Salon's movie critic Andrew O'Hehir is one of the more interesting liberal writers around because he notices things: e.g., he was practically the only mainstream film critic to be unsettled by Neill Blomkamp's District 9. O'Hehir is just about the only conventionally liberal film critic who is aware that many top filmmakers aren't conventional liberals. Of course, O'Herir doesn't have anything more intelligent to offer in response than the conventional wisdom of 1975, but he's at least not immune to pattern recognition.
Why the right hates Detroit
How the fates of two great cities, Detroit and New Orleans, symbolize what's gone wrong with America
BY ANDREW O'HEHIR
Two great American cities have now faced near-death experiences in the 21st century. While Detroit’s gradual slide into bankruptcy and the almost biblical inundation of New Orleans in 2005 look quite different on the surface, I’m more struck by the similarities. ... Then there’s the obvious but uncomfortable fact that both are cities with large black majorities, in a country where African-Americans are only about 13 percent of the population.
But Detroit and New Orleans are not just cities where lots of black people happen to live. They are uniquely important and symbolic centers of African-American culture in particular and American culture in general, whose influence spread into every luxury high-rise, every suburban street and every farmhouse in the country. Both cities have been rigidly resegregated now, but at their cultural height both were places of tremendous fusion and ferment. Jazz was born from the children and grandchildren of kidnapped Africans learning to play European instruments for the dance parties of biracial French-speaking aristocrats; Berry Gordy’s great Motown recordings borrowed the Detroit Symphony’s string section to create what he called “the Sound of Young America,” driving white teenagers to shake a tail feather at sock hops across the land. ...
Is it pure coincidence that these two landmark cities, known around the world as fountainheads of the most vibrant and creative aspects of American culture, have become our two direst examples of urban failure and collapse? If so, it’s an awfully strange one.
Why? Why is it "awfully strange" that a local talent for party music correlates with a local lack of skill at administration? Shouldn't even movie reviewers have been introduced to the concept of cultural tradeoffs via Orson Welles' speech in The Third Man about how Switzerland had more civic virtues but fewer artistic accomplishments than Borgia Italy?
As I wrote during Hurricane Katrina:
No, the perfect storm was actually the combination of social and governmental incompetence at local, state, and federal levels—and unmentionable racial reality.
Republican Presidents are supposed to provide adult supervision for crooked Democratic urban machines. But the White House is now occupied by George W. Bush ...
The ineptitude displayed by the Louisiana state government is also unsurprising. The state is unique in having a Latin political tradition, ... a culture in which the Argentinean demagogue Juan Peron would have felt at home.
The unofficial state motto is "Laissez les bons temps rouler" or "Let the good times roll." Compare that to New Hampshire's official motto of "Live free or die," which display a rather different understanding of freedom. Louisiana's reigning philosophy is freedom from responsibility.
It's a general rule that the tastier the indigenous cuisine, the lousier the government. Its culture has provided America with jazz, A Street Car Named Desire, and the great American comic novel of the 20th Century, A Confederacy of Dunces. New Orleans is a nice place to visit. But you wouldn't want to raise your kids there.
All this is now common parlance, more or less. What you won't hear, except from me, is that "Let the good times roll" is an especially risky message for African-Americans. The plain fact is that they tend to possess poorer native judgment than members of better-educated groups. Thus they need stricter moral guidance from society.
Black-run polities aren't doomed to failure, but they tend to have a smaller margin for error. Out of about 40 black African countries, Botswana, for example, has been ruled fairly well since independence, with some others improving over time. Others, not so much.
New Orleans itself is two-thirds black. It has had nothing but black mayors since 1978. All four of them are from the light-skinned "creole of color" elite, including the notorious Marc H. Morial, now head of the National Urban League. The city government is corrupt and lackadaisical. While the police department has perhaps rebounded from the depths it reached a decade ago when an officer was condemned to death for having a mother of three rubbed out by drug gangstas in his employ, nobody should be surprised that last week numerous officers ran away, and some even freelanced as looters.
In a racially diverse democracy like New Orleans, voting for good government takes a backseat to voting for your tribe's representatives in the eternal ethnic tussle over slices of the pie.
O'Herir goes on:
I’m tempted to propose a conspiracy theory: As centers of African-American cultural and political power and engines of a worldwide multiracial pop culture that was egalitarian, hedonistic and anti-authoritarian, these cities posed a psychic threat to the most reactionary and racist strains in American life. I mean the strain represented by Tom Buchanan in “The Great Gatsby” (imagine what he’d have to say about New Orleans jazz)
Oh, boy, Tom Buchanan again. Someday, I'm going to have to explain the racial emotions besetting F. Scott Fitzgerald. They are more complicated than many people today are capable of noticing.
or by the slightly more coded racism of Sean Hannity today. As payback for the worldwide revolution symbolized by hot jazz, Smokey Robinson dancin’ to keep from cryin’ and Eminem trading verses with Rihanna, New Orleans and Detroit had to be punished. Specifically, they had to be isolated, impoverished and almost literally destroyed, so they could be held up as examples of what happens when black people are allowed to govern themselves.
Hang on, you can stop composing that all-caps comment – I don’t actually believe that what happened to Detroit and New Orleans resulted from anyone’s conscious plan. Real history is much more complicated than that. I do, however, think that narrative has some validity on a psychological level, and that some right-wingers in America are so delusional, so short-sighted and, frankly, so unpatriotic and culturally backward that they were delighted to see those cities fail and did everything possible to help them along. ...
In the wake of both Hurricane Katrina and the Detroit bankruptcy, many mainstream commentators have tried, with varying degrees of subtlety, to frame these events as “black stories,” and specifically as stories of black dysfunction and black political failure. I’m willing to bet that many white Americans still believe those hysterical early post-Katrina stories about New Orleans residents shooting at aid helicopters (all were later retracted or exposed as false), or believe there was widespread rape and murder among the 20,000 refugees in the Louisiana Superdome. (There were no homicides and only one reported sexual assault, an attempted rape.)
No, that's just part of the usual cover-up after a big riot. See this December 21, 2005 NPR story on how three months later, the authorities still didn't want to know how many rapes were committed during Katrina.
Mediawise, what happened in New Orleans was that the first day or two of the disaster were covered primarily by local TV news. Local TV has an "if it bleeds, it leads" mindset, so they put all sorts of horrifying news on the air for the national audience. After the early going, however, the Washington and New York bigfoot TV correspondents descended with an agenda of scrubbing the local story of chaos and recasting it instead as the event that would bring down George W. Bush (a not wholly undeserving villain, of course).
While the Detroit situation is normally described as a failure of tax-and-spend, pro-union liberal policies, the racial coding you’ll find on Fox News and elsewhere is crystal clear – and the reader comments on any Detroit-related article, on Salon as elsewhere, will curl your hair with overt racial hatred. ...
But the long, hot summer of 2013 – the summer of Paula Deen’s Aunt Jemima costumes and the upside-down O.J. verdict of the George Zimmerman case and the barely concealed conservative jubilation at Detroit’s demise – has reminded us that America’s ugly old-school racial narratives die hard, if they die at all.
It's almost as if those old patterns still keep recurring.
Guys talking on Fox News brought down Detroit!
ReplyDeleteThe logic is inescapable!
The logic of the "blacks invented all the music" stuff is pretty suspicious too.
ReplyDeleteBlacks weren't just playing European instruments. They were taking on the European scale, melodic and chord structures, too.
And, there were an awful lot of white musicians involved.
There are a lot of excellent reasons to read Steve every day, not the least of which is that you can expect gems like Welles' Cuckoo Clock speech to crop up in a discussion of Detroit and New Orleans. Talk about recognizing patterns!
ReplyDeleteI'm just wondering why you're bothering with this O'Hehir crackpot who belongs at Creedmoor. He thinks Paula Deen using the n-word when an n-word had a gun to her face was far worse than all black crime. He thinks that all these race-denying lamestream conservatives who cite anything but race as the cause for racial failures are secretly dog whistling racial code messages.
