I guess I need to develop more complex emoticons.

Yep, there's a lot of great stuff scattered around here - best chess site on the internet!

<Ohio> LOL - I have been known to inform co-workers that standing between me and my first coffee of the day is a very risky thing to do. :D

Go ahead and post your discussion with your brother if you like, and let's see how it goes. ;p

So, while the first group were looking for <a better life>, the second group just wanted to ensure <having a life> at all.>

I understand you to be trying to make an objective summary and there need not be any sense of scandal in your words. I am trying to do the same. A point my brother made, something I'd never given a second's thought to, was that the blacks in America, as a whole, didn't choose to come here. They were mostly forced here, weren't seeking this country, weren't seeking this culture, and yet here they are. The Europeans for the most part did choose to be here, were seeking the culture, and not coincidentally, found a fairly similar culture as they left.

If you live in a country where it's harder for you than for the majority to get a job (particularly a decent one), a home and other essential elements of full citizenship, and where the criminal justice system is often heavily tilted against you, higher crime rates and even more disproportionately high rates of incarceration may be a natural consequence, and not really your fault.

I read a great book not long ago (although, vexingly, I can't recall the title) about the "black experience" in America, as told by mostly middle-class black Americans. And one quote that I will never forget: Asked to summarize how it felt to be black in this country, one upper-middle-class professional said candidly, "One step away from suicide, most of the time."

That there is also an element of resentment is indisputable, but I think it is not so much the product of black "culture" as of disillusioning experience. When black kids first go off to start school, they tend to do so with the wide-eyed optimism of most young children; but as the years pass, bitterness all too often takes its place.

Culture, sure. For one thing, the history of American black people doesn't really fit into that immigration profiling at all; being abducted and sold into slavery, forcibly shipped off to another continent, can hardly be termed "immigration". :s

The refugee groups I was talking about left their homes of their own choice, even if the choice was due to their recognition of the necessity to do so to save themselves. There is certainly resentment involved there - to put it mildly - but the brunt of it would have been directed toward the people and circumstances in their old country that pushed them into this choice, not toward the new country.

For another, we were talking about assimilation problems - um, the original blacks who were brought to America were not <offered> assimilation into the culture! They were slaves, that was the only "cultural role" open to them, and they bloody well had to "assimilate" into it - or they were killed. :s

Of course this background left a deep cultural scar in their descendants' psyches, and the damage still hasn't been sorted out to this day - the poverty and mostly poor public education, a cycle very hard to break out of - doesn't help. Real improvement will still likely take generations, but that's the mess your ancestors left you with, and there's no stuffing that genie back into the bottle. The best you can do is try to improve their public education so their next generations will be better equipped to become contributing members of society, and while doing so, break out of their poverty.

Let's see...Paragraph 2, I agree. Paragraph 3, I agree. Paragraph 4, I agree. Paragraph 5, yes, the cultural scar was the primary point bro was referencing. I do recognize the differences from the previous conversation on page 10. Agreed on the cycle of poverty and education, and will note the cycle of dependence on the government. I would also have to point out the victimization mentality that is impressed upon the young. That might be in your consideration of the scar in the psyche, though I distuinguish that since it's ongoing, purposeful, and perpetrated by the culture itself. And I can't help but notice, as I've pointed out many times elsewhere, that the unyielding allegiance to liberal economic policies in spite of depressing results is another barrier to advancement. I am not optimistic either of those two particular issues are going to change, ever. I wish I didn't feel that way.

Cool beans! Who'd a thunk it? Oh, you would have.

The Caissars chessforum

<chessgames.com: ANNOUNCEMENT By popular demand, Chessgames will this year take over the annual tradition that we call <The Caissars>.

For those who don't know, The Caissars are our version of an awards ceremony, where we look back on the previous year and decide the kibitzers, posts, games and players that are the most laudable.

We will do our best to keep things similar to what you've been familiar with in previous years, at least in spirit.

To this purpose, we've created an account — see The Caissars chessforum. Announcements will be posted to that page and the chessforum will soon open up for posting.>

If you're presented with a Morton's Fork that permits a "choice" between bare subsistence provided by calculating "benefactors" in exchange for your political allegiance and mere annihilating destitution, do you really have a choice at all?

