Scamming Blacks — Maybe They Need A Better Class Of Friends

TooGood Reports ^ | Monday, November 17, 2003 | Fred Reed

[mhking]

All I’m say is that, if you change the bias in favor of poverty instead of the melanin you will end up with undeserving poor – and who decides the cut-off of poverty? Why should the child of the factory worker earning $45,000 be pushed aside in favor of the Wal-Mart clerk making $25,000?

For the reasons stated above, I am not in favor of affirmative action. They degrade both the recipient and those who have been discriminated against. Affirmative action stigmatizes. It is unworthy in a society that – at least at a governmental level – proclaims that all men are created equal.

I'm not saying that I have all the answers. I do know that what is in place now ain't working. The vehicle needs to be fixed -- or scrapped in favor of a new one.

[stands2reason]

Again, I ask you what EVIDENCE do you have of any professor anywhere ever grading a black person more leniently than any other student??

I think the burden of proof that the universities treat people equally beyond admissions should be on those universities themselves. I simply don't trust them to be fair at all, if they obviously don't care to be fair at the beginning. Most of them have proven themselves to be biased against whites when it comes to speech and conduct rulings. Yet I'm supposed to trust that when it comes to grades, all of a sudden they will adhere to a colorblind belief they don't own? It doesn't stand to reason that they will.

That you are willing to spout such unfounded nonesense, is a pretty good evidence about your own attitudes.

Unfounded? No. Nonsense? Why is it so unthinkable to you? You think to question the belief that the academic leftist elite gives a damn about fairness is nonsensical? You trust them too much. I guess to do otherwise makes me a racist? Then sobeit, I'm a racist.

[T Lady]

That's the problem-they learned all their anger from Black and White Socialist Professors whom proceeded to revise history, and to add insult to injury, they attended graduate school. You are certainly an exception, that you didn't come out of college angry and with an Aaron McGruder-style chip on your shoulder.

-Regards, T.

[lainde]

bttt

[moneyrunner]

We agree that the current system is unfair both to its beneficiaries and it s victims. It is inherently unfair, and changing the parameters of discrimination will not change the fundamental fact that discrimination harms people.

If people of good will re-examine the goals of what we should be trying to achieve, we can work together.

First, we should be solving the pathologies of the black community: out of wedlock births, poor study habits, dysfunctional & unconventional families, low levels of educational achievement, a defeatist attitude. One of the ways of getting an answer to these problems is to analyze why these problems have gotten worse for a large segment of this community over the last 40 years … precisely the time when the government has been most focused on the black community. Thomas Sowell has addressed this problem in numerous articles.

Second, as a nation, we should seek to encourage our smartest and talented young to achieve and contribute to society. That means identifying those talented people and providing them access to higher education if they cannot afford it for themselves. That is where achievement scholarships (as opposed to needs based scholarships) come in.

One final point, these issues do not need to be addressed primarily at the governmental level. In fact, government programs will probably make things worse.

[moneyrunner]

”What I can tell you I deduce from my own experience and chatting with others: Racism is often so ingrained we don't notice it, even to the point where one can get racist against themselves (if that makes sense).”

There is much to disagree with your comments, but I wanted to highlight just a few. The comment above is sheer claptrap. It comes right from the playbook of those who charge thousand of dollars to provide “sensitivity training” to a captive audience of big company or government employees.

” Getting a bad start in life, no matter how full of potential you are, will affect you (and anything else is the stuff of Hollywood). How much money your parents have does matter. Where you grew up, and who is around you while you do, does matter. Scholarships and other levellers are scarce, and even they are subject to the same rules everything else is. And just about the only good thing that comes from being the underdog is bloody-minded determination, but even that has its limits.”

Fine. Life isn’t fair. My parents were poor. I went to a no-name U. Boo hoo! If you want to have a pity party, thanks for the invitation, but I don’t have time to attend. Maybe life even has limits. I probably won’t own my own jet before I die. But you know what? I’ll make a pretty good run at it and maybe my kids will speak of me as the ancestor who started a dynasty. Or, maybe, as a lot of pampered kids do, they’ll blow it all because they never learned to be determined enough.

