Comments on: Ann Coulter Horrifies Me Once Again: It’s Not That Surprising http://www.lifeloveandliberty.com/2008/02/08/ann-coulter-horrifies-me-once-again-its-not-that-surprising/ Philosophical Anarchism, Free Market Economics, and Cultural Bohemianism Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:27:09 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Starchild http://www.lifeloveandliberty.com/2008/02/08/ann-coulter-horrifies-me-once-again-its-not-that-surprising/#comment-10064 Starchild Sat, 09 Feb 2008 09:23:37 +0000 http://www.lifeloveandliberty.com/2008/02/08/ann-coulter-horrifies-me-once-again-its-not-that-surprising/#comment-10064 Shortly after my previous reply to Venus, I came across the following commentary by Thomas Sowell which seemed to fit the conversation. I agree with those who say that Sowell is a conservative and not a libertarian, and he has often written things I disagree with, but I think he makes some excellent points here. Love & Liberty, ((( starchild ))) ---------------------------------------------------------- "The achievements of western civilization are buried in histories that portray every human sin found here as if they were peculiarities of the west. "The classic example is slavery, which existed all over the world for thousands of years and yet is incessantly depicted as if it was a peculiarity of Europeans enslaving Africans. Barbary pirates alone brought twice as many enslaved Europeans to North Africa as there were Africans brought in bondage to the United States and the American colonies from which it was formed. "How many schools and colleges are going to teach that, going against political correctness and undermining white guilt? "How many people have any inkling that it was precisely western civilization which eventually turned against slavery and began stamping it out when non-western societies still saw nothing wrong with it? "How can a generation be expected to fight for the survival of a culture or a civilization that has been trashed in its own institutions, taught to tolerate even the intolerance of other cultures brought into its own midst, and conditioned to regard any instinct to fight for its own survival as being a 'cowboy'?" -Thomas Sowell, The Washington Times (National Weekly Edition), Nov. 20, 2006 (p. 32) ---------------------------------------------------------- Shortly after my previous reply to Venus, I came across the
following commentary by Thomas Sowell which seemed to fit the
conversation. I agree with those who say that Sowell is a conservative and not
a libertarian, and he has often written things I disagree with, but I
think he makes some excellent points here.

Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))

———————————————————-
“The achievements of western civilization are buried in histories
that portray every human sin found here as if they were peculiarities
of the west.

“The classic example is slavery, which existed all over the world for
thousands of years and yet is incessantly depicted as if it was a
peculiarity of Europeans enslaving Africans. Barbary pirates alone
brought twice as many enslaved Europeans to North Africa as there
were Africans brought in bondage to the United States and the
American colonies from which it was formed.

“How many schools and colleges are going to teach that, going against
political correctness and undermining white guilt?

“How many people have any inkling that it was precisely western
civilization which eventually turned against slavery and began
stamping it out when non-western societies still saw nothing wrong
with it?

“How can a generation be expected to fight for the survival of a
culture or a civilization that has been trashed in its own
institutions, taught to tolerate even the intolerance of other
cultures brought into its own midst, and conditioned to regard any
instinct to fight for its own survival as being a ‘cowboy’?”

-Thomas Sowell, The Washington Times (National Weekly Edition),
Nov. 20, 2006 (p. 32)

———————————————————-

]]> By: Starchild http://www.lifeloveandliberty.com/2008/02/08/ann-coulter-horrifies-me-once-again-its-not-that-surprising/#comment-10063 Starchild Sat, 09 Feb 2008 09:22:16 +0000 http://www.lifeloveandliberty.com/2008/02/08/ann-coulter-horrifies-me-once-again-its-not-that-surprising/#comment-10063 It's certainly possible that people like Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly (two of my least favorite conservatives) do believe there is a "white male power structure" who are the "overlords" of the United States, or something to that effect. That doesn't necessarily make it true, at least not in the way much of the left would *like* to see it. I definitely do not consider Coulter and O'Reilly to be paragons of clear perception! I think a much more accurate way to describe the situation is to say that while the people who wield political power in the United States are disproportionately male and caucasian (perhaps 60% to 90% in each category, to take a very rough guess), being of European ancestry or having XY chromosomes are not the defining characteristics of this power base. I think the defining characteristics of the power base have much more to do with certain shared assumptions about the way society ought to be run -- perhaps first and foremost, seeing government as a kind of parent, and the people under its control as children to be supervised and taken care of (for their own good), and/or punished (for the good of others). The facts of race and gender do not appear to contribute much to the nature of this situation, since one can see these same paternalistic, statist biases at work in lots of other ruling classes around the world, and if anything women seem (at least in this country) no less statist and paternalistic than men in their average political outlooks. Love & Liberty, ((( starchild ))) It’s certainly possible that people like Ann Coulter and Bill
O’Reilly (two of my least favorite conservatives) do believe there is
a “white male power structure” who are the “overlords” of the United
States, or something to that effect. That doesn’t necessarily make it
true, at least not in the way much of the left would *like* to see
it. I definitely do not consider Coulter and O’Reilly to be paragons of
clear perception!

I think a much more accurate way to describe the situation is to say
that while the people who wield political power in the United States
are disproportionately male and caucasian (perhaps 60% to 90% in each
category, to take a very rough guess), being of European ancestry or
having XY chromosomes are not the defining characteristics of this
power base.

I think the defining characteristics of the power base have much
more to do with certain shared assumptions about the way society
ought to be run — perhaps first and foremost, seeing government as a
kind of parent, and the people under its control as children to be
supervised and taken care of (for their own good), and/or punished
(for the good of others).

The facts of race and gender do not appear to contribute much to the
nature of this situation, since one can see these same paternalistic,
statist biases at work in lots of other ruling classes around the
world, and if anything women seem (at least in this country) no less
statist and paternalistic than men in their average political outlooks.

Love & Liberty,
((( starchild )))

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