tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post2158257119341948439..comments2024-02-11T01:14:21.904-08:00Comments on SURVIVING IN ARGENTINA: Reply: Racism, religion and preconceived notions that could undermine your awareness and security.FerFALhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07578136334334588454noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-80700059232294528022010-06-26T16:14:19.736-07:002010-06-26T16:14:19.736-07:00Hi FerFal - I just found your site. I've lived...Hi FerFal - I just found your site. I've lived in a few countries and places (including Spain). Some predominantly white, some predominantly black and some with no real majority whatsoever. Strip away ethnicities and race and all had the same political climate. Politicians who exaggerated and inflamed differences in order to turn one group against the next and turn everyone's attention away from the fact that they were stealing the country's resources in one way or another. The poor (no matter the race) have limited opportunities, commit more crimes and are pretty pissed off. Those with more resources are pissed off that the government isn't doing anything except sucking up money and are pissed off that the poor seem to be getting much for free and are trying to take what they have. The wealthy are just intent on getting their hands on more and more. Frequently the wealthy are politicians and people in the financial industry or are connected to them. Once again, thanks for not focusing on race in your blog even though you talk about crime quite a bit. The US focuses on race far too much and on the in equality between classes far too little. Probably because the government is doing a great job of keeping the largest group in America (the poor and politically poor divided).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-87417532662959781212009-03-05T03:58:00.000-08:002009-03-05T03:58:00.000-08:00For some outstanding quantitative analysis confirm...For some outstanding quantitative analysis confirming that which is easily observed yet forbidden from being stated, see:<BR/><BR/>http://www.lagriffedulion.f2s.com/<BR/><BR/>The person behind this research is a university professor, who decided to go anonymous rather than face personal safety issues and risking career termination from the extreme left that dominates pretty much the entire higher education system in the US.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-5625528545285582882009-02-19T11:11:00.000-08:002009-02-19T11:11:00.000-08:00Great post, FerFal, and I agree with you that thes...Great post, FerFal, and I agree with you that these problems are cultural rather than genetically or racially-determined. People learn to be a certain way from their family, upbringing, and surroundings. That's not to say that some people are not predisposed to become a certain way, but I don't think we should paint groups of people with one broad brush.KT Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16700347610854648996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-84797713614445251562009-02-19T09:07:00.000-08:002009-02-19T09:07:00.000-08:00I think this is insulting, ridiculous, terribly ra...<I>I think this is insulting, ridiculous, terribly racist, and an example of how people in America are obsessed with it.</I><BR/><BR/>It often feels that way to me, too, FerFAL. <BR/><BR/>Think of it this way, though: We know that race still dramatically affects people's lives in the U.S. People are often treated differently because of race, and what they are born with depends heavily on their race.<BR/><BR/>Wouldn't ignoring race altogether simply amount to pretending that these issues didn't exist, and doing nothing about them? That seems to me as great a mistake as thinking that race has any inherent meaning. <BR/><BR/>If we want a society in which race doesn't matter, then we can't simply stop thinking about race. We also need to address the ways in which race still matters, because of our long history around race.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03180927671866095059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-56029743002646186742009-02-19T07:14:00.000-08:002009-02-19T07:14:00.000-08:00Thanks James, I’ve been on forums for a while and ...Thanks James, I’ve been on forums for a while and if there’s one thing I’ve learned is that arguing about racism, religion and politics leads nowhere.<BR/>I've done it many times, and generaly want to kick myself in the head when I see myself doing it again.<BR/><BR/>Chad asked about how it affects security crime and violence in general, I told my opinion, so did everyone that posted, no comment was censored or rejected.<BR/><BR/>But I know very well it’s something that can go on and on until hell freezes, 99% getting pretty ugly.<BR/>I’ll just make a final comment James.<BR/>I was surprised to find out that in many forms and paper people have to fill in USA, next to age and gender there’s a box for race…<BR/><BR/>I think this is insulting, ridiculous, terribly racist, and an example of how people in America are obsessed with it.<BR/><BR/>Race?<BR/>I’ve filled hundreds of forms, applications and documents in my country, I’ve never seen a box to fill that said “race”<BR/>What are you supposed to put in there? “Human” is the only thing I can think of.<BR/><BR/><BR/><BR/>FerFALFerFALhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07578136334334588454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-12183159915255485012009-02-19T06:07:00.000-08:002009-02-19T06:07:00.000-08:00I want to respect FerFAL's request that we not con...I want to respect FerFAL's request that we not continue this discussion. <BR/><BR/>I'll just point out, Anonymous, that you are badly mistaken about the role of slavery in U.S. economy history. I would be happy to provide details, but unless FerFAL wants us to talk more here, you would need to visit my <A HREF="http://living.jdewperry.com/" REL="nofollow">blog</A> or contact me offline if you wish to discuss this further.