OT: On our current dilemma
I write the weekly ‘What Did I Just Watch’ pieces which summarize the college football action during the season; I share them in the diaries. I’ve enjoyed conversing with many of you. I thought maybe I’d share this piece I put together, in hopes that it may help us cope with the strain of our current climate.
If this is not appropriate content on a sports site, I apologize to the blog, and feel free to delete. But seeing as we support teams with young African American men, we should strive for our better angels, as Lincoln put it so long ago.
Be Well.
Forgive me. As Koala, I might be looking at this through the lens of privilege. I think in general everyone understands that racism is bad and is outraged by the murder of George Floyd and other injustices experienced by the black community. I think looking at the hiring practices of police officers, training, and law such as qualified immunity are all good places to start specifically in regard to the issue of police brutality. Even though blacks being killed by cops is a very small percentage of black homicide, it's still an important issue to address due to the real fear and deteriorating trust between blacks and the police. Police should be held to a higher standard. I would like to see laws in other areas looked at as well. Certainly historical racism is the cause of many of the disparities we still see today. I don't think it's clear the degree to which today's racism plays a role as certainly the U.S is less institutionally racist than it was pre-civil rights. If those effects still linger, then It's not clear to me that fixing the racist thoughts among white people today will fix the disparities caused from events in the past. I think we should look at specific laws, specific practices, racist individuals, and push our leaders to make the necessary changes by voting and petitioning accordingly. I don't think just being more outraged than last time is helpful. All this has happened before and now it's happening again. We can keep shouting "no justice, no peace" and keep saying "black lives matter" or "just not being racist isn't enough" and that this time is for real, but if we don't get specific then it's mostly just chasing ghosts, moral posturing, and repeating platitudes hoping for a different result. It's like no one wants to do their due diligence on these issues and have the uncomfortable conversations year round. I think the real "white privilege" is only having to get outraged when a black person is killed by a white cop. I challenge everyone to focus more of their energy researching and coming up with ideas and real action plans that can be proposed and voted on and implemented. Racism is bad and things must change. Neat, we all agree, but now what?
Seems to me the root problem is a lack of basic human decency, and in many arenas (including but not limited to business, government, and law enforcement), the supression of said decency is part of the process ingrained within the pursuit of success. So as long as people strive to outdo others, a certain proportion of people will suffer the consequences.
It's human nature combined with our individualist ethos.
But what do I know? 
I don't know, but thanks for Putin your spin on it.
No problem. I need a diversion from my booming action figure business.
I think I have my old Castle Grayskull around here somewhere if you need a place to crash. You'll get along great with Skeletor.
You are dreamy, Mr. President.
You know a lot, Mr. Putin. There is a fundamental conflict between moral integrity, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the set of material goals, values, priorities, and incentives around which our way of life is organized.
Think of it this way: If ethics is embodied in the Golden Rule, then ethics implies that every choice we make should take fully into account the possible harms and disadvantages (as well as benefits) that our actions might have for others. We must weigh those consequences against the gains (and cost) that will accrue to us when we act. Then, we must strike a balance between them, taking care to ensure that we don't give greater weight to our own good than to the good of others (because they, as individual human beings, are of equal moral worth).
Now, contrast this with the theory that underlies micro-economic making decisions (whether for individuals or for firms): Maximize gain, minimize loss (with all sorts of variations, of course, depending on the circumstances: minimax, maximin, minimax regret, etc.). Rational choice theory is thus essentially the same as the metaethical theory of rational egoism. Hence rational economic choice-making is the opposite of ethical choice-making.
American society's basic operating principle is rational egoism. Although it was confined originally (in the 17th century) to the economic arena, as religion has waned (throughout the 19th and 20th centuries), it has become our default principle for all decision-making, replacing the ethical principle embodied in religious teachings.
Growing up, we are taught that, if we ensure everyone is free to make his own decisions and pursue his own interests, everything will work out best for everyone. This is the basic utilitarian calculus that underpins the ideal of the free market. But it assumes that (1) everybody is in fact free, (2) everyone is in fact rational (and perfectly well-informed), (3) the market is perfectly competitive (no one has the power of a monopolist or oligopolist to affect others' situations or influence their decisions in a way or to a degree that those others would consider to be not in their interests), and (4) that the problem in game theory known as the Tragedy of the Commons does not exist.
