Black Lives Matter came about as a result of police homicides involving unarmed Black men. The Conservative response to those homicides was to downplay them by quoting statistics. There was no move by Conservatives to assess use of force by police. We end up, predictively, with riots in Ferguson. MLK obviously did not condone riots, but knew they were the voice of those unheard. BLM has moderate support among Black people, but more support than Conservatives.
Most Black people, do not live lives of fear in high crime neighborhoods. But, those law abiding Black people see Eric Garner choked to death, Breonna Taylor murder by police, and George Floyd suffocated by police. We recently saw a Black man strip searched in public by police. The natural response among among law-abiding Black people is to not put their full trust in police.
If you criticize the actions of police, Conservatives will say that you want to defund the police. Conservatives are not serious people on this issue. Enter BLM, Ben Crump, and Al Sharpton. Black people are beyond the point where they will waste time trying to find common ground with Conservatives
Black people do recognize the need for police, but they want police held accountable. Conservatives sent Tim Scott out to waste Cory Booker’s time trying to find common ground on police reform.
Because Conservatives by nature, are resistant to change, Blacks do not see them as part of the solution.
Politics in a nation of over 330mm people with a history like America's--and an ethos like America's--is difficult. Particularly on issues surrounding "race".
I am not sure it has to be this way, but I get it. I get Black people who think there's unfinished business on the table. I get White people who think we're long past that stuff. I get how people from various racial groups feel unfairly attacked from time to time, and as a result, feel compelled to respond in some way. I even get how non-racial groups also fall into a narrative of identity politics: It's very American; and even practical in many ways, albeit (sometimes) pernicious in others.
We are a country that behaves as such while clinging steadfastly to a principle of individual liberty. Again, not a simple task.
Even though I don't respect the man anymore--because like so many others, this tiger changed his stripes like a damned chameleon--Bill Bennett once coined a phrase, "The more we talk about race, the more we talk about race."
Truer words have never been spoken. But how do we not talk about race in AMERICA?
As for politics? Short-term? It's practically impossible.
Of course, long-term, as the celebrated historian Arthur Schlesinger once said, sex is the answer. Meaning, over time, we will blend; miscegenate; intermarry.
In other words, get to the point where race REALLY doesn't matter. Happens to be my favorite solution. The *only* solution if you ask me, even though there's a gang of folk who will go to their graves before they agree to it.
Allow me to abruptly leapfrog to my point: I am just now beginning to understand how much political junkies like us are motivated by very different issues. Some of these divides are deeper and wider than I realized.
Some issues are quite real; some aren't. Some issues are exaggerated; some are understated. Some issues are misunderstood. Some issues are used for political self-aggrandizement. And yes, sometimes very real issues are ignored, which can sometimes redound to everyone's detriment.
Right now, I am thinking about violent crime. Specifically, the kind we all think about when we hear that term: Murder, rape, robbery, burglary, vandalism.
These are not Black issues in my mind. But don't get me wrong. I understand (kinda, sorta) why people label them as such. If you look at the overrepresentation of African-American victims and perpetrators of violent crimes in various cities, it screams at you. But I still think it's a mistake to call it a Black thing.
The average Black American is not perpetrating or being victimized by violent crime on any kind of regular basis. I don't know if most people understand this.
But again, let us not run from the real issues. How DOES violent crime affect Black citizens in many Black neighborhoods? That's probably obvious. General quality of life: Fewer businesses willing to set up shop. People with the means to move leaving asap. Property values decrease. An internalized culture of neglect and apathy festers. Those are real issues to me.
Do I honestly think that voting Democrat or Republican is the key to bettering these conditions? I would be one lying blankety-blank if I said "Yes". For I do not see the government as the key component in solving such problems. Call me a conservative.
I believe that a child's early development is fundamental. I believe instilling better values in people is fundamental. Frankly, I still believe decriminalizing drugs would help. But two out of three don't require government.
Last point: When critics suggest that African-Americans reflexively vote against their interests, which African-Americans are they talking about? The folks at the bottom rung catching the most hell? Does that make sense?
Are those people dependable voters? Has a study ever been done? I kinda doubt it.
