Most liked posts in thread: George Floyd copper

The problem today is the perception of " poverty , i'm a child of the 60s , we had nothing growing up , having said that nobody round us did . Rare to see anybody with cars , holidays ? a few days in Morecambe if you were lucky . My dad worked 100 hrs a week sometimes longer , my Mum worked ( part time when me and my brothers arrived ) , very little hope of advancement through education ( unless you was very lucky ) . In a nutshell it was a lot worse than todays live now pay later society ,there was very little with regards to a safety net to support the poorest in society , new clothes once a year , hand me down shoes etc , but we felt a sense of pride something sadly lacking today . To talk of "white privilage " is a load of bollocks , you should have lived on the sink estates of Holmewood , Woodside , Canterbury , Ravenscliffe to see poverty . Today people have more opportunities than my generation ever had , education- travel , lifestyles etc . Times may be a little hard at the moment , but they are certainly a vast improvement on what they were .

 

The virtue signalling from 'stars' has pissed me off. Nowhere to be seen untill the shit hits the fan then an uncontrollable urge overpowers them to go social media mad. I don't need James fecking Corden to know the US has problems in society. I don't need to know Jordan Henderson for some reason deems it important to take a knee on the turf, where was he when Colin Kapernick was risking his career to do exactly this? Where were all the others? `I guess the photo opportunities just weren't there.

 

Don't engage me on this topic fordy. Seriously. It's too important and all you add is ignorance, hyperbole and misrepresentation of the points and facts raised. I'm serious. Please don't engage me on this topic, I've no intention of discussing it with you.

 

Police getting attacked , been accused of being Racist , christ these people are thick and deluded .

 

If thousands of Liverpool fans congregated outside Anfield's locked gates in the coming weeks, they would be roundly condemned and dispersed. So how come crowds are allowed to congregate in London with no concern for social distancing

 

An example of how I think the identity politics movement may undo the progress that has been made on racial prejudice over the years.

In my company, we have an internal communications forum. One of the channels is reserved for Diversity and Inclusion, which is intended to be for inclusion within the workplace rather than a debate on wider social issues in the public domain. Nevertheless its veered into the same topic of discussion as this thread. Thankfully its all been done on a respectful basis and a wide range of views have been shared. But a comment from a black employee give me a bit of concern. With the best of intentions, she's encouraged that 'everyone can help by checking in on their black friends and colleagues to make sure they're ok given the events around George Floyds death'.

I have a real problem with this. For years, the principle of racial equality is that the colour of a persons skin DOESN'T define them, that everyone is an individual in their own right. But now it does? It's appropriate to assume that a black man or woman several thousands of miles away, in a different country and likely with very different personal circumstances, automatically feels a reaction to a killing in the US because they share the same colour of skin? Couldn't that cause real offence? Growing up in the 80s and 90s, a common criticism of anyone making a judgement on anyone based on race was 'we're all the same to you are we?'.

And where does that stop? If a black man in the US kills a police officer - or anyone else - should I also check in and reassure that they shouldn't feel any sense of shame? Its a slippery, slippery slope and the whole idea of identity politics creates more division, not less.

 

It's Thursday.................

Don't forget tonight

6.00pm Bend yer knee

8.00pm Clap for carers

10.00pm Do a handstand on your doorstep..

 

Could you use the same argument for football fans? Is there something in the genes of some football fans that make them get drunk, abusive and fight more than those that attend the opera? Or is there something in the environment and culture that encourages this rather than a specific pre-disposition to alcoholism and violence within, in this example, native Americans? I obviously don't know that answer to that, but from scientific perspective we know more about the genetic structure of fruit flies than we do about the human genome. It is a big leap, right now, to start ascribing observed behaviour to human genes.

I am absolutely not denying that there could be a variation or mutation within some people that could make them more susceptible to the effects of alcohol. I also take @SimonW point that this could be both heritable and inheritable and so become more pronounced within certain groups in society.

There is a similar narrative for indigenous Australians.

However, as the spike in domestic violence in recent months perhaps demonstrates, remove security and certainty from people's lives and perhaps take away hope that things are in their control and violence (or at least reported violence) increases. Alcohol sales grew rapidly during lockdown as people turned to it as a way, I'd argue, to dull the senses in response to a bad situation. This would appear to be more of response to an environmental change, chance event at that, than being able to argue that it is the result of a genetic disposition.

I'm very sceptical of any claims that we can use genetics to ascribe behaviour traits to particular groups of people. This is very different to recognising that certain communities or groups of people have problems that need to be addressed, based on societal norms and expectations.

