Video Of The Week: Made In America

The Gotham Gal and I are making our way through the OJ Simpson documentary, Made In America. It’s a fascinating tale that weaves OJ’s story with the story of race relations in LA from the 60s to the 90s. It is very well done.

Here’s a podcast where my friends John and Will discuss it at length and talk to the director, Ezra Edelman.

#Television

Comments (Archived):

  1. awaldstein

    Heading to the gym right this moment with this cued up.Thanks.

    1. pointsnfigures

      You should look like Charles Atlas by now.

      1. awaldstein

        I work hard to stay the same!Nutrition and exercise knowledge is everything.To eat and exercise like you did 10 years ago is simply turning your back on results and efficiency.

  2. BillMcNeely

    I’ve had some discussions with Gen Z and Milienials I was surprised how many did not about the OJ trial and the LA riots two pretty big events of the 90s regarding race. What are they teaching school these days?

    1. pointsnfigures

      Victimhood

      1. CJ

        Bullshit. Sorry, I mean, Not True. They’re teaching testing due to the Conservative-imposed No Child Left Behind act which disproportionately affects minorities as minorities are disproportionately represented in public schools. Especially those schools who area in danger of losing funds due to this law.

        1. Rob Underwood

          And as we see in Brooklyn, it’s the affluent white public school primarily that are opt-ing out of the tests in large numbers. And these school communities can opt-out because 1) they have principals that are protected and won’t lose their jobs because of test scores and 2) more importantly, are made up a kids who parents have more options – the privilege – to move their kids to private schools or use their political connections to make successful appeals when their child is denied a coveted spot at a sought-after public school. These schools then reclaim the test prep time for enrichments and more core academic study — the rich get richer.Meanwhile in the rest of Brooklyn, principals, teachers, and students careers and lives are being made and broken by the test. These communities don’t have the same privilege to “opt out.” The principals of these schools don’t have the air cover to pull it off. The teachers don’t have the parents with the political connections to protect them if their class doesn’t do well on the test. The students have few middle and high school options, and those options that do exist do often look at the state test scores during admissions.(See http://tumblr.robunderwood…. for what I wrote about this last year)

          1. CJ

            Totally agree. We live in a suburb of Chicago and see this same dynamic as compared to the CPS. It was one of the main catalysts for choosing the suburb that we picked as our kids approached school age. It’s not fair and it screams of privilege and access but I couldn’t sacrifice my kids education to make a point.

        2. LE

          What you are saying is true but what pnf is saying is also true. They teach in school this idea that a) it’s not you it’s the other person b) you are all special and deserve a medal c) if you say something and it offends someone you probably shouldn’t be saying it.Most ridiculous news I heard today was that the Pentagon is lifting the ban on Transgender service members. This is exactly the reason why Rome is burning. Nero is fiddling on shit that honestly isn’t a big problem relative to the other problems that we are facing.http://www.nbcnews.com/news

          1. JLM

            .At the end of the day, all militsry policies are dependent upon one big question — does this increase unit lethality and increase survival rates?Unable to answer “yes”?Don’t do it.This administration is unable to come with an ISIS policy but it is making transgender decisions at the Sec Def level.Women Rangers and transgender soldiers do not increase lethality.JLM http://www.themusingsofthebigredca...

          2. CJ

            I’ve got two little ones in school currently and I can guarantee you that they do not teach that in any class they’ve been in. They teach you to be considerate of your fellow classmates feelings, which is admirable and undertaught.As far as the transgender point, the majority never thinks the minorities pains are a priority which is why teaching consideration of your fellow human’s feelings is so important. The military is big enough that I’m sure that they can undertake this and a number of other initiatives simultaneously. And if not, then we need a new military.

