The Age of Absurdity

[Son of A Tiger 587]

"Have we reached the ultimate age of absurdity where some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, while others are NOT held responsible for what they themselves are doing today?........Thomas Sowell

Edited November 6, 2023 by Son of A Tiger

[homersapien 11,616]

Sowell is full of it.  Always has been.

 

[GoAU 1,631]

21 minutes ago, homersapien said:

Sowell is full of it.  Always has been.

 

May or may not be the case (I know next to nothing about him), but the statement above is accurate.  

[homersapien 11,616]

1 minute ago, GoAU said:

May or may not be the case (I know next to nothing about him), but the statement above is accurate.  

It's a self-righteous begging the question.  Just like most of his work.

[GoAU 1,631]

I don’t see it as self righteous at all, just an observation.  

[I_M4_AU 8,136]

1 minute ago, GoAU said:

I don’t see it as self righteous at all, just an observation.  

He is a black conservative; he must be hated….the intelligentsia.

 

 

[homersapien 11,616]

4 minutes ago, GoAU said:

I don’t see it as self righteous at all, just an observation.  

Of course it is self righteous.  He's staking out a moral position based on his preconceived prejudices. 

If it's a serious issue, he needs to point out some specific examples and address them specifically.    Instead, he just repeats right wing fallacies as if they are generally true - thus the "age of absurdity".  What BS.

Edited November 8, 2023 by homersapien

[GoAU 1,631]

You’re not really asking for examples though, are you?

[PUB78 1,369]

8 hours ago, I_M4_AU said:

He is a black conservative; he must be hated….the intelligentsia.

 

 

Yep! Sowell doesn’t follow the expected black narrative, so he is hated for being intelligent, conservative and independent.

[PUB78 1,369]

11 hours ago, PUB78 said:

Yep! Sowell doesn’t follow the expected black narrative, so he is hated for being intelligent, conservative and independent.

And successful.

[DKW 86 7,499]

On 11/8/2023 at 9:14 PM, PUB78 said:

Yep! Sowell doesn’t follow the expected black narrative, so he is hated for being intelligent, conservative and independent.

 

19 hours ago, PUB78 said:

And successful.

Yall nailed it. Sowell is respected by most educated people in America. He is not 100% correct, but who is, except homey? 😉

Edited November 10, 2023 by DKW 86

[homersapien 11,616]

On 11/8/2023 at 1:36 PM, GoAU said:

You’re not really asking for examples though, are you?

Well, then you tell me what he's talking about.

[homersapien 11,616]

19 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

 

Yall nailed it. Sowell is respected by most educated people in America. He is not 100% correct, but who is, except nhomey? 😉

I read Sowell every month for literally years in Forbes magazine (company subscription). This piece was typical of his shallow partisanship. (Talk about "drive by" analysis....)

And no, I don't automatically give him a break because he's black.  He falls into the exact same grouping as Clarence Thomas - profiting by breaking the stereotype, never mind his second rate intellectual ability.

 

[homersapien 11,616]

On 11/9/2023 at 10:11 AM, PUB78 said:

And successful.

Yeah, exactly, for not following "the expected black narrative".  Period.

 

[GoAU 1,631]

2 hours ago, homersapien said:

Well, then you tell me what he's talking about.

The lack of holding individuals accountable for their actions is not only common in this day and age, it's pervasive.   Look how many heinous crimes are committed by people with rap sheets as long as my arm.  As a society we refuse to punish people that habitually break the law, and then feel as if passing more laws is the answer.  

The part about holding people responsible for things that happened before they were born would appear to be directed at CRT, but honestly I'm a lot less concerned with that than I am the way we refuse to prosecute violent criminals 

[homersapien 11,616]

19 hours ago, GoAU said:

The lack of holding individuals accountable for their actions is not only common in this day and age, it's pervasive.   Look how many heinous crimes are committed by people with rap sheets as long as my arm.  As a society we refuse to punish people that habitually break the law, and then feel as if passing more laws is the answer.  

The part about holding people responsible for things that happened before they were born would appear to be directed at CRT, but honestly I'm a lot less concerned with that than I am the way we refuse to prosecute violent criminals 

The idea that people are not held accountable "in this day and age" is not supported by data.  The U.S. is # 1 in both numbers of people in prison as well as #1 in incarceration rate.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/incarceration-rates-by-country

So that's just a baseless appeal to emotion (fear), aka BS. 

I won't even bother to address the responsibility for things that happened before one's birth - as if that's a pervasive problem in this country.  

The reality is we have a bigger problem with the amount of inherent "white privilege" that exists - not that it's all that pervasive either - but it does seem to motivate a large portion of MAGA conservatives (see "Elephant Tipper")

Sowell loves to pander without delving into sticky details that might support his case - or not.

[GoAU 1,631]

Just because we have more people incarcerated has nothing to do with whether people are being held accountable.  If we have record numbers of people committing crimes, the incarceration rate follows.  You are looking at the effect, not the cause.  

As to “white privilege” I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy it.  There are plenty of white people born into poverty, single parent houses, etc.  Racism cannot be used to fight racism.  As long as you keep dividing people and using racism against whole groups of people, we all lose.  People are people, some are born into better circumstances than others, but all are ultimately responsible for their own actions and making their own decisions.   
 

[aubiefifty 17,316]

17 hours ago, GoAU said:

Just because we have more people incarcerated has nothing to do with whether people are being held accountable.  If we have record numbers of people committing crimes, the incarceration rate follows.  You are looking at the effect, not the cause.  

As to “white privilege” I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy it.  There are plenty of white people born into poverty, single parent houses, etc.  Racism cannot be used to fight racism.  As long as you keep dividing people and using racism against whole groups of people, we all lose.  People are people, some are born into better circumstances than others, but all are ultimately responsible for their own actions and making their own decisions.   
 

i call bull. there is white privilege. i worked for the feds for years and it was so bad even in the federal gov they had to hire people of color and women as well and they forced supervisors to hire these people. that is fact.they had a name for it but i forget. just because there are poor white folks does not mean there is not or has never been white privilege. it is not as bad as it used to be but it is there.

[GoAU 1,631]

I have never said there was not been a period with white privilege - slavery and segregation were clearly horrible examples.  All I'm saying is that the best way to move forward, is to move forward.  Treat everyone as equal, quit using racism to fight racism, and move forward.  Instead, we continue to divide people by race, give preferences to some over others for things almost nobody today had anything to do with and wonder why there is racism.  It's a recipe for disaster and makes zero sense.

 

If you have a better way to remedy the situation, I'd really like to hear your opinion.

[auburnatl1 5,437]

I accept that “white privilege” is a cultural issue. But its not simply US/European based. I’ve seen it in Latin America, India, Asia - everywhere. People of fairer complexions tend to culturally and corporately advance more (ps Nikki Haley is Sikh - northern Indian and more fair than most southern Indians…).

However, incredible progress has been made and there is a fine line between acknowledging something - and blaming/whining about it for every issue.

[PUB78 1,369]

On 11/10/2023 at 1:24 PM, homersapien said:

Yeah, exactly, for not following "the expected black narrative".  Period.

 

No, hard work, determination , a positive attitude and personal responsibility are major factors in being successful.