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Well, it's been pretty common in many cultures for an awful long time that the "bad boys" get the admiration of immature females. That had only minor effect in other cultures where society maintained a consistent image of what a "good husband and provider" looked like and provided ample avenue for most men to achieve a semblance of that image.
Something my daughter points out is that every culture has its "trash" element, but African-American culture is the only one that lauds its lowest element. African-America media is quite deficient in presenting "thug life" as a dead end.
In fact, even jock life is generally a dead end. I work with young blacks in my church--currently 10th graders. Granted, Texas is a sports-worshipping state overall. But 8 out of 10 of my middle-class (Plano, TX--rated the best city in the nation to live in) tenth grade boys still think they're going to become pro ballers. Not a single one will make it--those who have any chance at all to make it have already been heavily courted by the top schools, and that includes none of my boys.
But they believe it because their parents say they must and the expensive summer football clinic coaches say they can and the entire social structure praises sports over any other endeavor. If you ask them what their major is, they say, "football." Ask them what other subjects they like and they just shrug.
Yet...there are only about 2,500 blacks in America actually paying their mortgages through professional sports (including the retired living on endorsements). There are 1,000 times more black academic professionals (doctors, lawyers, architects, et cetera) than black professional athletes. That message is not getting to kids--not to those in the ghettos and not even those living in Plano TX McMansions.
Now, when I was a teen in the 60s, there was respect in black culture for the "intellectual." Even black revolutionaries saw a need for the intellectual. Professor Angela Davis--an intellectual--was also, as said by president Richard Nixon, "The most dangerous woman in America" and one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted.
The other kids--jocks, tough guys, all--called me "Prof" in high school, and that was not without respect.
I don't think it is only in African-American society where that trash element is glorified. I've always said that there is little difference between redneck culture and ghetto culture. My own experiences have shown me this. Trashy women going after the trashy men.
Georgia can be very sports-worshipping as well. Not to the extent of Texas, but very much. College football is big here. Truth is, alot of people chase the fast money, the big money. I suspect what you're seeing might be Texas-specific. I've rarely seen alot of middle class Black kids thinking the way you describe.
Something else. 78 percent of NFL players go bankrupted or suffer some financial stress within 2-5 years of their career ending. Few people ever think of that.
Well, it's been pretty common in many cultures for an awful long time that the "bad boys" get the admiration of immature females. That had only minor effect in other cultures where society maintained a consistent image of what a "good husband and provider" looked like and provided ample avenue for most men to achieve a semblance of that image.
Something my daughter points out is that every culture has its "trash" element, but African-American culture is the only one that lauds its lowest element. African-America media is quite deficient in presenting "thug life" as a dead end.
In fact, even jock life is generally a dead end. I work with young blacks in my church--currently 10th graders. Granted, Texas is a sports-worshipping state overall. But 8 out of 10 of my middle-class (Plano, TX--rated the best city in the nation to live in) tenth grade boys still think they're going to become pro ballers. Not a single one will make it--those who have any chance at all to make it have already been heavily courted by the top schools, and that includes none of my boys.
But they believe it because their parents say they must and the expensive summer football clinic coaches say they can and the entire social structure praises sports over any other endeavor. If you ask them what their major is, they say, "football." Ask them what other subjects they like and they just shrug.
Yet...there are only about 2,500 blacks in America actually paying their mortgages through professional sports (including the retired living on endorsements). There are 1,000 times more black academic professionals (doctors, lawyers, architects, et cetera) than black professional athletes. That message is not getting to kids--not to those in the ghettos and not even those living in Plano TX McMansions.
Now, when I was a teen in the 60s, there was respect in black culture for the "intellectual." Even black revolutionaries saw a need for the intellectual. Professor Angela Davis--an intellectual--was also, as said by president Richard Nixon, "The most dangerous woman in America" and one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted.
The other kids--jocks, tough guys, all--called me "Prof" in high school, and that was not without respect.
I agree with green mariner in that all ethnicities in America have a fascination with sports worship and also have women who go for the "bad" kind of man. They think it is "sexy" to have a bad boy.
I think that the red is true but that intellectualism has fallen out of favor in all Americans. It is a very sad thing IMO. People can start a youtube channel and say a bunch of BS and be labeled as some sort of "race conscious" person when they don't know anything about anything. They have no credentials. Angela Davis is and was a wholly thinking person. She is well learned and studied on the topics of which she lectures, writes about, and discusses. Unfortunately, the new crop of black intellectuals are not listened to by the masses because basically they are not idiots and people would rather go back and forth over idiocy. Cable news will bring these idiots on their channels and further the idea that these people represent "black America" when they don't. They represent an idiot who is black and are not in line with the vast majority of black Americans at all. Both black and non-black Americans see them being validated by media and believe those idiots have some sort of credentials behind them when they don't.