ReplyDeleteWhen in reality, he thinks that everyone else is blaming blacks for black failure because in his heart of hearts, he knows that blacks are the cause of black dysfunction, but he's too uncomfortable to admit it himself. So he claims that people who aren't saying that are saying that, as a roundabout way of saying it himself.
Likewise, after Rachel Jeantel's testimony in the GZ trial, various black commentators were all worried that all these white people were making fun of her. When in reality, white people were too scared to make fun of her in public. The truth of the matter is that these black commentators were in a subconscious way making fun of her, but didn't want to do it consciously out of racial solidarity. They just assumed at all these white people were making fun of her because they were making fun of her, because they wanted to make fun of her, and did make fun of her vicariously by claiming that white people who weren't making fun of her were making fun of her.
and that some right-wingers in America are so delusional, so short-sighted and, frankly, so unpatriotic and culturally backward that they were delighted to see those cities fail and did everything possible to help them along.
ReplyDeleteWeren't the legions who screamed "Burn, baby, burn" as they started destroying Detroit in 1967 through the years of Devil's Night's delighted, too? Must have been a lot of fun.
"Someday, I'm going to have to explain the racial emotions besetting F. Scott Fitzgerald."
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great article.
Pretty wacky. The racial paranoiac "They let my city drown because it's a vibrant fountainhead of black culture" line might be plausible in its own crazy way as applied to New Orleans, but is obviously absurd with regard to Detroit. When all you've got to lean on is a few Smokey Robinson albums from 40 years ago, you're not talking about a cultural powehouse.
ReplyDeleteI guess the details aren't really important, though, the purpose of this is for this guy to work through his crimethink issues. You can imagine how this might play out at a cocktail party:
O'Hehir: Say, these black-run cities tend to be kind of disastrous, don't they?
Liberal acquaintance: (Arches eyebrow, disapprovingly)
O'Hehir: WELL, IT'S OBVIOUSLY BECAUSE RACIST WHITES LIKE SEAN HANNITY CAN''T TOLERATE CULTURAL VIBRANCY!
Liberal acquaintance: Oh. Yes, of course. I agree completely.
In your District 9 review at Takismag, the hyperlinks no longer work. What's up with that?
ReplyDeleteGet with the program Steve. I, like wise Dr. O'Hehir, trace the extended stagnancy of the U.S. economy to our top corporations' obstinate refusal to elevate the country's best freestyle rappers to top management positions.
ReplyDelete"Out of about 40 black African countries, Botswana, for example, has been ruled fairly well since independence..."
ReplyDeletePerhaps that's true by African standards. I don't know anything about the politics of Botswana. According to this wiki though, Botswana had a 23.9% adult prevalence rate of HIV, one of the highest in the world. Think about how easy it is to prevent HIV. All you need is condoms. The level of recklessness, the lack of self-control that must go in to racking up such numbers is stunning.
"Although the country has been somewhat effective in fighting HIV, it remains particularly prevalent in Eastern regions such as Bobirwa and Selebi Phikwe, where the prevalence remains as high as 40%.[4]"
Wow. According to another wiki, the average per act risk of infection is below 0.4% for anything but outright sodomy. And the highest per act risk estimate for receptive anal is only 3%. So you really have to try to get it.
If the Motown sound was "the most vibrant and creative" aspect of American culture (maybe it was), then how come he's not excoriating the last two generations of black youth for rejecting it?
ReplyDeleteAnd the output of artists such as Smokey Robinson had to be consumed mainly by whites in order for those artists to get anywhere, right? Were those whites the reactionaries of the time, the people blocking the schoolhouse doors, or the non-racists? O'Hehir doesn't want to know, because guess what, many of the people who enjoyed Motown in 1970 are the same ones saying "I told you so" today regarding black self-governance. His problem really isn't with whites, it's with clear-thinking blacks like Reggie White, who back in 2000 famously said (paraphrase), "black people are good at some things, and white people are good at other things." The great thing about being a liberal is you never have to define your terms.
"has reminded us that America’s ugly old-school racial narratives die hard, if they die at all."
ReplyDeleteI can envision the Last White Man, after spending long years on the run, finally being tracked down and captured in, say, 2253. As he is being paraded before cameras and jubilating crowds, society debates whether his capture alone can finally lay to rest the old racial narrative or whether he should stand trial for crimes against humanity (he was White and he was attempting to live on, after all). To be sure, the consequences of white existence may well linger for centuries, but humanity would at long last be free of whites acting in the world.
New Orleans itself is two-thirds black. It has had nothing but black mayors since 1978. All four of them are from the light-skinned "creole of color" elite
ReplyDelete....
In a racially diverse democracy like New Orleans
Solid black majority, with black political leadership for the past 35 years, leadership from a small, entrenched subgroup at that, sounds like the exact opposite of a "racially diverse democracy".
My daughter and boyfriend moved to New Orleans a year ago and really like it and think it would be a great, fun, low cost of living place to settle down.
ReplyDeleteMy outsider view is that NOLA is probably less dysfunctional than pre Katrina, but is still not a safe place to live. Though my daughter insists that the good areas are OK, and that it's that the bad areas are badder than other place's bad areas I'm not convinced.
My daughter came down to her car this morning and there was a bash from someone's hit and run. It could happen anywhere, but is this as likely to happen in New Hampshire? I doubt it.
A fun place to visit - but I'd rather my daughter settles down someplace else.
Let's say O'Hehir is right and that all the Tom Buchanans and Pat Buchanans of the world did and do hate cities like Detroit because they were too black, and they use all their means to avoid such cities. But why did white liberals flee from such vibrant cities too? Did Tom/Pat Buchanan order all the white liberals to leave Detroit? Did Tom/Pat Buchanan order or force cities like Chicago and NY to segregate, use stop-and-frisk racial profiling, and use gentric cleansing to push blacks out by using homos as a ramming rod of rising house prices via gay gentrification and massive gay 'pride' parades that turns most blacks off?
ReplyDeleteAnd where does O'Hehir live? Why don't he and his wonderful white liberal friends go to places like Detroit to put down their roots among all them wonderful Negroes? Why not partake of that wondrous 'vibrancy'?
Who is stopping him and his friends from doing so? Pat Robertson and Mitt Romney?
All this stuff about 'racist reactionary whites'(especially of the South) is just a red herring to divert people's attention from the fact that LIBERAL WHITES try to avoid too-black places just like anyone else. By focusing attention on 'rightwing whites', liberal whites try to avert our eyes from the fact their own blue liberal cities are just as racially segregated, divided, and hostile. I mean how are most blacks and Jews getting along in NY or Chicago? How cozy is the relationship between San Fran homos and Oakland blacks?
If anything, your average blue liberal city is racially MORE segregated than most southern cities and towns because lots of southern whites are poor and cannot afford to move to gentrified gated communities. Even if they don't like blacks, they have to deal with the problem.
Another thing... if blacks are so creative, energetic, and vibrant, why do they need OTHER races to live with them in order to build and run the economy, government, and everything else?
Whites seem to do okay on their own. Jews too. Homos too. Asians too. Even Mexican-American communities, though not as sterling, tend to be okay even if it's mostly Mexican-American. But places that are largely or mostly black tend to suck real bad. Why is that? If blacks are so wonderful, why do they need other races to build and run businesses, sell stuff, pay taxes, and etc?
O'hehir may notice a bit more but his conclusion is the same as that of any other liberal. He can see the reality but he feels a need to read from the PC bible when it comes to the concluding remarks, and since most people cannot think on their own with facts that are presented to them, they just go with the conclusions offered to them by the 'experts' and 'thinkers'.
It's like THE WIRE showed that the problems of Baltimore are mostly black-made, but it CONCLUDED with the idea that 'so much more need to be done to reverse past injustices' or some such, and that is the only lesson most libs take away from the show since they cannot think about the facts on their own.
I, for one, would be very interested in reading an article on the racial attitudes that beset Fitzgerald.
