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Racism in Buddhist America
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There's no point in providing training in gun handling to a 3-year old or 4-year-old, really. Is this what society's come to: gun training for toddlers? And I don't understand your comment about sobriety, or what that has to do with the topics at hand. But I do think that some of these accidents involving children could be eliminated if adults kept guns under lock and key, as they're supposed to, and were careful to conceal the key.
your government isn't the problem...
Our Government doesn't go that far!!
And I never have my webcam switched on!
Restaurants here offer discounts if u come in wearing your gun. Im not kidding. Gun ownership
here in the US is not going to change.....but shooting unarmed people and teens and children
at that....is just something we have to start talking about in this country. There has to be
boundries for everything. Letting bullets fly bec someone pissed u off, or you didnt know
what else to do is entirely different than hunting for food. Problem is...once i know you hunt
for sport....then it makes me feel like hunting people or animals could get blurred for you.
thats where race comes in.....
If you've ever seen the movie, "Enemy of the State" with Will Smith and Gene Hackman, it'll bring home how deep the rabbit hole goes and how far things can go with respect to the unbelievable intrusion people have had, and will continue to have on their lives from the government -- where there's power, ........
I think a book that also tends to bring it home, is The Mothman Prophecies -- true story about John Keel's investigations. The thing about what happened with him is, it's not known how many entities or bureaus or departments of government or ? had a hand in the unbelievable invasion of his privacy over a long period of time.
Why is there an expectation of privacy in a public place?
An airport, a mall, a public park, a school, etc.?
I> @federica said:
Heh. I recently got a Galaxy 4 last month, and the first time I tried to make a video, I ended up with a two minute movie of my face. Told the people at work if I tried to record some breaking event I'd get a nice shot of my reaction to what was going on.
One of the reasons this issue has caught fire over the past few years is because so many people now have video cameras in their phones and they're starting to record the interactions. So even though the police still make their excuses, what we see is now is how violent and out of control some of these encounters are (and again, most often with black citizens).
Interestingly enough the original wording was
A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the
people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
constitution.org/2ll/2ndschol/89vand.pdf
So really as militia's have not been needed in the USA for several hundred years, everyone was misinterpreting the Second Amendment to justify their want (or perceived need) of owning a firearm for individual purposes. I believe circa 1983 this was challenged in court and redefined. I will search for the exact source on that.
I had this discussion with a friend of mine who lives in Florida as we were debating gun control. I have been biaised towards banning guns for individual everyday use as I was witness to the Strathfield Massacre as a 16 year old and was very traumatised by it.
strathfieldheritage.org/buildings/strathfield-massacre/
But I remember that even though she is staunchly pro-gun ownership and very well versed on her Amendments, even she was surprised by the information on constitution.org in regards to the Second Amendment.
I'm just putting out there for information purposes, I don't care one way or another if you own a gun.
Mac10 type weapons in the hands of young men in gangs.
Actually you never did specify, but guns are still guns and you can shooot someone just as dead with a .22 as you can with an AK-47.
The number of guns doesn't make any doifference, if it had, I wouldn't have survived to adulthood.
I hate it that cops are killing young people down there, but dammit, it's wall to wall guns in some of your neighbourhoods.
It was wall-to-wall guns in my neighborhood.
I'm not talking about hunting here.
I don't know, but I don't think you do, either. Of all the guns I've had, I keep only one and that for sentimental purposes. My father bought it - a bird/trap gun - for my mother. I couldn't even tell you where it is at the moment - it's been that long since I wanted to look at it.
What the gun was "made" for isn't the issue. I can kill someone with a .22 rifle. One shot. The reason I don't is because I have a certain value for life that some of these people, like cops, don't. That lack of value has nothing to do with having a gun....of any sort.
Being unarmed is irrelevant. People are punched and beaten to death frequently.
people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed._
But our supreme court has held that this still guarantees the right to bear arms, sans militia.
No but handing them a gun certainly isn't going to help. I'm licensed to carry a gun and have been trained to shoot. I refused a well paying job because I will not carry a gun day to day.
