# Ferguson, MO **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 12, 2014, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354 "2014-08-12T04:51:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 53
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1041 "2014-08-17T21:43:14Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > A bit of both, from my understanding. But it’s not just a black cultural practice, from my understanding. If a friend dies, and he loved to drink bottles of X, his friends might put bottles of X at his memorial. Did you look at the memorial picture? There were no bottles of X. There were bottles of X, Y, Z, A, B and C… ---
**Author:** ![JEngelman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JEngelman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JEngelman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1042 "2014-08-17T21:45:26Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Who gives a shit? There’s a stereotype of rural white men as dressing up in white sheets and lynching young black men for made-up crimes. This stereotype has no actual bearing on the real world today. In the United States no one has been lynched by the Klu Klux Klan or anyone since the 1960’s, when a small number may have been. There are quite a few obese black women raising illegitimate children on welfare. Quite a few white people think that is disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![JEngelman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JEngelman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JEngelman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1043 "2014-08-17T21:48:34Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Then why did you say stereotypes have a basis in truth? Is it only black stereotypes that have a basis in truth? Excuses for hating Jews are expressions of this complaint, “Jews are different from me. They perform better. They earn more.” Reasons for hating blacks have much to do with the fact that blacks really do have a very high crime rate. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1044 "2014-08-17T21:52:38Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Did you look at the memorial picture? There were no bottles of X. There were bottles of X, Y, Z, A, B and C… Maybe he liked all of those. Or maybe I’m just wrong on this. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1045 "2014-08-17T21:55:01Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > Excuses for hating Jews are expressions of this complaint, “Jews are different from me. They perform better. They earn more.” They’re also about “Jews use the blood of Christian children”, and “Jews control world finances”. And they’re really not about any of this, of course. Race-hatred is about the hater, it’s never about the one being hated. No one has legitimate reasons for race-hatred, or religion-hatred, or gender-hatred. > [@](#): > > Reasons for hating blacks have much to do with the fact that blacks really do have a very high crime rate. No. Reasons for hating blacks are usually because someone is ignorant, weak, unhappy, hateful, and the like. It doesn’t actually have anything to do with black people. As it is for pretty much all group hatred. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1046 "2014-08-17T21:56:02Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > In the United States no one has been lynched by the Klu Klux Klan or anyone since the 1960’s, when a small number may have been. There have been lots of black people killed since then unjustly. > [@](#): > > There are quite a few obese black women raising illegitimate children on welfare. Quite a few white people think that is disgusting. If you want to criticize ignorant and hateful white people, then that’s fine with me. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1047 "2014-08-17T21:56:11Z")
The whole liquor bottle thing is a “meh”. It’s not my job (nor is it any of yours) to judge whether someone is mourning a friend/relative “properly”. And it looks an awful lot like a further attempt to try to paint Michael Brown as “not a good person”, an underage drinker, a teenage alcoholic or something. Frankly, that (like many of the circumstances that have been brought up) is completely irrelevant to what happened in that 2 or 3 minutes between Michael Brown being stopped by an officer and Michael Brown lying dead or dying on the sidewalk. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1048 "2014-08-17T21:59:13Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > Did you look at the memorial picture? There were no bottles of X. There were bottles of X, Y, Z, A, B and C… Your fascination with this detail is striking. Considering a career change to anthropology, or are you doing marketing research for Big Beverage? ---
**Author:** ![JEngelman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JEngelman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JEngelman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1049 "2014-08-17T22:03:01Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > They’re also about “Jews use the blood of Christian children”, and “Jews control world finances”. And they’re really not about any of this, of course. Race-hatred is about the hater, it’s never about the one being hated. No one has legitimate reasons for race-hatred, or religion-hatred, or gender-hatred. Can you find anyone _now_ who maintains that “Jews use the blood of Christian children?” Those who complain that “Jews control world finances” begrudgingly acknowledge Jewish intellectual superiority. A race that is and has always been characterized by low average intelligence cannot control world finances. ---
**Author:** ![JEngelman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JEngelman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JEngelman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1050 "2014-08-17T22:08:06Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > No. Reasons for hating blacks are usually because someone is ignorant, weak, unhappy, hateful, and the like. It doesn’t actually have anything to do with black people. As it is for pretty much all group hatred. That may be true of some who hate blacks. A much larger number have had bad experiences with them. I was fortunate enough to attend schools where the black percentage of the school population was less than 5%. I have talked with people who attended schools or taught at schools where the majority was black. It was a bad experience. It should surprise no one that a race that really does have a crime rate over seven times the white rate generates hostility toward itself. What surprises me is that so many whites continue to make excuses for those people. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1051 "2014-08-17T22:09:41Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > those people. Now there’s a phrasing I don’t find at all surprising from this poster… ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1052 "2014-08-17T22:09:56Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > Those who complain that “Jews control world finances” begrudgingly acknowledge Jewish intellectual superiority. A race that is and has always been characterized by low average intelligence cannot control world finances. I doubt that. They probably think it’s due to lying, cheating, and stealing. That’s not even getting into all the other ways it’s wrong. As for the main topic, I understand from posts above that some eyewitnesses contradict other eyewitnesses in key ways, and that some who’ve posted here seem to be taking the ones that support their point of view at unquestioning face value. How shocking. I hope ALL of the accounts are thoroughly investigated, if for no other reason than I’m sure the officer’s attorneys will be doing the same. > [@jayjay](#): > > Now there’s a phrasing I don’t find at all surprising from this poster… Yeah, when I see the general attitude towards race of many who assume that Brown must have been a criminal who attacked the cop, it really doesn’t make me more inclined to believe the police’s version of events. That’s probably prejudicial of me, but there you go. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1053 "2014-08-17T22:16:15Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > Can you find anyone _now_ who maintains that “Jews use the blood of Christian children?” Sure. There are many examples around the world even in [recent times](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel#20th_century_and_beyond). > [@](#): > > Those who complain that “Jews control world finances” begrudgingly acknowledge Jewish intellectual superiority. No they don’t, at least many don’t. Many think they do so through dishonesty, cheating, and the like. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1054 "2014-08-17T22:16:42Z")
> [@](#): > > …Hey, you know something people? I’m not black, but there’s a whole lots a times I wish I could say I’m not white… - Frank Zappa, _Trouble Comin’ Every Day_, 1965 Preach it, brother. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1055 "2014-08-17T22:21:16Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > That may be true of some who hate blacks. A much larger number have had bad experiences with them. How the hell do you know? If it’s anecdotal, then you shouldn’t be surprised if I don’t see anecdotal reporting from someone who acknowledges they see black people as inferior as particularly compelling. > [@](#): > > I was fortunate enough to attend schools where the black percentage of the school population was less than 5%. I have talked with people who attended schools or taught at schools where the majority was black. It was a bad experience. There are many people with different experiences. There are plenty of white people who have attended majority black schools and had good experiences. > [@](#): > > It should surprise no one that a race that really does have a crime rate over seven times the white rate generates hostility toward itself. It should surprise no one that a group that was historically brutalized, exploited, and oppressed for centuries, and this only started to be recognized and corrected within the last few decades, shows greater disadvantages in many measures, including criminal ones. > [@](#): > > What surprises me is that so many whites continue to make excuses for those people. Considering American history, it doesn’t surprise me at all that many white people still hold 19th century views about black people. It does tickle me when such “white” people [turn out to have black ancestry](http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/20/living/white-supremacist-one-drop-identity/), though. ---
**Author:** ![JEngelman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JEngelman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JEngelman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1056 "2014-08-17T22:24:32Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > If you want to criticize ignorant and hateful white people, then that’s fine with me. Whites who have a low opinion of blacks are often poorly educated. This often results in a low income that means that they live in proximity with blacks. This in turn means that when they condemn blacks they know what they are talking about. Well educated whites usually make good incomes. This enables them to live and work in areas with few blacks. Consequently, they have few bad experiences. Although they may know much about mathematics, foreign languages, law, medicine, and so on, their opinion of blacks is likely to be unrealistically benign. Proximity only dispels negative feelings when one comes into contact with a demographic with admirable qualities. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1057 "2014-08-17T22:29:00Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > Whites who have a low opinion of blacks are often poorly educated. This often results in a low income that means that they live in proximity with blacks. This in turn means that when they condemn blacks they know what they are talking about. > > Well educated whites usually make good incomes. This enables them to live and work in areas with few blacks. Consequently, they have few bad experiences. Although they may know much about mathematics, foreign languages, law, medicine, and so on, their opinion of blacks is likely to be unrealistically benign. > > Proximity only dispels negative feelings when one comes into contact with a demographic with admirable qualities. Your privilege-blindness is scary deep. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1058 "2014-08-17T22:29:42Z")
> [@JEngelman](#): > > Whites who have a low opinion of blacks are often poorly educated. This often results in a low income that means that they live in proximity with blacks. This in turn means that when they condemn blacks they know what they are talking about. No. If they’re condemning “blacks”, they’re just proclaiming their own ignorance. People have, throughout history, had a tendency to blame the difficulties in their lives on whatever “other” happens to be closest. > [@](#): > > Well educated whites usually make good incomes. This enables them to live and work in areas with few blacks. Consequently, they have few bad experiences. Although they may know much about mathematics, foreign languages, law, medicine, and so on, their opinion of blacks is likely to be unrealistically benign. No. Well educated people are, though, probably more likely to treat people as individuals and not to have blanket opinions about “blacks” or any other groups. > [@](#): > > Proximity only dispels negative feelings when one comes into contact with a demographic with admirable qualities. Over long periods of time, proximity dispels negative feelings pretty much universally. Even though a significant percentage of poor white people have a negative opinion of black people, this percentage is a lot smaller than it was in the past. In another hundred years it will probably be even smaller. These improving opinions of black people are because, over time, people are, on average, getting smarter and more knowledgeable, in general. ---
**Author:** ![JEngelman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JEngelman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JEngelman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1059 "2014-08-17T22:31:21Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > It should surprise no one that a group that was historically brutalized, exploited, and oppressed for centuries, and this only started to be recognized and corrected within the last few decades, shows greater disadvantages in many measures, including criminal ones. What about the Jews? For over a thousand years in Europe they faced discrimination, persecution, pogroms, and finally the Holocaust. Nevertheless, as soon as they were given a chance to show what they could do they began to excel intellectually and economically. When blacks were given a chance to compete athletically they excelled too. Their academic performance has hardly improved since the civil rights legislation was signed. Black rates of crime and illegitimacy have risen significantly. This suggests the existence of genetic differences between the races. Black behavior and performance since the civil rights legislation was passed into law substantiates arguments presented against that legislation before it was signed. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2014, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354/1060 "2014-08-17T22:34:33Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > [Why Break a Glass at a Jewish Wedding?](http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/542288/jewish/Why-Break-a-Glass-at-a-Wedding.htm) > > Now - why build a memorial to a black kid out of bottles of liquor? > [@Terr](#): > > Did you look at the memorial picture? There were no bottles of X. There were bottles of X, Y, Z, A, B and C… Must have had a cold, too, hence the Nyquil. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354.md?page=52) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ferguson-mo/695354.md?page=54)