Is it just ignorance or is trollery responsible for the "Northam shouldn't be punished for

[Atticus]

35 year old racism" threads? No, I am not going to waste anyone's time repeating the numerous and obvious reasons why Klan robes and blackface are NOT ok now and weren't in 1984. But, I have to confess that, if some of these "explanations" are not posted by trolls, I am torn between "DUH!" and "Jesus H. Christ.! What does this say about US?" as an appropriate response".

Any attempt by a white guy like me to "explain" how that photo made a black person feel would be a pretentious failure. I can imagine it, but I will never "know". Isn't that obvious? So, why do you people---you Northam defenders---feel qualified to explain that what he did wasn't really so bad or after all these years, it doesn't really matter any more?

Not so bad or doesn't matter any more TO WHOM?

If you white folks can't genuinely make up your mind about this event, can you not bring yourselves to believe our black brothers and sisters who have told us that these photos---and the excusing of them by some they counted as friends and allies---were an emotional dagger driven into their souls? Are the victims of the discrimination and those made the butt of this ignorant "joke" somehow not competent to tell us of their pain?

Look up the word "empathy". Think about it. It may be a stretch at first, but you can do it.

[msongs]

1. did he lie?. he could have said yes that was him and it was wrong etc but from what I have

seen about it he lied. honest, reliable, and trustworthy? nope

[Stinky The Clown]

2. I think some of the threads are ignorance (to use your term) but are some are genuine trolls

RW or even GRU trolls. Right here in River City.

[Atticus]

3. I'd rather it be trolls. But, some have been here for a quite a while. nt

[Stinky The Clown]

4. To be sure

[democratisphere]

6. Since when does a self righteous position

make an opposing position owned by trolls?!

[Atticus]

12. Who said that? nt

[Jeffersons Ghost]

34. K&R for a 5th rec, which took a long time, unlike redundant OPs on the topic w/ FAR more recs

[cbdo2007]

7. May be just difference of opinion...

Which from your viewpoint I'm sure means ignorance.

I'm a lifelong Dem who just feels like in this scenario he shouldn't be punished for this from so long ago.

[Rustyeye77]

13. I totally agree

Does his next 35 years mean anything ? Apparently not

No forgiveness.
No relativism
No looking at his life.

Just slice and dice and feel good about it...even if occurred THREE AND A HALF DECADES AGO.

[Atticus]

23. I have never said he should not be forgiven if he has genuinely changed and accepts

responsibility for the pain he has caused. I have said be should not be governor. But. I have a question for you: why do we need to forgive him? He says "that ain't me!

Do you disagree with the governor? Or are you conceding that he is a liar?

[cbdo2007]

27. It says more about a person that they had faults and have

Changed than for people who pretend they have been perfect since they were born.

[TheRealNorth]

8. I posted this in another thread, so my apolgies if you already saw it

But would you also demand the immediate resignation of an African American politician if, in their youth, wore a NWA t-shirt or went to a NWA concert?

Because, if you ever listened to music that glorified misogyny (among other things), you should be immediately cast out?

[Maru Kitteh]

10. Oh good cheezusfuckingchrist.

That question alone fucking REEEEEEEEKS of clueless white privilege.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. Next we will be hearing why we can't say the N word too.

[Atticus]

11. This is a joke, right? nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. LOLZ

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. NWA was dope.

[EffieBlack]

21. You had the nerve to REPOST this?

Wow.

An apology is in order. But not for the repetition but because you said it in the first place.

[Codeine]

22. Just. . . goddamn. nt

[mcar]

24. WOW

Whataboutism at its peak.

[LexVegas]

25. WTF

[Spider Jerusalem]

32. Guessing you don't own any Stones albums, then?

[Maru Kitteh]

9. I'm going with 50/50 on that one.

[NutmegYankee]

14. I think it's just a difference of opinion, or perhaps extreme partisanship (always support team)

People weigh ideas and values differently since their life experiences are different. No Democrat agrees on every single issue exactly inline with others.

[Iggo]

17. It's not just ignorance.

[bobbieinok]

20. Yes, that's the question. TO WHOM does it not matter?!!!

[trixie2]

26. Here is my take

He wasn't a child or even a teenager. He was in medical school and a grown adult. At his press pool thing it was his wife that had to tell him that doing the moonwalk would be inappropriate.

I forgive kids and teens because their family is pretty much their world and they may be pressured to stick with the family motto, so to speak.

This hits me differently. I was upset about Franklin because I thought, and still do, that he was railroaded by the girl who did the exact thing she accused him of on men on the tour.

[DonCoquixote]

28. I have no doubt that there is some troller involved

after all many of the most vocal defenders of Virginia Gov. had to be people with less than 2000 posts. Fever said people were hiding all along, or some figured out there are going to set up shop. either way, it is suspicious, and the words of people who have not posted here should not be given the same weight as people who were already in the 5000+ club.

