[Peace-discuss] Virtue signaling is such a convenient distraction and substitute for policy changes

[J.B. Nicholson]

According to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UoZvKDRZp8

- HBO is removing "Gone With the Wind" from its streaming system for fear of 
offending someone with the depiction of black people. The segment host says it'll be 
back later with a new introduction about racial history.

- The BBC "Little Britain" is also being removed from the BBC's streaming system for 
depicting someone in blackface.

- Some streets in New York City will be given an additional name of "Black Lives 
Matters" and this slogan will be painted on the pavement. Mayor Bill de Blasio says 
"What will be clear is the street name and on the streets of our city is that message 
that now this city must fully, fully deeply feel, and this nation must as well, that 
black lives matter."

- And more including statues being taken down, Merriam-Webster revising their 
dictionary's definition of "racism", and Apple's Siri iPhone voice-controlled 
auto-responder apparently responds to the question "Siri, do all lives matter?" with 
"All Lives Matter is often used in response to the phrase Black Lives Matter, but it 
does not represent the same concerns. To learn more about the Black Lives Matter 
human rights movement visit blacklivesmatter.com".

What's most interesting about all of this to me is:

- no policies are being changed that would actually help people's lives (not even the 
black people all of this virtue signaling ostensibly aims to benefit). This seems to 
me to be a victory for the establishment.

- 'Black Lives Matters' started as little more than sloganeering and rightly received 
criticism from BlackAgendaReport.com's Glen Ford for being only that. If Black Lives 
Matters is being adopted by the establishment that's a clear sign that it's probably 
useless to anyone seeking genuine reform. What constitutes genuine reform? Here are 
some specific actionable ideas: a national jobs program (if you're 18+ and an 
American citizen the government will give you a living wage infrastructure job doing 
work our country needs domestically like building/maintaining roads & bridges, laying 
high-speed Internet fibre cable, building houses for the homeless, and such); 
Medicare for All; and a Universal Basic Income. Each of these helps shave some rough 
edges off of capitalism (which is probably why we see none of them being enacted). 
There's not even serious police incentives change coming. We can see the co-optation 
taking place as we notice what's not being discussed. The changes listed in that RT 
segment are all happening and they all aim to serve the establishment's interests to 
look better than they are.

-J