Thomas Sowell: I’m glad I’m getting old

[Cincinnatus]

One of America's most gifted intellectuals speaks out on the worsening racial relationships in this country.

One of the reasons for being glad to be as old as I am is that I may be spared living to see a race war in America. Race wars are often wars in which nobody wins and everybody ends up much worse off than they were before.

 Initial skirmishes in that race war have already begun, and have in fact been going on for some years. But public officials pretend that it is not happening, and the mainstream media seldom publish it at all, except in ways that conceal what is really taking place.
 
For American society, a dangerous polarization has set in. Signs of this polarization over the years include opposite reactions between blacks and whites to verdicts in the O.J. Simpson murder case, the “rape” charges against Duke University students, and trials resulting from the beating of Rodney King and the death of Trayvon Martin.
 
More dangerous than these highly publicized episodes over the years are innumerable organized and unprovoked physical attacks on whites by young black gangs in shopping malls, on beaches and in other public places all across the country today.
 
While some of these attacks make it into the media as isolated incidents, the nationwide pattern of organized black on white attacks by thugs remains invisible in the mainstream media, with the notable exception of Bill O’Reilly on the Fox News Channel.
 
Even when these attacks are accompanied by shouts of anti-white rhetoric and exultant laughter at the carnage, the racial makeup of the attackers and their victims is usually ignored by the media, and public officials often deny that race has anything to do with what happened.
 
These attacks have sent many people to the hospital, and some have died, but the attacks are often carried out in a festive atmosphere. What are called “troubled youths,” in this and other contexts, are often in fact young people enjoying themselves greatly by creating big trouble for others.
 
Some of these many attacks are covered in detail in a book titled “White Girl Bleed A Lot” by Colin Flaherty. It was a phrase that I recognized immediately, from my own previous research.
 
That phrase was uttered by one of a group of black attackers who descended on a group of whites at a July 4th fireworks show in Milwaukee. But what happened there was not unique, either in itself or in the efforts of police and political authorities to play down what happened — and to say that race had nothing to do with it.
 
When the Chicago Tribune was criticized for editing out the race of the attackers in a series of similar organized attacks in Chicago, it replied that race was irrelevant. Yet race is not considered irrelevant when indignantly editorializing on a disproportionate number of young black males arrested and imprisoned.
 
Sadly, what happened in Milwaukee and Chicago were not isolated incidents. They were part of a pattern repeated in dozens of cities, located in every region of the country. Flaherty’s book, which is subtitled “The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It,” reveals this pattern in painful detail.
 
Other books are emerging that are more clearly a white backlash, in the sense that they attack behavior patterns among contemporary blacks in general.
 
Perhaps the most clearly backlash books are those written by Paul Kersey, whose central theme is that whites have created thriving cities, which blacks subsequently took over and ruined. Examples include his books about Birmingham (“The Tragic City”) and Detroit (“Escape from Detroit”).

Kersey even takes a swing at Rush Limbaugh (and at yours truly) for saying that liberal policies destroyed these cities. He says that San Francisco and other cities with liberal policies, but without black demographic and political takeovers, have not been ruined. His books are poorly written, but raise tough questions.
 
It would be easy to simply dismiss Kersey as a racist. But denouncing him or ignoring him is not refuting him. Refuting requires thought, which has largely been replaced by fashionable buzz words and catch phrases, when it comes to discussions of race.
 
Thought is long overdue. So is honesty.

http://www.hpe.com/opinion/x2082481050/Thomas-Sowell-I-m-glad-I-m-getting-old

[Rapunzel]

Me, too, Dr. Sowell.

[EC]

This is one of Dr. Sowell's more disappointing columns, unless it is intended to be a two parter.

Raises questions, sure. He always does, and questioning is always good. Then he stops. He normally provides at least some suggestions.

[raml]

I am also glad I am older and that may also be the reason Sowell didn't give any suggestions maybe he is getting tired of not being listened to by the so called leaders of our present times he has something liberals don't have common sense and they refuse to listen to it. As we get older we get tired EC of saying the same things over and over again to deaf ears. I pray there won't be a race war but I am beginning to think there will be some kind of war soon as Obama stirs the pot and causes even more heat to be released. I pray I am not here to see it but I don't think I will be that lucky it is coming sooner rather than later.

[Rapunzel]

This was about "his" thoughts....... therefore no suggestions were needed. He is as fed us as most of us Americans by what our generation is seeing.

[DCPatriot]

This is one of Dr. Sowell's more disappointing columns, unless it is intended to be a two parter.

Raises questions, sure. He always does, and questioning is always good. Then he stops. He normally provides at least some suggestions.

Perhaps, there ARE no answers or suggestions.  That's why he's glad he's getting old.

...works for me too.

Nothing short of concealed carry will stop these savages.

[EC]

Fair enough, my friend. 

I'm just at that awkward age - old enough to remember better times yet young enough to deal with a pack of ferals if needed. Sometimes I just want them to bring it.

[EC]

Perhaps, there ARE no answers or suggestions.  That's why he's glad he's getting old.

That - I find slightly frightening.

I don't always agree with Dr. Sowell. But he has always raised interesting suggestions and ideas. If he CAN'T think of any ....

[DCPatriot]

Fair enough, my friend. 

I'm just at that awkward age - old enough to remember better times yet young enough to deal with a pack of ferals if needed. Sometimes I just want them to bring it.

If we found ourselves in a full-blown race riot that spilled over into the suburbs and not confined to the inner cities....how long do you think things would stay 'hot' until some sense of order was restored?

