I'm a White Christian Male - AMA

[JPhillips]

I'll take the tarcone challenge!

Fire away.

[panerd]

The liberal echo chamber continues into a spin off thread... fantastic...

[Butter]

Watch it, JPhillips, you're TOTALLY going to scare off some "moderate" voters! They were ABSOLUTELY considering voting Dem in the election that's a year and a half away until you created your sarcastic thread.

Also, what's it like in your bubble?

[JPhillips]

I'm glad you asked. My bubble is pretty great. It's air conditioned, which was really helpful last week. My dog also lives there, so I always have a friend.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I'll take the tarcone challenge!

Fire away.

What's your credit card information?

[JPhillips]

Can't fool me! After running up too much debt, largely from an adoption, I haven't used a credit card in years.

[lungs]

On a scale of 1-10, how difficult is being a white Christian male today?

[JPhillips]

1 or 10 depending on which end of the scale is worse. You saw it in this very thread, where the first response was an attack. That's every day for me and people like me.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

1 or 10 depending on which end of the scale is worse. You saw it in this very thread, where the first response was an attack. That's every day for me and people like me.

Wrong answer. It’s a minimum 11.

[Lathum]

whats it like to lose YOUR country (stress the your) after so vigorously defending it for hundreds of years?

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by lungs

Wrong answer. It’s a minimum 11.

lol

I was joking. It's actually been pretty easy as a white, Christian male. I have a good family, good job, house, cars. One of my big problems is that my dog has started pooping in the house, but I don't think that's a hate crime.

If you could walk a mile in my shoes, you probably wouldn't because it's more comfortable to sit inside and waste the day away.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Lathum

whats it like to lose YOUR country (stress the your) after so vigorously defending it for hundreds of years?

How old do you think I am?

Here's where I will get a little more serious, though.

I grew up in a small town in southern Ohio. I don't recall any Hispanics, and I'd guess there were less than fifty African-Americans. Pretty much everyone was poor to middle class and white, including my family. I just accepted that everyone should accommodate the majority of white Christians in town. That's not to say the town was filled with bad people, because it wasn't and isn't, but a lack of interaction with different tribes made the place insular and isolated. That was me until I went to college.

Now, I live close enough to NYC to visit whenever I choose. When I'm surrounded by people of different ethnicities, speaking different languages, celebrating different cultures, etc. I'm not frightened. I don't want to live in an homogeneous country where everyone is pretty much like me. At times that makes things initially more difficult to understand and it requires more effort from me to navigate interactions, but my life is so much richer because a lot of the country isn't like me.

I get the fear in a lot of these rural communities. It's hard to live the American dream when all the jobs leave. Drugs and suicide are killing way too many people who choose to stay in these communities. The kids that leave either don't come back, or they are permanently a little different than those who stayed. A way of life is dying.

But change is inevitable. Nothing lasts forever. And that change isn't being driven by faceless liberals, and conservative politicians and pundits can't save you.

[larrymcg421]

Originally Posted by panerd

The liberal echo chamber continues into a spin off thread... fantastic...

JPhillips,

What's your plan to deal with this serious issue? Recruitment of conservatives? Excising of liberals? Switching to the Gold Standard?

[JPhillips]

Threads are a renewable resource, free to all. Go forth and make as many as you want!

[stevew]

Have you ever had an experience where you were driving through a questionable area late at night. Maybe you were going 5mph over the speed limit and a cop ALMOST stopped you? I’m sure it was stressful and the worst thing ever.

[JPhillips]

Funny story.

When I lived in Boston during grad school my wife got sick and severely dehydrated. She was so dehydrated her hands started curling up. I drove around looking for a hospital, finally pulling into what I thought was the right place.

Red lights come on and I stop and wait for the officer, confused and a little panicked due to my wife's curling hands. I turn to look at the officer and he has his gun drawn and pointed at my head.

That was a little stressful.

[molson]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

It's actually been pretty easy as a white, Christian male. I have a good family, good job, house, cars.

