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Racial Tension in the U.S.

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Where should the thread go from here?

  • Racial Tension in the U.S.

    Votes: 16 51.6%

  • Extremist Views on the U.S.

    Votes: 2 6.5%

  • Mending Years of Racial Stereotypes.

    Votes: 2 6.5%

  • Protest Culture.

    Votes: 1 3.2%

  • Racist Idiots in the News.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 10 32.3%
  • Total voters
    31
MediumBaller said:
Same with my hometown. My #1 fear when I was a kid was that I'd end up stuck there for my whole life like so many people I saw around me. It's a sad existence.
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I'll propose you a question then, man.

Who do the people in your town blame for being unemployed/poor/etc?
 
DJTJ said:
Crazy, isn't it?
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There's been a lot of Hispanic immigration in my hometown because of one of the factories there and it's caused a lot of tension. Admittedly there aren't many jobs in that area, but it seems like a lot of people have just given up. I feel bad for them but at the same time I wonder how hard they're actually trying to help themselves.
 
DJTJ said:
You'll understand this point then...

Sometimes, people need to leave where they're from to find a job instead of blaming 20+ years of a lack of job on anyone besides themselves. These areas, largely white, are called blue collar areas are celebrated and leaned on. Exact opposite of inner city welfare areas.

Do you ever question that, you know, maybe they're just cool where they're at and it's easier to complain than to actually seek employment?
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We moved here by choice, to be closer to my wife's family when we had kids. We both actually have come to detest this place and many of the people here that we deal with, and the general loser mentality associated with it. We are lucky to have friends we can relate to in similar situations. Professionally, her legal practice is successful, I can operate from anywhere, we have her parents for childcare... and her family isn't going anywhere, so we're pretty much here. But this place sucks. These places suck.

Trust me. You're not asking me questions we don't want these people to answer for themselves. They're not "cool" where they're at IMO. I think it's mostly some element of ignorance of the outside world and learned helplessness.
 
I don't think it's fair to question the work ethic of poor, unemployed people (regardless of race) if you've never been in that situation yourself. I bet a lot of those people would eagerly take jobs for 25k/year that I wouldn't do for 100k/year.
 
Nathan S said:
I don't think it's fair to question the work ethic of poor, unemployed people (regardless of race) if you've never been in that situation yourself. I bet a lot of those people would eagerly take jobs for 25k/year that I wouldn't do for 100k/year.
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I personally have been. I could have done better. There are trade schools and short paths to careers that pay decently. And as djtj said, you can move.

Theres like one responsibility you have to make it and that's to make enough money to live. That should be anyone's priority. Need to figure it out.

If anything, the most prudent move would be to take responsibility as an individual. Stoicism. Everything is a Consequence of your actions. Even if that's not always fair. Take responsibility and you'll do much better than if you hadn't.
 
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Nathan S said:
I don't think it's fair to question the work ethic of poor, unemployed people (regardless of race) if you've never been in that situation yourself. I bet a lot of those people would eagerly take jobs for 25k/year that I wouldn't do for 100k/year.
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But when the jobs don't exist, and they won't move, why should we keep electing presidents who promise to bring jobs when in reality, they're dead areas?
 
Nathan S said:
I don't think it's fair to question the work ethic of poor, unemployed people (regardless of race) if you've never been in that situation yourself. I bet a lot of those people would eagerly take jobs for 25k/year that I wouldn't do for 100k/year.
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At least from my experience a lot of them aren't just in a rough spot looking to bounce back. They've been in these shitty situations for years and haven't done anything to change things. In a way they've given up. I have a hard time feeling bad for people like that.
 
MediumBaller said:
At least from my experience a lot of them aren't just in a rough spot looking to bounce back. They've been in these shitty situations for years and haven't done anything to change things. In a way they've given up. I have a hard time feeling bad for people like that.
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Don't understand how you can not feel bad for people like that. To be in such a bad place for so long that you've lost the will to keep fighting for yourself. I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone.
 
When I was a social worker in downtown Pittsburgh, PA I made $25,000 a year. I planned on going back to school to be a public school teacher in Pittsburgh, but oh wait the City declared bankruptcy. I then took out a monster student loan, no parent help financially at all, and got into the University of San Francisco for a Master's in Education. They had a good local economy, teacher shortage, and I had a good work ethic. It turned out great.

