Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

Politics
posted by martyb on Tuesday September 12 2017, @07:59AM   Printer-friendly
from the your-days-are-numbered...-Drei,-Zwei,-Eins dept.

Anu Garg at A Word A Day posted this story of an upcoming mayoral election in the small town of Völklingen, Germany (near the French border, south of Belgium), wherein one of the candidates gave a spectacularly bad answer to a question in a recent debate.

Representative Uwe Faust of the political party Die Partei jokingly asked, “According to the building code, paragraph 126, each owner is obliged to label his property with the number given by the municipality. I find it alarming that in Völklingen many house numbers are displayed in Arabic numerals. How would you like to take action against this creeping foreigner infiltration?”

To which Otfried Best, running with the far-right NPD party, fell for the joke, replying, "You just wait until I am mayor. I will change that. Then there will be normal numbers."

Mr. Best apparently does not know what Arabic numerals are.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
(1)
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by FatPhil on Tuesday September 12 2017, @08:06AM (12 children)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday September 12 2017, @08:06AM (#566605) Homepage
    Let them destroy themselves with their own stupidity. Let them be laughed at. Let them be memes. Let them know that millions of people are laughing at them because of their own stupidity. Let their supporters feel a deep embarassment for being associated with them.

    Hmmm, local elections next week, I guess I need to find the one candidate out of a thousand that seems more than half sane. (My deciding factor last year was to pick the guy who said he was a keen chess player, as I felt he had a better understanding of consequences and exploitability (e.g. of loopholes) than the others on my shortlist.)
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 1) by Arik on Tuesday September 12 2017, @08:58AM

      by Arik (4543) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @08:58AM (#566633) Journal
      Yes indeed.

      You want to fight real neo-nazis? You want to really mess with them for coming to 'your town?'

      Here's how you do it.

      http://www.dw.com/en/neo-nazis-rock-small-town-in-germany/a-39706498

      They aren't a threat they're a distraction.
      --
      If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
    • (Score: 5, Touché) by pkrasimirov on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:41AM (8 children)

      by pkrasimirov (3358) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:41AM (#566648)

      > Let them destroy themselves with their own stupidity.
      Why didn't it work with Trump?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:49AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:49AM (#566671)

        Why didn't it work with Trump?

        Patience. These things take time.

        • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday September 12 2017, @05:59PM

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 12 2017, @05:59PM (#566880) Journal

          Time may not be the one thing we have.

          --
          People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 12 2017, @12:23PM

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 12 2017, @12:23PM (#566700) Journal
        The key factor was whether his campaign would fall apart before he became president. Obviously, he held it together long enough.
      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @12:26PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @12:26PM (#566701)

        As I was saying for a full year up to the election, the majority of the stupidity was coming from the anti-Trump people... They gave the election to him.

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday September 12 2017, @05:06PM

          by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @05:06PM (#566848)

          Don't forget the media.
          He bashed them all the time, but he loved the attention and they loved the ratings.
          He's still bashing them now, and they still love the ratings.

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday September 12 2017, @01:55PM (1 child)

        by Thexalon (636) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @01:55PM (#566728)

        Why didn't it work with Trump?

        Because his opponents destroyed themselves with their own stupidity.

        I mean, here were some of his opponents:
        - Jeb Bush: "Please clap"
        - Ben Carson: Zzzzzzzzz
        - Chris Christie: Bridgegate
        - Carly Fiorina: Her record at HP speaks for itself
        - Rick Santorum: A frothy mixture ...
        - Rick Perry: Couldn't remember what departments he'd eliminate
        - Hillary Clinton: Hired an incompetent firm to manage her email server that she shouldn't have even had
        - Gary Johnson: "What is Aleppo?"
        - Jill Stein: Just plain wrong about alternative medicine, and she's a doctor

        --
        The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
        • (Score: 2) by chromas on Wednesday September 13 2017, @05:14AM

          by chromas (34) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 13 2017, @05:14AM (#567081) Journal

          What is Aleppo?

