Blacks drown at 5 times the rate of white people.

[Asclepias]

Go back and read my post. Its pretty clear.

 

[koshergrl]

Anyway. There's no excuse for not knowing how to swim.

 

[Asclepias]

Who told you that? We dont live in the water.

 

[koshergrl]

I told you that. If you have kids, it's your duty to teach them to swim. Along with teaching them how to walk, to cross the street safely, and to regulate the temperature of their own bath water.

If you haven't, then you're a crappy parent.

 

[Asclepias]

I told you that. If you have kids, it's your duty to teach them to swim. Along with teaching them how to walk, to cross the street safely, and to regulate the temperature of their own bath water.

If you haven't, then you're a crappy parent.

I thought someone important said that. Why are swimming skills important if you are never around water deep enough to swim in? Should we teach them to skydive as well?

 

[Sunni Man]

Why are swimming skills important if you are never around water deep enough to swim in? Should we teach them to skydive as well?

.....................................^^ Exhibit #1 .... Typical retard logic from this poster. ...

 

[koshergrl]

Yup.

I know..Let's outlaw lakes, streams, pools..and the OCEAN!

 

[koshergrl]

What a freaking moron.

Seriously. What sort of brain dead lunatic argues AGAINST teaching children to swim for safety's sake?

I'll tell you what type..the type that is an entitlement whore. "What we need dat fo? Dere's no water round dese pahts!"

 

[HenryBHough]

Does anyone see a reason Regime Obama cannot Executive Order that all parents take out some form of insurance to prevent chillin's from drowning? Or maybe put a tax on use of waters for recreation, a kind of sin tax, to discourage its use?

 

[Sunni Man]

What a freaking moron.

Seriously. What sort of brain dead lunatic argues AGAINST teaching children to swim for safety's sake?

I'll tell you what type..the type that is an entitlement whore. "What we need dat fo? Dere's no water round dese pahts!"

No doubt he is a product of an Affirmative Action education. .. :cool

 

[Asclepias]

What a freaking moron.

Seriously. What sort of brain dead lunatic argues AGAINST teaching children to swim for safety's sake?

I'll tell you what type..the type that is an entitlement whore. "What we need dat fo? Dere's no water round dese pahts!"

Where did I argue against it? I asked you why was it necessary? You have yet to explain why.

 

[emilynghiem]

Compared with ME trying to rap? [insert choking sound]

Yes, it takes SOME kind of skill or talent
I don't have! (unless I'm being comedic, in which case,
it's very effective as a crazy form of humor)*

Note: I think the positive Hip Hop is more challenging
than negative rap that is just angry griping and venting.
If it is done articulately, like really making statements,
I think that is a form of literary art to set poetry to a rap beat.

I have no problem with that.

If you are talking about trashy rap, anyone can rhyme "ho" with "go"
so "no" that doesn't necessarily take talent.

The stuff with real social commentary and deep spiritual or poetic concepts,
YES that takes talent.

When you listen to cheap lazy rap, you can clearly hear the difference.

Here's one Jewish Hip Hop Street Artist a friend of mine did his doctoral thesis on:
http://movies.zap2it.com/movies/jails-hospitals-and-hip-hop/74269

It doesn't take talent to rap.

Who told you that?

No one tells me anything. I form my own opinions.

I've heard some incredible singers, who broke into rap, and then went back
into the lyrics and folk music -- ALL with deep social content. It was a mix
of natural talent and deep soul searching and understanding of society and humanity.
That kind of stuff takes work, and when it is presented to look "simple" and "natural" -- those are the real pro's

(I tried to find links to the Canadian/Innuit Folk/Jazz/Rap duo I heard live in Austin, but they just have their
old stuff posted online: https://myspace.com/greentaramusic/music/song/deadly-til-u-die-f-ndidi-cascade-77926525-85844380
https://myspace.com/greentaramusic/music/song/figure-it-out-f-ndidi-cascade-77928792-85846655
It's the live performance that distinguishes the really talented performers.)