 

To be honest if her parents weren’t a couple of Drs I don’t think it would have had as much coverage. If it had been a family from Ravenscliffe the press would have slaughtered them at the time and not brought it back up again.

 

Whilst acknowledging Floyd suffered a horrible and unnecessary death, am I the only one who feels uneasy about the way a man convicted of holding a gun to the stomach of a woman whilst he robbed her house, has been made a martyr

 

Our country is one of the least prejudiced, most free, most equal countries in the world. And yet we see riots on our streets akin to the dark days of apartheid in south Africa, or racial segregation in the US, or opposition to the war in Vietnam. Complete madness.

 

Your posts on this thread have been first rate FB.

 

Erm .. count me out then.... I want to actually get there...

 

Honestly? I think we’ve got more pressing jumping off points than some paint on a statue and speculating on the possibility of what could have happened were said statue moored less securely. I find it mildly problematic, but realistically I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I think it’s being escalated to make a point. And the more people kick off at these things, the worse it’s going to get.

Assaulting police officers and looting? Of course, I’m happy to condemn that in the strongest of terms - and I think everybody should. But they’re not the same thing as the above. I sincerely hope the guy who threw the bike at a police horse, among others, and people throwing things at the police, are arrested and prosecuted.

I get a sense from a lot of people (and I’m not including yourself, for clarity, as I’m certain you’re discussing this in good faith) that they’re just begging for the rioters to do something catastrophically dumb to give them the fuel to kick off. I saw on Twitter a group of football lads from Plymouth today ‘guarding’ a war memorial statue. What is the point of doing this if you weren’t ultimately after a bit of a scrap? Can well imagine they’d be disappointed to go home empty handed. You can say the same thing about a lot of the self-appointed militias guarding US protests too, they’re just gagging for a scrap.

 

In 1823 Racist Britain used over 40 % of it's annual budget to buy all the slaves in Empire and freed them . The cost was that great that the debt was only paid off in 2015 . This also means most Tax payers alive today have helped pay off this debt . Of course " enlightened " nations continued this dispicable trade , including most of America and Europe , slavery is still prevelent through out Africa - the middle and far east . I wonder how many protesters on the streets over the last week or so buy clothes from Primark - Mattalan and the like ?, these are made by slave workers paid a pitence in sweat shops , double standards and hypocrisy or shrewd look how much i've saved outlook .

 

Lammy and Butler are one trick pony lawyers whose whole careers are built on race baiting. Without it they gain no publicity and serve no purpose other than to antagonise. Take colour out of the equation and they have nothing to talk about.

 

I'm still waiting for the baying left wing mob who laid siege at the house of Dominic Cummings demanding his sacking for flouting lockdown rules, to come out and criticise the protesters for breaking social distancing rules and gatherings of over 6 people, instead all we hear is the praise for them. Double standards and hypocrisy, that they lambasted Cummings for

 

I won’t kneel with the masses,
I won’t be told my fate,
By people who hijack tragedy,
To perpetuate their hate.

Don’t you shout Black Lives Matter,
Whilst running through the streets,
When your people are burning Foot Locker,
Stealing Nikes for their feet.

Don’t dance on The Cenotaph,
Like it’s Carnival or Mardi Gras,
That sacred granite edifice,
Marks people who died in war.

How dare you besiege Number 10,
This isn’t even our fight,
If you want to go and protest,
Get a 4,000 mile flight.

Social distancing flouted,
Police punched in the face,
Missiles hurled at Downing Street.,
This isn’t about race.

It’s rent-a-mob and anarchists,
Versus police led by lambs,
They just stand there and take it,
Lefty Cressida tied their hands

Meanwhile America’s burning,
It’s a tragedy we all agree,
That George Floyd lost his life,
For all the world to see.

Justice must take its course,
The cop has lost his job,
Now he faces twelve good and true,
Not a braying mob.

So Monday I won’t be kneeling,
I won’t even bow my head,
Because someone I don’t even know,
Has wound up dead.

An armed robber and a felon,
In and out of jail,
As a model citizen,
He was a total fail.

I’ll weep for whom I choose to,
I’ll say where and when,
Not because a lifelong offender,
Bought it in the end.

I don’t condone the officers,
They rightly face the wrath,
But ask me to kneel for a criminal?
Don’t make me laugh.

You can keep your lefty rhetoric,
Your dismantling of our state,
It’s BLM not Middle England,
That’s peddling the hate


* Not my work but I would endorse the message...

 

Personally, I thought Little Britain was shit.

It wont stop there though. Only Fools and Horses will have its cards marked.

 

I agree but dont you think common sense is taking a back seat to Hypocrisy ?. I'm in full agreement with some of the aims of BLM , but not the way its escalating and i fear its going to get a lot worse .