48 hours?  96 hours?  A full week?  Longer?

I'm afraid too many God-fearing Americans are going to experience what those four (4) Americans felt in Benghazi.

[EC]

If we found ourselves in a full-blown race riot that spilled over into the suburbs and not confined to the inner cities....how long do you think things would stay 'hot' until some sense of order was restored?

48 hours?  96 hours?  A full week?  Longer?

I'm afraid too many God-fearing Americans are going to experience what those four (4) Americans felt in Benghazi.

Plan for a month. Forget about Ramboing it - dig in and hide, or run.

[olde north church]

Yeah, close the windows, open the oven, turn on the gas, insert head.

[DCPatriot]

Plan for a month. Forget about Ramboing it - dig in and hide, or run.

I see....LOL!   I thought your remark you'd wish they'd "bring it on", meant that you'd stay and engage.

[DCPatriot]

 

Yeah, close the windows, open the oven, turn on the gas, insert head.

 

[EC]

I see....LOL!   I thought your remark you'd wish they'd "bring it on", meant that you'd stay and engage.

I am careful - not stupid. Whole neighborhood is ready, just in case. We dig in and protect what is ours.

[Fishrrman]

[[ This is one of Dr. Sowell's more disappointing columns, unless it is intended to be a two parter.
Raises questions, sure. He always does, and questioning is always good. Then he stops. He normally provides at least some suggestions. ]]

Some "problems" don't have "solutions".
At least not those which can be implemented under the guise of an "egalitarian" system as ours puports to be.

My conservative credo for years now has been:
"Reality is what it is. It is not what we believe it to be."

When Mr. Jefferson wrote his famous passage about men and "equality" back in 1776, what was he writing about?
Was it about the "reality that is what it is", or.... was it about something he believed reality could be?

I've been reading an excellent book over the past few days, titled "Into The Cannibal's Pot: Lessons For America From Post-Apartheid South Africa", by Ilana Mercer. A couple of excerpts:
=====
"Just as the ugly are not ugly because the comely have robbed them of looks, the same is true for the poor; they are not poor because the rich have deprived them of wealth. Be they in athletic ability or acquisitiveness or attractiveness— differences are differences, not inequalities."
=====
and...
=====
Ultimately, egalitarianism is inimical to liberty, we must learn to live with and accept enduring and “important differences between individuals and groups.”
=====

Strong words from someone who started out as an anti-apartheid supporter, and then changed her tune after waking up to the reality of life in South Africa.

But very strong warning to Euro-Americans, as well. What has happened there, could very well happen here, if we do not recognize that pesky thing called reality, and be governed accordingly.

Mr. Sowell has spent a lifetime recognizing reality for what it is, and that's why he chooses to remain silent on "solutions" for the nation's coming racial conflicts.

I'm glad that I'm getting older, too.
The future I foresee ain't pretty.

[Rapunzel]

[[ This is one of Dr. Sowell's more disappointing columns, unless it is intended to be a two parter.
Raises questions, sure. He always does, and questioning is always good. Then he stops. He normally provides at least some suggestions. ]]

Some "problems" don't have "solutions".
At least not those which can be implemented under the guise of an "egalitarian" system as ours puports to be.

My conservative credo for years now has been:
"Reality is what it is. It is not what we believe it to be."

When Mr. Jefferson wrote his famous passage about men and "equality" back in 1776, what was he writing about?
Was it about the "reality that is what it is", or.... was it about something he believed reality could be?

I've been reading an excellent book over the past few days, titled "Into The Cannibal's Pot: Lessons For America From Post-Apartheid South Africa", by Ilana Mercer. A couple of excerpts:
=====
"Just as the ugly are not ugly because the comely have robbed them of looks, the same is true for the poor; they are not poor because the rich have deprived them of wealth. Be they in athletic ability or acquisitiveness or attractiveness— differences are differences, not inequalities."
=====
and...
=====
Ultimately, egalitarianism is inimical to liberty, we must learn to live with and accept enduring and “important differences between individuals and groups.”
=====

Strong words from someone who started out as an anti-apartheid supporter, and then changed her tune after waking up to the reality of life in South Africa.

But very strong warning to Euro-Americans, as well. What has happened there, could very well happen here, if we do not recognize that pesky thing called reality, and be governed accordingly.

Mr. Sowell has spent a lifetime recognizing reality for what it is, and that's why he chooses to remain silent on "solutions" for the nation's coming racial conflicts.

I'm glad that I'm getting older, too.
The future I foresee ain't pretty.

Interesting post, Fisherman...

[musiclady]

There are days when I actually wish I were older........

As for the discussion............ I'm not sure there are any solutions apart from a deep spiritual revival in America.

The lies have gone on too long.  The race-baiters have been at work for decades and have convinced generations that whites are all evil.  The "War on Poverty" of the left has successfully created a permanent underclass with no purpose in life.

And so, the REAL racism that still exists remains unaddressed as the race pimps create racial hatred because of their false accusations.

I don't think we're going to recover from the damage the left has done.

[Bigun]

I'm VERY glad I'm getting older! The alternative is not good!

[Rapunzel]

Those of us who are old or older know what has been lost and will never be again no matter who is President, the young will never know what could have been and the takers in this country only care about what is in it for them and they don't care or want to know what was or could have been.

[Oceander]

Older but wiser.

[DCPatriot]

"We grow too soon old, and too late smart"......somebody.

[musiclady]

"We grow too soon old, and too late smart"......somebody.

Add the correct accent, and you have a great Pennsylvania Dutch truism.