Intoscience

Which is why sports have categories based on physical criteria, so everyone gets to compete fairly. At 170 pounds and average height I wouldn't want to be pitted in a physical combat sport against someone 6'4" and weighing in excess of 250 pounds with similar skill levels. Yeah sure I might get lucky and win the odd match but the odds would be heavily stacked against me wining. Over a period of time and a number of matches the score card would more than likely read 9-1 against me. in which case i would never get the opportunity to be ranked at the top of my sport without a category that allows me to compete on a level playing field. The whole point on tackling inclusion issues guarantee (or at least get as close as possible) to include everyone with a fair shot at winning. I don't agree that unnatural changes using drugs should be allowed either way. Performance enhancing drugs are not permitted, why else should any other unnatural procedure be permitted? By the way I didn't resurrect the thread, and nothing yet has convinced me to change my opinion on the matter.

Yeah maybe, I see your point.

I'm sorry this upset you that was never my intent. It was nothing personal. I was giving you an example of how discrimination by skin color both positive and negative can be perceived as racist. This is my point and has been throughout the thread. If you want to expel racial attitudes then you have to stop focussing on skin color for discriminating purposes, good or bad. Sorry @Phi for All But I have to agree with MigL on this because I have experienced the same on numerous threads from a few long standing members. I keep posting though because I do enjoy the discussions and even though we don't always share opinions I get to engage with like minded folk across many cultures.

Fair enough.

Thanks, It was so long ago now, I don't really think about it much these days, only if someone enquires.

Possibly, but how can that "sense" be proven as real other than an intuition or illusion or some other sensory misperception. I think it would be better to define what do we mean by "sense" in the first place. We all have had a "sense" or feeling about something. I often get those myself which I have expressed in other threads. But the subjects within my premonitions are real people proven to exist in the first place.

Sorry, I I thought the ongoing argument was around transgender women competing against cis gender women? Where there can be and has proven to be, in many disciplines, a clear unfair physical advantage. In the case of these boxers they are competing along similar physical capabilities where there is no clear advantage. Also boxing rules are such that skill 7 tactic can often outweigh pure force.

To be fair to the OP the thread started with - The OP may well be using the video to make a personal claim but that wasn't exactly clear from the offset, even though the title of the thread suggests such.

Nothing prevents God from anything, including being present outside of space & time as we experience it. Which would also unable us to "sense" God, along with the inability to observe, detect or prove God's existence. There is no requirement to prove God's non existence and there is no credible proof of God's existence. To make the OP's question valid, one must first undeniably prove of God's existence. Until then, one cannot sense God because one cannot prove God exists in the first place.

And I accept that, pursuit of perfection can (does) often hinder progress. This is true however if you only focus on and accept perfection as the only goal. If though you set out realistic goals along the journey towards the perfection you seek that does not hinder your pursuit and accept each of those as an achievement within itself then you can quickly make progress, especially so if action is taken and not delayed towards each step. I worry that knowing that perfection is an unrealistic goal, we may give up in our pursuit and accept something much less, thus missing out on potential we never thought was possible. Especially if in doing so we end up taking steps back or at best sideways. Ok, we are in disagreement then. Crudely put my point is - A system that assumes that all people black have suffered injustice directly or indirectly, and therefore, all black people, no matter each individual case, shall be compensated, is a racist system by definition. In this case then fine, there is a common denominator for the injustice that as occurred, and these people should be compensated on individual or group cases . No one is arguing this. But it has been mentioned many times about reparations for people who's ancestors suffered injustices, especially focused around all black people. Intermating that justice should be so that all living black people should be compensated even if/ or not it's for past injustices dating back hundreds of years. In which case the system is using a blanket racial positive discrimination tactic which may not really be fair justice for all. Referring back to iNow's point about the pursuit of perfection, maybe a blanket system is the sensible approach. From my perspective I don't agree. I still stand by my opinion that invoking a system that uses any form of racial discrimination tactic will in the long run add fuel to the fire. Those who are arguing against a blanket system by giving examples of injustices both past and present across many cultures are just offering you the opportunity to consider perspectives.

No all was good, though back then there was a more lack luster approach to health & safety. I'm in no doubt it was entirely my own fault, just a lack of concentration for a moment. Though one could argue that if the guarding was up to modern day standards then the accident may not have occurred, but that is just if's, but's and maybe's. I was de-burring a load of pipes that I had cut to length and somehow as I spun the pipe against the grinder wheel the pipe snagged dragging my thumb into the wheel. It was just one of those freakish accidents that can happen when you get complacent. The strange thing is that since the accident I have used these types of machines many times since, and weirdly when I do I have this (luckily controllable) urge to grab the grinder wheel.

The evidence suggests that it is a region of space where the gravity prevents light from escaping. How do we know it's not an alien, or the fairy godmother, or a space giant's butt hole...? But this is an illusion, I "sense" many things myself, sometimes in fear of my life if I'm half asleep and think there is a monster in my bedroom. We are hard wired to be self preservative in which case our brains may invent something unnatural to provoke us to act fast - Better to run in fear than wait to see if it really is a monster.

