A little comic relief..

[fahim mohammed]

And I thought the world was flat

 

[Asher Kelman]

And I thought the world was flat

Unfortunately, fox News is hardly comic. They would love to use the N word for Obama. I happen not to like a lot of his policies, outside of healthcare reform, but he for sure is not the evil UN loving sellout to liberals that the talking heads on Fox present him as every hour of the day.

Their job seems to be to frighten working class folk into thinking their freedom and rights as "the real Americans" are facing an existential threat by some Nazi that happens to be black, although we can't say that!

The general idea is that if you don't believe that science is expression of the aspirations of Satan himself through his servant Barack Hussein Obama, then you're a fool or smoking weed.

All good red bloodied, freedom-loving Americans need to be against

• abortion
• birth control
• separation of Church and State
• the concept of Global Warming
• "feminazis"
• affordable health care
• minimum wages
• the idea that the earth is older than 5,000 years
• taking away tax-free status from Churches etc

They work on creating windmills they can joust with, instead of helping to row the boat we all have to float in!

Our views shouldn't be bought as an inviolate package from such propaganda. I myself support a woman's right to choose her reproductive strategy, but I'm saddened by the process of abortion. I think it's tragic and in most cases not justified. Still, there's a time when each of us must allow other families to make their own private decisions based on each of our own values. I'm against abortions and so called "honor"-killings, even though they latter is far more amazingly ****ing egregious.

So I don't consider Fox News any light matter, Fahim. However, they do report the news sometimes far more accurately than most US TV stations.

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

• abortion
• birth control
• separation of Church and State
• the concept of Global Warming
• "feminazis"
• affordable health care
• minimum wages
• the idea that the earth is older than 5,000 years
• taking away tax-free status from Churches etc

That list is so strange I don't know where to start.

 

[Asher Kelman]

That list is so strange I don't know where to start.

Jerome,

It all boils down to "pride" in being Luddites and being suspicious of uppity blacks or non-"Christians" getting power or imposing the acceptance of diversity or science as anything but a threat to what true patriots hold dear! IOW, Sarah Palinism: love of the flag replaces all social considerations of fairness to minorities and the less fortunate among us.

Social welfare and bailouts for corporations but not families!

Asher

 

[Tom dinning]

I love the US of A. Such interesting people.
I'm so glad they have working class, Asher, as you pointed out. The news has to influence someone, does it not. After all, the WC are the only ones dumb enough to believe it.

As a test for your word filter, I'm including '******' here to see if the indignation of saying or writing such a word is equalled by the ability to filter it out of my language.

It seems that Fox News might be criticized on wasting their time on such a story in the first place. Who gives a **** if some bird is traumatized by a white Santa as a kid? I was traumatized by a Red Kelpie. Should we have other colours to appease my sensitivity?
Toughen up, USA. You're becoming a bunch of whimpy girls blouses.

 

[Tom dinning]

Bloody hell! It did! Filtered right out of the English language according to Asher. So, what's the euphemism? There has to be one. N word is a bit pasty. You could try some of the Aussie ones. Koon, kurri, abo, for starters.
I was always under the impression that an offensive word was used so that the recipient would be offended. Isn't that the point? If offensive words are removed, we make up new ones or use euphemisms. Do the euphemisms become offensive?

Please explain.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Bloody hell! It did! Filtered right out of the English language according to Asher. So, what's the euphemism? There has to be one. N word is a bit pasty. You could try some of the Aussie ones. Koon, kurri, abo, for starters.
I was always under the impression that an offensive word was used so that the recipient would be offended. Isn't that the point? If offensive words are removed, we make up new ones or use euphemisms. Do the euphemisms become offensive?

Please explain.

The "N" word is exactly what could replace all of the complaints Fox News has about Obama. What really irks them and sticks in their throat is that he's so erudite! He's the exact opposite of the inferior caste they think he actually represents and so they question his very identity, as if he must have come from the planet Mars with forged citizen papers with some plan to turn the US over to the liberals!

It would. Be so simple. If they could say the "N" word, they could just get on with regular programming about elves and unicorns and reminiscences of Ronald Reagan staring into the eyes of Margaret Thatcher!

Asher

 

[Tom dinning]

I think the next president should be a black woman atheist lesbian. How nice would that be?
What would you call her?
Jayne, probably.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I think the next president should be a black woman atheist lesbian. How nice would that be?

Fox News would remold itself as a Religion. But the radio talk show hosts would take it really hard, nothing less than hemolysis in the hemorrhoids and they's pass out!

Asher

 

[Tom dinning]

Fox News would remold itself as a Religion. But the radio talk show hosts would take it really hard, nothing less than hemolysis in the hemorrhoids and they's pass out!

Asher

So, why don't they feel the same about white male Christian homophobes? There's plenty of them about.

