05-14-2022, 03:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-14-2022, 03:22 PM by Eric the Green.)
"As it stands, we're trying to pluck the dust from our neighbor's eyes before trying to remove the log from our own." Not necessarily. That applies to the Bush regimes, not as much to Carter, Clinton, Obama and Biden. The regimes are not equal at all. And Trump was only restrained from being an insane interventionist by his own staff. Sending requested aid to those fighting for their freedom is entirely right and proper. We have enough eyesight to know what we're doing. You can say we don't; I and 100 senators disagree.
There is no variation in the idea of "freedom", and freedom has nothing to do with any in-group. Human rights is not "utopia," it is a minimum requirement. Specific ways national governments are organized vary. I'm glad you are not opposed to selling at least arms to those fighting oppression. I also support giving them arms. I understand the reluctance to sell to those fighting a major power, but this also is more dangerous than NOT selling/giving them arms, because this enables the tyrant to expand and to threaten our allies. Putin may well feel he can attack a NATO country if he conquers Ukraine.
I have very little respect for "southern manners". I don't agree that people in blue states are disrespectful to different ethnic groups. We have no alternative but to deal with them every day. If people in blue states have worse manners, that's because blue places are more crowded and depersonalized. That is a problem, but it is not a racial problem. In blue cities and in much of blue states, we already live in one global society, and with one humanity. It is just that this is difficult for red state and red county people to adjust to, that's all. Destiny takes time to unfold among humans, and that's all there is to this problem.
Our destiny is to become one humanity, not to continue to separate ourselves as much as in the past. Separation will be increasingly impossible. I do think there's a proper place for nations and different cultures; we don't want uniformity or destruction of heritage. What will emerge is a world federation, and in a federation more-local powers exist within the whole, just like in the USA. So there will always be friction between these polarities, and not utopia. But the direction of history is clear-- toward a federation of nations and peoples living in peace and with human rights together, just like many people in the West do today. Differences between people can add to richness, not just to conflict. Differences are no excuse for violation of universal basic rights. And they can't turn back the three Revolutions either. They will proceed as long as civilization persists (which is now in doubt).
As for people moving to the South, that depends on the state, and it's mostly happening because living in blue states is so much more desirable and lucrative. That makes them too expensive, because real estate speculators take advantage of peoples' desire and wealth there and raise housing costs unfairly and extremely. Many people can no longer afford to live in blue states, so they move. Things might even out in all these respects over the coming decades.
But today, normal conversations have little to do with how white people vote in the South, which is to support the neoliberal, corporate Republican Party because it appeals to the prejudices these white people in red states all still have. So regardless of normal conversations, racism is determining how they vote, and therefore determining the fortunes and lives of those states and of the nation. The effect of this is to maintain gross inequality, unfair wages, and racial bigotry and other stupid ideas that white people in red states are so subject to, and all these have been imposed on the entire USA for decades now by these white people in red states. It is a gross tragedy and a violation of all our welfare and all our true values. Red states are imposing their severely-backward conditions on the rest of us. I don't think this regime will last, but the problem now is that it may cause destruction that can't be reversed.
There is no variation in the idea of "freedom", and freedom has nothing to do with any in-group. Human rights is not "utopia," it is a minimum requirement. Specific ways national governments are organized vary. I'm glad you are not opposed to selling at least arms to those fighting oppression. I also support giving them arms. I understand the reluctance to sell to those fighting a major power, but this also is more dangerous than NOT selling/giving them arms, because this enables the tyrant to expand and to threaten our allies. Putin may well feel he can attack a NATO country if he conquers Ukraine.
I have very little respect for "southern manners". I don't agree that people in blue states are disrespectful to different ethnic groups. We have no alternative but to deal with them every day. If people in blue states have worse manners, that's because blue places are more crowded and depersonalized. That is a problem, but it is not a racial problem. In blue cities and in much of blue states, we already live in one global society, and with one humanity. It is just that this is difficult for red state and red county people to adjust to, that's all. Destiny takes time to unfold among humans, and that's all there is to this problem.
Our destiny is to become one humanity, not to continue to separate ourselves as much as in the past. Separation will be increasingly impossible. I do think there's a proper place for nations and different cultures; we don't want uniformity or destruction of heritage. What will emerge is a world federation, and in a federation more-local powers exist within the whole, just like in the USA. So there will always be friction between these polarities, and not utopia. But the direction of history is clear-- toward a federation of nations and peoples living in peace and with human rights together, just like many people in the West do today. Differences between people can add to richness, not just to conflict. Differences are no excuse for violation of universal basic rights. And they can't turn back the three Revolutions either. They will proceed as long as civilization persists (which is now in doubt).
As for people moving to the South, that depends on the state, and it's mostly happening because living in blue states is so much more desirable and lucrative. That makes them too expensive, because real estate speculators take advantage of peoples' desire and wealth there and raise housing costs unfairly and extremely. Many people can no longer afford to live in blue states, so they move. Things might even out in all these respects over the coming decades.
But today, normal conversations have little to do with how white people vote in the South, which is to support the neoliberal, corporate Republican Party because it appeals to the prejudices these white people in red states all still have. So regardless of normal conversations, racism is determining how they vote, and therefore determining the fortunes and lives of those states and of the nation. The effect of this is to maintain gross inequality, unfair wages, and racial bigotry and other stupid ideas that white people in red states are so subject to, and all these have been imposed on the entire USA for decades now by these white people in red states. It is a gross tragedy and a violation of all our welfare and all our true values. Red states are imposing their severely-backward conditions on the rest of us. I don't think this regime will last, but the problem now is that it may cause destruction that can't be reversed.