Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Thomas Sowell: The Inconvenient Truth about Ghetto Communities’ Social Breakdown
National Review ^ | 05/05/2015 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 05/05/2015 6:53:06 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-34 last
To: SkyPilot

I think it is important to make a distinction (as Thomas Sowell does in his book “Black Rednecks and White Liberals”.

When referring to “Black Culture” we should explicitly refer to “Black Redneck Culture” since that accurately describes what we are usually referring to in a negative way.

I think it is important to do for two reasons:

First, it is more focused and specific referring to the negative and undesirable behavior by a portion (not all) of the black population. Specificity is a good thing in this case.

Secondly, doing so makes it clear that one is not attacking “Black Culture”, because that encompasses a wider range of beliefs and behaviors, and thus brings a wider range of undeserving people into a circle of criticism.

I say this because I have been sourcing and quoting Thomas Sowell’s excellent work, but failed to make the important distinction that he so obviously took the care to do by incorporating it into the title of his book. As a result, I have had both veiled and overt charges of racism leveled at me, and even had a FR thread pulled that I worked several hours to construct.

When asked, the moderator politely replied that they didn’t have the resources to monitor “threads like mine” to keep undesirables from posting racists comments, of which there were indeed a few that I asked them to pull. Instead, they pulled the entire thread with that excuse. Let me tell you, I worked hard on that thread to be factual, informative and timely, and not a speck of it was racist, but the way a few freepers interpreted it (including the moderator) it was, or at least invited racism. It was bitterly disappointing to me, since my FR stats show 45K+ posts and a small number of threads started. I thought it was an important subject for discussion.

I believe now that I could have avoided that (As Dr. Sowell did) by explicitly referring to “Black Redneck” behavior, and defining it so that readers would understand the distinction.


21 posted on 05/05/2015 9:19:46 AM PDT by rlmorel ("National success by the Democratic Party equals irretrievable ruin." Ulysses S. Grant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: mrsmel

What does “IKAGO” mean?


22 posted on 05/05/2015 9:21:21 AM PDT by rlmorel ("National success by the Democratic Party equals irretrievable ruin." Ulysses S. Grant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

“I Know A Good One”


23 posted on 05/05/2015 9:33:00 AM PDT by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: mrsmel

Ah. Can you explain how this would apply to Dr. Sowell even to make an exception to?

I admit I don’t understand how the concept was used in your post.


24 posted on 05/05/2015 9:39:45 AM PDT by rlmorel ("National success by the Democratic Party equals irretrievable ruin." Ulysses S. Grant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

Good post.

Do not be discouraged. Keep plugging away. I get tired and disgusted by quite a lot of the one liner smart aleck remarks that seem to dominate the board sometimes. I appreciate those who want to try to go a little deeper. I also appreciate those who strive for ever greater precision and clarity of thought and language.


25 posted on 05/05/2015 9:41:27 AM PDT by don-o (He will not share His glory and He will NOT be mocked! Blessed be the name of the Lord forever!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: don-o

Thanks. That was what I found discouraging about it...I spent time researching it to make sure I had the facts and figures correct and attributed appropriately, then a couple of posts came in (a few obviously trying to be clever, but transparently so) and the thread was dead in under 15 minutes.

But you are correct...don’t want to give up!


26 posted on 05/05/2015 9:49:41 AM PDT by rlmorel ("National success by the Democratic Party equals irretrievable ruin." Ulysses S. Grant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel

Because I am trying to root out my own hypocrisy or “cover” for pointing out black dysfunction by using the “IKAGO” shield, when the “good ones” are the exception to the rule, even if the “good ones” aren’t the actual criminal or miscreant, they will almost always take the side of the criminal or miscreant merely because he’s black. It’s the same principle with “moderate” Muslims. I no longer will excuse black dysfunction on the basis of “they’re not all like that” because statistically speaking, enough of them are either the actual criminal or an enabler, that the outliers make no difference. But Dr Sowell is so consistent in calling out black dysfunction and making no excuses, that he is one of the few for whom I will make an exception.

The bigger picture is that governing policies cannot be based on the weak reed of the “good ones”. I can think of no group of dysfunctional whites who get such a pass, except sodomites, and they’re no longer considered “dysfunctional” in this stinking society. When’s the last time you saw whites out rioting and defending a white criminal?


27 posted on 05/05/2015 9:50:37 AM PDT by mrsmel (One Who Can See)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: mrsmel

I understand now.

I would disagree with your generalization, but I did want to know what it meant.


28 posted on 05/05/2015 10:12:33 AM PDT by rlmorel ("National success by the Democratic Party equals irretrievable ruin." Ulysses S. Grant.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Vigilanteman

Not all this population segment acts like the Baltimore “organized community.” Many, at least of my age, are more like Mssrs. Sowell and Williams and Keyes and Carson, and Ms. Rice etc. And allowing that these are better educated, that does not address my several rather ordinary friends who resent and reject the products of the agitators, traitors that the “community organizers” are grooming to lead the coming massive confrontation.


29 posted on 05/05/2015 10:16:22 AM PDT by imardmd1 (Fiat Lux)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: imardmd1
He is just too honest and thoughtful to be taken seriously by the elite.

They're too busy getting hung up on the word, "thug" to actually speak the truth. Sowell is too brutally honest for them, and he does so eloquently.

30 posted on 05/05/2015 10:25:59 AM PDT by Lou L (Health "insurance" is NOT the same as health "care")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SkyPilot

Many have also sold their birthright for a mess of pottage in the cultural realm too. For example, they used to produce true artists such as Duke Ellington and many, many musicals greats. Now they mostly reverence the likes of non-talented but greatly hyped “artists” such as Jay-Z and Kanye West.


31 posted on 05/05/2015 10:47:53 AM PDT by Cecily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Bkmk


32 posted on 05/05/2015 10:26:07 PM PDT by AllAmericanGirl44
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Dr Sowell is correct.

I have mentioned here before that I am a triage interviewer at a local food/clothing/etc. bank. We cater to low income people.

It is very rare for me to interview happily married couples of any race. I interview single men and I interview Moms that are not married and have kids.

What a shame.


33 posted on 05/16/2015 9:53:23 AM PDT by upchuck (The current Federal Government is what the Founding Fathers tried to prevent. WAKE UP!! Amendment V)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
You cannot take any people, of any color, and exempt them from the requirements of civilization — including work, behavioral standards, personal responsibility, and all the other basic things that the clever intelligentsia disdain — without ruinous consequences to them and to society at large.

The Money Quote...

34 posted on 05/16/2015 10:17:23 AM PDT by Gritty (The more we submit to violent jihadi intimidation, the more we are going to get-Robert Spencer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-34 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson