unjustified and certainly immoral based on evidence, but I'm not surprised that they happened. a bunch of well-meaning citizens made the foolish mistake of taking what their politicians and media figures said as truth. What would you do if you legitimately believed that our democratic election process was being stolen from us? I hope that you would have your guns ready and march on the capitol. Likewise if you believed that the police were intentionally killing scores of black people without cause, based only on the fact that they were black, I would hope that you would take to the streets. I would.

Edited by Lord Ratner
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Slackline feels guilty for being white.  He has bought the "white man bad" rhetoric hook line and sinker.  That is an unbelievably weak state of mind.  I think there are probably more and more like him in the military today, and unfortunately the military seems to be encouraging that line of thinking. 

The Army regulations are knee-jerking hard left on this notion of white privilege, systemic racism, and wokeness...some of it is hard to read.  I'm not sure if the AF regs are going in the same direction but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if they are headed that way.

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1 hour ago, Lord Ratner said:

Lots of words, some good, some not so much.

You make some pretty good points in here, but I think you still easily dismiss the hard evidence that goes counter to your narrative.  Affirmative action, I don’t have a good answer for you there.  I think we’re on similar ground on that one.

I think where I take issue is that you’ve narrowed it down to “fixing their problem”, basically putting it 100% on them.  “Well, if they’d stop stepping out on their women and maintain a nuclear family, they wouldn’t be in this mess...” That ignores the massive amounts of policies that have existed in the US to make it more difficult for them to take out loans, buy houses, biases (since you guys all have a fear of the word racism) that prevented them from getting jobs, treated as hostile suspects, I could go on, and it’s all been laid out here a million times.  

Even Trump didn’t hide it back when he was heavy into the apartment game.  Trump instructed them to label applications from black people so they knew who to deny.  I’ll even give him the benefit of the doubt and say it was due more to bias than racist beliefs.  

Socioeconomic factors that have been created by decades of wrongheaded policies based off fear and/or ignorance have created the situation we’re in today.

1 hour ago, filthy_liar said:

Slackline feels guilty for being white.  He has bought the "white man bad" rhetoric hook line and sinker.  That is an unbelievably weak state of mind.  I think there are probably more and more like him in the military today, and unfortunately the military seems to be encouraging that line of thinking. 

The Army regulations are knee-jerking hard left on this notion of white privilege, systemic racism, and wokeness...some of it is hard to read.  I'm not sure if the AF regs are going in the same direction but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if they are headed that way.

 Couldn’t be further from the truth.  I can’t control the family I was born into, just like I couldn’t control the country I was born into.  I lucked out on both accounts!  Very greatful for it.  Does that mean that if I see something we could fix I shouldn’t say anything?  I should just sit there with my mouth shut to make others feel more comfortable?  Acknowledging that something like having priviledges others don’t have simply because of the skin color I happened to be born with doesn’t mean anyone is racist.  It means we still have work to do to overcome decades of overtly racist beliefs that led to covert ways to keep others in check, given different names or justifications to make those around them feel comfortable.  

I realize, I’m not convincing any of you with anything I say.  I‘m not saying it for you.  I don’t think you’re racist either.  Just so easily offended by the notion that there are still problems in the system that benefit one skin color more than another.  I’m opening myself up to the dreaded criticism from the internet for those that are just lurking, maybe aren’t sure one way or another, and actually consider reasoned, logical arguments.  What a bunch of people on an internet forum say about my online profile won’t keep me up at night...

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So the responses proffered were "go re-read this forum," a tangential "his lot in life depends on this belief so he won't understand," "go talk to a black person," and most recently, changing the subject to "black people were historically discriminated against in this country." Hmmm? And I'm the person not wanting to have a conversation about this? Pfffffft. Scoff.

Each of those responses is a prototype for avoiding something that challenges a closely held belief. Note, I don't deny that blacks were historically discriminated against in this country and that those policies have effects to this day (today). But that wasn't what we were talking about. We were talking about rioting and policing being unfair in this country. I provided data that (to me) fully explains why policing appears disproportionate. That doesn't square with some dogma, but it can't be addressed directly because it doesn't fit into an acceptable narrative, so we get the four side-steps outlined above.

Let me offer this: there is middle ground out there, but if you're going to find it, you have to accept what's real. We can agree that blacks have been treated horribly historically in this country and that something needs to be done to wrench this community (and others) out of the death spiral it seems to be in. You won't find middle ground with people "on the other side" whilst denying obvious realities and pinning the tail on whatever donkey you've been told is responsible. The cops aren't your scapegoat. The greatest irony in all this "BLM" nonsense from the summer was that the police are the greatest actual BLM organization out there - but of course they're the ones painted as the villains.

Edited by ViperMan
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There are systemic issues holding the black community back. However most of them are driven by the same party that says “if you don’t vote for me, you ain’t black.” Look at the dominant political party in each city that had massive unrest this summer. 
 

Democrat policy has by and large owned the black vote by developing social programs that keep the black community dependent on government assistance. Most of this “assistance” is then paired to the narrative of the hopeless black man still being held down by the American legacy of slavery. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy that has engrained itself into black culture and is self defeating. 
 

And the “solutions” coming forward on this are just more of the same. ViperMan mentioned the death spiral of these communities. Corey Booker wants to implement “baby bonds” where every child born in America gets a $1,000 savings account with money added to it each year until they turn 18, with the the poorest families getting the most money deposited (up to $2,000 I believe). Anyone with a brain sees that a policy like this merely encourages further poverty and govt dependence. Why would you work to improve your standing in life if your kids can get nearly $40,000 handed to them by remaining in poverty. The proposal for this program also specifically mentions aiding those in minority communities, so it’s no doubt who this vote getting scheme is meant to target. The death spiral continues...
 

Republicans do share the blame in that none of them have the stones to actually address this issue, probably for fear of being called racist, so instead they sit silently on the sidelines and try and pretend the problem doesn’t exist. 
 

All that being said, this whole narrative of a racist fabric within America that holds minorities and blacks back or a racist army of cops executing black men in the street is such a freaking cop out. It’s a convenient distraction for a political party that shares a large part of the blame for the plight of African Americans in this country yet counts on their vote every 2 and 4 years. Unfortunately it’s seemed to work. 
 

There are real solutions to this but they take actual hard work and will also likely take decades to see results. If we want to see something succeed it will take people that recognize that the very real problem of decades of mistreatment and discrimination of blacks was not helped by a policy of government dependence that has actually pushed the community into further despair. 

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15 minutes ago, Lord Ratner said:

Bias and racism are not synonyms. If you are a police officer and the overwhelming balance of interactions you have with criminals are of a certain skin color, as a human you are going to develop a bias. That does not make you racist. We know this because minority police are subject to the exact same bias. Remember how stupid we all thought it was when TSA was patting down elderly white women in wheelchairs?

 

This is a problem to be solved, but any solution is immediately precluded by calling the participants evil, which racism very much is. 

 

I think well meaning liberals gravitate towards this narrative because it is a much easier solution. With racism, you just go after the racists. People and policy, find and destroy. But the real solution is probably going to involve the breakdown of the black family unit, and the incarceration of young black men for decades. Nothing about that is going to be quick or easy. Or cheap.

 

Affirmative action in colleges is another example of this phenomenon. The easy answer was to just twist the numbers to get more black people in college. But in many ways black people have paid the price of that ill-conceived solution. The real answer was always to fix black education at the elementary school level, and work up from there. But the results from that never would not be seen for decades, whereas changing college admissions only takes four years to yield hypothetical results.

 

Perception is not reality, but it guides how we act. The more we scream about systemic racism, despite the hard evidence, the more people will believe it.  I find it almost amusing how each side sees the riots of the other side as inconceivable. I don't. I think the riots were unjustified and certainly immoral based on that, but I'm not surprised that they happened. a bunch of well-meaning citizens made the foolish mistake of taking what their politicians and media figures said as truth. What would you do if you legitimately believed that our democratic election process was being stolen from us? I hope that you would have your guns ready and march on the capitol. Likewise if you believed that the police were intentionally killing scores of black people without cause, based only on the fact that they were black, I would hope that you would take to the streets. I would.

Bias and racism are synonyms, at least according to this reference:

https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/racist

More precisely, racism (per contemporary usage) is on the extreme right side of a specific type of bias ("racial bias") "Right" in this context is based on conventional data presentation, not politics. There can be and are racists on the political left. 