        3. pointsnfigures

          Ironically, as a Conservative Libertarian, I agree with you. I hate federally imposed mandates. However, as a person that was on the Board of a history museum, I see people teaching history with a point of view instead of teaching history critically and letting people decide for themselves.Revisionist history, or, teaching history to make political social points-“making sure the children get it” is wrong.A group of children in a school I know entered a Physics class. They received a questionnaire from the educator asking them about white privalege. Ignore the question of why that even enters a class but why in Physics? Last I checked, atomic particles don’t give a shit about race.I consistently see history reinterpreted. I talk with many very reputable academics and historians about it and they get in lather over it. I think it is great to disagree on strategy, on tactics, etc, but not on the facts as they happened.At the World War Two Museum in NOLA, they have a fantastic exhibit called “What would you do?”. It sets up an actual situation-If you were a Japanese person that was an 18 yr old male sitting in an internment camp, would you volunteer to fight for “your” country-or pass and sit in the camp? You are given time to think about the choice. Then the actual history emerges-Japanese men of that generation volunteered in great numbers to fight. They deployed to Italy in the 442nd and were the most highly decorated unit in the entire war. Heroic. Some of them received the Medal of Honor, but years later. The documentation was buried by superior officers. They suffered racism at the hands of their commanding officers who sent them into suicidal missions.I have spoken with Tuskegee Airman about this. It’s important to listen to their stories.That’s how you teach history.

          1. sigmaalgebra

            442? Go for Broke! 1951.Some of the 442 soldiers were in the movie.

          2. CJ

            I think your example is a fantastic way to teach history but I also question if it’s possible to teach history without teaching the sentiment of the time as well. And once you get into sentiment, you open yourself to interpretation of facts. Is there any one way to quantify the facts of a time? There are multiple viewpoints, I think they should all(or most) be explored to gain a holistic understanding of the facts you’re teaching.That, unfortunately, allows the teaching of ideologies. Not sure on this one, no perfect system, I fear.

          3. pointsnfigures

            With the way the museum explains how to teach the history of the Bomb, you’d see it explores all the facts. Then it let’s kids conclude. It’s up to the teacher to stay neutral-and that is where things generally go awry which is why I tongue and cheek said we teach victim hood today.History is most certainly facts. And, newer generations shouldn’t have to be penalized from past mistakes. They should learn from them. Hence, white southerners shouldn’t be penalized-we fought the Civil War and most of them didn’t even have families that fought in it. Today’s generation of Germans and Japanese shouldn’t be penalized because of what happened in 1933-1945. But, we all should learn from it.

          4. CJ

            Agreed.

    2. Rob Underwood

      I think the advocacy of liberals in the 80s and 90s to shift education from teaching facts (e.g., state capitals, geography, the presidents, world history, US history, civics) to “how to think”, which was further emboldened by “Kids don’t need to learn facts, they’ll just be able to Google everything” is one of the greatest disasters in our recent history and has contributed to many of our contemporary problems.Minds need facts and figures to chew on in the subconscious. It is from pattern matching on these facts that epiphany and insight arise. We do our children a terrible disservice by giving them only training on “how to think” but never the material to store in their “RAM” for then they are have a quiet moment to reflect and consider. “Googling everything” is not to same for many reasons. Knowing, say, how the supreme court works BEFORE you draw a conclusion is very different from drawing a conclusion and then – maybe – googling to see how the supreme court (or, perhaps, the EU) works while seeking confirmation of your assertion.

      1. sigmaalgebra

        Education became a political football, especially due to the attempts to have the US Department of Education have a big role in all of US K-12 education directly from offices in DC. It was No Child Left Behind, Common Core, national testing, etc., all just political football kicking while education suffered.Ah, there’s nothing good in the US that politics can’t make a lot worse or even destroy.So, there’s an idea: Take the US Department of Education and strip it back to, say, just giving block grants to the states and, maybe, funding some research in education in research university departments of education, sociology, etc.Meanwhile, back in K-12, run that locally, that is, via the locally elected school boards. That is, get the national political football playing OUT of US K-12 education. That is, in two words, OUT’A THERE!Q. But, but, but won’t there be some big downsides? What about the really important national goals of No Child Left Behind, Common Core, and national testing? Without those, some schools will just sink.A. Yup, some schools will be less good than we could hope. But now with the DC Department of Education role, essentially all the public K-12 schools are less good than we could hope. With local school boards running things again, a lot of local K-12 schools will be just terrific, and that will be a lot better than now. Having a few bad schools is better than having all bad schools. In a good community with a good school board, can have good K-12 education in a one room schoolhouse. With DC control, can have bad schools in palaces.W was if nothing else consistent — he messed up in Iraq, Afghanistan, K-12 education, responding to Katrina, and, for special mention, US residential housing (main cause of the crash of 2008). Before he left office, he was still crawling around on the floor of the Oval Office looking for the WMDs he was sure were there.That finally we can get rid of something W left stands to be a good thing.Yes, it’s possible to do worse than W, a lot worse, but for that have to look for some really special, rare talent — Obama! But he didn’t do it alone and, instead, had a lot of help — Hillary!Now we get reminded of why we need the CDC so much — immigrants with measles and TB! And the FBI so much — immigrants dreaming about 72 virgins and screaming something about some dude Akbar whoever he is. And, the INS — people responding “Visas? What visas? We don’t need no stink’n visas!”.

