The Oldiesfreak Deluge of Absurdity, Ignorance, and Bad Posts III

[Mechaman]

Well gentlemen, I can say it is kind of a sick and sadistic pleasure have a post on both the Absurdity board and the Good Post Board.

I feel like curing cancer and kicking babies now.

[Mechaman]

This is seriously one of the most horrible posts I've ever read.  And yes I'm including joke trolls.

Massive HP. He's a murderer who should be in prison until the day he dies (and that's only because I don't support the death penalty). I truly, sincerely, and absolutely hope his life is destroyed as a result of this. He deserves as much mercy as he gave Travyon Martin. The only one with a legitimate self-defense claim was Trayvon, who was unfortunately unable to make that claim in a court of law.

To those that mention party, I don't care in the least bit. All murderers belong behind bars, no matter what party they are. I really don't think it's safe for an African-American to live in the state of Florida.

[Mechaman]

This is seriously one of the most horrible posts I've ever read.  And yes I'm including joke trolls.

Massive HP. He's a murderer who should be in prison until the day he dies (and that's only because I don't support the death penalty). I truly, sincerely, and absolutely hope his life is destroyed as a result of this. He deserves as much mercy as he gave Travyon Martin. The only one with a legitimate self-defense claim was Trayvon, who was unfortunately unable to make that claim in a court of law.

To those that mention party, I don't care in the least bit. All murderers belong behind bars, no matter what party they are. I really don't think it's safe for an African-American to live in the state of Florida.

It is slightly hyperbolic, but the sentiment is fundamentally correct. Murderers are f**king murderers, that's all.

Political Lefty's language indicates a kind of vengeance-based theory of justice more typically associated the far right. Utterly barbaric. Mecha was right to post it here.

Though I absolutely don't share this feeling, I think it is somewhat understandable in these circumstances. Seeing a guy take away a young life out of sheer stupidity/bigotry and get away with it because of some stupid stand-your-ground law enacted by morally bankrupt vigilante-loving conservative nutjobs is more than a decent person can take without getting enraged to the point when rational thought is somewhat impaired.

I'm sorry I can't get enraged by a bigoted murderer now days.  After the centuries of bloodthirsty mass murderers being in office that have endorsed the murder of millions, it's kind of hard for me to lose sleep over one "white" racist in Florida who plays vigilante.
I'm so very very sorry.

But while I'm here, I should point out that had PL left out the first two sentences (Not counting "Massive HP", which is really more like a fragment. . . grammar nazis), he would've made a pretty good point.  Unfortunately, he had to let his masturbatory anger out, which is why he's here.

[Mechaman]

Yet another gem from our resident advocate of WASP Supremacy

I often think we would be a better country if, during the post-war era 70-ish years ago when the WASP elites lost and/or abdicated their remaining monopolies on America's institutions of wealth and power, the non-Yankee whites, Jews, Italians and other strivers who took their places had acquired their values along with their corner offices, stock exchange seats and places at Harvard.

The notion of wealth as something requiring stewardship, taste and discretion, as something to be managed and grown not just for one's own benefit but for the benefit of those who haven't even been born yet is gone. The idea that the privileges of power and wealth entail with them responsibility and reciprocity to society is dead. Instead, wealth is now simply money - spent and leveraged indiscriminately to satisfy ego and conspicuous consumption, like small fish thrown into a shark tank only to be torn to shreds and gobbled up.

The people who buy the old houses on Long Island don't want to maintain them and the things they stand for and the history they hold. They only want to tear them down and build a garish edifice to themselves. And an ersatz interpretation of WASP aesthetic can be found in your local department store - Ralph Lauren shirts with cartoonishly large pony logos, Tommy Hilfiger shorts in day-glow colors - that misses the point entirely. It's status without discretion. It's luxury without taste. It's money without responsibility.

I guess some people think that the 18 hour work day, dangerous working conditions, and wages of five cents an hour were great values.
Surprise.

[Mechaman]

Read the bolded part.

Plenty of non Wasps reached great heights well before slavery was even thought to be abolished.  Charles Carroll was Catholic, the founder of the US Navy, John Barry, was an Irish Catholic, the first Speaker a German Lutheran, the 7th President poor white trash with Ulster roots, Alexander Hamilton a bastard from the Caribbean, countless others made great fortunes in industry. Maybe some weren't the invited to all the right clubs but their ascendancy was an outside possibility. Class is and always will be a factor but you simply can't re-frame history like this.

But how good is class mobility over particular times in history? Does that factor into ethnic and race relations?

Class mobility is high in a frontier society (so long as one is not a slave, which makes a huge difference between the frontier in Michigan and the frontier in Mississippi). There was a huge difference in the 1840s between getting a section of land that was 640 acres of prime farmland and one that was 560 acres of lake and 80 acres of swamp in the land-grab lottery.  That of course is extreme. Texas under Mexican rule wasn't too bad until Santa Ana became a tyrant, which may help the theory.

The Dutch and French Huguenots who formed a bare majority of the population of the Hudson Valley were overwhelmed in sheer numbers -- but assimilated around the time of the American Revolution. The German population of southeastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the Shenandoah Valley experienced much the same.

Religious bigotry has rarely been a significant factor in large-scale American politics. It has usually imploded quickly as a political influence.    

But given pbrower's postings, I'm not at all surprised that he believes this.  He also probably believes that the New York Redistricting plan in 1894 by pro-equality Republicans was to prevent the state from falling into the hands of corrupt bureaucrats and not a blatant power grab designed to disadvantage urban voters.  Or that saloon regulation was actually aimed at keeping crime low and had nothing to do with alcohol being served there.