"We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work," Ryan said in an interview with conservative radio host Bill Bennett. "There is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with."
That's Paul Ryan's comments on Bill Bennett's radio show. Some Black folks are furious.. Apparently "men not working," in their lingo, means "Black men." Why?
HERE is the whole article; it's worth the read.
"The next day you said that statement was inarticulate. Well, I don’t believe that. You said what you meant," Gardner (A Black man at a Town Hall Meeting) told Ryan. "Bottom line is this: This statement was not true, that’s a code word for black."
"There are people in the inner-city who are white, Hispanic, who are Armenians, Danish -- all types," he continued. "And everybody works. You got here in a car or a truck or something. Somebody from the inner city helped make that." (Z: EVERYBODY works? I thought there's terrible unemployment in the inner cities. NOW who's inarticulate? And, by the way, leave the Armenians out of it :-))
Ryan nodded his head in agreement as Gardner spoke, at one point noting, "That's right." (Z: but that's wrong. Not everybody works anywhere let alone in any inner city.)
"This is not a race thing. It's just a poor thing. Poverty knows no racial boundaries," Ryan responded. "That’s the issue I’m trying to get at, which is we have to rethink our war on poverty and our programs so that it always pays to work. Because we have these incentives to people not to work." (Z: Well said, Paul Ryan, and well recognized by the people at the Town Hall who applauded that statement)
Was Ryan Racist for saying the first paragraph here on this post?
Z
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56 comments:
Of course not. Ryan's words implied no racism other than for those who make a living looking to be offended. The nature of today's politics is to take what your opponent says, and twist it...to make it conform to your agenda. If it doesn't readily fit, invent a new paradigm so that it does.
The appeal to victimhood is a tried and true tactic used by both parties, with various issues. But the Democrats have completely usurped the ability to use race in this manner, mostly because the GOP has all but surrendered to it.
Case in point, Ryan. I want an elected representative to say what they mean, and own what they say. Not make a half literate statement, and then grovel afterwards when the opposition predictably uses their words for their own ends.
Not.
Now let's hear about Michelle Obama from some off topic commenter again.
Every time we turn around -- especially when anything societal is spoken of in a negative manner -- somebody cries, "That's a code word for 'black'!"
True or false:
The inner-city majority of men who not working = black men. This is not to say that every inner-city, non-working man is black or brown.
I am reminded of "All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares."
I am not condemning Paul Ryan's words. What I am is that our welfare system does indeed promote a culture of not working.
The race card is losing its effect in our society. I agree with Ryan that we have a culture problem in our inner cities, and that includes black, white, and Hispanic neighborhoods. That is where crime and unemployment is at the highest, and were the schools and opportunities are the worst.
It is about time that we call out the race baiters.
Weakness invites aggression!! Jimmy Carter had tried accommodating America's enemies. He cut back on defense. He made humility the hallmark of American diplomacy. Our foes responded with aggression: Iranian revolutionaries danced in the rubble of the U.S. Embassy; the Soviets sponsored armed insurgencies and invaded Afghanistan.
Small wonder that people are saying the world looks like a rerun of the Carter years. The Obama Doctrine possesses many Carteresque attributes: a heavy reliance on treaties and international institutions; a more humble (and, often, apologetic) U.S. presence around the globe, and a diminishment of U.S. hard power.
And the Obama Doctrine has reaped pretty much the same results. When asked if he feared a U.S. military strike against his country's nuclear program, the Iranian president scoffed at the notion.
Meanwhile, after yielding to Russian complaints and canceling plans to build missile defenses against an Iranian attack, Obama signed an arms control treaty which, the Kremlin boasts, will further limit our missile defense. Yet Moscow still complains that the more limited system the Obama administration wants to field is too much. Once again, American concessions have only encouraged Moscow to be more aggressive. And now Russia state tv is boasting that they have the capabilities to turn the U.S. into "radioactive ash".
And lets not forget Bill Clinton ignoring Al Qaeda and pulling out of Mogadishu because he didn't have the political stomach for either - which was the dog whistle signal for our enemies to go on the offensive and eventually lead to 9/11.
Bob,
It is about time that we call out the race baiters.
I agree.
But how can that be done effectively? I myself have had little success in getting race baiters to see the reality.
He angered the race hustlers who make their millions ensuring poor people stay poor and imprisoned in progressive and democrat dominated slums that are crime-ridden festering pits of despair with crappy schools dominated by teachers syndicates.
