mykevermin
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[quote name='PittsburghAfterDark']Yeah, me echoing and agreeing with Bill Cosby makes me a racist.
Feelings here are more important than truth. None of you want to deal with the truth about why blacks aren't succeeding in greater numbers. You all want feel good platitudes and don't even want to address what the true issues are.[/quote]
I'll agree that there are problems. At the root of the problem, in my view, is that blacks, like most Americans, subscribe to the idea of acheivement orientation (you are, as a person, defined as successful or unsuccesful based upon what you do or what you own, rather than some abstract notion of "who you are"). So, they have kept the desire for material acquisition, but find legitimate opportunities blocked at far greater levels than other groups. I can agree that more blacks commit crimes (as a proportion of their overall group) than whites; that blacks are less well educated than whites; that blacks have more children out of wedlock than whites. I cannot deny these truths. However, it would be a unconscionable falsehood to claim race is responsible, when these patterns (save the denied job opportunities) manifesting themselves in the white underclass too.
I'm on a gore kick; I will agree that Cary Elwes is a dreadful dramatic actor. Don't tell me that you weren't surprised by the ending, though.
Okay...
You have no idea how I operate. I love to be challenged and criticized; anything less than that is "intellectual fellatio," as I call it. I don't need someone agreeing with me or telling me how brilliant I am; if I didn't think it was brilliant or valid, I wouldn't say it. I enjoy being told that I'm wrong, or that I'm full of shit, or that I'm failing to consider x, y, or z. Almost all of my students (those that opt to answer open questions on evaluation) have praised my willingness to listen to all points of view. Shit, I've even worried myself from time to time that I've overcompensated in trying to be a fair teacher that I end up making more conservative arguments than I do fair arguments. I don't expect you to believe that, but this is my attempt to convince you (as opposed to my earlier "why bother?").
EDIT: Also, unlike you, I've read Ward Churchill. While I can accept some of his arguments (the piece of his I read made the claim that people who support Native American iconography in sports are guilty of "crimes against humanity" - his words, not mine). While I agree with his sentiment ideologically, his argument is about as skillfully written and full of hyperbole as anything Ann Coulter could write. I do not consider him to be an academic; academics cite previous research, identify key areas where research can be improved, develop, test, and retest hypotheses (as we all learned in 7th grade). As I've not encountered anything Churchill has done that in any way resembles something other than a polemic, I find it irksome that you'd suggest I'd defend him. I probably did in the past; at that point, however, I'd not read anything of his. He's bad, admittedly.
Didn't I just concede to your argument in the mortgage deduction thread from the other day? I honestly can't recall that you've ever admitted to being wrong regarding anything I've had to say, but I'm not keeping tabs on that.
My first ad hominem was in my fifth post on this thread, and I gave up cloves in roughly 1996. It's a nice suggestion, though (and I can still taste the molasses filters on those sampoerna x-tras
).
Feelings here are more important than truth. None of you want to deal with the truth about why blacks aren't succeeding in greater numbers. You all want feel good platitudes and don't even want to address what the true issues are.[/quote]
I'll agree that there are problems. At the root of the problem, in my view, is that blacks, like most Americans, subscribe to the idea of acheivement orientation (you are, as a person, defined as successful or unsuccesful based upon what you do or what you own, rather than some abstract notion of "who you are"). So, they have kept the desire for material acquisition, but find legitimate opportunities blocked at far greater levels than other groups. I can agree that more blacks commit crimes (as a proportion of their overall group) than whites; that blacks are less well educated than whites; that blacks have more children out of wedlock than whites. I cannot deny these truths. However, it would be a unconscionable falsehood to claim race is responsible, when these patterns (save the denied job opportunities) manifesting themselves in the white underclass too.
Saw sucked.
I'm on a gore kick; I will agree that Cary Elwes is a dreadful dramatic actor. Don't tell me that you weren't surprised by the ending, though.
I'm nothing but a whitebread silver spoon prat...
Mykey, you're not even good white bread. You're not that good French or Italian loaf bread you can smell blocks away at 7 in the morning. You're that over processed, over starched, over bleached 99 cent white bread that comes in cheap plastic bags used for making dozens of PB&J's at a local day care or bunched up in balls, wetted and thrown to stick to the ceiling of a school cafeteria. You're the kind of white bread no one craves or wants yet has to put up with because that's all that's being served.
Okay...
You probably sit around debating the merits of supporting academic freedoms for the likes of Ward Churchill who lied and plagarised his way into his position but when it comes to conservative thought you turn on your blinding PC headlights and sirens trying to glare out and deafen the message or speaker. You deal with issues from one frame of mind and one frame of mind only.
You have no idea how I operate. I love to be challenged and criticized; anything less than that is "intellectual fellatio," as I call it. I don't need someone agreeing with me or telling me how brilliant I am; if I didn't think it was brilliant or valid, I wouldn't say it. I enjoy being told that I'm wrong, or that I'm full of shit, or that I'm failing to consider x, y, or z. Almost all of my students (those that opt to answer open questions on evaluation) have praised my willingness to listen to all points of view. Shit, I've even worried myself from time to time that I've overcompensated in trying to be a fair teacher that I end up making more conservative arguments than I do fair arguments. I don't expect you to believe that, but this is my attempt to convince you (as opposed to my earlier "why bother?").
EDIT: Also, unlike you, I've read Ward Churchill. While I can accept some of his arguments (the piece of his I read made the claim that people who support Native American iconography in sports are guilty of "crimes against humanity" - his words, not mine). While I agree with his sentiment ideologically, his argument is about as skillfully written and full of hyperbole as anything Ann Coulter could write. I do not consider him to be an academic; academics cite previous research, identify key areas where research can be improved, develop, test, and retest hypotheses (as we all learned in 7th grade). As I've not encountered anything Churchill has done that in any way resembles something other than a polemic, I find it irksome that you'd suggest I'd defend him. I probably did in the past; at that point, however, I'd not read anything of his. He's bad, admittedly.
While you are an extremely articulate and smart individual you see the world from one point of view while refusing to acknowledge any opposition to your held position holds any merit whatsoever. That makes you dangerous. While I can be egotistical, opinionated and pig headed you have seen the words "I was wrong." eminate from my posts and more than once.
Didn't I just concede to your argument in the mortgage deduction thread from the other day? I honestly can't recall that you've ever admitted to being wrong regarding anything I've had to say, but I'm not keeping tabs on that.
In this argument you have done nothing but label and attempt to demean without acknowleding any truth of what I say. That's very PC mykey. They'll be so proud of you when you tell them this tale at the coffee shop tonight as you and your mates smoke your clove cigarettes. You showed the world how sensitive and understanding you were while completely ignoring obvious facts.
My first ad hominem was in my fifth post on this thread, and I gave up cloves in roughly 1996. It's a nice suggestion, though (and I can still taste the molasses filters on those sampoerna x-tras