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Home » Clever slogans: Black Lives Matter

Clever slogans: Black Lives Matter

The New Neo Posted on by

Last night when I awakened several times, thinking, it occurred to me that although the left fights on all fronts, one of them is in the matter of words, in particular the names it gives organizations. For example, Black Lives Matter. Who but the most rabid neo-Nazi could ever object, if the name is taken at face value? Of course black lives matter. The name is one of the reasons that BLM is attractive to so many people and has gained so much support so quickly. Almost no one would disagree with the sentiment.

But nothing is just face value for the left. For example, implicit in the phrase “Black Lives Matter” as a rallying cry by the left is the idea that there is some vast array of people (not just the minuscule number of actual real live neo-Nazis) who think that Black Lives Don’t Matter. After all, Black Lives Matter the organization (which I’ll henceforth abbreviate in this post as BLM) has to be set in opposition to something order to make sense as the name of a protest movement.

So BLM is implying some version of these things: black lives don’t matter to police, black lives don’t matter to the right, black lives don’t matter to white people, black lives have never mattered in America, and perhaps also the all-important if you don’t agree with what BLM is doing and saying, then you think that black lives don’t matter and you want black people to suffer and to die. Oh – and also, if you don’t display our sign, then you might just be a racist who doesn’t think black lives matter.

There’s quite a lot packed in there, isn’t there, in what appears at first to be a straightforward slogan with which almost everyone can easily agree? BLM has become much more than the name of a protest movement. It’s become a sacred phrase. Any disagreement with any aspect of it, or of the program being pushed under its name, is equivalent to blasphemy and/or heresy. In that respect, BLM is a quasi-religion. A strict one, at that, in which one can question neither the tenets nor the clergy.

Why else would saying “All Lives Matter” get people fired from their jobs, unfriended on Facebook, and in some cases raked over the coals until they commit an act of penitence? Consider that “all” actually includes “black” rather than excluding it, so it is not a contradiction to the BLM message. Unsuspecting and naive people, who take the BLM slogan at its word, have made the error of assuming that an inclusive “All Lives Matter” message does not conflict with BLM, and have uttered the “all” word without realizing that they are calling down the wrath of the BLM faithful on themselves by speaking heresy rather than agreement.

Is the corollary of BLM – with its rejection of even the possibility of saying with inclusive goodwill that all lives matter – the idea that white lives matter less (or not at all)? You’re not allowed to even ask the question. Nor are you allowed to point out the indisputable fact that black-on-black crime is a huge problem causing great suffering in the black community. Such crime is re-defined by the left as the fault of white racism as well, and mentioning it is a racist deflection from the problem of blacks being killed by white police officers, which matters even more because the black lives that matter most are the ones killed by white people.

Comments

Clever slogans: Black Lives Matter — 76 Comments

  2. To the BLM movement, which is essentially Marxist, the only black lives which seem to matter are the ones killed by white people. The ongoing carnage in black neighborhoods in, for instance, Chicago and Baltimore, doesn’t matter. Those lives are snuffed out by other black lives, so that’s not important to the movement.

  3. I want to make a sign that says “Black Babies Matter” and stand in front of our local abortion ( Women’s health care) Planned Parenthood Clinic that disposes of Black children on Wednesdays and Fridays.
    Yes, words matter and I would probably be attacked in that moment of protest because I am disrespecting Black people, while I try to save their future.

  4. The objection to ‘all lives matter’ and the insensate rage at ‘it’s OK to be white’ derive from the same source: the notion that gentry liberals assign value and thus strata of value. ‘All lives matter’ denies strata, something objectionable to gentry liberals and black chauvinists alike. ‘It’s OK to be white’ is an assertion that the subject is not in need of a seal of quality from gentry liberals or black chauvinists.

    Once you remember that left politics consists of status games all the way down, it makes sense. And, in realizing that this is the sum of contemporary left politics and realizing it wasn’t like that 40 years ago leads to another realization: that social peace cannot be had by competing with the contemporary left. It can only be had by the old left re-emerging.