The left dominates speech in this country, whereby they control thought, which in turn controls more speech in an Orwellian loop, removing words from our vocabulary and placing more and more topics beyond the pale of discussion.
The new American left is the home of intellectual obscurantism. There is nothing 'liberal' about them.
Z - It sounds to me like it was a racist comment. Afterwards he could change it so that it doesn't sound like it.
Silverfiddle,
progressive and democrat dominated slums that are crime-ridden festering pits of despair with crappy schools dominated by teachers syndicates
An excellent turn of phrase -- and accurate.
Sue,
Is there any other evidence indicating that Paul Ryan might be a racist?
As for his changing the comment so that it wouldn't sound racist, maybe the man was just offering a rebuttal -- along the lines of policy debate, which is a forum that Paul Ryan knows well and is likely trained to follow.
Paul Ryan backpedaled big time. Did he mean what he said or not? I submit he tapped out to political correctness.
If you're a white male and you are not a deballed metrosexual spouting liberal inanities and post-modern feminist slogans, you need to sit down and shut up.
Heaven forbid you are an African American or a woman who dares to declare oneself conservative.
This is a full frontal assault by grubby hordes of grievance hustlers to shut down speech so their vote harvesting for the Democrat party can continue.
If we look at Paul Ryan's education, we should likely conclude that he is indeed trained in argumentation according to the stock issues of policy debate.
His statement cited here by Z in the body of the blog post sounds straight out of the policy-debate venue.
And, BTW, Common Core claims that emphasis should be based on marshaling evidence (in all writing and speaking endeavors) -- one of the aspects that I like about Common Core. In other words, "Prove your point!" Furthermore, ranting doesn't qualify as proof.
The idea of marshaling evidence to prove one's contentions has long been the standard for expository writing -- although that standard has indeed greatly eroded over the past several decades.
Of course, the sticking point comes with that matter of the validity of the source of the evidence.
PS: Yes, I teach policy debate. I've done so for years.
I ran service calls in and around Indy for 20 years. I can attest there is truth to what Ryan said.we can argue about the causes but fact remains what he said was accurate.
Myself I think it goes back to the Dems promoting dependency and creating a voter breeding program. There is also a section of Indy that is considered the white-trash area. The problem exists there too.
What is the real unemployment rate today? A lot of people think it's much higher than the official rate monitored by the government and published weekly.
I don't think unemployment/underemployment affects only black people by any means. It's across the board and likely affects white hetero males in greater numbers.
Welcome to the de-industrialization of America and the Western world—the "anti-industrial revolution.
Disasters of this magnitude aren't accidental.
I am sick of hearing everything being called a "code word". That is pure BS. Over the last couple of years, Indianapolis has exploded with nightly shootings. Sometime three or four a night. It's gotten out of hand. And the shootings are all inner city.
Inner city MEANS inner city. Not black, not Hispanic. Those that have been raised in the inner city culture.
You want to know who Paul Ryan was referring to? Watch one episode of Cops. The ones who have constant domestic violence in their houses, both women and men. They are generational welfare families, black, white, Hispanic. They live off food stamps, but can still afford tattoos, booze, cigarettes and drugs.
I am not a heartless GOPer who wants little kids to starve, I am someone who sees people using food stamps on the first ring of the cash register with a follow up ring of cigarettes and booze.
That is code word for inner city. It had nothing to do with race.
The race baiting profiteers should be made to live in the inner city. You know damned good and well that Sharpton and Jackson don't live in the bad part of town.
Is he racist in the sense that he sympathizes with the KKK? Clearly not.
Does he believe that all our tax money is going to blacks driving "welfare Cadillacs" in the inner city? Probably.
Now is he going to try to cut off the benefits or make it more possible for these men to work by doing something like revising our idiot drug laws that are putting so many black men in jail and giving them a record for no good purpose.
You know the answer.
Is that racist in a classic sense?
You be the judge.
Is it racist to buy into Reagan's "welfare Cadillac" meme without looking a little deeper? Yes.
"Was Ryan Racist for saying the first paragraph here on this post?"
NO! Ryan was being a REALIST. Instead of 'shooting the messenger' Ryan's detractors would be better served by recognizing the [real] problem(s) and directing their energy in a positive way by offering [real] solutions. I don't see how those people, negatively reacting to Ryan's comments, are solving anything!
"Does he believe that all our tax money is going to blacks driving "welfare Cadillacs" in the inner city? Probably."
