When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. – H.S.T.
Ah yes, the “good old days” when our parents were young.
“Home correction” to keep the little lady in line and for the most part domestic violence wasn’t a crime. Rape his wife? How could a man rape his own wife? Unheard of! Women popping a “mother’s little helper” to get through the day. Making sure the darkies don’t eat at the same restaurant as you. Keeping those gays in the closet where they belong. No legal abortions, but can’t have birth control pills either so we can keep her barefoot and pregnant.
We got to pollute more! Mufflers weren’t required on vehicles and they got terrible gas mileage. No airbags or required seat belts. And hey, you might win the birth lottery and not have your kid get polio! Woohoo, I feel lucky today!
Obviously every time in history has its good and bad points, but the “good old days” are never as good as people think they are. Talking about the issues that plague us today just didn’t happen back then. There have always been murderers, rapists, child molesters, and crime. The world is just getting more efficient at reporting them.
Gotta agree with that. I wasn’t alive in Jim Crow days, but hell, back in the 70s when I was a kid people would call me the n word right on the street in public. But I can say when I was younger kids used to actually go outside and play instead of getting fat in front of a game console, a TV with 200 channels or the internet. But thats as you say, different. We still had people with drug problems, crazy fuckers doing crazy things, and teen pregnancies. It wasn’t like these things only happened in the last 20 years.
My older realtives used to say that (when they were alive). I never understood that. When they were my age they had to ride on the back of a bus. How could they say that when they can see their children and younger relations going to freaking college? Well, I have a theory.
Technology. Especially information technology. Someone may be found killing people and eating their kidneys in another state and you may not have heard about it back in the 70s if you didn’t live in that area. but now? Heck, I can find out whats going on on the other side of the freaking planet without getting up.
If I had a friend that moved away then I may not hear from them again unless they really liked writing letter or didn’t have a problem with expensive long distance calls. Nowadays I can verbally communicate with people in Europe. Hell, I have a webcam built into this laptop…I can speak to them while we look at each other. Back in “my old days” this was the stuff of the Jetsons. But when you have the ability to get all of this information so easily and quickly you see all of the bad stuff. Itr makes it seem like the world is falling apart and you think “It wasn’t like this when I was a kid.”
Well, it was. You just didn’t hear about it.
(ETA: And I take it you’re not familiar with Carol Stream? Trust me, I’m probably not the only one who feels that way)
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You see the same thing with politics- people constantly harping on about how politics have become so dirty. These people conveniently forget about Charles Sumner getting caned on the Senate floor, or politicians fighting duels over things said during election campaigns…
Christ man, we need more of that, despite Cheney shooting his friends while hunting.
I’d be inclined to go with you on that, except that I’m usually much more in agreement with Democrats than Republicans and I think the Republicans are probably better shots.
Does that mean Plaxico Burress is a Democrat?
Plaxico Burress is a tool. Plus, he makes $7 million a year, so…
Jokes and allegations of racism aside, could someone explain to this foreigner why almost every single face in those first few photos is black?
If Singapore, where I am, had a sale like this, there’d be crowds outside too, but there sure as hell would be plenty of Indian and Malay faces in the Chinese sea.
Are some areas in the US so predominantly black that you don’t see a white person lined outside the local mega-store (and vice versa)? That’s mind-boggling, man. :dubious:
There are many places where 99% of the people in the U.S. are of one perceived race or another. Particularly in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions, when blacks began moving North from the old South to find jobs in the manufacturing sector, they were confined to specific neighborhoods and, as the neighborhoods grew, whites moved farther away. In major cities, we even saw the phenomenon of “white flight” where nearly the entire group of whites in some sections of the city sold their property and moved away, leaving only blacks in that area. And, of course, by preventing blacks from moving into different suburbs, many areas remained wholly white, although they have diminished very much in the last 30 years.