San Francisco is a disaster but it is still 100 times better than Philly. In Philly we average 10 murders a week, over 2,000 shootings a year, far more car-jackings and assaults, and yet nearly no arrests, prosecutions or incarcerations. There is a video from a week ago where a cop is on the radio crying (literally crying) for help as his car is surrounded and assaulted by hundreds of blacks. Even the cops can’t count on other cops to intervene for them. Happened on Delaware avenue on 2April.
The French financed the US rebels in the 1770s, the British financed the South American Liberators c.1800, the Germans financed Lenin in 1917, the Russians financed Mao. In the 1960s the Russians used "active measures" against the West, especially in universities and unions, the "Liberation Movements" were a creation of Comintern. Active measures locates pressure points in the social and economic order within an enemy and relentlessly agitates them.
China is now the largest economy in the world (in PPP $s). It is a national socialist surveillance state run by oligarchs. It has 3 million, million dollars of foreign currency to spend on active measures. It is buying up media companies through offshore "front companies". BLM was the principal Maoist organisation in the USA. If China makes a mistake such as COVID or indulges in aggression it all peters out in the media.
Draw your own conclusions. I think the West has lost already.
Thank you Loury, McWhorter and Rowe from Hepworth in the SF Tenderloin. My homework is to look up “1862 Emancipation” + “1964 Civil Rights Act”. I believe the biggest root causes of SF and CA decline are (1) Replacement of transparency/disclosure with extreme secrecy- that accompanied Equity implementation in SF-Gov, CA-Gov. (2) North Korea-level censorship at each step, another feature of Equity Program. Any disagreement with BLM-aligned ideas - is forbidden. I experienced 1 and 2, firsthand.
If normal people with normal ideas were not silenced at each step, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Good news, tonight I saw Judge Carlos Bea from SF 9th Circuit Appeals Court speak at the Federalist Society. He acts like a normal person, except very intelligent and educated and happens to be Republican with a history of hand-holding on both sides of the aisle. My kind of guy.
The grassroots "BLM" rally cry to care more about Black lives was absolutely necessary. And should forever remain on the lips of Black folks and others who do care. We should acknowledge that the founders of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) had a focus on sexuality, disrupting capitalism, and "normalizing" family structures that deviate from the nuclear type. We can name those realities without ever conflating the BLM rally cry with the BLMGNF organization. Just as we don't throw the United States away because of its messed up first 100-year implementation of "all men are created equal," we don't throw out the necessity of "BLM" because those three Soros-funded women founders had priorities that were more important to them than substantive change for Black Americans.
The prescription isn't that hard. The implementation is harder. Ian Rowe kinda said it in that episode (albeit in his own GOP conservative kind of way).
That is to say, there is a major opportunity with what appears to be a silent majority out there. But my approach to this cohort would differ somewhat from Ian's.
Focus on people who aren't particularly political. People who care deeply about education and economic growth. People who care about the long-term success of their children and grandchildren.
Don't ask people to make a choice between Trump's Republican Party and Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. That's not a serious choice. It's not a serious conversation. And most serious people know this.
Find, encourage and promote conscientious people; decent people; logical people; entrepreneurs, scientists, thinkers, readers. But discourage groupthink-for-the-sake-of-groupthink.
Don't require people to feel confined to past norms unnecessarily. Yes, we want to conserve life's most fundamental and utilitarian principles, but we don't want to waste time on the periphery fighting over minutiae like vernacular, accents, clothing styles and musical choices. Don't worry about who is / is not a theist; or what kind of theist they are. Don't worry about who is / is not "patriotic".
Do NOT make your pitch about "America". Make it about the opportunities that exist throughout the world; because frankly, I don't think that any kid born between now and 20 years ago has a choice given the future of the economy.
These are my initial views. I am certain that even I will find glaring flaws in some of what I have said here, but I am more than happy to adjust as needed.
That’s the problem: ‘critical’ stance. They’re completely uncritical when it comes to thinking. Pure blind tribalism. We see it on the right and the left. Antiracism is racism.
Black Lives Matter came about as a result of police homicides involving unarmed Black men. The Conservative response to those homicides was to downplay them by quoting statistics. There was no move by Conservatives to assess use of force by police. We end up, predictively, with riots in Ferguson. MLK obviously did not condone riots, but knew they were the voice of those unheard. BLM has moderate support among Black people, but more support than Conservatives.
