Racism is totally misused as a word. It almost means nothing anymore.

Racial hatred, sure. Let’s just call it that.

I would love to see your commentary on the “Jena 6″.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/09/20/jena.six/index.html

I personally believe this is an example of blatant racism that is continued to be allowed by society only because the protesters are African American.

Because these boys are black they are entitled to the right of assault on a white male who may or may not have been involved in the original provocation??

Like I said, I’d really love to hear your thoughts on this case/situation and what the other readers have to say.

Thanks, Jonathan

From a sociological standpoint, the ruling class becomes unstable (and less able to control the chaotic masses) when the “lack of a failure standard”-attitude infects it and is so predominant in the overall society that only those who self-impose a standard for failure maintain their drive for superiority and excellence. In such a case, those drawn to self-motivation are too few to do what is necessary and let the failures fall to Darwinistic conclusions.

As of now, we are even further going out of our way to avoid such a natural course. We are a compassionate society, so we offer all the respect and priveledges to both the achiever and his nemesis, the slacker. At least on some comfortable level, more comfortable to the anti-achieving consumer demographic, these two coexist without compare, and most certainly without large respect due to the better of the two.

The social contract has been modified so much that it’s redundancies now outweigh it’s once clear goal. Children aren’t being given the basic understanding that their upbringing comes at the cost of a promise to do their best to maintain AND improve society, and to follow through with that promise.

Those few households that shirk contemporary decadent cultural values in favor of the great virtues of our national heritage are dwindling in numbers, but they know a choice when they see it. All the homeschooled families are following through with this in mind, and are removing their children from the modern school system, a failure that won’t die in itself.

If a correction to the fabric of our national/cultural future must be re-established, it’s with the very first education and culturing of our newest generations. Unfortunately, it also means that letting go of the cancer of extreme compassion on our collective hearts will making a broad rule for the consequences of failure to uphold the standard of motivation that is needed to produce a generation that can unite, and that must achieve as a whole.

Otherwise the disparity of classes will doom our world to some random fate, that is, if we can’t choose to do what is necessary.

(Dan, I more or less know the movies you’ve seen, even the recent ones. I watch too many movies. You, sir, are no “too many movies watcher.”)

-=Timm=-

If the governments involvement goes beyond providing opportunity, then it has exceeded its limits. You must realize that, in the name of the children, personal rights must not be trampled. You think it would not happen? It already does. You try to be a home schooler in certain states. Then you will see. In some states the local government is truly out to get you because you might not do a good job and will therefore destroy your children. “So send them to us, so we can!”

I purpose that the government cannot fix the issues you speak of, beyond that of opportunity. Personally, I think the federal government should not have any involvement in education. Simply state government.

I will let this die as I think we agree more than we have read and the 1-5% we disagree, this will not change it.

Have a great night and thanks for free thinking.

You’re exactly right that fixing the educational system (expensive though it would be) would save money (a LOT of money) in the long run (lesser costs in crime, police and court costs, jail and prison costs, etc. — and MORE money coming in from income taxes, sales taxes, etc.). A “productive” member of society is worth a LOT more to society than a “non-productive” member. Even if we count ONLY monetary cost we come out ahead, and there are many other ways that society would benefit.

So, should government replace parenting? Of course not. Does that mean that government has no role to play in fixing these problems? Of course not. There are many parents who are simply not equiped to help their children succeed. Sad but true. Should we say “Screw ‘em — they could do better if they really wanted to!” EVEN IF THIS IS TRUE, WE CAN’T AFFORD TO SAY THIS. It isn’t the parents’ lives I’m concerned about .. it’s their kids. Blame the parents all you want .. but that isn’t helping the kids!

For the record, I don’t excuse ANYONE for falling into lives of crime. I agree with you that whatever the state of the educational system and whatever the family situation .. none of that excuses criminal activity or poor life choices. I simply think that we NEED to start to REALLY fix things for the next generation. And, I think that government has a role to play in this.

“Libraries may be available. That doesn’t mean people have the time to utilize them. Even if they had time, what if people don’t have a CAR?”

To my knowledge all public schools are required to have a library and most cities have them. And if you review the demographics, those that do the worst, most have access.

also, do not assume I come from an intact, normal family. I come from a broken home. I was kicked out of school every year from 5th grade on. I cheated through certain classes in school. Partied to much. And everyone in my family thought I had lost it when I told them we were home schooling. I, as a man, made the decision to do what I knew was best. I have no compassion for anyone who is not willing to do the same. If you will not invest, you have not right to claim the reward. Just like finances, if you dont put money into an investment, when it hits you dont get a pay out. And if you make bad investments, you lose it all.

“I’m not disagreeing. All I’m saying is this: You can say life isn’t fair, but if you were bound to failure as some people are, you’d be saying more than that.”

I understand that but as outlined briefly above, a lot of my peers are the ones you are saying are ‘bound’. And that is my point. Are they? Are they bound? Are they captive, with no choice? I, and many like me, are proof the answer is no. I am not special. Anyone CAN do what I have done, if they decide to. But alas, it is a social problem. People coddle them, buy into he lie they have no options, and then their parents tell them that garbage and they say “see I couldn’t make it”. And then they fall into whatever social structure they fall and most, at least of those I knew, fall into dealing drugs and running scams, so that they ruin their lives. But everyone I knew could have chosen different paths, and I know a few that did and are all at verying levels of success.

