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Re:Classism in America by falsestprophet on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @11:16AM (#11439311)
"A cabbie asked me if I supported Donald Trump and told he we was surprised I didn't. He told me all Americans supported Trump. So I asked him if he was an IRA thug/terrorist, to which he naturally said no."

It's hardly reasonable to compare being a member of a terrorist organization to supporting the leading candidate of one of two major parties.

Consider just the sheer effort of participating in terrorism is far greater than voting.

Re:Classism in America by PhasmaFelis on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @11:49AM (#11439556)
Can you come up with a better analogy on the spot that would have worked in that situation?

SEJeff obviously isn't saying that Trump support and IRA support are exactly equivalent. He's saying they're both subgroups in a larger population that outsiders stereotype as representing the entire population, to the disgust of many of the people stereotyped. It's an excellent analogy because it references a situation that's intimately familiar to the person he's speaking to.

Re:Classism in America by vacri on Thursday April 07, 2016 @12:27AM (#11444717)
"Are you protestant/catholic" would suffice. Lots of people in the US support Trump. Lots of people in NI are either protestant or catholic, and it's a shorthand for the sides of the same political divide that the IRA is involved in.
Re:Classism in America by SEJeff on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @11:53AM (#11439594)
bingo!
Re:Classism in America by SEJeff on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @11:45AM (#11439522)
Well I was pointing out his logical fallacy in assuming I supported someone because of where I was from. That is a ridiculous assumption, so I made an equally ridiculous one, which he immediately understood. Then we got on really well.
Re:Classism in America by falsestprophet on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @12:21PM (#11439792)
It isn't equally ridiculous.

38.6% of Americans state that they would vote for Donald Trump over Hilary Clinton while 49% state that they would vote for Clinton over Trump.

There are only several hundred members of the IRA today (out of 1.8 million people in Northern Ireland) and even fewer of them participate in terrorism.

And it's not a logical fallacy. The cab driver clearly didn't mean all Americans support Donald Trump. Presumably he knows there are other candidates so thats at least a few people who don't support Trump. He meant a lot of Americans do support Trump and clearly they do.

[1] http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/ge...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Irish_Republican_Army

Re:Classism in America by PhasmaFelis on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @03:26PM (#11441175)
> The cab driver clearly didn't mean all Americans support Donald Trump. Presumably he knows there are other candidates so thats at least a few people who don't support Trump. He meant a lot of Americans do support Trump and clearly they do.

Why are you willing to accept that the cab driver was speaking figuratively, but not that SEJeff was?

Re:Classism in America by mikeash on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @10:47PM (#11444323)
> The cab driver clearly didn't mean all Americans support Donald Trump.

Then why was he surprised to meet an American who didn't? You're really reaching.

Re:Classism in America by gilleain on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @11:23AM (#11439353)
Not only unreasonable, but also fairly unwise to be asking a Belfast cab driver if he's a member of the IRA.
Re:Classism in America by mineshaftgap on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @11:26AM (#11439379)
Trump is considered racist for wanting to secure the borders. Both parties leadership, made up of out of touch elites, have decided that illegal immigration is good for their interests, voters be damned. Dems need to have more people on gov assistance and the GOP wants cheap labor with no rights. I dislike Trump but if both sides are demonizing him then he is probably on the right track.