Prometheus 6

It's important to read McWhorter more carefully, sans the extreme defensiveness that clouds the mind.  He has never asserted that black culture is a sealed system, nor has he stated the contrary.  His emphasis on our doing for self and blaming self (by the way, youngins, Malcom X said, over and over, in a dozen different contexts, " if the federal government doesn't help us, then we have to matters into our own hands."  If McWhorter were a black muslim, the gainsayers would hooping it up (as usual) over his clarity and vision. 

 The trouble begins with the defensiveness and boneheaded allusions to "dirtly laundry" and such (yeah, as if "they" don't know how dirty the damn laundry is already!).  Because of McWhorter's emphasis on self-help (and Lord have mercy that's what it boils down to), he is painted as conservative this and yes-man that, the usual rebellio-babble.  

 The brother is right on point and so is Bill. 

 I liken those who object to his hard-ass truth-telling to those who supported Sharpe James in Newark over "interloper" Booker.  You saw what happened to James.  Have no doubt, his corruption didn't just involve him.  His legacy of looking out for himself has actually led to the death of many people (oh yes, mi brethren, negligence is an abuse of power and is tantamount to murder in so many ways).  The tired, failed, ossified philosophy of the Dr. Feelgood rebels has reigned for the last 20 years (practically concurrent with James's tenure).  James started out nobly (so it seemed then, I recall- yes, I'm old enough), but he lost faith in the simple tenets of freedom and progress.  Similarly, the self-consoling confrontational agenda (under which gangster-rap and other crap has flourished) is a failed agenda!  Look what the liberals who fell for that agenda way back have done to education.  The 3 R's have been replaced with "self-esteem" protecting couches and pillows, all in the name of helping the so-called helpless.  Yes, damn it!  So-called!  We're not helpless and a new generation is emerging to raise the bar again, not for anybody else but ourselves.  Time to stand up!

 Peace

Good luck with that, seriously.

I liken those who object to his hard-ass truth-telling to those who supported Sharpe James in Newark over "interloper" Booker.  

So, are you arguing that if one objects to McWhorter's and Cosby's assertions that it meant that one was a supporter of Sharpe James? Maybe I'm not understanding your point here.

(BTW, Sharpe James never had any nobility of purpose. He was a hustler from jump street.) 

The problem with Cosby is that acts like he doesn't understand -- people are generally short-term rational beings. It's true that all these bad things in our community have gotten worse, but it wasn't like they just deteriorated in a vacuum. For example, in those golden years Cosby speaks of, men could support their families on 6th grade educations. Manual labor was a valued skill and so the uneducated grandchildren of slaves had value as labor. Nowadays you basically need a degree to make enough to support a family. Circumstances have changed. Similarly, 40 years ago, black men without education could get by with running numbers or selling drugs on the corner. Since then the US government decided as a matter of public policy to basically triple the amount of incarcerated blacks -- a so-called "War on Drugs" which is basically a jobs program for poor white communities. That's more brothers who are locked up and can't be good role models to their kids. And more blacks who are felons and disenfranchised from supporting our own interests at the ballot box. And because people are short-term rational, our behavior changes as a result. If man can't support their families, women stop getting married. If young men know they are going to be locked up en masse for non-violent offenses, they stop trying to integrate into society.

Obviously in the long term, our underlying behavior as a group has to improve -- we have to get more educated, less tolerant of petty crime as a stopgap to poverty. Well, it takes time. The bigger, more cohesive the community, the longer it takes to adapt. That's why smaller, nimbler immigrant communities can come here right away with the plan of achieving the American dream, but we seem to be stuck in reverse. The operative word is "seem" though. Black educational achievement, black income, these are all much higher in absolute and relative terms than they were when Cosby was a young man. Black smoking, alcoholism and drug use have gone down. The black murder rate has dropped. We're not seeing all the benefits, though. Why?

In part, it comes down to the government's role in black and white communities. When white crime goes up, more police are hired. When whites lose their jobs, unemployment benefits are extended, more blacks get locked up to thin out the labor pool and to create prison guard jobs for cretins. When whites have higher OOW births, money for daycare and after-school programs is pumped into society, tax benefits are changed to get rid of the marriage penalty. We see it over and over again, when whites have problems, the government rushes to their aid. That's fine, except that when these same things happen with blacks, magnified because we're at the tail end of society's whip, the behaviors are labeled as pathologies and we're told to "accept blame." Yes, it's true we have to take responsibility one way or another because we can't make the government do our bidding as whites can. But let's not kid ourselves. Conditions are not equal and never have been.