  5. @ 2flathat: There are pro-life activists who have carried signs saying “Black Lives Matter in the Womb.”

  6. The BLM stuff has become religious dogma, and logic is not applicable any more than the religious laws years ago that doomed you to hell if you ate meat on Friday which in some places was a capital crime. We are stepping through a portal into a much more dangerous time when thoughts expressed openly become a crime.

  7. “Black Lives Matter” is also a justification for the rioting, looting, property damage and physical assaults accompanying the Peaceful Protests. Furthermore, blaming Institutional Systemic Racism deflects attention from the succession of Democratic mayors and municipal governments on whose watch all this racism and police brutality flourished.

  8. “Why else would saying “All Lives Matter” get people fired from their jobs, unfriended on Facebook, and in some cases raked over the coals until they commit an act of penitence? Consider that “all” actually includes “black” rather than excluding it, so it is not a contradiction to the BLM message. ”

    It’s worse than that! If you think all Lives Matter does not include the message Black Lives Matter, then you are not being logical. Logic is one of the foundations of Science, so if you insist on saying Black Lives Matter instead of All Lives Matter then …

    *** You don’t believe in Science ***

    (or else you truly believe that black lives are worth more than others.)

  9. It matters not… its clearly evident they are using the blacks… with whats happening in California constitution… to tearing down ulysis s grant, defacing Cervantes, destroying a memorial to Lincoln created by slaves…

    this is a Maoist anarchist revolution…
    and as in Venezuela, the people supporting it do not know what they will get
    they do not know once they get the pickle the cucumber as a concept dies.

  13. “So BLM is implying some version of these things: …
    There’s quite a lot packed in there, isn’t there, in what appears at first to be a straightforward slogan with which almost everyone can easily agree?” – Neo

    Excellent summary of the situation.
    My view, informed by the statements of one of our black brethren “in church” Sunday, is that the phrase “black lives matter” means to him and his family one or more of “black lives don’t matter to police, black lives don’t matter to the right, black lives don’t matter to white people, black lives have never mattered in America,” but I don’t think he would willingly and with malice aforethought continue with “if you don’t agree with what BL is doing and saying, then you think that black lives don’t matter and you want black people to suffer and to die.”

    Or at least, I hope he wouldn’t.

    On the other hand, that and the following sense are the ones that #BLM are most certainly pushing. (I find that if I leave off the # my first thoughts go to the Bureau of Land Management, which operates with some degree of tyranny, but not quite to that level).

    D. Cohen said, correctly, “If you think all Lives Matter does not include the message Black Lives Matter, then you are not being logical.”

    I would go one step further: if it is not the case that all lives matter, then it can never be the case that black lives matter, because that would imply that “all” does not include “black” and thus that one set differs from the other in nonequivalent ways.

    Which is exactly what the southern slave owners said in the 1860s.
    The institution of slavery in most times and places never denied the humanity of the enslaved; they were just the unlucky.
    When the American South started justifying their out-moded practices to the abolitionists, they did so by claiming that blacks were not humans like whites were (ignoring all the other skin colors, all though if pressed would probably have considered them subhuman as well).

    IMHO, that’s when God finally pulled the plug and let the natural consequences play out.
    Reversing the negative doesn’t change the truth-value of the proposition.

  14. “Almost no one would disagree with the sentiment [that Black Lives Matter].

    Well count me in the “almost no one” group. I can’t take the hypocrisy anymore regarding their silence about Black on Black violence. I am so tired of hearing about the virus and now I am even more tired of hearing about Blacks.

    I’ve gotten to the point where I change channels on the TV as soon as I see a Black person on the news or a discussion show. I don’t want to hear what they have to say—show me by your actions, not your constant moaning about racism.

    The final nail in not caring about Blacks? A week ago I was walking one block from my place wearing a MAGA cap. I’ve worn it in public since November 2016 and never had anyone threaten me about it. I live one block from a university.

