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Basketball Fan
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Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Posts: 24761
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 Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:23 pm Post subject: Rick Fox set to leave Echo Fox amid racist abuse from organization shareholder |
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https://www.dexerto.com/esports/rick-fox-leaving-echo-fox-amid-racist-abuse-from-organization-shareholder-576426
| Quote: | Rick Fox set to leave Echo Fox amid racist abuse from organization shareholder
Rick Fox set to leave Echo Fox amid racist abuse from organization shareholder THE PLAYER'S TRIBUNE
Emails sent anonymously to Dexerto show that former Los Angeles Lakers player and actor Rick Fox has declared he will be severing all ties with the Echo Fox organization.
The decision comes amid an exchange from a partner within Vision Esports, the investment group that put money into Echo Fox, seemingly using racist language towards a high profile representative of their business interests.
In an email sent on April 19, Rick Fox addressed all major stakeholders and informed them of his intention to leave saying the following:
“All,
This is an official notification of my intention to exit the Echo Fox organization as a shareholder and participant as soon as I am able to facilitate a transaction to do so. The recent outrageous and abhorrent display of pure racism made by a significant Echo Fox shareholder as well as threats to my family have made it impossible for me to continue to remain associated with the company.
I will not support or be associated with such behaviour and attitudes displayed at the shareholder level. Racism is an anathema to what my personal brand strives for and tolerating any form of discrimination such as this is not acceptable.
This notification serves as the beginning process of exiting the company. I will be contacting all relevant and interested people. My position in the GP and the entity that owns my shares are available. Depending on the proposal there are different ways to structure a deal, acquire my entity, swap positions, etc. Interested parties can contact me. I’m moving on the first deal that sits well.”
THE PLAYER'S TRIBUNE
Fox has taken a very hands on role with the organization since he purchased the and rebranded it to Echo Fox in 2015.
The incident that seems to have triggered this decisive response from Rick Fox is the use of a racial epithet aimed at Jace Hall, former CEO of Echo Fox and Head Custodian of Twin Galaxies, in a heated email exchange.
In an internal business dispute between Jace Hall and a member Vision Venture Partners, whose esports division invested in the Echo Fox brand, the shareholder used the n-word to describe Hall who is of African-American descent. We are currently withholding the shareholder's name pending a response to comment.
Read More: Average LCS player salary revealed and it's surprisingly high
Sources close to the situation informed Dexerto that this isn’t the only time such language has been used in relation to both Jace Hall and Rick Fox from the shareholder in question. One source added:
“Most shareholders have tried to ignore this in the hope it goes away and this has forced Rick’s hand to leave. He obviously isn’t going to stand for that and was hoping the matter would be addressed on a shareholder level rather than just swept under the carpet.”
ECHO FOX/TWITTER
Echo Fox has signed some of the biggest names in the fighting game community, including Dominique 'SonicFox' McLean.
Rick Fox first entered the esports space in December 2015 when he purchased the Gravity Gaming LCS slot for League of Legends and rebranded them as Echo Fox. Since then the organisation has expanded into multiple titles, most notably various fighting game titles.
While their expansion has brought them mixed fortunes, it would be incredibly difficult to imagine a future without the involvement of the high profile figure and public facing ambassador that the brand is named after.
Currently Dexerto has reached out to Rick Fox, Jace Hall and the shareholder in question for comment and we shall update this story to reflect these comments should we receive any. |
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Rek
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Joined: 24 Apr 2008
Posts: 2228
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Nothing surprising here. Over the years, many eSports pro players and other team members have a long history of blatant and very intentional racist behaviors. Still sucks to see this happening. |
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Dr. Laker
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Joined: 12 Apr 2002
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 7:55 am Post subject: |
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| Rek wrote: | | Nothing surprising here. Over the years, many eSports pro players and other team members have a long history of blatant and very intentional racist behaviors. Still sucks to see this happening. |
We are talking about an investor/shareholder, which is much worse. Generally, smart investors don't let things like their personal bias (racism/genderism, etc.) get in the way of their ability to make money.