ReplyDeleteAs an Evil White Person, I can vouch that "Eminem's swapping verses with Rihanna" was, indeed, the straw that broke the camel's back. Up until then, I had been content to let Detroit stand. But as soon as I heard that, I was resolved upon the Motor City's ruin.
ReplyDeleteOK, I'll say it.
ReplyDeleteTo Detroit and New Orleans,
If you can't be a good example, be a horrible warning.
I don't think it is true that most filmakers are not doctrinaire liberal. Quite the reverse. Even Blomkamp is one. Elysium? Sarah Palin vs good White guy Matt Damon?
ReplyDeleteMatt Daaaayyyymmmuuuunnn.
" the purpose of this is for this guy to work through his crimethink issues. "
ReplyDeleteRight.
Likewise, after Rachel Jeantel's testimony in the GZ trial, various black commentators were all worried that all these white people were making fun of her. When in reality, white people were too scared to make fun of her in public. The truth of the matter is that these black commentators were in a subconscious way making fun of her, but didn't want to do it consciously out of racial solidarity. They just assumed at all these white people were making fun of her because they were making fun of her, because they wanted to make fun of her, and did make fun of her vicariously by claiming that white people who weren't making fun of her were making fun of her.
ReplyDeleteI think you hit on something here. Privately, blacks make fun and put down other blacks for various things every single day. Suddenly when white people are present, they all clam up and supposedly are all solidarity for da cause.
Remember: Who was it making fun of Gabby Douglas' hair on social media? Wasn't white people who generally dont notice black people's hair in that sense. It was other blacks that had the problem with it and they PUBLICLY lambasted her for her hairstyle.
Usually, its other blacks denigrating, picking on, taking issue with, or otherwise dogging other blacks about their outward behaviors (much like little kids do with other kids in the playground) for either "acting" or "behaving" in a non-black (white) way, or for some other reason known only to their personal gatekeepers.
In a racially diverse democracy like New Orleans
ReplyDeleteWay way way way wait. Hold it. Anyone catch that. He calls NO a "democracy". What is this, ancient Athenian city-states? New Orleans is a US city, period. It's not a democracy any more than Huntsville, AL is a "democracy".
It's a city, that's it. Democracy. Like it's its own nation or something. Geez
Salon Magazine is so bad I actually enjoy trolling there. The chimp-out they had after the Zimmerman verdict was truly awe inspiring.
ReplyDeleteOT - Bezos buys the Washington Post. Who needs lobbyists? Clever little bald midget closeted effete eccentric nerd.
ReplyDeleteIt gives me pause whether O'Hehir may not be just a provocateur but is, actually, this simple-minded and emotionally labile--
ReplyDeleteWhen Coleman Young, various Kilpatricks, various Conyerses, and their manifold hangers-on loot, prostitute, and torch a major American city--a major international city of metonymic power and historical significance--that's all some white guys's repressed psyches' fault.
It's a brazen argument.
"Switzerland had more civic virtues but fewer artistic accomplishments than Borgia Italy?"
ReplyDeleteItaly was very well governed in the Renaissance, with stable and free city-states. Nearly all of the largest cities in Europe were in Italy, as were the wealthiest.
The fact that we even know so much about their corruption and other flaws is a demonstration of their wealth that made corruption worthwhile, and the general freedom that allowed people to complain about it, and the high level of civilization such that people expected honesty and morality from their rulers.
Switzerland was much poorer than Italy then, which is why so many of them came down there to become mercenaries, and then during the religious wars in Germany came north to do the same.
Likewise, England and Holland were well governed and had high levels of cultural achievements during that era and right after.
I watched part of a segment of Tyler Perry interviewed on 60 Minutes. At one point they drove by his old neighborhood in New Orleans, undoubtedly the CBS producers' idea. Asked if he would ever consider returning there Perry answered, in so many words--but not many--never. I suppose by O'Hehir's solidarity criteria, Perry is a diabolical racist schemer
ReplyDeleteI’m willing to bet that many white Americans still believe those hysterical early post-Katrina stories about New Orleans residents shooting at aid helicopters
ReplyDeleteSteve, you've finally found your 1st volunteer for that gambling-journalists project you've bruited about
I think countenance nailed it on the projection.
ReplyDeleteThe liberals can't help having negative thoughts about blacks, so they immediately conclude that the people they hate like Sean Hannity and Pat Buchanan must be having REALLY negative thoughts about them, and then they make that the sole issue. More than anything, it is vital that the liberals deny that their enemies be right about anything.
Also, the elevation of Motown music into some kind of cultural/social watershed is much more of an aging white hippie thing than anything black people care about. Reminds me of the movie Platoon, where the good guys (Willem Dafoe and his buddies) smoke pot and listen to Motown and the bad guys (Tom Berenger and his buddies) drink beer and listen to country. How pure-hearted and open-minded is Willem Dafoe? He likes Smokey Robinson! Say no more.
ReplyDeleteI saw this article as a parody of liberal thinking.
ReplyDeleteBotswana is the cream of the sub-Saharan crop for a very good reason: De Beers. De Beers runs Botswana as a mining colony through Debswana. With all of the talk of neocolonialism, Botswana is a wonderful example of modern private colonialism.
New Orleans and Detroit had to be punished. Specifically, they had to be isolated...
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have read, Mayor Coleman Young's response to white flight was to say "Good riddance." IOW, Mayor Young welcomed the isolation.
I went to Mardi Gras for the first time this year. The song that echoed around street corners almost the entire week is one that has an even more irresponsible message than "Let the good times roll."
ReplyDeletehttp://youtu.be/ZMiZ-AStkO4
It seems that one of the most effective ways of destroying blacks has been giving them the right to vote.
ReplyDeleteCATO: fill Motown with illegal aliens
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteIf white 'racists' are so powerful that they can destroy entire cities buy 'punishing' them, wouldn't liberal Jewish-dominated and super gay New York be smoldering in ashes? And San Fran too?
Wouldn't Washington DC have gone out of business long long ago?
I wonder if people like O'Hehir really believe in the tripe they pull out their ass, or could it be that they are morally so narcissistic and supremacist that sophistry has become second nature to them without any real thinking.
Wouldn't it be nice to live in a world where the reactionary right actually had even a fraction of the power liberals accuse it of having?
ReplyDeleteIn a racially diverse democracy like New Orleans, voting for good government takes a backseat to voting for your tribe's representatives in the eternal ethnic tussle over slices of the pie.
ReplyDeleteAnd so why is diversity good again when even liberals expect such diverse populations to vote their tribe rather than their interests?
Perhaps their tribe's short-term success is more in their interests than good government.
Maxwell Power said...
ReplyDeleteI watched part of a segment of Tyler Perry interviewed on 60 Minutes. At one point they drove by his old neighborhood in New Orleans, undoubtedly the CBS producers' idea. Asked if he would ever consider returning there Perry answered, in so many words--but not many--never. I suppose by O'Hehir's solidarity criteria, Perry is a diabolical racist schemer.
Speaking of which, what's up with Sandra Bullock, Brangelina, and some other hollywood elites buying houses in NO area? Are they attempting to gentrify the area a la DC? If that's the case they have a ways to go, demographically speaking.
In the case of NY and DC its understandable why SWPL would want those areas but New Orleans? Seriously? The place is only about 300,000 in population and has a below US average cost of living. Cuisines good, but really? That place? Of all places to want to covertly gentrify a place built on levies? Where flooding could easily occur again? Really?
Don't understand it.
In this case, Tyler Perry's got a point did the smart thing and left. There's no there there.
If they're looking to gentrify an under the radar urban area libs would be better off trying Oakland.
This would complete the west coast parley of Seattle, Portland, SF & Oakland. They'd have more or less a direct line running south from Seattle all way down to SD.
Although that might push the blacks westward into SF and certain powers that be couldn't tolerate that now, could they?
Oh, maybe its the generous tax breaks the Louisiana film commission gives to productions that come to LA to film. Maybe that's partly the reason some would buy a house there.