    I walk past a group of one Black male and two Black girls, all in their early 20s but didn’t appear to be students—the university is closed.

    The guy sees my cap and says, “Look at this guy with this hat. Let’s get him.” The two girls kept walking but the guy stopped and had his fists up.

    I did say anything and just kept walking. Maybe because the girls kept walking, he decided to move on also.

    If I can’t walk on a sidewalk in my own neighborhood without a possible attack from a Black, then the group as a whole doesn’t deserve my respect. How are these people raised?

    If this guy thought beating up on a 70 year old Hispanic/Asian would make me care about Blacks, then he is mistaken. He didn’t care about my life so why should I care about his?

    I know this is painting races with a broad brush but that is exactly what BLM is doing. Tit for tat.

  15. I write about that mike in the other post… but the new ones came up..
    see ArtfldgrUselessNothing on June 20, 2020 at 1:26 pm said:
    https://www.thenewneo.com/2020/06/19/another-look-at-robespierre/#comment-2501978

    on another ‘fun’ note..

    The controversy over depictions of Christopher Columbus in Columbus, Ohio, has led to an online petition calling for the city to be renamed Flavortown in honor of Guy Fieri.

    or maybe after Farley Flavors? [Shock Treatment]
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ4FnsDxtL8

  16. “they do not know once they get the pickle the cucumber as a concept dies.” – Artfldgr

    ROFL, except it’s more sad than funny in the context.

  17. I will say something that might get a lot of push back but first know that I live in a deep blue state. I have for all but one year of my long life. Here we go:

    I am not fond of white people. I much prefer being in a racially mixed group. Why? White people have an annoying habit of judging you on appearances. They are really into status. I’ve had both white men and women think they are doing me a favor by reminding me that my choice of eyewear is outdated. Too ’90-ish for their taste. Wow! That takes a lot of chutzpah but they do it. No other ethnic group exhibits this behavior. They may think it but they don’t voice it.

    Like I said, I’ve never been to a red state beyond passing through. I wonder what your thoughts are?

  18. While massive protests continue to rage across the country (and beyond) in the name of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors admitted during a Friday night interview with CNN that “our goal is to get Trump out.” Cullors, who described BLM organizers in 2015 as “trained Marxists,” compared Trump to Hitler after refusing to meet with him, and referred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as the Gestapo

  19. BLM co-founder Opal Temeti is a Maduro fan. She has visited Venezuela, where she tweeted this incredulous message.

    Currently in Venezuela. Such a relief to be in a place where there is intelligent political discourse.

    Only a Maduro fan would tweet that. Opal Tometi has also met with Maduro in the United States.

    BLM is against police killing civilians- at least against police killing black civilians. Venezuela has a horrendous record on police killing civilians.Caracas Chronicles: How Brutal Are Venezuelan Police Forces?” In 2017, Venezuelan law enforcement killed 4,998 civilians. That is the equivalent in the United States of of law enforcement killing 50,000 civilians- compared to actual annual figures in the 500-1,000 range. Just one more example of the nonsense emanating from BLM.

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/06/13/black-lives-matter-founder-an-open-supporter-of-socialist-venezuelan-dictator-maduro/

  21. Brian Morgan on June 20, 2020 at 4:24 pm said: Like I said, I’ve never been to a red state beyond passing through. I wonder what your thoughts are?

    I believe you ran into real anal sphincters…
    you should get out more often, and away from such toxic leftists…
    most people are not that way…

    by the way, lots of idiots of all colors do what you say
    just that most wont say anything openly…

    tell them your glasses are “retro” and quite the style
    then tell them to get with it, they are sooooo blase

    but find better people… there are a lot..
    but definitely not where your hanging out…

  23. BLM wants to be taken seriously … but not literally. You already can’t (dare not) say “All lives matter”. You can’t even say “All black lives matter”. Not if you include the vast number of blacks killed by other blacks in Chicago, Detroit or any other major city. You absolutely aren’t allowed to mention the greatest cause of death among blacks; greater than all other causes combined. Abortion. Oops. Missed a spot.