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On Lakersground, a concern troll is someone who is a fan of another team, but pretends to be a Lakers fan with "concerns". |
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Don Draper
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Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 28431
Location: LA --> Bay Area
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 8:06 am Post subject: |
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| Dr. Laker wrote: | | Rek wrote: | | Nothing surprising here. Over the years, many eSports pro players and other team members have a long history of blatant and very intentional racist behaviors. Still sucks to see this happening. |
We are talking about an investor/shareholder, which is much worse. Generally, smart investors don't let things like their personal bias (racism/genderism, etc.) get in the way of their ability to make money. |
Sure, but the reverse is true too. They won't let morality stand in the way of their ability to make money, which is why, for instance, generally "good" merchants invested in slavery in the 17th and 18th centuries. |
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GameCock-MD
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Joined: 14 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 8:42 am Post subject: |
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Not surprised. It's happening all over the world.
Racism, Fascism and White Supremacy is the enemy of any true Democracy. Until the people who lead us stand up to it and call it what it is, it will continue to define the systematic oppression of those who are "others" not just in the US but worldwide. |
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Rek
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Joined: 24 Apr 2008
Posts: 2228
Location: SoCal
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 8:56 am Post subject: |
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| Dr. Laker wrote: | | Rek wrote: | | Nothing surprising here. Over the years, many eSports pro players and other team members have a long history of blatant and very intentional racist behaviors. Still sucks to see this happening. |
We are talking about an investor/shareholder, which is much worse. Generally, smart investors don't let things like their personal bias (racism/genderism, etc.) get in the way of their ability to make money. |
I understand that this was involving a shareholder. That doesn't change that flagrant racial overtures of the entire genre are nothing new. So, it's not a huge surprise that those individuals inclined to invest are of a similar mindset. Some of the people putting their money behind new eSports ventures grew up as members of that same community. |
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lakez34
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Joined: 24 Apr 2001
Posts: 6077
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 9:11 am Post subject: |
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| Somewhat off topic question, but what is Echo Fox? Looks like an esports gaming company, but could somebody explain what it actually does? Is it just an aggregator of various esports teams that play under its label or something, and it helps fund them? |
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PrairieAve
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Joined: 23 May 2009
Posts: 4209
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 10:20 am Post subject: |
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| Rek wrote: | | Nothing surprising here. Over the years, many eSports pro players and other team members have a long history of blatant and very intentional racist behaviors. Still sucks to see this happening. |
Esports communities have welcomed and have respected absolutely all backgrounds, from around the world, for decades. There are some negative headlines to be found online, such as the Madden tournament shooting incident, as the exception outweighed by the norm.
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-Avenue of the Champions- -RIP Dr Buss- #824 |
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JamezAmp
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Joined: 25 Jun 2005
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Location: Scottsdale, AZ
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 11:20 am Post subject: |
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| GameCock-MD wrote: | Not surprised. It's happening all over the world.
Racism, Fascism and White Supremacy is the enemy of any true Democracy. Until the people who lead us stand up to it and call it what it is, it will continue to define the systematic oppression of those who are "others" not just in the US but worldwide. |
Well said. |
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KindCrippler2000
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Joined: 02 May 2003
Posts: 15821
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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That's unfortunate. I hope he finds a new company to invest in.
That being said, racism in the gaming community sphere has existed since online gaming took off around 1998-1999, although I'd say the communities back then were more family friendly. It's also not just against Black people. Caucasians, Asians, Jews, etc are also made fun of. No skin color is spared. The problem is so many more people are gaming today that news outlets will amplify and distort some stories to push their "inclusivity" and "diversity" narrative, even though Koreans practically invented e-sports. In general, gaming has always been diverse, and I say this as an ethnic minority who started out playing games on popular platforms like battle.net, MSN gaming zone, etc.
Speaking bad, racist words is one story. Taking action on them is an entirely different matter. Most threats, most verbiage are just people trying to act tough. Everyone wants to be that resident tough guy today. |
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LAL1947
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Joined: 26 Dec 2018
Posts: 1855
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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| GameCock-MD wrote: | Not surprised. It's happening all over the world.
