Interesting comments. I agree that Trump is not obviously racist, and probably isn’t. He is a bully. He does say a lot of things that he can’t possible live up to, and will probably change these as the campaign proceeds. He is probably the most liberal of the Republican candidates. However, as a non-American, I am most troubled by the irresponsible things he says, and how poorly informed he seems to be. When he says he will slap tariffs on Carrier air-conditioners made in Mexico, or change the Libel laws so he can sue the newspapers more easily, this no doubt excites his followers. But even as President he won’t have the power to do so.
On another point, why is Vancouver required to have a certain percentage of Black people, or any other ethnic group for that matter?
Blacks as a percentage of the population in Canadians cities varies quite a bit, as does the percentage of other ethnic groups.
Those sort of “Trump comments” make the whole thing so entertaining (or sad). Even if he were never going to do anything else, he seems to have managed to make the USA a laughing-stock.
"Donald J. Trump claimed victories on Super Tuesday in seven states, from Vermont to Arkansas, and his strongest support came from places like Fall River, Mass., and Buchanan County, Va. They have little in common but economic hardship, a sense of longing for the better times they once had and an unshakable belief that a President Trump might be the answer to their troubles. "
“Mr. Teixeira’s father came to the United States from Portugal, his mother from England. He said he liked Mr. Trump’s views on immigration, as well as his straightforward talk.”
“Ms. Shrum, who edits the newsletter for the local historical society, said Mr. Trump was speaking up about the kinds of things people talk about every day.”
The source of the above excerpts:
“This Is Trump Country”
“Koch brother: Trump plan would ‘destroy free society’”
“Trump will win or lose. Either way, the Koch network will still shape the Republican Party.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/02/29/trump-may-win-or-lose-either-way-the-koch-network-will-still-shape-the-republican-party/
"The Koch brothers and their allies have made a very deliberate decision to work through the Republican Party at all levels and pull its agenda to the right. "–excerpt from the above article
“We know that the Koch network has real clout, because it has persuaded Republicans to move further toward the ultra-free-market right than most voters and even many business groups want to go.”–the same as above
Oh hello Steve. You essentially just covered my point. You’re exactly right. Vancouver doesn’t need a high Black population and I wasn’t suggesting that it should. I was using that as a parallel to Trump having a 4% rate of tenants and being insinuated as racist for it.
We can post controversial material and conspiracies on Trump all day. Every candidate has massive opposition and a great deal of people trying to make them look bad. Do you know how many articles we could post on Hilary Clinton alone? The going slogan (in red states at least ) is “Hillary for Prison”. We have to sort through all the gook and grime and do our best to see the truth, but in short I’m not saying I’m voting for Trump. What I am saying is that he has a great deal of unwarranted hate compared to other candidates. I presume it’s because he is such a dominating presence that he gets so much attention. But in my experience most people play follow the follower. They don’t search beyond the mainstream media. Behind those smiles, every candidate, Democrat or Republican has their own agenda that rarely is exactly as they say.
“Trump’s company was accused of refusing to rent to or negotiate with black tenants, changing the terms of leases based on race, and lying to black applicants about whether apartments were available.”
“As evidence that he[Trump] wasn’t racist, Trump estimated that about 700 of the 16,000 tenants in his buildings were black, a little over 4 percent. (In 1990, New York City was 25 percent black.)”
The main point is not the difference between 4% and 25%. Please see the former of the above two excerpts. I don’t think that those things described there are legal.
I read it. Again It is all too common in America. You need to live in these communities to understand. I am actually impressed with a 4% rate. Redlining is rampant especially in cities like Chicago (which I have lived in). Owners absolutely are pressured not to cater to minority populations to the same ratio. The average desired tenants are Caucasian and Asian. I’m not defending Donald Trump. This is the unfortunate demonstrable truth of this country.
The word “gossip” means “informal talk or stories about other people’s private lives, that may be unkind or not true”(OALD). I wonder which news article is an informal story about other people’s private lives. Health Care issues, the Koch network, “anatomical” jokes in public space, or racial segregation? I think they are all public issues, which, more or less, have something to do with our own private lives.
P.S.
I think that it is not very difficult to differentiate between “gossipy” news articles and “non-gossipy” ones.
Well it has more than one formal definition. “Casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true.” Not entirely the same thing.
I wasn’t aware of this 4% tenants being black issue so misunderstood your point. Agreed, ideally people just live where they want to live, with whomever they want to live
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Henry Yu, a history professor at the University of British Columbia here in Vancouver, complained in a newspaper article that parts of Vancouver were “white as the driven snow” and that people there “don’t get it” as if there was an obligation to be as “diverse” as possible. He also blamed mainstream Canadian society for the fact that he couldn’t speak Chinese although he was born in China and came to Canada as a young child. Ethnic and identity politics takes all kinds of forms.
But frankly, as a Canadian, I am less interested in what the US does internally re Health Care etc. and more interested in the foreign and trade policy that its leaders will pursue. This makes Trump with his protectionism and isolationism less appealing than candidates whose social policies I would disagree with if I were an American voter.
Thank you both for the discussion. Political correctness is as such in some Western areas that a nearly all-white community is considered racist by many people. Of all the nonsense in the world. Just about every ethnic group has their own community no matter how large or small or how many. There’s nothing wrong with it. I personally like melting pots but that’s not necessary everywhere I go.
“Political correctness” is not the cause of socal problems. We are more or less irrational and xenophobic. There should be some rules when “xenophobic people” have to discuss public or common issues. I don’t know why some people hate PC so much and enjoy bulling others. It is, of course, needless to say that “equality before the law” is different from, and more fundamental than, PC. You should not confuse PC with the more fundamental principle in modern society.
“PC is used to describe language, behaviour, and attitudes that are carefully chosen so that they do not offend or insult anyone.”(LDOSE)
A key issue is when PC gets hijacked by special interests to promote and create a society that is unrecognisable to pre-PC/thought policing times and, also, how “successfully” PC “thinking” translates into legislation. Who defines “offense”? Most of PC offends me.