Bill Cosby: Poor blacks can't speak English
NAACP leaders stunned by remarks of prominent comedian
These remarks made my day (not, of course, because I like criticism of any particular group or because I like to hear about people being down and out-- but because it's refreshing to see such comments from a prominent person within "the black community". How very much it contrasts with the self-promoting rhetoric of fellows like Jessie Jackson).
I find it so amazing how society creates its own artificial taboos - clearly if a white man said these long overdue and obvious things he would be forced to resign or something.
And whats more amazing is how blind and fanatic people get in following them.
But again, can anyone see the artificial measures society imposes in order to be considered "worthy"? They are just countless, but more interesting (and applicable) is how society creates its own expectations of what religion is and ought to be, different expectations for different religions: They are now in the process of defining Islam as a peaceful religion (which it is not), and anyone not fitting into that mold is labelled this or that. Never would they think that sharia law is a genuine interpretation.
This is a hugely difficult area, were each of us brings our own baggage so to speak. Unfortunately, there are a small but vociferous number who use the issues and tensions - real or imagined - for their own ends. Largely secular, these include the far and unattractive right and the 'social engineering' left. Both tend to use broad stroke issues and particular incidents for their own ends. Any individuals are to be cynically used and discarded. This is not Christianity!
When in Greece I met Old Calendarist monks born and raised in central Africa. It was a reminder their is neither male nor female, Greek nor Jew, among us.
As to Bill Cosby's comments, they sadly could be applied to the poorest whites around here. The difference being that the inability to communicate by poor blacks is likely to be upheld by some as not a problem but society's failure to recognise their equally valid language form? Quite how the social engineers arrive at this conclusion escapes me, and no doubt others!
I sometimes have to challenge other people's behaviour towards members of one or other minority. The most recent incident happened 10 days. The person challenged, resentful about it, asked whether I was doing so because of some 'politically correct' attitude on my part. My response was, "No, it was because of something I percieved as an expression of conscious or unconscious bigotry. And as our disability organisation was supposed to welcome all, such expressions clearly had no place". Sadly the person concerned could see no further than this challenge being an expression of 'political correctness'.
So-called 'political correctness' is something I some grave reservations about. It appears selective and politically motivated. It has one particular characteristic I really struggle with, which could be summed up simply - "The intolerance of tolerance". Paradoxically many of those who advocate it are children of the enlightenment who greatly critizise believers, especially Christians. They talk of Christianty's closed belief system, with its ridiculous dogmas and lists of cardinals sins. But in what way are they different from that they supposedly understand and freely critizise? For me the guiding principle of accepting my neighbour is much better illustrated in the Parable of the Good Samaritan.
I am more than relieved that Bill Cosby spoke out. I moved to Boston only in December, and I was shocked. My old school had it's wild kids, sure, but there were only a few (maybe 15 out of 500) and it was never anything really bad, or they'd get expelled. Eerything was clean, and the workload, while doable, made you think and work. the MCAS scores were about 98%. When I moved to Boston, the schools were atrocious! Litter and spills everywhere, people yelling, no respect for teachers or each other, talk of knife fights and "jumping" , no dress code, and talk about illiterate! I don't want to sound like I'm tooting my own horn here, b/c that's not the intention, but I was bored tears. Once I asked a teacher why so many things were glossed over and they said "Well Alex, you have to understand. THese kids don't speak much English, after all it's not their native tongue. Also, things are rough at home." Well! I know several people whose first language is Russian, and their English is fine! Nobody teachesthese kids, so they get away with being creatans! Ach. I fully understand that not all minority people are dumb, nor do I in any way suggest such a thing, but we need to stop feeling sorry for them and make them learn!
Sasha,
Just to add more depressing facts: I was teaching at rural, community college that was 99.9% white. While there were some really intelligent, motivated students, there were absoulutely horrible kids that were unbelievably disruptive. This was a branch campus of a larger school, and apparently, at the main campus, instructors are afraid to walk out to their cars in the parking lot, they lock the classroom doors as soon as the class is scheduled to start in an effort to keep disruptive students from coming in, and many instructors are scared of the students. I just quit, and I'm teaching a very small class (eight students) until August. Mercifully, all eight are wonderful students to teach, I guess that's a good note to end on, since the last two years have pretty much been a nightmare. The dean has no control over student behaviour, and there is very little support, you are expected to know how to control students, but hey, we are given no training in this. I ended up giving passing grades to four students who I know cheated, but I was so burnt out I didn't care, which was SO wrong. I wanted to talk to the priest at my church about this, but I'm too embarassed to mention that I did it.
The entire situation is so sad. The level of hostility students have, merely because someone is trying to teach them, is a terrible indication of things to come, I fear. I know many people on this group try to avoid popular music, but I have to say, that when Kurt Cobain wrote "here we are now, entertain us" it really was a very prescient comment. The world really needs to change.
