It didn't disappoint. Goldberg claims to have had an awakening about the state of Black families. And you'll never guess how he got there...really, you'll never guess.
The thought came to me when a friend pointed me to a column by the Washington Post's Courtland Milloy about how blacks are fleeing baseball at an alarming rate. Today only 8% of the baseball players are black. In 1959, black participation was more than twice as high at 17%. In 1975, the high-water mark, the rate was 27%.Oh the humanity...black kids aren't playing baseball. And of course, that's because they don't have fathers around to teach them. Can you believe that shit?!
The reasons for the decline are many and controversial, but one cited by Milloy is that baseball is a game taught by fathers, while basketball and football are more often taught by peers in pickup games.
But all that is just Goldberg's way of trotting out the same-old same-old we hear about African Americans from conservatives all the time - Black people (read: Black men) don't adhere to our concept of "family values." Of course that has nothing to do with policies in this country - dating back to slavery - where we did everything we could think of to break up and threaten the survival of Black families. Oh no...let's not look at the history - which categorically tells us that white people have always seen a Black man with a family to love, support and defend as a threat.
It doesn't even seem to enter Goldberg's consciousness that simply by being who he is - an educated, powerful, family man - President Obama is doing the most important thing he can to alter the dynamic that has built up in this country for generations...showing us how its done.
You just don't see it Mr. Goldberg - do you? Well maybe this is one of those times when pictures are worth 1,000 words.
Got it? Now run and tell THAT!
UPDATE: There are all kinds of ways to challenge what Goldberg said. My pictorial point was simply one. Here's another: He says that the smaller number of African American men in baseball is somehow indicative of...something. So let's ask Mr. Goldberg to come up with an explanation for things like this:
The percentage of black college graduates majoring in engineering fields has increased from less than 2% to more than 12% in the past 30 years, a U.S. Department of Education report says.Or does he simply want to imply that professional sports is the only way to gauge the success of African Americans?
'Nuff said!
ReplyDeleteBaseball was his argument? What if the people that are good enough aren't interested? I don't see too many playing volleyball either. Goldberg must be one of those conservative intellectuals I keep hearing about. I put him up there with ass clowns like David Frum and George Will. I'm willing to bet he's one of those dickheads trying to figure out why Romney lost.
ReplyDeletehttp://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CPcTHJodp6M
Vic78
ReplyDeleteFlabby assed, puffy faced, chicken hawk coward, a wingnut welfare recipient. He's a courtier a dilettante whose never done work but is paid by rich right-wingers to slander and smear President Obama and Liberals.
Jonah was a champion of the Iraq War. Yet, this sniveling responded "man" thusly when asked why he didn't plan to serve, As for why my sorry a** isn't in the kill zone, lots of people think this is a searingly pertinent question. No answer I could give -- I'm 35 years old, my family couldn't afford the lost income, I have a baby daughter, my a** is, er, sorry, are a few -- ever seem to suffice.
Of course on 12/12/2007, Goldberg infamously was the featured speaker for a lecture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, entitled All I am Saying is Give War a Chance. It's stated goal being:
Join the UMass Republican Club for yet another lively and edifying political discussion on the costs, necessities, consequences, and benefits of war. A question and answer session will be administered after the initial lecture.
Jonah did however, contribute to the drubbings republicans took in the 2012 election because he stands for returning the Vote to only Real Americans. Old, Rich White men. "The fact that young people think socialism is better than capitalism. That’s proof of what social scientists call their stupidity and their ignorance. And that’s something that conservatives have to beat out of them. Either literally or figuratively as far as I’m concerned."
Jonah Goldberg is also a liar. Goldberg and his publisher have claimed Jonah has "twice been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize."
The Nobel part is probably true. To get nominated someone has to send your name to some committee. Someone could do that for my notes for my senior thesis and I'll be a nominee. It's got nothing to do with his chances of winning one. This is a half assed bunch we're dealing with. They're also one trick ponies. Get attention by offending liberals.