Again my view is the issue is a people one, regardless of race. If the person is a nutjob, they'll use whatever weapon they can to hurt another person, no matter their skin colour.
Yes in 1983 or around then when it was challenged in court. You're missing my point (deliberately or not).
Reasonable fear is the problem. Apparently reasonable means different things to
different people.
That's what gets debated in the courts. I know, the argument also goes, if you're not doing something wrong, then why should you care if someone can track your every move through the day? It's not like you live an interesting enough life for someone to focus on you. Also, wouldn't it be nice to know if someone robs or attacks you, or a cop messes with you even, there is an actual recording to prove what happened?
All I can say is, it just seems wrong to me. I can't explain it beyond that. That whole Big Brother thing again. It's the same way I'd feel if my job said they were installing cameras in the office so they could check on me when they wanted. The fact I'm working hard and it's their office wouldn't change the fact that I'd feel a little bit more like a slave.
Actually, I stand corrected. Here is the document I was referring to in my original post
law.cornell.edu/anncon/html/amdt2_user.html
While it lists the history of cases challenging the Amendment, it appears that it wasn't till 2008 that the Supreme Court supported the individual's rights theory.
Honestly? You forget they're there. This is how people get caught out if they infringe internal regulations. They forget about security cameras. And when will people get it through their heads, that it's also about YOUR protection?
I worked with a woman who was quite indignant about having security cameras at work, and said so. Until the day a male superior colleague touched her up in the elevator. Then, she became suddenly quite grateful overnight, for the surveillance camera there....
I've never had a problem with cameras, I find them quite reassuring. What I wouldn't find reassuring is people in my street having guns in their houses.
I dont mind cameras in public....like it was said...it documents things thst were/are denied.
In my home. No. We all have curtains for a reason. Please dont share your reason(s)...hahaha
Interestingly enough the original wording was
A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the
people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
constitution.org/2ll/2ndschol/89vand.pdf
So really as militia's have not been needed in the USA for several hundred years, everyone was misinterpreting the Second Amendment to justify their want (or perceived need) of owning a firearm for individual purposes. I believe circa 1983 this was challenged in court and redefined. I will search for the exact source on that.
I had this discussion with a friend of mine who lives in Florida as we were debating gun control. I have been biased towards banning guns for individual everyday use as I was witness to the Strathfield Massacre as a 16 year old and was very traumatised by it.
strathfieldheritage.org/buildings/strathfield-massacre/
But I remember that even though she is staunchly pro-gun ownership and very well versed on her Amendments, even she was surprised by the information on constitution.org in regards to the Second Amendment.
I'm just putting out there for information purposes, I don't care one way or another if you own a gun.
>
The militia WAS the common man - populace.
OP, an uncle of mine used to go duck hunting. It never would have crossed his mind to hunt for people. And where I currently live in NM, lots of people hunt for subsistence. It's one of the poorest states in the US, so Native Americans (about 10% of the population) and Hispanics whose families have lived here since before the US existed in any form, grow their own food and hunt. Those aren't the people involved in gun violence aimed at humans, though.
Oh yes i agree...thats why i mentioned its different than hunting for food...AFA people
saying they need a gun. BTW...call me Vastmind....
You dont need a gun for protection....people want one bec the alternatives are too much
to think about or handle. Wanting a gun for protection is more about your fear than
the aggression of another.
The 'privacy thing' so many cherish here in the states seems overdone to me. I don't get it. But many more DO get it so the majority rules. It doesn't bother me that I'll show up on camera as I shop or walk on a street. But it bothers most people around here.
We are fiercely independent in a hostile world, Americans are. At that deep level, having personal protection as simple as a gun sounds reasonable.
The decades it would take to confiscate all the guns from the public sector will be terrifying decades. The gun zeitgeist around here runs so deeply and goes back so far that the solution that worked for other countries MAY work here but over a longer and dangerous period of time. We aren't all up in each others bums, we are spread out over miles and miles, with our 911 services being the last thing from immediate.
I want guns to be GONE as an American, so I'm not defending gun ownership at all. I don't blame folks for NOT wanting to be sitting ducks, having relinquished their guns like good citizens while criminals keep deep caches of guns and ammo that are bottomless and will never be eradicated.