  24. Take a look at the list and the “justifications” — and buy your own copies instead of depending on Netflix and its ilk.

    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/06/20/aliens-breakfast-at-tiffanys-flash-gordon-and-more-get-trigger-warnings-on-sky/

    FWIW, one of our sons gave each of us a copy of “Song of the South” a couple of years ago, which apparently is available but not through Disney.
    Another one reminded me this week that he recalled visiting one of our black church families in Texas with me when he was young, and their kids always seemed to be playing — Song of the South.

    Most of the cancel culture, including #BLM, are protesting things that actual black people don’t seem to find problematic.

  25. “If this guy thought beating up on a 70 year old Hispanic/Asian would make me care about Blacks, then he is mistaken. He didn’t care about my life so why should I care about his?

    I know this is painting races with a broad brush but that is exactly what BLM is doing. Tit for tat.” – Brio

    First of all, so glad you made it out unharmed — lots of people are getting beat up and even killed.
    #BLM’s objective is precisely to get the “tit for tat” response so they have a “real” instance of oppression/racism to scream about, rather than having to make them up.

  27. Brio:

    Tit for tat is an emotional reaction. It’s bad for many reasons, but one is that it makes no sense.

    All people of a certain color are not a certain way, whatever that color might be. And most black people are law-abiding people as well as decent people. Some are wonderful. Is there a higher percentage of criminals among the black population than among the white? Yes, somewhat, but mostly in certain areas.

    But what’s happening now is going to increase racist sentiments of all kinds, all believe – both anti-white and anti-black. That’s another terrible thing about it. It has no up side. Only down. The only up side would be if it alerts people – black and white – to the dangers on the left, and helps them stop them. I don’t see that happening at this point.

  28. Brian Morgan:

    What you are encountering is a university environment in a blue area. Snobbery and groupthink.

    Nothing to do with white or black per se.

    At least they’re not killing people with eyeglasses, like Pol Pot. That’s because they may wear them themselves.

  29. A white liberal trustafarian criticized my appearance saying, “you’re too pale, you need to get some sun.” Stunned, “sorry it’s a problem for you, but this is the only color available for this model” popped out of my mouth.

    Same fellow took it on himself to chastise me another time for not marching with the pink pussy hat brigade. What a maroon.

    But, I have to disagree with Brian Morgan though, being judge-y is not an exclusive white thing.

    I grew up in a high crime, not white neighborhood in Brooklyn, quite a lot of fashion critiques went on there. In fact, I went out of my way to deliberately wear “rejects” to avoid getting mugged for my clothes and was underweight so as to be undesirable as a “skinny assed white girl” walking down the street.

    I was criticized for having dog hair, reading, being Satan, killing Christ (just once though) and pronouncing the final consonants at the end of words like “shit,” which I was told was white people spitting. One also had to beware of wearing the wrong colors, at the wrong time, in the wrong place. Eye contact was also problematic.

    Many of the parents of the nice girls did not allow them to be my friend because I was white, the gangs considered I was only suitable for something else.

    It was traumatizing actually. Everything going on now is quite triggering, as they say.

  30. Why? White people have an annoying habit of judging you on appearances. They are really into status. I’ve had both white men and women think they are doing me a favor by reminding me that my choice of eyewear is outdated. Too ’90-ish for their taste. Wow! ”

    Yeah, “Wow” is right.

    So … these status seeking whites .. what were they really telling you when they stated that your eyewear was “outdated”? I mean, what what their basic assumption regarding this factor of “outdatedness”?

    Were they helpfully suggesting that more recent technology and newer materials could provide you with lighter weight and improved vision? Seems not.

    These status seekers … were they suggesting that you were too run of the mill, and had not differentiated yourself with a truly personal expression of style? Well, apparently not.

    What these status seeking whites seemed to be doing was telling you to keep pace with the latest zigs and zags of the swarm. The swarm they esteemed, at least.

