BruceVC

I can understand some of the resistance to changing the race of certain iconic characters like Spider Man but I cannot see an issue with changing the race of Velma to East Asian, I dont see how that would undermine the show in anyway ?

https://news.yahoo.com/brazen-theft-san-francisco-pharmacy-152506383.html This is unbelievable this video and I cannot understand why the security guard didnt intervene? Im disappointed it happened in California, another example of a basic societal failure to enforce the law where it should have been enforced But at least we know why it happened so its okay, clearly this is because of structural racism

You promise, I can trust you right...I am going to add it to my calendar now. I love barbeque culture. Nothing better than meat and alcohol

Nice, when do I get my invite for a barbeque? I am available this weekend

Since I got Control for free on Epic I started playing it , I am about 3 hours in and I am not sure I am enjoying it and will finish it. It does remind me Alan Wake so I will play it for a few more hours and decide

https://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/news/sa-weapons-export-to-saudi-arabia-uae-may-be-breaking-international-law-82029b5c-7e82-41d8-8ed3-1dec8273a8dd The US has also been accused of fueling wars and blamed for conflicts because of the sales of weapons to the likes of Israel and Saudi Arabia. Now within SA the same accusation has been made towards SA arms companies for selling weapons to Saudi Arabia and UAE My view on this has never changed but I am interested around what others think. Should we be vilifying and admonishing any company within our borders that sells military hardware to other countries ? I dont understand why for the following reasons The international arms trade is a legitimate and legal global industry Basically every country in the world buys military hardware and has a right to buy this hardware If the likes of the US or SA doesnt sell weapons to the Saudis or the Israelis then I can promise you the likes of Russia, China , Germany, UK or France will do it Its not the sales of weapons that is the issue but the countries involved in conflicts and how governments decide to use them Their are no international sanctions against Saudi Arabia or Israel that prevent the sales of weapons to these countries so this shouldnt be a legal issue ?

You right, Putin is the master of whatboutism and deflection. You can also see how uncomfortable he is with journalists asking legitimate questions about the targeting and deaths of opposition party members But also talk about a false equivalence, he is comparing the Capitol violence and people being prosecuted with the Russian clamp down on the media and people like Navalny being poisoned. He was asking " why are they being arrested in the USA after the attack on the Capitol " .....that is obvious. They broke numerous laws and stormed a government building and Capitol Police were attacked by members of the mob in an attempt to overturn a legitimate election result. Their should be no confusion why people have been arrested ? I would loved to have asked him " what would happen in Russia if a mob stormed the Kremlin and threatened to kill Russian politicians " ......I can tell you what would have happened. The security forces protecting the Kremlin would have used live ammunition and killed anyone in the crowd wanting to change the normal Russian election results

I must say this post made me laugh and has some truth it I am concerned with the idea that liberal arts students and outrage culture represent the USA and its intellectual and political influence But they dont to be honest, Kaitlyn Collins is very insightful and bright and carries herself very well. She is not one of the " woke " journalists I know you are talking about the Putin interview but she was their at Geneva and was the journalist that Biden " shouted " at

As far as Bidens conference went Kaitlan Collins asked a legitimate question, it wasnt optimistic and I also would have been annoyed by it but its a usual question that journalists would typically ask. But he apologized and later on CNN she said their were no bad feelings. CNN likes Biden and thats a good thing She asked " Ms. Collins had asked the president at a post-summit press conference why he is “confident” that Mr. Putin will change his behavior of destabilizing actions against the U.S " Their is no convincing way to respond to that type of question so what exactly was Biden suppose to say? You have to trust Putin and see how things unfold https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jun/16/biden-apologizes-cnn-reporter-kaitlan-collins-afte/

https://nypost.com/2021/06/14/woman-killed-in-supermarket-for-telling-man-to-wear-a-mask/ Simply asking someone to wear their mask can lead to you getting shot, that concerns me immensely

Do you think the article is true, I dont want to overreach. Their are several concerning things she was exposed to that are just biased and inaccurate If you read what she experienced I was under the impression that universities are suppose to teach students about critical thinking and to prepare them to work in RL. Thats what the general point was when I was in University but I dont think we have liberal-arts schools in SA ?

What has that got to do with systemic racism as the reason? Your actually supporting my point. Yes we have violence and high levels of crime in SA but it has nothing to do with racism. Apartheid ended in 1994 and Apartheid legacy is real but that is not reason for the crime

Are Asians given preferential loans in the US as opposed to black people based on race ?. Because banks normally grants loans based on a risk profile and factors like your current debt, revenue stream and expenses matter but not your race So if Indians or Koreans are getting finance I doubt its because of their race because that would be blatantly racist ?

Okay I see what you saying. In SA and throughout the African continent we have much more poverty and lack of resources than anywhere in the US and some examples of real failures of schools in the public sector. And this doesnt apply to all public sector schools We also see real successes in poor countries in the education system despite having much less than the USA And yet we dont see the same culture of gangs or gang violence that you see in some parts of the US. And obviously we are talking about countries and regions where 80-95 % of the citizens are black yet the failures of the school system exist yet not the violence So systemic racism doesnt apply so how would you explain that if the reason for the reality of season 4 violence is systemic racism? Why dont we see kids being pushed towards the same violence and drugs in Africa that we see in the USA ? I dont see the reality of underfunded schools and lack of opportunities in the USA in certain areas as necessarily examples of systemic racism as it exists in many African countries. I see this as a local or societal failures and that can lead to choices and gangsterism becoming an option

I loved the Wire, one of my best shows and I watched the whole series twice But I dont remember the systemic racist themes, I am not saying they werent their I just dont specifically remember them but I do remember the violence committed by the gangs around the drugs and the " baddies " like Chris and Marlo...I loved those guys If you can summarize what are your examples of the systemic racism in season 4 so I understand the context ?