Improving policing definitely requires multivariate analysis. Nevertheless, racism (or behavior/actions along the racial bias spectrum) is a significant factor that must be addressed.  Having friends and family in law enforcement, I am sympathetic to the many hats they must wear over the course of a shift and throughout a career.  That and their overall lack of ongoing training.  Think of the training prior to a deployment. Or the typical ratio of flight planning to time in the air. Police get nowhere near enough of that.  They need more funding, not less.  However (and its a big however) regardless of that police have to behave in a way that earns and keeps the public's trust.  If you have one police officer who is violent due to racial bias and 99 others who keep quiet about it, you've got 100 bad cops in the eyes of the targeted minority community (or 20 who harass, 60 who remain silent, etc. etc.)  I spent some time as a youth in NYC and observed such violence first hand with family who is much darker complexioned than me but engaging in the same mischievous behavior.  Unfortunately, I couldn't record it at the time since I didn't have a shoulder-mounted VHS camera. 

Calling out racism a la BLM does not mean you are ignoring other variables or automatically painting a given group as evil.  There is a concern about and attention paid to black crime (Stop the Violence and Parishoners on Patrol). As a side note, I don't endorse the bizarre BLM positions on their website regarding socialism and nuclear families. 

Affirmative Action is a completely different animal which I agree has been poorly implemented and resulted in massive backlash.  True equality of opportunity (as opposed to forcing an easily measured statistical outcome) is difficult to achieve because it is complex and results can only be determined over a long time scale; i.e. longer than the typical political term or attention span.  No one I'm aware of is suggesting a poof! magic wand solution to police racial bias.   

 

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2 hours ago, ViperMan said:

So the responses proffered were "go re-read this forum," a tangential "his lot in life depends on this belief so he won't understand," "go talk to a black person," and most recently, changing the subject to "black people were historically discriminated against in this country." Hmmm? And I'm the person not wanting to have a conversation about this? Pfffffft. Scoff.

Each of those responses is a prototype for avoiding something that challenges a closely held belief. Note, I don't deny that blacks were historically discriminated against in this country and that those policies have effects to this day (today). But that wasn't what we were talking about. We were talking about rioting and policing being unfair in this country. I provided data that (to me) fully explains why policing appears disproportionate. That doesn't square with some dogma, but it can't be addressed directly because it doesn't fit into an acceptable narrative, so we get the four side-steps outlined above.

Let me offer this: there is middle ground out there, but if you're going to find it, you have to accept what's real. We can agree that blacks have been treated horribly historically in this country and that something needs to be done to wrench this community (and others) out of the death spiral it seems to be in. You won't find middle ground with people "on the other side" whilst denying obvious realities and pinning the tail on whatever donkey you've been told is responsible. The cops aren't your scapegoat. The greatest irony in all this "BLM" nonsense from the summer was that the police are the greatest actual BLM organization out there - but of course they're the ones painted as the villains.

How is "go talk to a black person" who experiences issues "avoiding something"?   Data collection is an essential component of problem analysis.  I'm not suggesting everything you hear will be fact or even relevant.  However, it is intellectually fragile ground to make claims about someone's position without at least speaking with them.  

That said, maybe you have done so.  If that is the case, I'm interested in what you heard.  Were any of your opinions challenged?

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6 hours ago, Swamp Yankee said:

How is "go talk to a black person" who experiences issues "avoiding something"?   Data collection is an essential component of problem analysis.  I'm not suggesting everything you hear will be fact or even relevant.  However, it is intellectually fragile ground to make claims about someone's position without at least speaking with them.  

That said, maybe you have done so.  If that is the case, I'm interested in what you heard.  Were any of your opinions challenged?

In the abstract? It's not, and is always a good idea to go to talk with people.

In the context of the conversation at hand, it's an attempt to avoid dealing with the very real issue of disproportionate levels of violent crime being committed by the black community in the USA. And further, I'm not sure what would be gleaned from a conversation with one individual that would explain why blacks commit a greater number of murders than whites, whilst being outnumbered by whites ~ 7x. Maybe it would be illuminating, but even still, would at best be anecdotal. And I will say this, I am generally not convinced of "truths" about groups of people by emotion or personal stories - I'd say that makes me an anti-racist - in the true sense of the word, not this new-speak we're all being subjected to.