Again and again, I see people pushed into corners, bent over barrels, and extorted for the political or financial benefit of their extortionists, and then successfully blamed for their own plight, precisely as if they'd ever had a choice in the matter.

Speaking as a life-long (to date) member of the working poor, I have considerable personal experience on which to draw in describing such conditions. I won't afflict you with sad tales from my own life, which are in any case far from unique in a country as deeply riven by differential privilege as ours is today, but I will tell you that I am thoroughly tired of it.

I've said before that we (like the citizens of virtually every country in the world) live in a pathocracy: a nation dominated by psychopaths who consciencelessly create casualties in their path through life and then adroitly confer the blame for this state of affairs on those who suffer most from it. This is not hard for them to do, because psychologically normal people find it so hard to understand their mindset that, finding themselves presented with conflicting narratives, they prefer to believe the platitude that "the truth lies somewhere in the middle," unable to grasp the real depths of the psychopaths' mendacity. And the consequence is that even people of normal conscience, in positions of authority to decide the fate of the psychopath and his victim, almost always accept as truth some of the lies told by the former, and as lies some of the truth spoken by the latter.

I'm not sure what argument you think I'm formulating, but no matter. Per the Hobson's Choice discussion, yes, I understand that. I also understand people have always risen above, but if they are given an easy out, they are inclined to take it. Can I be like an esteemed Supreme Court Justice and suggest there should be <some> time frame we're talking about here, <some> point at which it's time to call the question, <some> due date for a group to succeed, at a time in history when it's never been easier to succeed? I am not optimistic.

Note, however, that I never said a thing about "The Man."

A pathocracy is not so much an entity as a moral condition affecting a society or institution that has fallen under the control of manipulative individuals who experience neither pangs of conscience to prevent, nor twinges of guilt to punish acts of unscrupulous power-seeking and avarice. The experience of millions who are not part of the ruling elite attests to the reality of this condition in our country (and almost all others) today. This is not a new phenomenon, but it tends to grow worse over time until it leads to social instability, eventually culminating in decay, collapse and the subsequent appearance of a new social order, in which the unholy cycle begins afresh.

(In this connection, you may be interested in the examination of <ponerology> (the study of evil; once a branch of theology and now of sociology) conducted by Dr. Andrew Lobacewski.)

***

Where all great faiths agree and reason seconds, there begin your search for truth.

As I'm sure you know, all moral principles ultimately flow from a single tenet: reciprocity. This has been variously expressed throughout history.

•In c. 3000 BC, the ancient Egyptians wrote: "Do not attack him who does not attack."

•In about 500 BC, Confucius formulated the idea thus: "What you do not want done to you, do not do to others."

•Perhaps most famously, Jesus of Nazareth is reputed to have said (this cannot be positively verified because he never wrote down his teachings), "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you": the Golden Rule of Christian ethics.

•In Islam, there is a tradition to the effect: "A Bedouin came to the prophet, grabbed the stirrup of his camel and said: O the messenger of God! Teach me something to go to heaven with it. Prophet said: “As you would have people do to you, do to them; and what you dislike to be done to you, don't do to them. Now let the stirrup go!"

These are only a few examples, and they are all in accordance with logical principles of cause and effect, as well as the Buddhist concept of Karma and countless other traditions.

***

The trouble is that there is a class of people, whose prevalence is diversely estimated at one to six percent of the total population, for whom this has no meaning. These are genetic psychopaths, to whom right and wrong are purely arbitrary constructs, and who feel that those who subscribe to any form of morality are foolish and weak. To such people, exploiting this purported weakness for their own gain — or no reason at all — seems almost a duty, and they will shamelessly deceive, manipulate and harm anyone in their path.

Worse, these moral morons tend to be superficially charming and are adept at influencing others to think like them. This smoothes their path to the power that is an irresistible attraction for such minds, and over time, they tend to pervade the power structures of nations and social movements, perverting laws and institutions to serve their often nefarious purposes.

So a pathocracy is born.

Thus, there need be no conscious conspiracy to oppress in order for oppression to follow. It is a natural and necessary consequence of the egocentric arrogation of power and wealth at the expense of those bound by decency or those who are most vulnerable as members of minorities or numbered among the impoverished.