I agree with you that in the examples of structural racism anywhere in the world you cant dismiss the point by saying " black people can be racist to " These are 2 separate issues and shouldnt be compared

Thanks for the link, I am still not convinced in any way that attacks on Asian people by black people is because of white supremacy. Its a choice made by an individual and often it will be directly because of racism, sometimes it may be criminal The link says " So when a Black person attacks an Asian person, the encounter is fueled perhaps by racism, but very specifically by white supremacy. White supremacy does not require a white person to perpetuate it " Thats inaccurate, white supremacy can only consist of white people and not all white people will automatically be welcomed to a group of white supremacists These groups have their own flawed codes based on pseudo-science and what defines a white person But a non-white person who commits bigotry cannot be accused of doing it because of white supremacy because they not white. So we would just call this racism or sexism or homophobia Maybe I am misunderstanding the article so if you can explain what point the professor is making that would be appreciated because I am always interested in these types of debates from people who want to debate the facts and correct definitions of what bigotry is

I didnt read your link when I made post but I will read it now But that wont change the point I am making , their are some people who do say " black people cant be racist " and that is based on a strange view that racism is about power and since, they claim, black people have no power they cant be racist. It illogical and doesnt make sense based on what any bigotry is https://simonesamuels.medium.com/no-black-people-cant-be-racist-eb6fddd18603

Thats something I sometimes come across in South Africa, this absurd notion that only a white person can be racist. Its not widely repeated but I still hear it So in this case the Professor is absolving black people of taking any responsibility for bigotry because " if black person attacks an Asian its a white peoples fault " because black people cant be racist. But they can be sexist, homophobic but somehow not racist. And I think the confusion stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of what racism is? Any human being of any race can demonstrate bigotry. So of course black people can be racist in the same way they can express any other emotion or prejudice. We all the same and suggesting its not true is unintentionally and ironically racist itself

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2021-06-14-mediclinic-says-it-did-not-treat-mom-of-thembisa-10-babies-despite-claim-in-text-message-to-childrens-dad/ This fake news story was created in SA that went global and many international media repeated it, the SA news house responsible for this is linked to other fake news stories and so is the specific journalist a man called Piet Rampedi I dont blame the whole media for this but the specific people involved. Their were some South Africans that assumed this was true and even donated money to help the mother .....they are nice people and thought they were dong the right thing and I dislike people being manipulated like this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland_(film) I just watched this movie and its highly recommend. Its tragic, sad but brilliant and captures the reality of the fragility of the human race when it comes to certain natural disasters I know " end of the world " movies can be banal but this is different and its a tear-jerker. Its about a comet that is going to hit the earth that will lead to an extinction level event It reminded me of how despite some of our global differences we really are one race and somethings unite us, and can destroy, as the human race

Hurlshot that sounds dangerously close to being unpatriotic, you know Bethesda is an American company But I want to raise that Fallout 76 has come a long way since its calamitous launch, their have been numerous updates and expansions and the game is really stable and is worth playing now. So we should try not to think of it like it use to be but rather how much it has improved

You make some good points here and I think you have summarized nicely the reality of what many of us think or want when it comes to new games from established gaming companies. I dont think your post is philosophical at all but grounded on the reality of any new game that has a history I cannot tell you what I expect from newly released games, like DA4, because all I know is what I have played and what I enjoy so when it comes to the outcome of creativity I cant comment on what I dont know For example lets take ELEX and how I absolutely loved it, it wasnt because it offered something new. It took what is standard PB gaming design and mechanics and basically improved on it in every level. That is all I want, I dont necessarily want creativity to find a game very entertaining because their is a real paradox when we are expected to ask for something in a game we have never experienced I am not sure if this makes sense ? So I was thinking when it comes to what we expect from the likes of Bioware and other gaming studios it makes more sense to not expect something new but rather what we dont want to see as a feature of the game So the more relevant question we should all ask ourselves is " what do we not want to see from future Bioware games " because that should be the main reason we would or wouldnt support them?

@Gorth Here is a good link around the Chinese economy, it may be a bit technical but its a good view of how it is structured https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/040115/reasons-why-china-buys-us-treasury-bonds.asp#:~:text=Chinese Economics China is primarily a manufacturing hub,the U.S. than the U.S. sells to China.

Its not just RT that had videos of how happy Russia was with the Trump victory, you will find numerous links and videos of how many Russians hoped and believed this would lead to a better US relationship...the sanctions on Russia do matter and do hurt Russia particularly the financial sanctions around certain investments I disagree China will become the strongest economy in the next 10 years, China has an export driven economy and is not consumer driven which is the primary strength of the US economy. So China would have to change its entire economic model to surpass the US but at the moment export driven means people need to buy your goods to be sustainable and sanctions or trade wars with countries that have the most wealth would automatically curtail this like we saw with the recent US\China trade wars and that was just the US using limited sanctions But we dont want a global trade war with China because it will hurt globalization and that will impact all of us and of course it will also hurt the economy of the US and the likes of the EU And please dont misunderstand me, I am not dismissing the strength of China or its global influence in some areas but they dont have the same influence or impact as the combined might of the likes of the US and NATO countries and its unlikely they ever will unless we see a collapse of the economies of these other countries