Does anyone else not care about Ferguson?

I used to get worked up over events like this, but as I got older I came to a conclusion. It's about class, more than race and it will never change.

The lower class will always fight against the police and play the victim. The police can never trust them, because they fight against them and always play the victim.

Will never change. And the politicians and media love it, and will always play it up to pander to them.

And the majority of the country will go on with their lives, because they are on to the charade too.

No Timer wrote:

I keep seeing stores about Ferguson Missouri but I really don't care. I live in Indianapolis, which has a pretty large African American population but the city, to me, seems very segregated. I feel as though African Americans have their own culture and priorities. I do not interact with them at all, other than the routine transactions at a fast food place or wherever they may work. We have no African Americans in our office nor do any live in my immediate neighborhood. The areas of the city where they live feel like a completely different place to me and I don't go there. I really don't care what goes on in these communities as long as it doesn't become exported to my neighborhood. I feel like I should care but I don't.

Is this not the root of the overriding problem (not just the immediate issue in Ferguson)? A lack of empathy or unwillingness to listen to the plight and problems of others is a major issue and there are absolutely no signs that it will ever change.

I don't care at all. Doesn't affect me.

Really? a lack of empathy or unwillingness to listen? You want to hear them complain so that they can have more things given to them. Is there no way out of the urban lower class? Really? They want to be given a better life. They don't want to work for it. They rely on bleeding heart liberals who are wrecked with guilt over another human being choosing to live in poverty, even if it is by their own choice.

Say Tyrone X is tired of living in Detroit and being poor. Maybe there are not enough opportunities for him. Should he stay in Detroit and bitch and moan, or should he pull some odd jobs to save for a bus ticket or even hitchhike or walk and go to an area with more potential, and tough it out until he finds a job? Seems just staying and complaining is the easy thing to do, and sadly there will always be people like you who feel sorry for them because you might have had it bad at some point in your life. But you forget that you got out of it by trying and working to make things better. I hate religion, but the saying about teaching a man to fish versus giving him a fish is very applicable.

So maybe to get a job, they will have to cut their hair, not stick a comb in their afro, pull their pants up from hanging off their a$s and a few other things that employers might look down on. Well, that is a small price to pay.

Of course people are going to continue to say I am racist. It isn't about race. White people have the same problems in rural areas around me and my recommendation for them is the same. I had to work for what I have. Other people should too.

The violence against another human being should always bother us, no matter where or who the victims are. The only solution is for people to live by the Golden Rule.

No Timer wrote:

I keep seeing stores about Ferguson Missouri but I really don't care. I live in Indianapolis, which has a pretty large African American population but the city, to me, seems very segregated. I feel as though African Americans have their own culture and priorities. I do not interact with them at all, other than the routine transactions at a fast food place or wherever they may work. We have no African Americans in our office nor do any live in my immediate neighborhood. The areas of the city where they live feel like a completely different place to me and I don't go there. I really don't care what goes on in these communities as long as it doesn't become exported to my neighborhood. I feel like I should care but I don't.

Where are all these animals when blacks are getting gunned down in Chicago?

Ferguson can't be taken seriously by anyone with a brain. It is an afront to a non-existant racial incident.

While it is tragic that an 18 year old is dead. Let it be a lesson that if someone "plays stupid games they win stupid prizes."

Ted Underhill wrote:

Is this not the root of the overriding problem (not just the immediate issue in Ferguson)? A lack of empathy or unwillingness to listen to the plight and problems of others is a major issue and there are absolutely no signs that it will ever change.

I have a hard time with the plight and problems of others. I fund schools that are majority African American and graduation rates are in the 40% range. Why should I be upset about someone else's lack of opportunity when they gave up on themselves and decided not to get a free education that I am helping pay for? This is what I mean when I say I feel I live in a completely different culture with different values. What is important to them is clearly not what is important to me. So perhaps my lack of empathy is more due to lack of understanding, I don't know.

Ted Underhill wrote:

Is this not the root of the overriding problem (not just the immediate issue in Ferguson)? A lack of empathy or unwillingness to listen to the plight and problems of others is a major issue and there are absolutely no signs that it will ever change.

LOl classic. "I feel really bad about it" but in the end you are just like the OP. You are going about your day to day, but you "feel bad"- ha ha great.

So you admit that you have not taken the time to understand (and I'm sure that jackass that also responded to my post has not (nor will) either) but you are confident enough to make an overriding statement about their plight and failure to take full advantage of their opportunities? When you say "they" gave up on themselves, you are implying the whole community. Clearly not all of them have, but if you don't understand the pressures that are faced in urban communities, then how can you make such a statement? Do you understand the the pressures that the child that wants to learn and better themselves face in those neighborhoods? I bet they are somewhat different than the pressures faced by the poor rural kid.