I'm not sure why it's any sort of argument to vaguely assert what somebody 'believes'.
But I concur completely with a reformation of current drug laws.
Ryan was speaking the truth. If he has the courage of his convictions, then he won't back track on this.
So what does this make Obama?
http://m.us.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304256404579449492202497688?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop&mobile=y
Point taken, CI. This doesn't define his underlying beliefs.
I don't expect that a man who gives out a copy of Atlas Shrugged to his staff is prone to any deep analysis. He may well be referring to a generic urban culture.
@Ducky:
"a generic urban culture..."
How's that even considered a "culture"?
Unemployment, crime, gangs, thuggery, abandoning education, no desire to work?
If education is expensive what is the cost of ignorance?
"It's ultimately going to be up to these young men and all the young men who are out there to step up and seize responsibility for their own lives."
After 50 years of multiple programs to do just that....I don't hold out any hope that the 'culture' will change at all.
If that's all you see, Imp then all I can say is you forgot the "welfare Cadillac".
If you live in the city, are on welfare you must be black. That is what the liberals and of course the esteemed Duck are saying.
We will not get past the race issue because we can't talk about it without being racist. One of the most racist actions was the election of BHO. Racism defiantly played a huge part in his election because if you are black you went out to vote because it was a black man running. If you are white you voted, or said you did, for him so you wouldn't be called a racist.
It is unfortunate that the first minority president has to be such a failure.
Doesn't anybody here work? :)
-Kid
Wow!
Even Melissa Hairy-Paris in the Nation magazine agrees with you, Z!
"Ryan must feel aggrieved that his words drew so much fire when they could have been lifted from a presidential press release."
http://www.thenation.com/article/178918/what-paul-ryan-and-obama-have-common#
Rita is so spot on. 'Inner City' is not a code word for color, but for culture and attitude.
In Charles Murray's excellent "Coming Apart" he presents devastating statistics on the decline in male industriousness. To avoid the 'race' taint he contrasts two fictional communities that are based on actual places that were and are historically white. Fishtown is the fictional name of a real, working class, once vibrant blue collar urban community.
Males Not in Labor Force
In 1960: 9% of working age 'Fishtown' males were not
2000: 30% were not
'Fishtown' working age men not working dropped from 14% in 1959 to 8% in 1967. Retrospective studies show they were improving from 1939. The percentage of men not earning a living began to increase in 1974 and continued to increase through good times and bad except for a dip in late 1990's.
Urban neighborhoods have changed. 'Fishtown' interviews and statistics show it's a community where trust is gone, people are more likely to cheat and rob and less likely to be married, work on community projects or give to charity. The raw material that makes 'community' possible has gone south.
I wish Ryan had added that the best war on poverty is finishing high school, then marriage, then children.
@Ducky: "Is he racist in the sense that he sympathizes with the KKK? Clearly not."
OK, Ducky. Your comment is in the style of obscurantism that Silver Fiddle references. In this case you have committed the intellectual sin of not only obscuring facts, but not knowing facts in the first place. Just what is your definition of racism, anyway?
Somedays it is entertaining to read the stuff you make up. Today, accusing people of racism with no basis is just plain malicious. Get a grip, man, and some facts, too.
@Skudrunner: "We will not get past the race issue because we can't talk about it without being racist."
That's funny! Ducky seems to be stuck in that mode of conversation of seeing everything as racist. By want phrase does he describe black people? How does he discuss the plight of Hispanics? How does Ducky suggest we discuss social problems without describing subsets of people. Should we assign numbers? Who gets number two?
I loved reading your comments.
Fred Baron; THAT is shocking. I watch her from time to time and am amazed we'd ever agree on anything! Thanks for that.
ALL OF YOU:
It occurred to me that the man who called Ryan a racist is the true racist; condemning Black men and women for personifying those who don't work in the inner city; as if NO whites or Hispanics aren't working?
See my point?
Ducky sort of sounds like that man, too. Only BLACK MEN have drug problems? NO White men or Hispanics get incarcerated for doing/dealing drugs? REALLY?
SO, what's the new drug law?
ONLY WHITES CAN GO TO JAIL?
or YOU CAN DO AND DEAL DRUGS, JUST NOT SO MUCH.
REALLY? How's that work for you?
I'm SO SICK of the guilt trip of racism when a Black kid gets convicted for selling cocaine WHEN HE DID sell it....it's the punishment that's meted out for that crime, and it is a crime.
OR, we can all just let it all go past us and completely decriminalize drugs. Then stand back.