ReplyDeleteBut still. That place? Might as well try Buffalo, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukee, or Denver. Aside from being middle of...whereversville, what do they distinctly offer intelligensia classes that they can't easily get in NY DC or LA?
Not getting it. Doesnt make any sense.
Just not seeing the massive millions wanting so desperately to move to.....New Orleans! Or....Milwaukee! YEAH! That's the ticket! Gotta bet the farm and move all the way to Cincy! cause THATS the future!
Bank on it!
barf
Re Botswana
ReplyDeleteBotswana is more than twice as wealthy as Ukraine according per capita GDP data. Both countries are now on google street view. Take a tour. It certainly doesn't look as though Botswana is twice as wealthy - it doesn't even look as though Botswana is as wealthy.
That in itself is no reason to doubt the GDP data. If the people possess the buying power it signifies they have it, regardless of what their cities look like. But it does seem strange.
There are 8 cities over 100,000 people that are majority black and not in the former Confederacy: Detroit, Baltimore, Wilmington, Flint, Cleveland, Harrisburg, Newark and DC. Let's throw out DC because it will soon cease to be majority black and doesn't have home rule in any case. Let's try some dreaded pattern recognition. All are known for massive depopulation and devastating crime (linked phenomena, I'm sure) and terrible governance. Strange that these afflictions seems to plague every single large black-majority northern city. Even Wilmington has been called the most dangerous city per capita. http://www.parenting.com/gallery/most-dangerous-cities-in-america-2012
ReplyDeleteIf white hatred for black musical prowess is the reason for Detroit and New Orleans disfunction, where are the musical geniuses of Harrisburg, Wilmington and Flint?
Also, it seems that by many measures black majority cities in the South are no better, but this is in part due to the fact that the whites are extra-violent too.
The above sea-level crescent section of New Orleans is really nice in spring and fall. It's been rich for hundreds of years and thus has some lovely homes and gardens, as well as the famous food and music. Brad Pitt has an interest in architecture and style, plus he's from the middle of the country, so it's a good fit for him.
ReplyDeleteO'Hehir loves black anti-authoritarianism. I guess it's still battling Rhodesia's 'racist' government and Bull Connors.
ReplyDeleteGreat example of black anti-authoritarianism at work.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/a-brave-baltimore-teacher-speaks-the-truth-about-schools-students/article/2533752?custom_click=rss
But the damn 'racist' whites 'punish' than reward such behavior?
And how do they 'punish'? They hand over full control to blacks and flee to a safe white neighborhood.
I guess if a black guy threatens you and you walk away to safety, you are punishing him(unless you're a liberal, in which case you're just gentrifying the city to make it nice for homos).
Funny... liberals say that Zimmerman should have gotten in the car, locked the doors, and driven away when he saw a suspicious black guy, but wouldn't Zimmerman have punished Trayvon by fleeing from him like all the white 'racists' fled from Detroit?
https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images/103303502/aoh.jpg
Just look at this guy. A total dweeby dork. What would he know about black soul and groove?
Just another bland dweeby white guy who thinks he's slick and cool cuz he gushes about Motown and listens to jazz on npr. He makes my skin crawl.
Steve Sailer said...
ReplyDeleteThe above sea-level crescent section of New Orleans is really nice in spring and fall. It's been rich for hundreds of years and thus has some lovely homes and gardens, as well as the famous food and music.
I want to be fair, just not seeing it. I mean, you could say the same superlatives about a lot of other ordinary cities of 300K population.
Pitts a prime example of the bored mega rich dude in a mid life crisis. He's wanting something more. Fame and success aren't enough, he knows that somethings missing and he's slowly trying to find out what that something is. Finding it in New Orleans? Couldn't find it in the bu? Surfrider beach?
Surfrider has interesting food, and the homes there are pretty nice too as well as the decent weather.
Nope. Wouldn't bet the farm on cincy and not NO. Unless Katrina's ushering in some under the radar SWPL gentrification process that most of us aren't aware of that's silently going on. But with 65% minority the city's demographic transition will take a couple of censuses to pan out so its prolly moot til around 2030 or so.
The level of topsy-turvy lefty thinking in this article is enough to make me feel warm and fuzzy inside and bring a smile to my lips.
ReplyDeleteAs ridiculous as this piece is, the recipe is very old--take some story which might reflect badly on blacks and explain how the white man and/or Republicans is to blame. For example, Detroit's bankruptcy is best seen as the audience of Fox News's revenge on black people for creating jazz (subconsciously). Then insinuate that those who earlier reported the story without requisite spin were racist.
On this day, the algorithm just returned something unusually zany, and they're either unwilling or unable to check it against their human intelligence any more. Not at Salon anyway. Thinking is downright disreputable.
Specifically, they had to be isolated, impoverished and almost literally destroyed, so they could be held up as examples of what happens when black people are allowed to govern themselves.
Ha. Wow. Just wow.
Black-run polities aren't doomed to failure, but they tend to have a smaller margin for error.
ReplyDeleteI love the way Steve has the ability to write so calmly and accurately about things that cause the blood to boil. A lot of us here would approximate when discussing the same subject matter, but Steve never fails to find the exception that proves the rule.
Regarding rapes in the new orleans terror dome, i read several contemporaneous stories in british and australian papers containing interviews with returning tourists with direct quotes from named individuals stating that their white female compatriots were under constant threat of sexual assault from roving gangs of local vibrants. And these brits and aussies were quite explicit: it was racial.
ReplyDelete"Switzerland had more civic virtues but fewer artistic accomplishments than Borgia Italy?"
ReplyDeleteAn aside - Wells/Graham Greene was way off base here. Florence under the Borgia's was actually very well run. Most Northern Italian city states were, in fact, very well administered - which is why they flourished and developed cultural landmarks. The problem in modern Italy is that Italian patriotism and civic pride is very parochial and town based, and doesn't translate to a national level, that and the influx of Southern Italians who have a very different kind of civic tradition. (Switzerland, otoh, wasn't really peaceful until Napoleon came in the 19th century, beat the shit out of them and convinced them to work together).
The undercurrent of nostalgia for '60s black culture among white boomers is almost an implicit lament for has replaced it since.
ReplyDeleteSilver,
ReplyDeleteBotswana has a tiny population, I cannot remember it off-hand, but it's tiny. Botswana also has a large land area to go with its small population.
Botswana is wealthy because of mining concessions by foreign big business. Huge mineral royalties spread among a small population equals high GDP per capita.
By African standards its well governed since it is small and moneyed.
He should stick to reviewing movies. That's less for me not to read.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever wondered what becomes of the kind of student who complains about "microaggression"?
ReplyDeleteAfter graduation, he becomes O'Hehir.
The voices tell him things like this:
"As payback [sic] for the worldwide revolution [sic] symbolized by hot jazz, Smokey Robinson dancin' to keep from cryin' and Eminem trading verses with Rihanna, New Orleans and Detroit had to be punished.[...] that narrative has some validity on a psychological level."
There's something of interest to psychology in that, all right.
"some right-wingers [who?] [...] did everything possible [like what?] to help [the destruction of New Orleans and the ruin of Detroit] along"
There's the specific accusation. What's the specific proof? It is non est. And there isn't any. Just a feeling that because he can imagine his great-grandfather's being uncomfortable with Kid Ory, therefore this vibe caused Detroit to run out of cash.
At the least OH should make an argument. He should write something like, "The people in charge of our capitalist economy decided to pull out of Detroit and move auto-making overseas, or else downsize, principally because they couldn't stand black people." Lay your cards on the table, then defend what you say by reference to a study of facts. By contrast, stuff about "psychic threat" is mysticism because no mechanism is identified, much less proved.
(* Kid Ory was superb, btw. Practically Mozartian compared to hip-hop. Listen to The Kid tailgate.)
When Detroit goes broke, the Feds should rescue it. When California goes broke, the Feds should rescue it. But what happens when the Feds go broke?
