They’re all bought and sold: American democracy belongs to the billionaires now

[GrandizerII]

The Klown Kar gets a little lighter.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/3...tail=email

Rand Paul 'suspends' his presidential campaign (drops out of race)

A shame in a way.  He was the one republicunt who said something different from the rest of the fools on occasion.  He should be a democrat.

Except, last I heard, he's pro-life and climate change skeptic, right? Would not make for a good Democrat candidate.

[GrandizerII]

What's so bad about monkeys anyway? Why would a monkey be offensive to anyone? They are our closest relative and I harbor no ill will towards them.

That's not factual. Monkeys are not our closest relatives.

[Aegon]

You make it sound like racism through ape comparison is dead

You fail to see my point. My point was there should be no reason why any person, regardless of color, should be insulted in the prior example.

Shit, we aren't a bunch of third graders. We are adults. Perhaps if we set the example of being tolerant, our kids wouldn't grow up to be judge mental assholes. My parents weren't racist. But my grandmother was and I watched her ibe day refuse to order lunch while we were out simply because our server was black. I told my grandmother she was a racist and that she disgusted me. She got all butt hurt when I said that and I said, well imagine how our server felt when you made your remarks to her. That shut her up. This isn't the old days where there was little to no acceptance. This is 2016. We need to stop feeding into the idea of being entitled to things simply because of who we are or where we come from. We are all of one race: human.

You're not really saying anything to counter my point. I say that, historically speaking, racist people have compared blacks to apes as a way of dehumanizing them. And it still happens today. That's why it's offensive. I don't disagree with the idea that it shouldn't be racist and it shouldn't offend anyone in that way, but just saying that ignores 200 years of dehumanization through jokes like that. Saying "this is 2016" doesn't just make it all go away.

The history and slurs don't apply to white people.

So I guess the Jewish people who suffered in concentration camps don't matter?

What?

[Joods]

You fail to see my point. My point was there should be no reason why any person, regardless of color, should be insulted in the prior example.

Shit, we aren't a bunch of third graders. We are adults. Perhaps if we set the example of being tolerant, our kids wouldn't grow up to be judge mental assholes. My parents weren't racist. But my grandmother was and I watched her ibe day refuse to order lunch while we were out simply because our server was black. I told my grandmother she was a racist and that she disgusted me. She got all butt hurt when I said that and I said, well imagine how our server felt when you made your remarks to her. That shut her up. This isn't the old days where there was little to no acceptance. This is 2016. We need to stop feeding into the idea of being entitled to things simply because of who we are or where we come from. We are all of one race: human.

You're not really saying anything to counter my point. I say that, historically speaking, racist people have compared blacks to apes as a way of dehumanizing them. And it still happens today. That's why it's offensive. I don't disagree with the idea that it shouldn't be racist and it shouldn't offend anyone in that way, but just saying that ignores 200 years of dehumanization through jokes like that. Saying "this is 2016" doesn't just make it all go away.

So I guess the Jewish people who suffered in concentration camps don't matter?

What?

I wasn't implying that by saying "this is 2016" that it should all just go away. You need to go back and read my post and not read more into it than what you're trying to.

As far as my response to Godcherry, you also need to go back and read why I made that comment in response to her post.

[Minimalist]

The Klown Kar gets a little lighter.

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/2/3...tail=email



A shame in a way.  He was the one republicunt who said something different from the rest of the fools on occasion.  He should be a democrat.

Except, last I heard, he's pro-life and climate change skeptic, right? Would not make for a good Democrat candidate.

He's from Kentucky.  I don't know that it would really hurt him.

[The Grand Nudger]

In fairness, he's a practiced opportunist...so if you got him out of coal country he'd probably be on the side of climate science, insomuch as it purported to demonstrate that his new lord and master (whomever that may be) were the way forward, ofc.

[Brian37]

GUYS,

SERIOUSLY even if he doesn't get the nomination, this fight to break big business monopolies on politics is not a fight the planet can afford to lose. We cannot pin our hopes on one politician, this is about motivating more people to get involved and stay involved LONG TERM even after November and with ALL our local and national politicians.

I want Bernie to win, but if that does not happen we still have to deal with what does happen. It is up to everyone reading this who agrees with me to use your voice every day and long term.

[The Grand Nudger]

I don't think that there is any credible solution to that problem emanating from the office of the presidency regardless of whoever sits in the chair.  If we want to break big businesses monopoly we're going to have to do it from the bottom up, not by throwing a hail mary to a political messiah figure.  

Whens the last time you broke big business anything, even for a few people, with a vote, let alone a vote for the office most beholden to big business -regardless- of a candidate's personal commitments.  Assuming that Sanders really isn't personally beholden or sympathetic to a business interest (uh-huh.....).....he will inherit the commitments, sympathies, and debts of the office in addition to his own.

If you want to break big business stop lazily assuming that a vote is even capable and break it yourself.  That's what we're all going to need to do.  Big business exists because it makes the shit we want.  Unless we start making the shit we want big biz isn't going to lose any influence.  Take time you would have taken to cast your useless lot for Sanders and whittle a damned chair instead.  That will go farther toward breaking Big Chair  Biz than your vote will.

[Ravenshire]

I don't agree with anyone posting things comparing people to monkeys - no matter what their color. The fact that no one is making such a big deal about the comparison to ALL races is what I find disturbing. All I'm seeing is posts indicating that people of color are offended but that white people shouldn't be. I'm white and I find the whole thing offensive. Period.

How much longer do we have to apologize for the things that our grandparents and great grandparents did to other members of this society? I didn't do those things and in this day and age, ANYTHING that is aimed at ANYONE, regardless of race, with the intent to hurt that person, is uncalled for.

I have issues with being compared to monkeys. Apes, not so much, since I am one.

[Brian37]

I don't agree with anyone posting things comparing people to monkeys - no matter what their color. The fact that no one is making such a big deal about the comparison to ALL races is what I find disturbing. All I'm seeing is posts indicating that people of color are offended but that white people shouldn't be. I'm white and I find the whole thing offensive. Period.

How much longer do we have to apologize for the things that our grandparents and great grandparents did to other members of this society? I didn't do those things and in this day and age, ANYTHING that is aimed at ANYONE, regardless of race, with the intent to hurt that person, is uncalled for.

I have issues with being compared to monkeys. Apes, not so much, since I am one.

@Nymphadora 

Nobody I'd call sane should blame our current population for what our ancestors did, but it is still worth remembering and teaching so that it does not happen again.

There is no "virtue of the oppressed". Being oppressed is a matter of moment in time, some eras shorter some eras longer. I don't like it when Natives say "give the land back" which wouldn't happen even if I wanted it to. Mexicans also form political action groups trying to claim the West was once part of Mexico, which forgets that would mean the European Latin world invaded the Americas as well which means they too push natives off South and Central America land as well. 

I also don't like todays Jews hiding behind the Holocaust. Ann Frank was oppressed and scapegoated and murdered. Now while I will never advocate wiping any population off the face of the planet, that does not give today's Israel a pass for everything.

Humans have always been tribal, and sought power and conquest. Being a victim is a matter of geography and once the oppressed does not mean oppressed forever.

I know my American history and we did some really horrible things to Natives and blacks and had sexism and homophobia and Japanese internment camps. But time changes over centuries and governments change and majorities change. So when any group says, "Look what that other did to me" they are not wrong, but under a different context of history and geography that case cannot be made.

Ultimately all 7 billion of us are the same species, so if you want to claim discrimination or oppression you can be right depending on context of situation. All 7 billion of us are BOTH majorities AND minorities depending where we are and what point in history we are talking about, but we are still the same species no matter what.