tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post5853787671632044282..comments2024-03-19T21:14:01.007-07:00Comments on The Compass Rose: What About Hoodies?Curtis Favillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-33161134739117660262013-07-29T16:08:50.165-07:002013-07-29T16:08:50.165-07:00Don Lemon the black CNN anchor said he thinks blac...Don Lemon the black CNN anchor said he thinks black kids should pull their pants up and show some decency and racism will end. He's getting incredible flak for it. Here is a link:<br /><br />http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/354636/cnns-don-lemon-agrees-oreilly-black-culture-gets-criticized-white-guest-andrew-johnsonKirby Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05952289700191142943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-60753333808534588672013-07-26T14:59:33.043-07:002013-07-26T14:59:33.043-07:00No, he did have some pot in his system (THC) but i...No, he did have some pot in his system (THC) but it shows perhaps some of the larger framework of his character. Still, Zimmerman stopped and pulled some folks out of their overturned SUV this week. Would Trayvon have done that? I don't think so. Here is an amazing video of a black preacher going off on Trayvon and black solidarity with Trayvon. It's kind of priceless if you like this kind of preaching. He's very in your face and funny as you can get:<br /><br />http://gnli.christianpost.com/video/trayvon-martin-pot-smoking-gives-munchies-and-makes-parano-12760Kirby Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05952289700191142943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-74719257737490496512013-07-26T08:45:21.887-07:002013-07-26T08:45:21.887-07:00I watched the Afterburner video.
The media obviou...I watched the Afterburner video.<br /><br />The media obviously avoided any discussion of the facts of Trayvon Martin's life, because of the fear of being perceived as racist, whereas attacks on Zimmerman have been (though timidly) unfavorable at the least. <br /><br />I'm no fan of Zimmerman, who strikes me as a pent-up "law and order" guy with little education, who wanted to give his life some purpose, and was drawn into law enforcement as a form of motivational self-improvement--not a recipe for a good cop, in my opinion.<br /><br />None of which changes the facts of the legal case. We can't condemn individuals for their character, only what they actually did, and we'll never know the whole truth of that in this case.<br /><br />"Lean" sounds like the sort of stuff teenagers play with. There's no evidence that Martin was high at the time of the incident.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-21327138136198259182013-07-25T19:15:14.215-07:002013-07-25T19:15:14.215-07:00I'm following lots of fairly marginal journali...I'm following lots of fairly marginal journalism on the case. Here's a guy that argues that Trayvon Martin went to the 7-11 to get Skittles and Watermelon Fruit Juice from Arizona because when it is mixed with Robitussin it provides a hefty codeine cocktail that can make you paranoid and violent:<br /><br />http://www.ijreview.com/2013/07/68300-whittle/<br /><br />Apparently directions for this cocktail were found on Martin's cellphone. I find it oddly scurrilous how the case has obsessed America and how the truth about the case has still not come out. More than anything the case seems to indict our media.Kirby Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05952289700191142943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-79042986777776926962013-07-25T06:26:34.220-07:002013-07-25T06:26:34.220-07:00Thomas Sowell, a conservative black economist at H...Thomas Sowell, a conservative black economist at Harvard, thinks that Sharpton and Jackson and their ilk will not give up their racial animus because there is too much at stake for them to do so. Something similar is afoot with feminists and other "identity-politics" partisans. If your bread and butter is made of creating rivalry and anger between races, genders, or classes, then of course you will want to foment those schisms at every opportunity.<br /><br />It's almost as if the Black Community is supposed to speak as one thing at this juncture and not as individuals. Feminists have also argued that they should speak as one, as this gives them more leverage, as unions gave leverage to the disenfranchized. <br /><br />But intellectual conformity creates stagnation and if it pushes bitterness on the youth as opposed to reconciliation and personal responsibility, it seems that kids like Trayvon will be stoked for an encounter with the Man. This can't end well for anyone. <br /><br />Not that Sharpton cares as long as he still gets his cut.Kirby Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05952289700191142943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-18437924876928859182013-07-25T06:13:05.578-07:002013-07-25T06:13:05.578-07:00This post is consistent with my feeling that Afric...This post is consistent with my feeling that African American culture has fallen into a decadent bankruptcy.