Bill Cosby speaks the truth

[pudley4]

You tell 'em Bill (http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/ny-flmid3811870may21,0,7539165,print.story?coll=ny-entertainment-headlines)

Imagine the outcry if Rush had said the exact same thing...

[Oski]

[ QUOTE ]
"They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English," he said. "I can't even talk the way these people talk: 'Why you ain't.' 'Where you is.' ... And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. ... Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. ... You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth!"

When Cosby finally concluded, Howard University President H. Patrick Swygert, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume and NAACP legal defense fund head Theodore Shaw came to the podium looking stone-faced. Shaw told the crowd that most people on welfare are not African-American, and many of the problems his organization has addressed in the black community were not self-inflicted.

[/ QUOTE ]

Cosby spoke the simple truth: One is hard-pressed to get ahead in this country if one cannot speak English effectively. The message is clear, maybe the delivery harsh.

The stuffed shirts that came after did not even address the issue, and ignored this simple truth: Yes, it is clear the black community has suffered and been put to a disadvantage, but this does not give an excuse to not learn to speak well. Wearing dope kicks or learning to spell - Cosby points out the former is often the choice which is adding to the problem.

[elwoodblues]

My favorite part is when Bill talked about how if the cops kill someone stealing "a piece of poundcake" we shouldn't ask why the police over-reacted, but rather "What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"


Maybe Bill, just maybe, we should ask both questions.

[Oski]

[ QUOTE ]
My favorite part is when Bill talked about how if the cops kill someone stealing "a piece of poundcake" we shouldn't ask why the police over-reacted, but rather "What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"


Maybe Bill, just maybe, we should ask both questions.

[/ QUOTE ]

Didn't see that. I must agree with you Elwood: that particular statement was ignorant.

"Hey you sleaze! My Bed!"

[MMMMMM]

"Didn't see that. I must agree with you Elwood: that particular statement was ignorant."


It was; but the rest was right on the money.

[BeerMoney]

At least someone has the balls. Clarence Thomas is not too well liked in the black community because he is a Republican. He was once quoted as saying, "Its OK if all black people don't think the same, in fact we shouldn't."

[Rushmore]

[ QUOTE ]
My favorite part is when Bill talked about how if the cops kill someone stealing "a piece of poundcake" we shouldn't ask why the police over-reacted, but rather "What the hell was he doing with the pound cake in his hand?"

[/ QUOTE ]

I was scratching my head on this one.

Is there a major pound cake-stealing ring of thugs in some part of this country? Haven't they heard about carbs?!!

Atkins aside, why the hell would we use pound cake as an example? It must have been sort of like when Jan Brady was trying to remember her imaginary boyfriend's name, and saw a glass on the table, and named him "George...George, uh, Glass."

So, then, was there a piece of pound cake in the room with the Cos?

[cardcounter0]

Bill Cosby was commenting on his own people and his own race, so I don't see a problem.

Now, if Rush wanted to rant on horse's asses that dodge the draft, cheerlead the war, and have spent several years drugged out of their mind while critiquing others ...

I'm all ears.

[MMMMMM]

There should not be any perceived problem if anyone accurately critiques the problems of any group, their own or otherwise. Legitimate criticism is, well, legitimate.

Such criticism also helps destroy the pernicious mantle of political correctness that has pervaded our institutions and way of life. What's true is true and what's false is false, regardless of political correctness.

Blind adherence to politically correct presumptions tends to prevent important issues from being properly addressed and remedied.

[BeerMoney]

[ QUOTE ]
There should not be any perceived problem if anyone accurately critiques the problems of any group, their own or otherwise. Legitimate criticism is, well, legitimate.

Such criticism also helps destroy the pernicious mantle of political correctness that has pervaded our institutions and way of life. What's true is true and what's false is false, regardless of political correctness.

Blind adherence to politically correct presumptions tends to prevent important issues from being properly addressed and remedied.

[/ QUOTE ]

NICE!!

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
There should not be any perceived problem if anyone accurately critiques the problems of any group, their own or otherwise. Legitimate criticism is, well, legitimate.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Regardless of race, I agree with Cosby's point - people who on one hand blame "the system" for preventing them from having a better life, undoubtably often make questionable financial and lifestyle decisions.

For example, I live in a predominately white area. I sometimes drive past a pretty shoddy trailer park. Very stereotypical "white trash". And I kid you not, practically EVERY single trailer has a DirectTV satellite dish on it. And it's probably a dish that I'm partially paying for, through my taxes. Drives me crazy.

Another classic example from a few years back - at a former place of work we had an "adopt a family" thing at work, collecting food, toys, etc for Christmas. My wife was one of the people who went to deliver the gifts. They walked into the living room of the house/duplex - and the people had a frickin' brand new big screen TV. Unreal.

OK, rant over. I have enjoyed watching the fallout of Cosby's comments. The strange police shooting comment aside, I found the rest of his comments very interesting, and feel like they could be applied to a LOT of different people.

[paland]

[ QUOTE ]
There should not be any perceived problem if anyone accurately critiques the problems of any group, their own or otherwise. Legitimate criticism is, well, legitimate.

Such criticism also helps destroy the pernicious mantle of political correctness that has pervaded our institutions and way of life. What's true is true and what's false is false, regardless of political correctness.