* for political humor, I do have a couple of song parodies where it becomes pure comedy
to have me trying to rap anything! Here is the spoken word section of "Unconstitutional"
to the tune of "Unbelievable" by EMF http://www.houstonprogressive.org/legalization.html :

"Fencing off Texas
Waste of my taxes
Policing the borders
Harassing poor workers
Oppressing fellow Mexicans
Less than equal citizens
Is it wrong to be Christian
To love
the world
and everyone equally
To live by Grace
and Charity
The price we pay
for Liberty

(Who made up these laws?
They're unconstitutional!)"

When I tried to demonstrate how the "Bill of Rights" could be sung to Tom's Diner by Suzanne Vega,
one of my students nearly choked to death and pulled all his stomach muscles --
he couldn't even laugh out loud because he wasn't breathing! It's hilarious because of people's reactions.

 

[Asclepias]

Who told you that?

No one tells me anything. I form my own opinions.

Compared with ME trying to rap?

Yes, it takes SOME kind of skill or talent
I don't have! (unless I'm being comedic, in which case,
it's very effective as a crazy form of humor)

Note: I think the positive Hip Hop is more challenging
than negative rap that is just angry griping and venting.
If it is done articulately, like really making statements,
I think that is a form of literary art to set poetry to a rap beat.

I have no problem with that.

If you are talking about trashy rap, anyone can rhyme "ho" with "go"
so "no" that doesn't necessarily take talent.

The stuff with real social commentary and deep spiritual or poetic concepts,
YES that takes talent.

I've heard some incredible singers, who broke into rap, and then went back
into the lyrics and folk music -- ALL with deep social content. It was a mix
of natural talent and deep soul searching and understanding of society and humanity.
That kind of stuff takes work, and when it is presented to look "simple" and "natural"
those are the real pro's

I tried rapping before and I write poetry. Poetry is not quite the same as rapping and its not the musical aspect. There is a different flow to poetry. Its extremely difficult to rap and it sound good. I dont like the stuff with negative messages but I have to have my rap music.

 

[regent]

Growing up white during the Great Depression none of us white kids could swim, but that was OK because we knew that Blacks could not play football or basketball. Our evidence: not one was in the pros and only a few were able to play college sports. Jesse Owens was an exception, and I don't remember how we explained that.

 

[emilynghiem]

I tried rapping before and I write poetry. Poetry is not quite the same as rapping and its not the musical aspect. There is a different flow to poetry. Its extremely difficult to rap and it sound good. I dont like the stuff with negative messages but I have to have my rap music.

Yes, it has a different flow, mood and spirit to it
compared with lyrical or literary poetry. I never could quite get the gist
of the "academic" coffee house poetry, and generally stuck with satire instead.
I kinda played off the serious poetry as a backdrop to come in with unapologetic
satire and musical spoofs, so the contrast made it interesting, I guess.

Some people have compared street rap to the old time storytelling that epic poetry
was based on, using meter to memorize stories and myths in order to pass them
down by oral tradition.

So there is a common cultural purpose served, even though the genre comes out different in each context.

Another example is how the Black gospel spirituals have served as an oral tradition in the South, where that genre is naturally different from any others and easily recognized for its style.

[I generally do not respond or relate to the "jazz" genre at all, but understand its deeper social and historic implications. A poet in Houston who combines his spoken word with "just crazy noisemaking" on trumpet, almost like a spoof on jazz musicians who sound like that to me, manages to reach audiences who normally don't bother, especially kids who just love the mix of language with random noise!
So it fascinates me how each genre can be reinvented by mixing it with new contexts and become a totally different art form or social statement about multiple cultural influences.]

My friend who studied Danny Hoch looked at it from a social cultural perspective
of using spoken media to communicate and mobilize people around social reform.

Quite fascinating how music, poetry, and art can rise above and bring people together on higher levels, to think about our situations differently and look toward creative solutions.

Fascinating.

 

[flacaltenn]

So Asclepias, as one old lifeguard to another -- what should we DO about this statistic (if it's anywhere near correct) ????? I'd spend some time in the Metro pools this summer if you can arrange my safe passage and a bottle of sunscreen...

 

[Asclepias]

So Asclepias, as one old lifeguard to another -- what should we DO about this statistic (if it's anywhere near correct) ????? I'd spend some time in the Metro pools this summer if you can arrange my safe passage and a bottle of sunscreen...

