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Messages - I hear America singing

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1
Black Law Student Discussion Board / Re: Kanye West Comment
« on: September 06, 2005, 06:35:52 PM »
A few points:

I think the government could have moved faster- I don't think anyone denies that.

HOWEVER:

There is a mentality among many people that the government's job is to rescue people during times of disaster.  That might be their job, but only the true penniless and/or foolish take that piece of advice as anything other than a back-up plan.  If a burglar is breaking into my home, I'm not going to sit on my hands while the police arrive.  I'm grabbing the shotgun.

I feel for the people who truly couldn't leave the city, but I think the numbers who stayed behind would have been MUCH lower had the people known what was going to happen.  If Russia had announced that New Orleans would be hit by an atom bomb in 24 hours, I can assure you everyone that could would have gotten off their asses and walked out of the city with items on their back.  Should the government had bussed them out- sure- but I wouldn't be hanging around waiting to hear the engines.

Hell, I could have walked 30 miles in a day if I had to.  That would have been smarter than staying in a dome with 25,000 other people.

My wife and I have decided to put off having children until we can afford them.  I won't judge other people, but I feel that for me, it would be irresponsible to have children that I can't afford to evacuate.  If I lived on an alligator farm, I wouldn't have kids if I couldn't afford a shotgun (or some anti-gator spray).

This was about money, not race.  I assure you that the rich black lawyers and doctors got the hell out of town just as fast as the rich white people.  The fact that the majority of victims were poor and black leads to a discussion where the causes stem back decades upon decades...

Many of the people at the Superdome did a rough cost/benefit analysis, and decided to stay.  Leaving would have liquidated their entire life's savings, so they decided the benefit didn't outweigh the potential risk.  They were, sadly, wrong.  I'm sure if they had it to do over again they would have chosen to leave.

To summarize- if everyone who could have evacuated would have, the rescue effort would have been far easier.  I guarantee you that the next time a Cat 4 hurricane heads toward New Orleans, a lot more "poor" people will get the hell out of Dodge.

(Once again, I acknowledge that some of the people could not have realistically have left.  However, I think many of them who stayed behind could have done so- if they had been hellbent on leaving.)

2
Black Law Student Discussion Board / Re: Slang, Black English, Ghetto talk, etc.
« on: July 28, 2005, 11:01:58 AM »
Quote from: Roxie on July 28, 2005, 10:57:35 AM
Damn - I was hoping to sit next to you in Torts!!! :D :D

Quote

I would not attend such a law school, for the same reasons I wouldn't attend one where the students walked up and said "Get 'r Done."  It's not professional, and in a career where words have to be precise, it's bad practice to let our verbal prowess turn lax.
Quote

You don't have the mens rea to keep up with me.

3
Black Law Student Discussion Board / Re: Slang, Black English, Ghetto talk, etc.
« on: July 28, 2005, 10:56:29 AM »
Quote from: Regal_Muse on July 28, 2005, 10:53:45 AM
I hear America..my friend there are people who talk like that to their professors.


 8)

I would not attend such a law school, for the same reasons I wouldn't attend one where the students walked up and said "Get 'r Done."  It's not professional, and in a career where words have to be precise, it's bad practice to let our verbal prowess turn lax.

4
Black Law Student Discussion Board / Re: Slang, Black English, Ghetto talk, etc.
« on: July 28, 2005, 10:52:29 AM »
I'll give five bucks to any one who walks up to their black law school professor after class and says, "Yo Yo Yo what's the deallio in this piece man?"

If Faith2005 is correct, they will respond in kind without blinking an eye, or at the very least, revert to Ebonics.

5
General Off-Topic Board / Re: DNA test for bigfoot...
« on: July 28, 2005, 10:47:48 AM »
Julie likes to frame debate in such a way that it's both illogical and conducive to her victory.  I think the two are connected, but I'm not sure...

6
Black Law Student Discussion Board / Re: Slang, Black English, Ghetto talk, etc.
« on: July 28, 2005, 10:46:02 AM »
Quote from: ClaireHuxtable2005 on July 28, 2005, 10:41:58 AM
Quote from: I hear America singing on July 28, 2005, 10:32:02 AM
Your tired of debating "can not" because I won.  I'd be tired if I got beat, too.

"Ebonics" doesn't exist as a race-based language.  A white person raised in a family that speaks Ebonics will learn to speak as they do.  It's cultural- the fact that most of the time the culture is predominately one race is incidental and curious, not indicative of a marker for the dialect.

"Your" or "You're"?  Hmmm...again, verrry interesting.

I'm not going to continue debating "can not" with you because it's stupid and I have work to do.  You can debate spaces between two N's with someone else.  You can do that stuff at your law school.

You'll notice, if you read my posts, that I never said "Ebonics" is racial.  That's because race is a myth.  I said it was ethnically-based, and I stand behind that point.  If you raised a Black child in a Spanish-speaking family, the child would learn to speak Spanish.  That doesn't eliminate the language's ethnic and cultural significance.

verrry?

We can nitpick idiosyncracies and typos all day, that's not the point.  I won the debate about "can not"; you can lie to yourself if you want.