Now, racism has existed in America since white Europeans arrived in the 17th century. For more than 300 years it coexisted with rational egoism and with ethics rooted in the Christian religion. But the influence of religion has now almost disappeared. So we are left with rational egoism as the chief guide to action.
But because American society was constructed from the outset with a view to allowing people to be guided by self-interest in conditions of freedom, rational egoism is woven into its very fabric. Self-interest can't be pulled out without unraveling that fabric. But racism is also part of the fabric (though it is obscured by the passage of time, by genuine progress, and by our ignorance of history, psychology, and sociology). The antidote for racism cannot be rational egoism. The latter simply perpetuates and even exacerbates the inability of African-Americans to overcome three centuries of racial advantages that accrued to white Americans because the system based on rational egoism was made for *us*--for people who could take care of themselves and compete effectively by following that principle. (See, e.g., the discussion of how Reconstruction failed after the Civil War in Morison, S.E., *The Oxford History of the American People,* vol. 2). But rational egoism cannot bring people to a condition of equal competitiveness if those people have never been afforded the tools, skills, knowledge, incentives, and opportunities that the rest of us take for granted.
In short, eliminating racism means giving priority to ethical decision-making over individual, self-interested, rational decision-making. Which is to say we cannot eliminate racism without changing the system--without putting it on an ethical foundation instead of an egoistic one. That's the dilemma--especially since our identities are tied up with the essential American values and principles of self-responsibility, independence, freedom, individuality, pluralism, self-interest, maximizing material gains, etc. We are between an immense rock and a very hard place. It will be well-nigh impossible to change after three centuries of living the way of life that gave us both the principle of individual self-interest and racism.
Agreed. Hopefully the article conveys the necessity for action, and that simply being outraged is no longer sufficient. Thanks for sharing.
Step 1: view the stats. Economic, health, and educational outcomes for Black Af-Am have not improved appreciably (outside of HS graduation rate) compared to white Americans since the 60s. This is the systemic racism (if we define racism as systematic advantage based on race) that many are referencing that is well beyond issues with policing.
Source: https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/06/27/1-demographic-trends-and-economic-well-being/
Step 2: educate yourself on the black perspective and experience. Dr. Ibram Kendi, Dr. Beverly Tatum, Ta-Nehisi Coates are a few authors to check out. They propose plenty of solutions.
Step 3: become more aware of your own biases. We've all got 'em. Determine how to bracket them as much as is possible. Surround yourself with those who help you bracket them
Step 4: consider educational, health, and economic policies that promote actual equity. This is where we get heavily into politics, so I'll leave it here for the moment.
Equity or equality? I just ask because equity is more of a process, where equality is more of a result.
Appreciate the Q. I'm thinking equal (or close to equal) life outcomes. Whether one deems that equity or equality is fine by me. I'm used to viewing them via the below cartoon, but understand different definitions exist in different fields.
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Also, I believe that achieving equity will require a lot of process
Inequality is bad, inequity is not necessarily bad. That cartoon is basically socialism. That’s no good. We need to understand inequality is not bad in itself. And if we do decide inequity is bad, we are going to have to attack the rich. As the wealth gap is clearly the biggest inequity in America. Will people like LeBron James speak out against the ability to gather massive amounts to if wealth like they have ? I’m doubtful.
Yes and no.
No, inequity of wealth is bad when the gap between haves and have nots is large. See Mexico, China, and most third world countries. Yes, we're never going to have full equity of wealth and I wouldn't argue for that.
No, inequity is bad when it transcends all major life outcomes. It would be one thing for blacks to have lower wealth but equal outcomes across education, healthcare, judicial, and other economic (e.g., hiring, income, home ownership).
Yes, inequity within some tolerances (think CEO pay used to be 20x the lowest worker in most US companies, which also offered pensions, etc., and yes pensions became problematic as life expectancy increased) is fine. But the bigger/more frequent it is, the more problems society will have. Mo inequity, mo problems to quote Mase, Puff Daddy (at the time), and BIG.
