What a waste of a perfectly good white woman [Archive]

Jerk

10/20/2008, 06:32 PM

Kirsten Brydum was traveling across the country with an Amtrak pass and an old bicycle. She was meeting with fellow Marxists around the country and campaigning for Obama. Fresh from protesting the RNC National Convention, she arrived in New Orleans by train. While bicycling around New Orleans’ all black 9th ward ghetto to campaign for Obama, she was shot in the head. Residents would not even call the police to notify them that a dead white girl was laying on the sidewalk. Her body laid in the streets for hours until a construction crew drove by and noticed her.

Even the New Orleans police issued a statement saying “robbery does not appear to be the motivation.” All evidence suggests that she was murdered simply because she was white. Brydum was a big name in the extreme far-left San Fransisco Marxist scene. Immediately the cover up began.

San Fransisco Staff reporter Rubenstein declared that she died in a “robbery” while on “vacation” in New Orleans. No one goes on the the 9th ward for a vacation. People go there for crack binges. Rubenstein’s article was not a factual reporting of the story but a coverup of what really happened. His article was in turn picked up by other California newspapers.

Across the internet, the far-left blogosphere, continues to praise her for her far-left activism. Not one mention anywhere that she was the victim of a racially motivated murder. Not one mention that she was bicycling in a violent black ghetto to promote Obama.

It is quite amazing to see the legions of young Marxists praising her online, yet covering up how she really died at the same time. It is remarkable how schizophrenic the Marxist mindset is. As a recent issue of Science Now Magazine says, it is amazing the “mental gymnastics” people will use to avoid mentioning race.

The article in Science Now says that avoiding the issue of race is “counter productive” and “impairs cognitive abilities.” Well Kirsten Brydum was cognitively impaired for sure. Her friends, equally impaired, seem eager to go down the same road. How many more white Marxist activists will we find murdered in black neighborhoods before any of them wake up?

http://cofcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/kirsten.jpg

My Opinion Matters

10/20/2008, 06:50 PM

Fraggle145

10/20/2008, 07:07 PM

Jerk

10/20/2008, 07:11 PM

Things that terrify insular white people:

1. Blacks-check

2. Marxists-check

3. Liberal media cover-ups-check

Congratulations, Jerk! You've found every conservative white man's wet dream/worst nightmare.

How "open-minded" of you.

This story reminds me of Rachel Corrie, except in that there won't be any humor in a pancake breakfast memorial.

I don't have any sympathy for communists. They're as evil as Nazis in my book, and should be treated as such. I'm just reporting. You decide.

Sooner_Havok

10/20/2008, 07:21 PM

S.F. activist slain in New Orleans robbery

(10-02) 16:33 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- To Kirsten Brydum, a passionate 25-year-old community activist from San Francisco, one person's junk was another's treasure.

Brydum, who wanted to change the world, certainly changed Dolores Park. Because of her, there is something called the Really, Really Free Market. People bring their rummage to the park on the last Saturday of the month and give it away. Nobody gets any money and everyone walks away a little richer. That was how she liked it.

She loved the freedom of far-flung travel and of cycling. On Saturday, while cycling after midnight in New Orleans after spending Friday evening in a dance club, she was shot in the head and killed in an apparent robbery, police said. Her killer remains at large.

For two days her body lay in the New Orleans morgue, unidentified. Her killer had apparently taken Brydum's wallet, identification and bicycle. On Monday, Brydum's parents, Steen and Mamie Brydum of Orange County, and her friends in San Francisco found out the news.

"She was a woman with a huge heart and a huge brain, compassionate and wise beyond her years," said a friend, San Francisco lawyer Ben Rosenfeld.

Two months ago, Brydum left San Francisco to tour the United States, with an Amtrak train pass in her pocket, in search of what she liked to call "collective autonomy" - her term for strangers helping strangers for free.

In Manhattan, she spent a long time examining trash bins, marveling at the useable stuff that New Yorkers threw away. In St. Paul, Minn., she marched in protests outside the Republican National Convention. In Philadelphia, she visited an urban farm and talked to housing activists. A week ago, she got on a train to Louisiana.