Racism, Fascism and White Supremacy is the enemy of any true Democracy. Until the people who lead us stand up to it and call it what it is, it will continue to define the systematic oppression of those who are "others" not just in the US but worldwide. |
I'm honestly surprised that you would make such a loose statement because you're really accurate when describing draft pospects. First... Racism and white supremacy are evil and enemies of any society that values all as equals... let me state that unequivocally and at the start. However, for you to classify these things as being "THE" enemy of democracy, instead of simply describing it as I did... is just disappointing. Very quickly, off the top of my head... here are bigger enemies to democracy in the world. Religion (especially in Islamic states) and corruption at the hands of political/business elites are the two biggest. Cultural differences is another big one. White supremacists are not the reason why only 9 out of 54 countries in the African continent can be considered democratic in nature. Of these 9, none of them value human life or civil rights to the extent that the countries who make up the Western world (USA, Canada, EU, Australia, NZ) do. Forgetting democracy for a quick second, should we blame white supremacy for the genocide and cannibalism of the Batwa pygmies that was going on in the Congo? How about the state of democracy in countries in Latin America... did you know that only 2 out of 33 countries there can truly be considered democracies (Costa Rica and Uruguay)? How about the countries in the Middle East? NONE except Israel. Or how about in North Korea? I'd also argue that the democratic state of being in the more developed of the developing countries (China, India, Brazil, etc) are more of a mirage than people would have you believe... things are improving in these places, but the 80% of their population who is poor do not have the same freedom as you and I do... and they have very little opportunity to move from being poor into being middle class, i.e., their wealth mobility is almost non-existent. In all these places, might is still right... so people fighting against corruption or injustice cannot do so without getting beaten up or getting killed.
Second, please provide concrete examples of systematic oppression in the USA. If you can provide an actual example, I'll actually join in with you to fight against it.
Thirdly, in case the message behind my post is not clear, it is simply this... please be accurate and logical in what you say about social, cultural and political issues. I personally try to view these issues from a broader and more global perspective. If you truly want the world to be a better place for everyone who lives in it, then it is very important to define issues properly and/or classify their importance correctly. Does racism and white supremacy exist? Yes. Is it as big of a problem for some to keep harping on all over the forum? No. Seriously, I cannot enter a thread on this forum without coming across a post about alleged wide-spread racism. I am not white and yet it is getting very tedious.
Last edited by LAL1947 on Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:16 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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SD2Hollyweird
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Joined: 23 Jul 2018
Posts: 247
Location: 92115
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 5:59 pm Post subject: |
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| LAL1947 wrote: | | GameCock-MD wrote: | Not surprised. It's happening all over the world.
Racism, Fascism and White Supremacy is the enemy of any true Democracy. Until the people who lead us stand up to it and call it what it is, it will continue to define the systematic oppression of those who are "others" not just in the US but worldwide. |
I'm honestly surprised that you would make such a statement. First... Racism and white supremacy are evil and enemies of any society that values all as equals... let me state that unequivocally and at the start. However, for you to classify these things as being "THE" enemy of democracy, instead of simply describing it as I did... is just disappointing. Very quickly, off the top of my head... here are bigger enemies to democracy in the world. Religion (especially in Islamic states) and corruption at the hands of political/business elites are the two biggest. Cultural differences is another big one. White supremacists are not the reason why only 9 out of 54 countries in the African continent can be considered democratic in nature. Of these 9, none of them value human life or civil rights to the extent that the countries who make up the Western world (USA, Canada, EU, Australia, NZ) do. Forgetting democracy for a quick second, should we blame white supremacy for the genocide and cannibalism of the Batwa pygmies that was going on in the Congo? How about the state of democracy in countries in Latin America... did you know that only 2 out of 33 countries there can truly be considered democracies (Costa Rica and Uruguay)? How about the countries in the Middle East? NONE except Israel. Or how about in North Korea? I'd also argue that the democratic state of being in the more developed of the developing countries (China, India, Brazil, etc) are more of a mirage than people would have you believe... things are improving in these places, but the 80% of their population who is poor do not have the same freedom as you and I do... and they have very little opportunity to move from being poor into being middle class, i.e., their wealth mobility is almost non-existent. In all these places, might is still right... so people fighting against corruption or injustice cannot do so without getting beaten up or getting killed.
Second, please provide concrete examples of systematic oppression in the USA. If you can provide an actual example, I'll actually join in with you to fight against it.
Thirdly, in case the message behind my post is not clear, it is simply this... please be accurate and logical in what you say about social, cultural and political issues. I personally try to view these issues from a broader and more global perspective. If you truly want the world to be a better place for everyone who lives in it, then it is very important to define issues properly and/or classify their importance correctly. Does racism and white supremacy exist? Yes. Is it as big of a problem for some to keep harping on all over the forum? No. Seriously, I cannot enter a thread on this forum without coming across a post about alleged wide-spread racism and it is getting very tedious. |
Is this a joke? I hope it is.
