Posts by Simon

I agree. Years ago there was both racism (individuals with prejudice) and systemic racism - actual laws on the statutes that mandated different treatment based on race. Each probably perpetuated the other to some extent.

That is no longer the case. There are undoubtedly racists in the world (of all colors, we should note) but systemic racism as it's usually claimed doesn't appear to be a thing, even when justice departments have done lengthy investigations to find it.

Again, the trick you'll see is people pointing to individual act of racism and claiming it as evidence of systemic racism, or comparing things to the general population which is statistically incorrect and invalid.

The reason you know they do it intentionally to misrepresent things is that the stats are clear and easy to check. The stats show more black people commit crimes and the prison population largely reflects the population of those committing crimes.

To compare the general population would mean including more in the complete pipeline of "the system", because prison / justice is just the end part of it.

So why then don't they include the school system, when it comes to deciding if things are "systemically racist"? There seems to be way more evidence that schools are systemically racist if you compare "what goes in / what comes out" against the general population.

What could it possibly be? Surely not that teachers unions donate massive amounts to the democratic party? (98% of their political donations in 2020)

157

Systemic Racism: What’s Your View? Is it As Pervasive As Some Suggest?

by minimus in

jw
friends

the president of the united states says we have to do something about this.

many politicians and people agree that we are all affected by the scourge of systemic racism.

what’s your view of this?

Simon

Case in point - prison population. If 10% of the population is a specific ethnicity that nation's prison population must be 10%. If it is more or less the criminal justice system is prejudicial.

It should only be that 10% if everyone commits crime at the same rate. The trick that politicians especially do is have people focus on the wrong metric, because most people don't understand stats.

The prison population should reflect the population of those committing crimes, which is likely different to the general population.

There are very few systems where you would expect the makeup to exactly match that of the general population, unless it was a true random selection. There is always some form of self-selection going on as an input to most systems.

157

Systemic Racism: What’s Your View? Is it As Pervasive As Some Suggest?

by minimus in

jw
friends

the president of the united states says we have to do something about this.

many politicians and people agree that we are all affected by the scourge of systemic racism.

what’s your view of this?

Simon

IMO, "Systemic Racism" is where a system treats people of a certain race differently because of their race, usually disadvantaging one group and advantaging another.

People often think some system must be "systemically racist" because they look at an end result, see a proportion that is different to the general population, and decide it must be so, and then look for the racism that surely must be there ... when of course it doesn't have to be. Less often noticed, but the "correct" mix doesn't mean that a system isn't systemically racist, it could be.

As an extreme example: is a hospital maternity ward systemically sexist because all of the patients are women? No, there are other reasons for the patients being women.

Is the NBA systemically racist because 75% of the players are black? No, there are other reasons for the players being predominantly black.

The only documented and approved systemically racist system I can think of right now is college admissions, which favours black candidates mostly at the expense of asian candidates.

4

The Secrets She Keeps

by Simon in

anyone watching this?

it's an australian production with the actress who plays lady edith in downton abbey.. great drama.. there was a surprise mention of jehovah's witnesses in episode 2. we just started watching episode 3 and, well, they are going to hate the kind of publicity this gives them!.

it will build on the terrible reputation they have after the commission investigating abuse within organisations, which the wts tried to obstruct and obfuscate their responsibilities in.. well worth watching as a drama in it's own right, but especially as a potential talking point about the wts.. on cbc in canada..

Simon

The JW's will probably Nit Pick at the slight "inaccuracies", which are not really, I think they are maybe deliberate, and even if not, do not excuse the JW Org for what it is, and what it does to people!

Yes, I think there are probably two reasons for this:

First, the audience needs to understand it and it's not intended as a documentary about JW beliefs, so "you'll burn in hell-fire for this!" is something they will understand, even if it isn't something the WTS teaches. The concept is religious condemnation and punishment.

Second, it's the recollections of a traumatized woman, so doesn't need to be 100% accurate. Again, it's about the feelings she has of what happened that matter, not the 100% accurate-to-their-beliefs wording.

And can you picture JWs that will pounce on the inaccuracy, imagining that it somehow excuses things? Oh dear ...

Person: "Wow, we watched this programme where they showed your religion in a pretty bad light, a young girl got raped by one of your priests - that's the 'organizational abuse' thing that commission investigated isn't it that we all saw on the news?"

JW: "Well, 'akshully', it's all lies because we never say 'hell fire' so, yeah ...."