    3. CJ

      They’ve sanitized history to remove all the white guilt. Even black history month is a parody of what it was when I grew up. History is told by the victors.

      1. pointsnfigures

        That is totally unfair and untrue.

        1. CJ

          Not in my experience. The further we’ve moved into a post-racism society the more it has allow racism to flourish. Mostly because the conversations around race and discrimination fail to happen. My theory is that it’s white guilt. This generation didn’t participate so they don’t want to be held accountable. I get it, but it has allowed the racists a stage devoid of competition.Anyway, that’s my experience. I’d welcome your viewpoint?

    4. sigmaalgebra

      There’s no way could teach anything about anything like that anywhere in a US K-12 public school. No matter what the content, would have protesters of one kind or another yelling and screaming.

  3. Jeremy Robinson

    Fred, you might also want to cite the June 20 New Yorker magazine article “Home Free” about Derrick Hamilton’s “legal education.” Hamilton was one of many folks wrongly convicted based on manufactured evidence by now infamous and corrupt Detective Scarcella in Brooklyn. Scarcella had relied on the same alleged eyewitness, a prostitute with a crack addiction, in six murder cases, according to a story in the NYTimes run on May 12, 2013. The New Yorker piece is really Book 2 of OJ Simpson story, not only about race in America but also about our terribly constructed criminal justice system which remains one of the continuing shameful stories of our otherwise great country. When i get involved in reading this stuff, I feel endlessly outraged, saddened and helpless. No wonder so many of we otherwise enlightened white liberal New Yorkers choose to ignore this stuff. It’s almost too painful to continue to consider.

    1. Jeremy Robinson

      Here’s the link to the New Yorker article just mentioned-http://www.newyorker.com/ma…

    2. Rob Underwood

      White liberal New Yorkers, especially in places like Brooklyn, choose to ignore more than just criminal justice corruption. White liberal Brooklyn – neighborhoods like Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Heights, etc., are home to the most segregated schools in the most segregated school district (NYC) in the most segregated state (NYS) in the United States. There is lots that gets ignored by white liberals in New York City.This ties into OJ (have watched all 7.5 hours and it’s great) as we (I say”we” as a white liberal Brooklynite) ignore this at our peril. As I’ve seen as the youth chair of Community Board 6, as an elected member of CEC 13, and as someone who had to cast a deciding vote on the contentious PS 8 / PS 307 rezoning, there are lot of life long and multi-generational families in Brooklyn who are angry at the many forms of injustice they see in places like Brooklyn – the afore mentioned corruption of our criminal justice system, our two-tier have/have-not white/black educational system, and the lack of affordable housing chief among them. The continued strength of the NYC economy masks some of these tensions, but they’re there, below the surface. (To the credit of our host, I think he sees these and is taking specific concrete action on some, especially education).Panning back further this connects to Brexit and, especially, the rise of Trump. I have argued with friends, also liberal Brooklynites, about the rise of Trump, and that those of us who live in places like New York and San Francisco, and work in industries like technology, media, and finance, may think we get it, may think we “feel the pain”, but we probably don’t really, at least if we only to talk fellow folks in here in the bubble. I have a number of cousins, without college degrees, in their late 20s and early 30s who live in places like Maine, Connecticut (outside Fairfield County), Colorado, and Arizona. They are without much or any hope for their personal economic future. They are worried that they do not have the skills to compete in the economy and are worried about a life of un- and under-employment. They do not know how they are going to get by. Most of them are supporting Trump. Well-off folks in places like Cobble Hill and the City of London do themselves a huge disservice by ignoring the real pain and hopelessness many people are feeling.Recently on Charlie Rose, David Brooks, reflecting on why he missed the rise of Trump, admitted he had gotten out of touch with the rest of the country outside of NYC, Washington, etc. If you’re a fellow “white liberal New Yorker” and you never interact, talk, or – better still visit – a person of color in a public housing project, you may be out of touch. If all your friends live in LA, San Francisco, and New York and all work in big media and tech you may be out of touch. If you send your kids to a public school that is 80% white and raises a million dollars in PTA funds, you might think you’re a big champion of public schools, but you may also be out of touch.Why does being in touch — knowing first hand the pain and anxiousness of our neighbors – matter? One reason is that many of the people who read and comment on this blog are members of the “elites” to which the pitch forks Nick Hanauer warns us about will be headed. And through our political access, wealth, skills, and other assets we have the ability to change the course for the better in our communities, our cities, our nations, and our globe. Again, to his credit, our host has led by example. He visits schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods and is active in causes that benefit the entire city. We all need to each do our part though, and that starts with 1) talking often with people who are not just like us, who have different life experiences (i.e., getting out of the bubble) and 2) not ignoring tough problems like school segregation. Otherwise we may find ourselves on the wrong end of the pitchforks.Jeremy, thanks for giving a me a chance to riff off your comments on some threads that have been front and center for me. Been thinking a ton about these issues – Trump, OJ, Brexit, etc. – are how they all connect to the imperative I see to create a fair, just, well-educated society.

