Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The Truth May Make You Free, But It Sure As Hell Hurts


I just read an article on the lack of looting in Japan. The comment thread that followed mostly supported the premise that looting is a black and minority phenomena as evidenced in Haiti, South Central, and New Orleans. Just as I was considering an attempt to debunk this notion by scouring the net to find incidents of white folks lootin', I read this comment by some guy named Dave -- "Choosing to believe something that you suspect is a lie makes you a fool. Defending something you know is a lie makes you deceptive and immoral. Creating the lie proves that you are evil!" I'm no fool, neither am I deceptive, immoral or evil so I'll just stand on truth. Looting is yet another symptom of "black pathology" that we need to root out of our collective consciousness. What say you?

19 comments:

Conservative Black Woman said...

Anonymous~I'd say you lack the courage to stand on truth. I make many bad choices but choosing "ignorance" is never one of them.

When you are brave enough to stare truth eye to eye, perhaps then we will be able to have an honest exchange of ideas and solutions. Until then don't even try it....

uptownsteve said...

Everytime I stop through here it gets more and more pathetic.

Anonymous said...

new low for you. do you hate yourself that much and does boot polish taste that good? I bet you prefer kiwi...

Conservative Black Woman said...

This bears repeating:
"Truth is scarcely found. But integrity and truth are hardly found within the Black population as a whole at least not where it involves black people. Most blacks have pledged allegiance to their blackness, not truth, not to America, not even to God as many profess. Integrity and truth has to go out the window if it somehow poses a threat to the "positive" image of blackness."

Get honest....then maybe positive change will come. BTW, the "boot lickin'" schtick is so lame...lol.

Come up with some fresh material Chicken George aka anonymous plantation negro.

Smile said...

As usual, you've hit it out of the ball park. You're a brave woman with a thick skin. I admire that you don't let the kool-aid drinkers get to you.

Though we can find various ills predominate in specific ethnic groups, it has nothing to do with ethnicity. It has everything to do with nonfeasance, rationalizing, revenge, insecurity, dereliction and selfishness. In a nut shell, stinkin' thinkin'.

We are all human and have failed. Even history shows this. That's why we need a Savior. That's why we can say, not my will but Thine. It's such a simple thing to believe. What a burden is lifted when we realize that we don't need to present as good enough or perfect enough. We all fall short. It's not our good works but His good work. We exchange our weakness for His strength. Let go of the burden, soften your heart, just believe. Try Him and see if He is true.

Charlotte said...

Smile also hit it on the head. Your honesty is brutal but also indicative of great strength.

Where our culture has hurt blacks the most has been in raising several generations now with a government imposed victim mentality. That mindset, no matter the color or race, destroys. I see it growing rapidly within the white community and it hurts like h.... to see it happening.

Keep at it, girl. The truth does indeed hurt. But it will also set you free. And none of us has a chance until we begin to admit the harsh realities of life.

gracie said...

Could there be a link to the effects of poverty upon the individual? Also, we can all begin the journey of truth by beginning with one, ourselves. It is difficult to look inward and face truth, especially when pride is standing in the way. Scripture gives directive after directive of the need to eliminate pride. Where is your strength? In yourself? You will surely fail. In your Creator? You will surely succeed. This is one great post, designed to create positive thinking and give the opportunity to make great change. Bless you.

Anonymous said...

Yeah the truth HURTS----in Japan, their families are INTACT (no babydaddy babymamma mess) they would put OOW kids up for ADOPTION--our nation started going downhill since 1963, thats when the socialists took prayer outta schools---people said that'you could pray at home' but its not the same since the prayers little children said were a collective--(Pres Kennedy was assassinated 3 months later and drug culture en masse started 4 years later; pot grew in field like weeds but few smoked it) it was very simple prayer--GOD, watch over our leaders our towns and families--along with the Pledge of Allegance rural communities are also becoming like inner cities since many kids dont know how to use land for food, etc. meth and girls tattooing their necks are becomming common in rural areas--I'VE SEEN IT!!

healtheland said...

Looting is by no means limited to people of black or African descent. That there is little looting or crime in Japan is merely a product of the Japanese culture. Certain Europeans may want to pretend that such behavior is absent in their own culture - whether in Europe or America - but it is simply that: a pretension.

Just a conservative girl said...

I did a post on the lack of looting in Japan myself. While Katrina and South Central are good examples of looting that happened to be done by blacks, I also found examples in the UK and Chile. Done by mostly whites and Hispanics in those cases. I think it far more fair to say it is a western world mentality more than a race issue.

I personally put it down to mindset of entitlement. That is far more common in our culture. That is not something that the people of Japan believe in.

Black Diaspora said...

"Looting is yet another symptom of "black pathology" that we need to root out of our collective consciousness. What say you?"

Let me see: Who looted what? Europeans came to the Americas to loot. Do you think that they paid the indigenous people for what they took?

First they strip the land of its trees and shipped them back to Europe, and then the gold, and whatever else they could get their hands on.

And to make matters worse, they looted Africa of black people, brought them here, and looted their lives by looting their labor.