What it will take to get rid of guns here would be Orwellian and Americans just will not go there. It's in our collective spirit, and the reason it is there is a no-brainer, historically. Again, not an excuse to continue as we are, just a fact. Most Americans, even avid gun owners, would prefer NOT to feel as though guns are needed.
What the gun was made for is most certainly the issue. One of them anyhow.
Recently a Canadian soldier was killed by a screwball with a long gun. One soldier is bad enough but imagine if he was equipped with semiautomatic weapons as are available in your country.
Your young black men are killing each other at a ferocious rate with guns. And not .22 rifles.
Mexicans are killing each other by the thousands with automatic and semi automatic weapons smuggled from your country.
Illegal handguns in Canada come from your country to be used in crimes here.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/dariusz-dziewanski/us-gun-laws-effect-on-canada_b_2495773.html
Do you think that criminals are paying to smuggle .22 rifles into Canada and Mexico?
But why am arguing with you about it?
All I really want to hear you say is that you favour increased gun control and that you will vote for the congressman that promotes it.
@silver that's reaching. If we're going to be pedantic, a militia is by definition a military force raised from the civilian population to supplement a regular army - like they did in the Civil War.
Now, the US has changed the definition to suit its own purposes (not the first time nor the last) and that's fine. But since the Amendment was brought about when the USA still used British terms, I think we can safely assume at the time the Constitution was born, militia did not mean the individual citizen of their own free will.
Again, I don't give a rat's if you carry a gun or not, but you don't have to redefine meanings to make a point.
You don't see your white preledged bias. If as a Buddhist was just assumed to be bad ass capable of killing the gardener. and they wait for any infraction to get you. You would feel the racism.
To be honest, seems like some are chasing their own tail re the legality of guns in the U.S. The Supremes spoke, so it's the law. Period. I don't like it, but it's still the law. Period.
I'm sorry I don't understand what you mean by "preledged"
Perhaps it means you are standing out on a ledge that already existed, rather than standing out on thin air and then building a ledge under yourself.
It is the view of the of a white point of view you have it. Who cares what you do with your day. That is because you are not black. How does the black man see the world? If you want to see racism see it with his eyes.
Hmmmm, I'm a Jew living in a high density Muslim population and get harrassed regularly for being Jewish AND white by them, questioned about my Jewishness because I'm too fair for a lot of other Jews but you're right, I wouldn't have a fucking clue about racism or prejudice.
Thanks for judging, have a super day @Greg911
@Greg911, part of the problem with your post is that there doesn't appear to be a word "preledged", so we're (at least I am) not clear on what your post is saying.
And I somewhat disagree with this post ("If you want to see racism see it with his eyes"). Just last evening I was having a conversation about police and racism in the United States. He got totally hung up on me being "afraid" of Blacks. And I simply am not. I may not always feel comfortable in a social situation where I am the only White person, but that is just being uncomfortable, not being afraid. Many Whites see the racial situation in the United States one way, while many Blacks see the racial situation in a completely different way. Probably neither group sees it as it really is.
I guess I can always count on you.
I see you think it was directed at you.
Your Ego sucks.
Ok....half time guys. My turkey dinner came out great. Im sippin on coffee and nibblin
on rum cake. Yummy!!!!!! I can post a musical number if you like....
And yours blows.
Samsara continues.......
No blowin.....except on birthdays....lolololololol
No, I knew who you were posting "at". But this is an open forum. We all get to read the posts. And once again, you still aren't responding to the open question. What word did you mean when you wrote "preledged"?
How is it vinlyn?
Don't you see everyone that matters does.
I have three adopted kids
one from the us a Mohican Indian
one from Kasastan I can't spell it but is used to be Russia.
one from China
My brother's son is married to a Afro-American.
Why is everyone afraid of the black man? Don't just say it is the guy nest door.
Yes...It can feel different being the the only white person in the room...here's a related article I found interesting in many ways....
