Just partway in, and you talk about, don't be a victim, do something about your circumstances, with the examples of people joining gangs, and what not because "they are victims of circumstances". The thing is, if neighborhood programs, and school resources aren't in place, let alone ever diminishing or being cut, and people grow up with trauma of poverty, violence, drugs, you make it sound like it's a snap of the fingers to just be something else other than what shaped you.
Or maybe the point is, there is no snap-of-the-fingers solution. Spending on education is through the roof, with outcomes shockingly bad. The money "snap" is not working. The zealots end up controlling the money. Encouraging people to immerse themselves in their trauma has not helped. Even friends eventually tire of the little boy or girl who cries "trauma" too many times. The anti-racism stuff is not working. Even if the entire "white" world abases itself before the anti-racism zealots, will that increase job skills among black Americans? Will it improve the family structure? Or will it encourage people to see themselves as perpetual victims? In our history, people of all colors have worked themselves and their descendants out of grinding poverty the likes of which we don't see now, after the creation of welfare programs. Did they do this with a snap of the fingers? No. It was terribly hard work in dire circumstances. But they had no one to blame and nothing else to do. Are we better off with the programs? Probably. Certainly, we feel better about ourselves. A clear-eyed analysis of the data might suggest the people we are trying to help had better outcomes before the existence of the programs. Have the beneficiaries generally improved their own circumstances so as to become independent of the support? Or has it become too often a multi-generational dependency? Does testing show improvement, or decline, in educational outcomes in light of all the spending? Has family structure improved or disintegrated? Spending of money has its place. But outcomes from the last 60 years or so suggest the money hasn't been very well spent. Again, maybe the point is that life is not always easy. There are 35 million white Americans below the poverty line, for a myriad of reasons - family dysfunction, bad decision-making, poor educational effort, dependence on programs and cultural acceptance of "getting the check", drug addiction, bad luck, and so on. Maybe these things are part of the human condition and not just part of the American Black experience. We can all find someone who wants out and show them how to work their way out. This professor does that every day by encouraging independent thinking. We can support alternatives to the education system that has failed so many. Teach in schools the astonishing and quantifiable value of the intact, nuclear family. Instead of encouraging people to believe they are what some evil forces shaped them to be, teach them they are - or can be - what they want to be. They need only to reject unhealthy, irrational modes of
Your points have validity, as far as they go. It is true that some -probably many-of the notions and strategies of the Left have become fruitless and counter-productive to the most vulnerable in our community. The problem is your strategies fall too much on the individual and his resources and initiatives. Where are the strategies for bolstering the formation of Black families in struggling communities. As you noted in your comments, the "intact nuclear family" has "astonishing and quantifiable value". Just teaching about the critical importance of the family in school will not be enough, not by a long shot. As it is, the resources that have been frittered upon the various social welfare programs and Afrocentric consciousness initiatives, could be diverted to the programs which will directly bolster the formation and persistence of the Black families which will nurture moral and productive men and women.
This was a fun listen. Had to smile when the professor worried about being perceived as a crank. All of us who have felt passionately about anything, and expressed our feelings, have had this fear. But stop worrying. The only cranking sound was that of a jalousie window opening to let in fresh air.
Especially resonated with that revolting "looking like me" shibboleth. Other than my son at one phased of his life, nobody in the world "looks like" me. What then?
And even if someone of my race, sex, ethnicity, national origin, or religion accomplishes something wondrous and great, what does it mean for me? Exactly nothing; I am still me when I get up in the morning and face the day's promises and responsibilities. And when it's all over and I have to account for my life's actions, I can't say "Oh Lord, don't judge me by what I did; let me borrow what THAT guy did -- after all, we are of the same race"!
Just partway in, and you talk about, don't be a victim, do something about your circumstances, with the examples of people joining gangs, and what not because "they are victims of circumstances". The thing is, if neighborhood programs, and school resources aren't in place, let alone ever diminishing or being cut, and people grow up with trauma of poverty, violence, drugs, you make it sound like it's a snap of the fingers to just be something else other than what shaped you.
Or maybe the point is, there is no snap-of-the-fingers solution. Spending on education is through the roof, with outcomes shockingly bad. The money "snap" is not working. The zealots end up controlling the money. Encouraging people to immerse themselves in their trauma has not helped. Even friends eventually tire of the little boy or girl who cries "trauma" too many times. The anti-racism stuff is not working. Even if the entire "white" world abases itself before the anti-racism zealots, will that increase job skills among black Americans? Will it improve the family structure? Or will it encourage people to see themselves as perpetual victims? In our history, people of all colors have worked themselves and their descendants out of grinding poverty the likes of which we don't see now, after the creation of welfare programs. Did they do this with a snap of the fingers? No. It was terribly hard work in dire circumstances. But they had no one to blame and nothing else to do. Are we better off with the programs? Probably. Certainly, we feel better about ourselves. A clear-eyed analysis of the data might suggest the people we are trying to help had better outcomes before the existence of the programs. Have the beneficiaries generally improved their own circumstances so as to become independent of the support? Or has it become too often a multi-generational dependency? Does testing show improvement, or decline, in educational outcomes in light of all the spending? Has family structure improved or disintegrated? Spending of money has its place. But outcomes from the last 60 years or so suggest the money hasn't been very well spent. Again, maybe the point is that life is not always easy. There are 35 million white Americans below the poverty line, for a myriad of reasons - family dysfunction, bad decision-making, poor educational effort, dependence on programs and cultural acceptance of "getting the check", drug addiction, bad luck, and so on. Maybe these things are part of the human condition and not just part of the American Black experience. We can all find someone who wants out and show them how to work their way out. This professor does that every day by encouraging independent thinking. We can support alternatives to the education system that has failed so many. Teach in schools the astonishing and quantifiable value of the intact, nuclear family. Instead of encouraging people to believe they are what some evil forces shaped them to be, teach them they are - or can be - what they want to be. They need only to reject unhealthy, irrational modes of
thinking, and work toward their goals.
Your points have validity, as far as they go. It is true that some -probably many-of the notions and strategies of the Left have become fruitless and counter-productive to the most vulnerable in our community. The problem is your strategies fall too much on the individual and his resources and initiatives. Where are the strategies for bolstering the formation of Black families in struggling communities. As you noted in your comments, the "intact nuclear family" has "astonishing and quantifiable value". Just teaching about the critical importance of the family in school will not be enough, not by a long shot. As it is, the resources that have been frittered upon the various social welfare programs and Afrocentric consciousness initiatives, could be diverted to the programs which will directly bolster the formation and persistence of the Black families which will nurture moral and productive men and women.
This was a fun listen. Had to smile when the professor worried about being perceived as a crank. All of us who have felt passionately about anything, and expressed our feelings, have had this fear. But stop worrying. The only cranking sound was that of a jalousie window opening to let in fresh air.
Many thumb-ups!
Especially resonated with that revolting "looking like me" shibboleth. Other than my son at one phased of his life, nobody in the world "looks like" me. What then?
And even if someone of my race, sex, ethnicity, national origin, or religion accomplishes something wondrous and great, what does it mean for me? Exactly nothing; I am still me when I get up in the morning and face the day's promises and responsibilities. And when it's all over and I have to account for my life's actions, I can't say "Oh Lord, don't judge me by what I did; let me borrow what THAT guy did -- after all, we are of the same race"!
Good points, Carrell. I’m with you. Now to make it happen.