ReplyDeleteThis might sound outlandish but the US Federal Government IS broke. No one wants to face up to this yet. In five years to ten years, you will have a Dollar crisis. And it isn't just a few crackpots and goldbugs saying it. Google "Stanley Druckenmiller" on this. He is probably one of the most successful hedge fund managers of all time who managed George Soros's fund for two decades and averaged an astonishing 30 per cent year or on year for thirty years. He is getting very very concerned about all this.
The total sum of all the Salon readers who live or want to live in Detroit - is zero ! Until these pontificating white liberals change that number, they are talking pure @#$#
ReplyDeleteOT
ReplyDeleteBut what happens when the Feds go broke?
Actually, defaulting on the debt -- which is inevitable -- would also be the right thing to do morally. Because it's clear the debt is multi-generational: it would take many generations to repay it. If parents die with a lot of debt, do you think their children ought to be forced to repay it?
What's going on now vis-a-vis the huge accumulation of inter-generational national debt is just plain immoral.
If Botswana is the best you can come up with, then I suggest you don't talk about it, because its frankly embarrassing to make that a black role model nation. Botswana was rule by relatively benign British empire, it has a small population with lots of diamonds and the Okovango delta for the wealthy tourists.
ReplyDeleteUkraine suffered under the USSR regime, it had two big wars fought on its turf, it suffered the Holodomar and Stalin. Despite all this, no reasonable person can seriously believe that Ukraine will not surpass Botswana in the next few decades.
Compare Botswana to another resource-rich African country, Equatorial Guinea.
ReplyDeleteBotswana might be considered well governed by African standards but it still has at least eight times the violent crime rate of a typical western European country.
ReplyDelete"Steve Sailer said...
ReplyDeleteThe above sea-level crescent section of New Orleans is really nice in spring and fall. It's been rich for hundreds of years and thus has some lovely homes and gardens, as well as the famous food and music."
"I want to be fair, just not seeing it. I mean, you could say the same superlatives about a lot of other ordinary cities of 300K population."
To Anonymous - I understand your natural gut reaction, but New Orleans is a case where you really need to know more to have a reasonable opinion. New Orleans is certainly one of the most beautiful cities in the country, has nice parks, great architecture, great food, good music, and a low cost of living. It also has nice weather about 8 months of the year, and a lot of nice traditions that people enjoy and which provide a sense of place and identity. Tourism and the port also provide a fairly constant economic safety net. It really is an exceptional city - and you have to consider its relatively small modern population in historical terms - in the 1800's it was one of the country's biggest, wealthiest cities, and the core of the city and city's identity reflect that fact.
With so many nice things about New Orleans, it managed to stay afloat better than Detroit despite all its many, many, many problems. It's geography also helped. Since lake and swamps surround it, it was more difficult for suburbs to spread out. Also, the law-and-order minded Jefferson Parish, and the wealthy of Orleans Parish (willing to pay for private patrols and off duty NOPD cops), did a fairly decent job of preventing the spread of crime into white areas (although it was still obviously not that safe, relatively speaking).
Since the storm, two things have happened. 1) lots of reconstruction money has poured in (despite all of us conservatives wanting to destroy the city because we hate blacks and music and everything else good in the world), and 2) the racial balance of the city has slightly changed, as a lot of blacks moved to Atlanta, Houston, and other cities permanently. This has allowed for some better governance to emerge. Just these two changes have been enough to attract a lot of new people to New Orleans, as the positives have begun to outweigh the negatives. It is certainly not a city in decline anymore, although the situation remains, let us say, precarious.
"Compare Botswana to another resource-rich African country, Equatorial Guinea."
ReplyDeleteEquatorial Guinea is one of the few old-style unapologetic autocracies left in black Africa. And before that it was a backwater of the Spanish Empire.
It's easy to look good compared to that.
A.J. Liebling wrote
ReplyDeleteTom, New Orleans born, of parents born there, said, “You’re right on that. We’re Mediterranean. I’ve never been to Greece or Italy, but I’m sure I’d be at home there as soon as I landed.”
He would, too, I thought. New Orleans resembles Genoa or Marseilles, or Beirut or the Egyptian Alexandria more than it does New York, although all seaports resemble on another more than they can resemble any place in the interior. Like Havana and Port-au-Prince, New Orleans is within the orbit of a Hellenistic world that never touched the North Atlantic.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/louisiana-americas-lebanon/
If you are as rich as Brad Pitt, it would be fun to have a home there.
Steve and David M. are right about New Orleans. It's a beautiful and historic city, and it's quite pleasant outside of the summer months. It also has a vibe you won't find elsewhere in the US. More like Rio de Janeiro than New York (albeit much smaller than either).
ReplyDeleteOkay "anonymous," I Googled Stanley Druckenmiller. Here's what I came up with:
ReplyDelete>>>>
Famed Hedge Fund Manager Stanley Druckenmiller Backs the ZuckerPAC
July 12, 2013
Stanley Druckenmiller, the hedge fund manager who founded Duquesne Capital and was the lead money manager for George Soros at Quantum Fund from the late ’80s to 2000, announced his support of FWD.us, the political action committee founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Druckenmiller joins a slew of high-profile tech supporters, including venture capitalist John Doerr and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.
>>>>
Sounds like a guy with a clear idea of what's best for America!
David M. said...
ReplyDeleteAnd now I say....
Dude. We get it you're from there.
AGAIN, we could basically name just 'bout EVERY city of 300,000 plus in good ol' USA
Exmaple: How come no one talks this way about Indianapolis? Hmm? Indy's near as old as NO, its twice in population size. Home of Red state bible belt believers. Its the focus of 500 at Speedway. It too has cultural events, a nice city orchestra, interesting midwestern heartland cuisine.
Perhaps Dave, you should look at it from other Americans eyes. Basically, there's only a few real cosmopolitan cities in US: NY; DC; LA and perhaps Chicago.
Again, Indy. Why not talk 'bout it? Who's prejudiced vs the heartland or as former huntsville 'bama and Atlanta radio host Sean Hannity would say to you, Sir, whenever he doesnt get his little ol' way:
"Why do you hate America so much?"
Just not seein' it. Could say the same for virtually every city over 300,000. Tulsa, OK another example.
I may disagree about NO. I've been to NO and I've seen Tulsa. Dont really see the difference. Tulsa's a nice city too.
Im sure there's good people in both. Unlike NO's high crime rate (one of the worst in US tactful not to mention it but I will) Tulsa's crime rate's pretty low.
Again. Any city in US of 300.000 or more. Same thing and same deal. How its always been and always will.
If you are as rich as Brad Pitt, it would be fun to have a home there.
ReplyDeleteYeah, whatever. He doesnt actually spend all 12 months there does he?
Another thing most are ignoring perhaps tactfully. Publi education in NO isn't all that.
Again, why cant Pitt rediscover the joys of the bu? Has it really been run down over the last few yrs and since seen better days? Really?
Some of these homages keyed to the joys of NO could be exactly written as odes to...fill in obligatory city of at least 300k. Phoenix. Santa Fe. Denver.
And if it can't, then again, why's everyone hating on different regions of America?
It is the SAME. Everywhere we go. Same same same. Some places are better some are faaarrr worse but overall its the same.
Every city has a history. Every one has a cultural vibe "unlike" other cities (so they claim)
Oh, Seattle. Don't they too have distinctive food and interesting buildings as well as cultural events? (Yes, they do) And its a SWPL heaven and also a fairly well run and unlike NO, less corrupt government. Wonder why that would be?
Unlike NO, Seattle has better educational system and top rate Universities. Unlike NO, they do allow sprawl and nice suburbs so folks who may not wanna live too close can get away. So yes, every single city when it comes down to it, is the same in more ways than most. Just is and always will be.
Prolly cause at heart we're all Americans and just have to learn to live with each other.