There is no credible evidence to support the existence of God. So based on this reasoning, I would choose this (my bold) as the most likely reason out of all the other possibilities.

Yep, I'm a victim of a 9" pedestal grinder. Lost part of my thumb when I was 18, it happened so fast I had no time to react. My thumb was a mess, luckily I can still use the remaining part to grip things and I don't have much trouble other than a bit of maintenance keeping tidy the tiny bit of nail that persists on growing out the side of it. Oh... I do get the odd phantom itch in the missing part which can be frustrating. So good advice! It's easy to get caught out even if you are experienced, so never get complacent and get the right training.

If you are prepared to use skin color as a factor for discrimination whether positive or negative then does that not automatically qualify it as racist? This is the argument that is often used by many racial activists on the flip side. My argument is more about changing people's attitude towards racism, a start would be to stop highlighting skin color differences in circumstances where it may invoke further racial tension. There are people out there who fully believe that if you are black then you cannot be a racist and that if you are white then this automatically makes you a racist. Then you have the very racist people who genuinely believe that skin color defines a person's status in society. These attitudes need to be expelled. My point being, skin color should have no influence. Discrimination both positive & negative by skin color has done nothing but cause harm to people either directly or indirectly. The people who have suffered injustice as a result of their skin color deserve reparations, full agreed. However, iNow keeps point out to me that an ideological system which I may envision will not work. Maybe iNow is correct (nothing is infallible). All I'm trying to point out is that invoking further discrimination by skin color, even if positive, may not in the long run produce positive outcomes for all and may further invoke directly or indirectly negative racial attitudes. Honestly I'd be a fool to say I have an answer, maybe the sensible approach is to follow your proposed system. But again honestly, I'm of the opinion that to eradicate racism is to change people's attitudes towards it, starting with stop making a deal about all physical differences, including skin color.

I can think of one - nonsense 😝

I think Zaptos is on the right track with his reply to this question. MigL then goes o to make what I feel are some valid points. This is sort of where I'm at. I think the misconception is that I'm against reparations for injustices towards black people. This couldn't be further from the truth. I would just prefer reparations to be calculated based on individual losses. In that the reparation process doesn't need to follow any racially lead approach even if the outcome is that the majority of cases will be based on skin colour. If you want to focus on a particular group and use a mechanism which compensates based on the defining factor of that group then by all means if this is the best way to fix the problems in the US then I'm in no position to pass judgement since I'm not a US citizen. No, you are misunderstanding what I mean. Sure you have been kicked in the nuts, I'm sure you feel like kicking them back in their nuts. This is the point. I don't think anyone is suggesting to do anything to cause further injustice or delay reparations. Why do you feel that we are trying to make it seem less wrong? I think in general I'm/we are trying to point out that any system that is successful in its goal requires consistences for all.

Fair enough I see your point. Again though this is an assumption from people who automatically assume the declaration is a defensive move as guise to cover the person's underlining racist attitude. And I get that people often use this as a defensive tact in many other contexts also. I think I'm probably blinded somewhat due to my own circumstances. My best friend is my partner's brother (that's how we met). I also accept that I'm not familiar with the situation in the US, so I understand that people from the US may not appreciate my comments. All this said, I still stand by my opinion that to eradicate racism (at least to reduce it to the extreme minority) we all need to change our attitudes. For me the first step is to divert attention away from the source of the issue, because the source of the issue really shouldn't matter and to make it not matter is to divert away from it. This doesn't mean we should ignore the problems that need fixing as a result of the source, on the contrary. Reparations, compensations... need to be made.

Then I have mis interpreted many posts over the past 19 pages worth. Fair enough, I'm happy for you to compensate as required asap. I can only imagine the situation in the US and comparing that to my own experiences within my own country they may not align. Likewise, someone from the US who has only experienced from that perspective may not be able to align their experiences with other countries across the world. Yet here we are often making arguments based on our own experiences and accusing each other of being wrong. Because some people jump on this and twist it to make racist accusations against others. I have been accused of being racist for not recognising and celebrating a person's skin color. On the other hand when recognising and acknowledging a person's skin color I have also been accused of being racist. So in the case of my anecdote I recognised that I could not attend the event because I'm not black, I was accused of being racist for stating that I was not invited to an event because it was for black people only. On the other hand I'm also a racist for not celebrating my friend's skin color, even though I recognise that Mike is a wonderful guy, a good, kind , honest and generous person.

And this is where the misconception arises. I mentioned about my friend being black because I was sharing an anecdote of an experience that I had as a result. However, skin color either way has no bearing on our friendship only when it is highlighted and forced upon us as in this example. In fact we never even consider the skin color difference because it doesn't matter, I don't see Mike as a black man and likewise, he doesn't see me as a white man, we just see, respect and love each other as dear friends. . But people are still insisting that it does when it suits! And this is my point, your reaction to my anecdote exemplifiers this very thing. You are assuming wrongly that it matters to me be it consciously or subconsciously when really, honestly really it matters not and is not even a consideration until its forced upon us by some system or other. I'm saying its time to see past this, to change people's attitudes is to change their perception. Lets not make it a thing then that thing may cease to exist. I wasn't comparing the atrocities towards one past or present over bad feelings towards another. I was sharing an example of where skin color discriminates (in an attempted positive manner), and that this is not necessary.