There are many white people who don't have those things. To be fair, it must frustrating to face the struggles of poverty but constantly be told that you're privileged and you're what's wrong with the country - usually by much wealthier white people who certainly are going to take any advantage they can for the good of their families, even if those advantages contribute to the wealth gap they rail against.

[NobodyHere]

Next question:

Who is the hottest US Senator?

[stevew]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Funny story.

When I lived in Boston during grad school my wife got sick and severely dehydrated. She was so dehydrated her hands started curling up. I drove around looking for a hospital, finally pulling into what I thought was the right place.

Red lights come on and I stop and wait for the officer, confused and a little panicked due to my wife's curling hands. I turn to look at the officer and he has his gun drawn and pointed at my head.

That was a little stressful.

But then he holstered it and gave you the secret white guy high five I’m sure.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Next question:

Who is the hottest US Senator?

Obviously you meant to phrase this question as “dream US senator threesome”

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Funny story.

When I lived in Boston during grad school my wife got sick and severely dehydrated. She was so dehydrated her hands started curling up. I drove around looking for a hospital, finally pulling into what I thought was the right place.

Red lights come on and I stop and wait for the officer, confused and a little panicked due to my wife's curling hands. I turn to look at the officer and he has his gun drawn and pointed at my head.

That was a little stressful.

Yikes, what part of Boston was that?

Originally Posted by stevew

Obviously you meant to phrase this question as “dream US senator threesome”

Gary Hart approves.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by molson

There are many white people who don't have those things. To be fair, it must frustrating to face the struggles of poverty but constantly be told that you're privileged and you're what's wrong with the country - usually by much wealthier white people who certainly are going to take any advantage they can for the good of their families, even if those advantages contribute to the wealth gap they rail against.

Yeah, I have similarly conflicted feelings particularly about the word 'privilege'. I think it's a completely fitting and accurate term to use when discussing groups or collectives, but it's also a label that any individual is going to reject. Regardless of history, telling any poor struggling individual that they are operating from a position of collective privilege is a hard sell, to say the least.

[lungs]

Does the following ring true to anybody else here? When a black kid moved to our school the inevitable first question everybody was asking each other is whether the kid was a good basketball player.

Going to college was a big eye opener for me. Especially in that I went a school fairly close to the Twin Cities and we had a healthy population of African refugees (Somali, Sudan, Ethiopia) at our school. A few I consider to be friends to this day. But then I wonder if I got too positive of a perception in that the only refugees I was exposed to were the ones furthering their education?

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by lungs

Going to college was a big eye opener for me. Especially in that I went a school fairly close to the Twin Cities and we had a healthy population of African refugees (Somali, Sudan, Ethiopia) at our school. A few I consider to be friends to this day. But then I wonder if I got too positive of a perception in that the only refugees I was exposed to were the ones furthering their education?

Working in the back of a kitchen introduced me to tons of Mexican immigrants. Most of them were uneducated, and the great majority of them worked 50+ hours a week, lived in tiny apartments well over the residency limit, and sent every bit of their disposable income back to Mexico to take care of their families. A couple were felons on probation. There were a couple of youngsters claiming to be MS-13, 18th Street, Surenos or Nortenos. They ALL worked so much harder than me or any other white dude. YMMV.

[larrymcg421]

To be fair, there is a white privilege problem on the left wing as well. Much of my distaste for the left wing of the party (despite my own left wing beliefs) has been the attempt to minimize the role of race and make it all about money. They don't see how race is an issue at all income levels.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by thesloppy

Yeah, I have similarly conflicted feelings particularly about the word 'privilege'. I think it's a completely fitting and accurate term to use when discussing groups or collectives, but it's also a label that any individual is going to reject. Regardless of history, telling any poor struggling individual that they are operating from a position of collective privilege is a hard sell, to say the least.