Person: "Eh? WTF is wrong with you! You think that matters at all compared to the main story? Don't you have something to say about that instead of thinking they get off on a technicality?"

JW: "I have to go ..."

4

The Secrets She Keeps

by Simon in

anyone watching this?

it's an australian production with the actress who plays lady edith in downton abbey.. great drama.. there was a surprise mention of jehovah's witnesses in episode 2. we just started watching episode 3 and, well, they are going to hate the kind of publicity this gives them!.

it will build on the terrible reputation they have after the commission investigating abuse within organisations, which the wts tried to obstruct and obfuscate their responsibilities in.. well worth watching as a drama in it's own right, but especially as a potential talking point about the wts.. on cbc in canada..

Simon

It's a passing mention in E02, you know, the kind where JWs would nudge each other and smile, because the world "knew about them". At the time we even said "ha, JWs get a mention, they won't like that the mad stalker was brought up a JW!"

But it's a way more major part of the storyline in E03.

I'd encourage you to watch it though, not just skip through it.

4

The Secrets She Keeps

by Simon in

anyone watching this?

it's an australian production with the actress who plays lady edith in downton abbey.. great drama.. there was a surprise mention of jehovah's witnesses in episode 2. we just started watching episode 3 and, well, they are going to hate the kind of publicity this gives them!.

it will build on the terrible reputation they have after the commission investigating abuse within organisations, which the wts tried to obstruct and obfuscate their responsibilities in.. well worth watching as a drama in it's own right, but especially as a potential talking point about the wts.. on cbc in canada..

Simon

Anyone watching this? It's an Australian production with the actress who plays Lady Edith in Downton Abbey.

Great drama.

There was a surprise mention of Jehovah's Witnesses in episode 2. We just started watching episode 3 and, well, they are going to hate the kind of publicity this gives them!

It will build on the terrible reputation they have after the commission investigating abuse within organisations, which the WTS tried to obstruct and obfuscate their responsibilities in.

Well worth watching as a drama in it's own right, but especially as a potential talking point about the WTS.

On CBC in Canada.

50

Woke Oscars cringe

by LoveUniHateExams in

actors' acceptance speeches have often been a little dodgy - viewers don't care what political or social views actors may have, we typically appreciate actors acting well.. this year's oscars awards ceremony seems to be going above and beyond, however.. here's frances mcdormand's acceptance speech, in which she dedicates her victory to 'our wolf' and then howls like a bitch, lol.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-_be0awgwk.

Simon

Most actors graduated ... drama class.

It's amazing that anyone ever listens to anything they have to say. They must collectively be one of the least educated groups known to man.

Just think when you were at school, who did "drama class".

Never the bright kids ... right?

Now add a lifetime of them being told they are wonderful, after whatever dumb-ass comment they come out with, and little wonder that they follow every nonsense-but-popular trend and lend their pretty faces to political campaigns that some puppeteer has convinced them is important.

"Drama class of 83, we salute you, your achievements are ... well, we're still waiting ..."

29

Covid 19 True Infection Rate / Proof of Misinformation

by Simon in

this is interesting.. you've probably heard of "asymptomatic spread" which is, people who are infected with the virus and are spreading it, but who have no symptoms.. but is it accurate?

is it supported by the statistics?.

this video analyses the facts and concludes that we've been given misinformation due to faulty testing.

Simon

A highly contagious, but statistically non-lethal virus.

The statistics?

Faulty PCR testing leading to inflated case numbers.

I believe the person who invented PCR testing and previous documentation about what is and isn't a suitable threshold for the tests.

Why not educate yourself by reading up on things instead of being lazy and wanting to be spoon fed?

that is true, capitalism 101

... and save us your marxist bullshit, it's not wanted here and that seems to be your main focus.

62

What Will Happen If You Do NOT Get The Covid Vaccinations?

by minimus in

jw
friends

we are encouraged to all, if possible, get the vaccinations.

if you don’t, we are told that we definitely could get the virus.

fair enough.. but what happens if you decide you aren’t going to get the shots?

Simon

Yes, you can get the virus whether you are or are not vaccinated.

What changes with the vaccine is how likely you are to get it and how likely you are to have to be hospitalized if you do.

Ultimately, it lowers your chance of infection, hospitalization and death.

It does not absolutely guarantee that you won't get it, go to hospital or die.

It's not complicated!