[ExI] Class Differences Among Black People

[J. Andrew Rogers]

On May 28, 2007, at 12:16 AM, Olga Bourlin wrote:
> Yes I am. Besides, from where does Sowell's "considerable stature"  
> come?
> Mainly from white conservatives.  Think about that.


Eh?  That guy has been a highly respected academic for as long as  
I've been alive.  His stock in trade is economic analysis of history  
and politics since before it was popular, and respect for his  
scholarship can be found across the political spectrum (though I  
believe he is a libertarian).  Some self-styled conservatives may  
like him but that is in large part because he is extremely credible,  
unlike someone like Ann Coulter, and you'll even find that some  
social conservatives (aka WJB populists) find Sowell to be too  
libertarian.

What is with the fixation on "white conservatives"?  What the hell  
does that mean anyway in terms of demographics (western libertarians?  
southern populists?) and why white?

Your reaction has all the earmarks of ideologically motivated  
kneejerk rather than an informed position.  So you find the  
conclusions of Sowell's research to be viscerally distasteful for  
some reason regardless of their veracity and choose to ignore them on  
that basis, which is fine.  You are entitled to your own beliefs,  
though not your own reality.


> Essentially, Sowell blames poor people for being poor.  As if poor  
> people
> don't have enough problems.  A real class act, that Sowell.


This is what passes for reasoning in your universe?  Argumentum ad  
consequentiam on the basis that someone might get their feelings hurt  
or some such?  It is good to know that there are still some people in  
the world that would rather have people living in poverty than have  
to deal with reality, I can't imagine how we'd ever progress as a  
civilization otherwise.

I would generally agree that in the US most long-term poverty is self- 
inflicted in some fashion.  Been there and done that in several parts  
of the US, and have not seen any evidence to suggest that this  
observation is broadly incorrect.


> So, okay - in the spirit of "Keep your friends close, and your enemies
> closer," I may have to read the book by Sowell - about "class," no  
> less
> (well, there's always Dramamine to help ...).  Black Rednecks and  
> White
> Liberals (2005) by laissezfairebooks, no less.  Damn, but I hate  
> the term
> "rednecks" - what a classist thing of the esteemed Sowell to say  
> from the
> get-go.  Yeccccccccch.


I look forward to the book report.  I have not read any Sowell books.

What is wrong with the term "rednecks" if used denotatively?  Just  
like "white trash", these people do exist; when I've described myself  
as such (it is how I grew up) in some urban New England circles it  
clearly triggers some kind reflexive censorship circuit.  Apparently  
it is among the many things one is not allowed to say, but only  
there.  This may be a recognition of the fact that it is used as  
pejorative by those same people, rather than descriptive as it is in  
many other parts of the country.

Cheers,

J. Andrew Rogers