          I suppose, as a presidential candidate, he should be more aware than dummies like me, but I'd never heard of Aleppo until that incident, when suddenly the media started quacking "Aleppo! Aleppo!" all day long, instead of "Syria".

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday September 13 2017, @07:26AM

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Wednesday September 13 2017, @07:26AM (#567112) Homepage
        It worked with all of the other candidates better.

        I know this looks pure flamebait, but you have to remember that the US has a *remarkably* stupid mass population. Its ability to pick leaders is about as thoughtful as that of many of the dictatorships in Africa. They all have democracy theatre, nothing more, and the people *love* that. (The electoral college, and the party-based system, absolutely shreds any claims the US has to having a functioning democracy, there's more rounding error than signal in an election result.) Add to that a mass media that benefits from keeping its viewers ill-informed on such matters, and you can see the results with your own eyes.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 2) by ilsa on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:20PM (1 child)

      by ilsa (6082) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:20PM (#566988)

      Let them destroy themselves with their own stupidity. Let them be laughed at. Let them be memes. Let them know that millions of people are laughing at them because of their own stupidity. Let their supporters feel a deep embarassment for being associated with them.

      Trump has demonstrated quite clearly that this is exactly what *doesn't* happen. All the supporters will do is rally *that much harder* around their preferred candidate, dismissing everyone else as naysayers of some kind, or possibly coming up with wild conspiracy theories as to why their preferred candidate (and by extension, the supporters themselves) is being treated so unfairly.

      • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday September 13 2017, @07:28AM

        by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Wednesday September 13 2017, @07:28AM (#567114) Homepage
        I will admit that he's taking longer to crack that expected. It will happen eventually, there will be a facepalm moment from the country I'm sure. Maybe that will be after a bloody revolution, I'm not sure.
        --
        Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
  • (Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @08:22AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @08:22AM (#566615)

    Ah, yes. I remember that recent outrage [theguardian.com] over a photo of a bus full of women in burqas bus seats...

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:11PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:11PM (#567002)

      Gamma correction [wikipedia.org] can be a bitch.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 13 2017, @01:08AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 13 2017, @01:08AM (#567032)

      Ah, yes, but those bus seats were clearly up to something. Remember, better to be safe than sorry.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by KritonK on Tuesday September 12 2017, @08:25AM (4 children)

    by KritonK (465) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @08:25AM (#566616)

    Mr. Best apparently does not know what Arabic numerals are.

    Or maybe he does. There is more than one kind of Arabic numerals [wikipedia.org].

    • (Score: 1) by pinchy on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:02AM

      by pinchy (777) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:02AM (#566654) Journal

      He should have said hindu-arabic for the joke to be accurate

      https://youtu.be/PVukQlfwzwI?t=17 [youtu.be]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @01:49PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @01:49PM (#566723)

      Yes, well, what numerals should Germanic peoples use? I happen to be of Germanic descent, and I've been forced to use Arabic numerals my entire life! Though granted I haven't given the Eastern Arabic numerals a spin, but it's still not Germanic! What's the alternative? Roman numerals?! People called Romanes they go the house! Base 60 Babylonian? All foreigners!

      I propose an initiative to create a truly Germanic numeral system. We could base it off fuþark!

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by ledow on Tuesday September 12 2017, @08:59AM (17 children)

    by ledow (5567) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @08:59AM (#566634) Homepage

    It's a cheap shot, against an inherently racist - and therefore stupid - idiot.

    I don't think it's big or clever, when that guy still holds the potential to be mayor because of enough people voting for him - the kind of people who won't get the "joke" either.

    Just his reaction is enough to make a sensible person cringe.

    It's not funny. It's very serious. People like that are still around and still garner some support. And are vying for positions of power.

    It is sad to think that it's actually 2017.

    • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:09AM (8 children)

      by PiMuNu (3823) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:09AM (#566638)

      Agreed. Clearly showing that he is not very bright won't break up his support, and probably actually does exactly the opposite. What is the best way to break up his support?

      • (Score: 4, Informative) by pkrasimirov on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:44AM (7 children)

        by pkrasimirov (3358) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:44AM (#566650)

        > What is the best way to break up his support?
        Education of the electorate.

