Immigration needs to be drastically reduced. The combination of millions of foreign workers coming here and jobs being eliminated due to automation is producing a job shortage. The last thing we should be doing is bringing in more workers the way we are.
I had a very similar experience in the post office a few months ago. I stood in line, surrounded by first generation immigrants, feeling surrounded by strangers, when I heard the very welcome sound of an American black woman’s voice behind me.
Amy Chua's book, Political Tribes, addresses many of these issues in a fascinating way. In Intellectuals and Race, Thomas Sowell makes the point that slavery was ancient, and newly ended in the 18th century. No one reading Sowell's work could embrace 1619, also rebutted by Peter W. Wood's 1620, which marches through dates and facts with wit and reflection.
I was reading Huckleberry Finn. The Dauphin puts up a poster for the Royal Nonesuch. The sign says, “Women and Children will not be allowed admittance.” The Dauphin looks at his work and says, “if that don’t fetch a crowd then I don’t know Arkansaw.” My people.
Dr. Loury, your description of the creation of the George Floyd narrative is something everyone else seems afraid to address. (And I very much include the Taibbis and Greenwalds of the world.)
As you are undoubtedly aware, the creation of another narrative is right now being attempted in Grand Rapids, Michigan. From the refusal of the state to release driving records (an action which had to be reversed) to the fishiness surrounding criminal records (I'm not sure what the reality is, but Andy Ngo is providing a case number for an assault on a pregnant woman; other sources are saying nothing at all).
As you pointed out, the media and politicians have the agency to create a narrative. Right now their cards are face up on the table for all to see in Grand Rapids.
In addition to those two matters I just mentioned, the New York Times has written:
"The police in Grand Rapids, Mich., released videos on Wednesday showing a white officer fatally shooting Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Black man, after a struggle during a traffic stop last week."
Contrast to their withholding the race of the Black mass shooter on the NYC subway last week. Because, race doesn't matter when a mass shooter is loose amongst the public, I suppose.
The surest way to tell that someone hasn't read the 1619 Project is if they imply it rejects American patriotism or stands apart from the American project. In fact, Hannah-Jones' whole pitch for it is that it's a way of telling an American story that can make Black Americans feel patriotic. Her main essay is about the American flag her father used to keep in the yard, and how she used to be embarrassed by it but then came to understand that her father's patriotism was a way of saying that American white people's crimes against Black people did not mean that Black people were any less American. The 1619 Project is widely misunderstood by its critics.
I have a dilemma concerning religion. While religion may provide some solid moral examples - along with their opposite - it is superstition. So many of the beliefs are ludicrous to me, that going along with "religion is a good" seems incredibly condescending.
Wonderful
Immigration needs to be drastically reduced. The combination of millions of foreign workers coming here and jobs being eliminated due to automation is producing a job shortage. The last thing we should be doing is bringing in more workers the way we are.
Brilliant pun:
“That's a very economistic way of looking at it, and I'm not married to it.”
So, anyone know if JBP has had any interesting guests lately...?
https://youtu.be/pRTU6IEepPM
I had a very similar experience in the post office a few months ago. I stood in line, surrounded by first generation immigrants, feeling surrounded by strangers, when I heard the very welcome sound of an American black woman’s voice behind me.
Amy Chua's book, Political Tribes, addresses many of these issues in a fascinating way. In Intellectuals and Race, Thomas Sowell makes the point that slavery was ancient, and newly ended in the 18th century. No one reading Sowell's work could embrace 1619, also rebutted by Peter W. Wood's 1620, which marches through dates and facts with wit and reflection.
I was reading Huckleberry Finn. The Dauphin puts up a poster for the Royal Nonesuch. The sign says, “Women and Children will not be allowed admittance.” The Dauphin looks at his work and says, “if that don’t fetch a crowd then I don’t know Arkansaw.” My people.
Enlightening!
The Paris anecdote at the end was a little sad.
Dr. Loury, your description of the creation of the George Floyd narrative is something everyone else seems afraid to address. (And I very much include the Taibbis and Greenwalds of the world.)
As you are undoubtedly aware, the creation of another narrative is right now being attempted in Grand Rapids, Michigan. From the refusal of the state to release driving records (an action which had to be reversed) to the fishiness surrounding criminal records (I'm not sure what the reality is, but Andy Ngo is providing a case number for an assault on a pregnant woman; other sources are saying nothing at all).
As you pointed out, the media and politicians have the agency to create a narrative. Right now their cards are face up on the table for all to see in Grand Rapids.
In addition to those two matters I just mentioned, the New York Times has written:
"The police in Grand Rapids, Mich., released videos on Wednesday showing a white officer fatally shooting Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Black man, after a struggle during a traffic stop last week."
Contrast to their withholding the race of the Black mass shooter on the NYC subway last week. Because, race doesn't matter when a mass shooter is loose amongst the public, I suppose.
Agency, indeed.
The surest way to tell that someone hasn't read the 1619 Project is if they imply it rejects American patriotism or stands apart from the American project. In fact, Hannah-Jones' whole pitch for it is that it's a way of telling an American story that can make Black Americans feel patriotic. Her main essay is about the American flag her father used to keep in the yard, and how she used to be embarrassed by it but then came to understand that her father's patriotism was a way of saying that American white people's crimes against Black people did not mean that Black people were any less American. The 1619 Project is widely misunderstood by its critics.
I have a dilemma concerning religion. While religion may provide some solid moral examples - along with their opposite - it is superstition. So many of the beliefs are ludicrous to me, that going along with "religion is a good" seems incredibly condescending.
Wish there was an audio companion piece to these long articles.