<br /><br />The trend, which seems to have developed over the last half century, from a mood of futility and self-pity, to a sense of indignation, anger and entitlement, parallels the continued gains made by minorities in America during the same period. Rather than accepting the upward ascent, many African Americans seem to believe that a new era of rebelliousness and violence--much of it self-directed within the ghettos of our large cities--is a viable alternative to joining the larger society. <br /><br />Too, the hypersensitivity to the vestiges of prejudice and suspicion threatens to derail all the well-intended efforts at integration and amelioration.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-48859515798641263302013-07-24T18:44:39.711-07:002013-07-24T18:44:39.711-07:00I thought this post was very fair. Many black ath...I thought this post was very fair. Many black athletes have defended the hoodie, I think for the most part they have tried to deny how it is often used to preserve anonymity while in the act of committing a crime. Amare Stoudemire did this, for instance. <br /><br />It's not as if you can ban sagging pants or hoodies but they do create a connotation, one that Zimmerman no doubt had picked up on, as we all have done.<br /><br />Obama did say we should accept the verdict in that 20 minute speech a week back. But he surrounded it with so much questioning that he almost could be said not to have done what he advised the rest of us to do.Kirby Olsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05952289700191142943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-33948957348193772152013-07-18T06:40:53.182-07:002013-07-18T06:40:53.182-07:00Ellison's Juneteenth is great stuff. Haven'...Ellison's Juneteenth is great stuff. Haven't had a look yet at the unabridged version, Three Days Before The Shooting.Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05061304265345986242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-78383228610398871722013-07-17T10:20:32.199-07:002013-07-17T10:20:32.199-07:00Fair enough.
I don't really disagree.Fair enough.<br /><br />I don't really disagree.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-26752516006931064682013-07-17T10:15:40.992-07:002013-07-17T10:15:40.992-07:00I think we've heard their opinions, which are ...I think we've heard their opinions, which are so severely separated from the facts of the case, over and over and now amplified by the usual cast of grotesque politicians and non-politician opportunists. They're making an unholy mess of this. As a result, all of our civil rights, not merely the acquitted former defendant's, are negatively affected. I think it's crucial to remember that this was a legal case culminating in a trial and that the prosecution, with all the resources in the world available to them and all the leverage (I am a former prosecutor), utterly and entirely failed. The jury spoke decisively. The case is over. The rest should be silence and some respect shown to the jurors. End of sermon. Curtis RobertsACravanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00315707533118640284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-29093303703608523462013-07-17T09:51:59.603-07:002013-07-17T09:51:59.603-07:00I don't think we can see it this way.
From a ...I don't think we can see it this way.<br /><br />From a purely legalistic point of view, I agree. That discreteness has to be preserved. It protects us all from demonizing counterparts.<br /><br />But to understand all the implications, the associated issues and contexts need to be studied and analyzed. I may not agree, for instance, with the sympathizers of Travon Martin, but we do need to hear their opinions. How they feel is crucial to our understanding of the event and its implications.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1660090614793277371.post-37514865997271948632013-07-17T08:44:52.289-07:002013-07-17T08:44:52.289-07:00I enjoyed reading this a lot. In the context of t...I enjoyed reading this a lot. In the context of the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case, however, which has provoked a great deal of writing and elicited a large public response, it would be nice to simply see it mainly examined and regarded as the jury did, i.e., as a discrete evidence field requiring dispassionate analysis leading to a dispositive conclusion. In many ways, it's a lot more interesting that way and jury verdicts are intended to (and used to) solve problems. Curtis RobertsACravanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00315707533118640284noreply@blogger.com