Let's learn about this NAACP Rachel Dolezal shall we...

SLM

The Velvet Hammer
Mar 5, 2011
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I can agree to that.

I think what we have in western society is not a utopia but that we have managed to carve out the best world where opportunity really is available to just about everyone. I think where the problem lies is that we aren't born knowing how to recognize opportunity, not all of us anyway, and some need to be taught or shown. I really am a big believer in social programs that really help people to help themselves and move them forward and I don't think we do enough of them.
 

CDNBear

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Sep 24, 2006
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I think what we have in western society is not a utopia but that we have managed to carve out the best world where opportunity really is available to just about everyone. I think where the problem lies is that we aren't born knowing how to recognize opportunity, not all of us anyway, and some need to be taught or shown. I really am a big believer in social programs that really help people to help themselves and move them forward and I don't think we do enough of them.
I actually agree wholeheartedly.

I've volunteered for one such program, saw it do some good. I've seen local bureaucrats gut others I know were doing good.
 

SLM

The Velvet Hammer
Mar 5, 2011
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I actually agree wholeheartedly.

I've volunteered for one such program, saw it do some good. I've seen local bureaucrats gut others I know were doing good.

Also, as we mentioned earlier, many programs get spear headed and/or run by narcissists.

But one done properly, it's like a realistic interpretation of an ideal. And it can breed real success.
 

CDNBear

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Also, as we mentioned earlier, many programs get spear headed and/or run by narcissists.
Or people who think their vision is the only vision.

As you are aware of, the struggles I went through during my volunteer work.

But one done properly, it's like a realistic interpretation of an ideal. And it can breed real success.
Even some, done haphazardly can yield fairly good results.
 

SLM

The Velvet Hammer
Mar 5, 2011
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Or people who think their vision is the only vision.

Lol, that would be a narcissist. :D

As you are aware of, the struggles I went through during my volunteer work.
I do. I imagine it can be difficult, making your way through a minefield to get to where they need your help. I'll be the first to admit, I couldn't do it. Not that way anyhow, I'd have to find my own ways to help out where and when I can.

Even some, done haphazardly can yield fairly good results.
I think even just a short but honest conversation with a stranger can yield results. Possibly. A lot of the time all it takes to get the ball rolling is to getting people to start to think differently.
 

CDNBear

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Lol, that would be a narcissist. :D
It may be a symptom of narcissism, but just because someone thinks their way of doing it is the only way, doesn't necessarily make them a narcissist.

I can honestly say the director of the program I was involved with, wasn't a narcissist. Just a far left anti gun, anti hunter asshat. All in all though, I'd have to say she was a pretty selfless person. Her dedication to the kids, was pretty damned impressive.

I do. I imagine it can be difficult, making your way through a minefield to get to where they need your help. I'll be the first to admit, I couldn't do it. Not that way anyhow, I'd have to find my own ways to help out where and when I can.
You know how tenacious and patient I am, I gave up.

I think even just a short but honest conversation with a stranger can yield results. Possibly. A lot of the time all it takes to get the ball rolling is to getting people to start to think differently.
I agree, 100%. But from what I witnessed, the message being sent, is the wrong one. One of the darling programs was titled "Living in a colonial state". That's 100% the wrong message to be sending Native youth. It takes them in the wrong direction.
 

SLM

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It may be a symptom of narcissism, but just because someone thinks their way of doing it is the only way, doesn't necessarily make them a narcissist.

I can honestly say the director of the program I was involved with, wasn't a narcissist. Just a far left anti gun, anti hunter asshat. All in all though, I'd have to say she was a pretty selfless person. Her dedication to the kids, was pretty damned impressive.

Fair enough, lol.

I agree, 100%. But from what I witnessed, the message being sent, is the wrong one. One of the darling programs was titled "Living in a colonial state". That's 100% the wrong message to be sending Native youth. It takes them in the wrong direction.

Wow, that's just, wow. There are just so many things wrong with that title alone, I fear the content within it even more.
 

CDNBear

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Wow, that's just, wow. There are just so many things wrong with that title alone, I fear the content within it even more.
It was my single greatest problem with the program. It instantly teaches the kids, they're victims from the very start.
 

SLM

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It was my single greatest problem with the program. It instantly teaches the kids, they're victims from the very start.

And it establishes, from the ground up, an adversarial situation. Which I understand is very much the experience of the past, but if you keep up with that attitude, isn't the past just going to repeat itself?

I mean, there is most definitely a way to respect and honour your culture and heritage while at the same time integrate and function fully within the diversity of society. This is Canada, we have millions of immigrants who do this everyday. This notion that FN youth somehow cannot just strikes me as a complete failure on the part of both FN and non FN 'forces' (for lack of a better term) within our society.
 

CDNBear

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And it establishes, from the ground up, an adversarial situation. Which I understand is very much the experience of the past, but if you keep up with that attitude, isn't the past just going to repeat itself?
Over and over.

