Bump..
Recognition of the real problem is the first step to finding solutions. Some of the solutions are now self-evident, but many more are now going to be rooted out. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a test of how quickly we might be able to take advantage of applied knowledge. The war on terrorism is going to be very difficult to win as long as the major breeding ground continues to serve as the catalyst.
Shelby Steele has written an uncommonly insightful essay here. He tells black Americans to join up to the greatest civilization the world has ever known. He has told white Americans to quit feeling guilty and get busy providing all with equal opportunity. He has told the world that it is responsible for its own prosperity and culture. Only look to America if you want the best. Here's an intellectual hero.
Steele is right, and it's time for us Americans of Black/African descent especially to appreciate the civilization we are part of. What else do we really have?
This is a thoughtful and very apt article. Thank you for posting it. What Mr. Steele has described, of course, is really only the racial and cultural aspect of the general Socialist attack on civilization--the methodology of always blaming failure on the success of others, of preaching hatred and resentment rather than responsibility and constructive effort. (See The Lies Of Socialism, for more on the Socialist approach and appeal.)
Mr. Steele is also right on the money at the end. All we really should offer the Third World is fair treatment. Beyond that, we really do not help people by trying to spoon feed values and methods that can only be developed within any population by their own assumption of responsibility and accountability. And handouts, induced by a phoney sense of guilt, only make beggars out of those who could be achievers.
When America's foreign policy was only to treat all with respect; but to demand respect back; we were liked by almost everyone. When we started trying to buy friends and solve the world's problems, our own problems began to really multiply. There is a very rational connection, and Mr. Steele has his finger on a very important aspect of it.
William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site