I like this cartoon. Nothing better than illustrating how the left wants to take your box away just because you are tall. Take no notice of the fact that he is left without a box now, which was presumably paid for by the fruits of his labor. If the artist of this cartoon was truly interested in equity, he would have shown how the welfare safety net or charity is used to make sure an additional box is provided to the short guy.
This "current climate" is not about equity, it's hateful and spiteful class envy fomented by left wing scum. I feel bad for the people protesting racism and the lack of respect the black community has as their movement is being co-opted by something far more organized and dangerous to this way of life.
This country is still a place where rolling your sleeves up, putting in the effort, blah blah blah still gets you farther than not. There are a fair bit of the equality whiners that choose not to help themselves. I would guess a high percentage of us in the business community are absolutely willing to help bend things for the people who truly can not get themselves ahead. The rest of these people should look inward a little bit harder.
As a white man who grew up in the housing projects and was never given anything and has never employed a white man in his company (I am smart enough to hire the best person for the job based on the pool of candidates), I am happy to say black lives absolutely matter. I am very confident that success can be earned by almost everybody on their own. But to help those who can't do it by themselves, you come together by bringing others up, not demonizing the successful (call them "the rich", it goes over better with the masses) and taking their boxes away.
There. The young bucks with the fresh ideas can have their soap box back to usher in socialism. I just caution you that what your leftist professors want has never worked in any civilization in history. True story, bro!
I think you're right about wanting specific plans but wrong to posit that pretty much all Americans care about systemic racism and police brutality against blacks. A large chunk of Americans a) reject the premise of institutional racism and b) think many or most black victims of police brutality either somehow deserved it or were victims of very rare "bad apples." If there's anything we've learned recently, it's that the U.S. has even more racists than we previously thought.
Exactly. This is a liberal power play that is twisted and evil and un-American.
And blue cities ARE so well run they are decaying. Who wants to visit Chicago any time soon?
Liberal nonsense created this chaos. And the African American police chief killed by rioters gets no march? How screwed up is that? This is America now?
https://abcnews.go.com/US/small-town-police-chief-killed-officers-cities-wounded/story?id=71017820
https://www.lawofficer.com/america-we-are-leaving/
Pretty good post for somebody with a smooth brain.
I assume you meant to write "smooth, fold-less, chlamydia-riddled brain obsessed with rape and nourished only by the poisonous eucalyptus leaf," right?
i pooped
I was trying to be nice, but you are correct and honesty is the best policy.
I don't think it was that long. I probably could have added more paragrphs and stuff, but it fine I think. I mean I think its still readable for the most part. I tried in the the spelling departent to thats pretty good. I felt good about the lemght, but I cetianly take your point t heart. I don't really have to time to revised it now, but next time I think I can do better. After all I do have smooth brain so theres not much I can do about that I suppose. I think I do my best and that about all you can do sometimes when you consider the other things you might or anyone might have to deal with on a daily basis. I mean peope get busy and sometimes there;s just not enough time in the day. I would be for drug that eliminates the need for sleep. I mean imagine how much more you could get done. At least I didnt just post a meme and used my brain. Not that I don't like memes or your meme, but I just think typing a message however few paragarpahs there are still takes more effort than posting a meme. You know what i meme? Haah see waht i did there?
Time to evolve, Mean Joe. I'm thinking a lemur would be a nice step up and your brain would be less smooth.
The big problem is the attitude: Yeeeahhh, GET SOME that police/military types default to. (I spent a lot of time with these types of people).
Best thing to do is add more social service departments that can intervene without a bunch of type-A dudes with guns and a chip showing up, acting like this is Call-of-Duty. Have unarmed social services response teams show up to non-urgent/non-violent situations.
Also, third-party reviewing of the psychological status and safe viability of current police is doable and it’s not hard to find the dangerous ones - even if they actively try to obfuscate their tendencies (lie on the tests).
IDK this is a brainstorm so just throwing things out there.
As far as now what, I think you have to work on changing people's brains. And the easiest one to change is your own.
I also would add in that the uncomfortable conversations are much more effective when specific concrete examples are discussed. This is why you see such a quick gravity towards phrases that do not require intensive thinking and change.
If Shea went to the same HS as me and Sparty, we would be called 'The Council of the Cool Kids'.
"Our current dilemma"?
Take a look around, man. You're going to need to be a little more specific than that.