"Right now I'm rolling into New Orleans," she wrote last Thursday on her blog. "I really don't know what to expect. An old friend of a new friend offered to pick me up from the station and get me to the house of another friend of a friend. The sun is setting on the bayou-licked lands and I am truly fortunate."

That was the last any of her friends was to hear from her. Two days later, her body was found on a sidewalk in a tough section of the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, about 3 miles northeast of the French Quarter.

Her friends, writing on a memorial Web site (links.sfgate.com/ZEZT), recalled her love of midnight canoe rides, constructive anarchy and a well-patched pair of jeans.

"She was totally committed to fixing things in the world that are wrong," said her friend John Viola, "from little things, like making sure a lost baby squirrel was cared for by animal rescue, to giant things, like confronting capitalism."

A funeral will be held Saturday in Woodland Hills (Los Angeles County). Plans for a memorial service in San Francisco are pending.

Where did you get yours from Jerk, it sounds different than the one I found.

Jerk

10/20/2008, 07:30 PM

Well, they both say that she was cycling around the 9th ward after midnight.

Can we agree that she just wasn't very bright?

Curly Bill

10/20/2008, 07:33 PM

Well, they both say that she was cycling around the 9th ward after midnight.

Can we agree that she just wasn't very bright?

You already said she was campaigning for Obama. I thought it was a foregone conclusion.

olevetonahill

10/20/2008, 07:46 PM

Wonder will they treat it as a Hate Crime ?
Dayum Racist bastards.

jkjsooner

10/20/2008, 07:49 PM

This whole thread is a disgrace. Someone died. Does their politics really matter?

I'm completely embarrassed that a Sooner started this thread.

Lott's Bandana

10/20/2008, 07:57 PM

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/2577/ryanishungryreallyreallzi6.jpg (http://www.imagehosting.com/)

Sooner_Havok

10/20/2008, 07:57 PM

Well, they both say that she was cycling around the 9th ward after midnight.

Can we agree that she just wasn't very bright?

I agree biking after midnight is not a bright idea, especially in a known rough neighborhood.

But clubbing is not campaigning for Obama (when did campaigning for a politician become a contemptible offense anyways?)

Robbery was most certainly a motive if her wallet and bike were missing, and there is nothing to say that if some small black girl was riding her bike in that neighborhood at that time, she wouldn't have been gunned down and robbed.

Believe it or not, most criminals don't solely target people of differing races.

setem

10/20/2008, 08:26 PM

http://img34.picoodle.com/img/img34/3/10/20/f_archie003m_513d36e.jpg

JohnnyMack

10/20/2008, 09:32 PM

Somebody threw away a perfectly good white boy.

A Sooner in Texas

10/21/2008, 12:20 AM

I really wonder how many of our posters are black, and how many of our black Sooner players log into this message board.

They must feel really welcome here, huh?

Ardmore_Sooner

10/21/2008, 12:42 AM

I really wonder how many of our posters are black, and how many of our black Sooner players log into this message board.

They must feel really welcome here, huh?

I can promise you that the number is lower than 1%

StoopTroup

10/21/2008, 01:18 AM

If she had just campaigned for McCain...she'd still be alive...

OU4LIFE

10/21/2008, 07:13 AM

wait a second.

No witnesses to the crime. none.

no wallet, no id, no bicycle.

Something just doesn't jibe. How did that little piece of deduction go I
wonder.

Cops; let's see...we've got a dead body laying on a sidewalk, a city worker called it n, she's obviously been here a while. Let's see...judging by the position of her body, I bet she was RIDING A BICYCLE.???

TUSooner

10/21/2008, 08:30 AM

Sarah Palin shot her.

TheHumanAlphabet

10/21/2008, 08:32 AM

Where did you get yours from Jerk, it sounds different than the one I found.

This is obviously the made up cover up story to prevent race from being mentioned. And having worked on the east side of N.O. multiple times, I would say the first is more likely to have happened than the account you posted.

Needless, anyone with a brain cell in their head would 1. Not be in east N.O. after dark, 2. Not be in east N.O. if white, 3. Not be in east N.O. on bicycle.

TheHumanAlphabet

10/21/2008, 08:34 AM

I agree biking after midnight is not a bright idea, especially in a known rough neighborhood.

