From the "Black People Arrest Themselves" files

Started by CountDeMoney, July 21, 2009, 05:35:20 AM

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Jacob

Quote from: The Minsky Moment on July 31, 2009, 02:42:25 PMit's been kind of sad to see some here try to equate him with the likes of Sharpton or Jeremiah Wright given that his entire life he has been a principled voice for moderation and "accomodation" and kwown and respected for his open-mindedness in engaging with others.  I think Crowley was seriously wrong and that his actions were probably impacted by race but its not like I've tried make some ridiculous caricature of him as some Bull Conner crossed with Mark Fuhrman.

What's the value of a man's entire life when balanced against the sweetness of rhetorical advantage on the internet?

Berkut

Quote from: The Minsky Moment on July 31, 2009, 02:42:25 PM
Quote from: Caliga on July 31, 2009, 01:25:32 PM
I've been trying to tell you guys that the "word on the street" was always that Gates was cool.

it's been kind of sad to see some here try to equate him with the likes of Sharpton or Jeremiah Wright given that his entire life he has been a principled voice for moderation and "accomodation" and kwown and respected for his open-mindedness in engaging with others. 

I think it is sad to see someone whose entire life has been a principles voice for moderation and accommodation blow it in one temper tantrum at a cop trying to do his job in the face of an irrationally hostile asshole.

He certianly wasn't "open minded" when he started ranting about being a black man in MAerica becaues a cop asked him for some ID.

Whether or not Crowley is a super secret closet racist, he did nothing to instigate Gates at all, and Gates had jumped the shark long before you can argue that Crowley was over-reacting and exceeding his authority because he is a racist.

Gates needs no help from anyone else to create a "ridiculous caricature" of himself. He did that on his own.
"If you think this has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention."

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Berkut

Quote from: Jacob on July 31, 2009, 02:47:08 PM
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on July 31, 2009, 02:42:25 PMit's been kind of sad to see some here try to equate him with the likes of Sharpton or Jeremiah Wright given that his entire life he has been a principled voice for moderation and "accomodation" and kwown and respected for his open-mindedness in engaging with others.  I think Crowley was seriously wrong and that his actions were probably impacted by race but its not like I've tried make some ridiculous caricature of him as some Bull Conner crossed with Mark Fuhrman.

What's the value of a man's entire life when balanced against the sweetness of rhetorical advantage on the internet?

Depends - in the man in question white or black?

JR seems to think that is an important distinction - he is quite willing to accuse Crowley of racism without a single smidge of evidence that anything he did had anything to do with race. Of course, Crowley is not an "eminent and important" academic, so the value of his entire life is somewhat lower, I suspect.
"If you think this has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention."

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Barrister

Quote from: Berkut on July 31, 2009, 01:41:18 PM
Quote from: Martinus on July 31, 2009, 01:35:31 PM
I wish Dr Gates was more like Berkut, i.e. always calm, never getting angry, and always apologizing for harsh words. :(

There is nothing wrong with harsh words, as long as they are right.

And I am perfectly capable of apologizing when I screw up.

There is plenty wrong with harsh words.  They tend to anger and upset people, put them on the defensive.   

Now there are times when you want people to be angry and upset.  It can be a useful technique at times.  It can get people's attention.

But "correctness" is a very poor excuse for using harsh words.  There is always a way to say the same thing without a harsh tone.  Be harsh if you want to be harsh, but don't blame people for getting upset when those kinds of words are designed to upset people.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Barrister

Quote from: The Minsky Moment on July 31, 2009, 02:37:18 PM
Quote from: Barrister on July 31, 2009, 01:20:00 PM
I'm 99% sure that someone in the Whitehouse wrote that statement (and a similar one for Crowley) well before either met the President.

I am almost equally sure that it didn't because the speech contains some noticeable Gatesisms that a WH staffer would not have written.  It may be that someone for the WH vetted it or suggested some language though.

Fair enough.  I remain convinced that the WH knew what the post-meeting script was going to be however, no matter who wrote the words.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

alfred russel

Quote from: The Minsky Moment on July 31, 2009, 02:42:25 PM
Mark Fuhrman.

Now there is an interesting fellow: comes to the public's attention for recorded racist diatribes that sink the prosecution in a high profile murder case, and turns that start into a career as a fox news commentator with MLB friends that bring him along to the locker room.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

There's a fine line between salvation and drinking poison in the jungle.

I'm embarrassed. I've been making the mistake of associating with you. It won't happen again. :)
-garbon, February 23, 2014

garbon

Quote from: Berkut on July 31, 2009, 02:48:39 PM
I think it is sad to see someone whose entire life has been a principles voice for moderation and accommodation blow it in one temper tantrum at a cop trying to do his job in the face of an irrationally hostile asshole.

Gates is human, no?
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

MadImmortalMan

The whole situation seems like it ought to be an episode of Yes, Minister. I bet Humphrey Appleby wrote that Gates statement.
"Stability is destabilizing." --Hyman Minsky

"Complacency can be a self-denying prophecy."
"We have nothing to fear but lack of fear itself." --Larry Summers

The Minsky Moment

Quote from: Berkut on July 31, 2009, 02:48:39 PM
He certianly wasn't "open minded" when he started ranting about being a black man in MAerica becaues a cop asked him for some ID.

No he was tired after a long vacation and surprised to find an cop showing up unannounced and walking uninvited into his home.

If you weren't so busy trying to spin some class-based narrative of your own, you might be able to emphathize with that position and understand why someone might not be cool.
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson

Jaron

I'm not the kind of man to throw accusations around..

but doesn't Berkut seem to be fired up about this a little more than usual?
Winner of THE grumbler point.

Ed Anger

Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

Jaron

Winner of THE grumbler point.

PDH

I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
-Umberto Eco

-------
"I'm pretty sure my level of depression has nothing to do with how much of a fucking asshole you are."

-CdM

Ed Anger

Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

Razgovory

Quote from: Jaron on July 31, 2009, 05:54:50 PM
I'm not the kind of man to throw accusations around..

but doesn't Berkut seem to be fired up about this a little more than usual?

Berkut is scared of black people.  He's made that clear by now.  GOD DAMN AMERICA!
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017