    Now interestingly enough, from my point of view, this is a trait that could be said to apply to some “conservative” whites, as readily as to any fashion forward, ass up, progressive pajama-boy in skinny jeans, or some OCD “Karen”.

    In either case, the status you refer to is not the status that accrues to successful individualism, or Gaia forbid, heroic action, but to conformity, acceptance inclusion, being one of the in-crowd, and hopefully, policing the in-crowd… because well, that is what life, as far as they are concerned, “right” or left”, is all about.

    Now, I have never in my life seen exactly what you describe. But what you describe is a kind of competitive conformism. And I don’t think that is a particularly racial trait. Though the Karens of the world and the country club locker room faggots who move in some social circles, might make those who move in those same social circles, or mix with them on occasion, think so.

    You just reminded me of a hilarious scene in the old movie, The Razor’s Edge. I’m not sure it was meant to be as rollicking hilarious as I found it, and there was probably some pathos intended, but man was it funny.

    I’m going to see if I can find it, before I go out.

  31. Esther
    One also had to beware of wearing the wrong colors, at the wrong time, in the wrong place.

    One time I was at a bus stop in the diverse side of town, when a black kid about 12 years old asked me, “Sir, do your blue athletic shoes mean you’re a member of the Crips?” I decided I’d better not wear those shoes if I was going to that part of town, just to be on the safe side.

  33. ” Is there a higher percentage of criminals among the black population than among the white? Yes, somewhat, but mostly in certain areas.”
    Blacks commit an inordinate amount of crime, way out of proportion to their percentage of the population. Blacks are about 12% of the population but commit over 50% of the murders and most of the people they murder are other blacks. Those black lives evidently don’t matter. I live outside Washington DC and every week a few blacks are murdered. There was a video on TV about a week ago of some blacks having a gun battle on the street. It’s the DC version of Gunfight at the OK Corral.

  34. About strangers commenting on someone’s appearance — Sometimes people make overly personal comments as a way of flirting. Consider the classic pick-up line:

    What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?

    Really, and obviously, the top-level analysis of this statement is that it’s nobody’s business but hers. However, the next level of analysis might be that being overly personal and familiar like this can trigger a similar sort of personal reply, etc. Wasn’t there a book or article written a while back saying that criticizing someone’s appearance in a small way was a good approach to getting acquainted?

  35. Fortunately, BLM does not represent all blacks. Only those who are inclined to embrace Marxism and feel that they are owed something seem attracted to the movement.

    Racism is basically concerned with separating races into competitive groups with a hierarchy of status. It is the opposite of King’s idea of judging a person, not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character. There are many blacks who aren’t racists, but those who adhere to BLM are racists. They believe in the division of people into categories of skin color and that the content of their characters cannot be questioned because of their skin color and the history of slavery and Jim Crow.

    This man is the antithesis of BLM.
    https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/rick-rigsby
    Long, but well worth a look.

  36. D. Cohen, re “flirting”, believe me it wasn’t flirting. It went as far as suggesting that I needed laser eye surgery. I mean, who the hell talks like this? And no, it wasn’t an eye surgeon drumming up business. Have people no decency? And I stand by my statement that this is a problem with the white end of the color spectrum.

  37. Neo: You post nothing that I don’t already know. I know it is not good to judge an entire race by the actions of a few. I’ve known good and bad people of all races.

    Emotional or not, I have little interaction with Blacks on a daily basis. It becomes emotional when one is a nearly accosted by a feral Black. My incident could have gone either way. If it had gone badly, maybe I was lucky that it was in front of a ChikFilA.

    An ex-friend is the most racist person I have known. He absolutely hated Whites. But he became good friends with a 90-year-old White friend of mine who was in a wheelchair. So he was able to see the individual rather the group or race. That is all I ask of BLM but it isn’t going to happen.

    My tit for tat comment is just a part of a philosophy I have used all my life— if someone is nice to me, I will be nice to them. If someone is a jerk to me, then I will be a jerk to them.

