oscars

[Dylan]

I hear you. The outrage barrage is unbearable at this point. I can't give a shit about every little thing I'm supposed to give a shit about.

This is a schizophrenic "revolution" too. Half the time it's just an odd barrage of "stuff we have to be angry about today" from a million different angles, and it wears out people in the middle, dilutes the strength of the message and disorganizes the people on the ground interested in having their voice heard.

Social media is, as with so many ills today, to blame. With social media every disparate jackass with an idea has a huge audience. It's great in some respects, but it also fragments people into these little groups that they are specifically interested in and little pet projects they are solely focused on, so you end up with a ton of noise and static but no organization or progress.

Anyway, I understand the sentiment of wanting a shared cultural bond with other people of a similar background. Galt, for you and I it's "Americans" as you described the term. For some people though that's a narrower subgroup, so I see why people in that situation would seek out a shared cultural bond. Everybody does this too, and has in America for a long time. People from similar cultural backgrounds gravitate toward each other. A client of mine is from The Gambia and just moved to WISCONSIN. Why? Because other Gambians are there. Dude is used to 90+ degree whether but the draw of being with his own culture was enough to tread to f**k Wisconsin.

I understand the sentiment from "Americans" of viewing this as racist, exclusionary self-segregation. But I think it's pretty understandable, especially in the context of some of the shit certain groups have gone through in the US. Also there's an element of identifiability to this that makes it more challenging I think. For the most part, American white mutts look like American white mutts. You can kinda guess "yeah, Italian I think?" with most people but ultimately, throw a hat on that guy on the street and it's another American white mutt.

BUT on the other hand, there's a legitimate argument that a distinct and active subculture makes it more difficult to assimilate into more mainstream culture and thrive in society. I dunno though, because certain "model" minority groups also socialize mainly with their origin culture.

Anyway, it's a tough topic and race relations in the US are and will be a shitshow for an embarassingly long time to come. Goddammit.

[jimmyz]

[Dylan]

Imagine for a second that's how you live. Every decision, past or present, debated with equal weight on either side.

Crippling my friend.

[jimmyz]

[jimmyz]

The middle aged drunk racist uncle persona with wet brain syndrome has no dilemma in landing solidly on an opinion and defending it blindly. Much easier that way. As is my practice.

[John Galt]

[Saz]

[Dylan]

Should we have a quota system for black nominees? Is that the end game for this kind of thing?

Idris Elba was cheated out of a nom (Will Smith was not), but I doubt race has anything at all to do with it.

Nobody in NWA deserved a nomination. Maybe Paul Giamatti but probably not.

[Saz]

[Dylan]