Its one thing to be naive like so many 20 year olds these days, all they have known their whole life was the vision of the left, and they haven't yet had to kick around reality for a few decades to get a more realistic picture of things. But this guy can recognize things that he isn't supposed to see and still spouts the Party line. I guess the pull of keeping a good job is more important than honesty and integrity. Or maybe he is writing things like this that are so blatantly absurd, he is fighting against the system in an indirect way.
ReplyDeleteBotswana is the cream of the sub-Saharan crop for a very good reason: De Beers.
ReplyDeleteRubbish. Capable governance is not correlated with the presence of extractive industries (look at Venezuela) and north of eighty percent of Botswana's domestic product is derived from sources other than extractive industries. Look at the disaster of Sierra Leone or the Congo if you want to see what the presence of minerals can sometimes do to a country.
We’re Mediterranean. I’ve never been to Greece or Italy, but I’m sure I’d be at home there as soon as I landed.”
ReplyDeleteHe would, too, I thought
Um, no. Italy has a homicide rate around about 0.9 per 100,000. The homicide rate in the New Orleans municipality bounces around 53 per 100,000. I think suburbs of New Orleans (e.g. Jefferson Parish) have homicide rates in the range of 10 per 100,000. That in the five boroughs of New York City is 5.1 per 100,000.
There's a pretty funny takedown of this article (and writer) on Ace Of Spades.
ReplyDeletehttp://minx.cc/?post=342202
It's not exactly filled with brilliant insights, but the links to some of O'Hehir's other overwrought reviews were pretty great. Seems like the guy has gotten "unsettled" by a lot more than District 9.
Hannity is responsible for Detroit's downfall?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was Sailer who, at the age of 7 in the mid-60s, spread pamphlets urging blacks to burn down and loot Detroit.
O'Hehir is to blame for Detroit since he is a riot.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteUm, no. Italy has a homicide rate around about 0.9 per 100,000. The homicide rate in the New Orleans municipality bounces around 53 per 100,000. I think suburbs of New Orleans (e.g. Jefferson Parish) have homicide rates in the range of 10 per 100,000. That in the five boroughs of New York City is 5.1 per 100,000.
Amen, Art Deco, amen.
Also, if the crime rates that horrendous, how bad you think the public schools are?
Notice: no one ever claims how great or outstanding or amazing brilliant the schools tend to be.
When observing matters of education, IQ and such and such I tend to go by the ol' canary in the coal mine: The Jews. NO's Jewish population is about 1%. That alone should tell us all we need to know regarding the substandard schools in NO.
One thing Jews know, is how to educate and book learn their own and they wont stand for sending little Bernie and Sarah to abysmal failing substandard schools especially where they can get beaten up and harrassed by bigger Tyrone, Tyree, and cousin to Trayvon.
Think the smart money on a city of at least 300k would be to bet on Seattle. Better schools, better jobs, cooler climate, nicer and safer suburbs and overall better for a certain sort to live.
"O'Hehir is just about the only conventionally liberal film critic who is aware that many top filmmakers aren't conventional liberals."
ReplyDeleteThis makes him unconventionally liberal.
To a Leftist, even Liberalism is 'rightwing'.
Nation mag attacked Carter, Ted Kennedy, and Clinton as pro-big-business rightwingers.
Perspective is everything.
To a paleocon, neocons are libs; and to a lefty, libs are too much a part of the establishment.
If O'Hehir is still somewhat united with Liberals, it's because he hates Fox and Limbaugh even more.
"But the long, hot summer of 2013 – the summer of Paula Deen’s Aunt Jemima costumes and the upside-down O.J. verdict of the George Zimmerman case"
ReplyDeleteSo a "long hot summer" now means
1) A minor celebrity asking a woman to wear a costume at some indeterminate time in the past (but certainly before this summer)
2) A Hispanic man being allowed to ask in self-defense.
Can people like O'Hehir not see their descent into self-parody? Or are they secretly mocking all the "racism" panics?
What percentage of blacks in Detroit or New Orleans had anything to do with creating any music, whether Motown sound or Jazz?
ReplyDelete"The truth of the matter is that these black commentators were in a subconscious way making fun of her...."
ReplyDeleteTommy Ethers Trayvon Martin’s Friend Rachel Jeantel & Her Supporters!!
(Caution: blue language)
Anonymous said
ReplyDelete"David M. said...
And now I say....
Dude. We get it you're from there.
AGAIN, we could basically name just 'bout EVERY city of 300,000 plus in good ol' USA"
Glad you mentioned Tulsa, since I've lived there too (and lots of other places as well). Tulsa is indeed a nice place - and a much safer environment to raise a family. I would totally understand why the majority of people, especially those with families, would choose to live in Tulsa over New Orleans. But if you can't see any significant advantages that New Orleans has over Tulsa, there's two possible explanations:
1) You don't know anything about New Orleans
2) You're indifferent to a lot of good things in life
In either case, you're not going to get it. But there are people who do appreciate these sort of things, which is one of the reasons why New Orleans is currently the fastest growing city in the country, and why people stick it out there despite its problems. And it's also why rich and famous people like to buy houses there, and not so much in Tulsa.
http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/man-up-abc-news-editor-who-became-woman-in-may-now-back-to-being-a-guy-again/
ReplyDeleteA new category of sexuals:
Indecisive-sexuals.
"What percentage of blacks in Detroit or New Orleans had anything to do with creating any music, whether Motown sound or Jazz?"
ReplyDeleteWell, maybe under the more 'inclusive' definition of creativity, any kind of noise--shouting, hollering, smashing cars, etc--is music.
Btw, I just came up with the most brilliant theory that explains the demise of Germany in WWI and WWII.
You see, Germans were envied and resented for their great music, warrior spirit, cultural pride, romantic passion, philosophical profundity, industriousness, efficiency, and etc.
So, there was a conspiracy to 'punish' Germany by forcing it into wars it couldn't win.
Well, that finally explains everything. And of course, Joos were behind it all.
O'Hehir has inspired me to see the light.
If Detroit and New Orleans were especially punished for having been musically creative, why was Gary 'punished' too? I guess white 'racists' couldn't stand the fact Michael Jackson came from there.
ReplyDeleteWhy were the black parts of St. Louis also 'punished'? I guess white envy of St. Louis ribs.
Btw, this conspiracy theory sounds like projection.
'Racist' whites may grumble about many parts of America, but they make no concerted effort to punish any of them. They just wanna mind their own business.
It is the Libs who call for economic boycotts and federal government coercion against places that oppose homo agenda or may elect politicians that Libs don't like. Hollywood threatened boycott against Colorado over the gay thing, California libs called for boycott against Arizona over immigration policy, and libs called for boycott of Florida over the Zimmerman thing. Punish entire states or communities for not submitting to certain agendas.
And nations too. Liberal Zionists and neocons are totally agreed upon pressing Obama to keep punishing Iran for nukes it doesn't have.
And Albright didn't mind that 500,000 Iraqi women and children suffered horribly when Iraq was economically punished under Clinton. Obama said nothing about Israel's punishment of Gaza--and I doubt if O'hehir raised that issue.
Libs seem to be okay with Obama punishing Libya and Syria by sending massive shiploads to rebels.
So, when it comes to conspiring to punish communities and nations for political reasons, O'Hehir's side is the real expert... but slimeball O'Hehir projects it on the 'right', just like CNN blames the murder of a homo black by other blacks on the 'ugly past' of white 'racism'.
What's the difference between Nikita Khrushchev and Martin Luther King?
ReplyDeleteThere was one American city Khrushchev would not have destroyed.
Phoenix is in Maricopia county and the Republcians did better there than in Houston or Dallas but I read a lot of bad mouth from Republicans about Phoenix because of McCain and blaming liberal Californians moving there but in Texas no one blames blacks or Hispanics for Houston or Dallas going to Obama. The right doesn't like any city that is in a blue state or purple state even if that city voted more Republican than some cities in red states.
ReplyDeleteA lot of housing in Phoneix is now under 300,000, so its probably cheaper than Denver. In fact the US Census shown a gain of 24,000 whites form 2011 to 2012 in the Maricopia area, it also voted the highest for the Republicans among the largest 10 counties, Republicans don't do well with large counties since second placed was Orange in California and both the two Texas giants went to Obama. Dallas and Houston.