This is actually where intersectionality is a good term (even though some of those same people will deride it). You can be a dirt poor white man, but you get far more privileges in life for being that than you do for being a dirt poor black man. When poor white people bristle at being called priviledged, they compare themselves to rich black people (a lot), not realizing that wealth is also a privilege. They don't realize that an economically similarly situated black person is far more oppressed than they are.

Sure it may be a hard sell, but it's also true.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Next question:

Who is the hottest US Senator?

Is there any question that it's Sinema?

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Yikes, what part of Boston was that?

We lived in Brighton, so it couldn't have been too far from there. The"hospital" turned out to be a nursing home, so that didn't work.

The cop gave what felt like a B.S. justification even then, you have the same car as someone reported... Still didn't give him license to come at me with a gun. But, i was damned cooperative and didn't get shot.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Is there any question that it's Sinema?

Kamala Harris ain't too far though. Of course, if you lean the other way, Cory Booker enters the picture.

[Kodos]

I think Kamala is attractive.

[JPhillips]

I'm drawn to Sinema's quirky style.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

This is actually where intersectionality is a good term (even though some of those same people will deride it). You can be a dirt poor white man, but you get far more privileges in life for being that than you do for being a dirt poor black man. When poor white people bristle at being called privileged, they compare themselves to rich black people (a lot), not realizing that wealth is also a privilege. They don't realize that an economically similarly situated black person is far more oppressed than they are.

Sure it may be a hard sell, but it's also true.

Yeah, I sure don't want to give the impression that I don't think it's true, for whatever that is worth. I just think that every poor individual likely has many specific concerns that make it practically impossible for them to accept the label of privileged, even applied collectively. Even if they are able to compare themselves to someone in the exact same socioeconomic level they probably aren't going to give that hypothetical person the same micro-concerns (e.g. alimony payments, massive credit card debt, judgments, liens, wage garnishments, etc.) that pushes someone to dismiss any possibility of their individual privilege.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

We lived in Brighton, so it couldn't have been too far from there. The"hospital" turned out to be a nursing home, so that didn't work.

The cop gave what felt like a B.S. justification even then, you have the same car as someone reported... Still didn't give him license to come at me with a gun. But, i was damned cooperative and didn't get shot.

To be fair, if there is a city where a white guy driving around late might be a gangbanger and packing, it's Boston.

[Toddzilla]

How does it feel to be part of the most overwhelmingly privileged class of people in the world?

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

To be fair, if there is a city where a white guy driving around late might be a gangbanger and packing, it's Boston.

You see, more slander against white males from Boston! Since the last remaining white gangbangers like Whitey and Marky Mark fled the state for California 25 years ago we're just like every other city where the majority of homicides and gang activity is concentrated in the poorest, majority African-American or immigrant communities like Mattapan and Roxbury. The white people who could just left the city & its forced busing for the suburbs, now their kids and grandkids have come back in and pushed out all the poor white people in places Hollywood likes to glorify like Southie, Dorchester, Somerville & Charlestown.

[Edward64]

Stay tuned, I'll have a special Hot of Not on Sinema and Kamala ... possibly a face-off. Public poll of course.

[Edward64]

What valid opinion(s), if any, do you believe White Christian males have against current state of illegal immigration?

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

How does it feel to be part of the most overwhelmingly privileged class of people in the world?

It's been great. I'm sure I've gotten opportunities that I didn't even realize.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Edward64

What valid opinion(s), if any, do you believe White Christian males have against current state of illegal immigration?

Can't speak for everyone.

Me, personally, I'm fine with immigration laws, although I think we need more, not less due to shrinking native born population. I'm mostly fine with a Bush style package, but I'm a little flexible on details. Where I'm inflexible is in treating other children of God with respect and dignity. The kidnapping and torture of children is an abomination. Holding adults in cold, packed cells and denying them basic hygiene is evil.

Cruelty is a choice, and we should always strive to treat people as we would wish to be treated.

[Brian Swartz]

That's more or less where I come down. You can't have the kind of policing Trump wants, the asylum laws we have, and humane treatment of people at the border at the same time. The main problem as I see it is that we haven't had any kind of sensible coherent overall immigration approach in many decades, and right know we're just a little bit more willing to be extreme in how we do things due to who is making the decisions in the current administration.