      1. Jeremy Robinson

        Rob, I appreciate your impassioned comments! I DO think that part of being a self-aware person in this racially troubled/racially promising country is to live in a state of both semi-agitation and calm. The problem with most diversity trainings in major corporations [which full disclosure, I am involved with doing] is that the expectation of the white partners/power players is that becoming more aware of diversity problems, that they/we will get a Hollywood ending. We don’t! What we get is more tension and self-awareness of race in America. More self-awareness leads us to more tension. It is in the managing of these tensions where we may be able to find some solutions, I hope. I agree with your last paragraph that there are also many international repercussions of these types of false hopes and beliefs in Hollywood endings by turning the clock back to some previous time.

      2. CJ

        I’ll tell you the funny thing, as long as it was just minorities experiencing the things described above, which we have for the past 2 decades at least, the narrative was all about laziness, lack of motivation and self pride, but now that the middle class has properly exploded for white people as well we’re seeing an existential crisis. I guess it’s true about seeing the same people on the way down as you do on your way up.

        1. Rob Underwood

          Great observation.

        2. LE

          I think you are 100% correct. A great deal of life is simply (as I like to say) “taking advantage of the low hanging fruit of opportunity”. [1] Now that the tide has gone out, the whites you speak of are shown to really just being able to take advantage of the opportunities that were available for them.Here is some good news that I read the other day about Goldman Sachs hiring practices. They will no longer focus almost exclusively on the IVY League and top schools in recruiting. They will allow kids from 2nd tier schools to apply by video. This could be a great start. Goldman essentially is saying that they want people who are interested in being lifers (or close to that) not just the best and the brightest that will be moving on in 2 years and have a world of opportunity. All of this is a good thing.http://www.wsj.com/articles…The other notable thing was top corporate counsels in the past few weeks saying they weren’t going to pay the pay raise of top law graduates at top firms.http://www.wsj.com/articles…[1] In business. In life of course not every horse drinks the water that you lead them to….

          1. Rob Underwood

            I was told by HR at an employer that while they hired me as an experienced hire they would not have hired me had I come straight from school as my undergraduate school, Colby, was not “prestigious enough”. (Bowdoin would have been ok, but not Bates or Middlebury, incidentally).

          2. LE

            There is actually is a halo effect going on that can’t be denied. It’s almost in a way like a racial bias.

      3. LE

        Excellent comments.Again, to his credit, our host has led by example. He visits schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods and is active in causes that benefit the entire city.It’s great what Fred has done. But let’s not kid ourselves. Part of the problem of people in the tech bubble is the thinking that everything can be solved by a) tech b) entrepreneurship or c) learning to code. [1]Those things really do nothing for the people you are talking about, “your cousins” workers without college degrees. And quite honestly there are simply not going to be enough jobs to support everyone being in “tech” even if they were able (they are not) to go that route. Let them eat cake is simply not the answer to all of the worlds problems. Neither are self driving cars or electric cars or travel to mars for that matter. At least in the sense that there are problems today that need to be fixed as opposed to improvements to things that are already (for now) working fine. The triage is a bit off.[1] Won’t even get into the fact that plenty of these “solutions” are simply shifting advertising dollars from established industries to new players.

        1. PhilipSugar

          I would argue “visiting” is bullshit. You need to live outside those “elite” areas to understand. I would also argue when people say segregation they need to look at why certain people live in certain areas.

