Notwithstanding the Christmas Moratorium, I've been cutting back on my blog time. Why? Easy answer -- there's just not enogh time in the day, the week -- in a life -- to keep up with them. There are just so many out there that it becomes overwhelming.
It can also be distracting, frustrating, etc. when you read a good blog and they refer you to another blog and say it's a "must read" blog. Argh! you say. I can't keep up with the few I do read and you're telling me I *must* add another link and regularly check another blog. (And that is the other time-consuming aspect of blogs -- their frequent updates. Once you start, you have to regularly check them. Unlike newspapers or magazines which come at specified intervals, blogs are virtually "real time" and you can find yourself checking them several times a day or "run the risk" of missing an update (gasp!).)
OK. Does all this bloviating ... er, pontificating (that's better :-) have a point? Of course it does! The point is I am calling La Shawn Barber's blog a must read blog. I came across a post from her blog recently and it was awesome (see below). I recently checked back and there were some more great posts.
My recommendation: Bookmark La Shawn Barber's Corner and visit, if not regularly, at least occasionally. You won't be disappointed. See below for a sample of her wisdom and common sense.
I am more critical of blacks than I am of whites because, no offense, I care more about what happens to blacks. That is, I care whether they’re valuing education as highly as they should, whether they’re pushing themselves and their children to be the best and not wallowing in excuses or hurling unfounded charges of racism.
Having grown up black among black family and friends, I noticed a certain undercurrent that didn’t have a name. Whether a person actually suffered from racial discrimination or not, there was an urge to “keep whitey on the hook,” a term I picked up from John McWhorter. He articulated it so well in Authentically Black. We are never to allow whites to forget our historical grievances, whether an individual white person was guilty of discrimination or not. Most whites seem intimidated by blacks who do this. I dare say some of my white commenters are probably intimidated as well, despite their boldness on this blog.
I vowed to take the opposite approach. Rather than using this blog to bit** and moan session about slavery, institutional racism and such, I’d use it to “keep blacks on the hook.” It’s a fresh approach and much more interesting than telling whites how racist they are. Blacks need to be reminded, constantly, of our responsibility in this mess.
For example, as we all know, black crime statistics are outrageous, especially considering our proportion of the population. Rarely, if ever, do you hear black people expressing disgust for out-of-control crime rates or lecturing other blacks about their responsibility to stay out of the criminal justice system.
At least I haven’t. I perceived the void and decided to fill it. That makes a lot of blacks angry, and a few whites, too. But that can’t be helped. Here’s the beauty of living in a free country: if you don’t like what I say or write, you can counter it with your own op-ed or blog or other form of communication. Free expression.
When I offer this advice to disgruntled blacks who e-mail me, they have an excuse at the ready. Big surprise, right? (Making excuses must be a reflex.) They’re “nobody,” they say, and I have this huge forum, so who is going to listen to them? Or (this is my favorite) my powerful white benefactors have propped me up so as to drown out the dissenters.
Whatever.
I’ve worked hard on this blog for two years. I didn’t sit around making excuses for what I can’t do, and I’m not here to clear up misconceptions about myself. It would be a waste of time because people who hate me will hate me. All I ask if that you examine yourselves before you start handing out excuses and pointing fingers at white folks. If you want a place to bit** and moan about whites, this is not it.
One of the government policies I hate is skin color preferences, which I’ve written about ad nauseum and will continue to do so as long as it exists. So-called affirmative action was intended to include more blacks in the candidate pool, but it has become the biggest entitlement program ever conceived. It has nothing to do with so-called racial discrimination and everything to do with lowered standards.
Apparently, it’s difficult to find black job candidates and potential university students with credentials comparable to whites. On the one hand, some blacks claim that credentials are comparable, but whites need a “push” to hire or admit. On the other hand, some blacks claim that “comparable” is relative. Just because a black person has a lower score, it doesn’t mean he’s not qualified for a job or admission. It is reasonable, however, to set hiring and admissions criteria, and if your score is below the threshold, you are, by those standards, not qualified. Unfortunately, some blacks — not all, thank goodness — see racial motives behind everything.
I hate “affirmative action” because it’s immoral, unconstitutional, embarrassingly unfair, and undignified.
If blacks with comparable credentials are being passed over, blanket skin color preference policies are not the remedy. Courts are where such disputes should be heard. If blacks are passed over because they don’t have comparable scores, we need to address the problem at a much earlier stage. We all know how dumbed down government schools have become. Get the socialist bureaucrats out of the front offices and demand better for your kids. Fight for school choice, support rigorous standards, and advocate excellence, not mediocrity. And for the love of God, stop making excuses. Discipline your children to turn off that idiot box and study. Embrace and reward studious behavior and penalize laziness.
Despite government policies designed to force equal outcomes, thanks to human nature, it ain’t going to happen. We each have different or varying degrees of talent, drive, and motivation. This is where “diversity” bites liberals on the rear end. In a society as diverse as America, individuals will never have equal stuff. You won’t find equal outcomes within the same biological family, for crying out loud, so how can you expect to find it within a diverse country???
Equal opportunity is the best we humans can hope for and what the Constitution guarantees. That document does not have the power to ensure equal distribution of material wealth, nor should it.
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