I will also point out that the intellectualism being esteemed in black America IMO coincided with the push of illicit drugs into black communities. People got addicted and lost track of being intellectually credentialed. I don't know how we can go back and pick up from the mid 1970s forward. IMO we lost a whole generation really to heroin addiction in the 70s and crack cocaine in the 1980s. Not that these people all died (even though a lot did), but because these addicts became parents to children who were not parented like they needed to be. My own parents IMO were very poor parents for the most part in that they were both affected by drug and alcohol addiction. I stated earlier, I was very blessed and fortunate to have an older generation of grandparents and great aunts/uncles who were heavily involved in my life who gave me a good foundation for life. My own parents were very negligent. I know many black people in my age group and younger who had parents were were basically "cracked out" and they raised themselves. They didn't have enough extended family to take up the slack. IMO that is how that culture of intellectual prowess decreased in black America.
ETA: Those of us who grew up in the hood with cracked out parents are now raising children (some grandchildren!!!) and so the cycle continues of bad parenting. In many ways I feel fortunate that my mom had me and my older brother when she was a teenager. I had a "young" grandmother and she took up a lot of the slack of my negligent parents as did my aunts/uncles and great grandparents on both sides of my family. Luckily, I do feel that many of the kids I grew up with who are now adults, they do want to parent better and they are better parents than ours were to us. Even my mom and dad tell me they are impressed with my own parenting skills. My MIL says the same thing to my husband (his father was a Vietnam vet who got hooked on heroin first, then crack and he abandoned all of his kids and didn't have a relationship with my husband until he was in his late 20s after he got clean). I do feel there is a big push amongst young Gen X parents and Millenial black parents to do better by our kids.
Last edited by residinghere2007; 10-28-2016 at 06:33 AM..
I now want to know what do other blacks think about the idea that black men are deadbeats?
I think there are deadbeats in all ethnic varieties and that black men do not have some sort of monopoly on it.
I also believe it is a lie perpetuated by the media and is not something that black people need to continously support.
However, I do believe that black couples who have children do not marry in large numbers; however, that does not mean that the fathers are deadbeats.
Black men actually have higher rates of visitation with their non-custodial children than other ethnicities. They also are much more likely to pay child support and financially support their children.
And again, I grew up in an era, in the ghetto where I saw a lot of "abandoned" black kids, a majority of them were fatherless (and motherless, I knew a lot of motherless children when I was a kid) due to their parents being addicted to drugs. Today that is not common in black neighborhoods, not even inner city, "ghetto" neighborhoods.
Many of the women in the hood IMO who claim that their "baby's fathers" are deadbeats are women who prevent the fathers from seeing the children. And most of the fathers actually do pay child support.
So I think this is a myth that too many black Americans buy into and feel guilty about.
For Trump's supporters, "conservative" is merely a gang sign, not a philosophy.
I don't consider myself conservative or liberal. I just vote with my heart and what I feel is right for this country. And this year, I am voting Republican for the first time in many years.
After all, they were repeating lyrics that they had heard on the radio.
I believe that this is an example of cultural differences.
More than likely, it was because the lyrics were disgusting and other folks don't want to hear that kind of mess out of anyone's mouth, be it white/black/Hispanic/Asian. Just because it is a song doesn't make it okay to speak like that in public. My grandchildren aren't allowed to listen to that kind of music.
More than likely, it was because the lyrics were disgusting and other folks don't want to hear that kind of mess out of anyone's mouth, be it white/black/Hispanic/Asian. Just because it is a song doesn't make it okay to speak like that in public. My grandchildren aren't allowed to listen to that kind of music.
I agree with this, especially the bold.
No one wants to hear kids singing songs with sexual and/or explicit language in their lyrics.
My kids are also not allowed to listen to it when they are young. FWIW, I have a teenager and I let him explore his interest as a teen and listen to whatever he wants to listen to. We are a musical family though so he has a wide range of interest. I'm glad that he is finally out of his Weird Al only phase lol. He listened primarily to Weird Al from ages 10-13.
Last edited by residinghere2007; 10-28-2016 at 07:40 AM..
The whole deadbeat thing can be sort of true, but sort of a cop out. It does boil down to the lack of respect for intellectualism. I do agree that there are many Blacks who are living up to that anti-intellectual mentality. I speak from having seen it. I've been that "lame" guy, the one who wasn't anyone's type. I've been mocked by some White kids as well for being intellectual. The dumb, of both races, got more women than the smart. I noticed the females who got pregnant as teenagers. Most of them were kind of trashy themselves, and likely got pregnant by a lowlifer to begin with.
You must be talking about Dominicans and Puerto Ricans. The vast majority of people in these 2 groups are either black or mixed with black but deny it. Mexicans on the other hand, are mostly native american, very very Very few have any significant amount of black blood in them.
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