Topic: "Calling out racism on Richard Dawkins' website."

[Johnny Slick]

Boy, is goodthink going to have egg all over his face when he realizes that stonesean referenced Unforgiven, not Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!

[Citizen Skeptic]

Do you think that those atheists signs that have everyone's knickers in a bunch are any different than the cartoons? In my book, they are the same. The difference is that one pisses off a group that likes to strap bombs to themselves, the other pisses off a group that resorts to picketing funerals.

no.
do you think Osama deserved to die for his videos more than Dusty Smith does?

I don't know. I Googled her/him and nothing obvious popped up. Who is dusty smith?

a guy who makes videos for his followers, like Bin Laden. doesn't do anything violent, just has strong opinions.

Never heard of the guy. He's just another douche bag with a video camera and a you tube account. That's a lot different than Osama or Obama.

[stonesean]

Tried to look him up via his website while at work.

The US Government firewall blocks it as a "Racism and Hate Speech" site.

His YouTube channel works just fine though.

Watched a few videos.  He's a tool.  A tool who shares some of my views on religon, but a tool none the less....

[GodSlayer]

Watched a few videos.  He's a tool.  A tool who shares some of my views on religon, but a tool none the less....

yea. I don't like him. only know of him through someone spamming his shit on facebook.

[GodSlayer]

Never heard of the guy. He's just another douche bag with a video camera and a you tube account. That's a lot different than Osama or Obama.

than Obama, sure. Obama and Hitler had the power to make their words law, so that other people would kill foreigners in accord with their wishes/words/beliefs/etc.

but how's he different from Osama?

[Citizen Skeptic]

Osama had followers, a plan(s), and the ability to finance and execute them. Not to say he couldn't do a lot of damage by himself like timothy what's his name who bombed the fed building with a truck and fertilizer.

[Caffiene]

Obama and Hitler had the power to make their words law, so that other people would kill foreigners in accord with their wishes/words/beliefs/etc.

Im not sure Id count that as a difference... All they did was give their opinion, and other people voted them into office because they were convinced by those opinions.

They arent responsible for their word being law - others are taking those words and making them law, be it the congressmen and senators who work the legislations or the people who vote for them and give them the power. The only real action they take is to put their signature on things, which is still really only a formal custom to make sure the opinion given is real and correct.

When it comes down to it, democratic government is largely just a formalised method of people saying whose opinion they like the best and want to follow.

Osama had followers, a plan(s), and the ability to finance and execute them.

So, taking out the ones that are just words and opinions (gaining followers, having plans, and convincing the followers to execute the plans [unless Osama executed his plans himself... or did you mean he executed his followers?]), it seems like youre just left with money.

[GodSlayer]

Osama had followers, a plan(s), and the ability to finance and execute them. Not to say he couldn't do a lot of damage by himself like timothy what's his name who bombed the fed building with a truck and fertilizer.

so it's not that Dusty is acting any different to Osama, it's not that he deserves to live any more than Osama did, just that he doesn't have the finances to be worth the bother of killing?

[GodSlayer]

When it comes down to it, democratic government is largely just a formalised method of people saying whose opinion they like the best and want to follow.

except that we don't get our say, as the 'representative's say supercedes ours. look at the CA medical marijuana law. it's still a federal crime, the people have spoken, yet the authorities act as though the majority were the minority.

'plebiscite' is a word we don't hear this word very often in a representative democracy.

[Citizen Skeptic]

Osama had followers, a plan(s), and the ability to finance and execute them. Not to say he couldn't do a lot of damage by himself like timothy what's his name who bombed the fed building with a truck and fertilizer.

so it's not that Dusty is acting any different to Osama, it's not that he deserves to live any more than Osama did, just that he doesn't have the finances to be worth the bother of killing?

I think dusty is acting and has acted quite differently than Osama. Did I miss the part where dusty has taken arms against the US both with his organization and directly? You think dusty should have his door kicked down by seal team 6 and gotten a Mozambique?

[GodSlayer]

I think dusty is acting and has acted quite differently than Osama. Did I miss the part where dusty has taken arms against the US both with his organization and directly?

No, apparently I missed the part where Osama shot the US. I've seen pictures of him with a gun welllllllllll out of firing range of any American, but that's it.
You say 'with his organization', so now we're back to Obama instead of Dusty--Obama's organization have killed civilians of numerous countries, while Obama has done little more than sign his name to paper and give speeches to his followers.

[stonesean]

 

[WeeDavie]

It seems to me that Dawkins' point is that "black" is a useless label, since it neither describes one's pigmentation nor ancestry specifically or accurately, and it would be progress toward racial equality if we could stop thinking of people in terms of black and white. You might disagree, but you could hardly call that sentiment racist.

That entire blog post is a person's one-sided rant at some vague forum members, and somehow this gets posted by Rebecca as "calling out racism on Dawkins' website." What a crock. Very disappointed in Rebecca.

My tuppence.

he's an English genetisit being interpeted by an American using American cultural not scientific standards resulting in nonsense.

In Britain 'black' is generally used to refer to people of black African descent as opposed to north african but also includes people from the west-indies of mainly west-african origin and includes Khoisan/San.

It is basically used in a similar manner to 'Black African' in genetics, who are clearly a distinct group of humanity even if the dividing lines are imprecise (by their very nature).

[no-en]

.

[Citizen Skeptic]

I think dusty is acting and has acted quite differently than Osama. Did I miss the part where dusty has taken arms against the US both with his organization and directly?

No, apparently I missed the part where Osama shot the US. I've seen pictures of him with a gun welllllllllll out of firing range of any American, but that's it.
You say 'with his organization', so now we're back to Obama instead of Dusty--Obama's organization have killed civilians of numerous countries, while Obama has done little more than sign his name to paper and give speeches to his followers.

I happened to see this article last night about the Michigan Militia. I think the judge's take is similar to what I'm doing a poor job of conveying.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120328/us-fbi-raids-militia/

U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said the members' expressed hatred of law enforcement didn't amount to a conspiracy to rebel against the government. The FBI had secretly planted an informant and an FBI agent inside the Hutaree militia starting in 2008 to collect hours of anti-government audio and video that became the cornerstone of the case.
 
"The court is aware that protected speech and mere words can be sufficient to show a conspiracy. In this case, however, they do not rise to that level," the judge said on the second anniversary of raids and arrests that broke up the group.
 
Roberts granted requests for acquittal on the most serious charges: conspiring to commit sedition, or rebellion, against the U.S. and conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. Other weapons crimes tied to the alleged conspiracies also were dismissed.