    Z-man expresses my thoughts about Blacks these days—I am all Blacked out (https://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=8635).

    I used to work in a university department that included a Black Studies program. I had no issue with any of them except for an infamous Black female professor who had an encounter with a campus policeman. It was a national story a few years ago. She got a big settlement and everyone including the administration is afraid of her—not physically but in terms of litigation.

    My next door neighbor is Black. A nice guy but he barely acknowledges me since I asked him to turn down his music. I could hear his music in my bedroom clearer than I could my TV.

  38. I’d like to see a world where everyone just chills out. If you don’t have anything pleasant to say then shut up. We don’t need to hear your damn opinions unless asked for.

  39. Blasting the stereo could be a form of advertising. I had a neighbor who blasted his stereo so loud the walls would vibrate. One morning his door was popped off its hinges and burglars made off with the stereo. Alas.

  41. The Left throws a lot of crap at the wall to see what sticks.

    Occupy Wall Street was a promising rookie in 2011 but financial inequality lacked sufficient emotional zest plus the “occupations” became rather scuzzy and un-utopian-looking. (CHAZ/CHOP fans take note.)

    The Green New Deal touched all the Leftie bases and came in rainbow-unicorn wrapping paper, but not even leftists really believed there was anything workable inside the box. Then Meanie McConnell called a vote on it and Democrats would only vote present then blamed McConnell for his “stunt.”

    Ah, but Black Lives Matter … that’s the stuff. Taps right into the mainline of American race guilt, going all the way back to 1619, which the New York Times conveniently informed us this year is when slaves were first brought to America and is the essential reason for our country to exist. Then the images flash before our eyes of blacks being whipped, lynched, assassinated, and crushed to death while pleading “I can’t breathe.”

    Jackpot! A 21st Century answer to 20th Century “Selma Envy.” We have a winner!

    It’s an engine which can pull all the leftist causes — financial inequality, climate change, all the shades of liberation, plus defeat Trump — behind it.

  42. Brian Morgan (7:40 pm) writes, in part:

    “If you don’t have anything pleasant to say then shut up. We don’t need to hear your damn opinions unless asked for.”

    You do realize you’re almost channeling Samuel Goldwyn (of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer fame), don’t you? Goldwyn said, “when I want your opinion, I’ll give it to you.”

  43. The past couple days I watched “Green Book,” a throwback movie to all those buddy movies where a Black Guy and a White Guy are uncomfortably Thrown Together, Share Experiences and Learn From Each Other.

    Was “The Defiant Ones” with Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis the first one of those?

    Still, in spite of my eye-rolling instincts, I liked “Green Book” (loosely based on a true story) and even teared up at the end. Much of the film’s success is due to Viggo Mortensen’s meaty performance (Mortensen put on 40+ pounds for the role) as a New York bouncer at the Copacabana who is hired to chauffeur/protect a black concert pianist on an early 60s tour through the Deep South.

    “Green Book” did fantastic box office — $328 mil on a $23 mil budget. Rotten Tomatoes audience approval was 91%. However, the critic score was only 78%, because the film was insufficiently woke. “The White Savior” trope, don’cha know. Sigh.

    Huxley Bob says give it a look. It’s a feelgood movie, not entirely foolish, and a lot of people really would like to feel good for a change about race. I find some hope in that.

  44. M J R, let me be clear, if we are just casual acquaintances then be nice and limit yourself to “glad to meet you, nice weather we’re having.” It’s not an invitation to pry and probe and voice all of your pet peeves. It’s just common courtesy not be a jerk or jerkette.

  45. ” Wasn’t there a book or article written a while back saying that criticizing someone’s appearance in a small way was a good approach to getting acquainted?”

    Not really the same, but we were watching episode one of the Cumberbatch Sherlock last night — talk about criticizing (in both the original and current senses!) someone’s appearance!

