A Political Thread

[Cruz_del_Sur]

@ncurd good point about the lips. You made me look.
Having said that, i looked at other of his cartoons. He made one from Nick Kyrgios and he also used red lips when they weren't warranted and no one cried foul nor called him a racist there.

To use your eye example context is important if you are accentuating the colour of someones eyes to show 'beauty' then its fine the issue becomes when you are using that to deride the person you've crossed the line.

There are two big problem with that argument: first, from a practical perspective which is you need to know the intent, which is impossible. Second, what if he, with science to back him up, would argue that the color red in Serena's lips comes from the rage (anger raises heart beats, which raises blood pressure, which sends more blood to the extremities and since lips are basically thin skin they turn redder).
Course i am not buying that, but bringing intent to the table opens up that line of argument.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Its a caricature which, as ncurd said, must be considered. On the two issues he brought up the lips are the only issue, I don't think she's being portrayed as fat, I'm getting arm envy looking at those delts, it is just an exaggeration of her larger frame and distinct dressing style. (As an aside I reckon Serena has juiced pretty heavily at points in her career, although I reckon there's a huge problem with it in tennis, Nadal's arms and constant and extreme peaks and toughs add to my suspicion)

The lips are an issue, objectively they're racist but I think there was literally no racist intent. They're meant to be big red lips of a crying child, the cartoonist should have realised this reaction would follow and the editor should have made him change it too but I don't think that the cartoonist is in anyway racist, possibly just a bit thick. The reaction mirrors that of Serena's in making an issue where there shouldn't be one. A reasonable person doesn't look at that cartoon and brand the artist a racist when the subject of it is clearly that Serena Williams acted like a spoiled infant...

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

For the caricature, look at something called black sambo, that is a specific caricature of black people that was used elsewhere too (tintin off the top of my head) and is now deemed to be a racist portrayal. The overly large red lips is the most noticeable aspect of the Sambo caricature and using it for a black person when they clearly don't have lips means they are doing it intentionally to replicate that.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

I am familiar with black sambo. The thing is, black people, on average, have larger lips (there's evidence, not my opinion) and caricatures are about exaggerating features. The obvious question then becomes how can a white cartoonist depict a black angry woman without being called racist?

I think the color is a fair point, the size of the lips not to much.

 

[DumbAmerican]

I am familiar with black sambo. The thing is, black people, on average, have larger lips (there's evidence, not my opinion) and caricatures are about exaggerating features. The obvious question then becomes how can a white cartoonist depict a black angry woman without being called racist?

I think the color is a fair point, the size of the lips not to much.

You are looking at this from a logical perspective, which is not how PC people view it. Think of it more in a religious sense to understand the outrage. It's human nature for most humans to sacralize certain things. It's probably an evolved genetic behavior. Right now "women of color" are treated as sacred religious objects by a large % of Western people. If you don't really care what PC people believe, ignore them. If you despise Puritanism in all it's forms, mock them. But logical arguments won't lead anywhere.

By world standards, Serena's upbringing was among the most privileged in the planet, yet you hear her speak and it's as if she's been the sole victim of discrimination her entire life. She brought bloody motherhood into the equation. Motherhood ffs.

I'm not sure about this. Wasn't she raised in the hood? Black American neighborhoods are among the most violent places on earth, and I'm sure that has an effect on the young people who grow up there. And much of the psychological effect of poverty if you're above starvation levels has to do with your relative level rather than your absolute level. Sure, poor people in the US are rich by world standards, but they are extremely poor by the standards in which they grow up viewing their own society. And this is especially true for the urban poor who grow up seeing rich people all around them compared to the rural poor.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

I'm not sure about this. Wasn't she raised in the hood? Black American neighborhoods are among the most violent places on earth

I am. And some people will show you some metrics (deaths per 100k people, murders per 100k people, violent theft per 100k people etc.).
What those people will not tell you is that those are places with enough infrastructure and law enforcement to actually have statistics about it. Many of what are considered the most violent places in the world are not. And violence ain't the only metric. Just being born in the US raises the bar from you. Think about it this way: had Serena been born in rural cambodia she never, ever would have touched a tennis racket. Ever.

I dont want to digress.