Now, that's a hell of a lot of looting, wouldn't you say?

On Japan, contrary to popular opinion, and the rush of those like you to cast blacks as less than whites, and Asians, there was looting, but in areas where the looting may have taken place the destruction was so complete that the only thing left to loot was rotting among the mounds of debris.

Had our government responded as quickly as the Japanese government to the plight of black people in the aftermath of Katrina, the looting may not have been as widespread.

Bush and FEMA handled Katrina about as badly as any catastrophe could have been handled. And we here in America prize ourselves on our superiority, and our American exceptionalism!

To answer your question: Blacks aren't any better nor worse than any other race or ethnic group when human limits are pushed to the extreme. Under similar conditions, people, human beings, tend to behave pretty much the same.

LS said...

Black Diaspora,

The looting in Louisiana began before Katrina even hit.

There is a Netflix documentary "The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia" of a white clan involved in drugs, crime, etc. They differ from a neighboring family who live in the same level of poverty and yet have children accepted to universities such as MIT. The difference IS the sense of entitlement predominant in the White family.

There is Poverty and there is Poverty of the Soul, and that Poverty of the Soul is what permeates too much of the world.

Black Diaspora said...

@Lavenia: "The looting in Louisiana began before Katrina even hit."

Lavenia, I think we're reading from the same book, and from the same page.

I think that we can both agree that "looting" is a crime, and should be punishable by law, no matter when it occurs.

In some rare instances, for survival sake (where death may be imminent, or severe harm to the body may ensue, without proper food, water, shelter or clothing), looting would be justified.

For my part I'd still take an accounting of what I took, and make those affected merchants whole again when the disaster had passed.

What I take umbrage at is this naked belief that blacks labor under a "black pathology" that's different from a "white pathology,"
or an "Asian pathology," or even a "human pathology."

Despite cultural differences, people tend to behave pretty much the same when faced with horrific conditions that impinge upon life and survival.

"There is Poverty and there is Poverty of the Soul, and that Poverty of the Soul is what permeates too much of the world."

Yes, our world is spiritually destitute. One religion or another is prevalent throughout our world, but this penury persists.

There are two reasons for this: Humans have accepted wholeheartedly the illusions of "need" and "insufficiency."

I call them "illusions," because God, the source of all, has provided more than amply for all.

Notwithstanding our spiritual and physical destitution, there's no paucity of the things we say we need to survive.

Trust me when I say: There are millions of people on this planet, with little more than their spiritual abundance, who daily tap into their spiritual storehouses for those things that we say are indispensable to life: the maintenance of their health, and the securing of other human provisions.

Jesus did it. And he said we could do it too. It's time we step up....

Malcolm Kirkpatrick said...

Applause, Robin.

I'd say that chronic abuse shortens people's time horizons. It also makes people thick skinned, or worse. I blame schools. The mismatch between working-class culture and academic culture makes the college-oriented curriculum unpleasant for mechanically, artistically, or athletically inclined kids. Twelve years of this does real harm.

People may argue over the cause of race-related differences in school success, crime, unwed motherhood, etc. If these are problems, then why not try to deal with them? That's better than denial.

Anonymous said...

If you tell me people that they are victims enough then they will start to believe it; and there you have looters who think they deserve to rob or take from others without recourse.
People may choose to be ignorant to suit their greatest lie, however there are those who want to keep them there.
Grace

Tarak said...

I do think that the non-looting in Japan is a cultural phenomenon. It's broader as a race issue, but it has to do with individual responsibility. I disagree strongly with Grace who says it has to do poverty. Poverty has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with moral standards!
The only correlation there might be is the other way around: people with bad moral behaviour tend to be poor because they have a greater risk of loosing their jobs.

Not that the richer people are, the higher moral standards they have btw, that would be too much! :)

Beyond-The-Spectrum said...

Are you kidding me? Take any deprived person or group--whether they are deprived due to ignorance, systemic bias, or a combination of both, and you will get the same dynamic, black,white, blue or green. In the case of Japan, the civilized aspect of their society simply didn't break down enough to spur looting. Given enough time and the right circumstances, 99% of us will freely become or embrace that thing we criticize the most! Please stop thinking ideologically and start think logically!

Malcolm Kirkpatrick said...

"Take any deprived person or group--whether they are deprived due to ignorance, systemic bias, or a combination of both, and you will get the same dynamic, black,white, blue or green."
Deprived of what?
With qualifications I might agree, but still there's a lot of crime that isn't very strongly related to family income. That is, there are a lot of poor people who go through life without stealing things and assaulting people.

"Please stop thinking ideologically and start think logically!"

"Ideological" is an uncomplimentary way to say "systematic".

ar said...

Vested interest. The lack of vested interest could be solved in school, at home, etc.

Other agendas are present in current education rather than high morals and dedication to God and country.

Our kids have been indoctrinated away from these ideas of independent thought, which is private property through knowledge and wisdom applies those ideas to life - vested interest.

We have indoctrination centers - K-1 thru 12. Trust the (foreign) government? Get our kids' MINDS back.