 

[Asher Kelman]

So, why don't they feel the same about white male Christian homophobes? There's plenty of them about.

They ARE the white Christian homophobes, LOL!

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

They ARE the white Christian homophobes, LOL!

And these are "Christians", as distinguished from Episcopalians, Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, Congregationalists, etc.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi, Asher,


And these are "Christians", as distinguished from Episcopalians, Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, Congregationalists, etc.

Best regards,

Doug

Nope! These are the right wing of the Republican Party and the so-called Tea-partiers, who claim to be Christian, but show not an ounce of Christian charity. They deal in hate! Still, they think of themselves as believers and followers.

I don't think most of them would know any liturgical or doctrinal differences between the branches of Christendom you list as choices, LOL. They're like a drug with an expired patent, anyone with a cookbook can now claim to be a chemist. So these are "Christians" by self-branding! It's empty because they are against all the teachings of Jesus that I know.

What of the parables of the bread and fishes? We should give charity to the needy. There's no need to list the moral code he taught as it's universally known. Except the Fox News talking heads and the Rush Limbaugh's of radio, seem to think they're above these niceties.

That's the end of my rant!

Still, for the actual news, they are invaluable.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi, Asher,


And these are "Christians", as distinguished from Episcopalians, Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, Congregationalists, etc.

Best regards,

Doug

You are funny!

 

[fahim mohammed]

1. Which cable news channel has the highest rating in the U.S.A ? Consistently.

2. What do the science experts here at OPF think? Do they consider Jesus ( PBUH ) to be ' white ' ?.

3. What about Abraham ( PBUH )? Was he ' White '?

4. What about Mariam ( PBUH )? Was she ' white '?

5. Quick now, what about Mariam's ( PBUH ) great grandfather?

6. Let me not list Santa Claus here. I live in a hot place His reindeers refuse to travel around here.

 

[Asher Kelman]

First, what do you mean by "white"?

 

[fahim mohammed]

First, what do you mean by "white"?

What do you think the Fox News presenter meant by ' white '.?

What do you think the video clip was all about?

Do you think the presenter would know Mariam's ( PBUH ) grandmother's name without looking up WiKi?

p.s i fail to understand what people have been responding to if Asher has to ask ' what do you mean by ' white ' ".

 

[Asher Kelman]

Oh, then, it's easy, Fahim, Fox-News-white would be the founding fathers and other true Americans from mostly England, Ireland, Hollands, Germany and France and the like and would exclude Mexicans and Blacks to say the least!

Now for a scientific analysis of the genetic make up of Jesus, we've no DNA, but chances are that had he been African, people would have remarked on that. Rather, he'd most likely have been a Hebrew, either from One of the 12 Tribes. These folk, while not likely black, would have had much in common with folk now living in the region than the populations of Western Europe.

I'd doubt that Jesus had the face structure seen in Western art with a Roman nose!

But, frankly, his looks are unimportant when one considers the human message carried from the 5 Books of Moses, The Torah, of "Love your neighbor as yourself", extended in the Christian message to ~ "Love your enemy too!"

Asher

 

[Jarmo Juntunen]

A popular phrase says it all. "Jesus rode on an ass. Now asses ride on Jesus". Seasons greetings to the great thinkers at Fox News.

 

[Jerome Marot]

1. Which cable news channel has the highest rating in the U.S.A ? Consistently.

2. What do the science experts here at OPF think? Do they consider Jesus ( PBUH ) to be ' white ' ?.

3. What about Abraham ( PBUH )? Was he ' White '?

4. What about Mariam ( PBUH )? Was she ' white '?

5. Quick now, what about Mariam's ( PBUH ) great grandfather?

6. Let me not list Santa Claus here. I live in a hot place His reindeers refuse to travel around here.

I am not a science expert, but I always thought that the people originating from the middle east (including Israel/Palestine and the Arabic peninsula) were just as "white" as the people from western Europe.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I am not a science expert, but I always thought that the people originating from the middle east (including Israel/Palestine and the Arabic peninsula) were just as "white" as the people from western Europe.

Of course!

However, surprisingly, some cultures have been on the receiving end of a dystopia where the color scheme changes taxonomy from choice of color to one race or ethnicity. So I remember being totally bowled over when a Mexican worker referred to one of the men, "that white guy!", so excluding himself.

So here on the USA, where "white" can, subconsciously, (with some folks), have the sense of "European stock" so they'd by inference, or innuendo seem to exclude Hispanics (and perhaps Arabs too - unless they were buying something expensive in Beverly Hills where everyone who enters a store is of course absolutely white)!

That's my best effort at describing the undercurrents related to the term, "white".