I think he means the sudden willingness to do something about racism that won't result in worse outcomes.
Not to inject a serious topic with too much levity, but my first reaction before clicking was "which current dilemma?"
I watched Dave Chappelle's "8:46" on YouTube this morning. It's raw, but it captured a lot of feelings that are common right now. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you already like Chappelle, you'll probably find it pretty compelling.
But he or she might lose some clicks with a less click bait-y title and this one is literally looking for actual clicks (not just views of the post).
We have like 14 different dilemmas going on right now.
I'm sure there will be a fucking asteroid next week. And we shouldn't even try to stop it. Just let the hellfire wash over you.
the universe wont miss us...the undeserving lot that we are.....bring on the asteroid.
The biggest dilemma we're facing is the talent gap between Michigan and Ohio State. Now THATS a problem.
I wouldn't mind the asteroid. I just want it to have really, really good aim.
I'm not the most eloquent person so I don't always pick the right words, but why take white guilt to a whole new level? I guess what's weird is that it reads like you're more upset than most people I who know who are actually black that have been dealing with institutionalized racism for forever. They are understandably upset and we should embrace every opportunity to force change and awareness.
Just wish people could do the best they can on an individual level to help. Get to know the black people in your life on a more personal level and try to be there for each other when something's needed. Lots of times I talk to a client's family, I feel impotent when dealing with the struggles that they experience, particularly in the legal system. I do my best for their loved ones which is all I can really do but also listen to their concerns and complaints. And although I'll never feel that kind of insipid discrimination on a personal level, there's no sense in beating myself up over white guilt when I don't see how it helps anything. I just try to treat people the way I want to be treated.
I agree that guilt is by no means the answer.
Your response is fine in and of itself, and I'm glad to see it. If we were all willing to take similar steps, we'd be fine.
But we all know that many do not treat people the way they want to be treated, and many take their negative inclinations out on others, often people of color and specifically black/Af-Am. Treating black people nicely in 1-to-1 interactions does not make any appreciable dent in the negative life outcomes experienced by black Americans. And this is, at least to my understanding, an important part of the conversation and part of the frustration. Not just better outcomes from policing, but better outcomes in hiring, wealth accumulation, healthcare, legal system, and education. Your solution would be similar to seeing that one group of people who are at higher risk of, say, drowning in a local river, but doing nothing to change the environment in which they are drowning other than talking nicely to them on the way to the river, which is something you already do with everyone else.
I'm not really proposing a solution. I don't know what to do other than express support for the current protests and to vote for people that I think will change the laws to be less prejudicial. I commiserate with my brother who lives in Alabama and has three adopted black kids about the stupid shit we hear our fellow southerners say when they don't see us with our families (my wife is Asian and our kids are mixed). We know that those views won't be changed by arguing or confronting those people when something ignorant is said. Just sucks to think that my kids, nephews and niece will deal with those kinds of people as adults. They'll just have to do the best they can and we'll be there to help the best we can.
As far as work goes, I have a solo practice, do a lot of pro bono work and have only two employees, both minority females, who are paid well, have a lot of flexibility with their work schedules and equally contribute to how the practice is run and managed.
As a side note, it's the 53rd anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, so I'm particularly grateful for the changes in the law that allow me to even be married to my wife now.
Gotcha. I see you are already doing a lot more than just being nice. Hiring is a huge deal, as is good legal representation and (hopefully) voting. You undersold yourself :)
You may already have read Dr. Tatum's book "Why do all the black kids sit together in the cafeteria", as it has a great chapter on raising mixed race kids (focuses on black-white, but has applicability and discussion of asian-white). But it also has steps we can take. If you have other good recommendations for raising mixed race kids, please let me know.
Thank you for the recommendation. I will take a look.
I know this is a well-meaning post but I'll point out something:
"we should embrace every opportunity to force change and awareness."
but then, "I do my best for their loved ones which is all I can really do"
Do you march in protest? Do you have conversations with your white friends about what they do or can do? Do you advocate for legislation that will help? Based your comment, you don't, but those are all things you can do (amongst, many, many more that I'm sure your black clients can help you with).
I'm not saying you should do any of this, per se, it's totally ones own choice how they prioritize their time, but there is always more we can do. It's ok to admit, eh, that's not a priority for me, but it's impossible to say there was nothing more I could do.