[BishopMVP]

I liked most of what this article says. David Frum: How Much Immigration Is Too Much? - The Atlantic Increase legal immigration spots, focus more on stealing the best people from other countries we can and less on haphazardly opening asylum spots for whatever flavor of the year crisis is happening or giving priority to extended family members, and understand that many of the demographic changes that people in that segment hate aren't due to illegal immigration they're due to birth rates of people who are already here legally. I don't support amnesty's because I think they're unfair to people who are in the backlogged queue trying to do things the right way, and since there's no such thing as a one time amnesty in American politics it probably would encourage other immigrants to come here illegally and hope another administration does it again in a decade.

Treating people better at the border and in detention facilities should happen too, but honestly I think that's more tied in to prison reform than immigration policy.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Increase legal immigration spots, focus more on stealing the best people from other countries we can

It makes so much sense to give preference to highly educated immigrants and encourage them to come/stay, become citizens. I'm all for holistic immigration reform but this one aspect should/could be fast tracked (assuming security concerns can be addressed).

Got a PhD from an accredited US University, here you go. A Dr. from India, pass the necessary boards and here you go. A Nurse from Philippines, a CERN scientist, a Chinese AI researcher etc. Currently, they all have paths to legally immigrate but lets expand and make it faster & easier.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

I liked most of what this article says. David Frum: How Much Immigration Is Too Much? - The Atlantic Increase legal immigration spots, focus more on stealing the best people from other countries we can and less on haphazardly opening asylum spots for whatever flavor of the year crisis is happening or giving priority to extended family members, and understand that many of the demographic changes that people in that segment hate aren't due to illegal immigration they're due to birth rates of people who are already here legally. I don't support amnesty's because I think they're unfair to people who are in the backlogged queue trying to do things the right way, and since there's no such thing as a one time amnesty in American politics it probably would encourage other immigrants to come here illegally and hope another administration does it again in a decade.

Treating people better at the border and in detention facilities should happen too, but honestly I think that's more tied in to prison reform than immigration policy.

I'm a realist. There's no way to get rid of eleven million people, so there needs to be a plan that recognizes that fact.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I'm a realist. There's no way to get rid of eleven million people, so there needs to be a plan that recognizes that fact.

Although I will be happy with deporting the estimated 820K of 11M that have criminal convictions (understanding there may be some exceptions) and am sympathetic to DACA, I don't see why we can't "get rid" of many, many more.

Can we get rid of all 11M, no. Can we get rid of more than 820K, sure. Can we do this humanely enough to satisfy left-wingers, no. What's the target, don't know but I'll swag at 20-40%. Keep in mind the 820K is all unauthorized, so its white, black, yellow, brown etc. from all over the world.

For south of the border, expanded guest worker program along with severe penalties on the demand side, and also increased targeted economic aid to countries impacted most are some keys IMO.

[JPhillips]

If they deport 1000 a day(which is far more than can be done), and nobody else were to enter the country illegally, it would take 11,000 days to deport 11,000,000 people. And that doesn't even factor in how many billions of dollars it would take to do that.

It can't be done, and anyone telling you it can is lying.

[Edward64]

Start with the 820K, maybe it'll pick up steam after the first year.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I'm a realist. There's no way to get rid of eleven million people, so there needs to be a plan that recognizes that fact.

I don't live in a state that borders Mexico & don't spend as much time as I used to around restaurant's that would hire illegal immigrants, but 11 million illegal immigrants seems like a high number. That would be 1 in 30 Americans! Plus I do know many people counted in the illegal stats are not planning to stay here or overstayed visa's... That said, yeah even if it's 5 million it isn't feasible to expect them to be rounded up & deported. I'm just cool letting them live in a grey area & sweat or risk deportation if they ever have an interaction with police. I'm not cool with jumping them ahead of many other people who have followed the rules & waited patiently.