That's not what we are arguing about, of course people should be compensated for injustice in these instances. We are arguing whether compensation should be made based on the colour of their skin or the way they where treated. Yes, they may have been discriminated against or mistreated due to the colour of their skin but the process to compensate people should not have to follow the same mechanism. e.g - "oh you have black skin and as a result, we will compensate you accordingly" "we are sorry that you where discriminated against, we will compensate you accordingly" There is no reason invoke for the purpose of compensation anything other than the fact they have been ill treated. Each individual knows why they were mis-treated, the people making the compensation know why. The very mechanism that was used to discriminate in the first instance, doesn't need to be repeated for the purpose of reparation. However, for the purpose of improvement and mitigation the details of why they have been mistreated should be at the fore front and should be recognised and dealt with accordingly. I get a little exasperated when considering with racism based on skin color. There often seems to be a lack of consistency. There is a difference between recognising the differences and celebrating the differences in a way that encourages further racism. My best friend is black, great, he is proud of his heritage, great. He is my very good friend who I love dearly, he has a darker skin tone than mine, so what. He is off to an event organised for black people, he apologises to me, he would love to invite me but can't. "Why? I'm your best friend", "yeah but you are not black". This attitude persists in current times, the exact same thing that white people (and I'm sure still do in some areas) did to black people in the past. The way black people were treated in the past, and some in modern times, was/is atrocious behaviour, they deserve compensation, agreed. However, so long as this attitude persists whether positive or negative, then racism based on skin color will never be eradicated. We need to get past this, and see people for who they are as people not what they look like.

Thanks, worrying times for our employees! Because it's not just the US that suffers from inflation, interest rates, cost of living etc... There are other countries affected with similar issues.

To add to the topic I thought I should share with you some real life experience which is happening right now. The company I work for manufactures and the sells its products 80% directly to the public, 20% wholesale. As a result of increasing costs across the board, material supplies, energy, logistics & significant wage increases. The business is very labour intensive compared to its turn over so contributes to a high percentage of additional incurred cost. The business had no choice but to increase the retail price of the products from 10-20% (product range depending). Guess what, sales have significantly fallen, both retail and wholesale. The company has now no other choice but to either make redundancies or put the staff on short time working. This is the reality of the economical market across the globe for lots of businesses. As from next week I'll be on short time working so earning 20% less. Honestly I would have prefeed the business not to have made the wage increases, kept jobs and people who now face difficult times due to a significant loss in income.

I don't agree that it's useless to attempt, and I think that's where a few of us disagree with some of the arguments put forward. Even if its not possible to eradicate racism completely (most likely reality) a start would be to reduce it. I just feel that some methods employed to compensate those that have faced injustice will only invoke future racial tension or compound the current attitude of those who may not be direct active racists but have racist tendencies due to there social upbringing/environment. Of course you are always going to have the minority radical groups who no matter what will remain racists both white and black. Agreed these attitudes are going to be difficult, probably impossible, to eradicate. People in general, are more accepting when changes are more subtle. You see this with kids, and as adults we still tend to be more tolerant and accepting with a considered approach. Where do you get this idea from? Who wants to delay anything? All I have seen so far on this thread is 2 arguments that want the same outcome but following differing methods to achieve it. But there's no point inflating the tyre without fixing the puncture properly first. Sure it may get you a few more miles down the road, but the problem still persists. You may stick a patch on it, inflate it, and then say there you go all fixed, only to find next time you are out in the middle of nowhere and it goes flat again leaving you worse off than when it punctured in the first place.

I agree with you, (my bold) this is really the point I'm trying to make. I feel in order to achieve this then in the first place we may require to ignore the differences. By this I mean that maybe we should ignore the differences for purposes of reparations and any other discriminate actions that might pursue. Highlighting the differences in these situations may ignite the very thing we are trying to eliminate. My daughter has severe learning difficulties, she is 21 years old, cannot form a sentence only uses random words and hand gestures to communicate in her own way and understanding. But one thing she does do is try to gain attention by doing things, e.g. she will stand near the tv with her hand over the power button waiting for a response. If we engage with her and highlight that she should not press it, guess what, she does so. In my experience to divert attention from something the easiest way is to "ignore" it. Not ignore that it doesn't exist! Ignore it in a way so that it matters not for that particular situation. Do you see my point? I'm not saying we should ignore people's difference's as though they don't exist, I'm saying lets not highlight those differences in situations where they should not matter. Thank you for clearing things up, If I come across upset or offended this is not my intention either. I'm as passionate as most for making the world a better place to live, for all people! I just worry that sometimes in our efforts to do so we may just end up making things worse. I know you aimed this at String Junky but may I reply, I don't believe any of us think that or perceive that stance. I think the argument is that we feel you are ignoring the possibility that pursuing the reparations in a manner that may invoke further racism is not the way forward. Wow, that is a very judgemental approach towards your fellow posters. You are making a lot of unfounded assumptions. Good luck with that.