 

[Cruz_del_Sur]

By the way, no one commented on this

https://twitter.com/syptweet/status/1038891067381350401

This is basically a police department telling people to report non-crimes. It's as if they have no other problems to take care of.

 

[DumbAmerican]

By the way, no one commented on this

https://twitter.com/syptweet/status/1038891067381350401

This is basically a police department telling people to report non-crimes. It's as if they have no other problems to take care of.

I am. And some people will show you some metrics (deaths per 100k people, murders per 100k people, violent theft per 100k people etc.).
What those people will not tell you is that those are places with enough infrastructure and law enforcement to actually have statistics about it. Many of what are considered the most violent places in the world are not. And violence ain't the only metric. Just being born in the US raises the bar from you. Think about it this way: had Serena been born in rural cambodia she never, ever would have touched a tennis racket. Ever.

I dont want to digress.

That's all fair enough, and perhaps Serena should reassess how privileged she was at birth even if she had a rough upbringing by American standards. But it's completely understandable how she developed quite the chip on her shoulder.

 

[DumbAmerican]

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland is the gift that keeps on giving. She took a break from ongoing trade negotiations with the US to attend something called the Women in the World conference. She sat on a panel called Taking on the Tyrant.

Just watch her introduction!

Absolutely insane that she would do this. Who cares about winning for your country as a whole when fitting in with and virtue signaling towards your peer group is so important?

 

[Bada-Bing!]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...ng-suspects-claim-salisbury-visit-historical/

Oh right, they were visiting the Cathedral, not smearing Novichok agent on an Ex Soviet Spy's door handle to kill him. Only to go straight to Heathrow airport on the same day the Skripal were poisoned. Yep totally believable.

 

[NDC89]

I'm not sure about this. Wasn't she raised in the hood? Black American neighborhoods are among the most violent places on earth, and I'm sure that has an effect on the young people who grow up there. And much of the psychological effect of poverty if you're above starvation levels has to do with your relative level rather than your absolute level. Sure, poor people in the US are rich by world standards, but they are extremely poor by the standards in which they grow up viewing their own society. And this is especially true for the urban poor who grow up seeing rich people all around them compared to the rural poor.

Are they really? I'm not saying that they are nice place, but aren't vast swathes of South or Central America (Brazilian favela's anyone?) and Africa (South African shantytowns? Somalia? Sudan? Democratic Republic of Congo?) worse? I can't really comment on Asia, but I would imagine parts of India, Russia, China, Thailand, etc are all equally as dangerous, or possibly worse. America has bad neighbourhoods by Western standards. Compare it to Canada, Oceana and Europe, at least western europe anyway, and yes it is bad, but some of the worst places on earth? I doubt it.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...ng-suspects-claim-salisbury-visit-historical/

Oh right, they were visiting the Cathedral, not smearing Novichok agent on an Ex Soviet Spy's door handle to kill him. Only to go straight to Heathrow airport on the same day the Skripal were poisoned. Yep totally believable.

My thoughts exactly. Russia have probably covered it up well enough that there is no evidence though.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

My thoughts exactly. Russia have probably covered it up well enough that there is no evidence though.

Yes, more than likely they won't because Russia will never extradite their own citizens.

But their movements alone are suspicious for so called "Tourists":








I've been to Salisbury and it's not that nice to want to go back their twice on two consecutive days and trek there from London, even with Stonehenge near there.

 

[NDC89]

Yeah, Stonehenge is the only real major tourist spot near there and they didn't go see that. Sure, there is a cathedral, but its not really a particularly impressive one. All very fishy.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Trump now claiming the independent assessment of the death toll for Puerto Rico is just lies to make him look bad...

In other news I was playing Tropico 5 and it gives little facts about weird things dictators did throughout history. It's got to the stage where I think Trump could easily have been one of those people in a different country.

 

[DumbAmerican]

Are they really? I'm not saying that they are nice place, but aren't vast swathes of South or Central America (Brazilian favela's anyone?) and Africa (South African shantytowns? Somalia? Sudan? Democratic Republic of Congo?) worse? I can't really comment on Asia, but I would imagine parts of India, Russia, China, Thailand, etc are all equally as dangerous, or possibly worse. America has bad neighbourhoods by Western standards. Compare it to Canada, Oceana and Europe, at least western europe anyway, and yes it is bad, but some of the worst places on earth? I doubt it.

