Nothing that we need to try to intellectualize here

by Steven Haninger - 4/26/12 3:40 AM

In Reply to: Try reading Vivien Thomas entry in Wikipedia, and ignoring by Ziks511

It's this simple. What we're doing is trying to force change rather than allow it to occur naturally. We write of each passing generation by trying to create heroes and villains, oppressors and victims. We pass that along to our children. Now enters politics with its own solutions which are not solutions at all but exploitations of opportunities to capture votes. We also put a bunch of kids into the classroom whose brains are devoid of any prejudice and we teach it to them. We have a mixed class where we learn of the oppression of the grandparents of one group by the grandparents of another. We've just created a chemistry that only needs the right catalyst to ignite it.

I agree with your thinking about the time it would take to desegregate but I couldn't put it in years. I also do not think that full desegregation would ever happen. People are going to cluster based on natural forces that we cannot change by legislation. All we can try to do is achieve some level of respect and tolerance. I cannot think of any legislation that affect how we feel about other people. I can think of legislation that bring about a negative affect however.

Now think about what the story on Mr. Walker is trying to do. Does the word "esteem" come to mind? Don't we try to treat "low esteem" as some kind of condition that needs to be corrected? Is it...and do we...?

(meant rhetorically, of course)