Thomas Sowell On "Social Justice"
Sowell writes at realclearpolitics:
Once I asked a class of black college students what they thought would happen if a black baby were born, in the middle of a ghetto, and entered the world with brain cells the same as those with which Albert Einstein was born.There were many different opinions -- but no one in that room thought that such a baby, in such a place, would grow up to become another Einstein. Some blamed discrimination but others saw the social setting as too much to overcome.
If discrimination is the main reason that such a baby has little or no chance for great intellectual achievements, then that is something caused by society -- a social injustice. But if the main reason is that the surrounding cultural environment provides little incentive to develop great intellectual potential, and many distractions from that goal, that is a cosmic injustice.
Many years ago, a study of black adults with high IQs found that they described their childhoods as "extremely unhappy" more often than other black adults did. There is little that politicians can do about that -- except stop pretending that all problems in black communities originate in other communities.
Similar principles apply around the world. Every group trails the long shadow of its cultural heritage -- and no politician or society can change the past. But they can stop leading people into the blind alley of resentments of other people. A better future often requires internal changes that pay off better than mysticism about one's own group or about "social justice."
Bill Cosby has it right, Sharpton and Jackson has it wrong.
I've only had a few chances to talk people who grew up in the inner city (that I know of). But those I have were generally the ones who realized that the government didn't owe them shit, and neither did anyone else.
Jim P. at July 1, 2012 5:13 AM
I don't think that baby would have much of a chance to "become the next Einstein", but I don't think it has so much to do with discrimination. Assuming that those in the ghetto, or trailer park, or mining community in the Appalachians are typically less educated than those in more affluent communities, the baby will be less likely to be surrounded by intellectually stimulating people.
For example, I speak English well. It's not because I went to school and studied all the rules of English. It's because my family speaks English well. In my mind, that's just how you talk. It doesn't take any effort. It has nothing to do with my IQ (I have no idea what my IQ is, but I suspect it's about average) and everything to do with my surroundings growing up.
That baby is likely going to have to work at it.
I've often thought it would be tragic to be cloned, have that clone given the same upbringing I had, and watch that clone become wildly successful. I'd kill that bastard clone!
whistleDick at July 1, 2012 10:06 AM
Tough call here. Obviously we've all heard stories of people who decided they wanted more than what they were surrounded by but are they the rule or the exception? I wanted my kids to grow up with people from all walks of life and see different options for when they grew up. I didn't want them to feel limited. Sometimes I wonder if it is more choice or more internal drive. Tough question.
Kristen at July 1, 2012 10:30 AM
What America needs is a wake-up call for barbecue social justice - and fortunately, we have one available today.
No justice, no ribs!
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2012/06/21/barbecue-digest-dont-whitewash-bbq/?hpt=hp_bn13
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at July 1, 2012 11:48 AM
After reading this earlier, I emailed something I wrote for my local news source because I see a great racial divide where I live and I have experienced a different side of the racial injustice topic. I link at Amy's suggestion and not because I'm looking to ride her coattails but because this is a topic I am truly fascinated with. It is some of the later comments posted that I'd draw your attention to.
http://massapequa.patch.com/blog_posts/dreams-of-color
Thanks Amy for allowing me to link.
Kristen at July 1, 2012 11:50 AM
I'd say Sowell is half right. That baby will not do as well as Einstein because of his social environment -- but the environment that will stop him is not Whitey, it is his nearest neighbors and classmates, who will denigrate him if he studies and do their best to push him to fail, just as they are doing or have done.
This vicious cycle and the "Marching Morons" problem it is now producing can only be stopped by ending the welfare system that subsidizes having children out of wedlock.
John David Galt at July 1, 2012 12:44 PM
Baby will do as well as anybody else - if mother is smart enough to get him/her a good education. Whitey isn't the one holding him/her down. Spell NAFTA and NEA. I don't fault them, they work for the people who pay them. I fault morons who don't pay attention. You care more about your child than anyone, for some reason. If not, somebody will decide fir you...
My family is about as "mixed" as it is possible to be. We have jerks and geniuses of every hue, and a few pretty pale folk who have done well, or not, in the mix..
Is that true for the average? Ah, there's the question. No. If you are the victim of an inferior public school system, you are, to use the crude, SOL. We've got over and underachievers in the family, what we don't have is an IQ 88 savant who is a Rhodes scholar, or a IQ 140 kid who is flipping burgers. Odd?
It's not racism. Trust me, nobody cares. We hit MLK-ville long ago. It's the content of your character, wallet, brain, or jockstrap... I like you for you, or not.
I was not picked in the NBA draft. It wasn't the year for old white guys who can't play, or racism. I can't mock this enough. You aren't getting Einstein II out of the Syracuse City school system either. Most of us are fairly average.
Maybe a better comparison wold be me, and Maureen Dowd. We're contemporaries, and if published reports are believable,approximately the same IQ. I would be an underachiever, MODO an elite. I wouldn't trade places on a bet.
I've had fun. Not as much as some, more than most. Life. Pay me. I won.
MarkD at July 1, 2012 5:39 PM
Remember, it's not the race, it's the culture. I had a middle-class black guy tell me a few years ago that one thing he resented was that he got constant remarks from certain relatives about how he was obligated to "give back" to the ghetto just because he is black. The guy grew up in the suburbs and has spent no more time in the ghetto than I have.
Cousin Dave at July 2, 2012 6:04 AM
I don't think that baby would have much of a chance to "become the next Einstein", but I don't think it has so much to do with discrimination. Assuming that those in the ghetto, or trailer park, or mining community in the Appalachians are typically less educated than those in more affluent communities, the baby will be less likely to be surrounded by intellectually stimulating people.
For example, I speak English well. It's not because I went to school and studied all the rules of English. It's because my family speaks English well. In my mind, that's just how you talk. It doesn't take any effort. It has nothing to do with my IQ (I have no idea what my IQ is, but I suspect it's about average) and everything to do with my surroundings growing up.
That baby is likely going to have to work at it.
Posted by: whistleDick at July 1, 2012 10:06 AM
__________________________
Exactly. It's one thing to want your kids to be exposed to different social classes, but it's quite another to ignore the chance that, REGARDLESS of social class, your kids' classmates will very likely choose to spend very little time, if any, on anything that isn't connected with video games, Facebook, or sports. This does not bode well for our country's future; just because so many upper-middle-class parents are passively allowing this to happen does not make it harmless. Why do they expect their kids to grow up with even one important, memorized fact in their heads when they can always check Google instead?
Yet another reason to consider not having kids at all.
I didn’t have kids for the same reason I didn’t become a surgeon or a ditch-digger – I just didn’t want to. However, I can think of a few other compelling reasons to think twice:
1. I wouldn’t want to be the only parent in the neighborhood who actually pushes kids to be independent and to take responsibility for their own behavior.
2. I wouldn’t want to be the only parent who understands that when you say “no” to a five year old and he cries for an hour, it does NOT mean that you did anything horribly wrong or harmful – it only means that he needs to hear “no” more often.
3. I would not want my kids to grow up surrounded by classmates who are otherwise smart and friendly but who don't read and/or put down readers. I can only imagine how much less of a reader I would have been if I’d known ANY popular kids like that in the 1970s or 1980s. Anyone who talked like that would have been recognized as backward and stupid. Nowadays, what’s considered stupid and nerdy, by kids, is almost anything that doesn’t overlap with (see above).
lenona at July 2, 2012 2:18 PM
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