The worst black neighborhoods in the US have murder rates at around 100/100K, some even higher. I'd imagine the worse parts of Latin America and Africa are worse, but not many other places. 1% of America where about 5% of the people live is basically terrible by 3rd world standards, and the other 99% is just a bit worse than normal Western standards when it comes to murder.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Posted by someone going by the name Lawmar on the Graud's Comment's pages but made me laugh.

R: Hello Alex
A: Hi Ruslan. I've fixed it for us to go and see that cathedral you're always on about.
R: Great, when do we leave?
A: Well we're going to fly to London and then I've booked us in to a really nice two star hotel in Bow.
R: Is that near Salisbury then?
A: Well no it's a 90 minute train ride away but it's South Western Railway so its worth it just for the luxurious ride. We get to see Clapham Junction and Basingstoke on the way so it's really scenic. There aren't any hotels in Salisbury you see.
R: Great. Is the weather going to be nice - it's a bit chilly here at the moment and I want some sun.
A: Well no, snow and slush I'm afraid but think how beautiful the cathedral will look. I think we should go twice and there's a really interesting house we can look at too.
R: Is the house on the way to the cathedral then?
A: No, it's in the opposite direction, but it's a really good example of an ordinary English house, so we'll visit that twice as well. Did your wife like the perfume I gave you.
R: We had a bit of a problem with that I'm afraid.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Basically Russia (and Trump) way of dealing with any criticism or complaints about the use of nerve agents.... (40 seconds because the link to a specific time didn't seem to work, although the rest of it is a hoot anyway)

 

[Bada-Bing!]

BREAKING NEWS - The two Russian suspects in the Salisbury Skripal poisoning have been found:

 

[smartcooky]

Don't wanna highjack the thread but since this is political i thought i'd drop it here.
In case you haven't seen it there was an incident during the US open's female final. Here's a take but there are plenty others



So Serena plays the sexist card (surprised the racist one didn't get used), some people agree some don't. She got to play the mom card too, which i personally thought it was pathetic and useless given what she was trying to achieve, but hey, her decision.
And then an aussie cartoonist draws this and the **** hits the fan.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DmtUvwfU0AAgMYg.jpg

People start calling him racist non stop for basically 3 things (in order)
1) the way he depicts Serena
2) The fact Osaka appears to be a white blond skinny girl
3) The fact that Ramos appears to be white

It's not just one or two loonies, but pretty much everyone oyutside australia is unanimously is calling him a racist. I don't consider myself a racist and would take offense if someone called me that. With that in mind, i can't help seeing

1) It's a charicature of an angry, black, bigger-and-stronger-than-average woman having a tantrum. How on earth is he supposed to do that (which i think he should have the right to do) and still not offend the pc brigade?
Charicatures are precisely about exagerating one's features. That's the entire bloody point.
2) I don't see her as white and she does have blond extensions so given the hair is up i can understand that depiction. Regarding the skinny, it's a bloddy charicature.
3) I dont see it either.
4) Would it be racist if the cartoon had been drawn by an african american

Am i losing my mind here for not seeing this?

To paraphrase Sigmund Freud

"Sometimes, a cartoon is just a cartoon"


Anyway, in the mean time, this amused me somewhat

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Anyone seen the full interview on RT of the two "suspects". It's hilarious!!!
They don't explain why they walked in the opposite direction of the Cathedral they were so desperate to see on the day the Skripals were found on a bench frothing at the mouth.

Comments in the comment section are full of Russian trolls supporting their claims. I posted up questions and not one reply atm.



This was their route on the 4 March walking in the opposite direction of the Cathedral and then oh captured on CCTV at a Petrol station less than 5 mins walk from the Skripal's house.

And they were so desperate to see the Cathedral in Salisbury that they spend 3 hours on a train there and back to spend less than 2 hours in Salisbury and according to the time line could not have spent more than half an hour at the Cathedral; certainly not enough time to visit Old Sarum and Stonehenge. St Paul's Cathedral is less than 20 mins from the hotel they stayed at where traces of Novichok wee found in their rooms. And that very day they both head back straight to their hotel to pick up their luggage to go straight to Heathrow to fly back to Moscow - not suspicious whatsoever.

It would be funny if 1 person hadn't died.