POLITICS “More Sensitive: Bunnies or East Tennesseans?” Discussion

Discussion in 'Politicants' started by CardinalVol, Nov 8, 2018.

  1. kmf600

    kmf600 Energy vampire

    Let me try again. There are people from all over the Caribbean, Central America, and even Canada here. I would rather live in the majority. If I want to go to get gas for my car, I can't go in and tell the attendant I was $30 on pump 6, not enough people speak enough English to communicate with me. Although I do enjoy different foods, from different areas, I do want BBQ sometimes, I mean, really good Bbq. People from other countries grow up with different rules, raised differently, some had to lie, cheat, and steal just to live, they have a hard time adjusting to our way of life. I hate, hate leaving my house now, if I want to go to McDonald's less than 10 miles from my house, it takes me 45 minutes, depending on the time of day. If I want to go out to eat on Friday night, I have to eat at 5 PM, or wait an hour and 45 minutes. I can't let my kids play in the front yard, since they were young, we've had them locked up in the back yard. I have 4 locks on my hurricane doors. I just can go on.
     
  2. TennTradition

    TennTradition Super Moderator

    I hear you on the population density and traffic.
     
  3. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    kkkmf
     
  4. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    It's crowded like that in any major city, even places without immigrants.
     
  5. Tenacious D

    Tenacious D The law is of supreme importance, or no importance

    That’s plenty enough.
     
  6. Tenacious D

    Tenacious D The law is of supreme importance, or no importance

    What’s this mean? You were born in the US, but are an ex-pat?
     
  7. VolDad

    VolDad Super Moderator

    I hope that they have an opportunity to learn a second language. It would serve them well in the years to come.
     
  8. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

    In hindsight I wish I would have taken spanish instead of French in high school and college. But our high school Spanish teacher was insane and I didnt want her as a teacher.
     
  9. Beechervol

    Beechervol Super Moderator

    I needed extra English classes.
     
    TennTradition likes this.
  10. TennTradition

    TennTradition Super Moderator

    Our district had to phase out their bilingual program this year (lawsuit because they didn’t offer it at all schools), which is unfortunate. But, I think they’ll be able to.
     
  11. Tenacious D

    Tenacious D The law is of supreme importance, or no importance

    Thanks, TT. Legit, thanks, for the thoughtful response.

    I’m genuinely glad that you like these things, and find them both interesting and fulfilling.

    I just don’t, to be perfectly and transparent honest.

    Do I hate them? Of course not.

    Do I begrudge others for liking, being fulfilled with happiness by and seeking these experiences out? Again, of course not.

    But for me, personally, I don’t ultimately care, or at least sufficiently enough to see and appreciate some intrinsic value in those experiences.

    I hate the ol’ “I have black friends”, but I do have several great friends who are black (I once roomed with two black guys in the Navy for almost a year, and came to appreciate a great many things about their experiences and worldview). And I was surrounded by people of all races, sexes, socioeconomic status, geographic location, political beliefs, etc. etc., and befriended many. The same is true of the people I meet and work with in my line of work.

    There was an older first generation Vietnamese guy, Vang, who cleaned our offices at night and who I developed a friendship with when we’d talk while we were both working in the wee hours and we’d talk about family. He’d teach me Vietnamese and I’d help him with his pronunciation of some tricky English words / phrases / sayings when he’d ask. He invited me to his house for dinner and we went fishing on several occasions (he was a patient and long-suffering man).

    I’ve got every kind of kid on the team that I coach - including two Latinos, one who was adopted from Columbia by a great family - along with his four siblings - and another who is the son of what are almost certainly illegal immigrants. I’ve got dirt poor redneck kids with parents who are in jail, struggling with addiction, multi-generational government assistance, or who are entirely absent from their lives, altogether - and rich kids who brag about spending hundreds of dollars on Fortnight. I pride myself on treating them the same - and just as I treat my own, who is also on the team.

    I’ve got gay and lesbian family members and friends, as anyone who I know on Facebook can attest. You can take it as you will - because I am as hetero as they come - but I’ve always gotten along with gay dudes. From my experience, they’re just as likely to tell someone to [uck fay] off as look at you, and which I always appreciate. Well, everyone except my brother-in-law, who is not only a flaming gay man, but an even more flamboyantly dumb liberal and who is largely a dipshit.

