Posted on 01/24/2009 3:21:37 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest
"Malcolm Gladwell probably said it best in a November interview with New York magazine about his new book, “Outliers”: 'I am explicitly turning my back on, I think, these kind of empty models that say, you know, you can be whatever you want to be. Well, actually, you can’t be whatever you want to be. The world decides what you can and can’t be.'”
That’s NYT columnist Charles Blow writing in the Gray Lady today. The gist of “No More Excuses?”: Barack Obama’s ascendency to the presidency shouldn’t deprive African-Americans of the precious commodity of being able to blame their behavior on their circumstances. As Blow puts it. after cataloging the various woes to which black children are heir:
"Most of these kids will rise above their circumstances, but too many will succumb to them. Can we really blame them?"
(Excerpt) Read more at finkelblog.com ...
Keep hopelessness alive ping to Today show list.
The MSM will not allow their victimhood to be taken away. It is the basis of their whole system of reporting.
Thank God....for a second there I thought the black community would actually wake up and start helping themselves. This will give them an excuse to maintain the age old “The Man is keeping us down!” reasoning.
In today’s society, we could hand out 24 carat gold plated rear-ends to all the ‘victims’, no strings attached. Withing 12 hrs, 1/2 would be complaining they didn’t receive platinum.
Withing = Within ...need more java.
Mark,
Jus cause you ain’t nothin, don’t mean I ain’t nothin.
Keep off da cheap, bro.
Bro Izzy Dizzy
OTD: I’m assuming you meant to address your comment to Charles Blow, the author of the NYT column, not to Mark Finkelstein [who happens to be me, governs], who wrote the item at FinkelBlog criticizing Blow.
For I have a dream, that one day, all bruthas will be continue to cry “racism!”, regardless of the the fact that an unqualified black man just talked himself into the White House...
My comment was rhetorical.
It was posted to you as the author as a vehicle.
Take no shame in carrying my water.
(:->
I’m no fan of Mr. Blow’s world outlook at all, but that column is something that could have been excerpted from Ann Coulter’s newest book.
Really? You think Ann endorses Malcolm Gladwell’s notion, as did Blow, that: “you can’t be whatever you want to be. The world decides what you can and can’t be”?
I think Ann has made a major point of single mothers victimizing their children (and their children’s subsequent victims), as demonstrated by the high rates of crime and general life failure for such offspring.
I think most people would agree with that. But I’d guess Ann would be among the last to take the next step, which Gladwell/Blow do, that being the child of a single mother, etc. is some kind of excuse for future bad behavior.
Blow, Sharpton, Jackson and the rest of that disgusting ilk are seeing their worlds coming apart. To these pathetic little mice, people like the queen of all media Oprah Winfrey, former TV king Bill Cosby, the greatest golfer in history Tiger Woods, former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condi Rice, and President of the United States Barack Obama are not role models, they are freakish abberations. Genuine blacks are simply not capable of achieving greatness, according to Blow. "Keep hopelessness alive," indeed!
Sharpton and Jackson fear they may soon lose their extortion rackets, and Blow fears he may have nothing left to whine write about.
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