On the way into the office this morning I listened to some pedantic radio talk show host complain that Michael Jackson isn’t being shown enough deference because he’s black. “Elvis” the man argued, “was show more respect even though his life was filled with drugs and excesses similar to Jacksons." But unlike Elvis, according to him, Jackson was being defiled for his faults instead hailed for his accomplishments. This is as close as I can figure …. complete bull.
Give me a nickel for every time Howard Stern made fun of Elvis as a pork chop eating, pill popping redneck who died on the toilet and I could retire today. As far as I can tell, all of the reporting on both Jackson and Elvis was absolutely true, and the unnamed talk show host conceded that. But this man felt that Jackson should receive a ‘grace period’ so that the black community could reclaim their hero without his memory being soiled by facts. In the end, once again, we have another black media personality insisting that America is primarily motivated by racism.
I can’t tell you how tired I am of constantly being accused (by proxy) of racism, so let me say for the record that I don’t care a whit about race. I honestly don’t. Give me a person of talent and I will appreciate his skills be he white, black, yellow, purple of green. He could be a purple, one armed, transgendered, dwarf and I couldn’t care less. And what’s more, I don’t think anyone who isn’t on the fringes of society does either. In my industry we care about results far more than any other issue, and cant' afford to care about race. If tall black men were the only ones that could make money in the financial markets, then the Goldman Sachs trading floor would look like old timers night at the NBA.
The President of the United States is a black man and was elected (for the most part) by white America. Isn’t that enough to make the point for you? Why can’t you people who make your way in the world trying to squeeze a little more recompense out of liberal white America just get over all this and realize that you have the same chance to make a life for yourselves in America as everyone else?
My god… it’s been a half dozen generations since slavery ended...aren’t you ashamed of yourselves? You’ve had the same time and the same opportunity to prosper as anyone else did, and instead you’d rather sit around complaining that other people haven’t done enough for you. In six generations my family went from impoverished, shoeless potato farmers to generals, academics, statesmen, and millionaires. My father in law went from penniless gardener to multi-millionaire in 10 years, and could barely speak English at the time. For god's sake will you finally quit complaining and do something to help yourselves?
And for all you out there who are now convinced that you can see into my heart and know my “REAL” reasons for what I say, let me remind you of this. My hero, the man I would most like to emulate in my work and in my character, is Dr. Thomas Sowell. He’s a brilliant Economist and academic whose work has been the basis for much of my own. He’s written dozens of books and is unique in the entire world in his ability to cogently reduce complex economic ideas into their simplest and easiest to understand form and to express them to others with stunning clarity. He brought himself up from intense poverty, on his own; and graduated from some of the most prestigious institutions in the country, all without the ‘benefit’ of affirmative action. He’s black.... and to be frank I could't care less about that either.
Michael Jackson was a genius, but he was a troubled genius. If the black community wants to embrace a hero, maybe they would be better off with the brilliant author whose work has changed the world rather than the drug addicted pedophile musician with the identity problems.
3 comments:
Opinions like the one espoused by this talk show host should insult all thinking persons, no matter their ethnicity--and I have little doubt that they do...
Sure, I understand that sometimes people don't like to speak ill of the recently passed--but why would anybody consent to hear ONLY praise of somebody so controversial, not daring in the bargain to interrupt the making of a hagiography?
Michael Jackson's legacy is, well, uncomfortable. Of his talents as a musician and entertainer I have few doubts. Sure, I'll allow he was a genius. But like many geniuses, he had some obvious oddities and deformities, too. These ought to be open for discussion among those who seek seek to appraise his career. A very strong argument can be made that MJ's genius--and philanthropy--outweigh his (possible; he was cleared of all charges in the most recent case, after all) pedophilia.
But the conclusion that the genius of MJ's oeuvre DOESN'T compensate sufficiently for his transgressions can be arrived at without adding in any assumption of racist treatment of one's subject.
I don't know enough about the details of the alleged transgressions to make either argument very powerfully, though recent judgments seemed to fall in his favor (right?).
As for whether this attitude pervades "Black America," I don't really know for sure. I think that some "black" radio shows and TV networks don't really deserve to be treated like they represent the opinions and outlook of most black people, though they seem to claim they do. Such magnificent condescension, for them to pretend this is so! Who would ever assume that "white people" are a political or social monolith; among "white people" opinions are as they are among all people: varied and dissimilar. To treat those in the media as though they are representative of most black people would, I think, be to give them too much credit.
What's more, one can make a rather strong case that charlatans like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson (who patronize black and white people alike with their claims) have done more to hurt black people than they've done to help them.
As for your predecessors' success, mightn't it have been more difficult for blacks of the early 1900s to get ahead than for, say, even fresh-off-the-boat white immigrants? After all, though there was plenty of discrimination against immigrants based on their origin, language skills, and manners, assimilation could often help them overcome xenophobic and racist treatment. It could also take place (easily) within one generation. Once the son or daughter of an immigrant could speak decent English, which comes naturally to most children, and work hard, s/he wouldn't face the kind of government-imposed racism that blacks faced generation after generation.
That said, what to do about it? As you have no doubt mentioned a thousand times, Thomas Sowell has long written that the policies of the euphemistically titled "Great Society" and other bits of social engineering (in the name of advancement) reversed the rise of the black middle class and dissolved many black families.
A very thoughtful comment Mark with which I largely agree. And although you didn’t really call me on it let me say in my own defense that the only reason I have for believing that self reliance hasn’t made the same inroads with the black community as it has in other minority communities, is the lack of achievement by the black community. The stereotypes we’re all exposed to says that the majority opinion in the black community is one of getting someone else to ‘make up for’ past wrongs rather than doing for oneself. But as is clearly the case with people like Thomas Sowell, or Colin Powell, or Clarence Thomas, or even Barak Obama, it may be a majority opinion, but it’s not a universal one.
As far as my ancestors having an easier time of it, have a look at “The Economics And Politics of Race” by the aforementioned genius economist. It makes it pretty clear that socio-cultural factors have far more to do with economic success than ‘discrimination’. He gives tons of examples both in the US and elsewhere. Many who reject the ‘victimology’ world view consider it the definitive work on the subject.
Michael Jackson was BLACK?!?!!!!!
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