I do a bit more than that but agree that there's always more we can do. Posted some above about what specifically, but that's part of my point. I don't feel guilty and I think most folks here feel comfortable with how they confront racism in their own lives and just wish we could make the overt racists feel uncomfortable with how they don't.
Not having read any of that and certainly not having clicked any links, I can say with complete confidence that our current dilemna vis-a-vis Ohio State can be resolved completely by commencing an aggressive and comprehensive program of DEFEATING the Ohio State football program on a regular basis.
I'll leave it to Mr. Coach Harbaugh and company to figure out how to execute that plan, I'm just the idea guy.
Perhaps some proposals about how to combat these issues moving forward.
Good read. One point. I can’t, and never will feel guilt or remorse about being Caucasian. I can’t help it. It’s not like I had a choice, and feeling guilty about it won’t help anyone. What I do have a choice in is how I treat and interact with people on a daily basis.
Racism is absolutely abhorrent and police brutality and the indifference to individuals rights is even worse. It’s one thing to deal with a racist. It’s another to deal with a institution built on racism. I will stand with and support anyone who is being treated differently than any other human simply because of race, religion, creed etc.
NWA had it right. Fuck the police.
The end.
Thanks for sharing.
My guilt isn’t because I am simply white. It is that I feel that I cannot stop the endless, reckless hate that is racism, even with the advantages I have from being white. I’ve done a lot in the name of civil rights, but I will always feel a failure for not having seen water turn to wine by my accord, so to speak. Maybe I’m not well adjusted, or maybe I need to have a more realistic expectation. But it is impossible for me to be unencumbered by dark thoughts during this tragic time.
If we all do our best, it would be hard to complain. I’ve got a long way to go. I hope others will join me in this regard.
Thank you for the clarifications. I agree 100%. It is heartbreaking knowing there was an inherent advantage for you simply because of something as ignorant as skin color. You never feel you can do enough, no matter your actions. What makes it more difficult to swallow is the following:
There is no racism in children. Kids will play with kids no matter the color of their skin. It is a learned and taught behavior. Absolutely sickening.
You may have just left this unsaid, but you also have a choice to do more than be nice to people. You can support various advocacy groups with time or funding. You can educate yourself on issues of race, exclusion, and inequality to be able to better dismantle racist or prejudiced arguments/thought processes. You can examine your biases. You can vote. You can protest. You can volunteer time/expertise. Yes, you are unlikely to end racism yourself, but you are able to do more than be nice. My four year old can be nice to everyone (well, except right before nap time).
I think with more testing the public will learn the 5X higher than expected amount of people who carry virus, as it's inevitable....and then the narrative will be thus with such a high infection rate, that the mortality rate becomes like H1N1 and very low, and then things get back to normal.
It needs to be so, so much harder to become a cop. It takes so little time and training to be handed so much power. 594 hours is all you need in Michigan. It takes more time and training to cut hair. We need a higher quality of person in law enforcement. Period. The person who checks you in at your doctors office shouldn't be more highly trained than the person who holds your life in their hands.
I think there needs to be a specific, 4 year college program required to become an officer. Tweak the criminal justice program. Classes in deescalation, mental health, coping mechanisms, as well as history and social education from the point of view of people of color. Lets be honest, too many police officers needed to find a way to continue to have some power or position they felt in high school. Or they just wanted a way to legally bust heads. Too many gung ho under educated people being given far too much power.
We also need an entity that has no ties to the police to investigate the police. Weve seen what "internal investigations" amount to. Nothing. At worst the cop will get "fired" only to immediately join on with a new precinct. If you get fired as a police officer you should never be allowed to be hired as one again. Put them on a Bad Officer list akin to the sex offenders list and keep the bad apples out. Accountability for the police has never existed. It needs to exist now.
My 2 cents for the day.
Agreed. The 'abolish the police' sentiment gets at the fact as the culture of the police dept cannot be overcome by entry training but needs wholesale culture change, how to do that is unclear which is why some people reach of language like 'abolish'. In the flip side, a patient care assistant gets minimal training, but if they are hired by a good hospital, they absorb all the right patient care norms, will hopefully speak up if they see patient care issues etc.