          1. Rob Underwood

            Well, he more than visits. He’s made concrete contributions to both schools in disadvantaged schools (chess, computer science) and public housing (support for Red Hook Initiative; efforts to put free wifi in NYCHA)There was also a great quote I heard recently — pretty sure in “Made in America” episode 5 that was was to the effect of “Visit other neighborhoods or they’ll visit you.”

          2. LE

            Oh I agree the old “some of my best friends are” is bullshit.I don’t live in an elite area or mix with elite people at all. That’s actually one of the problems that I have living where I live. Probably why I comment here so much actually now that I think about it. While I am sure there are special people where I live, there isn’t a large enough concentration of them to make a difference. And there is no serendipitous way to find them the way you might in an area with a high concentration of people that you would find interesting.I think many people are probably jealous of Fred because he makes so much money. Not me. I am jealous of Fred because of all of the smart and interesting people that he gets to associate with.

          3. Rob Underwood

            While I think “some of my best friends are” applies to many in the tech bubble, I don’t think it’s the case with our host. Please don’t misinterpret my choice of the word “visit”. It’s “visit” in the sense of someone talking a half day to go out to a school in East New York to find out what’s working and what can be improved re computer science, and then following up and staying engaged. Not a fly-by just for a photo opp – quite the opposite.

          4. LE

            Oh I wasn’t making any reference to your use of the word “visit” like that. I was replying to Phil in another context actually.

          5. Rob Underwood

            got it.

    3. PhilipSugar

      Here is a five star book written by a fraternity brother about a wrongful conviction:https://www.amazon.com/Kill…Here is my point:There are many injustices and we have to correct them.However we cannot use them to make the easy excuses of why people decide (and they decide) to not achieve and attain success.

  4. Salt Shaker

    Haven’t watched the ESPN series yet, but the one big takeaway that has stayed w/ me all of these years from the OJ saga and outcome is I don’t have a friggin clue what it is like to be a black man in the U.S. Similarly, I don’t have a clue about what it’s like to be homeless, uneducated, poor, etc. I can empathize, observe, contribute financially, etc., but at the end of the day I’m still an outsider.No question DJT raises many serious issues impacting our country, including probs w/ immigration, job creation, inequality, and displeasure w/ the DC elite. What’s troubling is how he frames these issues w/ inflammatory, divisive rhetoric, while simultaneously not providing realistic and actionable solutions. I’ll be voting for Hillary, not cause I believe in her vision, but rather cause I’m scared of his.

  5. William Mougayar

    It’s a good interview and the documentary was well made, but OJ’s saga is a story of un-justice, lies, manipulations, and amplified stupidity. It epitomized the sensationalistic society we’re in.I would rather watch a 7 hour documentary on food, health, technology, education, history or culture.

    1. kenberger

      I totally get and embrace your point.But as a liberal NYer moved to LA in ’88, I can say that this is a FASCINATING and well-done series. I had no idea about the tie-in, for example, to the Watts riots in ’65.On about the day I left my LA life (for b-school), I was amongst the crowd standing on the 405 freeway cheering “Go OJ!”, as his Bronco raced past, even though it was so clear that he was such a destructive nut job.Thanks Fred for pointing out this show.

      1. William Mougayar

        I watched the whole show, and it is very well made and riveting from the minute it starts, I’m not denying that. Maybe the revival of that topic will bring a change, which might be a good thing.

    2. awaldstein

      Yes and no.Great series and on my cue after I finish this series of the Americans.I’m a believer in embracing reality to both appreciate and change it. Understanding is the first step of that.

      1. William Mougayar

        So, we needed a documentary to more fully understand that the OJ trial was full of lies, manipulations, incompetencies, and that they played the race card of course? It was so obvious. The question is Why? And Why does this continue in some cases in 2016.

        1. awaldstein

          This makes me smile my friend.A view from the outside that is shared by many.You are not alone and is true of a few of my good friends from all over who have lived here, are intellectuals and simply miss the point.They come to NY to visit and think this city is about Uber rather than the L to Williamsburg or the 4 train to East Harlem potentially.You look from the top down at our culture without cognizance that the key of cultural communications is NOT about what you think at all.It is about taking a subway ride and looking at the people. Or going to a mall in NJ or South Dakota and getting close to the who of who the mass market really is.If you did this you never make the comment you do.And to be clear, many in the upper economic class here, including myself fall into this trap.