This trend, as I have said, is not new. Pathocrats have been among us from the founding of our country, and over time they have succeeded in building a great deal of inequity into our social structures, always with an eye to their own advantage and that of their class. To stabilize the economic hierarchy, they have built terraced gradations of privilege, which serve the useful purpose of dividing the other classes against one another; moreover, pathocrats have cultivated and exploited prejudices of race and creed for the lower classes' further fragmentation.

This technique, too, is very old. In the Roman empire, and the British empire that grew from and replaced it, "Divide et impera" ("Divide and rule") was the order of the day.

Here's <10 0> FICS game I just played. It shows that Black does have some chances in the French, especially if White is clueless.

1. e4 e6 2. Ne2 d5 3. d3 Nf6 4. Ng3 Be7 5. exd5 exd5 6. d4 O-O 7. Bd3 Re8 8. O-O Bg4 9. f3 Be6 10. Bf4 c5 11. dxc5 Bxc5+ 12. Kh1 Nc6 13. c3 Rc8 14. Nd2 d4 15. Qe1 dxc3 16. bxc3 Qxd3 17. Nge4 Nxe4 18. Nxe4 Bf8 19. Rd1 Qc2 20. Ng5 Bc4 21. Rf2 Rxe1+ 22. Rxe1 Qxf2 23. Rd1 Bf1 24. Rxf1 Qxf1# 0-1

A couple of <oops> moments:

click for larger view

<15...dxc3>

And

click for larger view

<21....Rxe1+>

And, finally,

click for larger view

<23...Bf1>

Thanks. I was pretty happy with my play. In the last position I even saw <23...Rd8> but when I tried to figure out what I would do if my opponent moved along the back rank instead of playing <24.Rxe8?>, I saw <23.Bf1>.

OK, the French is not bad for Black, if White totally doesn't know how to play it! ;)

On the other hand, it's not bad at all for White, if Black insists on playing it, without actually knowing how to play it, either. :p

<How to Self-Destruct Horribly in the French> - courtesy of one recent opponent, of that latter sort...

[Event "FICS rated blitz game"]
[Date "2012.12.30"]
[White "AnnieK"]
[Black "NN"]
[WhiteElo "1544"]
[BlackElo "1429"]
[TimeControl "600+0"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 cxd4 6. cxd4 Qb6 7. a3 Nge7 8. b4 Nf5 9. Be3 Nxe3 10. fxe3 a5 11. b5 Na7 12. a4 Bb4+ 13. Nbd2 Bd7 14. Bd3 Nxb5 15. axb5 Bxb5 16. Bxb5+ Qxb5 17. Kf2 Ke7 18. Rf1 h6 19. Kg1 Qd3 20. Re1 Rhc8 21. Re2 Rc2 22. Ne1 Rxd2 23. Nxd3 Rxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Ba3 25. Ra2 1-0

[Event "FICS rated blitz game"]
[Date "2012.12.30"]
[White "AnnieK"]
[Black "NN"]
[WhiteElo "1554"]
[BlackElo "1414"]
[TimeControl "600+0"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bd7 6. a3 f6 7. Bd3 Qc7 8. O-O fxe5 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Bf4 Bd6 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. Qh5+ Ke7 13. Bxe5 Qb6 14. Bxg7 Nf6 15. Bxf6+ Kxf6 16. b4 Rag8 17. Nd2 Qd6 18. bxc5 Qxc5 19. Nf3 Qxc3 20. Rad1 Qxa3 21. Qe5+ Ke7 22. Nd4 Qd6 23. Nf5+
1-0

[Event "FICS rated blitz game"]
[Date "2012.12.30"]
[White "AnnieK"]
[Black "NN"]
[WhiteElo "1536"]
[BlackElo "1407"]
[TimeControl "600+0"]
[Mode "ICS"]
[Result "1-0"]

<hms> yeah, Black only knew the opening moves. Same player in all 3 games btw - he/she (not sure) plays French against me every Black game. Despite losing with it every time. :|

<The French is sortof related to the Sicilian>

It is, indeed. Eingorn (http://www.amazon.com/Rock-Solid-Ch...)

has a small chapter on <Transposition to the Sicilian>.

The line starts like this: <1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 >

Opening Explorer

click for larger view