Rod and Karen discuss a letter on socialism, Kanye leaves Tidal, driver ask for chicken in phone store, man uses bacon in hate crime, delivery man gets a noose from a customer, Lee Garrett back on Twitter, racist Australian woman in library, dog killing lady, man breaks into tented off homes, sex in the park, LGBTQ news and sword ratchetness.
Twitter: @rodimusprime @SayDatAgain @TBGWT
Email: theblackguywhotips@gmail.com
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If I don’t make this quick, you may never finish the reviews of this episode. Anyways, I remember seeing that tweet telling you they’ll be there when you “wake up.” Bruh, I saw a few more similar and decided to check out. I don’t know if it is because I’m old as fuck, or because I’m jaded as fuck, but I’m wary of any new ‘product’ that says this is guaranteed to make us free. To me though I am willing to listen, but Twitter is certainly not the place to have such a discussion.
I think Black folks look at socialism very differently than White folks. If it is that bullshit that I see online from some White folks, miss me with that. Bottom line, this shit is way too complex and I’d like to hear about it even if it’s not for me.
Hey Rod and Karen,
Just want to cosign what you talked about with the socialism stuff and add a little. I went to school for marketing but loved politics and policy so decided to go back to school for Political science in my late 20’s. The socialism ideology is very complex in the sense of how well it would or would’nt work here, especially for POC. Not because there arent good things about socialism that would help us..cuz there are but because there is no real documented case of socialism working in a non homogeneous country. All the places where it works best are pretty much single race, singular cultured places where the minority population is so small that they really dont have to address those needs.
The other part of it is unfortunately just like everything else in America in order for something to work you need white people to buy in. And I know it seems like socialism is one of those things white people are always talking about but its such a small percentage of white people who think its a good idea for a number of reasons. During Obama’s yrs as POTUS the tea party right when they werent calling him racist names where calling him “Marxist” “Socialist” and all that stuff and everyone who knows even the smallest about socialist knows Obama is not that. There is an interesting book that we got assigned in a class called “Whats the Matter with Kansas” where they basically try to explain why the poor, white working class continues to vote against their own self interest. Of course a large part of that is racism and fear of the other but a real interesting part talked about socialism specifically. This reason had to deal with race but in the sense of whiteness. There is this belief even by poor, destitute whites that they are their children will make it, so they vote based on this fictional scenario that they or someone they love will be in the upper middle class soon and they want those benefits too. So they vote against their own healthcare and food stamps and welfare. And they hate the idea of redistributing wealth and social programs that help the poor cuz they believe they will pull themselves out and when they do they don’t want to give up anything.
I say all that to say the conversation about this always get combatant because most people don’t support and and the ones that do not in all cases but in many feel like they know something that the other group does and thats just when your talking about “white socialism†when you add race into that it takes it to a whole different level. In class when this debate comes up its often black people at least from my experience supporting it but also questioning its plausibility. First by nature if there are no efforts by the government “big if†to hurt black ppl then based on our demographics now black and brown ppl would be helped economically by socialism even Bernie’s vision however it ignores the history of our country in regard to black and brown ppl and policies of different groups also doesent stop institutional racism which happens to all black ppl no matter what your economic status. Also some black ppl believe in capitalism because in a society that is racists the only way to make it is to be great and leave ppl with no other choice. Sports is the best example of a meritocracy and pure capitalism that we have if we took away the salary cap. And black people can rise to the top and demand and earn the most amount of money and thats free market working at its best. I know this was long but I just wanted to say keep looking for information we all are always learning new things and its good to learn both sides and see where you fall and either side is not right or wrong its an actual ideological debate. But implementing that especially with how white people feel would be tough.
Thanks,
Brandon
I’m not on twitter a lot but here’s something to be aware of when it comes to “Bernie bros” and “Bernie brothas”, particularly on social media: part of Russia’s active measure campaign was ginning up divisions between liberal people via social media sites. Logic tells me to assume that at least a few black people fell for it. We know that Russia targeted the Occupy movement with propaganda and misinformation to distract them. I wonder if they have targeted black social media too. This could explain some of the fervor coming off of random accounts. Propaganda spreads among otherwise well-meaning people.
I just have to take everything with a grain of salt and try to look at the real world when things get crazy. Bernie’s push to move Dems left is good in theory but I saw with my own eyes during the campaign that he leaves POC out of his strategy.
I also used to work in the Senate. His name is trash in those streets because he’s always been more talk than action. But had the talk led him to the nomination I absolute would have voted for him.
Rod, I think you’re right that black people are savvy enough to see what’s right in front of us and make pragmatic decisions. I mean look at how right black women voters got it when the world is such a ball of confusion. Look at how vocally we support socialist programs like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. For the most part, we vote our interest unlike poor, middle class and rural GOP and Trump voters who put ideology first. Ideology, while passionate, can end up getting you a whole lotta nothing.
Back to social media propaganda, here’s a salon article that talked about some of their tactics.
“Russia has been utilizing active measures propaganda since 2009 and has continuously increased its capabilities since then, Watts testified.
Liberal Americans may also have been targeted for fake news during the last election. Earlier this month, the Huffington Post released a report based on interviews with many former supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders who told the website that Facebook groups they were operating last year were targeted by fake accounts promoting websites that were registered in other countries such as Macedonia.
Oftentimes, the material recycled old, discredited conspiracy theories about former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, claiming she was involved with various murders and money laundering schemes.
While some fake news websites, such as Sputnik News, are indeed owned and operated by the Russian government, many of them are purely for-profit endeavors targeted toward tricking the gullible.”
http://www.salon.com/2017/03/31/fake-news-websites-targeted-trump-bernie-sanders-supporters-to-spread-conspiracy-theories/
Here’s the thing on housing discrimination, LGBT people aren’t a federally protected class. So, if you’re not living in a state or city that specifically has anti-LGBT discrimination laws on the books, there is no legal recourse in the same way there is for race. Fair Housing laws don’t apply to us.