          1. William Mougayar

            It is our failing if we don’t help to bring everybody with us towards progress and openness.

          2. awaldstein

            Spoken like a true politician or politically analyst my friend!

    3. creative group

      William Mougayar:The majority of documentaries by Lauren are considered the best film in that category.Oh! Lauren is also known as Kenneth Lauren “Ken” Burns. Now you know the rest of the story.

  6. sigmaalgebra

    “Race relations”? In LA?To heck with that. Several years of my time as a child and 18 months more early in my career were in Memphis. My family was there because Dad’s job took him there. Dad was from a little south of Buffalo in NYS; Mom was from Columbus, OH; all of us hated race relations in Memphis, basically left over from before the Civil War; none of us wanted to be there. Race relations in LA have to be a gorgeous flower garden compared with race relations in Memphis.I hate slavery. I don’t want to be a slave, exploit a slave, or have to work in or compete in an economy exploiting slavery.Since the Civil War, we can still have slavery in the US. It’s easy enough: Just import some people who are poor but have an obvious difference that will identify them as slaves as clearly as a permanent tattoo on their forehead reading “I am a slave.”. Skin color works great, but there are other means also.Sure, the US melting pot, in the end, worked great from about 1900 to the present from Ireland, Scotland, the Scandinavian countries, the Baltics, Russia, south to the boot of Italy or the Black Sea and from France east to the Urals. That is, at least, eventually it melted. Otherwise, the pot doesn’t melt very well. Then too often we get clear lines of demarcation with competition, pushing, shoving, and worse.Did I mention, I spent years in Memphis? For clear lines of demarcation with competition, pushing, shoving, and worse, I don’t want it. Apparently some people do.And, worse, apparently some people want more slavery, in particular via the technique of skin color.For importing people, I have a list of criteria: Before we import anyone, I want to know, why should we do that? How will that help national security, domestic tranquility, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, economic security and prosperity, less crime, stronger families, stronger communities, better schools, and a better USA for our children? Without a lot of promise of doing really well on this list, I say, in delicate wording, HELL NO. Or, did I mention, I spent a lot of time in Memphis and hated it.Instead, let’s melt the pot we’ve already got, in particular, melt away the slavery we’ve still got, some of it from recent immigration; avoid creating more slavery, enforce our immigration laws, and import people only as in the list of criteria above.Diversity? Fine with me: If I get some extra time and money and want to travel, if there is a country, nice, peaceful, with an interesting culture, that likes tourists, then maybe I’ll go for a visit. I’ll see the different culture, architecture, weather, food, music, etc., have a good time, and, then: Then, go home.Did I mention I spent some years in Memphis? E.g., one Friday night, I called my girlfriend, and her mom eagerly gave me the phone number where she was at her cousin’s house. I called, and my girlfriend eagerly invited me over. Since I was still just 15, I couldn’t drive a car so rode my bicycle.I rode west through my nice neighborhood, turned north on a major street, rode for a mile or so on the west side of a nice country club, and turned west on a major street. Gads: The traffic was now fast and dense with no room for a bicycle. The sidewalk was cut by lots of driveways with very high curbs, too high to jump on a bicycle. So, it was the sidewalks, walking and being late, or the street with cars going by at about 35 MPH one foot to my left. Dangerous. But, I was on the way to my girlfriend, so I took the dangerous way. I lived through it. Maybe God is especially nice to foolish 15 year old boys in love!But for the return trip, instead of the street with the fast, dense traffic, I went one block south and took a parallel street. Different world. No traffic. None at all. No street lights. No sidewalks. Small houses with no lights at all. Big holes in the road. I had to ride slowly and carefully to avoid wrecking my bicycle on the holes. No people outside. No one.But, my guess at the street map was correct, and I ended up again on the west side of the country club. Light traffic. Perfectly smooth streets. Nice sidewalks. Lots of street lights. Easy ride the rest of the way home.On that dark street, was I safe? I suspect so. Why? Well, there are techniques: E.g., during WWII, in some area occupied by the Germans, a local killed a German officer. So, right, the Germans leveled or some such the local town. My understanding is that Memphis understood such approaches, maybe usually a little less drastic than leveling the whole neighborhood, to safe streets. The street I lived on was safe, also, but from quite different circumstances. That night I was glad that dark street was safe, but I hated Memphis. I want nothing to do with slavery, nothing to do with any versions of slavery in the US.For slavery in the rest of the world? Wall it off and f’get about it unless they attack us in which case we should defend ourselves, over there, quickly and effectively, for as little as possible of our blood and treasure, and then just LEAVE.Q. But, but, but, don’t we want the circumstances of your criteria? And, don’t we want those circumstances for everyone, everyone else, everyone in the world? So, don’t we want to get those circumstances from first perfecting the world and, then, having those circumstances also for ourselves as a special case? And, as we take care of everyone else, we get to sleep well knowing that if we need help then they will similarly take care of us? Right? Isn’t that what we want, what necessarily all of us want? Isn’t that the only hope? In the sense of the universal human rights, isn’t this what we owe all of humanity? Don’t we need to keep in mind, “Alle Menschen werden BrĂ¼der”, “There but for the grace of God go I,”, “If it happens to the least of these, it happens to thee” or some such? How can any of us be truly free as long as someone else is suffering? Don’t we want, first of all, to eliminate all of human suffering, for the family of man?A. Short, one word answer: Nope. Longer answer: Not feasible. Still longer answer: Sorry ’bout that. Still longer answer: Get the good circumstances here in the US, first, and, then, with time, money, and energy left over, if any, maybe try to help others. Again, sorry ’bout that.Meanwhile, I don’t like slavery, and here in the US we can stop it.