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/11/us/white-minority/
"...For three years, Shaffer was the only white person in the room. She had to learn how to fit in, how to not say the wrong thing. She had to deal with the peculiar sensation of being the only white girl in the bleachers as jittery white basketball teams entered a raucous gym filled with black people.
"It shifted my point of view," Shaffer says. "It's like when you go to the optometrist, and they slap those new lenses on you -- you see the world differently."
We (blacks, brown, mixed, etc) do this all the time....naturally. When we step in the room...we immediately scan to see how many blacks and how many whites. Are we out numbered? Whats the feeling of the crowd? Assessing any possible white mob danger, if you will. This is a new feeling/experience for white people in this country.
one from the us a Mohican Indian
When did that adoption take place? How did the Indian Child Welfare Act play out in that case? Just curious.
@Greg911:
"everyone that matters does" -- does what?
I am not afraid of Black people. I worked alongside many. Hired quite a few. Have dated several. Taught hundreds. Visited many Black households in my school's community. Attended Black churches, when appropriate.
Where is my fear?
Now, was I uncomfortable in an all-Black church? Yes. Because I didn't know what to do. The service was totally different than any I was used to.
There is a difference between discomfort and fear.
And still I ask, what word did you mean when you wrote "preledged"?
I think in the context, preledged probably was meant to be privileged...?
That's what I assummed, too. I got the meaning/gist.
The mother grew up on the reservation. She was the first we have an open adoption she talks to her birth mom on the phone and internet.
It seems she was not enough Indian because the mother remarried. Not enough so she couldn't be adopted. But enough to get aid for college. She goes to a private school. the school gave her a 40 thousand dollar scholarship.
There is no word you are right. They assume.
"everyone that matters does" -- does what?
the police, the schools, the south if you haven't been there its still going strong.
The north and south are still fighting the war of the states. I was in the service I have seen it. the people there are from all over the US. It is funny as can be.
Ah, you see, I had thought of prejudged, which didn't seem to fit at all. Privileged, I can see.
Thanks!
"everyone that matters does" -- does what?
the police, the schools, the south if you haven't been there its still going strong.
The north and south are still fighting the war of the states. I was in the service I have seen it. the people there are from all over the US. It is funny as can be.
Okay, along with figuring out that you probably meant "privileged", now I can begin to see where you are coming from.
You're right. There's a prejudice built into society, and it has come to be so prevalent that it is almost not even noticed. I lived most of my life in Virginia -- the former capital of the Confederacy. It was such a different attitude, however, between my area of northern Virginia, and what you would find in southern Virginia (for example around Richmond).
@Nirvana
Is this the Rom 12? https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+12
Recently a Canadian soldier was killed by a screwball with a long gun. One soldier is bad enough but imagine if he was equipped with semiautomatic weapons as are available in your country.
Well the soldier would still be dead, wouldn't he?
Your young black men are killing each other at a ferocious rate with guns. And not .22 rifles.
In some cases, yes. You can by .22 ammo in many states a lot easier that larger caliber.
Illegal handguns in Canada come from your country to be used in crimes here.
That may be, but where the guns are coming from is incidental. If they weren't coming from the US they'd be coming from somewhere else.
Because you think you're right.
I don't know about you, but where I'm from that sort of attitude would be seen as accutely offensive. Ordinarily, the response would be for you to someting to yourslef that most folks would find impossible, not to mention biologically extreme. Instead, I'll simply say I that all I want from you, sir, is an apology. Public, if you don't mind.
Can we agree that while racism has a part in it, the biggest problem we're dealing with is a militarized and increasingly authoritarian police force? A news item I stumbled into just today, a man has been arrested in Colorado and charged with two felony counts of "menacing a law enforcement official".
The man pointed a banana at a deputy. The deputy claims this made him fear for his life.
I mean, come on! The man was white, by the way. And this is why the problem goes deeper than racism. Of course, we might expect that if it was a black man pointed the banana, he was more likely to have been shot and killed instead of being arrested. In either case, our police force and the prosecutor's office and courts seem to be increasingly acting like an occupying force that treats most civilians with contempt. I say most, because the rich and powerful are never on the receiving end.