Good to hear!

Best of luck top you in the armed forces!

SuperXero wrote: Teehee hee hee, I never have to go back to a courtroom again.

lets hope so anyway....congratulations on getting off the hook

So do you still think that you are superior to other ethnicity's?  Where did the inequality sign in your sig go?

OK, guys, let's back this down before it gets nasty ...

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Cedric wrote: I hate biblical quotes. Especially when people use them as their senior quotes.

Oh, well, you know what they say opinions are like ...

Why not?

Savage93fvss wrote: He didnt say he hates people FOR being poor and unemployed, and if he did he meant the people that dont try to do anything about it, the lazy people that spend their welfare checks on crack or various other illegeal substances. Well thats how I am at least. And the people that steal stuff, because I reallllllly hate a thief, if you want something you should have to work for it, I mean stealing food for your starving babies is one thing, but stealing a tv or anything like that, and I'm not saying that all theifs and crack heads are black, but in my area the majority of them are.

What a wonderful post.  Such a goldmine...

the lazy people that spend their welfare checks on crack or various other illegeal substances.

Because that's what people spend their welfare checks on.  And best of all, people usually tell you what they spend their welfare checks on as they are walking on by, so that you know whether to hate on them or not.

Good thing - if they didn't tell you, you would have to just presume that they are on welfare and on crack.  Actually, I guess that way is easier anyway.

And the people that steal stuff, because I reallllllly hate a thief

Unless it comes from LimeWire, because that's not really stealing, since Metallica is rich already.  And pirated software - also not stealing.  But now stealing a $200 TV - that's a threat to society.

if you want something you should have to work for it

Or be born to it, or get it from your parents.  Same thing, really.

I'm not saying that all theifs and crack heads are black, but in my area the majority of them are

It must be really nice to live in a place where you get the daily bulletin with names and ethnicities of local drug users.  That way you won't accidentally make unwarranted generalizations.

Besides, we all know that the ethnicity of a drug addict is important.  If it turned out that there are many white drug addicts I would have to change my worldview, and that would be bad.  Except for regular non-crack cocaine and crystal meth, of course - those aren't real drugs, and besides, if Metallica uses it, it can't be all that bad, right?

hwayhzrd wrote:   "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Ah shucks, looks like there will be no stones thrown from thee

mbro wrote: hwayhzrd wrote: OK, guys, let's back this down before it gets nasty ... "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Did you know that story wasn't in the actual bible and was made up and added much later in about the 1400's?

Don't doubt it, but the message remains true.

holysmartone wrote: First off, noone said that every single person that is on welfare, spends their money on crack. Do you want to tell me that when you watch a drug deal, you sit there and say "wow, those are good people, they really contribute to society in a postive and helpful way."?

I would respond to this if I could extract something from it.  Please restate and clarify.

Second, there is a difference between breaking and entering, and then stealing a tv, and downloading a song off limewire.

Yep.  B&E + 1 Bigscreen = $4,000 of theft and damage, give or take, in a full afternoon of hard work with your buddies.  Kazaa = $4,000 of stolen software and music, give or take, in a couple of hours while you are watching Laguna Beach.  Illegal downloading is much more efficient.  B&E is for amateurs - real thieves use computers.

Granted, I dont believe its right to pirate music, and I do it.

Brilliant sentence.  Stop and think about that one for a bit, and what you are really saying.

...

Ok, now that you have thought about it - do you realize that this amounts to an admission of moral bankruptcy?  You know it is wrong, and you do it anyway.  That is pretty much the definition of criminal intent.  Congratulations - you are a criminal in thought as well as in action.

But I also dont go out and sell the songs to make money, I dont break into cars and steal cd decks to sell.

So if I use the TV myself instead of selling it, that makes it ok?

You ever wonder why they call it the ghetto?

Because of anti-semitism.

Maybe because its full of crime. You ever walk through the ghetto? Youll see crime, and youll see a majority black population. At least thats how it is here.

I used to live in the ghetto.  What I saw was a bunch of people living their lives, trying to get by.  I saw a whole bunch of hard-working people trying to make the best of it.  Yes, there was crime - violent and otherwise.  Poverty leads to undesirable elements.  But the criminals were, and still are, a distinct minority.  Most people just want to get by.

And as for crime - by "crime" I presume you don't mean illegal downloading, drug use, drunk driving, child molestation, rape, domestic violence, and all the other sundry crimes to be found in suburbia?  Yes, there is more crime in the ghetto, but don't for a second think there is no crime in the suburbs.  In the ghetto the crime is visible - in the suburbs it hides inside.

