When I was an editor in the newspaper racket, and a reporter would quote an activist - not just black activists, but any activists; animal-rights, environmental, "peace" - I would always challenge why that particular person was selected for a quote to illustrate the article. (Most reporters, naturally, selected sources who confirmed their own worldview.)
"Who is their constituency?" I would ask, "and by what authority do they speak for it?"
does a good job explaining why black Americans might consider not voting for Democrats (I'm a former Dem and anti-woke independent) but less so as to why they might vote for the current batshit crazy GOP. And that's the problem in my view: that neither party represents the, more or less, 68% of views of the common people inside of a standard deviation.
Barrington has me going back to one of the problems put in front of me as I was becoming an anthropologist in the early 1970s. Barrington zeroes in on the "immutable-trait-based demographic." This was the great problem of cultural anthropology at that time (and forever when we think about human consciousness). How can we talk about the "Mexican" or the "lower class squatter in Colombia" Those were my research interests. But unless we want to talk about cookie-cutter versions of Mexicanos or Colombianos, we -- as social scientists -- should be articulating those individuals and not some "immutable-trait-based demographic." Barrington has made this problem understandable for the U.S. black community. This is a task that we should expect all those pundits, pollsters, politicians, journalists -- and even those social science experts to engage. We are individuals, we have agency -- sometimes even with a sense of humor.
Thank You M. Martin. Great! You hit the nail on the head with this one:
"In order to address issues that affect us collectively, we must start at the individual level. Family breakdown, violence, and crime, for example, are ultimately individual phenomena. These problems must be solved by individuals, regardless of race, within whose power it lies to foster strong families, abstain from violence, and lead law-abiding lives."
The award for vastest *understatement* goes to:
"This is not to say black voters are solely responsible for the current state of American politics, but 90% of an immutable-trait-based demographic always voting the same way in local and national elections is not ideal."
Right on Barrington. "defund" was a clear example for me - we call the cops here in my (mostly black) neighborhood, even knowing there are problems more generally. All the progressive kids living in nice places are all over it though. We have to build better coalitions - you can look back to BPP - Fred Hampton wanted everybody together. Don't agree with his goals, but the building of cross-racial coalitions is the way.
As a Californian who write a twice weekly column which often covers politics, your article strikes me as one of the sanest things I have seen in these Worker days. (They have even turned the original meaning of woke upside down). I refer to Kamala Harris as the queen of the lying jail house informants. DA's are to be pro or anti-Black, but they surely should use is lying jailhouse informants and support DAs who commit perjury.
http://lat.ms/1znOjpN January 31, 2015 LA Times, U.S. Judges See 'Epidemic' of Prosecutorial Misconduct in State, by Maura Dolan
What percent of African Americans do you think will vote Republican and Democrat in the 2022 Congressional elections?
Let us say that over 30% of African Americans vote Republican in House elections this year; will this be enought to persuade the Democrat party and establishment to purge the woke from their ranks?
When I was an editor in the newspaper racket, and a reporter would quote an activist - not just black activists, but any activists; animal-rights, environmental, "peace" - I would always challenge why that particular person was selected for a quote to illustrate the article. (Most reporters, naturally, selected sources who confirmed their own worldview.)
"Who is their constituency?" I would ask, "and by what authority do they speak for it?"
Here is a guide to democrat cities: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-visit-karenland?s=r
does a good job explaining why black Americans might consider not voting for Democrats (I'm a former Dem and anti-woke independent) but less so as to why they might vote for the current batshit crazy GOP. And that's the problem in my view: that neither party represents the, more or less, 68% of views of the common people inside of a standard deviation.
Barrington has me going back to one of the problems put in front of me as I was becoming an anthropologist in the early 1970s. Barrington zeroes in on the "immutable-trait-based demographic." This was the great problem of cultural anthropology at that time (and forever when we think about human consciousness). How can we talk about the "Mexican" or the "lower class squatter in Colombia" Those were my research interests. But unless we want to talk about cookie-cutter versions of Mexicanos or Colombianos, we -- as social scientists -- should be articulating those individuals and not some "immutable-trait-based demographic." Barrington has made this problem understandable for the U.S. black community. This is a task that we should expect all those pundits, pollsters, politicians, journalists -- and even those social science experts to engage. We are individuals, we have agency -- sometimes even with a sense of humor.
Thank You M. Martin. Great! You hit the nail on the head with this one:
"In order to address issues that affect us collectively, we must start at the individual level. Family breakdown, violence, and crime, for example, are ultimately individual phenomena. These problems must be solved by individuals, regardless of race, within whose power it lies to foster strong families, abstain from violence, and lead law-abiding lives."
The award for vastest *understatement* goes to:
"This is not to say black voters are solely responsible for the current state of American politics, but 90% of an immutable-trait-based demographic always voting the same way in local and national elections is not ideal."
TY again.
Right on Barrington. "defund" was a clear example for me - we call the cops here in my (mostly black) neighborhood, even knowing there are problems more generally. All the progressive kids living in nice places are all over it though. We have to build better coalitions - you can look back to BPP - Fred Hampton wanted everybody together. Don't agree with his goals, but the building of cross-racial coalitions is the way.
If most Americans 1) had the basic facts 2) voted their interests we would all be in a better place.
As a Californian who write a twice weekly column which often covers politics, your article strikes me as one of the sanest things I have seen in these Worker days. (They have even turned the original meaning of woke upside down). I refer to Kamala Harris as the queen of the lying jail house informants. DA's are to be pro or anti-Black, but they surely should use is lying jailhouse informants and support DAs who commit perjury.
http://lat.ms/1znOjpN January 31, 2015 LA Times, U.S. Judges See 'Epidemic' of Prosecutorial Misconduct in State, by Maura Dolan
What percent of African Americans do you think will vote Republican and Democrat in the 2022 Congressional elections?
Let us say that over 30% of African Americans vote Republican in House elections this year; will this be enought to persuade the Democrat party and establishment to purge the woke from their ranks?
libertarian parrotism on a matchbox ...