Reverse Thinking: If Obama were behind in this race....... (Americans, money, 2010)
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The point I was trying to make is that some black people and I believe some white people who want to be politically correct are voting for Obama just because he is black and that is the wrong reason to vote for anybody.
That would be like me voting for Clinton because she is a woman or my husband voting for McCain because he served in Viet Nam. We should be choosing the best person for president without thinking of gender, age, or race.
I find it hard that anybody would choose Clinton or Obama under those circumstances. What if the delegates choose Edwards because he would be better than either of the candidates. That is possible, because that is the purpose of the convention. It is to choose the candidate who would make the best president and have the best chance to win the right to put forth their platform. I love that the USA is complicated like that.
The point I'm trying to make is that there are many people across races that may be voting for a candidate due to personal reasons having nothing to do with issues. I'm sure there are white people not voting for Obama because of his race, women voting for Hiary just because she is a woman or whites and vets voting for McCain because he is a white male veteran.
If you had studied black history, you would see how the past affects the present.
I studied it and couldn't care less. The same way most of history doesn't really affect how I think because it's HISTORY!!!! When are the black people whining about prejudice and racism going to get over it and make their futures better???? For anyone who has attended church, you know that the pastor reflects your thinking or you find a new church. Yes what this militant idiot is spewing to his church about the bad white man and horrible America is doing nothing but cementing the old black way of thinking. As long as people look at him and go "Oh he's just a 70 year old man who lived through some bad stuff so it's ok if he says these things", it will never change. It's time to man up and make changes because they want them not b/c the white man did it for them. And when are black people going to realize that they are more racist than most whites now because of these thoughts about the big bad white man out to get them? Why is that ok?
And at what point do people become the captains of their own future, use the opportunities given to them and forge ahead?
I used to teach at a high school in which 90 percent of the students were economically disadvantaged and almost half were migrant workers. We worked our butts off to get these kids scholarships, take them to visit universities, prepare them to make the transition and be successful. ALL of them who applied were awarded excellent financial aid packages; only some of them accepted. One girl was given a $40,000 scholarship to attend Texas A & M University -- she declined, got pregnant, got married, and is working for just above minimum wage.
Is that the fault of white people and history, too?
You are confused because it's a very complex history which originated with slavery for which whites were responsible. But it is worthwhile to know the history which is not an excuse, but to gain an understanding. It would take books to explain it all.
That being said, I still think it would behoove AustinMom, and many others, before they speak to know the why and wherefores. I will repeat, though, that the handouts that are expected by any group is pathetic, but it is also needful to see why their expectations have become so distorted.
It is always heartwarming to see people overcome their circumstances.
You are confused because it's a very complex history which originated with slavery for which whites were responsible. But it is worthwhile to know the history which is not an excuse, but to gain an understanding. It would take books to explain it all.
That being said, I still think it would behoove AustinMom, and many others, before they speak to know the why and wherefores. I will repeat, though, that the handouts that are expected by any group is pathetic, but it is also needful to see why their expectations have become so distorted.
It is always heartwarming to see people overcome their circumstances.
With all due respect, I know the why and wherefores and again, I say I don't care. It's time people, regardless of race or background, stop affording blame for circumstances and take responsibility for themselves. This is 2008 and the same opportunities are there for anyone who wants them. As teatime pointed out, even when the opportunities are there, they don't take them. I grew up basically poor and I don't blame anyone for it. My mother died and left my dad with 4 kids. As inflation hit, he found it difficult to take care of us. But he did it. I didn't have all the extras my friends did but I ate and had clean clothes. Not the hip clothes but they were clean. I wanted a different life for myself so I worked hard in school. Applied for financial aid on my own b/c my dad didn't think college was necessary and went to college. I changed my circumstances and don't expect anyone to help me b/c of how I grew up. Why should it be different for someone else b/c their skin is darker than mine?
The point I was trying to make is that some black people and I believe some white people who want to be politically correct are voting for Obama just because he is black and that is the wrong reason to vote for anybody.
That would be like me voting for Clinton because she is a woman or my husband voting for McCain because he served in Viet Nam. We should be choosing the best person for president without thinking of gender, age, or race.
