-Caveat Lector-
Saturday, January 06, 2001
Conservative, Black & Proud
lack conservatives have paid a heavy price for holding views
that run counter to the line set by the civil rights
establishment.
For more than 30 years, Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams,
both economists and columnists, have faced hostile crowds,
hate mail and death threats. Most of this comes from
opposing affirmative action and arguing that racism cannot
be blamed for crime, poverty, illegitimacy and poor school
performance.
Because disagreement means ostracism, conservative black
intellectuals can expect to be shunned.
"There is an awful lot of conservative sentiment in black
America, but at the moment, the party line is ruthlessly
enforced," said Shelby Steele, author of "The Content of Our
Character" and a fellow at the Hoover Institution.
Still, there are always some who resist the enforcement
efforts. Current examples are new books by linguistics
professor John McWhorter ("Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in
Black America") and Los Angeles talk-show host and columnist
Larry Elder ("Ten Things You Can't Say in America").
McWhorter compares affirmative action to chemotherapy - he
says it was necessary in the 1960s, but now the toxic
effects outweigh the advantages. Among black Americans, he
sees a "cult of victimology." He thinks it is "felt like a
religion." An example of what McWhorter means is the Rev.
Jesse Jackson's repeated claim that the Florida voting was
"another Selma, another Birmingham" - i.e., no progress has
been made.
Separatism flows logically from victimology, according to
McWhorter: The belief that whites will never let blacks in
leads to the sense of black America forever set apart, "an
unofficial sovereign entity, within which the rules other
Americans are expected to follow are suspended."
He thinks this rejection of the social norms of mainstream
America helps explain why blacks have more trouble getting
hired and promoted than whites do.
McWhorter's book got mixed reviews. Elder's more provocative
book got almost no reviews (he says he has noticed two), but
it climbed the best-seller list anyway.
The first of the "Ten Things" is a shocker: "Blacks are more
racist than whites." The next two are almost as strong:
"White condescension is as bad as black racism," and "The
media bias - it's real, it's widespread, it's destructive."
To Elder, the "so-called black leadership" is dreary,
pessimistic and fixated on racism, which he believes is real
but fading fast and no longer a serious obstacle. Instead of
focusing on counterproductive behavior, Elder says, it keeps
busy pushing hate-crime laws, opposing welfare reform and
school vouchers and worrying about symbolic matters, such as
how many black faces are seen on each TV show.
Give McWhorter and Elder full credit. They write without
defensiveness. Both have received death threats, and a group
of blacks tried, with some degree of success, to drive
advertisers from Elder's talk show.
"Why is it that we can't have a civilized discussion in the
black community?" Elder asks.
McWhorter and Elder may be viewed as heretics and defectors,
but many of their opinions seem close to those of most black
Americans. Polls consistently show that blacks as a group
have strongly conservative social views.
The two authors may speak for more people than they know.
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
