Observations
So, when is somebody going to ask the question?
It’s been difficult to not notice that the vast majority of those stranded and destitute in New Orleans are blacks. And though whites are looting too, I’ve not seen many in all of the video clips over these last few days.
Two nights ago, MSNBC showed closeup looting of a Wal-Mart while two armed and uniformed New Orleans police officers (black females) were not only allowing it to happen, but were right in their looting with their own shopping carts. I’ve since heard that well over 100 police officers have turned in their badges, and I have to wonder how well all of this might correlate with affirmative action hiring on the New Orleans police force.
And before you even start, these statements haven’t a thing to do with racism. Plenty of blacks had the presence of mind and self-responsibility to see to their own well being as best they could during this nightmare. Plenty of blacks have the self-respect necessary to refrain from looting and plenty of whites have lacked such self-respect.
What I’m talking about is culture. I’ve been saying it over and over, and I’ll keep saying it. Black culture as a whole, and it’s redneck sub-culture in particular, is inferior to white European culture. That’s right. It’s a clearly observable fact. Just look at what’s going on. That it’s inferior is not really the problem. It’s inferior to the point of self-destruction.
You can sit around all day and lament that their predicament is a result of every sort of thing: things that federal, state, and local governments have spent trillions trying to rectify since the 1950s, with clearly little impact (look at the teevee).
The problem is that far short of molding the culture to embrace the sorts of ideals that made America what it is, their culture often spurns the sort of hard work and productiveness that results in things like the individual capacity to handle one’s self in a category 5 hurricane, or at least to make one damn fine effort trying.
Blacks have deeply embedded into their culture the notion that they’re victims of just about everything and everyone. Go turn on the TV and see the consequences for yourself. See their situation and listen to what they’re saying.
This is doing them no good, and it never will. Their punk opportunistic "leaders" such as Jackson and Sharpton, scam artists both, are doing them no good either. They ought to be listening to what Bill Cosby has been telling them.
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Free The Animal is an eclectic writing project about everything since November 2003. 23 years, 5,500 posts, 5 million words.
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You have to wonder if New Orleans lurks beneath the skin of every American city. I'm thinking it does.
Great post. Well said, I am sure you will reap a few nagative comments by people who just don't get it. I wish i could have stted it as well as you did.
No Glock 9 Greg, but I've got a Sig Saur 40 S&W, a .380 of some make I forget at the moment, and my cherished snub-nose 38 revolver that my grandmother kept on her bedside table for as long as I can remember.
Have you ever seen a Glock 9 up close, like, say, five inches from your eyes, aimed right between 'em? There are thousands and thousands of Glocks and other more menacing handguns in Phoenix. Nothing like New Orleans will ever happen here. Great place to raise kids–for that very obvious reason.
Greg Swann
Richard,
I was right with you right up until you made the assertion that black culture is inferior to white culture.
The poorer segments of the black culture (which is a large percentage, granted) have REAL issues, the issues you've noted. But I know from personal experience that it has nothing to do with being black… it has to do with being *poor*. In the rural midwest, there are white rednecks *everywhere* that are absolutely no better than the black looters in New Orleans. In east LA, it's the poor hispanics that are the idiots with guns. In late 1800's New York, it was the Irish.
The part you've got right is that it's a culture issue. A culture that fosters the notion of drugs and violence, that puts little or no value on education, that puts no value on *life*… that sort of culture has *ALWAYS* been bound to reveal itself as the lowest possible form of humanity.
But it has nothing to do with being black.
I'm not saying the lower cultures are lower because they're poor… personally, I think it's the other way around (i.e., they're poor because they're lower culture.) But low culture doesn't come anywhere close to obeying racial boundaries.
Next week I'm stashing away 50 gallons of water, two weeks worth of non-perishable food, a .45 pistol, and an as-of-yet-to-be-determined rifle. (Along with a water filter, good tent, first aid supplies, and other sundry gear neccesary for comfort and survival. Don't forget the toilet paper!)
— DW
Gary: "You have to wonder if New Orleans lurks beneath the skin of every American city. I'm thinking it does."
To some extent, certainly. But New Orleans has long been one of the most morally corrupt cities in the country. From the annual bacchinalia of Mardis Gras to the general culture of "Big Easy" to a greatly heightened collectivism (that is present to some level throught the US), New Orleans was perhaps more ripe than any other American city to this kind of thing once the veneer of civilization was peeled away like the clapboard roof of a wooden shanty.
Rich: "There is a prevalence of poverty in many African-American communities because society has forgotten them." Stop and think, just for a moment, whether African American culture has contributed anything at all to the prevalence of poverty. The idea that such a pervasive failure to thrive is caused entirely by outside influences is far-fetched at best, and getting more so as the rest of American society advances further and further beyond them.
Doug: "Don't forget the toilet paper!"
And don't forget matches, and… well, a lot of things you would have a hard time thinking of now. Go buy a copy of Claire Wolf's "101 Things to do Until the Revolution". There's a very interesting section on survival stocking. I haven't read it in a while, but one of the more interesting facts that I remember is that feminine hygeine products, cigarettes, and whiskey are worth their weight in gold in such circumstances. Just remember to not be dependent on the whiskey and cigarettes yourself.