There are cultural differences, big differences, but using that to paint a whole community with a broad brush is doing society no good. We will probably never agree and that's ok, but to say you don't give a crap in one post and then admit in a second that you have not taken the time to understand is just ignorant. Debate over disagreements is good and can bring about healthy discussions and solutions that might otherwise not even be on the table without the debate.

interesting that no one, to my knowledge, has been killed in the riots.

I think that means the riots are caused by just a few people - most are demonstrating peacefully

I'm sure the LEOs have been told not to shoot unless their lives are in danger. Apparently LEOs took fire yesterday but did not return fire.

admirable restraint.

aquafina wrote:

Ted Underhill wrote:

Is this not the root of the overriding problem (not just the immediate issue in Ferguson)? A lack of empathy or unwillingness to listen to the plight and problems of others is a major issue and there are absolutely no signs that it will ever change.

LOl classic. "I feel really bad about it" but in the end you are just like the OP. You are going about your day to day, but you "feel bad"- ha ha great.

Grow up. I feel bad about the issue of suicide and depression in the wake of Robin Williams' suicide, but still going about my day, as well. Are these issues really that black and white to you? You either have to be an activist or keep your opinions to yourself? There are ways to affect change while going about your day to day life. You can make donations, you vote for politicians that share your beliefs and you feel will affect positive change in those areas you care about, you help your kids to be aware of the cultural differences that exist and show some damn empathy once in a while.

The difference between the civil rights movement and the more recent stuff is that black folks will NOT get the majority of white folks to care or buy in to their "plight" when your "victims" pieces of trash like rodney king or this kid.

In the 1960's people could empathize with someone not being allowed to go to a school, or vote, or even eat at the same lunch counter & restaurant. Now, 50 years later we've seen what a large number of black have done with that freedom and frankly, we're done with them. Not unlike a family member that's down on his luck, you will try to help, maybe loan him some cash or a car, let him crash at your place, but after the fifteenth or so screw up; you tell him he has to go, dont ask for more money or help- you just move on and leave him to his own devices.

That's where most of us are now. We're 50 years into full integration (I went to school with black folks all my life, my schools were about 30% minority.) So we know black people that have "bought in" and are doing well. Hell WE ELECTED A BLACK PRESIDENT.

But to the rest, .. ughh the others, they are a boat anchor on all race relations and frankly we're through with them. T

Ted Underhill wrote:

...to say you don't give a crap in one post and then admit in a second that you have not taken the time to understand is just ignorant.

Seems to me that's entirely consistent. I haven't taken the time to understand because I don't care.

No Timer wrote:

Ted Underhill wrote:

...to say you don't give a crap in one post and then admit in a second that you have not taken the time to understand is just ignorant.

Seems to me that's entirely consistent. I haven't taken the time to understand because I don't care.

Fair enough

GattaBeDatGuy wrote:

Not unlike a family member that's down on his luck, you will try to help, maybe loan him some cash or a car, let him crash at your place, but after the fifteenth or so screw up; you tell him he has to go, dont ask for more money or help- you just move on and leave him to his own devices.

Are you not sympathetic to another family member that is doing all the right things and not screwing up and are maybe affected by the same circumstances that the first family member is?

Clearly, I seem to be in the minority here.

Cold hard facts are that there is no where on the planet that is a majority black that is nice safe, place to live. Whenever their numbers reach critical mass, the place goes to heck in a hand basket.

Wow, you should care, because it's your country and it's your fellow citizens that are being killed.

You used the word "segregated" as if you've never heard of the African American Civil Rights movement.

Has it ever occurred to you to think a little?

I implore you to do so because it really isn't so hard to figure out the sad context of the situation in Ferguson in relation to the plight of black people at the hands of white people.

Of course in the US there's also the context of the threat to every member of the general public of all backgrounds from the unregulated obsession with guns as "self defense", and the ridiculously heavy handed, military tactics used by the police on innocent people.

You need to care if you want this world to move forward, otherwise you're perpetuating attitudes which belong to the middle ages.

Bingo wrote:

... the plight of black people at the hands of white people.

Can you explain this plight to me? Not historically, I know that. But the plight as it exists today. Thanks.

Bingo wrote:

Wow, you should care, because it's your country and it's your fellow citizens that are being killed.

You used the word "segregated" as if you've never heard of the African American Civil Rights movement...

You need to care if you want this world to move forward, otherwise you're perpetuating attitudes which belong to the middle ages.

LOL You sound like college sophomore.