Re: Another Gun Control Study
Originally Posted by Seamus Fermanagh
Spare me your righteous indignation. Your problem appears to be with statistics, not me. Remove blacks and control for every other socioeconomic factor and America's quality of life metrics fall right in line with Western Europe and the advanced Commonwealth nations. It is quite tiring to read the same stale pontifications on the 'problem' with American culture, each carefully crafted to avoid the obvious. The emperor has no clothes, and black people kill a lot of black people.
I've lived on both sides of the Atlantic and I know that the America I live in, and that ~98% of Americans live in, is no more violent than Western Europe. In fact, I would wager that street crime and randomized violence is a bit lower in most parts of the states, especially in comparison to Britain. America simply has a number of clearly delineated pockets within major urban areas that are quite literally more third world than Somalia. Europe certainly has issues with Muslim immigrants, similar to those we have with Mexican immigrants to an extent, but Europe does not have to deal with a sizable failed minority group in the same way that the US does.
So instead of reaching for obscure, all encompassing, and ultimately meaningless explanations for America's 'violent culture', lets examine the violence as it actually exists, which happens to be almost exclusively within high concentrations of black people.
I do not have an answer to the black problem. As part of my curriculum in high school, I had to volunteer at a local mission school serving primarily black families. I enjoyed the children and felt like I was having a positive impact on their lives so I continued on for some years after. Watching those sweet little kids that I knew as eight and nine year olds turn into thugs when they hit their teens was one of the saddest, most disappointing parts of my life. I quit after a few years of seeing my original kids growing into a dead end life of dependence and dysfunction. The culture is just too strong, and there is no support at home encouraging them to be anything other than trash.
Given the circumstances in which blacks were brought to this country, I believe few other racial/ethnic groups deserve to thrive in the US more. But you cannot force people to strive for better, you cannot make them take advantage of the benefits society puts in place to help them succeed. The stark reality I've observed in my time living and working among American blacks that isn't often written about is the widely shared satisfaction with it all. They are comfortable with the poverty, the violence, and the failure of the family structure because it is all they know at this point. It's that vicious satisfaction in chaos that limits potential and fosters a 'dream smaller' culture where driving an '86 Chevy Caprice with spinners is a symbol of status and not an embarrassment.
I don't know how to fix the problem, but I do know that blaming it all on the War on Drugs and 'soft racism' is simply perpetuating the victim culture that decimated the black community after the Civil Rights Movement and the Great Society. Asians, Irish, Catholics, Hispanics, Muslims, and all manner of other racial/ethnic groups have undergone intense discrimination in this country and prospered despite it. Only blacks and Native Americans have been allowed to indulge in a seemingly never ending, multi-generational victim status, and look where they are today.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks