I gave it the benefit of a doubt, being a new "member" and all. But once I saw his future reply I figured out he was just trying to stir a pot. Giggles. Poor OP, his topic got hit by the Saturday train to Kansas
He is a she, with specific animosity toward the WBC. Not sure why this makes me a pot stirring troll. And frankly I'm having difficulty understanding why anyone in this forum would defend their brand of disgusting hate. Free speech, sure, defend all you want. But defending the WBC? Puhleese!
No offense, but I don't think he was referring to you. I think the message was a bit lost in translation by all.
That... is one of the most ignorant things that I've heard about Native Americans. The reason I asked was because in California it's become sort of a big topic thing. Everywhere you go, there seems to be an Indian run casino. I think it doesn't help the local economy either, and the wealth from the casinos doesn't seem to trickle down to much of the tribe.
I think that someone somewhere did something that changed some guy's initials to "GC", idk. Nevertheless, you're not really a "new member". I don't really like the WBC either. Not only are they extremely hateful, they give every other Christian church a bad name. A huge number of churches provide 2-3 meals a week for people who would otherwise not have those meals, or they do some other charity thing. (my church helps battered women's shelters.) If we took the money the WBC spent on hating people, and gave it all to charity, we might have stamped out hunger or some other issue in America,and quite possibly the world.
I'm not sure if your saying Christians believe we should judge, but just to be clear, as Christians we don't judge those outside the church. Corinthians 5:12: "What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside." That verse enough should shut down the anti-Christian WBC.
I say as a country we should take a page out of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," and once a month there is a website where you can nominate up to five people who are then voted on "American Idol" style to have to walk down Hollywood Boulevard and get stoned to death. I bet people would start being a lot more careful about how famous they get and how bad they treat other people! Westboro Baptist Church...Snooki...Congress...ut oh!
Uhh... if memory serves me correctly, the Native Americans were the ones that pushed for casinos. At least in Northern California, there was a big stink from 'the white man' in the area because we didn't want the issues that casinos brought and didn't feel that it was right for the area. Of course, the tribes sued and won for the rights. They're the ones who made the decision what to do with the land, not 'the white man'. Also, how is that decision to be blamed for their alcoholism, diabetes, domestic violence, or whatever? Shouldn't that be on the individual person or at least their current culture? To me, that's almost like saying that someone who is born an Indian Muslim is going to treat women like property, and they shouldn't be faulted for it.
There's a lot of criticism here against the US rushing to change and save other cultures, but, having an outsider's pov, I can tell that some people expect the US to act when injustices happen around the world. The latest example would've been Syria. Some media outside the US posed the question why isn't the US acting already? Why don't they do anything? They should help the innocents, they're our police, why don't they? They've always had problems in their own country, and still they'd come and rescue us, so why not now! Once you've started intervening, it's not so easy to back down anymore. This would be classified as hate-speech in my country, too. You'd be fined or warned, most likely. Big deal, really, 'cause groups like this would still continue spreading their hateful message. While I have a hard time respecting these people, the idealist in me keeps hoping that maybe, some day, they realize love conquers all, not hate, as cheesy as thay may sound.
Personally, I'm glad the US doesn't have any hate speech laws. That way you know when to watch your back.
There are groups that try to push hate speech laws in the U.S. Luckily, the First Amendment provides broad protection currently. I don't think these laws are a good idea.
I don't either. The more one tries to suppress speech or thought, the deeper underground the resentment and anger goes, and comes out, inevitably, like a volcano.
Yes, I think that's true. And the idea of saying "here's what you can legally say and here's what you can't legally say" runs counter to the idea of a free society, so such restrictions should be limited.
if you're basing this on my reference to 'the white man' i was simply referring to the non-native americans by the term that is commonly used in discussions about the abuse of the indigenous peoples of north america, and was certainly not being 'racist'... as i think most folks would agree, since even our history books refer to the newcomers who usurped the lands of the existing residents here in that way... i'm sorry, but trying to make me out to be a racist is not only unfair and insulting, but downright silly, jj...
I don't have a problem with Native Americans having casinos. We've done enough damage to them over the years, taking land and so on. They're probably the most impoverished group in the U.S., and if they can make money by putting casinos on the limited land we've left them, I don't have a problem with it.
Native Americans should be able to have casino's if they want. They got dealt an awful hand, but if they're happy getting rich off of elderly white people and slots, then more power to them. It's better than a (fully justifiable) uprising and the (totally understandable) removal of many scalps. That is a really interesting perspective. I've gotten very used to the idea of the U.S being unilaterally hated that this comes as kind of a surprise to me. To me, the U.S doesn't really do anything without having an angle. Once I read about what the CIA did from the 50's to the 70's (and what it is probably still doing), I have pretty much lost faith that the government here does anything that isn't driven by national interests. Which, I guess makes sense, but it just seems wrong to claim to be the defenders of the world, when they could really care less about anything that doesn't have some benefit to the U.S.
I'm afraid I disagree. You can't use history as an excuse to be racist. You weren't referring to history, you were speaking in the present tense, using the term 'first-hand' seeing the result of the 'white man's greed' and 'lust'. I just looked at my college history books and I couldn't find a single reference to the 'white man', as they were referred to as Americans, or settlers, or Europeans. I think your age may be hindering your view on what is currently socially acceptable. Don't place Native Americans on any type of pedestal. Do you know what they were doing before the Europeans came here? Warring and fighting and killing each other over land and resources. The same thing that was going on, and is still going on, all over the world. The tribes across America were constantly fighting over land use or even just for personal greed and vanity. They just didn't realize that there was a bigger tribe that was going to end the fighting once and for all. They were human, just like Europeans, with greed and lust and hate and jealousy. They spilled innocent blood over land and resources the same way the Europeans did. I don't think anyone believes that their current life choices are because of what happened hundreds of year ago. That's an excuse. It is eternal victimhood so they can claim innocence when crime and alcoholism run rampant through their reservations. The only person responsible for a persons actions, is themselves. Plain and simple. You can't blame your parents, you can't blame your grand-parents, it's called individual responsibility. So no, I'm sorry I don't agree with your insensitive language and your derogatory attitude toward white people. We will just have to agree to disagree and leave it at that. I am not silly and my offense is quite real and I would appreciate it if you would show some respect.