But clubbing is not campaigning for Obama (when did campaigning for a politician become a contemptible offense anyways?)

Robbery was most certainly a motive if her wallet and bike were missing, and there is nothing to say that if some small black girl was riding her bike in that neighborhood at that time, she wouldn't have been gunned down and robbed.

Believe it or not, most criminals don't solely target people of differing races.

What color are your glasses??? In east N.O. you would be targeted by your race.

TUSooner

10/21/2008, 08:53 AM

This is obviously the made up cover up story to prevent race from being mentioned. And having worked on the east side of N.O. multiple times, I would say the first is more likely to have happened than the account you posted.

Needless, anyone with a brain cell in their head would 1. Not be in east N.O. after dark, 2. Not be in east N.O. if white, 3. Not be in east N.O. on bicycle.

To pick nits: The 9th ward is not actually "east N.O." New Orleans East is a large and distinct area that is actually on the peninsula northeast of NO. If you say "east New Orleans" to someone in New Orleans, they will in not think of the 9th Ward, they will think New Orleans East.
Having made that very trivial point :O ....

It was in no way smart to be bicycling in the 9th Ward after midnight, especially if you are a young woman. And being white probably did make her more of a target. However, it is cheap and disingenuous for ANYONE to make that crime into some sort of political fable. Sadly, mindless & brutal murders are all too common down here. But some people are so obsessed with the left-right dichotomy that they just can't see things any other way. (These people are ****ing up the Nation, IMHO.)

Viking Kitten

10/21/2008, 09:14 AM

If a young McCain worker was murdered while campaigning, for whatever reason, and one of us started a thread mocking her and declaring we had no sympathy, I wonder what the reaction on the board would be? I imagine it would (rightfully) include anger, negs to Bolivia, and maybe even a well deserved temporary ban.

In my opinion, there are a few posters here who could stand to step back and reflect a little on the way they are letting this election affect them. The number of purely political threads on this board has gotten completely out of hand, to the point where it's making the board a really sucky place to be these days, but I'm not complaining about that. I know some of you enjoy the debates and the arguing, so I say have your fun. But this thread is over the line.

Look, I encourage everyone to vote their conscience Nov. 4. I'm glad you all strenuously advocate for what you see as the best direction for the country, and I hope you continue to do so even after it's all over with. But please, please, please, don't let this election turn you into a worthless POS human being.

TUSooner

10/21/2008, 09:16 AM

If a young McCain worker was murdered while campaigning, for whatever reason, and one of us started a thread mocking her and declaring we had no sympathy, I wonder what the reaction on the board would be? I imagine it would (rightfully) include anger, negs to Bolivia, and maybe even a well deserved temporary ban.

In my opinion, there are a few posters here who could stand to step back and reflect a little on the way they are letting this election affect them. The number of purely political threads on this board has gotten completely out of hand, to the point where it's making the board a really sucky place to be these days, but I'm not complaining about that. I know some of you enjoy the debates and the arguing, so I say have your fun. But this thread is over the line.

Look, I encourage everyone to vote their conscious Nov. 4. I'm glad you all strenuously advocate for what you see as the best direction for the country, and I hope you continue to do even after it's all over with. But please, please, please, don't let this election turn you into a worthless POS human being.
Well said!

OU4LIFE

10/21/2008, 09:16 AM

But please, please, please, don't let this election turn you into a worthless POS human being.

too late.

for me I mean.

TheHumanAlphabet

10/21/2008, 09:33 AM

To pick nits: The 9th ward is not actually "east N.O." New Orleans East is a large and distinct area that is actually on the peninsula northeast of NO. If you say "east New Orleans" to someone in New Orleans, they will in not think of the 9th Ward, they will think New Orleans East.
Having made that very trivial point :O ....

To this "yankee" anything over the other side of Chef Menteur (sp?) bridge is "east N.O." don't know if that is technically 9th ward or elsewhere. It all runs together to me until you are in Slidell. But I would suspect a local would be more definitive. My apologies if I slandered an area...

BTW, this is a terrible thing to happen, regardless of what the person was doing or who they were. The fact that her body lay in the open for two days is very telling regarding the local people that live there - it is just sad period.

Scott D

10/21/2008, 09:55 AM

I really wonder how many of our posters are black, and how many of our black Sooner players log into this message board.