        • (Score: -1, Insightful) by VLM on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:41AM (6 children)

          by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:41AM (#566684)

          Over the top indoctrination and ridiculous hyperbole about all right wing candidates are Literally Hitler for decades is their support base, not their opposition, at least in the USA, so if you're on the good guys side, um sure, uh, go right ahead with that plan of yours.

          As a right wing guy myself, although on the opposite side of the planet, nothing helps us more than non-photogenic riots chanting stuff about all white people need to be eliminated via open borders, and anyone not a Marxist is a Nazi, and stuff like that. Especially call them stupid. Nothing converts weakly attached members into strong believers quite like giving them an enemy marching around calling them morons who need to be punched. The American hippies didn't get much right, but they did get sex drugs and rock n roll right. Nothing radicalizes people rightward like telling them their race and children need to be exterminated and they need to be punched and have their lives destroyed. Nothing de-radicalizes people rightward like telling them to get high, listen to good music, and fuck a lot. The american hippies might not have felt like they were accomplishing much, but at least they weren't pushing the start button to Holocaust 2.0 like today's leftists. The american 60s hippies and the average 2010s antifa have a bit of an IQ gap of course due to human biological differences which supposedly don't exist, LOL, which explains why the 70s were "OK" and the 20s will probably have camps and ovens.

          I mean, if "feel good to leftist" policies for decades have led to a slow exponential rise in the far right, if you don't like that rise you should double down on what hasn't worked, correct? I mean, that strategy of doubling down helped Hillary win the white house, didn't it, LOL?

          It may be an excessively binary world view but I often think the real world is something of pendulum of power and only a fraction of the population groks that model. Especially in economics, but also in politics and fashion, etc. Nothing will re-ignite the ovens quite like pushing that pendulum leftward for decades as aggressively as possible never give up never give an inch. Sometimes makes me wonder about false flag ops. I wonder how many of the most vocal antifa are our guys. You can't talk centrists into lighting ovens and building camps and "showers" directly, not from a centrist position, never. But its easy, if the pendulum gets pushed far enough left first, then swings right, heck you barely need to push right at all, the normies themselves will light the ovens joyfully once the pendulum builds up some speed...

          As a very far right winger I'm much more a results guy than a journey guy. There are somewhat less cerebral buddies who want to LARP out the whole bad boy thing or just have anger issues and want to be camp guards to let it all hang out, but I'd be extremely happy with a nice perfectly non-violent transition to a right-er wing government, culture and way of life, no camps, no holocaust 2.0, none of that icky stuff. But the world seems bound and determined to position things such that those ovens gonna get lit again. Well, that's what they want, that's what they'll get. Part of the "world seems bound and determined" has to do with cathedral theory of progressivism, progressivism as a universalist "death cult" style religion, all that. What do you do with crazy religious crusaders looking for martyrdom and world conquest? Centuries ago the arabs pushed them into the ocean, you really can't blame them. For a couple decades of GWoT we've been drone striking marriage parties in the middle east mostly making it worse not better. I guess we'll do the euro-style camps, showers, and ovens. Its hard to find successful historical examples that don't boil down to put them to the sword, sure would be nice if there were better strategies for excising a progressive cancer from a civilization.

          • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @01:07PM (4 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @01:07PM (#566706)

            are there actual quotes from people with actual names that have suggested that liberals have engaged in "chanting stuff about all white people need to be eliminated via open borders, and anyone not a Marxist is a Nazi"?

            that seems really like echo chamber propaganda from some biased publication.

            the antifa also don't have much to do with the hippies--but I remember back in the BBS days, people doing what the antifa did were simply labeled anarchists. they didn't care what political leaning you had because they didn't really have one, or at least, just needed a reason to try out those text files and decided that anarchy was as good of a cause as ever.

            it can be hard to not read too much into someone else's point of view when your own is a biased filter, but take into context there are trouble makers on both sides. giving them names and trying to prop them up enough to support your cause -- as to why the other side is bad -- that doesnt give you shoulders of giants to stand on, that just makes it harder to see at your own ground level when the trouble makers on your side are getting under foot. Too much of that and your platform comes crashing down due to their antics or stupidity. Any side is subject to its own extremes, since the focus is often on the other side's extremes.

            it's what gave the republicans the tea party, and trump. they lost the edges of their platform and it's set them on fire. i don't think the R party as we know it can survive like this, at least not with the votes they depend on. They'll carry on, but they'll be fractioned--just like how the democrats can't find a solid base right now.

            • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @04:10PM (3 children)

              by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @04:10PM (#566799)

              I can't believe someone took the time to write an insightful reply to VLM. He may claim to not like murder, concentration camps, etc. but his "well, guess we'll have to fire up the ovens oh well" bit is very telling. What a piece of crap, if he doesn't get his way he'll be OK with using violence.

              You're a piece of shit human being VLM.

              • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday September 12 2017, @07:21PM (1 child)

                by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 12 2017, @07:21PM (#566927)

                if he doesn't get his way

                "getting my way" must have a peculiar and unusual definition to you.

                You're a piece of shit human being VLM.

                That's the exact point of my article. "I'm not so into this white genocide idea" "You're a piece of shit human being" "OK thanks for XYZ more votes for R party next time around"

                The modern left is just weird. I can understand "Uncle Tom's Cabin" as propaganda from the 1850s. Or I can understand soviet era death threat and torture oppression. But modern lefties seem to have nothing left philosophically other than calling people who don't blindly believe and obey in a religious manner pieces of shit, then act surprised when they're savaged at election time, so they riot.

                As wide scale strategy its bizarre. On a very individual scale it would be like a campaign tactic of walking door to door and telling anyone who doesn't already have a Hillary sign a piece of shit, and then acting surprised when it turns out to be counterproductive where the population doesn't support her. Abstracting from politics, could you imagine a TV commercial where the line is "Unless you love McDonalds with all your heart, you're a piece of shit".

                As a guy on the right, I love watching the left melt down with this totally bizarre propaganda strategy.

                • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:57PM

                  by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @10:57PM (#566998)

                  "Unless you love McDonalds with all your heart, you're a piece of shit".

                  Like this? "If you don't smoke Tarrlytons...fuck you!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqLt_CW8sr4 [youtube.com]

              • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Wednesday September 13 2017, @07:33AM

                by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Wednesday September 13 2017, @07:33AM (#567117) Homepage
                I can't believe anyone read the whole of VLM's post - it barely parsed at best and was word salad in places.
                --
                Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
          • (Score: 5, Interesting) by meustrus on Tuesday September 12 2017, @06:27PM

            by meustrus (4961) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @06:27PM (#566892)

            I'm more of a leftist and I (mostly) agree with you. I wish the people that agreed with me on ideology would stop writing recruitment for the opposition. I'll just ignore the genocidal regression in your last paragraph...beyond pointing out that I could flip all the actors and it would sound exactly like Antifa talking about you rather than the other way around.

            But I have to disagree on one thing:

            I mean, if "feel good to leftist" policies for decades have led to a slow exponential rise in the far right, if you don't like that rise you should double down on what hasn't worked, correct?

            I can say with confidence that the policies of the last few decades are not leftist by any stretch. Many of the most liberal things since the New Deal happened under Republican control, like the EPA, the ADA, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (which was originally supposed to be more of a reverse income tax aka basic income).

            Sure, there has been a lot of social progress in that time. But beyond the Civil Rights Act (which reapportioned party loyalties, transforming party politics), that progress has been driven by public opinion and the courts. Corporations are now driving a lot of this progress, because supporting your customer's identity politics leads to ideological support which leads to increased profits. Meanwhile, Washington has been busy working on other priorities, namely dismantling effective regulatory frameworks and safety nets.

            The Democratic party has moved hard right on a lot of these issues, abandoning real pro-union policies, simple hard-line regulations like Glass-Steagall, and permanent family-oriented welfare in favor of free trade, byzantine regulatory schemes, and a patchwork of more expensive, more bureaucratic, and less effective welfare programs.

