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I read the article. For the most part, O'Reilly's comments have some truth to them, but it leaves out some very important points:
Oow babies aren't necessarily fatherless children. There are several couples who just don't want to be married for some reason. I believe a study shows that marriage as a whole is on the decline in America. More people are content with living together without being married.
An ad campaign used to curb oow pregnancies and gang violence would be extremely embarrassing to the black community. Why? Because those are things that affect the poorer black communities who sometimes don't have access to these types of ads anyway. Some of those people do not have enough money to afford cable or Internet. However, most middle and upper class blacks do have TVs and computers. In short, the ad campaign would be targeting the wrong demographic.
Drugs are a problem in the poorer black community. However, the stats still show that blacks are more likely to be arrested for drug possession than a white person would for a similar amount of a drug. Both are problems; both need to fixed.
Blaming hip-hop and gangster culture is also misleading. Most of the hip-hop and rap albums bought in the U.S. are owned by suburban middle-class white kids. And trashy TV shows is a weak excuse; there are terrible TV shows for all races.
This line: "young black men often reject education and gravitate towards the street culture, drugs, hustling, gangs" is an exaggeration.
This line: "Hey listen up you greed heads, if a kid can't speak proper English, uses the "f" word in every sentence, it's disgraceful, it's disrespectful -- it's disrespectful in his or her manner" is exemplified in all youth in America. I've seen kids of all races discuss why the "f word" shouldn't be a curse word.
Basically, the vibe I got from this article was that O'Reilly was blaming Obama, Sharpton, and Jackson for the faults of the poorer black community. But my question is, if he really thinks that these will help, why doesn't he help himself? Talking is easy and cheap. I can write an article or make a speech on what I think is wrong with a lot of things, and then point to somebody else and tell them to do it. Hell, I'll do it right now:
The best way to combat the problems in these communities is kinda straightforward: we need to target the youth when they are most influential. Schools need to teach children the true dangers of drugs and sex. And I'm not talking about "Drugs are bad" and "Don't have sex." That doesn't help; kids are just gonna do it anyway. There needs to a more open education when it comes to these topics. We need to detail the consequences of that. Show the kids what happens with girls that have kids oow, and the lives they have to live. How their lives are changed for the worse. How to put a condom on. What happens when you use cocaine vs. marijuana (which should be legalized and could potential start to solve a lot of problems) Why over-the-counter and prescription drugs can be just as bad as the legal ones, etc. It should be taught as if the kids are going to do these things anyway; and in that case, we need to let them know all the consequences of their actions so they can make a more informed (albeit hormonal) decision.
Anyway, in short, you made some good points, Billy, but your record makes you hard to listen to. Kinda like a "Boy who cried Wolf" kinda thing. If you're telling the truth, but you've made some serious errors in the past, I'm gonna take what you say with a grain of salt.
I read the article. For the most part, O'Reilly's comments have some truth to them, but it leaves out some very important points:
Oow babies aren't necessarily fatherless children. There are several couples who just don't want to be married for some reason. I believe a study shows that marriage as a whole is on the decline in America. More people are content with living together without being married.
An ad campaign used to curb oow pregnancies and gang violence would be extremely embarrassing to the black community. Why? Because those are things that affect the poorer black communities who sometimes don't have access to these types of ads anyway. Some of those people do not have enough money to afford cable or Internet. However, most middle and upper class blacks do have TVs and computers. In short, the ad campaign would be targeting the wrong demographic.
Drugs are a problem in the poorer black community. However, the stats still show that blacks are more likely to be arrested for drug possession than a white person would for a similar amount of a drug. Both are problems; both need to fixed.
Blaming hip-hop and gangster culture is also misleading. Most of the hip-hop and rap albums bought in the U.S. are owned by suburban middle-class white kids. And trashy TV shows is a weak excuse; there are terrible TV shows for all races.
This line: "young black men often reject education and gravitate towards the street culture, drugs, hustling, gangs" is an exaggeration.
This line: "Hey listen up you greed heads, if a kid can't speak proper English, uses the "f" word in every sentence, it's disgraceful, it's disrespectful -- it's disrespectful in his or her manner" is exemplified in all youth in America. I've seen kids of all races discuss why the "f word" shouldn't be a curse word.