DeleteVic78
Mo'nin, Ms. Pants
ReplyDeleteI TRIED to - and you know if you suggest, I'll check it out - to read this crap. I couldn't. Goldberg gives himself enTIREly away before he even goes into WHY black folk on some cursory level would even enter his consciousness by telling us that a friend pointed him to a "column". WHAT a "tell"! Indeed...until then, he's not thinkin' one TAP about us. And, because of that, he, next, exposes himself as not knowing enough to even fill a thimble by rattling off numbers.
THIS, I suppose, gives him the authority to make pronouncements (he even brings up that damn Moynahan thang) about us and, then tells PBO what he should do about: THE BLACK PROBLEM.
He's, like a number of people I can think of, too lacking in insight and STUpid to realize what a fool - in PUBLIC - he's made of himself.
Ahhhh, privilege and arrogance.
You're right - he's leading by example. And what a superb example it is!
ReplyDeleteBut we do have to admit that the welfare rules and regulations instituted in the 60's have something to do with the break-up of the black family, don't we? The fact that a woman could only collect benefits if she weren't married? Or is that something I've always heard but isn't true? Because, if it is true, seems the same would be true for white folks, now that I think of it.
Suburban Correspondent a challenge for you....
ReplyDeleteI assure you that this is available, but VERY seldom is it reported on or discussed at large. You ask a valid question re: the black family. It, however, is in the form of the oft presented "negative". What do you know about the "positive" of the black family? And, if you do know of a goodly amount of "positives", let's see 'em (I, again, assure you that they're there).
This is done so often that it just appears very few people who would be in positions to question it and put forth other types of information tend to just accept as actual reality the over-all defining of pretty much an entire group of people in "negatives".
So, for example, you get Barack Obama as being VERY exceptional. He most DEFinitely is. But, I was in college with, if you will, a LOT of "Barack Obamas". There were any number before him and, praise GOD, there are more yet to come. But, the country on the whole doesn't know about these folk. They've ALWAYS been here (has much to do with why "we" are still here) doing both the very "normal" every day and not so "normal" exceptional things.
This old approach with all the "negatives" that we all just saw and still see being exploited by the Right really needs to be challenged and brought to an end.
I just added a short update that speaks directly to your point.
DeleteOh, so all prospective black baseball players have now gone to get degrees in engineering. I see...
ReplyDeleteSo what is wrong with that? You can keep being an engineer much longer than being a professional player. Also, now we do not need a quota for white baseball players:-)
Jonah Goldberg -- son of noted liar & Republican operative/dirty trickster, Lucianne Goldberg -- gives cluelessness a bad name.
DeleteI won't try to dissect his baseball/basketball/breakdown of the black family nonsense... or riff on how the advent of ESPN changed the standard for athleticism & excitement and spawned a whole new generation of sports heroes, which inspired boys (and girls) in-and-out of the inner city to want to be more like Mike.
But what I will say is -- SP, you deserve battle pay for enduring Goldberg's pseudo thought piece, bravely risking your own grey matter for the benefit of your loyal readers. Thank you for your service to your country.
;-)
DeleteJust wanted to get it straight that my calling President Obama a superb example did not imply that he was exceptional. I don't think that at all. However, his being so visible renders all the other men similar to him more visible to society as a whole. I don't know why that is, but it's true.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I didn't explain my point well enough; your update seems to be about something else entirely. Here is what I meant:
ReplyDeleteThe following statement of yours caught my eye: "Of course that has nothing to do with policies in this country - dating back to slavery - where we did everything we could think of to break up and threaten the survival of Black families. Oh no...let's not look at the history - which categorically tells us that white people have always seen a Black man with a family to love, support and defend as a threat."
I have no argument with that. But conservatives often seize on that same point to say that the welfare state perpetuates that situation, that it is just another instance of white society keeping black men down. I was just wondering if you agreed with that or not.
My update was a reply to Blackman's point rather than yours.
DeleteMy response about welfare would be that for decades 2-parent families were not eligible. And yes, that policy went directly against our supposed "family values" - for ALL who might have been eligible otherwise.