Either way, the FBI is convinced that there is a problem. I'm not sure why that is so difficult to fit in to certain belief sets, but I have my ideas. And notice, none of you guys has/can/will acknowledge the data put forth. Why? Why is it hard to look at a data set and say, "yeah, that is a problem"? Is it a conspiracy? Do you literally not believe those numbers? Are there massive numbers of white murders that are going unreported and unsolved? Or are there massive numbers of blacks being convicted and incarcerated for murders they didn't commit? You see why people like me have a hard time even seeing where you guys are coming from on this subject.

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57 minutes ago, MyCS said:

Blacks commit more crimes due to home environment, lack of money, culture, and education. Homes lacking a father figure is problematic too. 

You're asking him to look past the numbers and get to a reason.  Good luck. To him, minorities are just more violent, and less educated by nature.  "Those people" are this way now, and always have been.

I've had the same discussion with people where they're like, "Why don't they just move out of those neighborhoods?!  If they didn't like it they would leave."

Zero desire to dig into the issue, really look at the blatantly racist housing issues that kept minorities that could leave in bad neighborhoods (red lines, racist lending practices, racist development [ex. 80 through Omaha], etc.).  Then, the war on drugs and mass incarceration at a disproportionate rate for minorities over whites, which crippled the families of what were generally conservative households.

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5 hours ago, 17D_guy said:

You're asking him to look past the numbers and get to a reason.  Good luck. To him, minorities are just more violent, and less educated by nature.  "Those people" are this way now, and always have been.

I've had the same discussion with people where they're like, "Why don't they just move out of those neighborhoods?!  If they didn't like it they would leave."

Zero desire to dig into the issue, really look at the blatantly racist housing issues that kept minorities that could leave in bad neighborhoods (red lines, racist lending practices, racist development [ex. 80 through Omaha], etc.).  Then, the war on drugs and mass incarceration at a disproportionate rate for minorities over whites, which crippled the families of what were generally conservative households.

While I certainly agree that there are historic reasons for these problems...how long can you blame those historic reasons?  How much separation from those events do you need before you need to take some responsibility for improving your own lot in life?

Is anyone TODAY, in 2021, being prevented from renting an apartment, buying a house, getting a job, etc based solely on race?  And if so...what do we do about it?  We already have a plethora of government agencies that work to eliminate this kind of racism in hiring, housing, health care, banking, education...Is the solution MORE government programs?  And what kind of government programs will be successful where our current programs have failed?

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The challenge is that a lot of race issues are a local problem, and solutions require local communities figuring out what work for their community.

Selective enforcement of the law and biases in sentencing are problems within the justice system. Great of the unfamiliar is also a problem for police: if you don't understand the culture or mannerisms of a particular group of people, it can be very easy to view unfamiliar behavior as threatening, which escalates the amount of force used. Also, the thin blue line movement is stupid. It creates this notion that people in the community are bad, and the police keep the order. This creates a mentality of separation of the police from the community it is supposed to be protecting. But these are issues that have to be fixed within a community at a local area.

Increasing funding for police would have varying effects. It's built on the belief that they will spend the money to improve training, or hire more police. But I'd bet that many departments will buy better toys (cars, maybe outfit a SWAT team or two, or a helicopter) rather than invest in training. Sounds an awful lot like the DoD...

That unfamiliarity in culture differences also can cause problems in other areas in life. Job interviews, housing, etc. That can also make it hard to escape your circumstances. And that's a local issue (there's already federal laws regarding hiring and housing protected classes).

There's also a motion that if you work hard enough and have enough grit, you can escape and climb the social ladder. In some cases, it's true, but it also relies on good luck and timing, which aren't always acknowledged (many people are suckers for the great man theory). But often times, it seems to be parents making huge sacrifices in their life to give their kids a better life that breaks the chain.

The formula for upward mobility has also changed. Used to be a college degree was enough to bring home a good job, and was a safe bet. Now even that is a significant gamble, with many people being saddled with heavy debt that can't be discharged in bankruptcy. This one's probably a national issue though-good intentions with bad unintended consequences. But it doesn't stop employers from requiring or preferring college degrees, even if the job in no way requires one.

So there's a lot of systemic and cultural issues that contribute to the race problem (but it's really a culture problem).

Here's an AF example: remember when everyone was complaining about having to complete SOS/ACSC and a master's in their off time in order to have a decent chance of promotion? And how that was taking away time with the family? And that commanders were using those factors also in determining strats (essentially dinging you twice for the same item)? And at least within AMC, special programs are also tired to those factors (WIC, Phoenix).