_________________
I believe that a triangle, if it could speak, would say that God is eminently triangular, and a circle that the divine nature is eminently circular; and thus would every one ascribe his own attributes to God. - Baruch Spinoza |
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LAL1947
Star Player
Joined: 26 Dec 2018
Posts: 1855
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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| SD2Hollyweird wrote: | | LAL1947 wrote: | | GameCock-MD wrote: | Not surprised. It's happening all over the world.
Racism, Fascism and White Supremacy is the enemy of any true Democracy. Until the people who lead us stand up to it and call it what it is, it will continue to define the systematic oppression of those who are "others" not just in the US but worldwide. |
I'm honestly surprised that you would make such a statement. First... Racism and white supremacy are evil and enemies of any society that values all as equals... let me state that unequivocally and at the start. However, for you to classify these things as being "THE" enemy of democracy, instead of simply describing it as I did... is just disappointing. Very quickly, off the top of my head... here are bigger enemies to democracy in the world. Religion (especially in Islamic states) and corruption at the hands of political/business elites are the two biggest. Cultural differences is another big one. White supremacists are not the reason why only 9 out of 54 countries in the African continent can be considered democratic in nature. Of these 9, none of them value human life or civil rights to the extent that the countries who make up the Western world (USA, Canada, EU, Australia, NZ) do. Forgetting democracy for a quick second, should we blame white supremacy for the genocide and cannibalism of the Batwa pygmies that was going on in the Congo? How about the state of democracy in countries in Latin America... did you know that only 2 out of 33 countries there can truly be considered democracies (Costa Rica and Uruguay)? How about the countries in the Middle East? NONE except Israel. Or how about in North Korea? I'd also argue that the democratic state of being in the more developed of the developing countries (China, India, Brazil, etc) are more of a mirage than people would have you believe... things are improving in these places, but the 80% of their population who is poor do not have the same freedom as you and I do... and they have very little opportunity to move from being poor into being middle class, i.e., their wealth mobility is almost non-existent. In all these places, might is still right... so people fighting against corruption or injustice cannot do so without getting beaten up or getting killed.
Second, please provide concrete examples of systematic oppression in the USA. If you can provide an actual example, I'll actually join in with you to fight against it.
Thirdly, in case the message behind my post is not clear, it is simply this... please be accurate and logical in what you say about social, cultural and political issues. I personally try to view these issues from a broader and more global perspective. If you truly want the world to be a better place for everyone who lives in it, then it is very important to define issues properly and/or classify their importance correctly. Does racism and white supremacy exist? Yes. Is it as big of a problem for some to keep harping on all over the forum? No. Seriously, I cannot enter a thread on this forum without coming across a post about alleged wide-spread racism and it is getting very tedious. |
Is this a joke? I hope it is. |
Not a joke at all. Did you read the post and take some time to contemplate the message or just skim read through it? There is plenty of evil in this world... evil in comes in all shapes, sizes and colors... surely we can agree on that? |
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SD2Hollyweird
Starting Rotation
Joined: 23 Jul 2018
Posts: 247
Location: 92115
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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| LAL1947 wrote: | | SD2Hollyweird wrote: | | LAL1947 wrote: | | GameCock-MD wrote: | Not surprised. It's happening all over the world.
Racism, Fascism and White Supremacy is the enemy of any true Democracy. Until the people who lead us stand up to it and call it what it is, it will continue to define the systematic oppression of those who are "others" not just in the US but worldwide. |
I'm honestly surprised that you would make such a statement. First... Racism and white supremacy are evil and enemies of any society that values all as equals... let me state that unequivocally and at the start. However, for you to classify these things as being "THE" enemy of democracy, instead of simply describing it as I did... is just disappointing. Very quickly, off the top of my head... here are bigger enemies to democracy in the world. Religion (especially in Islamic states) and corruption at the hands of political/business elites are the two biggest. Cultural differences is another big one. White supremacists are not the reason why only 9 out of 54 countries in the African continent can be considered democratic in nature. Of these 9, none of them value human life or civil rights to the extent that the countries who make up the Western world (USA, Canada, EU, Australia, NZ) do. Forgetting democracy for a quick second, should we blame white supremacy for the genocide and cannibalism of the Batwa pygmies that was going on in the Congo? How about the state of democracy in countries in Latin America... did you know that only 2 out of 33 countries there can truly be considered democracies (Costa Rica and Uruguay)? How about the countries in the Middle East? NONE except Israel. Or how about in North Korea? I'd also argue that the democratic state of being in the more developed of the developing countries (China, India, Brazil, etc) are more of a mirage than people would have you believe... things are improving in these places, but the 80% of their population who is poor do not have the same freedom as you and I do... and they have very little opportunity to move from being poor into being middle class, i.e., their wealth mobility is almost non-existent. In all these places, might is still right... so people fighting against corruption or injustice cannot do so without getting beaten up or getting killed.