ReplyDeleteRe: Brad Pitt
ReplyDeleteBenjamin Button was filmed there. Maybe he just enjoyed his time in New Orleans enough to spend, say, 1% of his wealth on a house there.
http://tokyofashion.com/pastel-hair-my-pet-monster-zaorick-harajuku/
ReplyDeleteSomeone should punish Tokyo.
Seriously, has ANY liberal actually lived for any length of time in a community that had a representative % of black people? How about attending a school with such a population?
ReplyDeleteLibs try so hard to be "intellectual," yet they exhibit neither common sense nor any indication that they've actually studied hard science nor social science data. They are truly lost causes and do nothing but embarrass themselves.
I can envision the Last White Man, after spending long years on the run, finally being tracked down and captured in, say, 2253. As he is being paraded before cameras and jubilating crowds, society debates whether his capture alone can finally lay to rest the old racial narrative or whether he should stand trial for crimes against humanity (he was White and he was attempting to live on, after all). To be sure, the consequences of white existence may well linger for centuries, but humanity would at long last be free of whites acting in the world.
ReplyDeleteThis is in the long obsolete classical model of racism, dumbass. In the quantum model, even a single white OBSERVER is enough to f@#k it up for an entire continent.
Hang on, you can stop composing that all-caps comment – I don’t actually believe that what happened to Detroit and New Orleans resulted from anyone’s conscious plan. Real history is much more complicated than that. I do, however, think that narrative has some validity on a psychological level
Oh boy. So in addition to quantum racism, the enlightened members of the reality-based community now believe in- racial-kinesis? Racist-occhio?
Another sub-text of this article is O'Hehir's embarrassment for becoming a lame, middle-aged white guy with lame, middle-aged musical tastes. Smokey Robinson? Do black kids know who he is any better than they know Rosa Parks? Eminem trading verses with Rihanna? I heard that one years ago in the second lamest venue for exposure to new music outside an office building elevator- namely a department store- which means it was old and kinnda lame even then. Maybe that's why he uses such ironically over-the-top lame expressions ("hot jazz", "shake a tail feather")- he has become a pudgy, lame-ass, weekend BBQ-ing white burgher just like me.
On the Republican side I predict Texas to go bankrupt by cutting the taxes and having to spend because of a minority population Why, Texas has imported politicans from Orange County Ca, particularly Perry adviser Chuck Devore Remember Orange County went bankrupt because its investments went sour and the OC in the 1990's was starting to get pretty hispanic and increasing in the Asian population which isn't always rich. A Republican county in Alabama went bankrupt because they didn't want to rise the taxes either or cut their budget enough.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteItaly was very well governed in the Renaissance, with stable and free city-states. Nearly all of the largest cities in Europe were in Italy, as were the wealthiest.
The fact that we even know so much about their corruption and other flaws is a demonstration of their wealth that made corruption worthwhile, and the general freedom that allowed people to complain about it, and the high level of civilization such that people expected honesty and morality from their rulers.
No. I was re-reading Bertrand Russell's History of Western Philosophy recently. I would recommend it as a top-5 book to all HBD'ers. Russell is remarkable for being BOTH a mathematical near-genius and as acute and sensitive an observer of human nature as any of the great novelists (if not more so). In HBD fantasy quantitative terms it would be like SAT Math: 830, SAT Verbal: 890.
Anyway, one of the patterns in his section on medieval philosophy, which is chock full of background social history, is the cycle of corruption and reform. Basically the more vibrant Mediterranean/Italian Catholics would corrupt the church, at which point the more dour, priggish Teutonic Catholics would become shocked and reform it, leading to new vitality until another onset of corruption. This begins well before the Italian city states became wealthy- St. Bernard, etc. The cycle repeats all through the Middle Ages until the priggish, "earnest", German Martin Luther blows up united Western Christendom in disgust over Latin indulgences. A striking parallel to Germany and the Euro vs. the PIG nations....
Harry Baldwin:
ReplyDeleteThe point I was trying to make is a bit different. Many liberal whites like this O'Hehir subconsciously know the truth about blacks, but their "educated" consciousnesses know that this is hatethink. So they dare not say it themselves as if they believe it. So what the do is assume that other people are saying it. Sean Hannity is in reality a race denying race pandering neo/lamestream conservative. But O'Hehir saying that Hannity has said it (when Hannity has never said it) is O'Hehir's say of saying it himself but bouncing it off of people he doesn't like.
For instance, let's say that I thought that Bill Clinton was a child molester. (Note to peanut gallery: I don't think Bill Clinton was a child molester.) But I know if I say it, I can count the seconds until a process server knocks on my door. (For the sake of discussion, let's ignore the whole public figure doctrine.) So I write in a publicly read forum that, "I heard that Maureen Dowd has seen evidence that Bill Clinton is a child molester." That gets the "Bill Clinton is a child molester" meme in public view, it gives me plausible deniability in slander/libel lawsuit, and it impugns Maureen Dowd.
"Someday, I'm going to have to explain the racial emotions besetting F. Scott Fitzgerald."
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to bother.
Art Deco,
ReplyDeleteRubbish. Capable governance is not correlated with the presence of extractive industries (look at Venezuela) and north of eighty percent of Botswana's domestic product is derived from sources other than extractive industries.
Wikipedia reports that 36% of Botswana's GDP is mining, 16% light industry such as textiles, 3% agriculture, 45% selling services to these primary producers. Ie, rather than <20% of primary production being mining, it is 65%. Quite an error.
Furthermore, there's also reality. Venezuela's oil company is fscked up because the government controls the oil company. Botswana's government is not fscked up, because the diamond company controls the government. Also quite a difference...
I remember when I was a kid and specialized in sounding arrogant while getting my facts completely wrong. I hope you're the same age I was.
O'Hehir is the same "liberal" who noticed that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences looked too "white" and found that "damning", while noticing that counting jews would be "offensive", something only "ugly people would use for ugly reasons".
ReplyDeleteI've noticed that noticing this kind of noticing tends to get my comments here spiked. So much for the value of noticing.
Detroit is a story of the slavery of Sean Hannity.
ReplyDeleteJazz was born from the children and grandchildren of kidnapped Africans learning to play European instruments for the dance parties of biracial French-speaking aristocrats; Berry Gordy’s great Motown recordings borrowed the Detroit Symphony’s string section to create what he called “the Sound of Young America,” driving white teenagers to shake a tail feather at sock hops across the land. ...
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story! It's so good it should be true! Which pretty much sums up the liberal attitude to reality of all sorts.
Comrades! Do not lose faith in Diversity! President Obama's Five Year Plan for a post-racial utopia is working.
ReplyDeleteAny setbacks encountered are the work of subversive thought-kulaks. We must maintain constant vigilance to prevent their square, reactionary vibe from harshing the jazzy mellow of the revolution!
I'll third the call for an iSteve article on F. Scoot Fitzgerald. I'll hazard a guess it has to do with his Irish background- he was solid lace curtain, in-but-not-of upper class, with an ethnic connection to the founding stock, but still not 100% part of the club. Nose against the window type, though I bet that was more in his mind than anything. He did marry the daughter of the Alabama S.C., and went to Princeton. People don't seem to realize that, all the talk of rebellion and barefoot fiddling aside, the Irish are obsessed with respectability, especially the Easterners, who like most Easterners have no manners. There's this desire to ape completely WASP ways, all the while being a little hostile, always the outsider. It's no secret the styles of JFK and B.O. are so similar- Cape Cod, elite prep schools, etc. But, Steve can cobble together a more coherent explanation than I...
ReplyDeleteLove New Orlreans! There's no better place to have a good time.
ReplyDeleteThat said, don't stir out of The Quarter, the Garden District or the Warehouse District.