I mean, there is most definitely a way to respect and honour your culture and heritage while at the same time integrate and function fully within the diversity of society. This is Canada, we have millions of immigrants who do this everyday. This notion that FN youth somehow cannot just strikes me as a complete failure on the part of both FN and non FN 'forces' (for lack of a better term) within our society.
Now you see what I was up against.
 

SLM

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Over and over.

Now I get your aversion to self-victimization. Well, lol, I get it more as I understood it before.

Now you see what I was up against.
The thing is, what you specifically experienced was a just microcosm of society and the reason we keep going around in circles on most of these issues, racism, religious persecution, gender discrimination,etc.

You know, me, I'm honest, and every time in my life that I've had difficulty with something I've tried to be upfront about it. And I would tell people "I have a hard time with this because" or "This makes me anxious" or whatever. And they would say to me "Well, don't be that way."

I would think to myself "Well, fuk, if I could just simply 'not be that way', don't you think I would?" Lol.

But, again being honest, every single time in my life where I've pushed through a barrier or gotten past a fear it has simply been because "I just did it".

We spend all this time obsessing over the issue that racism or sexism or whatever is within our society, all obstensibly in an effort to eradicate it yet the more we dissect it, the more of an issue it becomes.

Maybe we just need to not make it an issue.
 

CDNBear

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Now I get your aversion to self-victimization. Well, lol, I get it more as I understood it before.
Which is why I find it puzzling when some members have felt the need to tell me to "get over it" or "stop dwelling in the past" or something similarly stupid like "Your admitted disadvantage".

But, again being honest, every single time in my life where I've pushed through a barrier or gotten past a fear it has simply been because "I just did it".
Sometimes, no amount of talk, coddling, soothing or therapy will do for you, what just saying "F!ck it" will.

We spend all this time obsessing over the issue that racism or sexism or whatever is within our society, all ostensibly in an effort to eradicate it yet the more we dissect it, the more of an issue it becomes.

Maybe we just need to not make it an issue.
How? It's the root cause of so much stupidity.
 

SLM

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If you look for the bad in people you will surely find it.....

That's true.

Conversely if you look for the good in people you will often surely find it as well. And that's not always a good thing necessarily, particularly if it leaves you missing the bad in them.

I think we have to try harder to just see people for who they are, warts and all; the good, the bad and the ugly.
 

CDNBear

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I think we have to try harder to just see people for who they are, warts and all; the good, the bad and the ugly.
Gawd forbid you ever point out the negative though, lol.

As these pages have surely proven, honesty is not appreciated by the hypocrites and perpetually dishonest.
 

SLM

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Which is why I find it puzzling when some members have felt the need to tell me to "get over it" or "stop dwelling in the past" or something similarly stupid like "Your admitted disadvantage".

Most people don't really listen or try to figure someone else out, they have a preconceived notion and stop there.

Sometimes, no amount of talk, coddling, soothing or therapy will do for you, what just saying "F!ck it" will.
Very true. On the other hand though, I think it also demonstrates that getting to the point of moving past it, the "F!ck it" moment, is a journey. And it supports the notion that we can and should be helpful to some on that journey.

Some people are just better navigators than others.

How? It's the root cause of so much stupidity.
The irony of simplicity is it really is quite complex isn't it?
 

CDNBear

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Most people don't really listen or try to figure someone else out, they have a preconceived notion and stop there.
At their own peril.

Very true. On the other hand though, I think it also demonstrates that getting to the point of moving past it, the "F!ck it" moment, is a journey. And it supports the notion that we can and should be helpful to some on that journey.
Agreed.

Some people are just better navigators than others
Or just appear to be. I've seen my fair share of people who are good at just burying their pains.

The irony of simplicity is it really is quite complex isn't it?
Yes it is, at times. But that also depeds on how fast ones mind can process all the input.
 

SLM

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Gawd forbid you ever point out the negative though, lol.

As these pages have surely proven, honesty is not appreciated by the hypocrites and perpetually dishonest.

Well, honesty can be a weapon. And a pretty blunt one sometimes.

At their own peril.

Perilous or not, it's short sighted. Maybe it's just me, I'm always afraid of what I might be missing out on.

Or just appear to be. I've seen my fair share of people who are good at just burying their pains.
True. I can actually relate to that quite a bit. But that doesn't mean I'm not navigating my own journey.

Yes it is, at times. But that also depeds on how fast ones mind can process all the input.
That's usually what screws it up for me, I tend to over think things. I think the simplest, best solutions tend to come to us naturally. We kind of fuk it up by thinking.
 

DaSleeper

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May 27, 2007
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For the last few summers, we have had an influx of flood victims from the James bay region in Kap.....Families with young kids on hot days, will go to the municipal park, where we have a water playground.....
Since I take my walks through there every day, I noticed that the parents whites and natives would usually sit with their own kinds while the kids would mix it up in the playground.
This year I noticed a few, not many parents integrating,......probably, the kids introduced them....

There is hope,......... through the children.....