305to954
All American
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2018
- Messages
- 22,193
**** I guess D’Eriq lost a lot of fans in CIS
not gunna lie, I just skimmed this Harry Potter post..appreciate the thought and comments. All Ill say is the problems I highlighted still effect us today. So before we worry about the Chinese, Russia, Saudi, etc etc and their governments, let’s highlight our issues and keep working to fix themYou realize that getting to a place of true equality is a long journey that very few countries outside of the United States have tried. Have you been to a Monarchy where "criminals" are beheaded? I have. Been to a Monarchy where you met the crown prince, who was later part of an un-democratic power struggle? I have. From dictatorships were people live in hovels to civil wars, I have seen the rest of the world up close and it is pretty ugly. We have been engaged in trying to change these governments to one more democratic, however, building democratic institutions take time and there are entrenched factions who will try to keep power, at all cost, over a populace that has little democratic tradition. I have the scars from being fired upon by these folks in Iraq, so we have went way beyond "being worried." You ask when Autocratic Systems have been a concern, yet you condone the NBA's silence on China's autocratic system killing, imprisoning, and putting into slavery millions. It is easy to criticize what causes you no pain. Ali lost his title and almost his freedom for his stand; LeBron losses nothing by critcising his home country and staying silent on China.
You bring up things that have been abolished, legislated out of existence, ended after hostilities, or have been won by a country trying to make itself better. You acknowledge this fact and state more problems persist today, yet seem to imply that these problems can't be solved like the others you listed, by a US Constitutional system that solved the earlier difficulties. If problems such as slavery and voting rights can be solved, then for profit incarceration and unlawful police tactics can be solved also.
Lebron and the rest of the NBA players don't take to heart the axiom, you attract more with honey than vinegar. Kneeling for the US flag and anthem is to meet the political aims of a Black Lives Matter movement that traces its roots to the 1960s movement that achieved so much, but was sidetracked by inpatient leaders such as Stokley Carmichael being co-opted by radical leftists; organizations funded by the Soviets and others. After Dr. King was assassinated, you had the first riots in D.C. that destroyed black owned business and started problems we deal with today, such as food deserts in black communities (insurance to run a business is hard to obtain after a riot).
Virtue signalling and riots in your own community do not help. When will the NBA players go to the school board meetings in disadvanged communities and demand that accountability in education be put in place? No more blaming the parents for failing schools, then flipping the coin and giving teachers unions get another raise...While they still fail their minority students. Where are NBA players going along with the police to find out the challenges police face and offer guidance to young cops on how to de-escalate? Where is the mass protests outside the DEA and the commercial drug makers demanding action to stop the speread of drugs in black communities.
The past can't be changed and Lord knows we have had too many acts of violence being used to settle old scores throughout the globe. But if the IRA and the British can make peace, if the Israelis don't bomb the Germans, and if the Serbs, Croats, and Bozniaks can co-exist, then we can get past history and strive for a more harmonious future.