I find it hard that anybody would choose Clinton or Obama under those circumstances. What if the delegates choose Edwards because he would be better than either of the candidates. That is possible, because that is the purpose of the convention. It is to choose the candidate who would make the best president and have the best chance to win the right to put forth their platform. I love that the USA is complicated like that.
I disagree with you here. Rewind this entire thing to 01/2007. Clinton was a sure nominee b/c of the establishment status. Edwards/Biden/Dodd, either one of them could have come out the second perhaps b/c of establishment. However, what happened along the way was candidates' ability to connect with the voters - the message. This is how the entire campaign unfolded. Barack had no freaking business winning Iowa if you wanna look at this in terms of politically correctness.
Evidently you are not old enough to remember when schools, companies, colleges, etc. had to take a certain percentage of blacks, even if there were more qualified people applying. Test scores used to be the determining factor for allowing students into a college. Why shouldn't the ball teams go by the same rules and have the same percentage on their ball teams as the makeup of the college or school.
I mentioned previously that I worked at a high school that was 100 percent Hispanic in makeup and the students overwhelmingly came from homes that were deemed economically disadvantaged. Even though we're in Texas, college recruiters from Michigan, Illinois, and many other other states came to urge our students to choose their schools. One of these recruiting sessions was particularly poignant.
The University of Michigan recruiter held his session at a time when I was teaching my Advanced Placement British Lit. class so I took my kids to the presentation. I sat with the kids to answer questions and make sure they were attentive. The brochures were distributed and the guy was giving his introduction. My kids were leafing through the main brochure and I got elbowed by one of them.
Yvette was a highly intelligent and motivated young lady who worked hard. She told me to look at the admissions criteria page, and I did. She was specifically pointing to the minimum SAT score required for admission -- it was about 1160. Yvette's latest SAT score was a bit over 1000 and she said she'd have to study harder and take the test again if she wanted to go to Michigan. I told her to ask the recruiter for advice on that.
So, she raised her hand and asked how she might be admitted if she didn't have quite the SAT score required. The recruiter smiled and said, "Oh, don't worry about that! For students such as yourself, you only need a score of 800 to be admitted!" My heart sank and I cringed, because I knew what was coming.
Yvette got a horrified look on her face before rage took over. "That is INSULTING!" she told the recruiter. "Why do you have such low standards for Latinos? Don't you think we're ABLE to compete with other students?!" The recruiter hemmed and hawed about the importance of diversity to Michigan and wrapped up his session quickly after that.
After he left, I kept my kids in the library where we were meeting and told them to complete the application, with the essay requirement, as if they were applying. It was good practice. I noticed Yvette and several others huddled around a table looking very unhappy, so I went to speak with them. The anger had subsided and they were now in tears. "They don't think we're as smart and talented as other students," Yvette said. Her friend, Judy, said that the policy indicated very low expectations for minorities. Another girl wondered why they were working their tails off to meet college expectations when the colleges apparently didn't think they could do it and judged them by separate criteria.
My heart ached for these kids. Because of their socio-economic situations, they tended to have poor self-esteem and we teachers and administrators had worked for YEARS to combat this. We didn't give them second-rate instruction or lower expectations. I had my ESL kids reading Shakespeare, Austen, Blake and Chaucer and writing major research papers like everyone else. When they came face-to-face with this policy, however, it was a big setback and blow to their self-esteem. I had to insist that they remember how they felt when they learned of this and to use that anger and dismay as impetus to excel and prove the numbskulls wrong.
For most of the kids, the story ends happily. They went on to higher education, choosing to stay in Texas and being admitted to universities for which they qualified through REGULAR critera. All but a few were earning excellent grades and advancing in their majors. I doubt that any of them, however, will forget that assault on their dignity when they were Seniors.
[quote=NCN;3173265]The point I was trying to make is that some black people and I believe some white people who want to be politically correct are voting for Obama just because he is black
The point I was trying to make is that some black people and I believe some white people who want to be politically correct are voting for Obama just because he is black
Why would they do that? How will it help them?
Ohh boy, here comes another Ferraro. In case you haven't noticed, there were two Black candidates in the 2004 presidential contest. How would you explain that?
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