So, if the bottom line is the parents are faulty and the kids do not have drive, how do you ever teach a child that what they are taught at home is wrong and that they should not end up like their parents. Make no mistake that is where the truth lies. So, the end of that road is government replaced parenting… is that really where you want to go? Again not you, but any who are reading???

Rick, you clearly have been educated and have made good choices to be able to do such a good thing for your children on that kind of income. You probably have been conditioned to be that disciplined and caring, though.

The freedom to screw up is a necessary freedom. But many people that are also parents probably don’t have those same qualities as you and in turn ’screw’ their children out of a lot, and they’ll be paying for it later. You also would need to consider that as far as self education goes, I wasn’t even interested in learning things until I was 17 or 18. School systems need to be set up so that kids realize the value of what is being shown to them. I cheated through a lot because I just wanted to get through it. I regret that!

I’m not disagreeing. All I’m saying is this: You can say life isn’t fair, but if you were bound to failure as some people are, you’d be saying more than that.

There have been lots of improvements over time, but a lot of things are on the line. If things go a rye, I can see this country being similar to Rome. It’s incredible we’ve lasted this long.

Yes to all of these. As someone that has done a lot of self education I am tired of people saying there is not the option. And I do not feel that a barrier equals no opportunity. The problem is the parents are not educating their children, or rather over seeing the education of those children.

Yes the school system sucks. But life is not fair. When they get the chance for success and are faced with opposition, will we say the opposition of life is not fair? I am for reforming the schools from the ground up… heck we would save money in the long run. I never said the chance was equal. I said it was there. Some will have to work harder, yes. And I think it should be addressed but those that blame their failures on others and do not utilize everything within their power, then they would have failed with any level of help.

It gets back to the point of this post… PERSONAL responsibility. You know what I did to make sure my children were properly educated… we are doing it ourselves. My wife is dedicated to the education of our children and we home school. And we did it (and know plenty that did) on $8-9/hr, single income family. So I do not want to hear “not everyone can do that”. Yes you can. If it is important to you, you can. You may have to scale back the fast foods, what type of clothes you buy, cut coupons, drive older yet still reliable cars.

In conclusion, the greatest promotion/hinderence to ‘opportunity’ a child has is the family it is born into. And that is not a government problem. That is a social problem.

Too many movies? Maybe, but if we have a couple more Bush administrations then I could see some wild social upswing happening… My sociology teacher predicted the next generation being similar to that of the 60s.

Education is indeed garbage and that system needs to be thoroughly revamped. That’s all I know from listening to my education-induced mother all my life. People absolutely do not have equal chance. There are problems with whole school curriculums, teachers themselves, the way schools are run, etc. There are problems across the board.

As for drugs: Cocaine is hugely popular within the wealthy. The effects of coke are not at all similar to “memory and intelligence enhancement.” But hey, new drugs ARE popping up all the time. There’s already a plethora of drugs that the poor use to create for themselves a feeling of well-being. That is already a reality.

Capitalism? Well, I think it’s a certain recipe for financial success. However, I tend to feel that our country has TOO much emphasis on just that.

Some of us have never conceived ourselves of the finished product of the authors thoughts. Sometimes the information, understanding and experience of the author is not so transparent to me.

Sometimes I like to get in on the ground floor of a new thought, and not just end up the spoon fed child of the intelligent and thoughtful people out there.

Good discussion here.

Sincerely Another B student (at best)

I have to disagree here. Education is NOT equal for all in this country and education is the key to success. Birth defects aside, when some schools have HIGH expectations for their students and others have LOW expectations (or even reward things like attendance and the appearance of work over the actual acquisition of knowledge and skills) then the students do NOT have the same chance for success. This is one of the times that the government NEEDS to step in. It simply is not realistic to say “the parents should just demand better education.” The fact is that the parents MIGHT NOT KNOW WHAT TO DEMAND. They might live in a county or region that has FOREVER had low expectations and might not understand what sort of fundamental change is required. The government may not be the solution to every problem (surely it isn’t), but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t a necessary part to SOME solutions.

For example, consider the energy shortage. We’ve known since (at least) the 70’s that an energy crisis loomed ahead — so we’ve had scientists working hard on fusion and other alternative energy sources so that TODAY we don’t rely on … oh wait .. let me find another example. OK, consider the political turmoil in the middle east. There have been problems there for decades (um … perhaps longer), so we’ve had diplomats and others working hard on the issue which is why TODAY we see .. um … hmmmm.

Here’s a better example. Consider the fact that it was believed that the Earth could not sustain 6 billion people (the argument being that there is not enough room to farm enough food to feed that many people). Advances in agriculture made it possible to feed that many people. Smallpox and other diseases have been overcome with the hard work of many. Average living conditions in the world today are INCREDIBLY good in comparison to 50 years ago. Does that mean that there are no problems left? Of course not. But, I don’t see an end to the desire and ability to overcome the problems that confront us. I EVEN think that society is starting to wake up to the fact that education is KEY (as evidenced by things like the No Child Left Behind Act — the right motivation .. though I’m not convinced that it has yet sunk in just how insidious (operating or proceeding in an inconspicuous or seemingly harmless way but actually with grave effect) social promotion is). Anyway, I don’t think we’re (yet) in the dire situation you outline.