The typical line was to show your commitment to the system, you know what the game is, and if you want to advance, you have to play the game. Sure, a very small percentage of people a year might be promoted without a master's or PME. The system wasn't going to change itself (the statistics show that advanced degrees and PME were positive indicators of future success...) But a systemic issue forced a lot of pain onto the population of officers, and it took CSAF unilateral action to change it (masking degrees). And even then it feels like there are commanders out there that still use master's degrees in their strat matrix.

But if you look out in the civilian world, we expect people, largely who are poor or in the lower end of middle class, to pay out of pocket for night classes to get a degree or trained in a different career fields to improve their station in life, and no one blinks an eye. It's just expected, and to an extent, celebrated as American culture (busting your butt to live a comfortable life). But it ignores that there's risk involved for the individual, and even if you work hard, bad timing of luck means you can still fail. This is compounded by the survivorship bias, where is ready to pick out certain factors and point to that being the reason for success, while ignoring many other factors that contribute to that success.

We're also a very individualistic society, so we tend to not recognize the support or help we get from the society that surrounds us. If you're not aware of that fact, when you look at people who are struggling from that perspective, it's very easy to lay 100% of the blame on the individual, even though there may be a societal issues to blame as well.

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On 2/4/2021 at 2:16 PM, Swamp Yankee said:

How is "go talk to a black person" who experiences issues "avoiding something"?   Data collection is an essential component of problem analysis.  I'm not suggesting everything you hear will be fact or even relevant.  However, it is intellectually fragile ground to make claims about someone's position without at least speaking with them.  

That said, maybe you have done so.  If that is the case, I'm interested in what you heard.  Were any of your opinions challenged?

The irony is for the amount of black people you’ve talked to who support your viewpoint, I have 7 (yes I’ve counted when I thought about it) black friends who do not share your viewpoint (and 3 of them came to this country on a raft as a child...so no, they’re not from a “privileged” family). They are along the thought process espoused earlier in this thread that historical treatment and past laws have been terrible/discriminatory, and there are absolutely things to address and make better today, but there is not a systemic, nation-wide, far-reaching (or whatever other adjective you want to use) problem of racism. It is real and they want it gone, but it is so wildly blown out of proportion when attached to words like “systemic” and the focus of those who are well intentioned is significantly misguided.

So consider this, or just throw it away because it’s counter to the narrative, but I hope you guys don’t, because it’s certainly a perspective that needs to be considered so we can move forward in the most positive direction, without being misguided so strongly by bullshit spewed by the media and politicians.

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5 minutes ago, ClearedHot said:

So give it to the government?   We all know the government is famous for transparency...

Infinitely more transparent  than private credit bureaus, especially with FOIA requests. Or am I missing something?

Edited by Negatory
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4 minutes ago, Negatory said:

Infinitely more transparent  than private credit bureaus, especially with FOIA requests. Or am I missing something?

Given the governments record with transparency, especially the past 12 years, I would 100% disagree with you.

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Biden administration to remove terrorist designation for Yemen's Houthi militia

Iran jumping for joy...I don't understand this decision especially when we have been supplying arms to Saudi (until Biden suspended sales to them.), to help them push back this group which has clear demonstrated ties to the Iranian and North Korean governments.

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Credit bureaus are a tough nut to crack.

Their customer isn't you as the individual, but lenders. Their business is telling lenders how risky lending to you is, and their formula doing so it's the core of their recommendations.

Sure, you should have visibility to make sure facts are correct (accounts, addresses, etc). But the formula that spits out your credit score is proprietary to the credit bureau, and it's what keeps them in business (providing good recommendations to lenders). So there's no way to have transparency without destroying the business.

You don't *have* to have a credit score to get a loan; there's no real requirement for a lender to check, though it's likely in the lender's financial interests to do so.

The problem with the government getting in the credit reporting business is then the government gets deep in the lending business (has that worked out well for government backed education loans?), especially if commercial credit bureaus are eliminated or forced to use a certain formula.

What happens when a lender uses a government backed credit score, and an individual defaults on the loan? Is the government responsible for backing part or all of the loan because it endorsed the individual (through issuing a credit score), especially if the government score differs significantly from a commercial credit score?

Or if the government formula ignores certain indicators based on fairness/equality, lenders may choose to increase interest rates across the board (to avoid perceptions of unfairness) to cover loans that may default.

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