<BR/><BR/>Thanks, FerFAL, for providing a congenial environment in which to talk and learn about important issues.Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03180927671866095059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-67588492656045413892009-02-19T03:22:00.000-08:002009-02-19T03:22:00.000-08:00The US states in which slavery was most important ...The US states in which slavery was most important (and legal) were the less industrialized and thus the poorest.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-855842189329225642009-02-19T03:18:00.000-08:002009-02-19T03:18:00.000-08:00"Sure, Anonymous. Briefly, the U.S. wouldn't have ..."Sure, Anonymous. Briefly, the U.S. wouldn't have the #1 economy in the world, or one of the highest standards of living, without its history of slavery.<BR/><BR/>Slavery was critical to the colonial American economy in the north and south, was essential to American independence, and was how the United States was able to industrialize when it did."<BR/><BR/>This is not true. Slavery may have been critical for cotton farmers in the south. After the abolishment of slavery the african americans still worked on the same plantations - the cotton farmers did not suffer disadvantages.<BR/><BR/>You claim that the standard of living in the USA depends on the slavery before 1865.<BR/><BR/>The standard of living is the fruit of something else: a legal system that protects business and a society that encourages a work ethic.<BR/>Lack of bureaucracy and thus an innovative environment.<BR/><BR/>Brazil had african slaves, too. Brazil never had a standard of living as high as in the USA. The reason: the nation was not run properly.<BR/>Brazil was known in Europe to be an extremely disorderly nation in the 19th century. Poverty was great.<BR/><BR/>At the same time, though, in Europe no black slaves were used, but the eruopean states thrived.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-61695291826712946982009-02-18T19:17:00.000-08:002009-02-18T19:17:00.000-08:00Let's just leave it there, please guys?FerFALLet's just leave it there, please guys?<BR/><BR/>FerFALFerFALhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07578136334334588454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-5839960567741058802009-02-18T18:56:00.000-08:002009-02-18T18:56:00.000-08:00If it would have been up to me, there wouldn't hav...If it would have been up to me, there wouldn't have been slaves in the U.S. Then again, if that had happened, countless people wouldn't have been exposed to The Gospel of Jesus Christ, they'd be starving in a third world country, probably being exploited by their own countrymen (who sold them into slavery), and they wouldn't be the richest poor people in the world. God delivered them and gave them opportunity. Instead of hate, they need to read the story of Joseph. What evil people did for their reasons, God allowed to happen for His reasons that so many people could be saved and delivered.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-17716990405867237962009-02-18T18:45:00.000-08:002009-02-18T18:45:00.000-08:00"Because I, and all Americans alive today, enjoy t..."Because I, and all Americans alive today, enjoy the fruits of that enslavement?"<BR/><BR/>Well James, knock yourself out.<BR/>I am sure giving 20% of your salary to the NAACP would be appreciated by them.<BR/><BR/>As they say: you can talk the talk, now walk the walk.<BR/><BR/>Let us know how it goes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-17008666794078807922009-02-18T18:19:00.000-08:002009-02-18T18:19:00.000-08:00James, please expound more on the fruits of that s...<I>James, please expound more on the fruits of that slavery that ALL Americans alive today enjoy.</I><BR/><BR/>Sure, Anonymous. Briefly, the U.S. wouldn't have the #1 economy in the world, or one of the highest standards of living, without its history of slavery. <BR/><BR/>Slavery was critical to the colonial American economy in the north and south, was essential to American independence, and was how the United States was able to industrialize when it did.<BR/><BR/><I>How do immigrants since the civil war who live in any area of the country other than the old slave states derive any fruits from slavery. </I><BR/><BR/>Well, I just mentioned that their standard of living is heavily dependent upon that history.<BR/><BR/>But let's look more closely at the average immigrant to the U.S. after the Civil War. He usually came because of the jobs provided by the booming economny, courtesy of the pre-Civil War, slave-based economy. He usually arrived with culture, religion, values, family structure, basic education, possibly skills and even a bit of savings. Those who had been enslaved were stripped of all of these things, and they and their families were left with nothing.<BR/><BR/>In the 20th century, those immigrants and their descendants were given massive federal aid to buy homes, get higher education, gain jobs, and take out small business loans. These programs built the white middle class. The freed slaves and their descendants, meanwhile, were systematically deprived of these opportunities and, in fact, were generally prevented from getting all but the most rudimentary education and most menial jobs.<BR/><BR/><I>Or the poor whites who live in the Northern states whose family never had a thing to do with slavery</I><BR/><BR/>Well, those poor whites benefited from much of what I wrote above.<BR/><BR/>But how could their families have had nothing to do with slavery, if they weren't immigrants?<BR/><BR/>The North had widespread slavery, and slavery was absolutely essential to the northern economy. It impacted the economic livelihood of everyone, even those who didn't personally own slaves (and many ordinary people did).Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03180927671866095059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-62214501372881125662009-02-18T15:15:00.000-08:002009-02-18T15:15:00.000-08:00Do I have a right to claim compensation to Norway ...<I>Do I have a right to claim compensation to Norway for the horrible enslavement my ancestors suffered?</I><BR/><BR/>If you can show that your family still suffers from the harm done to your ancestors, and that Norway as a whole still enjoys the benefits, I think you'd have a claim. As I said, I don't support reparations for slavery.<BR/><BR/><I>Did Vikings treat my ancestors better than slavers treated blacks?</I><BR/><BR/>Well ... yes, they did. And more importantly, I don't know that you and your ancestors have been mistreated by Norway in all the years since. Have they?<BR/><BR/><I>It’s all BS, just another tool used to tell blacks “you are different”.</I><BR/><BR/>I'm not sure that I follow you here. Blacks in the U.S. are, on the whole, significantly disadvantaged, because of slavery and racial discrimination, to this very day. This is, as you would say, an undeniable fact.<BR/><BR/><I>You cannot blame white people for what their grandparents did....</I><BR/><BR/>No one's talking about blame, just about receiving what was taken from their families.<BR/><BR/><I>It’s just a way of keeping on and on, licking wounds, wounds that are already gone....</I><BR/><BR/>May we agree about this issue after all, then? You're saying that the wounds "are already gone," when in fact we know that blacks in the U.S. still suffer from those wounds today.<BR/><BR/><I>Did you ensalve anyone?<BR/>Then why should your taxes pay for some BS strategy?</I><BR/><BR/>Because I, and all Americans alive today, enjoy the fruits of that enslavement?Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03180927671866095059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-9211023768215289132009-02-18T15:04:00.000-08:002009-02-18T15:04:00.000-08:00Some of my ancestors were taken as slaves from the...Some of my ancestors were taken as slaves from the northern coasts of Spain and forced to work in Vikings towns as farmers.<BR/>I learned about this interesting piece of history last year.<BR/><BR/>This is an undeniable fact, since it’s well documented. Do I have a right to claim compensation to Norway for the horrible enslavement my ancestors suffered?<BR/>Am I any less special? Did Vikings treat my ancestors better than slavers treated blacks?<BR/><BR/>Almost every nation or ethnic group was defeated and enslaved at some point of history.<BR/><BR/>Hey, where’s the compensation for Latinos? Europeans came to America and destroyed their wonderful cities, their culture, stole their gold, spread diseases, knocked up their women and took away their rightfully owned land.<BR/>And reparations for them are where exactly…?<BR/><BR/>If so many people are so worried about doing what’s right, why don’t blacks go back to Africa, Europeans go back to Europe and Latinos stay here..?<BR/>Of course no one thinks about doing that. It’s not...hmm?… convenient?<BR/><BR/>They prefer to focus on black slavery.<BR/> It’s all BS, just another tool used to tell blacks “you are different”.<BR/><BR/>You cannot blame white people for what their grandparents did, same way I can’t blame you for any terrible act your father or grandfather may have done.<BR/><BR/>Many black people find these reparations pretty insulting as well.<BR/>Check out Pen and Tellers’s Reparation is BS videos in youtube.<BR/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7B9QZlr8YQ<BR/><BR/>It’s just a way of keeping on and on, licking wounds, wounds that are already gone but they want to tear them up to make them bleed again.<BR/>What’s done is done and people should not forget history but we can’t<BR/>live in the past forever.<BR/>It’s just an excuse to pour money in poor black communities. It’s a way of telling them they can’t do things on your own, and someone out there ( whites) OWE you. You are poor because your grandpa was enslaved, not because the gov. that acts so morally cant let a day go by without drilling into your head the same message: you that you are black and poor, hence you are different. Here, have a few bucks.<BR/>Check the Penn and Teller video, it’s pretty good.<BR/><BR/>Besides, it's simply wrong.<BR/>Did you ensalve anyone?<BR/>Then why should your taxes pay for some BS strategy?<BR/><BR/>FerFALFerFALhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07578136334334588454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-48230933239073650442009-02-18T14:18:00.000-08:002009-02-18T14:18:00.000-08:00It was really interesting to read this post and le...It was really interesting to read this post and learn a little about how race is perceived in Argentina. (I'm in the U.S.)<BR/><BR/>I'm confused on one point, though: you seem to be saying that it takes "subliminal indoctrination" for anyone up here to believe in reparations for slavery.<BR/><BR/>Why is that? It seems to me, and I don't support reparations for slavery, that this issue is a fairly simple claim. People are saying, "My ancestors were horribly mistreated by our society, and as a result, my family has less than other families. It isn't right that some members of society have what was taken from others."Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03180927671866095059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8939666320943790100.post-33127322748912037162009-02-18T13:21:00.000-08:002009-02-18T13:21:00.000-08:00Spot on, brother. Divide and conquer - nothing new...Spot on, brother. Divide and conquer - nothing new for politicians. Something as obvious as skin color is just the easiest, most obvious way to drive a wedge and then sow dissent and resentment.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com