If you have not read ‘The Rise and Fall or the Roman Empire’ as well as ‘Republic’ you should. These books detail the events that caused the ruin of two of the greatest nations to ever stand. Self study will show strong correlation with England and you can also see where this were the tactics of failed en devours (such as Nazi Germany).

It is only be the social means that our country can be saved. It is by you and I living what is right and doing right that our country has any hope. Politicians are just that Poli-tics (Latin: Many blood suckers).

No laws can raise someone from the bottom. Everyone is born into this nation with the chance, barring birth defects and such, to achieve success. This is a social issue and if the government gets involved it will escalate the demise, not help.

You mention that these things are already happening. I thought I was clear in my statements that this would NOT be a simple continuation of what we’re seeing — but rather a massive upswing.

As for the “too many movies” arguments — I’m sure nobody listened when many said Rome was vulnerable to ruin as well. And you see where that wishful thinking got them.

Think about the amount of change that’s occurred in this country in the last 20 years, and realize that we’ve only been a country for a bit over 200. We’re a supernova, Carl. And we’re about to go white dwarf.

I’ll start with this: Cody, there is a difference between continual growth and infinite growth. I agree that there is too much focus by investors on short-term growth rather than long-term growth (and stability), but nobody has any illusion of infinite growth. Further, SOME lobbyists may be a detriment to progress (this is almost certainly true in fact), but any interest group that has a spokesperson in Washington talking to legislators has a LOBBYIST. Can they ALL be bad? Interest groups having spokespersons is not in and of itself a bad thing.

OK .. now .. on to the original post itself. My first reaction was to say that you watch too many movies or television dramas. I think that your fears are a bit exaggerated. Most of the things you list are not new.

• The division between Rich and Poor getting larger (not new .. and a very real problem) • Crime getting worse (not a new fear .. though the trend in recent years has been the opposite) • Large areas of our country not safe to be in (I think you’re overstating things here … there are certainly neighborhoods where I wouldn’t recommend walking at night .. and some that are not acceptably safe in daylight .. but this is not new and I don’t think that it’s going to become something like “Escape from NY” or something. • Dramatic Social Separation (not new .. and a very real problem) • We’ll “start” to see new drugs … (START?!?? this isn’t new either .. new drugs come about all the time .. but this is a very real problem) • Education … (I’m not sure what level you’re talking about .. but I will (as usual) argue that a SOLID education is the answer — we need to end social promotion — we need to end the acceptance of failure — we need to end the EXPECTATION of failure. I believe that nearly EVERYONE can master (that’s right .. MASTER) everything in a high school education (the exceptions are that small percentage of people who have a mental disability). The acceptance (and expectation!) of failure is an incredibly serious problem .. and it is only made worse by promoting students to the next grade when they are not ready for it.) • I don’t see a civil war coming. The secret is to quit pretending that we’re giving real educations to everyone and start to actually GIVE real educations to everyone. Education is power and (cliche though it may be) the ticket to success. People revolt when they feel that they are unfairly being denied opportunity. (Who can blame them?) The solution is to not unfairly deny ANYONE opportunity. • Kids having kids .. (a very serious problem that MIGHT be solved if there were REAL opportunities for these kids — “I can’t ever be what I dream of when I grow up, but I CAN be a mommy.”

In a way I feel that there is little hope, without massive change in the government. I am a product of this country, a product of this democracy, and while I enjoy a good life, I feel that it is at the sacrifice of many.

My naive belief is that Capitalism has its flaws, mainly that there is the ever increasing desire to “make a buck”. If you’re a share-holder you want to increase your investment. Public companies are under the fire to increase their revenue and constantly grow. Year after year, quarter after quarter, grow, grow, grow. This is what Wall St. desires. And what happens to a company that is just “maintaining”?

I dont think it is possible to constantly grow. If you think about it on a rudimentary biological level, then yes, its /not/ true that a system can grow infinitely. Obese people have health defects, the human system does not desire over-weight people. Physics wants lean and mean systems, decrease entropy as much as possible. Everywhere you look systems desire non-infinite growth. Its not natural. And if you extend that to our financial markets then it follows that it is not natural to expect corporations (systems) to grow. But if you’re Wall St, then you have this un-natural desire/pressure to grow, grow, grow.

All I am trying to say is that I think that Capitalism is as much a problem as a solution. It puts too much weight on a fantasy idea of infinite growth without considering reality. Is it truly possible for corporations to grow year over year and not have a significant impact on their environment (whether you define “environment” as being Mother Nature / societal or the welfare of the employees involved)? I dont think so.

Political lobbyists are a huge detriment to progress. If we can somehow separate politics, that is, the legislative branch, from the nectar of lobbyism then our “leaders” can make decisions that benefit the majority of our society and not just the upper class.