Second, please provide concrete examples of systematic oppression in the USA. If you can provide an actual example, I'll actually join in with you to fight against it.
Thirdly, in case the message behind my post is not clear, it is simply this... please be accurate and logical in what you say about social, cultural and political issues. I personally try to view these issues from a broader and more global perspective. If you truly want the world to be a better place for everyone who lives in it, then it is very important to define issues properly and/or classify their importance correctly. Does racism and white supremacy exist? Yes. Is it as big of a problem for some to keep harping on all over the forum? No. Seriously, I cannot enter a thread on this forum without coming across a post about alleged wide-spread racism and it is getting very tedious. |
Is this a joke? I hope it is. |
Not a joke at all. Did you read the post and take some time to contemplate the message or just skim read through it? There is plenty of evil in this world... evil in comes in all shapes, sizes and colors... surely we can agree on that? |
I read the whole thing, yes, and I can agree on that. However, you raise some issues where there is available evidence staring us in the face everyday in this country and you seem to want others to do the intellectual labor for you to understand. There's a very clear and material reason topics like that come up constantly-because many live with it constantly. If you don't, lucky you.
_________________
I believe that a triangle, if it could speak, would say that God is eminently triangular, and a circle that the divine nature is eminently circular; and thus would every one ascribe his own attributes to God. - Baruch Spinoza |
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KindCrippler2000
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Joined: 02 May 2003
Posts: 15821
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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(no message)
Last edited by KindCrippler2000 on Sat Apr 27, 2019 2:36 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Ted
Star Player
Joined: 24 Jun 2005
Posts: 3477
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| Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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| LAL1947 wrote: | | GameCock-MD wrote: | Not surprised. It's happening all over the world.
Racism, Fascism and White Supremacy is the enemy of any true Democracy. Until the people who lead us stand up to it and call it what it is, it will continue to define the systematic oppression of those who are "others" not just in the US but worldwide. |
I'm honestly surprised that you would make such a loose statement because you're really accurate when describing draft pospects. First... Racism and white supremacy are evil and enemies of any society that values all as equals... let me state that unequivocally and at the start. However, for you to classify these things as being "THE" enemy of democracy, instead of simply describing it as I did... is just disappointing. Very quickly, off the top of my head... here are bigger enemies to democracy in the world. Religion (especially in Islamic states) and corruption at the hands of political/business elites are the two biggest. Cultural differences is another big one. White supremacists are not the reason why only 9 out of 54 countries in the African continent can be considered democratic in nature. Of these 9, none of them value human life or civil rights to the extent that the countries who make up the Western world (USA, Canada, EU, Australia, NZ) do. Forgetting democracy for a quick second, should we blame white supremacy for the genocide and cannibalism of the Batwa pygmies that was going on in the Congo? How about the state of democracy in countries in Latin America... did you know that only 2 out of 33 countries there can truly be considered democracies (Costa Rica and Uruguay)? How about the countries in the Middle East? NONE except Israel. Or how about in North Korea? I'd also argue that the democratic state of being in the more developed of the developing countries (China, India, Brazil, etc) are more of a mirage than people would have you believe... things are improving in these places, but the 80% of their population who is poor do not have the same freedom as you and I do... and they have very little opportunity to move from being poor into being middle class, i.e., their wealth mobility is almost non-existent. In all these places, might is still right... so people fighting against corruption or injustice cannot do so without getting beaten up or getting killed.
Second, please provide concrete examples of systematic oppression in the USA. If you can provide an actual example, I'll actually join in with you to fight against it.
Thirdly, in case the message behind my post is not clear, it is simply this... please be accurate and logical in what you say about social, cultural and political issues. I personally try to view these issues from a broader and more global perspective. If you truly want the world to be a better place for everyone who lives in it, then it is very important to define issues properly and/or classify their importance correctly. Does racism and white supremacy exist? Yes. Is it as big of a problem for some to keep harping on all over the forum? No. Seriously, I cannot enter a thread on this forum without coming across a post about alleged wide-spread racism. I am not white and yet it is getting very tedious. |
What SPF sunscreen do you use? |
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