The slow death of free speech

[garbon]

So soon we'll have the black culture sucks as they are criminals (NAACP notes one in 6 black men have spent time in prison)...or gay culture sucks because they are HIV ridden (CDC notes 1 in 5 gay men have HIV...and half that number don't even know it).

Does either culture encourage such activity?

I'm not sure how to answer that question. I suppose not more so than "American" culture encourages white collar crime?

At the same time there are certainly elements that encourage lives of crime / unprotected sex with multiple partners.

You could have just said no.

edit: didn't intend the double meaning

I don't know - I mean what % of of muslim women are beaten by their husband and what % of muslims advocate spousal abuse?

Ignoring the next bit.

[Valmy]

I'm not sure how to answer that question. I suppose not more so than "American" culture encourages white collar crime?

At the same time there are certainly elements that encourage lives of crime / unprotected sex with multiple partners.

Are gays and blacks not Americans?

[garbon]

I'm not sure how to answer that question. I suppose not more so than "American" culture encourages white collar crime?

At the same time there are certainly elements that encourage lives of crime / unprotected sex with multiple partners.

Are gays and blacks not Americans?

culture:

the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time

[Valmy]

Ok so what is "American" culture that it encourages white collar criminals that does not include the gays and blacks which are very visible and involved in the American culture I see?

[garbon]

Ok so what is "American" culture that it encourages white collar criminals that does not include the gays and blacks which are very visible and involved in the American culture I see?

I very shaky on what these distinct cultural groupings are - they seem rather like useful fictions as they don't even accurately describe most of the groups they are describing (nor is group membership necessarily clear).

I'd resist using subculture as when I looked that up on wikipedia I saw pictures of Star Trek and hip-hop.

Though it seems like culture either comes out as a discussion of one groups own pop culture or when contrast how one's is superior to an inferior culture (or in the cases like American - the culture of an evil hegemony).

[Valmy]

I very shaky on what these distinct cultural groupings are - they seem rather like useful fictions as they don't even accurately describe most of the groups they are describing (nor is group membership necessarily clear).

I'd resist using subculture as when I looked that up on wikipedia I saw pictures of Star Trek and hip-hop.

Though it seems like culture either comes out as a discussion of one groups own pop culture or when contrast how one's is superior to an inferior culture (or in the cases like American - the culture of an evil hegemony).

I guess I just figure "American Culture" is the pop culture stuff and basic values and prejudices we all share, our evil hegemony if you will.  Then each community has its own thing going on whether they be hippy liberals or traditional WASPs or minority religions or races or whatever.

[garbon]

I guess I just figure "American Culture" is the pop culture stuff and basic values and prejudices we all share

What exactly are these things and do we really all share them...and to an extent that we can see easy differentiation from other "western" cultures?

[Valmy]

I guess I just figure "American Culture" is the pop culture stuff and basic values and prejudices we all share

What exactly are these things and do we really all share them...and to an extent that we can see easy differentiation from other "western" cultures?

The pop culture stuff that is all around us.  The basic assumptions about individual rights and the constitution and all that.  Even if one does not agree with it or like it, you are aware of it to a degree one is not dialed into what the Sikh community in Indiana is all about.  However you and the Sikh community of Indiana at least know that stuff.

[garbon]

I guess I just figure "American Culture" is the pop culture stuff and basic values and prejudices we all share

What exactly are these things and do we really all share them...and to an extent that we can see easy differentiation from other "western" cultures?

The pop culture stuff that is all around us.  The basic assumptions about individual rights and the constitution and all that.  Even if one does not agree with it or like it, you are aware of it to a degree one is not dialed into what the Sikh community in Indiana is all about.  However you and the Sikh community of Indiana at least know that stuff.

Awareness of cultural traits = shared culture? I'm sure that's not what you mean.

As that would also suggest that old folks who aren't aware of latest trends are diverging into a separate culture....and if one were to study intensely another culture, that'd become yours.

[Valmy]

Awareness of cultural traits = shared culture? I'm sure that's not what you mean.

As that would also suggest that old folks who aren't aware of latest trends are diverging into a separate culture....and if one were to study intensely another culture, that'd become yours.

Ok then.  If you say so.

I will try again: the Sikh community of Indiana are American Sikhs so therefore they differ in a lot of ways from Punjabi Sikhs because they have come over here and been influenced by American culture.  Do you disagree?  What sort of differences do you think these might be?

[Razgovory]

They probably do a different pledge of allegiance then the ones in India.

[Ideologue]

If a someone thinks that (to continue with our example) spousal abuse is cool, then no matter what good qualities they have (perhaps they are kind to animals), they've committed to evil.  If a sizeable majority within a (somewhat arbitrarily defined group) thinks that spousal abuse is cool, then that group should be addressed.  Not because it's not valuable to address the evil of the belief, but because the culture itself supports it through its norms.  If that hardens the hearts of some moderates within the in-group, that's more of a tactical problem than a moral one (and if they can be swayed by group feeling like that, maybe they don't deserve a great deal of consideration in the first place).

So soon we'll have the black culture sucks as they are criminals (NAACP notes one in 6 black men have spent time in prison)...or gay culture sucks because they are HIV ridden (CDC notes 1 in 5 gay men have HIV...and half that number don't even know it).

I'm pretty sure the first is an example of white American culture sucking.  Sorry.

Btw, is it really that high?   Anyway, I blame American culture generally on that, too, since it's American culture that prevented a reasonable test and quarantine regime when HIV entered our population.

[jimmy olsen]

"Big Climate enforcers"?

Steyn is a joke.

I notice you didn't say anything about this.

In Massachusetts, Brandeis University withdraws its offer of an honorary degree to a black feminist atheist human rights campaigner from Somalia.
    In London, a multitude of liberal journalists and artists responsible for everything from Monty Python to Downton Abbey sign an open letter in favour of the first state restraints on the British press in three and a quarter centuries.

He addresses the issue (free speech in trouble) from both sides, because to sell it as a problem to both sides of the political spectrum he has to address issues that both sides have(climate change/human rights). He may have moonbat tendencies, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a point on this issue.

[Razgovory]

Was the black atheist a big climate enforcer?

[garbon]

Pretty damning stuff. Speak your mind and you can't have an honorary degree from Brandeis University. MAH RIGHTS