  46. Thanks huxley, “Green Book” is on my list. Don Shirley, the jazz pianist depicted in the film, comes from a great generation of American musicians. Teddy Wilson, another great jazz pianist who was born 15 years earlier than Mr. Shirley, had a wonderfully positive impact on me and my friends in our high school band. Teddy Wilson’s son, a multi-talented musician in his own right, also played in the band. I am looking forward to watching the movie. Thanks!

  47. AesopFan, a person is or is not open to conversation. Someone who forces their foot in the door is being deceitful in my opinion. It should be a warning signal. If a person goes to a party who is not willing to be open to conversation are deceiving themselves and those around them. Better that they should stay home and cry in their coffee.

  48. Brian Morgan: Sure thing!

    Thanks for filling in the info on Don Shirley. He started as a concert pianist but evolved into a jazz guy, as you say.

    There have been so many stunning black keyboard players/composers from Scott Joplin to Duke Ellington to Andre Watts to McCoy Tyner to Thelonious Monk to Ray Charles to Stevie Wonder to Keith Jarrett and Don Shirley. Plus more that I’m not thinking of.

    Geez. Wiki tells me McCoy Tyner just died this March. RIP.

    Almost forgot Professor Longhair!

  49. Knowing the rabid neo fanbase for Lenny Bruce, here’s an excerpt from Bruce’s routine on “The Defiant Ones” film I mentioned earlier. Miller, a black, plays the Sidney Poitier part.
    _________________________________________________

    Bruce [with southern drawl]: Boy I tell ya something Randy, my daddy would – if he ever heard me say this, but standin’ next to ya like this and bein’ chained up to ya and havin’ them hounds follow us is shown me something. It’s  opened up my eyes. You won’t believe this Randy, but it’s taught me a lesson.

    Miller: What’s that?

    Bruce: I’m taller than you [laughter]. And bein’ taller than you is a lesson in equality in itself.

    [audience laughter]

    Miller: Speakin’ of equality, I wonder if there’ll ever be any equality.

    Bruce: Why there is Randy. Don’t forget to play the Star Spangled Banner. It takes both the white keys and the dark keys.

    [long and loud laughter]

    In fact Randy, you just think about it, just for a little while … everybody’s equal … At income tax time, don’cha get a chance to pay income tax like everybody else?

    Miller: Yeah.

    Bruce: That’s equal, ain’t it?

    –Lenny Bruce, “The Defiant Ones (1960)”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAe1bq929QM
    _________________________________________________

    I’m not sure a 21th C. audience gets the dark keys (darkeys) joke. And that’s a good thing.

  51. huxley, technology may have advanced since Lenny Bruce’s time but society has regressed and turned ugly. I would be interested to hear everyone’s opinion on this. Where we are today, was this part of the Left’s plan to destroy America, or were there other factors driving it? In my opinion, losing the existential threat posed by the Soviet Union was a factor. There was a huge peace dividend that gave (some) Americans the prosperity to turn inwards and gaze at their collective navels.

  52. Artfldgr: Thank you for the James Woods Twitter posts! I had no idea. I’ve always liked him as an actor.

  53. “9:00a Stupidity Tally: 2 killed, 32 wounded”

    “9:00p Stupidity Tally: 6 killed, 37 wounded”

  55. In my opinion, losing the existential threat posed by the Soviet Union was a factor. There was a huge peace dividend that gave (some) Americans the prosperity to turn inwards and gaze at their collective navels.

    Brian Morgan: That’s precisely my thinking.

    Democrats are like the grandmother in Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man is Hard to Find”:
    __________________________________

    “She would’ve been a good woman,” said The Misfit, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”
    __________________________________

    Of course, Flannery was a deep Christian and she was talking to all of us.

  57. huxley, Watergate poisoned the well. Impeaching Clinton was a mistake. It was largely a tit for tat for Watergate, and the nation’s politics has suffered ever since. I wasn’t happy with Clinton’s affair but it did not rise to an impeachable offense. All it did was further poison our politics. The great dividend from the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union was squandered by politicians. And the media and Democrats wonder why we have Trump. They did it to themselves and they call us deplorable.

