Opinions Not Allowed

Then you better get off the net completely then. If you think social media is all that's tracked you are an eternal optimist.

And please don't toss an accusation at me again of not operating on facts. I am a very logical and critical thinker and trust nothing at face value. I form my own opinions, as you do. Keep your accusations civil.

the NSA collects data "wholesale" (it's much easier to grab everything, than to grab some things) Facebook however is built to be a psychological profile builder & works differently than the collection of all data that goes through the net (that's mostly for reactive history mining, like say if you come up on a list of suspects they can go back and review history tied to you based on collected traffic).

ANYWAY, obviously I'm lacking in "social media input" (which is probably a good thing, as it appears my faith in humanity would slip even further)

I should have qualified my statement to say:
Show me one official party line, or organized political movement that has racist criticisms... Facebook doesn't count in my opinion.. Facebook seems to draw out the "asshole" in people (mostly due to Projection issues (this is a psychological term: basically it's when your own inner worries and fears are projected externally and coalesce as all sorts of strange behaviors; racism being one of them)) Did I just call racists mentally ill?

sure, why not.

ANYWAY... sorry if I came off as accusatory and un-civil.. I certainly didn't mean it. (in fact I unnecessarily internalized your comment due to some past history with similar comments... nothing that was your fault at all there).

Am I still on topic?

The most racist things I have seen on this island, was the night of the election, while I was tending bar out east. I had to tell a few people to cut the shit. The day of the Zimmerman trial was a little tense out west too. I experience racism all the time here, but its usually an "you don't belong here whitey" kind of thing, which amuses me, because its not coming from any Indians.

the NSA collects data "wholesale" (it's much easier to grab everything, than to grab some things) Facebook however is built to be a psychological profile builder & works differently than the collection of all data that goes through the net (that's mostly for reactive history mining, like say if you come up on a list of suspects they can go back and review history tied to you based on collected traffic).

ANYWAY, obviously I'm lacking in "social media input" (which is probably a good thing, as it appears my faith in humanity would slip even further)

I should have qualified my statement to say:
Show me one official party line, or organized political movement that has racist criticisms... Facebook doesn't count in my opinion.. Facebook seems to draw out the "asshole" in people (mostly due to Projection issues (this is a psychological term: basically it's when your own inner worries and fears are projected externally and coalesce as all sorts of strange behaviors; racism being one of them)) Did I just call racists mentally ill?

sure, why not.

ANYWAY... sorry if I came off as accusatory and un-civil.. I certainly didn't mean it. (in fact I unnecessarily internalized your comment due to some past history with similar comments... nothing that was your fault at all there).

Am I still on topic?

It's all good. Thanks. 😉

Totally agree it's way more individuals than any organized political group that toss around racist remarks and prejudices. But that's kinda the most insidious and perverse. I'll repeat myself and say I don't know when it became "patriotic" to hate other Americans so much just for different politics, religion, or race. But it's there now, and it is what I see as the most insidious factor bringing down this country, because it does percolate up to those in political control - and they use that hate to garner support for their own agenda. All parties.

I don't know when it became "patriotic" to hate other Americans so much just for different politics, religion, or race

well... This type of situation works pretty well for the banking/wall st./corporate power-structure (which really benefits most) since "we" spend all our time bickering over which hand we should get Slapped with the Left (D) or the Right (R) and never stop to talk about the actual issue of being slapped....

all the while the biggest contributors to the Obama campaign was "wall street", who contributed even more than they contributed to Bush before him ( congress and the senate are the same...)

but hey,, isn't foot ball on, or survivor, or american idol (hell, I haven't watched TV since 2005, so my references on popular culture here is a bit off I'm sure) lets drink beer and ignore that boring topic!