            Since you describe yourself as "a very far right winger", I'd like to think you'd appreciate these changes. But I know that the new version of the Democratic party is actually worse for your actual priorities. And I will make a nod towards the movement of the Republican party as well; they tried to look like the old Southern Democrats to steal the bigot's vote, but they just never really did what they said they were going to do.

            What I'm saying here is that the country certainly hasn't moved to the left, because "the left" doesn't mean identity politics. "Progressive" is not a "the left" thing, it's its own separate cause that happens to be taken up by Democrats.

            But I'm equally unconvinced that the country has moved to the right, because "the right" doesn't mean reverse Robin Hood. Republicans (and Democrats) have been instrumental in this urban-elite takeover of America. It's gotten so bad that our president is one of the urban elite despite vocal opposition to his kind (not that the alternative was any different in this regard).

            So yeah, all those things you hate about the direction of the country? I, your political opposite, am concerned about the same damn things. Your opponent is not the left. Your opponent is the corporate, urban elites pulling the strings.

            --
            If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
    • (Score: 0, Troll) by VLM on Tuesday September 12 2017, @12:00PM (7 children)

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 12 2017, @12:00PM (#566694)

      against an inherently racist - and therefore stupid - idiot.

      Its amazing how racist the left is. That kind of language proves with over 99% likelihood the dude is white.

      Anyone racist, who is not white, under leftist doctrine is a "wise brave leader and community organizer" and similar adulation.

      The right is not so racist as to require different politically correct speech by race. I find it a fascinating long term trend that the left is eliminating gender based pronouns from GoodSpeak while adding race based language based on the skin color of the subject. Modern GoodSpeak would have MLK jr rolling in his grave, LOL ....

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @03:28PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @03:28PM (#566769)

        Muh feeeeelz! Poor white people are so oppressed now!! You never stood up against racism before, so why should anyone give a shit about your crybaby whining now? The number of true bigots on the liberal spectrum is way way way lower than on the right. So shut up and fix your own neighborhood, maybe move out of the glass house before you throw more stones.

      • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Tuesday September 12 2017, @08:49PM (5 children)

        by Thexalon (636) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @08:49PM (#566956)

        Racism is stupid. It's really a pair of mental shortcuts:
        1. "I don't know how this person will behave, but s/he kinda looks like me, so they must be alright." This is stupid, because that person may be a jerk, or a fool, or otherwise be a terrible person to be around.

        2. "I don't know how this person will behave, but s/he looks kinda like this other person who I've heard of, so they must be similar in some other ways I can't see." That's fundamentally an ignorant stance, especially when it's coupled by "and I don't want to know anybody who kinda looks like that", at which point you have stopped collecting information that would confirm or contradict your guesses that may or may not represent reality.

        The not-ignorant thing is to treat and judge each person individually. But that's harder than simply not saying the n-word or something.

        Also, as a leftist, if black people are treating all white people with hostility, that's not OK either. The reason someone like Malcolm X is a hero is that he overcame his racism and stopped hating the white man, not because he was racist in the first place.

        --
        The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:34PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:34PM (#567011)

          Malcolm X...overcame his racism and stopped hating the white man...

          Any citation?

          • (Score: 3, Informative) by Thexalon on Wednesday September 13 2017, @01:11AM

            by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday September 13 2017, @01:11AM (#567036)

            This wasn't an obscure thing, it was a critical moment in Malcolm X's life, and probably one of the reasons he was killed. Here's him writing from Mecca about his experience on the hajj which started him down that path:

            There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blonds to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white.

            America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered 'white'--but the 'white' attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.

            You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to re-arrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.

            During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug)--while praying to the same God--with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions in the deeds of the 'white' Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan, and Ghana.

            He goes on to suggest that if Americans embraced Islam as he experienced it, racism would be over in America.

            --
            The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
        • (Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday September 13 2017, @02:17AM (2 children)

          by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday September 13 2017, @02:17AM (#567054)

          "I don't know how this person will behave, but s/he looks kinda like this other person who I've heard of, so they must be similar in some other ways I can't see." That's fundamentally an ignorant stance

          Actual real world statistical data seems to disagree.