And as for your last statement about a daily bulletin, I dont need one. Driving through the ghetto is enough of one for me. I see people breaking into cars, Ive seen people shot, fights break out in the streets with 20+ black men, drug deals. I dont see that around me neightborhood.

I was about to make a rebuttal, but then I realized that you did it for me:

Granted, I KNOW that there are white drug addicts, my parents are both pot heads, but that doesnt make it right just because their white.

Thank you for destroying your own point.  Your myopia is impressive.

I hate any people that dont contribute to society.

And how do you know who does and does not contribute to society?  Maybe those 20+ black men in the fight have day jobs, just like your pot-smoking parents?  Just because somebody wears baggy jeans and bling, and likes to smoke some chronic on occasion, doesn't mean that they aren't contributing to society.

So far, your logic goes like this:   Black ----> Not contributing to society.

Not a convincing argument.

Welfare is meant for people incapable of working, not those that are too lazy to do it. Im sick of my tax money paying for people to live in the ghetto, put no money twards their houses or families, and spend it on Caddys.

This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.  You clearly don't understand how "welfare" works, or even what it is.  And, of course, the racism that runs thick there makes it even harder to decipher.  Make a more specific statement and I'll try to address it.

Moreover, I'll take a stab here and guess that "your tax dollars" are pretty much zero, and what you meant to say was "your parents' tax dollars".  You know, your drug-using criminal parents who apparently are still contributing members of society - not to be confused with the drug-using criminal BLACK parents down the street that are clearly not contributing to society.

High Voltage wrote:   if it weren't for the lame racial slurs white people get called, i'd take offense. but somehow being called a cracker doesn't stir my anger quite like theirs is stirred with one mention of the n word.

This seems to be a fairly universal sentiment.  The only white people I know that get offended by "cracker" (or whatever) are the ones spoiling for a fight.  Most people just find it vaguely rude.

Why is that?

I have some theories, but curious what people think.  Not so much why the "n-word" is offensive, but why "cracker" lacks any teeth at all.

Racism exists because neither side will let it die the painful death it so truly deserves ...

holysmartone wrote: Fine. I give up. I hate these damned internet fights. They are rediculus. Leave me to my own opinions, and I will do the same.

That's why I try hard to stay out of conversations on two topics: policitics and religion (I consider this to fall under the political banner)

Let's all stay cool and keep this friendly, no hard feelings by anyone posting should be necessary.

holysmartone wrote: Tell me, do you download music? Do you believe its wrong? If you do believe its wrong, this totally voids your own point. If not, why not, stealing is stealing by your own definition.

I do not download illegally.  Partially because it is illegal, but mainly because it is immoral.

Yes, I realize that there are hardworking people in the ghetto that just want to get by. Good, more power to them. I have no problem with those people.  I hope that you arent trying to say that those crimes are limited to suburbia, because they most definatly are not. I know there is crime in the suburbs. But you said yourself there is more in the ghetto.

It all comes back to this statement: - "Youll see crime, and youll see a majority black population".

If you can explain in more detail what that statement means (and the associated implied statements about blacks and welfare, drugs, or whatever), and what you meant to say, that would really get to the heart of my inquiry.

The rest is really distracting nitpicking.

Your views on welfare and drug use in general are worthy of discussion, but perhaps separately, as these posts are getting unwieldy.  Responding piecemeal to your post would be unnecessarily cumbersome, so perhaps you could focus your efforts on this particular issue (at least for the moment), and I will do the same.

holysmartone wrote:   I know rascism goes both ways

Perhaps we shouldn't even limit ourselves to "directional" thinking on the subject - racism is a lot more subtle than that.  Black people are awfully good about being racist about black people, and white people have a lot of strange views about themselves at times.

Having lived in low-income housing while trying to support my falimy and get through college, I have to say that they make it very hard to try and work yourself out from under.

I was commuting 2 1/2 hours a day for class, working two and three jobs and everytime I got a nickel more on my paycheck, they would jack the rent out of sight.

Gotta say, it made me begin to wonder why I bothered to try and work.

^^^^   That has been my experience as well.  Our current system creates a very bad set of incentives.  Given a choice between a low-paying job with no benefits and welfare with health care benefits, it would almost be bad parenting not to stay on welfare.

A sad state of affairs, but there you have it.

EDIT - just noticed my new title.  Very logical.  I likey.  :)