When I was in High School in Chicago, one of my best friends was a Mormon. You should have seen his family's basement. They could have lived down there for six months without ever going upstairs – which was of course the whole point. The Mormons have a lot of generally available literature on this as well.
Doug:
Read the Thomas Sowell article I linked. He's a black scholar, if you didn't know. That ties it together. The poor black culture _is_ the white redneck culture.
The black culture does have something to do with being black and it does have something to do with being poor. But a huge part of why they are predominately poor is because of their culture, which is in deep trouble.
Taken together, we have a situation where a specific poor black culture has developed, and what makes it noteworthy is the _huge_ percentage of the black population that is part of that culture. What also makes it noteworthy is there is nothing I see in the culture that's going to bring them up out of the poverty. The culture of victimhood and waiting on government is perpetuating their plight.
Sure, any black can escape it, and any white can act likewise, but what I'm talking about is the overall cultural makeup of black vs. white. Black being predominately poor and victims, waiting on their government help, and white being predominately productive and self-sustaining.
Any individual can be what they want, but culture has a huge influence on what path individuals choose, and we see here what has become of it.
…Aslo, the white culture that grew out of our Eropean immigrant ancestors is also superior to pther white sub-cultures such as the cuture of the south in general, and rednecks in particular.
My main point in this and in my past article I linked to on "culterism" is that it is first quite clear that there are differences between cultures around the world. The differences in cultures bring forth different results. Again, quite clear.
How do you think it is that the vast majority of a people are poor, given that the resources and knowledge are available to not be poor? It is the culture that keeps people poor, and to the extent it does, poor cultures are vastly INFERIOR, INFERIOR, INFERIOR to rich cultures.
It just so happens that most rich cultures are populated predominately by whites (with plenty of blacks and other minorities partaking of the benefits) and most poor cultures are black, hispanic, etc., with plenty of whites taking part as well.
How is it that Chinese-Americans do so well? Huh? It's their culture, and in many ways, it's superior to our general American culture, though their anti-individualism is a turn off for me.
Sir,
I respect your right to believe what you do, and even your right to say it, but I do find it offensive that you believe that the white european culture superior.
I also find offensive the fact that you generalize, and think that "Blacks have deeply embedded into their culture the notion that they're victims of just about everything and everyone. Go turn on the TV and see the consequences for yourself. See their situation and listen to what they're saying."
There is no doubt that some Americans do some of the things that you described so well. Some of those Americans are black, some are white, some are hispanic.
There is a prevalence of poverty in many African-American communities because society has forgotten them. Many have been relegated to communities where they eke out an existence that is below basic. It's not just in the Gulf Coast, it's in the Mid-Atlantic, the Mid-west, the west coast, it's all over.
At any rate, when people are forced to eke out an existence out of nothing, they learn to adapt to their surroundings in the name of survival.
They believe they are victims because the Jesse and Al show keeps preaching what victims they are. These old, out of touch black leaders of an era past its usefulness don't want to give up their power over the poor and less fortunate. The best way to keep power is to convince the group that they are powerless without you.
What sickens me is the 300 school buses sitting under water in New Orleans that Mayor Nagin could have ordered to be used to evacuate those without means or transportation and tens of thousands could have been saved from the flood waters. Instead those buses were left to sit and are now under many feet of water. You can see a picture at: http://www.squiggler.com.
It isn't that the white European culture is superior per se. However, the white European culture in this country descends from the risk takers and adventurers of their former cultures and they brought with them an independence of spirit and a strong desire to succeed on their own. They do not like government and mostly tolerate it because they have to. They don't want the governement interfering, even in times of great need. These are human traits that will rise to the top in any culture if allowed to do so. Unfortunately for the African Americans, their own leaders hold them back with a constant litany of victimhood and no concentrated effort to teach and encourage independence of thought and action. In fact, when one of their own does rise to the top, they are immediately denigrated as Uncle Toms and worse. And the last thing these leaders want is for the idea of personal responsibility to catch on in a big way in the black communities. Al, Jesse and Charlie would definitely have to find real jobs then.
The Reverends would have been far more helpful had they said to "their people" (which is another thing that bugs me), "pick up a broom or a mop and clean up your own space and then turn and help the person next to you clean up their's." They could have said, "instead of looting food and water and then selling it to those too frail to fend for themselves, reach out." They could have been on the front lines before the storm helping to get people evacuated.
"I wonder how you account for middle class, successful black people. Are they not products of their own culture?"
No, they aren't. That's the point. the escaped that culture, or were brought up in a different culture than the one Richard is talking about.
Culture is not determined by skin color – it's a choice. Your belief otherwise strikes me as very racist, you should be ashamed of yourself.
I had to read this post about three times to see if it was for real. This is extremely frightening indeed. Racism is alive and well indeed.
I wonder how you account for middle class, successful black people. Are they not products of their own culture?
Talk about one culture being superior to another sends shivers down my spine, and I'm not even Jewish.
Pantergirl:
Well, at least you read it 3 times. Might I suggest a couple more times?
Squiggler sure got it right. I have known only a few people in my life (of any race) who have escaped their cultures, though. It's a hard thing to do, like breaking a long-held bad habit. It often requires you to give up friends (or family, even), peers, even a neighborhood or the whole town. It takes real courage.