iNow

This is a thread about educational opportunities and how those relate to skin color. It seems rather a red herring to suggest schools are differentially teaching or accepting/rejecting students for admission based on Gauchers Disease, something that only seems to occur in some Ashkenazi Jews.

I don’t think this needs to be so tense. I read the comment from Zap to be “I don’t understand what you’re saying. I want to. I think the left sometimes struggles to understand stuff like this too and that’s usually when they accuse the right of racism.” That’s different than “you’re being racist, MigL.” You're not being racist, but you might be taking things more personally than intended. ✌️

More specifically, the tires are already worn asymmetrically on one side. A simple alignment won’t remove the laterally biased wear. They’ll still be more worn more on one side even after the alignment gets done. To rebalance the wear on the tire, you need to overcorrect for a while and intentionally over-wear the other side for a bit... all with the knowledge that this overcorrection is only temporary until the wear is again balanced across the entire tire.

Glued long 2” wide strips together, alternating dark to light to dark. Looked kinda like the US flag. Then cut that into strips, flipped every other one, then glued again

Built a chessboard for my daughters. Walnut and maple. Half lap joints held by pegs for the corners. Pleased with how it’s turned out

Nice analogy The rambling actually began much much sooner than at this point, but it was a good post overall, so no worries 👍

This discussion of affirmative action being a type of racism reminds me somewhat of the paradox of tolerance where ostracizing others for being intolerant is described as itself being a form of intolerance.

You did a fine job, but there’s so much nuance and emotion and history and baggage around this topic that 3 people reading the exact same words will come away with 3 different interpretations. I don’t think it’s fair for MigL to describe affirmative action as a continuance of racism, but I also know where he’s coming from and why it might appear that way to some.

Interestingly, if economic inequality wasn’t so bad in our country, then it wouldn’t matter quite so much who scores those select few slots in the pinnacle education institutions for a leg up on others. Yes. It is indeed very much both.

I don’t believe anyone is suggesting the latter. There is, however, opportunity to stop using the system itself to keep further focusing benefits into the coffers of an already extremely benefited few.

I’ll defer to a chemist for a better response than mine, but I don’t believe you can mix them at once. You’d need to setup the engine to burn one or the other. Consider looking at dual fuel portable generators to see how they function. You must select LPG or gasoline, but can’t feed the engine with both simultaneously.

There are morphological differences between every living being unless they are clones, including identical twins. Further suggesting that physical differences (such as different melanin content in the skin) is the fundamental source of economic inequality in the world is absurd in the extreme. You may as well be suggesting inequality comes from some people having curly hair and others having straight. If history is any guide here, they will simply keep repeating the same ridiculous assertions and responding with the equivalent of “nuh uh!” to any valid criticisms or counterpoints. Fine, but your core mistake here is the suggestion that it must be either one or the other. That’s a false dichotomy since any rational view of the economic inequality we’re experiencing today must acknowledge and accept that there are important elements of both that are related in critical ways. One must consider the entire system as a whole, not just individual elements in isolation. Some people have far too much. Some people have far too little. Both of these things can be true in parallel and both can be addressed at the same time to improve the overall balance. Your stance ignores the fact that too often people who are equally or even more qualified also regularly don’t get those jobs and functions. The evidence on this subject is abundant and consistent, and you should seriously consider revising your stance which today doesn’t seem to be in any way tethered to reality.

Yes

A distinction without a difference?

Unless perhaps they hope to solve those issues by accident and absent any meaningful intention or purpose

And yet we stumble at the start since so few even see the problem, and fewer still acknowledge or adequately understand it. The graphic I shared was about helping us better see it. I made no policy recommendations, but that may be an interesting oath to pursue.

I don’t really trust anybody who doesn’t cuss/swear

I forgot about it until you mentioned it here

No. Of course not, but quite likely. Yes. I’m aware, but you should’ve increased the font size on that IF bc it’s so big. I see it more as an issue of values, priorities, and critical thinking, not about the mongering of chaos as you imply. I’ve been paying attention to this stuff for a long time now and I’m no longer able to kick at the proverbial football Lucy keeps consistently pulling away. I don’t see how. The conspiracy thinking and bubbled information ecosystems have become far too entrenched and commonplace... so much so that challenges to it are often conflated with attacks on personal identity... but perhaps I’ve simply moved beyond your referenced optimism and into pragmatism and cynicism (realism?).

FINALLY

Meanwhile, I find myself feeling comforted and assured by the selections Biden is making/announcing for his team. There’s no direct comparison, but is like bringing in some major league all-star players after years watching the peewee league swinging and missing.

I don’t think this is even remotely plausible either, but appreciate you sharing your opinion (and your posts in general, as well). I suspect this is correct, though it may not depress it enough. Despite the amazing work of Stacey Abrams and her team, Georgia has been solidly red for decades.

Apparently there’s a lot of false equivalence going around, too

In the long term, yes. Absolutely. There are scores of young people who will NEVER vote Republican because of all of this, and many former republicans who will never vote that way again. This is Trumps party now, and legacy republicans and conservatives hate Trump and those like him coming up through the ranks. But in the short term, this is exactly what it takes to drive turnout. These claims of fraud piss people off and it’s the angry people who believe the conspiracies and who follow QAnon who are easiest to control and the most likely to show up in large numbers to vote. Overall, I seriously doubt the Democrats have their shit together enough to turn out more voters than the zombies Trump will get to show up. Republicans have created a monster, and they’re doing exactly what it takes to get the monster to arrive in January for the special elections in Georgia. “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” ~Voltaire

He was not a noob, but was instead a sockpuppet of a previously banned user. This has since been confirmed and the user banned... again. It’s not about trying to overturn the election result. It’s about trying to upend trust in democracy itself. You still think this is a chess game where thinking 4 moves ahead is how you win, but the “other” side is busy lighting the chess board itself on fire with a blow torch from underneath while replacing the pieces with cheese puffs. Nearly everything he wants to do will be obstructed by the Republican led senate. The senate will also continue blocking covid relief aid so the economy falters and then they can blame Biden for not fixing it. Biden will be forced to rely on executive orders and they’ll accuse him of being a rule breaking liberal who wants to be a dictator (even though Biden won’t likely use as many EOs as Trump has). Biden will be blamed for failing to bring the country together despite him being sincere and acting in good faith (unlike those out to whom he’ll be reaching). It’s basically this same exact playbook they used against Obama, and it worked then, too. This time with QAnon, NewsMax, Parler, and OAN and whatever grift Trump sets up next it will be like the tea party times 10 on steroids.