They must feel really welcome here, huh?

there are days I wonder why I bother logging in. And I suspect it will remain the same up through January.

jkjsooner

10/21/2008, 10:04 AM

If a young McCain worker was murdered while campaigning, for whatever reason, and one of us started a thread mocking her and declaring we had no sympathy, I wonder what the reaction on the board would be? I imagine it would (rightfully) include anger, negs to Bolivia, and maybe even a well deserved temporary ban.

In my opinion, there are a few posters here who could stand to step back and reflect a little on the way they are letting this election affect them. The number of purely political threads on this board has gotten completely out of hand, to the point where it's making the board a really sucky place to be these days, but I'm not complaining about that. I know some of you enjoy the debates and the arguing, so I say have your fun. But this thread is over the line.

Look, I encourage everyone to vote their conscious Nov. 4. I'm glad you all strenuously advocate for what you see as the best direction for the country, and I hope you continue to do even after it's all over with. But please, please, please, don't let this election turn you into a worthless POS human being.

Said much better than I could.

lexsooner

10/21/2008, 10:31 AM

there are days I wonder why I bother logging in. And I suspect it will remain the same up through January.

Dude, if Obama wins, as he likely will, it might subside some, but as long as he is POUS, this stuff will continue on this board and elsewhere. I am sure it hurts, so I am sorry you have to experience all of this crap.

The real irony is all of us on this board are joined by mainly one thing - our love of OU football. The team is comprised overwhelmingly of African-American players, whom we all cheer for on Saturdays. Yet some of us seem to have no problem with spewing thinly-veiled racist crap on the SO, while talking up our team on the football board. Never ceases to amaze me in this day and age.

C&CDean

10/21/2008, 10:53 AM

Lott's Bandana

10/21/2008, 10:55 AM

Dude, if Obama wins, as he likely will, it might subside some, but as long as he is POUS, this stuff will continue on this board and elsewhere. I am sure it hurts, so I am sorry you have to experience all of this crap.

The real irony is all of us on this board are joined by mainly one thing - our love of OU football. The team is comprised overwhelmingly of African-American players, whom we all cheer for on Saturdays. Yet some of us seem to have no problem with spewing thinly-veiled racist crap on the SO, while talking up our team on the football board. Never ceases to amaze me in this day and age.

Agreed.

However, I think there is some frustration with our culture when certain (white?) people who feel they are in-tune with what is going on in the world, see things in our society that are contradictory to what they believe is right.

Political commentary aside: I believe there are all kinds of these (white?) people that see an obscure, muddled story about a young, white, female activist...murdered for WHATEVER reason in an impoverished, predominately African-American part of a predominately African-American city, (a city that has cultivated frustration for many reasons to a lot of people recently) and the dismay forms when these people begin to transpose the story and imagine the NATIONAL media meltdown if a young, African-American female activist was murdered for WHATEVER reason in Forsyth County, Georgia or similar locale. You just know Anderson Cooper and his ilk would set up a remote studio at the tragedy site.

"Where is the outrage for this white girl?"

I don't believe that these individuals are racist...perhaps I'm wrong. Deep down this frustration (I think) stems from a strong sense of justice and fairness, yet it isn't always presented in the most eloquent manner.

olevetonahill

10/21/2008, 10:57 AM

Just so we're clear, racism comes in all colors. TIA.

That was My point Dean . If this was just the Opposite, ie a Young Black girl Killed in a Predominant white area . The Gov. would be all Over it as a hate crime .
Personaly I believe WE ALL are Racist to some extent. I dont Like it But its there.

leavingthezoo

10/21/2008, 11:01 AM

Just so we're clear, racism comes in all colors. TIA.

Absolutely! But not here.

leavingthezoo

10/21/2008, 11:16 AM

holy carp! i'm confusing myself. Heh.

badger

10/21/2008, 11:21 AM

RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!

10/21/2008, 11:25 AM

This whole thread is a disgrace. Someone died. Does their politics really matter?

I'm completely embarrassed that a Sooner started this thread.Good one!