Most Black people, do not live lives of fear in high crime neighborhoods. But, those law abiding Black people see Eric Garner choked to death, Breonna Taylor murder by police, and George Floyd suffocated by police. We recently saw a Black man strip searched in public by police. The natural response among among law-abiding Black people is to not put their full trust in police.
If you criticize the actions of police, Conservatives will say that you want to defund the police. Conservatives are not serious people on this issue. Enter BLM, Ben Crump, and Al Sharpton. Black people are beyond the point where they will waste time trying to find common ground with Conservatives
Black people do recognize the need for police, but they want police held accountable. Conservatives sent Tim Scott out to waste Cory Booker’s time trying to find common ground on police reform.
Because Conservatives by nature, are resistant to change, Blacks do not see them as part of the solution.
Politics in a nation of over 330mm people with a history like America's--and an ethos like America's--is difficult. Particularly on issues surrounding "race".
I am not sure it has to be this way, but I get it. I get Black people who think there's unfinished business on the table. I get White people who think we're long past that stuff. I get how people from various racial groups feel unfairly attacked from time to time, and as a result, feel compelled to respond in some way. I even get how non-racial groups also fall into a narrative of identity politics: It's very American; and even practical in many ways, albeit (sometimes) pernicious in others.
We are a country that behaves as such while clinging steadfastly to a principle of individual liberty. Again, not a simple task.
Even though I don't respect the man anymore--because like so many others, this tiger changed his stripes like a damned chameleon--Bill Bennett once coined a phrase, "The more we talk about race, the more we talk about race."
Truer words have never been spoken. But how do we not talk about race in AMERICA?
As for politics? Short-term? It's practically impossible.
Of course, long-term, as the celebrated historian Arthur Schlesinger once said, sex is the answer. Meaning, over time, we will blend; miscegenate; intermarry.
In other words, get to the point where race REALLY doesn't matter. Happens to be my favorite solution. The *only* solution if you ask me, even though there's a gang of folk who will go to their graves before they agree to it.
Allow me to abruptly leapfrog to my point: I am just now beginning to understand how much political junkies like us are motivated by very different issues. Some of these divides are deeper and wider than I realized.
Some issues are quite real; some aren't. Some issues are exaggerated; some are understated. Some issues are misunderstood. Some issues are used for political self-aggrandizement. And yes, sometimes very real issues are ignored, which can sometimes redound to everyone's detriment.
Right now, I am thinking about violent crime. Specifically, the kind we all think about when we hear that term: Murder, rape, robbery, burglary, vandalism.
These are not Black issues in my mind. But don't get me wrong. I understand (kinda, sorta) why people label them as such. If you look at the overrepresentation of African-American victims and perpetrators of violent crimes in various cities, it screams at you. But I still think it's a mistake to call it a Black thing.
The average Black American is not perpetrating or being victimized by violent crime on any kind of regular basis. I don't know if most people understand this.
But again, let us not run from the real issues. How DOES violent crime affect Black citizens in many Black neighborhoods? That's probably obvious. General quality of life: Fewer businesses willing to set up shop. People with the means to move leaving asap. Property values decrease. An internalized culture of neglect and apathy festers. Those are real issues to me.
Do I honestly think that voting Democrat or Republican is the key to bettering these conditions? I would be one lying blankety-blank if I said "Yes". For I do not see the government as the key component in solving such problems. Call me a conservative.
I believe that a child's early development is fundamental. I believe instilling better values in people is fundamental. Frankly, I still believe decriminalizing drugs would help. But two out of three don't require government.
Last point: When critics suggest that African-Americans reflexively vote against their interests, which African-Americans are they talking about? The folks at the bottom rung catching the most hell? Does that make sense?
Are those people dependable voters? Has a study ever been done? I kinda doubt it.
Had to get it off my chest. Signing off.
San Francisco is a disaster but it is still 100 times better than Philly. In Philly we average 10 murders a week, over 2,000 shootings a year, far more car-jackings and assaults, and yet nearly no arrests, prosecutions or incarcerations. There is a video from a week ago where a cop is on the radio crying (literally crying) for help as his car is surrounded and assaulted by hundreds of blacks. Even the cops can’t count on other cops to intervene for them. Happened on Delaware avenue on 2April.
