Boulder Colorado to have a Hate & Bias Hotline

As i watch MSNBC's Tucker Carlson tonight, i am horrified that the City of Boulder Colorado, is establishing a "Hate and Bias hotline" where anyone who has been told or heard anything untoward or offensive can call in and express their concerns.

OK. This takes the cake. This is nothing but an Orwellian attempt at your civil liberties.

Can we stop now please????? This is getting freaking out of hand.

Well if people are to call in such things they heard others say such as "That friggin (racial slur) is runnign over here and taking jobs. Lets go shoot those friggin (racial slur) and make sure they dont take our job" , or something along the lines of "that friggin (racial slur) is a different color from us, let us go burn a cross in front of that (racial slur)'s house".

I suppose that is the kind of thinking that should be bred out of society. Those are the kinds of things that cause suffering in our world. do you even know that towns situation? I do not, but it could be a small town whos suffering alot of racist hate as a result of anonymous or disguised few individuals.

Of course I can not know because you did not post any sources, so I will just have to assume.

This doesn't sound like an attempt at our civil liberties as much as it sounds like another bright idea from touchy-feely types to make sure nobody's feelings get hurt.

Of course, w/o a source and some further info, it's anybody's guess.

Dg do you have a link to this, I collect Orwellian News Clips like that. Looks like a good example of the facist concepts of self-policing and empowered citizenry that inevtiably degenerate into mob squads, lynch mobs, you know, real honest to god thought police and vigilantes. Good lord, we already have a hate and bias hotline, it's called civil litigation.
If you've ever taken any college level sociology courses, then you are familiar with the Milgrams Experiment, this kind of crap is particularly dangerous because you are empowering an untrained mob... get yourself a little cardboard badge and rat your neighbor out for saying he don't like what you like, and I hope you can sleep at night and not worry if your other neighbor might being do the same to you. Dad won't let you go to that party? Narc him out and tell them he don't like somebody's politics and off to the party you go. Neighbor's wife smiling at you're old man a little too much? Maybe she's a communist then... That guy that owns the dog that barks all night looks a little subversive... Crazy stuff, but if you read your history books, you should know it happens all the time.

Jesus, 60 million people died in WWII and we didn't learn a damned thing.

Great stuff DG!

Links for the linkless:

www.denverpost.com
Rocky Mountain News.com

dg,

I totally agree with you on this one, this type of thing makes me sick !

-- Boat

Wow DG, you get to shell out thirtygrand for it too.

rockymountainnews.com
The City Council will consider Tuesday whether to give $30,000 to start the hotline

This article tries to paint it out to be some kind of counseling services, but the real teeth of the program are clear...

"It's not like this would be a hotline to the police. That's the kind of thing that would make matters worse, not better. The only way to deal with racial issues in the city is to expose them, and this can do that,"

Mmmm hmmm, don't shop at doodlemart, this guy said this and that one time... Hey but while your at it... Shop at my store instead, we love you're kind.

Edit:
Yup...


[edit on 17-5-2006 by twitchy]

Ok thanks for all the links- as i said i posted this late last night and i "heard" it on Tucker Carlson.

Isnt this something?

This should scare the hell out of everyone.

[edit on 17-5-2006 by dgtempe]

Originally posted by DYepes


I suppose that is the kind of thinking that should be bred out of society. Those are the kinds of things that cause suffering in our world. do you even know that towns situation? I do not, but it could be a small town whos suffering alot of racist hate as a result of anonymous or disguised few individuals.

Of course I can not know because you did not post any sources, so I will just have to assume.

You can take my word once in awhile, seeing that i am constantly here and try to put up good stories. Do i have to know that town's situation? What is any town's situation? Will that justify it for you if the town needs a blab center cause "Joe" called "Bob" a racist? Better still, Joe called Bush an idiot? (the real purpose)? Where DO you draw the line? Where does it end?

Jsobecky- touchy feely You had to throw that in, didnt ya?
EVEN if it were, they are doing it because the government condones it and empowers them. You know as well as i do i am right in my assumption that this is nothing more than another move to bring us closer to the "Thought Police"-AND never mind the left/right issue. There IS no left and right.

Originally posted by DYepes
Well if people are to call in such things they heard others say such as "That friggin (racial slur) is runnign over here and taking jobs. Lets go shoot those friggin (racial slur) and make sure they dont take our job" , or something along the lines of "that friggin (racial slur) is a different color from us, let us go burn a cross in front of that (racial slur)'s house".

sure, how about that friggin "cracker" or "honky" or thos types of things as well?
by in far the racists amongst whites are fewer than those among blacks and mexicans.

dont believe me? take a stroll through the inner city of one of the major cities and you'll learn real quick.

a racist isnt just being white and saying something like this, you can be black, mexican, etc and be equally racist.... of course this is overlooked.

dont let the white guilt make you not defend yourself.....I have seen this with school children in the large cities.