Scott D

10/21/2008, 11:30 AM

What color are your glasses??? In east N.O. you would be targeted by your race.

oh and I wanted to counter this by stating that in that part of New Orleans I'd be targeted for not being from there.

leavingthezoo

10/21/2008, 11:34 AM

oh and I wanted to counter this by stating that in that part of New Orleans I'd be targeted for not being from there.

THAT'S LOCATIONIST!

SoonerInKCMO

10/21/2008, 11:36 AM

"Where is the outrage for this white girl?"

We used up all our outrage over that white girl in Aruba.

Scott D

10/21/2008, 11:36 AM

$.02:

Whether you're Republican or Democrat, you should have a sense of respect for someone who cared so deeply about civics and voting rights that they would personally participate in the process to the extent she did. It doesn't matter what candidate she supported, she was out there volunteering her own time to encourage people to vote.

That's pretty much how I see it. Was she irresponsible in her personal time? Perhaps, but she was young and that's part of the parcel of being a 20something in most cases.

Scott D

10/21/2008, 11:37 AM

We used up all our outrage over that white girl in Aruba.

some of us used virtually none in that case.

SoonerInKCMO

10/21/2008, 11:42 AM

some of us used virtually none in that case.

I would be included in that 'some' you mention.

I guess the point I was trying to get at is that people get outraged over cute white girls getting murdered all the time. If someone thinks that a black girl getting murdered while campaigning would be getting more attention than this young woman, they're fooling themselves. They would have to somehow believe that *right now* our media has done a complete 180 in their coverage of girls that get murdered.

TUSooner

10/21/2008, 12:03 PM

To this "yankee" anything over the other side of Chef Menteur (sp?) bridge is "east N.O." don't know if that is technically 9th ward or elsewhere. It all runs together to me until you are in Slidell. But I would suspect a local would be more definitive. My apologies if I slandered an area...

BTW, this is a terrible thing to happen, regardless of what the person was doing or who they were. The fact that her body lay in the open for two days is very telling regarding the local people that live there - it is just sad period.

I just had to act like I knew something! :D

Lott's Bandana

10/21/2008, 12:18 PM

I would be included in that 'some' you mention.

I guess the point I was trying to get at is that people get outraged over cute white girls getting murdered all the time. If someone thinks that a black girl getting murdered while campaigning would be getting more attention than this young woman, they're fooling themselves. They would have to somehow believe that *right now* our media has done a complete 180 in their coverage of girls that get murdered.

Under the scenario I proposed....nope. Disagree. Again, i'm suggesting it is done in a place like Forsyth....remember that place?

Jerk

10/21/2008, 02:28 PM

There was no 'mocking of her death' you twits.

Some of you need to pull your panties out of your crotch.

soonerscuba

10/21/2008, 02:37 PM

There was no 'mocking of her death' you twits.

Some of you need to pull your panties out of your crotch.Jerk, you've never been anything other than cordial to me. However, I think when you say you hate communists as much as Nazis and have no sympathy for them and then call a murdered girl a communist, people are probably going to be inclined to take it in a way that you probably didn't intend.

Sooner_Havok

10/21/2008, 06:26 PM

What color are your glasses??? In east N.O. you would be targeted by your race.

Well, why do people consider a neighborhood to be bad? I always thought it was cause people in them robbed, shot, and killed each other along with anyone unfortunate enough to wonder through them at the wrong time of day.

Thank you for helping me remove my rose color glasses and see that in bad neighborhoods, people only rob and shoot outsiders of a different race.

Scott D

10/21/2008, 09:11 PM

Havok don't worry about THA too much, he thinks all Mexicans are child molesters also.

SleestakSooner

10/21/2008, 11:02 PM

Council of Conservative Citizens (http://cofcc.org/)

http://cofcc.org/

The thing about this website where Jerk likes to get his "news" is that this story would have not at all shown this unfortunate girl in a positive light if it were rednecks that had offed her apparently due to her political affiliations. Then the story would have been one villifying her for trying to buy meth or being a hooker or some other insane ****.

I assume the correct fanatical right wing take on this would be to infer that this poor white girl died at the hands of those very people her support for Obama was going to elevate. Because of course he is black too and therefore he may as well have killed her himself. If this crap does not make sense... that is because it never does.

It sickens me for these wing nuts on either side to use a person's death to promote their agendas while feining concern for the deceased.

