Posted on 09/24/2007 9:05:56 PM PDT by jazusamo
It is painful — and dangerous — how little we learn from history, even when it is recent history.
Just a year ago, "rape" charges spread lynch-mob hysteria on the campus of Duke University and in much of the liberal media, while professional race hustlers descended on the town of Durham, North Carolina, and mindless tribalism was stirred up by extremists in the local black community.
This year, we have all learned what a total fraud that case was, from beginning to end. Yet now we see a similar outburst of mindless tribalism and another attempt at mob rule, promoted by such veterans of last year's hysteria as Jesse Jackson.
This time the scene is in Jena, Louisiana. The issue is the prosecution of a black high school student accused of stomping on an unconscious white student — and the lack of criminal prosecution of white students who hung a noose on a tree, who were disciplined by the school.
Liberals' skills at moral equivalence have been so finely honed during the long years of the Cold War that they have turned this into a case of "unequal treatment," based on race — as if putting a noose on a tree is equivalent to stomping somebody who is unconscious.
The black student was found guilty but the verdict was overturned on appeal — not on grounds that he was not guilty, but on grounds that the appellate court did not think he should have been tried as an adult.
The usual legal procedure would be to try the student again, but this time not as an adult. However, the usual legal procedures are not good enough for those who have once again seized the opportunity to hype race — and to hell with questions of guilt or innocence or legal procedures.
The immediate demand of the mobs that have been mobilized around the country to descend on the small town of Jena is that the young man found guilty of a serious crime of violence should be free on bail pending a second trial.
The legal question is whether letting someone accused of such a crime go free on bail is likely to mean that he will not be around long enough for a second trial. But no one is seriously debating that.
Racial hype has replaced all rational discussion. Moreover, the Jena episode has shown that two can play the racial hype game. Neo-Nazis have published the names and home addresses of all the young blacks involved in the school incident.
The slogan "No justice, no peace" has been used to justify settling legal issues in the streets, instead of in courts of law.
Neo-Nazis have now helped demonstrate what a dangerous slogan that is, since different people have opposite ideas of what "justice" is in a given situation.
Long after the imported demonstrators have left, and the national media have lost interest, the families of the black youngsters involved in the school altercation will have to live with the knowledge that their privacy and security have both been lost in a racially polarized community, with vengeful elements.
The last thing the South needs is a return to lynch-mob justice, whatever the color of whoever is promoting it.
Back in the 1950s, when the federal courts began striking down the Jim Crow laws in the South, one of the rising demands across the country was that the discriminators and segregationists obey "the law of the land."
But, somewhere along the way, the idea also arose and spread that not everybody was supposed to obey "the law of the land."
Violations of law by people with approved victim status like minorities, or self-righteous crusaders like environmentalists, were to be met with minimal resistance — if any resistance at all — and any punishment of them beyond a wrist-slap was "over-reacting."
College campuses became bastions of the new and sanctified mob rule, provided that the mobs are from the list of groups approved as politically correct. Otherwise, even an injudicious remark could bring swift and certain punishment under "speech codes."
The politics of condoned law-breaking is part of the moral dry rot of our times. So is settling issues in the streets on the basis of race, instead of in courts on the basis of law.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and author of Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy.
God bless that man.
The mobs whip into a frenzy at Jackson et al’s command, without even knowing the real facts of this case or any other .
Jim Crow was a Democrat.
In West Africa, where there are few whites, there
are no charges of racism . Crime is crime.
Assailant(s) and victim(s).
Here we are always
adding race to the mix, which simply clouds the issue and people lose focus on what happened etc...
Plus of course it creates a two-tiere justice system.
His piece has so many pearls of wisdom, I couldn't pick which one to highlight. : )
SOWELL wisdom ping.
Here then, is one point at which danger may be expected.
The question recurs, "how shall we fortify against it?" The answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor;--let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap--let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;--let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars.
Abraham Lincoln
“Dr. Sowell is right on again.”