I have seen white kids beaten, robbed, etc. of course they are told not to defend themselves for fear the issue will quickly turn into a racial one, even when it has nothing to do with that.

I am not saying its ok to hate someone because they are different, but IMO this has been blown way out of porportion.

its human nature to discriminate in some way, whether its the clicky "jocks" and "nerds" or whites and blacks.

just dont let fear of being labeled a "racist" make you sit on the sidelines while injustices go on.

everyone has a right to pursue happiness and freedom.

seriously, has anyone on this board in their lifetime seen a cross burned in a black family's yard?

I know I havent....and havent even heard of such a thing happening in the last 20-30 years.

X out!

Freedom of belief and view means EVERYONES view, even if it offends others.

The right to hate is on par with the right to love. The right to offend is equal to the right to please. Remove one right and the other shall collapse as well.

All this crap about reporting racist remarks or offensive jokes is a direct attack on freedom of thought and of personal opinion. To mentally castrate and neuter people to make sure no ones feelings get hurt is nonsense.

If you hear a joke, comment, or epitet directed at you that offends you, you have a right to be upset or angry. However, you have no right to remove the right of the offender to say what they feel. You have a right to confont them. Insult them back if you wish. Or ignore them.

But this state run mind cleansing is an act of pure tyranny. I hear and see things everyday that I find offensive or rude. yet I have no desire to rob the offender of their right to say whatever they think, even if hatefully directed at me.

Some people simply need a thicker skin and some backbone instead of running and tattling to the nanny state everytime someone hurts their wittle feelings.

I was going to try to write something good to go along with this idea, but instead I think I'll just refer anyone interested to this thread BTS: "Hate Crime"=Thought Police
It discusses this same concept, it's fairly short and some of the posters express my thoughts better than I can

Originally posted by twitchy
Dg do you have a link to this, I collect Orwellian News Clips like that. Looks like a good example of the facist concepts of self-policing and empowered citizenry that inevtiably degenerate into mob squads, lynch mobs, you know, real honest to god thought police and vigilantes. Good lord, we already have a hate and bias hotline, it's called civil litigation.

Jesus, 60 million people died in WWII and we didn't learn a damned thing.

Great stuff DG!

Uh why couldn't communists do the same thing twitchy?

What about the 'block system' where there is a stooge on every street corner spying and rating on their neighbours... they perfected it I think.

I think the hotline is a bit over the top, but let me play devil's advocate here for a moment. I lived in Colorado for some time and am moving back there at the end of this month to attend UC Boulder, so I know the place pretty well.

First of all, Colorado has never healed from the Columbine shootings. The Littleton School murders were a horrendous tragedy and they are still to this day fresh on the minds of some residents.

Sociologists studying the massacre concluded that the two students, Kleibold and Harris, were suffering from, among other things, a lack of social integration. In simple terms, they had been picked on in school to the extent that there was psychological damage. This damage combined with other socialising agents resulted in the bloody massacre.

Public schools in Colorado instituted the No Bully programme. My son went to school there and the programme works. Kids who experience bullying write anonymous letters to the school. The kids are then all gathered together and the issues contained in the letters are addressed without pointing fingers or naming names. It really has helped. Kids who need counciling receive it, and bullies are socialised into a gentler, more accepting set of norms.

Boulder is a college town. The whole town revolves around the University. It is one of the most diverse in the nation as well. Boulder prides itself on that diversity. A recent assault at the college that involved racial tension scared people. It rocked them hard. It reminded them how quickly violence can break out at a school.

What Boulder is trying to do now is to put the No Bully programme to work in a place where they students are older, but the programme may work anyway.

I seriously think that people could find a better way of dealing with this than a hot line. I think in the long run it has the potential to be dangerous. I can see though why some people want it. They just don't want racism to threaten the diversity, and they certainly want to avoid another shoot out.

I found one more thing as well -

www.dailycamera.com...

Now this puts a different wheel on the wagon -
According to this article, the hotline is designed to simply gather data on non-criminal acts of bias. It's a research project. It isn't for use to file charges on someone.

The above article shows some of the intents and the problems associated with the project.

Once I get to Boulder, I'll find out more. It ought to be interesting.