CosmicBills

True. But what is shocking is the line of thought that assumes the reasons for the interest are politically motivated rather than financially motivated.

F*&k that sucks, man.

That entirely depends on whether or not you're wearing pants when you say it.

Damn, sorry to hear that, Chef. Hope they didn't get your wine!

It's shocking that Hollywood would be interested in making a documentary and bio-pic about a woman who has sat in a position of influence on the world stage for over 20 years. Shocking I tell you. What's this world coming to?!

Am I the only one who thinks the woman was in on it with him and this is all some sort of gag?

So now supporting civil rights automatically makes one a liberal? I wonder why the right has such a hard time selling their brand.

Tell that to Michael Hastings' family...

:lol:

Stumbled across this and thought some on here would get a kick. Josh Gad (Book of Mormon, Party Down, 1600 Penn) and his comedy troupe created a short series that is part Mr. Bean, part Borat. Here's episode 1, each one is short and Episode 2 has one of the funniest things I've seen in a long, long time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaDOswUo54M (Here is a link to the main page with the episodes numbered: http://www.mydamnchannel.com/gigi__almost_american/gigi_episodes/episode1speaklearnenglish_6886.aspx )

I'll take, Biggest Lie Ever Told on PPP for 200, Alex.

Who's arguing it's not a problem? No one is saying the numbers are wrong. The disagreement is over the cause. Tasker and the like want to attribute it entirely to a cultural mindset, a cult of victimhood. The other side have been arguing that's a shortsighted and incorrect thesis. No one is saying there isn't a problem.

That's outstanding!

I can't find a video with this clipped properly, but this seems to fit in nicely with the root of the discussion in this thread. At the very least it's funny. (NSFW probably)

I'm not trying to be dense here -- but I don't understand what you're getting at. I'm not supporting policy or even advocating one. I'm debating context and causation.

But again, that's a waste of time because it's not a real situation. More white have bought into the hip hop culture than black kids. Hell, hip-hop SMASHED Rock & Roll's right in it's tracks, derailing it (commercially) almost completely. That was not done with only dollars from the African American community. Yes, there are people who would identify themselves in that way -- but they'd span the spectrum of race and have more in common economically than racially. This isn't a race issue, it's an economic and societal issue. Absolutely. What perspective is that?

As I answered before, the answer to that would take a book. And there are hundreds of books out there on the subject written from all perspectives.

I'm not ignoring anything. At all. That's the point. You're leaving out a massive swath of pertinent information on this subject when you arrive at your simple-mined and ignorant conclusion that the cause is your mythical (and still yet to be proven accurate) "Black Culture". You're claiming that the only reason these numbers exist is a culture of victimhood. That's a FRACTION of the answer. And limiting yourself to only a fraction of the equation is why you are so far off based with your line of thought on this matter. Do yourself a favor and educate yourself on the issue before staking claim to the intellectual high ground. If you believe in cause and effect as you claim, then I'll allow you do the historical math and answer this question for yourself. This has zero to do with the discussion at hand. If I want to hold an sociological discussion on the matter I'd rather do it with someone who knows what they're talking about. You have demonstrated repeatedly that you do not know enough about this subject. The reality of the situation is that it's easier for you to write this off as a cultural problem rather than to examine the reality. Ignorance is bliss. So, looking at the problem from all angles and context rather than cramming a square peg into a round hole is a cop out? That's your defense now? Tell me, oh-great-bullshiiter- how does identifying the problem as Black Culture lead to solutions? What solutions does it offer? You are even more of an asshat than I realized before. Calling it that does nothing to help identify the problem. Which is the point. It creates division, not unity. And unity is what is needed to solve the problems facing urban America. A poor black kid has more in common with a poor white kid than he does a rich black kid. That's America today. Progress met with a backwards slide.

And you don't see the problem with assigning all the negative aspects of urban decay and classifying it as "Black" Culture? That's why you're an ass. That's why your argument fails. That's why you have no idea what you're talking about in this discussion. You claim to only deal with realities yet the reality you're propping up is a mirage. It's poor deductive reasoning and ill conceived logic that has led you down this path. Now I'll ask again, show me a full SPEECH or ARTICLE where one of your esteemed "black intellectuals" use the term Black Culture in the way you are using it. I'll wait. You don't see the inherent sociological/historical/racial problems that are stirred up when you make the statement that "thug culture" and "black culture" are synonymous? It shows ignorance of the reality of the situation and the root causes of the numbers you and Tasker are holding up as proof. It also makes it very easy to dismiss anything you might bring to the conversation because you're starting from a very uneducated point of view. I haven't indicated anyone is racist. Nor am I a fan of being PC. In fact, quite the opposite.

Again, Dr. Cosby never uses the term "black culture" as the blanket statement that Tasker is sticking to. And, more importantly, pay attention to the closing statements he makes. Like all great thinkers, Dr. Cosby ends up supporting DC Tom's original conclusion. Urban blight -- though I don't love that term. It's a societal problem, not a cultural problem. Which is the entire point that Tasker is failing to address. It has nothing to do with racial cultures -- you know from living in Oakland that the gangbangers and drug dealers aren't just the young black kids.

Funny. Then I guess it's just a coincidence that your retort about Lemon's credentials: "Emmy and an Edward R. Murray Murrow Award, and Ebony magazine has listed him amongst the 150 most infuential black Americans," is the same beat for beat as his wiki page: This from his Wiki page: "Lemon won an Emmy Award ... an Edward R. Murrow Award ... and was voted as one of the 150 most influential African Americans by Ebony magazine in 2009.[9] Coincidence? And I haven't disparaged his work at all -- other than the fact he works for CNN which is pretty much universally considered to be a black hole of intellectual honesty. You can keep pretending that you're ignorance is backed by other "black intellectuals" but you're not fooling anyone anymore. You're full of shiit on this subject. And if you could be honest about it, you'd see. The "arena" for his statements were about a portion of the African American population NOT THE ENTIRETY OF BLACK CULTURE. Do you see the difference? Or are you letting your biases blind you to the fact that you've wandered off the reservation and are now alone in crazy land? And yet you've still yet to provide ONE speech or article or paper written by a black intellectual that uses the term in the context that you are using it. Again, step your game up and know what you're talking about, or take your beating like a man.

Do you understand what Uncle Tom represents? Honestly... do you understand the character's place in our social and artistic history? This is a rhetorical question of course because clearly you do not. For someone who claims to have no interest in race baiting, you sure do seem hellbent on accusing everyone else of doing it. Psychiatrists have a term for that: over-compensation.

Your contention has been that your definition of "black culture", which you and 3rd define as everything wrong with urban America, is used in THE SAME way by "black intellectuals", thus you remove any responsibility from yourself for your misuse and misunderstanding of the issue. To prove this, you post a segment from Don's show where he states TWICE that he is NOT using the term in that way. And yet, you hold it up as a prop. That's the definition of ignorance.