  58. Neo, why does Ali’s son get a pass but other prominent Black figures get run out of town? Is it the connection to Islam?

  59. There’s a powerful lesson here for everyone. Simply put, you may be a Slave. You may have lived and laboured your entire life to date under the illusion that you are free. But you are not.

    Truth is, none of us are ever truly free. I don’t delude myself that I’m 100% free either. There are just degrees of freedom.

    I guess the trick is to work to structure one’s life so that one is as little ‘owned’ by others. This means trying to become self-employed and in a field and location where one is not required to play Havel’s Greengrocer or be damned. Easier said than done. Perhaps not feasible for the middle-aged and old to make this transition: they came of age in a different world. But any young person starting out today would be well-advised to make themselves as Anti-fragile as they possibly can — whilst not going out of their way to offend people the way Taleb does 😛

    And then, having done the above, join with like-minded others and fight back. Our enemies have done all they can to atomise us whilst themselves banding together.

    Personally, seeing what I see, I’m happy to take my chances in Asia as an outsider than as a White Male in the West — until people start to really wake up and develop a backbone, anyway. Here I can say what I think about just about any topic. The very few areas which *are* out of bounds are clearly-delineated and not subject to arbitrary or retroactive rearrangement.

    Still, it’s all very sad and I fear it won’t end well at all. The Saxon is beginning to hate and I don’t blame him one bit.

  60. The current caterwauling of “Racist!” is like the pot calling the kettle black.

  61. Some, select, Black Lives Matter is a movement under the Pro-Choice, selective, opportunistic religion. Diversity (i.e. color judgments) including racism breeds adversity. Clever, indeed. #BabyLivesMatter

  63. All people of a certain color are not a certain way

    Exactly. We should be wary to indulge diversity (i.e. color judgments, color blocs).

  64. Brian Morgan (9:24 pm),

    I meant neither harm nor ill will.

    If anything, it was meant in a friendly, jocular manner.

  66. @ CV: What an exceptionally disturbing article. The parents, the school board and district superintendent, the black alumni whose tone is borrowed from other BLM members … That entire district and state is brainwashed.

  68. Does anyone know if Mayor Durkan receives any push back from voters? I mean, they pay good money to live in her city to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars in property taxes, income taxes, fees, etc. Are you telling me that these same voters are rooting the mayor on? Your go girl! You show the Man! If in fact she is defying the will of the people then why don’t I hear of a recall effort?

  69. “If you don’t have anything pleasant to say then shut up. We don’t need to hear your damn opinions unless asked for.”
    I thought that was what Thumper’s mother told Thumper in the classic Disney movie “Bambi”.

  70. Yep, Ray, that is exactly the way I was brought up. It was drummed into my head: “Whatever you want to say, say it to yourself first; if it is harmful or not helpful, don’t say it aloud.” I’ve tried to live by those tenets all my life but I must admit that I shoot from the hip too often these days.

  72. So far no one’s talking to me personally about this nonsense. If they were, one impulse would be to answer, “Well, they certainly matter to me.” Another would be to wonder, “Is it because they’re black, or because they’re people? Which part is irrelevant?”

    One argument I’m reading on social media is “all lives won’t matter until black lives matter.” Fair enough, but no more true than to say all lives won’t matter until cop lives matter, which won’t make the sloganeers happy.

    And as for BLM, no matter how I feel about black lives, I despise the BLM platform generally and would have had no part in it even before its supporters sullied it by associating themselves with riots and looting. Go ahead, try to fire me.

  73. Another clever slogan is to use “the Left” so as to allow Democrats deniability of support for their vandalism.

    Most educated folk prefer to call them Leftists, rather than Democrats. But they vote Democrat to support the anti-free speech, anti-Western policies.

    Even here, with Neo … sadly (for me).

    Tho I woke up thinking Trump should start calling them the KKK party. Both because it’s accurate, and provocative, and combative at the same time.

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