[billhilly]

You obviously confused me with someone else. I did not address affirmative action in my post, however you did validate my thesis with the standard rhetoric when you address me in this way. "And if you do, on what grounds, other than pre-conceived racists notions, do you doubt it???"

I have chosen not to repeat your entire, and entirely inappropriate response, however if anyone wants to see another side of this issue you can find my post somewhere before post 39, which is the one that I am responding to.

Does it ever occur to you that independent judgement, coupled with a long lifetime of experience and observation entitles one to a point of view not like yours? I believe the words that describe that condition are litmus test.

Finally, you know absolutely nothing about me other than my screen name, which I suspect you think has something to do with hillbillies. Actually, it does. Bill and Hillary Clinton.

[harmony]

"The comment above is sheer claptrap. It comes right from the playbook of those who charge thousand of dollars to provide “sensitivity training”..." Did I not say that I was speaking from my own personal experiences? I specifically avoid the playbook because I thought that you might accuse me of using second-hand knowledge in the place of real understanding. It's amusing that you accused me of it anyway :-)

"Fine. Life isn’t fair. My parents were poor. I went to a no-name U. Boo hoo!" So we are changing now from trying to deny that the external reality exist, to admitting that it exists, but qualifying that by stating that any acknowledgement of it is self-indulgence? [smiles] I'm pretty certain that by the time the Black kid gets that Black-low-income scholarship to Harvard or wherever, she's had all of the self-indulgence knocked out of her. You don't make it even that far by sulking and licking your wounds. You know what I am talking about.

"Life isn’t fair." No, it's not. That's part of the reason why we have etiquette, laws, and customs. Ever wondered why students and seniors get a discount on buses and trains? Even small things like that are an effort to get some level of fairness in this indifferent world.

"If you want to have a pity party, thanks for the invitation, but I don’t have time to attend." It strikes me as odd when I come across one who knows directly what it's like, but doesn't transfer that to empathy for those who are still in it. I understand those who were born with the silver spoon, they don't know any better, but this? Is it a matter of "I made it, so if you can't, you're weak and undeserving?"

[moneyrunner]

You really don’t get it, do you?

I’m sorry. Life is too short to try to educate you. Try someone else.

Good bye.

[mafree]

And thus when I (and others like me) see a black MD, we are suspicious.

Do you have the same reaction to Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians, women, and others who may get into medical school via affirmative action programs? I don't like affirmative action but I also don't like its detractors constantly making it a "Black" issue when there are clearly others who benefit from affirmative action too.

[mafree]

Please see post #50

[Hodar]

Do you have the same reaction to Hispanics, Native Americans, Asians, women, and others who may get into medical school via affirmative action programs?

You do raise a good and legitimate point. However, I have never met (or even heard of) a Native American MD. Given the fact that the American Indian is provided FREE education, and is garranteed admittance into just about any field they wish to go into (Medical, legal, ect); I have never witnessed a Native American taking advantage of the opportunities. One would then ask, "Why?". I went to college in South Dakota, which has a large Native American population (relative to the state's population), and witnessed only a few students of obvious Native American descent start college. However, in my >4 year college career; I did not witness any graduating. Zero, nada, none. I'm not saying that no American Indian has ever graduated, I'm saying that I am unaware of any graduating while I was attending school. And given the numbers of potential students, they choose not to continue their education.

Regarding women and Asians in the medical field; I am unaware of Affirmative Action benefits for Asians, or non-minority women; thus would not be concerned should my surgeon/MD be in any of those categories. In fact, the liberal spin on Affirmative Action regarding the Asian community has been that they do not need the benefits, because they have not historically been discriminated against. Now, if the woman MD were a minority (ie. non-Asian; but black/hispanic), yes; I would be concerned.