He is right on the money many times. Unfortunatly his audiance is us (conservative). As a black conservative I doubt he is widely read outside of conservative circles. He is likely either discounted, ignored or bashed by the left without study at all. A shame really, as he is the sort of voice of reason that Black America needs in its leadership. I highly recommend his autobiography by the way, a facinating read.
Agree on all your points. It is sad that the bulk of Black America listen to the likes of Jackson, Sharpton and Rangel rather than Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams, they are the real thinkers and should be the ones listened to.
I shared a class with a young, black, economics major once. During our conversation, I asked him what he thought of Thomas Sowell. This young, black, economics major had never HEARD of him. I was astonished. I directed him to the Internet and wrote out Dr. Sowell’s name for him and strongly advised him to look him up. I never mentioned that Sowell was black, merely that he was, perhaps, the most brilliant man on the planet. I never got a chance to ask him about it, since the young man dropped the class. I would have loved to see what he thought...
Unconscious people deserve beating. Especially when they are bleeding outta their ears. I mean they’re just lyin there all unconscious and bleeding, makes me want to invite half a dozen friends to join in and stomp the *^*^ outta that unconscious (&(&)^. And hey if they’re not unconscious to begin with, just slam their head into a concrete wall.
. . . It is painful — and dangerous — how little we learn from history, even [such] recent history.
Professor Sowell is a patriot, and almost the definition of the term. He is indifferent to whose ox is being gored, and eloquent in his defense of the ox which was attacked while minding its own business. If, Heaven forefend, I am ever on trial, I want Thomas Sowell on my jury.I caught the discussion of
Until Proven Innocent:on C-Span BookTV Saturday. If you follow the above link to the reviews of the book on Amazon, you will get the flavor of the C-Span discussion featuring Stuart Taylor.
Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices
of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case by Stuart Taylor , KC JohnsonThe book illustrates the fact that the Duke "Rape" case is a devastating indictment not only of Nifong and of Duke and some reporters but of the unaccountable power of prosecutors, of academia at large and of journalism at large. Just like the "Texas Air National Guard Memos" fraud, the "Duke Rape Case" is an open-and-shut case of ruthlessly tendentious journalism.
BTTT
Thanks for the ping, c_I_c. Another OUTSTANDING Thomas Sowell article! Thanks for posting, jazusamo.
Let me sharpen the point Dr. Sowell is correctly making. Liberals have used blatant deceit, often with malice as the motive, by declaring all things morally equivalent. If everything is morally equivalent then there is no right and no wrong. The standard we are left with is whatever shifting opinion rules the day, and Liberals have worked mightily to impose their opinion as rule. The hate crime law is a prime example of what may arbitrarily prosecuted based upon a shifting, unknown standard. Let me clarify. Liberals have worked ceaselessly to impose moral equivalence. Moral equivalence means that there are no absolutes. There is no immutable truth. Truth becomes relative, whatever we say truth is today, it can be different tomorrow. Establishing moral equivalence expressly denies the Judeo-Christian ethos, and THAT is the end goal, to tear down the guard rails of immutable standards. That is the hallmark of liberalism.
I love this good man. He always cuts to the very heart of a matter and speaks the truth with such eloquence and clarity that a child could understand the exposed difference between right and wrong.
Martin Luther King was a Republican.
A Man of Letters by Thomas Sowell is indeed interesting. And it is such a shame that Sowell is so little known. Indeed, he mentioned in "A Man of Letters" that his books typically sell only around 75,000 copies. Considering the wisdom to be found in his writings, that is sad. There is no other word for it.He mentioned that he finds airline travel burdensome, and at his age he will not agree to it. He was told he was to be awarded a prize and declined to travel to Washington to accept it. But in this case he was further told that the prize was a $250,000 award - and that a private jet would be put at his disposal for the trip. He went, and reports that he now knows one thing that he would do with wealth - travel by private jet.
First I ever heard of Sowell was reading Knowledge and Decisions, and it turns out that that was his breakout accomplishment, leading to his appointment to the Hoover Institution. And although he got his PhD because he wanted to teach, and although he loved to mentor, academic political correctness made a happy teaching career impossible to him. So the Hoover Institution was a real lifesaver for him.
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.