Racism Alive and well in TN. {mild but interesting?}

[cosmosdan]

@Ghanima

I think it is fair for the OP to say he thinks racism is alive and well in Tennessee, especially since he lives in fucking Tennessee. If he wants to open a thread to discuss a certain anecdote about racism than that’s his prerogative. I hate you fucking nitpickers who ruin every interesting thread by beating your chests and wailing that the OP isn’t specific enough, or is too specific, or only has anecdotal evidence, or only has statistical evidence. Shut the fuck up! I can certainly tell you that racism is alive and well in California, and that it works all ways. Of course, if I was the OP someone must now demand that I present all my evidence so that they can pick it apart (watch my hands - what tripe) and then when I say (truthfully) that it is just my personal experience, accuse me of backpedaling. Personally I believe the OP’s friend’s story, because of my own experiences. The OP has not and is not backpedaling at all! That jury was most likely influenced by race - their own and the parties involved.

Now as to whether or not it was a conscious decision for each person is certainly questionable, and to me is the most interesting part of the situation. It is hard enough for intelligent people to recognize their own internalized racism, let alone your average moron. I imagine many of them probably had other reasons in the forefront of their minds as to why the woman didn’t deserve any compensation. It was only a few in the jury that recognized what was going on. That’s the thing about racism - it is so very insidious.

Thank you for getting it. My faith is restored

Any suggestion on how to avoid the fucking nitpickers?

[The_King_of_Soup]

Gee, cos, I came for the pathetic weaseling, but I stayed for the out-and-out lying part of your performance.

Your entire OP was an accusation of racism against eight jurors. Your expectation that couching it in the words of a friend provides you with an escape hatch is evidently the product of a certain moral laxity in your upbringing. It’s your OP, not your friend’s. Also it bespeaks a certain stupidity, because some of the words were yours, and none of them betrayed any question about your friend’s tale or what it proved. In fact, they ran like this: “Racism alive and well in TN” – and I look forward to your explanation of how the words “mild but interesting” mean “or maybe racism isn’t alive and well in TN, hey, you guys decide” – and, at the end, you fervent cry, " How long do we have to make up for past injustices by heaping injustices on evil white folks. Does the injustice dealt to this lady who will be in pain for the rest of her life somehow balance the scales …?" The assumptions inherent in your friend’s story were yours too, explicitly as well as implicitly. Your OP wasn’t about a story your friend told you: it was about racially-biased black jurors, and the story your friend told you was (you fondly believed) your evidence. Then it blew up on you because the big problem was not, as you keep saying, how much and which parts of your friend’s story were true (God knows), but that it didn’t prove what you said it did. But you wanted to talk about racist black jurors anyway, hence all the crawfishing about how it didn’t matter to you and shouldn’t to anyone else whether your OP’s accusation was accurate.

As for how many of us believe that all you wanted was to start a discussion about what if some black jurors, somewhere, are biased, and related your friend’s story just in case we couldn’t imagine what racism on the part of a black jury might look like, you could take a poll. Why you would have wanted such a discussion (probable outcome: two posts saying racism on the part of black jurors would be bad) is a question I won’t bother to put. Why, if that’s what you wanted, you chose the thread title you did is something for which we can hold a contest for least implausible explanation.

Anyway, by now the portion of the OP you’re actually willing to take responsibility for is that a friend of yours told you a story. I knew you were a stand-up guy. Anyhow, having found yourself a couple of non-nitpickers to enjoy yourself with, I don’t blame you for wanting to close this thread.

[danceswithcats]

@cosmosdan

Thank you for getting it. My faith is restored

Any suggestion on how to avoid the fucking nitpickers?

I wish I had some good suggestions, as I understand your frustration. Resign yourself to the knowledge that no matter what, there a couple of folks who find some miniscule detail, an abstract contortion of reality, and will piss on a post, one of them being the individual whom CarnalK has so appropriately labeled.

[Jolly_Roger]

@cosmosdan

Wow!! As if your race has any relevance on a theft. Coming from the northeast I’ve been stunned by racism coming from quite a few races. It all hurts.
{i’d like other posters to note that I didn’t ask Roger to provide more proof for his accusations about the Clarksville police force. That’s how an anecdotal discussion works. Not too difficult is it?}

I was stunned myself when asked that, Cosmo. But despite the negative feelings that and maybe a few other incidents gave me, I wouldn’t go as far as to say everyone in TN or the south is racist. That’s foolish. Maybe its a bit more prevalent there, but I couldn’t paint the entire region with so wide a brush so unfairly.

[CarnalK]

@you with the face

I’m having a hard time believing that you’d just roll over and accept that whole thought process if the OP was talking about white-on-black racism.

Since the thread got bumped anyway, I should ask, why is this precisely? You figure I’d stick up for my fellow whitey? Or do you have some completely non-racist reasoning.

Jolly Roger, I’m pretty sure that cosmosdan didn’t say “Holy fuck, everyone’s racist in this state”. It doesn’t take that many people, IMHO, to let racism be “alive and well”.

[Zoe]

The King of Soup: You claimed the jury was guilty of obvious racial prejudice, but it’s only obvious if you assume it’s true to begin with. That assumption, that decisions made by black persons are devoid of facts, logic, honest human emotion, or any consideration other than how much they hate whitey, is itself a negative and inaccurate stereotype. A lot of people find that repugnant, and that’s why you can’t have this discussion on the terms you want. I’ve heard there are places where you can, but I hope this never becomes one of them.

So you are saying that if we assume that this particular jury was guilty of racial prejudice, then we are assuming that decisions made by black persons in general are “devoid of facts, logic, honest human emotion, or any consideration other than how much they hate whitey…” Where in the hell did you come up with that nonsense?

When you have to twist someone’s meaning that badly, it’s because you have lost the argument and have to make things up to have a point at all. Did you think we wouldn’t notice?

You are slack-jawed stupid.

Cosmos is no stranger to me. I’ve enjoyed his posts for a long time and we have met in person. I have found him to be a very compassionate person with wide interests. I do not doubt his integrity in the least.

[The_King_of_Soup]

Well, that’s just super, then. You guys can form a club devoted to keeping nitpickers out, sit around a fire and swap nitpicker jokes, and so forth. Enjoy.

[Jolly_Roger]

@CarnalK

Since the thread got bumped anyway, I should ask, why is this precisely? You figure I’d stick up for my fellow whitey? Or do you have some completely non-racist reasoning.

Jolly Roger, I’m pretty sure that cosmosdan didn’t say “Holy fuck, everyone’s racist in this state”. It doesn’t take that many people, IMHO, to let racism be “alive and well”.

I wasn’t trying to imply that he did. I apologize if it seemed that way.

[cosmosdan]

@Jolly Roger

I was stunned myself when asked that, Cosmo. But despite the negative feelings that and maybe a few other incidents gave me, I wouldn’t go as far as to say everyone in TN or the south is racist. That’s foolish. Maybe its a bit more prevalent there, but I couldn’t paint the entire region with so wide a brush so unfairly.

I hope you didn’t read my post that way because it’s definitely not what I meant. The thread title does not mean I think everyone in TN is a racist. I live here and I know that’s not so. I think there’s been some good progress made and things are better than ever. I’m only commenting one one incident that kinda surprised me.

[cosmosdan]

@Jolly Roger

I wasn’t trying to imply that he did. I apologize if it seemed that way.

Thanks for saying so.