Trump

@Joshua, @NeedCoffee, @BigWeng_4LYFE, @Powderfinger, as you are americans, thoughts?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/08/16/baltimore-removes-robert-e-lee-and-stonewall-jackson-monument/571706001/

I think Trump is ultimately a good thing for you, although it wont seem like it now. And it certainly wont seem like it once he’s replaced by Pence.

He’s brought his racism right to the forefront of American politics, and I can only see that being a good thing. Too many people pat themselves on the back when it comes to racism, when in reality there are large pockets of America which haven’t changed ideologically since the 1800’s.

And Trump is going to make you confront it, once and for all.

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Completely diasagree that you can confront racism once and for all.

You can make things law and you can put in place regulations / measures to confront systematic racism (e.g. Abolishing slave trade, equal rights etc). But these things do not change people’s beliefs that they feel they are superior to another race. That takes generations to change and is a slow slog.

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Confronting something doesn’t mean it’s a quick fix, it’s simply a wake up call.

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I agree.
I remember a few years ago when a black politician was being interviewed and he said he didn’t agree with political correctness because if a person was told they weren’t allowed to say certain things, it didn’t stop them thinking them, and that it had to be done through educating people, which of course takes a long time.

I’m always amazed when politicians from all political party’s and from different countries, say that there is very little racism.
All that proves is that the people who run these countries no very little about what is really going on.

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You need to follow the German model. They didn’t try to forget their past, but learnt about how scummy they were. Made sure never to forget what they did and resolve never to let it happen again. All Nazi symbols and people were held in complete disdain. Uncompromising to anyone who held such views and minimise the people that held them through education.

Meanwhile, America still has confederate flags and statues of slave owner generals. The rewrite history to say the civil war was about ‘state rights’ and whatnot. And then they wonder why they still haven’t been able to reconcile their past.

Maybe now something will be done, but I don’t know if race relations will ever fully be sorted there, especially in these southern states.

Maybe when the whites are a minority there, to the hispanics or something.

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It’s funny to think one day not too far in the future America will have a majority hispanic population and a hispanic president and the natural order will be somewhat restored in a round about sort of way

Is Hispanic in the right term here? I debated between that an Native American for a while I’m still not too sure

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Latino?

That sounds like it could be the one yeah

The population change will be interesting yeah. Could be that in the not too distant future that Spanish is the largest spoken language in the USA. Nevermind the demographic change that could signal a major change in US politics. The election of Trump was probably a reaction to these changes, but of course he can’t do anything to stop these changes from occurring.

It’s a problem we also have in this country (although to no where near the same degree). Okay we had the British empire, but people argue we fought against the Nazis so we must have always been on the right side of history. Not that we should actively go about constantly reminding ourselves of our past guilt, that’s definitely not healthy or the correct approach, but we should at least be aware or our shared past.

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My wife is Mexican, her family are all citizens but with Mexican heritage. A lot of them voted for Trump. In this country race relations aren’t just an issue between white people and everyone else, it’s a lot more complicated than that. The spotlight has been put on the south and their bigoted ways because of recent events, but it goes far deeper than that.

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Off topic but I honestly think this is the best way of dealing with shit. I once failed an exam back in school and plastered the result on my bedroom wall as a reminder. Never failed again.

I have an American friend who is also a political analyst and has been working for CNN. He said before the election never to underestimate the influence of the “American dream”. Voters see a rich and successful man, who says what he wants, who gladly boasts about himself and all he’s achieved. “If he can, maybe I can”. Correct me if I’m wrong but I found this interesting. Can this be a factor (of all factors) for some voters?

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Yes, lol exactly. My wife’s aunt literally became a citizen two months before the election. She buys nothing but Ivanka Trumps clothing line from wherever they sell it, and proudly voted Trump on election day. That seems to be her motivation, I think there’s more behind it as well but that’s a major part.

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It’s all about member berries.

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Some of the most racist people I’ve met are Japanese, Chinese and Korean.

There are plenty of horrible accounts by black and white western expats in those countries detailing the abuse and discrimination they face.

Interestingly a friend of mine who is like a super gay transvestite who walks around in public in wigs, mini dresses and 6 inch stilettos voted Trump. It’s not as cut and dry as people think.

From my understanding, many Mexicans who voted for Trump did so on the basis of the fact that they are legal immigrants and worked fucking hard going by the book and are very resentful of illegal immigrants who didn’t.

It really isn’t quite as black and white as many in Europe think, although there are a shit ton of racist white people who voted for Trump nonetheless haha

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There’s certainly a lot of buyer’s remorse.

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It’s that Steinbeck quote isn’t it.

“Poor Americans aren’t poor, they’re just unlucky millionaires”

I totally butchered that in my attempt at paraphrasing it, but you get the picture.

Edit: here’s the quote.

“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat, but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.”

And, apparently, even then that is actually paraphrased from a paragraph Steinbeck wrote that doesn’t say that exactly but is what he means.

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Haha I dated a Japanese girl for 3 years, far more racist than any other person I know in California lol. Anyways yes that has a lot to do with it too, the whole illegal vs working your ass off and doing the right thing to become a citizen. In fact a lot of the Mexican people that are here want the wall built too because Mexico is a warzone and they left for a reason…

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