So sorry, I'm with Jigo, there's way too much victim mentality with blue collar areas. Take a few risks, trust your work ethic if you really do have one.
 
Randolphkeys said:
When I was a social worker in downtown Pittsburgh, PA I made $25,000 a year. I planned on going back to school to be a public school teacher in Pittsburgh, but oh wait the City declared bankruptcy. I then took out a monster student loan, no parent help financially at all, and got into the University of San Francisco for a Master's in Education. They had a good local economy, teacher shortage, and I had a good work ethic. It turned out great.

So sorry, I'm with Jigo, there's way too much victim mentality with blue collar areas. Take a few risks, trust your work ethic if you really do have one.
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Alright, but what if you're a guy who's not smart enough to get accepted into a Master's program?

I'm all for encouraging Americans to work to earn their living. But at some point, when half a town (or an inner city community) is living in poverty, you have to accept that the reason isn't just that half the people born in that place have bad work ethic and don't deserve the American dream. There's something deeper going on in those places that makes the cycle of poverty harder to escape, and we owe it to those people to try to make things better.
 
Nathan S said:
Alright, but what if you're a guy who's not smart enough to get accepted into a Master's program?

I'm all for encouraging Americans to work to earn their living. But at some point, when half a town (or an inner city community) is living in poverty, you have to accept that the reason isn't just that half the people born in that place have bad work ethic and don't deserve the American dream. There's something deeper going on in those places that makes the cycle of poverty harder to escape, and we owe it to those people to try to make things better.
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That is a topic I've wrestled with among "comfortable liberals" and blue collar workers alike. It's comfortable to stay in the place you have always lived, complain about the local economy, never get an education that leads to decent paychecks. Look, I didn't overshoot my station in life, I'm just a public school teacher... but when I realized Cleveland and Pittsburgh had a local economy that didn't cater to a recent college graduate without doing an incredible amount of grunt work, I left. It turned out great. At the same time, I see your point because there are a lot of people who haven't made the transition to 21st century job market. Younger generation gets less sympathy from me because our parents generation weren't technologically equipped for today's economy. They adapted or got forced into an early retirement.

The best I can say is that there are going to be fewer and fewer old hands on jobs in this economy. Complain all you want, or adapt. But we need a functioning social safety net for those who just can't do anything, like a dock worker who gets cerebral palsy for example.
 
The Oi said:
I agree with you that Trump was full of shit when he claimed to be able to bring coal jobs back to such areas because like every President has done on the campaign trail he was making promises he couldn't keep, and knew it and didn't care. I didn't bother expressing that opinion to people here because I knew it wouldn't change their vote and that's not my place in the world as I see it...to change votes that is.

That said, anecdotally...the town I live in is very, very poor. The concern here has nothing to do with Muslims or LGBT. They're not even on the radar. The concerns are:

1) How the FUCK are they going to create and get jobs in this depressed area nobody wants to move to?

2) How are they going to stop heroin overdoses?

So you can imagine how the rights of Muslims and LGBT people aren't even on the radar here. Muslim terrorists aren't going to be invading this place any time soon because there's nobody here to kill!

Most of these people either don't know any LGBT people or if they do I have heard over and over that they don't gaf one way or the other if they marry or don't, so long as there are jobs here.

I'd imagine this place is quite similar to the many, many other rust belt towns he won...
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Coal is never coming back, nor are a lot of manufacturing jobs. Trump, and others over the years, are selling a rotten bill of goods.

The only way to help these towns is to devote a lot of resources into re-training in new job skills. And also making college affordable for the working class.

It is a new economy. I have an advanced degree and it is useless because it isn't useful in 2017. I'm re-training.
 
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King Stannis said:
Coal is never coming back, nor are a lot of manufacturing jobs. Trump, and others over the years, are selling a rotten bill of goods.

The only way to help these towns is to devote a lot of resources into re-training in new job skills. And also making college affordable for the working class.

It is a new economy. I have an advanced degree and it is useless because it isn't useful in 2017. I'm re-training.
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All of this is 100% dead on.

I am curious as to why you went with psychiatry though. Passion? Or do you think there will be an uptick for a need there for whatever reason?
 
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