Check out Patrick Kennedy and (the hunk) Christopher Kennedy Lawford...both ex addicts and both lib Dems who are absolutely against the legalization of drugs. Lawford's book is powerful. I wish those two men would go on the trail of talking about drug addiction at high schools and universities.
Ed....so far, so good :-)
By the way, I keep thinking of that amazing black man in your video....and how I was lifted up by it. You know what I mean. Thanks xxxx
kid, that cracked me up!
thanks!
Z,
"It occurred to me that the man who called Ryan a racist is the true racist"
AMEN!!!!
I almost said the same thing in my previous comment.
If anyone who visits this blog is a racist, that person is Ducky ... who, by embracing leftist policy, seeks to keep black people in their place ... poor, stupid, and dependent on leftist progressivism. He ought to be ashamed of himself, but to be perfectly honest, Ducky is too damn stupid to feel shame.
So Tennessee beat U of Mass in March Madness, huh?
I guess the Southerners CAN do some things better, even if they're not liberals and wisely moved away? (Sarcasm)
if he were Bill Cosby he could tell the truth apparently! and have an awesome weekend my friend:-)
Is he (Ryan) racist? I doubt it, but his statement does not really inform us either way on that.
Was his statement inarticulate and insensitive to folks? He seems to agree, based on his statement afterwards.
Dave, I would argue that you can't tell anything from his follow-up either. It's the political appeal-to-forgiveness. It doesn't matter what somebody says, factual or not....if anybody raises ire at it, politicians of all stripes go into damage recovery mode.
This is but one reason why politicians are so readily despised. And ironically, they're quite ignorant of our disdain while they craft apologies..
Baysider's reference to Charle's Murrays book is spot on.
And to think that Paul Ryan is a racist is utter nonsense.
It is compassion that provokes providing analysis to alleviate such crushing poverty.
If I saw an all black neighborhood burning to the ground, would I be a racist to point out that the inhabitants are in peril?
Of course. I'm white.
Well put CI...
Maybe we should ask Ryan's black ex-girlfriend if she thinks he's a racist
"Many of the comments here are racist by using code."
Isn't that cute, how well he's following the script?
I, too, believe that the backing down from statements is soft and weak and dispiriting to all of us who want someone to speak his mind and mean it.
He's no more racist than I am, or all of you, and Ryan's usually tougher than that. It wasn't a huge apology with that awful begging quality some have, but it was an admittance that his statement was 'inartful,' which is ridiculous.
Lisa...you're right. I forgot that Ryan did have a Black girlfriend......ya, he's a true racist, isn't he :-)
Rottweiler, Exactly. Exactly.
Waylon, the unemployment rate is 58%
No decimal fiddy ate purrcent.
In other news, the rate of inflation is 10%
Well, libtards have only a few tools at their disposal. Lie, Hype-lie insult, complain, pre-accuse, and accuse accuse accuse.
It's all they have. They can't point to an accomplishment because they don't have one.
Anyone like Ryan that wants to deal with them needs to come to these things armed with facts, so when the other guy yells raciss! inner-city is code word for black!
Ryan says, "Well, maybe it's Your code word. It's not mine. I happen to know the majority of people on welfare, WIC and other types of assistance aren't black."
Just keep shoving it back down their throat. Course they'll just come back and say Shouldn't we be able to see the lunar lander on Mars? or Blacks have been slaves in America for 500 years! Most of today's kids don't know the difference. Sun's not a star, too big, out in daytime and doesn't twinkle. Guam will capsize with too many people, we have to get off fossil fuel and start using natural gas, a Trillion more democrat 'facts' inserted here.
test
Of course Paul Ryan is a racist. So is everyone that visits here except for Ducky and the libturdboy. THAT IS OF COURSE WHAT PROGRESSIVES AND LIBTARDS THINK!! Most of us on the other hand, know better!!
I have to admit though, that crapola does plays well with the not-so-intelligent bunch.
CI, I have to defer.
It was pointed out on a recent KCRW podcast that what Ryan said is exactly what Obama has said i several speeches.
Country is so used to being at the oppositions throat we need to take a step back.
Of course that means both sides.
Ryan is just another teabagger scrotum speaking in not so vague teabagger code.
Duck,
It was pointed out on a recent KCRW podcast that what Ryan said is exactly what Obama has said i several speeches.
Truth!
Yes, our county [is] used to being at the oppositions throat. I don't see either side stepping back soon, do you?
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