I dont really think its an issue unless we are expecting a flood. It would be nice if everyone knew how to swim but its not a requirement especially with the invention of life jackets. To me its just another way to exercise disguised as fun. I believe the interest level has to raised in the Black community if we want to have an abundance of high level swimmers. I dont know how you do that or why its important.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZqPTjzdVrI"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZqPTjzdVrI[/ame]

 

[flacaltenn]

So Asclepias, as one old lifeguard to another -- what should we DO about this statistic (if it's anywhere near correct) ????? I'd spend some time in the Metro pools this summer if you can arrange my safe passage and a bottle of sunscreen...

I dont really think its an issue unless we are expecting a flood. It would be nice if everyone knew how to swim but its not a requirement especially with the invention of life jackets. To me its just another way to exercise disguised as fun. I believe the interest level has to raised in the Black community if we want to have an abundance of high level swimmers. I dont know how you do that or why its important.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZqPTjzdVrI"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZqPTjzdVrI[/ame]

What's important is not forcing "another way to excersize" on youngins. But I'm thinking of what we used to call "drown-proofing". You could drownproof a kid without hardly ever gettting their face wet. Something like 2 hours of instruction for the times there are no lifejackets around.

Taught upright, low effort bobbing and simple back-floating. Zen methods in deep water.
That kinda stuff. I'm surprised the RedCross isn't on this bigtime. (They probably are).

 

[Asclepias]

So Asclepias, as one old lifeguard to another -- what should we DO about this statistic (if it's anywhere near correct) ????? I'd spend some time in the Metro pools this summer if you can arrange my safe passage and a bottle of sunscreen...

I dont really think its an issue unless we are expecting a flood. It would be nice if everyone knew how to swim but its not a requirement especially with the invention of life jackets. To me its just another way to exercise disguised as fun. I believe the interest level has to raised in the Black community if we want to have an abundance of high level swimmers. I dont know how you do that or why its important.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZqPTjzdVrI"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZqPTjzdVrI[/ame]

What's important is not forcing "another way to excersize" on youngins. But I'm thinking of what we used to call "drown-proofing". You could drownproof a kid without hardly ever gettting their face wet. Something like 2 hours of instruction for the times there are no lifejackets around.

Taught upright, low effort bobbing and simple back-floating. Zen methods in deep water.
That kinda stuff. I'm surprised the RedCross isn't on this bigtime. (They probably are).

I dont see it as forcing. What I am saying is what is the motivation? If you want to teach your child to swim in the interest of safety then thats fine. How do you sale that to parents that dont swim and dont go to the beach or pool? To me its like teaching your child how to survive in the woods and you dont live anywhere near the woods.

 

[emilynghiem]

So Asclepias, as one old lifeguard to another -- what should we DO about this statistic (if it's anywhere near correct) ????? I'd spend some time in the Metro pools this summer if you can arrange my safe passage and a bottle of sunscreen...

I dont really think its an issue unless we are expecting a flood. It would be nice if everyone knew how to swim but its not a requirement especially with the invention of life jackets. To me its just another way to exercise disguised as fun. I believe the interest level has to raised in the Black community if we want to have an abundance of high level swimmers. I dont know how you do that or why its important.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZqPTjzdVrI"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZqPTjzdVrI[/ame]

What's important is not forcing "another way to excersize" on youngins. But I'm thinking of what we used to call "drown-proofing". You could drownproof a kid without hardly ever gettting their face wet. Something like 2 hours of instruction for the times there are no lifejackets around.

Taught upright, low effort bobbing and simple back-floating. Zen methods in deep water.
That kinda stuff. I'm surprised the RedCross isn't on this bigtime. (They probably are).

I think that's a good idea. Maybe add this on with CPR and basic first aid training that are beneficial for more people to have.

What if people got discounts on their insurance or their school/property taxes for passing training in law enforcement and public safety as part of local community policy?

If people are looking at gun safety training and requirements, why not look at other areas of public safety and training citizens to make less work for police and emergency teams?