But I certainly DON'T see welfare in and of itself as one of those policies I was referring to. I was thinking about:
- the practice of splitting up families during slavery
- discrimination that kept Black men from education/jobs that could support a family
- the terrorism of lynchings and other violence during Jim Crow that was meant to keep Black men in a state of constant fear
- the drug war
- the prison industrial complex
As you can see - some of those policies/practices are still alive and well today. That Black men and their families continue to succeed IN SPITE of all that is a testament to them rather than cause for criticism.
I wonder Goldberg noticed that not as many whites play baseball either, and that the game is now dominated by Latinos. Guess it's difficult to watch baseball games when his head is always up his ass.
DeleteExcuse my leaving out a word... my post should read:
DeleteI wonder if Goldberg noticed that not as many whites play baseball either, and that the game is now dominated by Latinos. Guess it's difficult to watch baseball games when his head is always up his ass.
Alright, I can jump back in now because I'm DONE til Monday!!!
ReplyDeleteSuburban Correspondent what I'm asking is that this matter be seen, actually, for what it is. It's a "both/and" state of affairs. If you stop and really think about it, black folk tend to be defined by our "worst". As a matter of course. The negatives - which are real - tend to be ALL that is the focus. So, that when law abiding, family oriented, or intellectual, or achieving black folk are noted, they are the "exceptions". So, we hear things like: "He's so ARTICULATE" or as the VP of the USA himself said of PBO: "He's so CLEAN", it's just unUsual.
Well, it really isn't.
LOTS of we law abiding, family oriented, intellectual, achieving black folk around buuut many miiiight not know that, not only are we here, but we've been here for hundreds of years (an interesting investigation would be the debates between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois).
The mirror image is how the majority is portrayed. It's the gold standard. So, when there is a heinous white committed crime or some such it's an aberration, or it's unUsual, or, my personal favorite...it's "SHOCKING".
This is another way - and has been for QUITE a while - that the status quo has been maintained. I'm just saying that to define an entire group of people by the problems has NEVER been accurate. This is what has been the norm of what to do pretty much since we've been here.
And, those pictures that Ms. Pants put up of the President Of The United States and his family (and he makes me VERY proud but he just AIN'T the only one, as such) shakes to the CORE the actual belief that white males are the ONLY ones. At the root of all of the venom is MAJOR fear.
Folks, we are witnessing some VERY interesting history.
I'll chime in about "welfare," by which I imagine we mean Great Society Aid to Families with Dependent Children specifically.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do think it's designed to produce dependence. In LBJ's programs, the Civil and Voting Rights Acts were certainly empowering. The various welfare policies tended towards statism, producing dependency. All this was racialized (intellectually) in Daniel Moynihan's infamous work.
There are two things, though. One, I'm reminded of something I read (can't remember who) about the necessity of Federal support of Indian Nations--written by a quite radical Native--I can't remember if it was Vine Deloria, maybe. Anyway the point was that the very survival of the people was at stake. Getting food or welfare from the US government stunk to high Heaven, but the people faced literal extinction so ANYTHING that would preserve people's lives was at this point necessary.
"Welfare" did the same thing. People lived who would have otherwise--malnutrition, etc.--died because of it. It is better to have food and be dependent than to be hungry and "independent." There is no way around that as far as I can see.
What needs to happen is reparation, meaning an investment in communities so they can sustain and empower themselves. Some kind of economic infrastructure that provides for a community's needs. A real reparations program, designed to build sustainable communities would require some initial government outlay but would reduce dependence. Socialism.
I read this a few times and really couldn't deduce exactly what his point was supposed to be. Thank you for sharing these beautiful pictures. The Obamas are a shining example to all American families. I wish more people would pay attention to what an amazing husband and father President Obama so obviously is, and realize that is just one more indicator of his strong leadership abilities. I've no doubt he has and will continue to do great things, but it certainly would benefit all Americans if everyone would get out of the way and let him work.
ReplyDelete