Blind adherence to politically correct presumptions tends to prevent important issues from being properly addressed and remedied.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with everything you said here. Well Put.

[MMMMMM]

"Bravo for Bill Cosby
Thomas Sowell (archive)

May 25, 2004

Bill Cosby has provided a lot of laughs for millions of Americans over the years but black "leaders" were not laughing after he lashed out at those black parents who buy their children expensive sneakers instead of something educational. He also denounced both those children and those adults in the black community who refuse to speak the king's English.

"Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads," Cosby said. "You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth." He also mocked those who referred to "the incarcerated" as "political prisoners."

At this gathering on the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, some in the audience laughed and applauded but the pillars of the black "leadership" establishment -- the head of the NAACP, the head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the president of Howard University -- were "stone-faced," according to the Washington Post.

Theodore Shaw of the Legal Defense Fund then "told the crowd that most people on welfare are not African Americans, and many of the problems his organizations has addressed in the black community were not self-inflicted."

Other groups are not perfect -- but is that an excuse for doing self-destructive things?

Bill Cosby and the black "leadership" represent two long-standing differences about how to deal with the problems of the black community. The "leaders" are concerned with protecting the image of blacks, while Cosby is trying to protect the future of blacks, especially those of the younger generation.

Far from just bashing blacks, Cosby has given generously to promote black education. But he is still old-fashioned enough to think that others need to take some responsibility for using the opportunities that were gained for them by "people who marched and were hit in the face with rocks to get an education."

Now, in too many black communities, dedicating yourself to getting an education is called "acting white."

These are painful realities and they do not become any less real or any less painful by hushing them up. Nobody enjoys being made to look bad in public. But too many in the black community are preoccupied with how things will look to white people, with what in private life would be concern about "what will the neighbors think?"

When your children are dying, you don't worry about what the neighbors think. When the whole future of a race is jeopardized by self-destructive fads, you put public relations on the back burner.

There are still whites out there who think that blacks are innately incapable of achievement -- and some of them support affirmative action for that reason. But there is plenty of evidence that innate ability, or even developed mental skills, are not the big problem.

Not only blacks with low test scores, but even blacks with high test scores, do not do as well academically as whites with the same test scores. Among Asian Americans, it is just the opposite. They do better than whites with the same test scores, whether in educational institutions or in economic activities.

Years ago, Cosby urged a group of young blacks to put more effort into their studies, the way Asian students do. "Do you know why they are called Asians?" he asked. "Because they always get A's."

The differences among all these groups are in one four-letter word that you are still not supposed to say: work.

Anyone who has taught black, white, and Asian students will know that they do not work equally. Studies show it but you don't need studies. Just go into a university library on a Saturday night and see who is there and who is not there.

In some places, you might think it was an all-Asian university, judging by the students in the library on Saturday night.

How surprised should you be when you go into a classroom on Monday morning and find out who is on top of the work and who is struggling to keep up?

What Bill Cosby said was no laughing matter. It is closer to being something to cry about.

©2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc."

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20040525.shtml

[Oski]

[ QUOTE ]
The differences among all these groups are in one four-letter word that you are still not supposed to say: work.

Anyone who has taught black, white, and Asian students will know that they do not work equally. Studies show it but you don't need studies. Just go into a university library on a Saturday night and see who is there and who is not there.

In some places, you might think it was an all-Asian university, judging by the students in the library on Saturday night.

How surprised should you be when you go into a classroom on Monday morning and find out who is on top of the work and who is struggling to keep up?

[/ QUOTE ]

This is probably a correct observation. When I was at Berkeley, there was a wide-spread joke about the "Asian Parade," which took place at 2:00 a.m. every night when the library closed.

[elwoodblues]

[ QUOTE ]
When I was at Berkeley, there was a wide-spread joke about the "Asian Parade," which took place at 2:00 a.m. every night when the library closed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds like a pretty funny joke. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Oski]

It was, the joke was mostly spread by the paraders. Anyhow, I had the pleasure of being in the parade one time during my undergrad years. It was the night before my last final of my senior year, so my friend and I made a point to experience the parade from the inside looking out. It was all that, and more.

BTW: I had been in the library many times after 10:00 p.m., or so, and I would say about 40% of the students were flat-out sleeping. I can only imagine that they slept until 2:00 a.m. and then joined the parade. It must very important to look busy.

I, on the other hand, studied in my dorm or apartment. If I was too tired to study, I napped in my bed or on my couch, not with my head down on a wooden desk, sitting in a wooden chair.

If one was really smart and disciplined, one could finish all the assigned work and still have Saturday Night and all-day Sunday free. Barring the extreme exceptions to the rule, the professors gave about 3-hours of homework for one-hour of class time ... That's about a 55-hour week.

[MMMMMM]

Heh.;-)

Anyway, the answer to a weak cultural work ethic is not more Affirmative Action, it's more work--or in this case, more study.

Work/Study Ethic (averages): Asians > Whites > Blacks

Sub/category breakdown, Work/Study Ethic within White category (averages): Jews > Other Whites

So maybe this actually explains the results in The Bell Curve (which I haven't read). Koreans + Jews > Others in Work/Study Ethic (averages). If you study more you tend to get smarter as well as more knowledgeable; and you will perform better on tests which measure mental powers because you have been exercising your mind, becoming more practiced with various forms of logical thought and pattern recognition. Not a mysterious result after all.