However, the other truth is the fact that many of these people are veterans of summer disputes about race. Some of them are the same ones who moan about the evils of "identity" politics, and how they will cause us to lose traction with those coveted "working-class white voters." Many of them are the people who say "the Virginia governor can't be racist, he stops the GOP from doing things that hurt black people." As if not actively doing something to harm people makes use somehow worthy of an award. this group seems to think that they deserve deference because somehow they know what is better for black or brown people. Let me ask you, when somebody going into politics does not even feel the need to at least look at the more unsavory sides of her past and do damage control less to pay somehow in the GOP in what is called "ratf****g", is that not "privilege?" I mean the Virginia black voters that, let's not forget, put this man into office, are expected to fall on their swords while the GOP get to laugh, and gain strength from that.

For all this talk of real politics I hear, why is it that we can go ahead and know that the Afro-Americans are possibly our most loyal voting block, the ones that actually helped to put us back in the house majority, the ones that gave us Nancy Pelosi, the ones that gave us Barack Obama, and oh yes even Bill Clinton, and yet they are expected to act more like servants been full-blooded participants. If we're going to vanquish this energized Trump base, we're going to need to give black and brown voters a reason to stepping across the huge firewalls that are already being set. Telling them "you've got to do what we tell you to because we know you have nowhere else to go" is not be inspiring message you need to stare down people or you're going to use bureaucracy to choke you out, or outright encourage all these "lone gunman" that already using pictures of people that look like you for target practice.

It is one thing to say "let's not rush to judgment", is another thing to use that to really say "don't threaten my comfort." And yes, people can indeed change, and Virginia Gov. would not be the first person to of been a Republican who became a Democrat. But oh yes, you have every right to that them, and we have every right to demand that they that themselves because they should know by the very nature of what they're doing that the GOP will target them for rat business. If this Virginia governor was so naïve to think that he could just hope that no one had that photo, he was not merely a full, he was an arrogant fool, because there were people who had lost their positions for being far less careless.

And please, why no I cannot call out individual posters thanks to the terms of service agreement, I really do not want to hear any more about how supposedly this is not considered a bad thing back in his day. I'm not that much younger than the governor. And I will admit my high school had about three Afro Americans in the whole campus, and I was one of five Latinos. If anyone tried doing this sort of stunt, there would have been hell to pay. The governor was a 25-year-old graduate student at the time he did this, barely a few years from getting to operate on people, if he had such a bad judgment back then, he sure as hell need to make a better effort to get some better judgment by the time he decided to run for political office.

[happybird]

29. Playing Devil's Advocate: Tulsi Gabbard's hateful past

She was forgiven for her disgusting, offensive homophobic stances and actions. She supported "conversion therapy," fought against marriage equality, and was a long-time member of an anti-gay "church." It doesn't get much more ugly, homophobic and discriminatory than that, other than outright violence (which "conversion therapy" is, so...)

She was advocating for these awful things in the early 2000's. That's obviously much more recent than 1984. But, she claims to have had a change of heart while in the military. People believed her and the party forgave her to the point that she's a Congressperson, was a Vice Chair of the DNC (a position she chose to step down from), and is now running for President.

Why was she forgiven and allowed a political career by Dems? Where is the dogpile and calls for her to step down because of her hateful, ugly past? How is Northam's case different?

(I think Northam should resign. I feel he has changed, judging by the things he said and did during the campaign, but his presser and backtracking the other day were shit. And I think Gabbard doesn't stand a snowball's chance of getting the nomination)

[delisen]

30. Sinners in the Hand of An Angry God!

Here is something happening today ( 2017 to present) you might be able to address and change for the better:

It is the racial harassment of Kiah Morris, first black female legislator in Vermont has had to resign her seat of fear for her safety and that of her family.
It seems incredible Vermont hasn't quite figured out how to end the harassment and make it a safe place for an African American legislator.

https://www.benningtonbanner.com/stories/ag-racial-harassment-but-no-laws-broken,561604Lawton his

voice halting at times with emotion, read a list of the online messages Morris had received, including, "thanks for resigning, now please leave my state;" "the only place you're going to be safe is Africa;" "better to heed the warnings than be eliminated," and "she is trying to promote white genocide in Vermont."

Also attending were some local critics of Morris, including Kevin Hoyt, former Republican House candidate in the Bennington 2-1 District, who said she has falsely exaggerated an image of Bennington and Vermont as racist in interviews with regional and national media.

"I call bull---- on Ms. Morris," he said at one point, drawing boos and shouted comments from many in the crowd.

Hoyt has maintained that he was himself discriminated against when unfairly labeled a Nazi after criticizing Morris over gun control issues, and said he was the target of a written death threat during his campaign.

And Max Misch, who posted a vulgar racist cartoon and message aimed at Morris on Twitter in 2016 and has admitted to being a racist and to "trolling" her online and at public events, entered the hall toward the end of the news conference. T

[customerserviceguy]

31. I believe

some people seriously believe what they say about Northam being OK on this.

I don't agree with them, but I respect the sincerity of their belief, no matter how wrongheaded I believe it to be.

[Atticus]

33. "Some people seriously believe" in Bigfoot and some "seriously" believe the world is flat. nt

[customerserviceguy]

35. There are

flat earthers all around the globe, you know.

All kidding aside, your comparisons to this are apples and oranges. Nobody is arguing the fact of the existence of the yearbook pages, both the military one with the disparaging term, and the much more offensive med school one with the images. All that is in dispute here is what should be done today about something that absolutely happened decades ago.