VK and you others... I applaud you all for standing up against this idiocy.

StoopTroup

10/22/2008, 01:39 AM

Someday I like to have the secs with the invisible woman.

http://www.naafa.org/images/book_service/invisible_woman.jpg

Gandalf_The_Grey

10/22/2008, 02:17 AM

Havok don't worry about THA too much, he thinks all Mexicans are child molesters also.

Well even THA gets things right every once in a while, why you think so many Messicans play baseball in the Majors...it is because they can "volunteer" to coach little boys!!

Gandalf_The_Grey

10/22/2008, 02:27 AM

Also, I would like to say that I feel horrible for this girl. This girl was just trying to make a difference. It is **** poor that people can't feel safe everywhere.

TUSooner

10/22/2008, 05:57 AM

Did somebody say something about her body being left on the street for 2 days? Not so. She was last seen at 0130 and her body was found at 0830.

According to [NOPD spokesman Marlon] Defillo, police have learned the following details:

Brydum was a community activist and organizer, a free spirit on an adventure across the country. Money meant little to her; life was about experiences.

She was in Minnesota for the Republican National Convention last month. Then she traveled to the East Coast.

Brydum arrived in New Orleans on a train Sept. 25. She was staying with friends in Bywater, in a home near the intersection of North Claiborne Avenue and St. Ferdinand Street. Her friends loaned her a black cruiser-style bicycle with a basket in the back.

On Friday, her second day in the city, she went to the Howlin' Wolf club on South Peters Street in the Warehouse District about 11:30 p.m.

She wore a green-and-white-striped long-sleeved shirt over an off-white dress, with flip-flops on her feet and a feather in her hair.

"The timeline stops at 1:30 a.m.," Defillo said. That's when Brydum hopped on a bicycle and left the bar.

She was found seven hours later, fully clothed. She had not been sexually assaulted, police said. Robbery doesn't appear to be the motive, but her bicycle is missing.

TheHumanAlphabet

10/22/2008, 08:06 AM

Personaly I believe WE ALL are Racist to some extent. I dont Like it But its there.

Just so we are clear, before you blanket statement on everyone.

If you're from a tribe - then you're probably a racist. That would make everyone in the world a racist as everone (or their forebearers) at some point was part of a tribe. There are only a few select group of "tribes" that seem to have overcome tribalism and defined a greater society. Those societies have developed strong governmental, financial and legal entities to allow everyone to prosper within that society. Not many of those societies exist around the world, though they do.

TheHumanAlphabet

10/22/2008, 08:09 AM

Havok don't worry about THA too much, he thinks all Mexicans are child molesters also.

Not all, just some and we have a lot of them in Houston...

oh and I forgot...;)

Lott's Bandana

10/22/2008, 08:16 AM

Just so we are clear, before you blanket statement on everyone.

If you're from a tribe - then you're probably a racist. That would make everyone in the world a racist as everone (or their forebearers) at some point was part of a tribe. There are only a few select group of "tribes" that seem to have overcome tribalism and defined a greater society. Those societies have developed strong governmental, financial and legal entities to allow everyone to prosper within that society. Not many of those societies exist around the world, though they do.

Interesting.

Ok, name 3.

TheHumanAlphabet

10/22/2008, 08:27 AM

Interesting.

Ok, name 3.

I would start with the European nations, they were tribal and feudal and eventually developed into egalitarian society.

I would say the North American societies (US and Canada) - generally founded on egalitarian basis - Canada more so...

I would also suggest possibly India, but I am not sure that without some colonial influence it would be as great a society today without that influence.

EDIT: I would add Brazil to the mix here as well. They are up and coming and as they get more wealth from their petroleum and gas resources, they will most likely be a bigger player. They seem to have intergrated all races well and seem to try to preserve aboriginal tribes as best as possible. Most of the violence they have seems socio-economical, not racist or bigotry.

You might also list China, but not sure how the Dynasties involved other cultures other than the Emporer's and the Communist rule has allowed a great society as it did in Russia, but while dissent and crime were down, free will, thinking and innovation were not present in those times.

Note, I didn't say eutopia, but a great society where people generally get along and move in a greater good than their specific tribal entity. I could have listed a few others, but figured they were more mono-cultural and not challenged by bringing multiple groups together.

Lott's Bandana

10/22/2008, 08:43 AM

I would start with the European nations, they were tribal and feudal and eventually developed into egalitarian society.

I would say the North American societies (US and Canada) - generally founded on egalitarian basis - Canada more so...

I would also suggest possibly India, but I am not sure that without some colonial influence it would be as great a society today without that influence.

You might also list China, but not sure how the Dynasties involved other cultures other than the Emporer's and the Communist rule has allowed a great society as it did in Russia, but while dissent and crime were down, free will, thinking and innovation were not present in those times.

Note, I didn't say eutopia, but a great society where people generally get along and move in a greater good than their specific tribal entity. I could have listed a few others, but figured they were more mono-cultural and not challenged by bringing multiple groups together.

You didn't include Japan, which fits all the defined categories, however is one of the most rock-solid racist societies in the world. (I will include them in your mono-cultural category)

I like your presentation, however, my comment above notwithstanding, I think racism is more of a micro v. macro issue. The cultures/societies you mention above have many examples of racist issues within their sphere of influence, which I will choose not to try to list...

I will elaborate on my micro/macro comment this way: perhaps the US is a good example, but there could be a pretty significant argument against including the country as a whole, however, zoom in on the United States Military and perhaps you now have found that example of a culture that is the least conflicted racially (as far as functionality and mission success) as any subgroup in history. This example is also a good one because the percentages of race division are quite similar overall to the culture it harvests it's population from.

Like you THA, lots of consonants and just a few vowels...but important contributors to the greater good.

TheHumanAlphabet

10/22/2008, 09:00 AM

I generally don't include Japan as it is mono-cultural. Great example of one people pulling for their common good, but as you noted extremely racist. I have experienced their racism on the train - not fun, noticable. Then I remembered I was an outsider.

I would think that the U.S. in your case would be more regionalism or socio-economic than racism or bigotry. I think there is a big mix of people who are doers getting extremely tired of people who are lazy in society and tired of the doers having to pay for and supplement the lazy's. I think that it may be easy to deem those as racists or bigots, but I would think (or hope) that it is more about actions and doing your best than a hatred for a group of people.

Add: I don't have rose colored glasses, but I would like to think that racism isn't as rampant as some would say - I realize in some people and places that is not the case, however.

Scott D

10/22/2008, 11:10 AM

Not all, just some and we have a lot of them in Houston...

oh and I forgot...;)

that's ok I forgot the ;) also :O

Half a Hundred

10/22/2008, 11:21 AM

I would start with the European nations, they were tribal and feudal and eventually developed into egalitarian society. Mostly because they knew they'd destroy themselves otherwise, two meat grinders of wars will do that. Oh, and they just get into soccer fights now

I would say the North American societies (US and Canada) - generally founded on egalitarian basis - Canada more so... I'm guessing many of the tribes would disagree

I would also suggest possibly India, but I am not sure that without some colonial influence it would be as great a society today without that influence.
It also has the benefit of Pakistan being the great "other" that everyone can rally against

EDIT: I would add Brazil to the mix here as well. They are up and coming and as they get more wealth from their petroleum and gas resources, they will most likely be a bigger player. They seem to have intergrated all races well and seem to try to preserve aboriginal tribes as best as possible. Most of the violence they have seems socio-economical, not racist or bigotry. Socioeconomic status in Brazil is highly racially correlated, as is the case in most Latin American countries. European > Mestizo >>>>> Indigenous

You might also list China, but not sure how the Dynasties involved other cultures other than the Emporer's and the Communist rule has allowed a great society as it did in Russia, but while dissent and crime were down, free will, thinking and innovation were not present in those times. The history of China is the history of Han subjugation of the other Chinese peoples, except for that blip when the Manchus managed to be dominant, which happened to coincide with the beginnings of European colonization. This is why we tend to have a bit of a skewed perspective on how China works

Note, I didn't say eutopia, but a great society where people generally get along and move in a greater good than their specific tribal entity. I could have listed a few others, but figured they were more mono-cultural and not challenged by bringing multiple groups together.

While there are several countries that aspire to universal common purpose, the reality is not quite there.