    I’ve got friends who are red neck as hell - who hunt, fish, love to tell racist / sexist / inbred jokes, who are so conservative as to make the Amish look like rodeo clown socialists, and who are also church-going bible thumpers - and a few others who are academians, ultra-liberal, and devout atheists.

    Continued (damn, new low)
     
  12. Tenacious D

    Tenacious D The law is of supreme importance, or no importance

    My son has a friend from school who has two moms (mom was married to dad, they had son, divorced, mom later came out as lesbian...now happily married to partner of 10+ years), and who takes a lot of shit at school because of it. He’s a great kid and who I routinely involve, encourage and try to help - because it isn’t in any way easy being the teenage child of a lesbian couple. While both he and each of his moms are abundantly aware of my over-the-top support for Trump, as I don’t hide it from anyone. But it was seeing her obvious hesitation (fear? concern?) in meeting me for the first time that made me stop wearing my MAGA hat (no, I wasn’t wearing it when we met), because she later confided that it was the direct result of wondering if I was “some Trump-loving nut job” and wouldn’t be tolerant or respectful of her being a lesbian. I worried that I was sending the same message to others, and wanted to avoid it.

    I’ve got friends who are higher ups in large companies, and who regularly take the company jet to St. Maarten, and others who work for minimum wage, don’t have a pot to piss in and who can’t afford gas to Maynardville on most days.

    My best friend in the world is a woman, and who has probably taught me just about everything I know about business, and a lot about life.

    I help moderate this board and spend time arguing with absolutely near-sighted dumbasses like IP, Un, Dooz and the rest on the left - and bloviating low-key bigoted dumbasses like DC and SSMIFF and the rest on the right, because I believe that it’s a conversation worth having, and a worthwhile thing to pursue.

    It’s an eclectic and eccentric mix of people - diverse, even, but not a group that I sought out, or certainly one that makes me see the intrinsic value of diversity, as you seem to feel and do.
     
    GahLee likes this.
  13. TennTradition

    TennTradition Super Moderator

    Thanks, TD.

    I would say in general that if you keep your eyes open and actually socialize or connect, that one can and will build a diverse network (naturally - not intentionally) over time - particularly if you have some experiences like yours.

    I think that the added aspect that I am describing is the inherent diversity of the population - that is multiple groups each with critical mass suffienct to illuminate their culture (as opposed to subduing it as individual minorities are often left to do). I had never experienced it, personally, somewhere before. Wouldn’t have even known to try to seek it out. But we found it and liked it enough for the reasons described above that it is a factor that will keep us here - at least for now - vs other places.
     
  14. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    Bigoted dumbass huh.
    Aight.
     
  15. kmf600

    kmf600 Energy vampire

    Yeah, I understand that. The immigrant thing just adds another level of frustration. Like I said, down here, some have come from countries that they had to do thinks they had to do to survive, and it might not be easy to adjust to the way we do things in the States.
     
  16. TennTradition

    TennTradition Super Moderator

    The only immigrant part of traffic that I don’t like is that there does tend to be a decently high number of illegal immigrants here in Houston and undocumented immigrants can’t get insurance.

    So far means we pay a lot for uninsured motorist coverage. It also means the chances of a hit and run go up. I’ve been involved in two in two years. I have no idea if they were undocumented or even immigrants, but I have had to deal with at the very least the higher frequency here.

    Off the subject of diversity and on to the subject of East Tennessee. Is there a more beautiful place in this country that affords you four seasons but not too harsh for any of them? North Carolina might tie? I left almost 15 years ago and I still can feel my body relax when I see pictures of home/East Tennessee.
     
  17. kmf600

    kmf600 Energy vampire

    Agreed on the insurance and hit and runs. Also agree on the east Tennessee stuff.
     
  18. ptclaus98

    ptclaus98 Contributor

    I learned more Spanish by taking Latin than I did taking Spanish.
     
  19. TennTradition

    TennTradition Super Moderator

    I kind of get that - but something seems off there.
     
  20. ptclaus98

    ptclaus98 Contributor

    To be fair I took Spanish for a year in middle school and high school each. And at least half the class was verb conjugation. There was a lot of that in Latin, too, but you figure out the word roots and you can piece together a puzzle easier.
     

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