          Its a predictability and average odds improvement life hack. Kinda like there's no way to know "for certain" if you ride a bike, you won't get killed in an accident and sometimes people in helmets die anyway, but the numbers do indicate helmets are safer, like it or not.

          s/he kinda looks like me, so they must be alright

          The way it actually works is a proxy for culture. The odds of me in my race/culture getting a positive response from them in their race/culture is always higher if they equals us, never lower.

          • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday September 13 2017, @01:40PM (1 child)

            by Thexalon (636) on Wednesday September 13 2017, @01:40PM (#567216)

            The odds of me in my race/culture getting a positive response from them in their race/culture is always higher if they equals us, never lower.

            The "real world statistical data" you refer to doesn't match your assertions at all.

            Take the most extreme negative reaction available, where they try to kill you. Well, it turns out most murders are within what are our current racial classifications: White people are more likely to be killed by other white people, while black people are more likely to be killed by other black people.

            Speaking only for my own experience: I'm a white guy who has been attacked, robbed, and cheated several times in my life. Every single time, it was by a white guy. Meanwhile, I've never once been mistreated by a black, Hispanic, Asian, or Native person, and several times they've gone out of their way to help me out. And no, it's not because I don't interact with any non-white people.

            --
            The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
            • (Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday September 14 2017, @01:28PM

              by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 14 2017, @01:28PM (#567772)

              Well, it turns out most murders are within what are our current racial classifications: White people are more likely to be killed by other white people, while black people are more likely to be killed by other black people.

              That has a lot to do with "birds of a feather flock together" as do your other anecdotes. From wikipedia the results are:

              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_States#Homicide [wikipedia.org]

              Inversely, the percentage of individuals in each racial demographic arrested for murder in 2013 was:
              0.01% of Black or African American population (4,379/38,929,319)
              0.0017% of White American and Hispanic American population (3,799/223,553,265)

              The odds of walking up and talking to a black murderer are about five times higher than white. Just kinda how it is.

              It goes both ways of course. The odds of a positive response are higher not just because the other guy is likely to be a nicer guy, but because if you're alike the odds of your behavior being compatible with the other guy are higher.

  • (Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:03AM (1 child)

    by PiMuNu (3823) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:03AM (#566637)

    This sort of comment is great for the leftist media to snark at the dumb fascists. *But* does it really help anyone, or is it just an opportunity for the literati to snigger and feel superior?

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:16AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:16AM (#566639)

      Well, this was by a member of Die Partei. [wikipedia.org] One of the main considerations probably was: Is it funny?

  • (Score: 2) by fraxinus-tree on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:40AM

    by fraxinus-tree (5590) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:40AM (#566647)

    A politician that is stupid and/or ignorant? This may be something new to Germany. Not that they don't have their deal of evil ones.

  • (Score: 3, Funny) by shrewdsheep on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:45AM (1 child)

    by shrewdsheep (5215) on Tuesday September 12 2017, @09:45AM (#566651)

    Wait, he is just anticipating the AI revolution. Putting normal numbers [wikipedia.org] on the houses, will provide never-ending job opportunities.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:52AM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday September 12 2017, @11:52AM (#566691)

      I thought he meant Roman Numerals. When I was a kid I thought those poor kids in Rome had to do their arithmetic using Roman Numerals. The school encouraged that belief with discussion and artwork explaining Roman Empire children actually did so.

      Crack open a modern Roman Missal and the prevalence of Roman Numerals does nothing to discourage that peculiar opinion.

      I'm not as familiar with German Lutheran works but I'm gonna take a guess they're either also full of Roman Numerals or in their typical rebellious nature, just to annoy the Pope, German Lutheran works are all numbered in octal, hexadecimal, or something else.

      Not having been to .de I feel given decades of over the top lederhosen and cuckoo clocks in German-themed American bars and restaurants and beer-gardens that all signage in .de is in Fraktur font with Roman Numerals.

(1)