7
General Off-Topic Board / Re: DNA test for bigfoot...
« on: July 28, 2005, 10:42:56 AM »
Quote from: judic on July 28, 2005, 10:40:42 AM
Quote from: I hear America singing on July 28, 2005, 10:35:21 AM
Quote from: Julie Fern on July 28, 2005, 10:32:30 AM
Quote from: I hear America singing on July 28, 2005, 10:27:40 AM
http://www.oregonbigfoot.com/newsletter/01_05.php

While the top half of the website is biased, the bottom half concerning the interview with Meldrum is very objective and scientific. He very calmly and quietly gives reason after reason why he thinks Bigfoot exists.

julie saw it earlier.  that really best you got:  newsletter (that you admit contains "biased" material) of some bigfoot organization?  not even single peer-reviewed article?  my, my.

well, you at least provided evidence that meldrum thinks bigfoot may exist.  where he stand on unicorns?

It's kinda difficult to find peer-reviewed material when the majority of scientists won't touch the issue with a ten foot pole.  Try finding a peer-reviewed article on fairies- the presence or absence of which changes nothing about the fact of whether they exist or not.

Before this I was still willing to read your arguments, but now you bring up the fairies again with another horrible argument and destroyed the last sliver of credibility you had.  You let me know in 20 years if we have DEFINITIVE AND CONCLUSIVE evidence that bigfoot exists with scientists who say they ABSOLUTELY believe that bigfoot does exist opposed to saying "it's a possibility."

Ah, there's the rub.

Science can prove nothing definitively.

Nothing.

8
Black Law Student Discussion Board / Re: Slang, Black English, Ghetto talk, etc.
« on: July 28, 2005, 10:39:26 AM »
faith2005:

Do you actually believe that every single African-American in the United States uses slang when they are around other African-Americans?  This is absurd on its face.  Surely there are some exceptions.  Are they as "black" as you are, or have they "sold out?"  For speaking the "white" way, do you ostracize them from your group?

And what about the small percentage of white people who have adopted Ebonics?  Doesn't this mean that Ebonics is not a race-based form of communication?  If a white person tries to speak in Ebonics, is he struck by lightning or does he just turn black?

9
General Off-Topic Board / Re: DNA test for bigfoot...
« on: July 28, 2005, 10:35:21 AM »
Quote from: Julie Fern on July 28, 2005, 10:32:30 AM
Quote from: I hear America singing on July 28, 2005, 10:27:40 AM
http://www.oregonbigfoot.com/newsletter/01_05.php

While the top half of the website is biased, the bottom half concerning the interview with Meldrum is very objective and scientific. He very calmly and quietly gives reason after reason why he thinks Bigfoot exists.

julie saw it earlier.  that really best you got:  newsletter (that you admit contains "biased" material) of some bigfoot organization?  not even single peer-reviewed article?  my, my.

well, you at least provided evidence that meldrum thinks bigfoot may exist.  where he stand on unicorns?

It's kinda difficult to find peer-reviewed material when the majority of scientists won't touch the issue with a ten foot pole.  Try finding a peer-reviewed article on fairies- the presence or absence of which changes nothing about the fact of whether they exist or not.

10
Black Law Student Discussion Board / Re: Slang, Black English, Ghetto talk, etc.
« on: July 28, 2005, 10:32:02 AM »
Quote from: ClaireHuxtable2005 on July 28, 2005, 10:20:37 AM
Quote from: I hear America singing on July 28, 2005, 10:05:11 AM
Quote from: ClaireHuxtable2005 on July 28, 2005, 09:50:43 AM
Quote from: I hear America singing on July 28, 2005, 09:46:07 AM
Cannot or Can Not?
According to Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, "Both spellings are acceptable, but cannot is more frequent in current use. Chambers 1985 insists that cannot must be used in British English unless the not is to receive particular emphasis. A couple of American sources (Oxford American Dictionary 1980, Trimble 1975) mention that the two-word form can be used to indicate special emphasis.... "Can you jump? I can not, says the sergeant" (219).

Are you arguing that OP was trying to indicate special emphasis?  Because according to this source, "can not" is acceptable but is not the most appropriate choice here.

Did you read the passage, or just infer your own meaning into the text?

"Both spellings are acceptable, but cannot is more frequent in current use."

Everything that follows is a caveat that doesn't have to apply or a corollary that isn't applicable.

I cannot believe you don't understand this concept.

I can not believe you don't understand this concept.

I'm tired of debating "can not" with you.  Let's just see how smart everyone thinks you and the OP are for using it.  As for me and my house, we'll be using "cannot." :P

Funny that this seems to be a clever decoy for avoiding addressing the larger issue - "Black English", whether it exists, and whether it is socioeconomic, ethnic, or a combination of the two.  Just admit that you were handily PWN3D on this point, and crawl on back to lurkerdom.

Your tired of debating "can not" because I won.  I'd be tired if I got beat, too.

"Ebonics" doesn't exist as a race-based language.  A white person raised in a family that speaks Ebonics will learn to speak as they do.  It's cultural- the fact that most of the time the culture is predominately one race is incidental and curious, not indicative of a marker for the dialect.

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