Remember, Singapore has less land area than 20 or so U.S. cities and is only slightly larger than another dozen or so. For the most part, the cities that are of that size are, themselves, surrounded by smaller suburbs where people can move. We have a lot more room to move around and we have a lot of cities.
Unfortunately, racism is necessary to explain this phenomenon. Most non-black Americans are racist to the extent that they avoid areas and gatherings which are predominantly black. Even liberals tend to follow this pattern in terms of where they decide to live and send their children to school.
That, and the Singapore government’s policy of “mixed race housing” in subsidised flats. Which constitute probably about 80% of available housing.
Best thing the government’s ever done for race relations. You think you wouldn’t find Malay ghettoes in Singapore otherwise…? Why do you think there’s a “little India” at all?
When you hire a pay duty officer, it’s exactly that. Cops on scene for crowd control and/or to protect the public as peace officers. You have uniformed police and they retain their full authority as police officers, and police cars may be on scene (if they are needed, you pay through the nose for them). They are not bouncers or security staff that you can order around. They are still cops, and they can and will shut you down if they feel like public safety is at risk. Pay duty officers are still coordinated with the police department.
The only difference between the cop who pulls you over for speeding and the pay duty officer, is that the pay duty officer has completed his department shift for the day and is no longer on the clock for your municipality. This prevents any disruption to regular police service. All the cops who are supposed to be out protecting your city, are still out protecting your city. All the police cars that would normally be out patrolling the streets are still out patrolling the streets. The cops on pay duty would otherwise be at home, the cop cars/boats/motorcycles that may have to be on scene would otherwise be scheduled to be sitting parked.
Pay duty shifts are optional. The officers volunteer for pay duty, and many, many do because the extra pay is so good. You are paying the equivalent of whatever overtime they would get as per their collective agreement.
From some articles, it does seem as if WM had an off-duty officer or two. They mentioned one with a bullhorn. However the article I read wasn’t clear if they were off-duty officers or pay-duty officers. Pay-duty officers are in uniform and are still actively in communication with the regular force using non-emergency channels. If anything goes very wrong, they can get emergency back-up very fast. In the U.S., a lot of cops take on second jobs in security, but they are not pay duty officers.
:dubious:
Which phenomenon? :dubious: If you’re referring to standing in line for cheap crap at Walmart, there’s nothing racist about it–lots of different people do it (I think they all need their heads examined, but that’s just me). This was a crowd control tragedy, not a white on black or even black on black crime.
If you’re referring to neighborhood demographics, you might be on to something (but I would then argue it’s only one factor among many).
I do have to wonder what this makes me, though: I live in a predominantly white suburb, but that is changing. I work in a predominantly black hospital which serves (essentially) a black community. I’m sorry I can’t fit into your nice box of " most non black Americans are racist". :rolleyes:
< non-racism hijack >
:: raises hand :: Oh! Question! Question! Maybe you can answer this:
Do all cities’ police departments have a pay-duty system or some kind of equivalent? Here there’s a big film industry, so it makes sense to have one. But I’ve also seen pay-duty officers in the clubbing district and other music festivals.
I assume since roadwork qualifies as “public works”, those cops are paid for by the public, but what about the cops I’ve seen on other major, private-sector construction sites? E.g./ I’ve seen cops on construction sites when they’re operating cranes. Those are private construction projects. Are those cops pay-duty cops?
< /hijack >
My post was about the onlookers (on the cellphone video) who were trying to make it a racial issue.
These assholes were laughing and commenting on the cops not wanting to do mouth to mouth on the guy they trampled to death.
Aha! And thank you for coming back and clarifying that. They really were something, no? Not they’re finest hour (the onlookers).
You do realise that Singapore is also highly racist right? I was told to my face when applying for one job “we are looking for a chinese” and the Prime Minister himself can come out and say “the people are not ready for a non chinese prime minister”…as if that is an ok sentiment.
I have seen more overt racism here than I ever did “back home” - from all walks of Singapore life