At least it's not as bad as the 19th Century in Los Angeles, when Chinese men were not classified under law as "men", so killing one wouldn't be murder! They lived in secret underground dwellings linked by tunnels! I went on a tour years ago and was shocked.

So we progress slowly!

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Anecdote 1

When I was president of DeVry Institute of Technology at Dallas, the system headquarters asked us to submit a government-required demographic profile of our faculty (à propos equal employment opportunity matters).

One attribute was "race", and at that time, the official government choices were roughly:

• White

• Black or negro

• Asian

• American Indian

• Pacific Islander

• Spanish surnamed

A while later, my boss (if the DeVry system of colleges had been a university, which it now considers itself, he would have been the chancellor) asked how the demographic survey was going.

"Not too well", I said. "Dean Alvarez (the dean of Engineering, of 'Castilian' Spanish ancestry) had until now thought he was white."

As to myself

My "race" (to the extent that the attribute has any meaning) is best considered mostly Caucasian. Of course, the (reflective) color of my skin varies from place to place, and from time to time. Crudely, it is overall sort of pink.

I am also native American, having been born in Cincinnati. But of course I am not (to any extent I am aware of) of American Indian (that is to say, American Aboriginal) background.

Carla is sometimes asked if she is [N]ative American. She says, "Oh, yes", she having been born in Blackwell, Oklahoma. "And my race is partly American Indian." (She is a card-carryin' Cherokee.)

Anecdote 2

At one time, I was involved in preparing applications for cellular system licenses. During part of that period, the Federal Communications Commission's procedure for deciding which applicant got the license for particular service area was based on a random lottery, except that there was a built in "advantage" to "members of minority groups", which was defined on the basis of "race".

The intent was of course to give an enhanced opportunity to those who, as a "class", have been disadvantaged as to economic opportunity.​

I always encouraged my applicants to apply for that preference, stating that their race was "black".

A staffer at the FCC said to me, "I was reviewing an application the other day from a client of yours, who applied for an advantage on the grounds that he was black. I know him, and he certainly isn't 'black' ".

They were probably both in the Cosmos Club.​

I said, "Which FCC criterion for being qualified as 'black' does he not meet?"

There were of course no such criteria. In fact, the possibility of establishing such, suggested by some, was considered repugnant, reminiscent of the work by the Third Reich to establish objective criteria for being "Aryan".​

I continued, "Must the applicant have a broad nose and dark kinky hair—like Barry Manilow?"

There were no further difficulties of that sort.

The "advantage" on the basis of "race" was later removed by action of the U.S. Congress.​

I believe that the license in question was awarded (by lottery) to a "black" billionaire, the owner of a large print and broadcast media empire.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[fahim mohammed]

I could only suggest that the learned folks at Faux News would have bothered to consult Mr. Dan Brown.
He being the expert in blood lines would at least have pointed the presenter in the ' correct ' direction.

As for me..I am neither ' white ', nor a member of the ' chosen race ' nor of the Christian faith. How could someone like me possibly hold such divine knowledge.

 

[Asher Kelman]

\ How could someone like me possibly hold such divine knowledge.

Simply because you lived in one of the most class and ethnicity-aware countries in the world, the U.K., LOL! Surely it was felt there?

Asher

 

[fahim mohammed]

Simply because you lived in one of the most class and ethnicity-aware countries in the world, the U.K., LOL! Surely it was felt there?

Asher

Was too busy, eager to complete my studies and go back home, to notice such nuances of human nature.

 

[Jerome Marot]

I think I posted that image earlier in a similar discussion:

​

 

[Asher Kelman]

I think I posted that image earlier in a similar discussion:

​

Exactly!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Was too busy, eager to complete my studies and go back home, to notice such nuances of human nature.

Hmm, that's a far different U.K. than most everyone else experiences. Surely your using some humor here. I's impossible to imagine that nuances didn't brush against you in all the time you were there!

No innuendo, no slips of the tongue just diplomatic neutral-speak in college, on buses, in stores, everywhere! Hard to imagine as that was where I was brought up!

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

There is something I did not say the last time.

I hope that Jarmo won't mind my link to a picture of his daughter:

Consider these two lovely young girls carefully. Both of them share common ancestors probably a little less than 5-6000 years ago. Both of them are of indo-european descent. If the concept of "race" had any scientific validity, both of them would be considered to belong to the same one.

The difference in hair and skin darkness is an adaptation to the sun (lack of it - need of vitamin synthesis, too much of it - protection against skin cancer). It takes a surprising little amount of time, just a few hundred years.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Might be a little more complex than that but essentially we now know fairly well the mass migrations and origins of the main groupings of humans we separate by "ethnicity".

What's impressive to me is that we humans have so much nonsensical hubris about "race" when we atill share most of our genes with butterflies yeasts and snakes, never mind our cousins, the apes!

Asher