Thomas Sowell is one of my favorite opinion writers. In his latest column (A Challenge to Our Beliefs) he elucidates on the relationship between victimhood and low achievement. For an immigrant person like me, Sowell's article only reaffirms what I know to be true -- that there is very little, if any, difference in intelligence between people of different ethnicities that can be attributed to genetic differences.
What do low-income whites in England and ghetto blacks in the United States have in common? It cannot be simply low incomes, because children from other groups in the same low-income brackets outperform whites in England and outperform blacks in America.
What low-income whites in England and ghetto blacks in the United States have in common is a generations-long indoctrination in victimhood. The political left in both countries has, for more than half a century, maintained a steady and loud drumbeat of claims that the deck is stacked against those at the bottom.
The American left uses race and the British left uses class, but the British left has been at it longer. In both countries, immigrants who have not been in the country as long have not been so distracted by such ideology into a blind resentment and lashing out at other people.
6 comments:
I disagree with Thomas Sowell in so many levels.
George Zemerman case is an epic example to the result below. I am only mentioning the statistics not the survey results. Elementary and secondary education in low income communities are unheard of compare to Fairfax and Montgomery county. That is if they don't get shot on their way to school for example in Chicago inner city schools compare to them we live in heaven.
"In 1960, black men were five times as likely as white men to be in local, state or federal prison. Fifty years later, black men are six times as likely as white men to be incarcerated and Hispanic men three times as likely.
The gap in college completion rates rose to 13 percentage points from 6 (although the black completion rate, as a percentage of the white rate, has improved to 62 percent from 42 percent. The Hispanic rate remains at 42 percent)."
Race Equality Is Still a Work in Progress, Survey Finds
By SAM ROBERTS
The New York Times Company
On the 21 Century in the United States of America we are still fighting over Equal pay for women for equal work hours.
“Let me be clear: pay discrimination based on gender is unacceptable,” Mr. Heller said. “Despite the political rhetoric around here, everyone agrees on this fact. The question is, will the Paycheck Fairness Act actually address workplace inequality? And the simple answer is no.”
Senate Republicans Again Block Pay Equity Bill
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
The New York Times Company
Cheers
M
Mariam: The comment you posted leads me to think that you did not get the gist of Sowell's commentary. The point he is trying to address in that column is that the argument some people make about a genetic basis for differences in intelligence measurements among different "racial" groups is invalid, and he uses the data collected on low achieving "whites" in England to support his point.
Let alone Sowell, I do not think there is any serious thinker on both the left or right side of the political spectrum in the US who thinks that the historical inequities and systematic discrimination suffered by certain minority groups contributes significantly to their low achievement. What Sowell is trying to point out instead is that these historical inequities alone do not explain the difference in intelligence measurements. Some of the difference can, indeed, be attributed to the victimhood mentality that pervades these communities.
Thank you for taking time to respond Fikru. Please take a look at these resources below it will blow your mind.
"The opposite of poverty is not wealth. … In too many places, the opposite of poverty is justice."
"We have a system of justice in [the US] that treats you much better if you're rich and guilty than if you're poor and innocent. Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes. "
http://www.ted.com/talks/bryan_stevenson_we_need_to_talk_about_an_injustice?utm_source=facebook&source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ios-share
Global Wealth Inequality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWSxzjyMNpU
The richest 300 people in the world are more wealthy than the poorest 3 billion combined, and every year rich countries take over 10 times more money from poor countries than they give in aid. Find out more by watching the video or visiting our website http://www.therules.org
Sowell on Victimhood
I am not disagreeing because I am denying there is such thing as "victimhood mentality" we all have it in some extent. I disagree because he doesn't have the full scope between the low performing children and the high performing foreigners are and their influences. Poverty, race and class is not only about finance and acceptance, but also exposure, information and influence, its about the way we see the world. The article would if been a success if it direct the focus on mentoring this low performing children and inviting them to our home. Give them a new window to see life and help them be the first college graduate in their family history. Could you imagine what would the result be if each white and upper class citizen mentored one low-income child we would have a different world to live in.
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