Schools, Shootings, Children and Adulthood

In reply to GameboyRMH :

I'm not sure this discussion is entirely relevant to the topic of this thread, but I do think that it's easier to harm people that you've dehumanized by classifying anybody who is different as being "the enemy", so maybe it is relevant. 

You're adopting an "us against them" mentality. That mindset is what makes it easier for people to see their neighbors as the enemy rather than humans. Grouping large swaths of humanity, and making assumptions about the quality of their character based on a single commonality is wrong no matter if that commonality is skin color or who they voted for. Such generalizations come easily to us, but they're lazy. If we're ever to truly see each other as equals, or just stop killing each other for being different, then thinking like that must stop no matter how justified you feel.

GameboyRMH said:

I don't hate one man so much as I hate what he stands for. Anyone who supports him stands for the same things.

Thats a very bigoted thing to say. 

oldopelguy said:

One presidential candidate didn't just call the other one deplorable, she called anyone who would vote for him (or against her) deplorable.

Like, I realize that nobody understands the context whole "deplorable" comment, but she was trying to politely say something like "a portion of this guy's supporters are literally Nazis and the KKK".

In reply to red_stapler :

Not "a portion" but all of them. It was very underhanded and very polarizing. I wasn't even voting for the guy and felt it was too much. 

Bob the REAL oil guy. said:

In reply to red_stapler :

Not "a portion" but all of them. It was very underhanded and very polarizing. I wasn't even voting for the guy and felt it was too much. 

What part of:

Hillary Clinton said:

But the other basket — and I know this because I see friends from all over America here — I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas — as well as, you know, New York and California — but that other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change. It doesn’t really even matter where it comes from. They don’t buy everything he says, but he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won’t wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroine, feel like they’re in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.

^ that makes you think *all* of them?

Does anyone feel like we have wandered a little far down the rabbit hole here? 

GameboyRMH said:

Not baiting, I just think that there is indeed something egregious about supporting a racist in attempts to do racist and otherwise bigoted things, and as such it's not that terrible to attack people with words for making the decision to do so, especially when they've made their exact views known in other venues. There are issues I can merely respectfully disagree with people on, but support of racism isn't one of them.

I don't hate one man so much as I hate what he stands for. Anyone who supports him stands for the same 

Political comments removed by moderator 

Ok, well I think I will bring this threadto a close then, if it is going to degrade into this. 

I would like to thank those of you who provided an interesting and polite discussion, and who observed the forum's rules of engagement.