I think the problem we have now is that we have conditioned everyone to look for a slight everywhere. It's a victim mentality with a race to the bottom. Most people of all colors think it's them specifically when things don't go exactly right. It's narcissism bred out of too much comfort because we have too little to complain about or too much time to think of complaints.
Many of us are aware of the long standing Russian efforts to meddle in American society - the hacking of DNC emails during the 2016 election is an example of this. This meddling goes back to the cold war era with soviet agents stirring up racial and other social tension, for example, during the 1984 Olympics (see TNSR article).
I embrace FAIR, in part, because it counters outside efforts to erode our society and make us fearful and distrustful of each other. Who really benefits from increased racial tension? Consider those black women who were waiting in the hot sun - Does feeling that racial tension pervades everything benefit _them_? Does that feeling benefit anyone else standing line? Does that feeling benefit anyone in America (aside from those making millions by selling books and giving speeches & workshops). Racial tension certainly benefits overseas adversaries: Putin would love it if we were so distracted by domestic race problems that we stopped supporting Ukraine. Xi Jinping, would love it if internal strife reduced our support for Taiwan.
Thanks for this. It's good to have these reminders that things are rarely as we first perceive them. Situations are fluid, people are complicated but I firmly believe most act with good intentions.
What we're seeing today is to be blamed primarily on the Democrat Party and here's why. Following Obama's second election one could reasonably say that racism in America had been placed on life support; and that we had entered into a new and more enlightened era that we could honestly describe as "post racial." The recognition of this new era should have left us embracing, dancing, and singing in the streets, replacing the old hopeful words "WE SHALL OVERCOME" with the new celebratory words "WE HAVE OVERCOME!" But instead, something more sinister happened. The Party that had for decades weened its base on rage and grievance, the Party that had for decades increasingly messaged to its constituents that one's essence could be defined by their gender, their sexuality, and their color; the Party that had for decades given their constituents an excuse and a safety net for their personal failures, that Party panicked! And in their panic, in a cynical, devious, and deceitful political ploy, that Party decided to double down on these old messages and strained to balance America's dwindling SUPPLY of racism with this new and desperate DEMAND for racism; strained to balance this SUPPLY and DEMAND problem by manufacturing new forms of racism that would defy reality; new machinations of racism like: "systemic racism," "implicit white bias," pervasive "white supremacy," "white privilege," "white tears," micro aggressions, and the ubiquitous need for "trigger warnings" and "safe spaces" in the safest places in America, or in the world for that matter, U.S. college campuses. And so for the last 15-20 years I have watched the Party I supported most of my life, the Party whose platform was built on the foundation that fought to ensure that women, gays, lesbians, and minorities, received the unfulfilled freedoms that our great constitution promised them, I watched as that Party devolved into a Party built on a new foundation of deceit, division, and destruction, a Party that I'm certain was not part of MLK's dream, but may very well have been part of his nightmares.
So the (white) DMV worker initially told the two (black) ladies to go to their cars without explaining they would be called by phone in due course to come right in to transact their business? And she didn't take down their info and phone numbers at that time? And nobody thought back to how doctors' appointments worked during COVID (wait in your car in the parking lot until called to come in to see the doc)? Does this vignette pass the smell test?
Hi, Richard. I don't know what the DMV employee told the women initially when she took down their numbers. Whatever was said seemed unacceptable to them at the time. That changed immediately when the DMV woman reappeared and made us all go to our cars and confirmed the women's numbers.
I think the problem we have now is that we have conditioned everyone to look for a slight everywhere. It's a victim mentality with a race to the bottom. Most people of all colors think it's them specifically when things don't go exactly right. It's narcissism bred out of too much comfort because we have too little to complain about or too much time to think of complaints.
Precisely
Many of us are aware of the long standing Russian efforts to meddle in American society - the hacking of DNC emails during the 2016 election is an example of this. This meddling goes back to the cold war era with soviet agents stirring up racial and other social tension, for example, during the 1984 Olympics (see TNSR article).
https://tnsr.org/2022/09/whats-old-is-new-again-cold-war-lessons-for-countering-disinformation/
I embrace FAIR, in part, because it counters outside efforts to erode our society and make us fearful and distrustful of each other. Who really benefits from increased racial tension? Consider those black women who were waiting in the hot sun - Does feeling that racial tension pervades everything benefit _them_? Does that feeling benefit anyone else standing line? Does that feeling benefit anyone in America (aside from those making millions by selling books and giving speeches & workshops). Racial tension certainly benefits overseas adversaries: Putin would love it if we were so distracted by domestic race problems that we stopped supporting Ukraine. Xi Jinping, would love it if internal strife reduced our support for Taiwan.
Thank you for sharing that!
The first positive DMV story I've read. And, unfortunately, probably the last.
Haha, yeah. DMV is definitely a love-hate sort of thing. Thanks for reading.
Thanks for this. It's good to have these reminders that things are rarely as we first perceive them. Situations are fluid, people are complicated but I firmly believe most act with good intentions.
Yes, it was one shock after another over there that day. But in end I really could see it from everyone's viewpoint. Crazy situation, wow.
What we're seeing today is to be blamed primarily on the Democrat Party and here's why. Following Obama's second election one could reasonably say that racism in America had been placed on life support; and that we had entered into a new and more enlightened era that we could honestly describe as "post racial." The recognition of this new era should have left us embracing, dancing, and singing in the streets, replacing the old hopeful words "WE SHALL OVERCOME" with the new celebratory words "WE HAVE OVERCOME!" But instead, something more sinister happened. The Party that had for decades weened its base on rage and grievance, the Party that had for decades increasingly messaged to its constituents that one's essence could be defined by their gender, their sexuality, and their color; the Party that had for decades given their constituents an excuse and a safety net for their personal failures, that Party panicked! And in their panic, in a cynical, devious, and deceitful political ploy, that Party decided to double down on these old messages and strained to balance America's dwindling SUPPLY of racism with this new and desperate DEMAND for racism; strained to balance this SUPPLY and DEMAND problem by manufacturing new forms of racism that would defy reality; new machinations of racism like: "systemic racism," "implicit white bias," pervasive "white supremacy," "white privilege," "white tears," micro aggressions, and the ubiquitous need for "trigger warnings" and "safe spaces" in the safest places in America, or in the world for that matter, U.S. college campuses. And so for the last 15-20 years I have watched the Party I supported most of my life, the Party whose platform was built on the foundation that fought to ensure that women, gays, lesbians, and minorities, received the unfulfilled freedoms that our great constitution promised them, I watched as that Party devolved into a Party built on a new foundation of deceit, division, and destruction, a Party that I'm certain was not part of MLK's dream, but may very well have been part of his nightmares.
So the (white) DMV worker initially told the two (black) ladies to go to their cars without explaining they would be called by phone in due course to come right in to transact their business? And she didn't take down their info and phone numbers at that time? And nobody thought back to how doctors' appointments worked during COVID (wait in your car in the parking lot until called to come in to see the doc)? Does this vignette pass the smell test?
Hi, Richard. I don't know what the DMV employee told the women initially when she took down their numbers. Whatever was said seemed unacceptable to them at the time. That changed immediately when the DMV woman reappeared and made us all go to our cars and confirmed the women's numbers.