- In 1962, 85 percent of white Americans told Gallup that black children had as good a chance as white kids of getting a good education. The next year, in another Gallup survey, almost half of whites said that blacks had just as good a chance as whites of getting a job.
In retrospect, we can see that these white beliefs were delusional, and in other survey questions whites blithely acknowledged racist attitudes. In 1963, 45 percent said that they would object if a family member invited a black person home to dinner.
- My hunch is that we will likewise look back and conclude that today’s calls for racial justice, if anything, understate the problem — and that white America, however well meaning, is astonishingly oblivious to pervasive inequity.
Are we even in a society willing to listen, though? I mean, we still have Congressman who make statements which are explicitly in line with white supremacy...
Yeah, I don't know either, and you're not wrong. I guess I'm at the point where I see so little progress everywhere that I see no point in this generation and I see no point in future generations, you know? Because by the time we even begin to solve some of these problems bigger, more immediate ones are going to arise. But maybe that's what we need... Kind of teetering on a decision not to have children ever due to environmental concerns, to provide insight on where all these lines of thought are.
It feels odd reading this now. I can't help but see someone saying they don't see a point in things as a "well, yeah, that's obvious" sort of statement. Even though I understand what you are trying to get across here. See, I believe there is no such thing as objective meaning, which makes me a nihilist I guess. I like to call myself existentialist, however, because I like to say that while objective meaning does not exist, our motivations and subjective ideal of meaning does, and since there is no objective ideal, nothing overrides that subjective one. What you feel matters is what matters, in this case. No need to back it up or prove it. If you say it is meaningful, if you say it is what you want from the world then that is what has meaning. No exceptions or contradictions. I see what you are saying when you talk about generations passing before they face problems just as we do today, how bigger problems may arise that undermine the "little" ones in the peaceful world. However, I think you are absolutely wrong in how you view the whole topic. Stop looking at the big picture. You aren't in that picture, not as anything more than a little pointless dot. Stop looking forward into the future where you are long dead. Look at today. We can change today, we can change right now. We can have an impact. We can speak to just one person, change just the views of one person, and be happy with that. Stop looking at society, you aren't society. Stop caring about that massive picture you have no control over, and learn to let go of it. Work where you can, change what you can. Assume that there are billions of people, people just like you, acting in their own way. That's where the meaning exists. It's not in the big picture, it's nowhere in the big picture. It's in your day to day life, it's in the way you talk to another person. It's in the little things you say to make the world better in the scope you can change it. That's all you should ever ask of yourself, and that's all you should define yourself as needing to be important in. That isn't to say you shouldn't fight for a large-scale cause. Just fight for that cause on your scale, with the people you can speak to and effect. Don't worry about the ones you can't, the ones you don't see, because they don't matter to you. They shouldn't matter to you. We can't all be renounced and famous, and even those who are so famous will fade and die with time. Stop worrying about it. Ultimately, everything will fade into nothing and our lives will be tiny specs on a giant galaxy that doesn't give two shits about us. So stop looking at the big galaxy where you have no say. Realize you matter here, and you matter now, because you say so. If you want to have kids. Have them. Enjoy raising children who are like you, seeing them learn to change the world around them and growing as people. If you do not want to have kids. Don't. Don't base your decisions on that big picture. Again, you have no say and no ability to judge that picture. You can never tell what having kids really does to the environment, and you should trust that you are good at making decisions with the information you have. Trust your feelings, trust your instincts, and do what feels right based on what you know about the world you live in, not the world everyone else lives in. Society is a big network of individuals, and by operating inside our scope we participate in a system that makes those big decisions. You should trust the system you were born in and live in, and you should do what feels right in the space you know. If it's a good thing, or a bad thing, that system will figure out the answer and you'll feel it. It will be felt in your wallet maybe, or the way you presently feel you shouldn't have kids, I don't know. Let the big picture be handled on the scope of the big picture. Live in the little picture, live where you can live, not where you have no authority or ability to create change.I see no point in this generation and I see no point in future generations, you know?
Kind of teetering on a decision not to have children ever due to environmental concerns, to provide insight on where all these lines of thought are.
I'm going to be honest bio, I wasn't expecting that kind of a response, and it was refreshing. So, thanks.
The guy isn't wrong. It's just that the fact white people have contributed more to society has fuck-all to do with race or capability, and has absolutely no reason to be said outside of supporting ideals of supremacy. What else could you be implying? White people contributed more, and that's a good thing, so white people can't be doing racism which is a bad thing? Or does doing good things make bad things no longer bad? No, and no. So the congressman is either stupid or racist. Personally, I think he's just stupid and/or using emotional arguments rather than distancing himself and taking the time to really assess things from a third person view. Also I think the guy is trying to attack more the middle east and islam than any sort of race. "western civilization" and "christianity". I want to side with him on that halfway. Islam is toxic and shit and needs purged from this earth by giving people access to true facts, information, and social structure. However, Christianity falls under the same, and the western world has succeeded because of how we have twisted and diluted the formerly strict and powerful religion, not because of the religion helping us. As for if people are willing to listen. Clearly not, for a decent subset. However, they won't matter if a larger subset does listen.
The question asked was "In general, do you think that black children have as good a chance as white children in your community to get a good education, or don't you think they have as good a chance?" The phrase "in your community" suggests that it might be possible to answer "yes" without being delusional about nationwide patterns (such as black people being more likely to live in poor school districts). The question about jobs also includes this phrase. I can't find the question about dinner.In 1962, 85 percent of white Americans told Gallup that black children had as good a chance as white kids of getting a good education.