  7. creative group

    William Mougayar:Off topic post on Bitcoin!The American Institute of Accountants sent the IRS a letter earlier this month requesting clarification on ten issues including the tax status of small transactions (purchasing a sandwich-Really) and rules for donating digital currencies to charity.The IRS rule that each Bitcoin transaction involves the sale of investment property each sandwich someone buys with Bitcoin could have an investment gain or loss.This is senseless. Requires amending.What are your thoughts on Ethereum, Ripple and Litecoin?There are thoughts the IRS should be abolished. How or who will collect the taxes?http://www.wsj.com/articles

    1. William Mougayar

      I haven’t read that wsj article due to their pay wall antics, but in general I see cryptocurrency like any foreign currency for tax treatment and accounting. The fact that they are more volatile than normal doesn’t mean they should be taxed like capital gains, IMO.

      1. creative group

        William Mougayar:agree with you on Print media restricting articles. They are still a business. But we subscribe to the WSJ and it has allowed access to other print media articles. Have no idea how that works. Enjoy reading a traditional news paper. https://uploads.disquscdn.c

  8. bfeld

    Amy and I watched it the past few nights and finished it last night. I think it’s one of the best documentaries I’ve ever watched.

  9. creative group

    Contributors:Have you taken the time to review posts later in the day or week? We have come to the conclusion we have some well gifted and academically bright contributors in this blog. And along with that we have some smart people who are socially inept. Crazier than a bedbug and apparently have no idea. Yikes!We apologize in advance for pointing out the obvious. There was no need. Most know.

  10. Jeremy Robinson

    Haven’t read it, Charlie, probably should- thanks!

  11. CJ

    Added to my queue, thanks.

  12. creative group

    Charlie Crystle:A book we read and referenced a while ago. A interesting read. Along with Tim Wise (Hated as the White Man’s shame author by the right)

  13. CJ

    The only thing I know about the OJ trial for sure is that the prosecution was way over matched and OJ’s team were legal geniuses. I couldn’t have convicted him with what I saw that the jurors were allowed to see. There was enough reasonable doubt created to drive a truck through.

  14. LE

    CJ if I may ask how old are you?

  15. sigmaalgebra

    Or, MIT’s 8.04 Quantum Mechanics, a relatively non-mathematical introduction, lots of fun,https://www.youtube.com/wat

  16. creative group

    Andrew Cashion:because of the smart money invested in the digital currencies (softer term verses crypto) it will not fade away. Just the reality. The resistance is reliability and lack of centralized control (a/K/a manipulation).

  17. creative group

    Andrew Cashion:stay with us on this. We made no claim or mention regarding reasoning for the rise of Bitcoin or any crytocurrency.We referenced VC money directing the course of where alternative currencies were and the direction it is headed today. Follow the money.You apparently misunderstood our post. Or we are misunderstanding yours.

  18. creative group

    Andrew Cashion:Digital Gold by Nathaniel Popper New York Times Reporter.We have a different viewpoint.