The French financed the US rebels in the 1770s, the British financed the South American Liberators c.1800, the Germans financed Lenin in 1917, the Russians financed Mao. In the 1960s the Russians used "active measures" against the West, especially in universities and unions, the "Liberation Movements" were a creation of Comintern. Active measures locates pressure points in the social and economic order within an enemy and relentlessly agitates them.
China is now the largest economy in the world (in PPP $s). It is a national socialist surveillance state run by oligarchs. It has 3 million, million dollars of foreign currency to spend on active measures. It is buying up media companies through offshore "front companies". BLM was the principal Maoist organisation in the USA. If China makes a mistake such as COVID or indulges in aggression it all peters out in the media.
Draw your own conclusions. I think the West has lost already.
Thank you Loury, McWhorter and Rowe from Hepworth in the SF Tenderloin. My homework is to look up “1862 Emancipation” + “1964 Civil Rights Act”. I believe the biggest root causes of SF and CA decline are (1) Replacement of transparency/disclosure with extreme secrecy- that accompanied Equity implementation in SF-Gov, CA-Gov. (2) North Korea-level censorship at each step, another feature of Equity Program. Any disagreement with BLM-aligned ideas - is forbidden. I experienced 1 and 2, firsthand.
If normal people with normal ideas were not silenced at each step, we wouldn’t be in this mess.
Good news, tonight I saw Judge Carlos Bea from SF 9th Circuit Appeals Court speak at the Federalist Society. He acts like a normal person, except very intelligent and educated and happens to be Republican with a history of hand-holding on both sides of the aisle. My kind of guy.
Didn't P.T. Barnum give an explanation for this?
Made you (and Ian and John) my first Notes recommendation. Keep up the good work. Talk soon. Good job on the Amy Wax video too.
Pace “ Jerry Maguire” ask BLM to show me the money 💸
The grassroots "BLM" rally cry to care more about Black lives was absolutely necessary. And should forever remain on the lips of Black folks and others who do care. We should acknowledge that the founders of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (BLMGNF) had a focus on sexuality, disrupting capitalism, and "normalizing" family structures that deviate from the nuclear type. We can name those realities without ever conflating the BLM rally cry with the BLMGNF organization. Just as we don't throw the United States away because of its messed up first 100-year implementation of "all men are created equal," we don't throw out the necessity of "BLM" because those three Soros-funded women founders had priorities that were more important to them than substantive change for Black Americans.
The prescription isn't that hard. The implementation is harder. Ian Rowe kinda said it in that episode (albeit in his own GOP conservative kind of way).
That is to say, there is a major opportunity with what appears to be a silent majority out there. But my approach to this cohort would differ somewhat from Ian's.
Focus on people who aren't particularly political. People who care deeply about education and economic growth. People who care about the long-term success of their children and grandchildren.
Don't ask people to make a choice between Trump's Republican Party and Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. That's not a serious choice. It's not a serious conversation. And most serious people know this.
Find, encourage and promote conscientious people; decent people; logical people; entrepreneurs, scientists, thinkers, readers. But discourage groupthink-for-the-sake-of-groupthink.
Don't require people to feel confined to past norms unnecessarily. Yes, we want to conserve life's most fundamental and utilitarian principles, but we don't want to waste time on the periphery fighting over minutiae like vernacular, accents, clothing styles and musical choices. Don't worry about who is / is not a theist; or what kind of theist they are. Don't worry about who is / is not "patriotic".
Do NOT make your pitch about "America". Make it about the opportunities that exist throughout the world; because frankly, I don't think that any kid born between now and 20 years ago has a choice given the future of the economy.
These are my initial views. I am certain that even I will find glaring flaws in some of what I have said here, but I am more than happy to adjust as needed.
That’s the problem: ‘critical’ stance. They’re completely uncritical when it comes to thinking. Pure blind tribalism. We see it on the right and the left. Antiracism is racism.
Michael Mohr
‘Sincere American Writing’
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
Based Loury McWhorter is the far superior BLM.