h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

>racism has come a long way, but it's still a problem.

for instance, turn on the local news tonight. if there has been a crime in your area recently, then they will always have something about it. listen to what they say about the suspect. %93 of newscasts say that the suspect is black. would it interest you to know that %89 of all crimes are commited by WHITE people?

so why the huge difference?

because news in america is selling fear, and to us, the white majority, black people are scarier.

see?<

Hmmm why the huge difference? Lets see could it be that Statistics can be easily manipulated, intentionally undefined or even outright misrepresented?

Can you tell us where you got you your numbers for the 'news casters" implicating black people?

You state 89% of all crimes are commited by white people. What is the % of white to black population in your survey? What do you consider white? how did you come about your numbers?

"Thinking of *my* neighbours in my childhood..."
Dutch on one side, commercial buildings on the other, then when we were older - Maori on either side ... one of my best friends at school was called Catherine McDonald. (She was awfu' bossy...) Her mother was a Scotswoman and her father Yugoslav, and when they had married, father had decided to take mother's name - probably at least partly so he could baffle the townsfolk by being Yugoslav and surnamed McDonald!

I heard it was because they didn't trust Americans to know what 'philosopher's stone' meant...
It's like 'Schindler's List' - after Spielberg's film, the name of the book was changed - it was originally Schindler's Ark...(written by an Australian). Mind you, the name 'Schindler's List' enabled the company who make lifts (elevators) to perpetrate a lovely pun in an office building here!

>So they came to this continent and negotiated treaties recognizing the original title to the land by the aboriginal inhabitants and then proceeded to break every treaty they ever made right down to the present day and everybody's supposed to be okay with that?!!! Because "we're all immigrants"?!!!

No, THEY are all immigrants. We're native. They said so and by their Christian God they're going to be held to account for it. Because otherwise their whole precious commonwealth is nothing more than an elaborate confidence game, maybe the most deceptively elaborate con in history.

Some people I know can laugh it off I think, but I won't. THEY can represent themselves as anything they want but we know that they're liars, thieves and murderers, with a pro army to do the dirty work just like they've always been. And only THEY can change that.<

Analiese, I truly have missed your astute denuciations. I can see how 'THEY' would imflame your sense of justice. I find solice in the fact that I am not one of 'THEM'. While 'WE' disagree on much 'I' am in agreement that 'THEY' have much to answer for 'THEIR' past. actions.

Starbirth - have you ever seen Ali G? ("Is it because I is black?" No, I don't believe that *is* racist, BTW, before I inadvertently start an argument...)

>>Yet, you *can* be very pleasant sometimes! <

No need to get insulting.<<
!!! No, you are all always horrid, and mean and bitter, I should have known...

Actually I just saw a episode of it for the first time last night on HBO.

Vernacular Humor?

A white man speaking 'ebonics' is not at all that uncommon now. I would think imitating a culture or race to point out funny traits when done with the intention of honest humor is not racist. All cultures/races have their quirks.

However when done to demean and hurt it most definently is no matter what race/culture employs it.

Actually I just saw a episode of it for the first time last night on HBO.

Vernacular Humor?

A white man speaking 'ebonics' is not at all that uncommon now. I would think imitating a culture or race to point out funny traits when done with the intention of honest humor is not racist. All cultures/races have their quirks.

However when done to demean and hurt it most definently is no matter what race/culture employs it.

>Yet, you *can* be very pleasant sometimes! <

>>No need to get insulting.<<

> !!! No, you are all always horrid, and mean and bitter, I should have known... <

The makes me do it.

As long as no one is looking

"two rabid Canadian patriots"



If I am thought to be one of those two, then there are a bunch of cybercops over at CSIS and the RCMP laughing their heads off (I'm sure they've all read my file).

Before I got accused of being a Canadian patriot (hydrophobic or otherwise) I should have made it clear that the only force holding me to this state is inertia: I've not yet found anything here so uncomfortable, or anything elsewhere so attractive as to induce me to make the effort to pack up all these books and move. So, I guess if a patriot's motto is "My country, the place my parents happened to live when I was born and I don't have the energy to leave" then I'm a patriot. (maybe Mel Gibson can play me in the movie of my life. I wonder: can he foam at the mouth?)

Ali G apparently actually stands for Alistair Graham (which is a very Scottish/New Zealand name, which adds a layer of humour here, in our family at least...)
He's played by a man called Sacha Baron-Cohen, who is almost certainly related to a man called Simon Baron-Cohen, who is an expert on autism/Asperger's Syndrome, a topic I have a great professional (educational) interest in...
Plus, he's hilariously funny - Ali G that is...

>>maybe Mel Gibson can play me in the movie of my life. I wonder: can he foam at the mouth?)<<
He's well known for it, I should think..
BTW (tangentially relevant only) - anhaga, you *are* a woman, aren't you? (falls about laughing at the idea of Mel in drag..)

I think of him in "Braveheart" of course. But didn't he do drag in some film? He must have. I mean, apart from the kilt.

The joke about Ali G. isn't about black culture at all. It's about the appropriation of black culture by a white popualtion attempting to be 'cool' and 'hip'.

Of course, it's also become something about the absurd reactions of thos ein positions of authority to white man claiming to be black...

I think there was an element of socratic irony to Baron-Cohen's act aswell, at least there was until the Ali G thing became ubiquitous and, IMHO kinda tired.

By which I mean that 'Borat' for example, the consummate abroad, enquired into cultural practices in ways that provided opportunities to give away telling indications of the attitudes of their protagonists.


His interview with the huntsman was a good example of that.

'It ehhhh, makes you feel, ehhh, a big man, eh?'

(close up on mounted huntsman)

'Mmm. Indeed it does.'

*Heavy sigh*. The missing word was consummate i n n o c e n t abroad.

I actually thought the gem of the last series was Bruno the Austrian fashion reporter getting some clown fashion industry spokeman to opine that fashion was as important as hopspitals or some such...

""per capita, canada takes in more immigrants than any other country in the world and has for several years" - There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. In this case, the stats are easily made misleading with "per capita." Let's not lose sight of the fact that Canada is a vast country with a tiny population. That skews per capita statistics by a huge margin." -- Blatherskite the Mugwump

I'm not sure I grasp how you can skew per capita statistics by any margin.

I think your argument is based on the assertion that population density is the chief factor that influences Canada's willingness to accept immigrants. If so, where's the proof?

I'm not saying that per capita stats are being skewed. I'm saying that, by taking the stats and interpreting them into per capita stats, they're automatically skewed.

If you have 300 people in a town, and 10 people move in, that's a huge jump, per capita. If 10 people move into a town with 4000, that town isn't any less welcoming, despite the fact that per capita immigration is much lower.

Get the idea?

Population density is not the chief factor that influences Canada's willingness to accept immigrants. It is the chief factor in making the statistics look as though Canada is more accepting than anyone else.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

For the sake of a simple example, let's petend Canada has 10 million people and the USA has 100 million (neither of which is true, I know).

In one given year let's say that Canada takes in one immigrant for every 10 people, and so allows 1 million people in every year.

Let's say that the USA takes in one immigrant for every 20 people and so allows 5 million people in every year.

Both countries are letting loads of people in, but Canada is obviously suffering a greater strain on its resources. That's per capita.

With much less viable land to spread out with, Canada's immigration policies (if these statistics are true) could lead them into trouble, as their population could begin to balloon with less and less room to house everyone. At least most of the USA is relatively habitable, and so can handle immigration in pure numbers, if not at a higher rate.

So you see, Blatherskite, these statistics might not be lies at all. But Canada may pay for their immigration laws in the long term.