Basically, the vibe I got from this article was that O'Reilly was blaming Obama, Sharpton, and Jackson for the faults of the poorer black community. But my question is, if he really thinks that these will help, why doesn't he help himself? Talking is easy and cheap. I can write an article or make a speech on what I think is wrong with a lot of things, and then point to somebody else and tell them to do it. Hell, I'll do it right now:
The best way to combat the problems in these communities is kinda straightforward: we need to target the youth when they are most influential. Schools need to teach children the true dangers of drugs and sex. And I'm not talking about "Drugs are bad" and "Don't have sex." That doesn't help; kids are just gonna do it anyway. There needs to a more open education when it comes to these topics. We need to detail the consequences of that. Show the kids what happens with girls that have kids oow, and the lives they have to live. How their lives are changed for the worse. How to put a condom on. What happens when you use cocaine vs. marijuana (which should be legalized and could potential start to solve a lot of problems) Why over-the-counter and prescription drugs can be just as bad as the legal ones, etc. It should be taught as if the kids are going to do these things anyway; and in that case, we need to let them know all the consequences of their actions so they can make a more informed (albeit hormonal) decision.
Anyway, in short, you made some good points, Billy, but your record makes you hard to listen to. Kinda like a "Boy who cried Wolf" kinda thing. If you're telling the truth, but you've made some serious errors in the past, I'm gonna take what you say with a grain of salt.
Logic bomb deployed. Nothing more needs to be said.
We don't care whether or not you'd be ecstatic. In fact, i don't care about how you feel about black folks at present. I mean...who are you that i should consider your sentiments?
You shouldn't. You should be doing it for yourselves. My post merely indicates that MANY people would be ECSTATIC if there were LESS crime and poverty within the Black community, because that would mean fewer people are struggling.
However, to achieve that goal, the Black community would have to embrace and actually practice the concept of personal responsibility and responsible decision-making. From what I see in this thread, they choose to NOT do so and fall back on the blame whitey victim mentality spoon-fed to them by the Democrats that has gotten them exactly nowhere in the last 40 years or so.
The biggest problem I can tell is that everyone on here, wants everything to be black vs. white. If everyone would quit trying to segregate and divide, maybe someone could work on the American problems instead of keeping it black community, white community etc...
My community is a mixture of just about every background. My community is not a black community, it is everyone combined.
To the two or three parties here discussing back and forth, its time to give up. This has gone on 5 pages of bickering.
It's all "I don't have to listen to you" "you have no experience" "I don't care about you or what you think of me" and on and on.
Lets just agree that we shouldn't care about each other. You do your thing however you want, sink or swim, and the other side does theirs, sink or swim.
I'm cool with that. Stop taxing me for plethora of social welfare programs that benefit the sinkers, and we're all good.
Funny, liberals are always saying we need to have a conversation on race. Yet when we do, and are honest about it, they cry.....racism. They tell you you arent the right color to talk about it. They rarely ever get into a serious discussion on race and the issues the country faces with race. But they will take one case out of tens of thousands and jump on it and turn it racial, and use it to rage against whites.
Bills agenda is to get ratings and sell books. He says something controversial that his audience appreciates and people tune in. He brings on a educated black man to be the counter point and he talks over and bullies him to prove his point.
Bill doesnt have an agenda. Obama does. That says all you need to know. Bill has a one hour show, thats it. He goes after both sides all the time. I dont even agree with the guy all the time, but he has no agenda. Obama's primary purpose in life is his political agenda, much of it rooted from his time being mentored by a communist.
Ok, if truly believe that O'Reilly doesn't have an agenda, but Obama does, then I don't see this discussion going much farther. Both have an agenda. Also, I don't think you know what "communist" means.
Because crime, poverty, and struggle aren't legitimate problems or hardships for people in general but inordinately negatively affect the Black community? Really?
Think about what you're saying.
Trust me, bud, I always think about what I'm saying. I don't see genuine concern in this thread. I agree with your statement, but I'm not sure you actually care. There are a lot of remarks that have been made that are very disgusting and speak very little of the poster, not necessarily you. Judging by the posts made in other threads by some of the posters in here, it is easy to conclude that they have no interest in improving the poor black community, but would rather detail its faults and applaud anyone who agrees with their viewpoint.
If O'Reilly truly wanted to get this viewpoint out to Obama, Sharpton, Jackson, and the black community, he would have posted it in a place that would have been read by his desired audience. Which is not Fox News. The Fox News watchers will just lap this up because it fits their preconceived notions about black people, and just gives them more fuel so that they can continue to preach their ideology to others. Just my .02.
Trust me, bud, I always think about what I'm saying. I don't see genuine concern in this thread. I agree with your statement, but I'm not sure you actually care. There are a lot of remarks that have been made that are very disgusting and speak very little of the poster, not necessarily you. Judging by the posts made in other threads by some of the posters in here, it is easy to conclude that they have no interest in improving the poor black community, but would rather detail its faults and applaud anyone who agrees with their viewpoint.
So... out of spite, the Black community insists on continuing to suffer inordinately? What sense does THAT make?
It really doesn't even matter what the intent of the OP is. The outcome should most definitely be progress within the Black community in addressing the very real problems Bill O cites.
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