211–220 of 443 posts
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I wasn't sure until this comment, but now I'm 100% convinced you're American.
You could have just asked, but I don't think it's particularly important information.
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>It's more... I'm curious where you're from that you think doesn't have a similar history, but it still boils down to "if you don't have a racism problem it's not actually racist." I don't get that logic, you can argue it's not harmful but it's still racism. >Why not ask the Irish themselves? I find it strange that all the Irish you are asking are speaking English, but the Irish Times hits why this is offensive. >Wel…
> I'm curious where you're from that you think doesn't have a similar history, but it still boils down to "if you don't have a racism problem it's not actually racist." I don't get that logic Note that I never said "If a place doesn't have a racism problem then them doing racist acts is OK / it's not racist". My argument is "Places with heavy racist history tend to look at all kind of non-racist acts as racist, eithe…
Even if this is true, that was a racist statement for the reasons I originally outlined. That doesn't change if Irish say it, and it is of the "x are inferior sense" you mention. That's what has me confused,
>Instead of... act on...
So I should better prioritise the racism I address in my country, ignoring smaller examples until I can fix major ones? I tend to just address the ones I encounter, though I think understanding that past treatment can still cause current problems we need to address is an important message.
"To a clever crow, a scarecrow is an opportunity" - Alan Scott
(but he in turn may have been quoting someone else)
Crows are known to give "presents" to humans they like, such as dropping small pieces of metal they picked up, or worms. Also, crows have very rich tribal behaviours going on. There's a town close to mine called Husum (in North Germany) where there's a multi-year battle going on between crows in the park. You immediately notice it by the noise, and in fact by dead crows lying on the ground.
Cats tend to bring gifts too. My grandmother used to receive that of dead moles, freshly caught mice and what have you, invariably placed dead center on her pillow. She wasn't a fan of that cat before, and she didn't like it much better after. No idea why.
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It seems like you're suggesting that there aren't massive biological differences between a wild human and a crow. This is false. Humans have many biological faculties that crows simply do not have. For example, the wild, untrained human still has the biological faculty of language. That is, there is a reason why no animal other than a human has been shown to be able to learn a language. The reason is that they do not…
That's a little misleading. An individual child will not be able to fluently acquire language if not exposed during the so-called "critical period"; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_child for plenty of examples. _Groups_ of humans with no common means of communication will form pidgins ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pidgin ) as an (essentially grammarless) means of communication; children then raised in an en…
I heard an interesting theory about intelligence while watching a documentary about jumping spiders. Good eyesight tends to evolve first. In the case of jumping spiders, it was vital for safe landing. As a consequence, jumping spiders have the best eyesight among spiders. Anyway, initially brain gets a lot of extra information but is unable to take advantage of all of it. It's just for safe landing. Then those animal…
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You could have just asked, but I don't think it's particularly important information.
I don't actually care, I just wanted to point it out to you, so that you understand how strongly it's colouring your views. We all have our biases, and we should all be aware of them.
We have crows and jackrabbits in our neighborhood. You drive down the road toward a bunch (I think they prefer the term "murder") of crows having a meeting in the middle of the road. They'll eventually start nonchalantly strolling to the side at a calm, measured pace perfectly timed to just barely get out of the way as you pass and stroll back again, no feathers ruffled. Jackrabbits will be sitting safely in the gras…
On the other hand, if you are out driving and there's a flock of Canadian Geese walking across the road, try only slowing down to 5 to 10 mph. They are used to people stopping until they finish crossing so they freak out when you don't. Note: I generally do not advocate purposely messing with animals, but geese are evil! Also don't do this if there are young that might not be able to get out of the way in time.
For example, see this video of a crow tobogganing on a snowy roof.