Is there anything from your own political party or side that you disagree with?

[Adrian Fomble]

I'm curious, what is this board's view on "Affirmative Action"? Especially as far as the United States is concerned?

[Kirby101]

I'm curious, what is this board's view on "Affirmative Action"? Especially as far as the United States is concerned?

All for it, this country has a long history of racial discrimination, and the current political leadership shows it is still a problem, Affirmative Action helps redress this injustice.

[DrNewGod]

I'm curious, what is this board's view on "Affirmative Action"? Especially as far as the United States is concerned?

Affirmative Action remains a necessity, but could use constant scrutiny. Opportunity is not yet reasonably distributed, but capability matters. What you don't want is to increase equity by lowering quality too far.

The first place we need to be attacking this is quality of education at every level, but especially at the primary school level.

[Starter Set]

You know, we were truly going somewhere by the end of the 90's in terms of racism and all kind of social subjects. Things were getting better but one of the vicious side effect of 9/11 is a colossal reactionary backslash.

Cause of that one day, we lost so much.

[DrNewGod]

You know, we were truly going somewhere by the end of the 90's in terms of racism and all kind of social subjects. Things were getting better but one of the vicious side effect of 9/11 is a colossal reactionary backslash.

Cause of that one day, we lost so much.

9/11 didn't help, but is was not the cause of the reactionary backlash you correctly identify. Racial tensions, class tensions, and just about every other kind of tension you can name escalate in environments of income inequality, and lower prosperity. Those were coming since the mid-1980s with policies that weakened opportunity at the bottom, lowered taxes at the top, eased the outsourcing of jobs from every industrial sector, and enabled harvesting surplus from the bottom by the top through easy access to debt.

No White House -from Reagan through Bush 43, including the Clintons - made any real attempt to slow that down. The Clinton White House actually accelerated the outsourcing problem with an unrealistic attitude about what opening markets to China, without strong IP protections, critical industry protections, and steep investment in worker reeducation, would mean.

The last administration (while imperfect), did at least try to impose some more reasonable and pragmatic policy. But things were already in motion.

What (IMO) 9/11 did do was throw a ton of xenophobic fear on top of this, and give a talking point to the worst among us, that resonated with people angry for different reasons, and all too willing to blame the wrong people for the wrong reasons for what was going wrong in the country.

We would have gotten to a point very like this without 9/11, it just might have taken longer, and might not have been as intense. Had we taken a different economic path, 9/11 would still have happened (assuming none of the other international relations stuff changed), but our society would have been much more robust against it.

[Adrian Fomble]

Why do people seem to conflate Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism? What is this board's view on Zionism?

[dancj]

Why do people seem to conflate Anti-Zionism with Anti-Semitism? What is this board's view on Zionism?

A lot of people seem to think that antisemitic people use "zionist" as a code word for "jew" - and that therefore anyone complaining about "zionists" secretly hates all Jews.

I'm unconvinced.

[GOLGO 13]

I'm curious, what is this board's view on "Affirmative Action"? Especially as far as the United States is concerned?

Completely necessary & more so in this day & age of Christo-fascism.

[Adrian Fomble]

I was wondering... what is this board's view on the current migration crisis going on in Europe? My friend believes it's a serious issue that is in dire need of discussion.

[ed2962]

I was wondering... what is this board's view on the current migration crisis going on in Europe? My friend believes it's a serious issue that is in dire need of discussion.

What does your friend think the problem is? Is he worried about jobs, "culture" or what?

[Starter Set]

I was wondering... what is this board's view on the current migration crisis going on in Europe? My friend believes it's a serious issue that is in dire need of discussion.

Thing is, the burden is unfairly distributed and some countries just aren't helping at all so it creates bitterness among the countries the most impacted. (Italia for example, who has to deal daily with new migrants)

But let's keep in mind that lot of them are refugees from war and, according to our very own laws here in Europe, we have to help them. They will come anyway.

As a more personal note, i would add that it could be us you know. I mean, try to put yourself in those people's shoes for a second. Fleeing your country with your family and all. Wouldn't you like for someone to give you a helping hand in those dire moments?

[4saken1]

I was wondering... what is this board's view on the current migration crisis going on in Europe? My friend believes it's a serious issue that is in dire need of discussion.

I think if the U.S. stepped up it's game, there wouldn't be such a 'crisis' in Europe. That said, having such a large influx of foreigners integrating into your culture is bound to have some repercussions. Question is, is the downside greater than the guilt of turning away those in dire need of asylum. There are soooooo many Americans (most of whom consider themselves Christian) who don't have a problem turning away people in need because they are different than us.

[Adrian Fomble]

What does your friend think the problem is? Is he worried about jobs, "culture" or what?

"Culture" (and linguistic and societal integration/assimilation). But personally while I sympathize with my American friend's sentiments (based on how he feels about his roots), I think it's a lot more complicated than that. I need to see a more balanced view of these issues (before anyone calls me a right-wing populist, I'm as left-leaning as you can get).

Thing is, the burden is unfairly distributed and some countries just aren't helping at all so it creates bitterness among the countries the most impacted. (Italia for example, who has to deal daily with new migrants)

But let's keep in mind that lot of them are refugees from war and, according to our very own laws here in Europe, we have to help them. They will come anyway.

As a more personal note, i would add that it could be us you know. I mean, try to put yourself in those people's shoes for a second. Fleeing your country with your family and all. Wouldn't you like for someone to give you a helping hand in those dire moments?

Good point on the refugees, BUT the issue is with the Government letting in too many people who aren't really refugees without giving them a thorough background check.

I need to ask my friend what his real issues are tonight, so that you guys could help answer his questions for me.

[dancj]

"Culture" (and linguistic and societal integration/assimilation).

Why would your friend think those are bad things?

[ed2962]

"Culture" (and linguistic and societal integration/assimilation). But personally while I sympathize with my American friend's sentiments (based on how he feels about his roots), I think it's a lot more complicated than that. I need to see a more balanced view of these issues (before anyone calls me a right-wing populist, I'm as left-leaning as you can get).



Good point on the refugees, BUT the issue is with the Government letting in too many people who aren't really refugees without giving them a thorough background check.

I need to ask my friend what his real issues are tonight, so that you guys could help answer his questions for me.

I'm assuming that your friend is American? And yes, it's a very complicated issue. His fear isn't uncommon but but I'd suggest that he and some people are over reacting when they think that American Culture is going to just disappear because more refugees settle in our country. American culture didn't evaporate when Jews fleeing Europe came here, it didn't vanish when Vietnamese came here, it won't get lost because Muslim and Mexican are coming.