" It's no secret the styles of JFK and B.O. are so similar- Cape Cod, elite prep schools, etc. But, Steve can cobble together a more coherent explanation than I..."
ReplyDeleteI see no similarity at all. At least JFK was quick and witty and could carry on rapid Q&A with the press, or give a speech, without recourse to a teleprompter. He also took responsibility for his own deadly mistakes and gave evidence of genuinely caring about the future of this country and its citizens. He was a war hero, and his brother had been killed in that conflict. He dislike generals, but he had firsthand experience with the military and some sort rationale was there for calling him Commander in Chief. Of all the things Obama has been called, "Commander in Chief" (not automatically bestowed on the POTUS, orignally) is the most astonishing and hilarious.
And he would never have married M.O. Not even a white version.
For the nitty gritty of Italian politics circa 1500, let me recommend "Unlikely Prince: The Life and Times of Machiavelli."
ReplyDeleteGlad to read that Chuck DeVore is an aide to Perry in Texas. Good men.
And he would never have married M.O. Not even a white version.
ReplyDeleteHe certainly wouldnt have married them. Just f'ed em. Which he did many times.
Stop with the JFK verbal fellatio. He had more than enough during his lifetime. He wasn't a great president nor the greatest ever.
How'd he do on civil rights btw? Oh that's right. Not too well. Must be an Irish thing not to care about the coloreds.
David wrote
ReplyDelete) You don't know anything about New Orleans
David david david. This specious argument can be made in reverse. YOU dont know much about...Phoenix, Indy, OK City, Cincy, Buffalo and all other 300k plus cities.
2) You're indifferent to a lot of good things in life
Good things in life for me include low crime, excellent education for K-12, reasonable level of competence in city/local government.
NO doesnt fit that bill in those three areas. Notice you and others never try to even attempt to claim that NO has great schools. You also conveniently overlook how bad the crime rate is there. Why would I want to live long term in an urban area or its metro environ which has a steady odds that folks will be murdered or having everything stolen from them? What good is that?
In either case, you're not going to get it.
I do get it. You don't get Seattle. See, can do the same thing with any other single 300K city. They're basically all the same. Some are much safer and have better schools, wonder why that is? Still haven't addressed that and dont expect that you will anytime soon.
But there are people who do appreciate these sort of things, which is one of the reasons why New Orleans is currently the fastest growing city in the country,
BS. Seattle can make the same claim about population growth. And it has higher end tech related IQ based higher smarts jobs unlike vibrant oriented NO. Yup, tons are moving there for the chance to get bumped off.
and why people stick it out there despite its problems.
Cause they can't afford to leave, like Tyler Perry who aint comin' back if ya'll knowin what I'm a-sayin.
And it's also why rich and famous people like to buy houses there, and not so much in Tulsa.
Tulsa has its share of wealthy people. Left over from the oil industry and now the banking industry as well as engineering sectors. Except for oil production no one really thinks of New Orleans as a center of tech industry or banking or other high IQ related fields.
Ask yourself honestly one day,.....why that is?
There's no there there. Nice to visit but nothing there long term. It's like Cincy, Denver, Milwaukee
Indy.
At least Seattle and Portland are places on the rise. AGAIN....wonder why....that is?
Dave Pinsen said...
ReplyDeleteSteve and David M. are right about New Orleans. It's a beautiful and historic city, and it's quite pleasant outside of the summer months. It also has a vibe you won't find elsewhere in the US. More like Rio de Janeiro than New York (albeit much smaller than either).
Every single 300K US city has its own "vibe". what are we now, hippie new agers? NO is also very vibrant. Observing its crime rates, verrrryyy vibrant.47
Just not seeing the massive millions wanting so desperately to move to.....New Orleans! Or....Milwaukee! YEAH! That's the ticket! Gotta bet the farm and move all the way to Cincy! cause THATS the future!
ReplyDeleteBank on it
I assume that you grew up in Ohio or Indiana or Wisconsin before moving to SF or maybe NYC as an adult.
A Republican county in Alabama went bankrupt because they didn't want to rise the taxes either or cut their budget enough.
Birmingham, Alabama went bk under a black Democrat mayor and a Democrat city council.
One of the things New Orleans has in common with Rio de Janeiro (and not, say, Tulsa) is the laid-back vibe toward drinking. You can drink on the street all night. Both have local coffee spots you won't find in Tulsa (Cafe du Monde and Cafeina, respectively). Both cities host big, prelenten bashes.
ReplyDeleteThere are reasons why New Orleans attracts more tourists, wealthy home buyers, and conventions than Tulsa. One is that New Orleans has better restaurants than any other American city its size. None of those groups cares about its public schools. Brad Pitt isn't going to send his kids to public schools in New Orleans. Maybe he'll send them to the school that Michael Lewis went to.
"I can envision the Last White Man, after spending long years on the run, finally being tracked down and captured in, say, 2253. As he is being paraded before cameras and jubilating crowds..."
ReplyDeleteYou're saying there will be cameras?
Steve says: Compare Botswana to another resource-rich African country, Equatorial Guinea.
ReplyDeleteArt Deco says: Look at the disaster of Sierra Leone or the Congo if you want to see what the presence of minerals can sometimes do to a country.
You don't even have to go that far. Zimbabwe has the largest platinum reserves in the world, and considerable diamond reserves itself.
If I had to guess what accounts for Botswana's success, I would say that being a former British protectorate, having a relatively peaceful transition to majority rule, and having a sparse population have all helped.
Calling Botswana's economic situation "modern private colonialism" sounds like an accusation a leftist worried about African exploitation would make. The countries' main business, Debswana, is jointly owned by the government and De Beers. But the government is democratically elected, black ruled, and freely chooses to partner with De Beers in this way. In what sense, then, is Debswana a colonialist enterprise? It would be more accurate to say that Botswana's economy is an example of how well an African country can do if it's willing to partner with white businesses.
"Speaking of which, what's up with Sandra Bullock, Brangelina, and some other hollywood elites buying houses in NO area? Are they attempting to gentrify the area a la DC? If that's the case they have a ways to go, demographically speaking."
ReplyDeleteThere's a good answer as to why these people are moving to New Orleans, and it goes like this:
Because they can afford to, and they god-damned fucking want to! So a better use of your time would be to rack your brain as to how you can parley your $40,000 salary into more so that you can move from the Midwest to your dream city of Portland where other white people wont see your ironic t-shirt, handlebar moustache, and grand-puba hat and brand you as a total freak, on sight.
"International opinion on the [Zimbabwe election] is sharply divided with Western countries generally condemning it, while most African leaders - except Botswana [sic] - have congratulated Mr Mugabe on his re-election." - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23591941
ReplyDeleteBotswana didn't get independence until 1986, shortly before the diamond discoveries. Perhaps it learned from the mistakes of the previous 25 years of African independence?
ReplyDeleteSteve,
ReplyDeleteYou're off by 20 years: Botswana's independence was in 1966. Many French colonies had recently gained independence in west Africa, but Zambia was then the only black-ruled southern African country. I doubt that Botswana's first black president had much precedent to go on in those terms. (He was, however, educated at Oxford and married a white woman there. Perhaps this helped make him more Western- and market-friendly than other African rulers?)
Welles's speech was in fact Welles's speech. It wasn't in the novel or the script. Orson just threw it in there, possibly making it up on the fly.
ReplyDeleteWelles was from the same state as Houdini, Joe McCarthy, Liberace, Ed Gien and Jeffrey Dahmer. Sounds pretty Borgian to me.
Antioco Dascalon: your point is well taken but Harrisburg's a lot smaller than the other cities you listed. Per laat Census I just checked now it's majority black (makes sense, due to state employers) but I hadn't realized it despite several trips there. Probably never got big enough to become a collapsed manufacturing husk like Flint or Newark, let alone have distinctive musicians. I think it's funny that the Salon writer prejudicially auto-associates urban decay with blacks--San Bernardino and Central Falls R.I. are similarly disastrous burgs but at least aren't seen to be goring any SWPL's ox.
ReplyDeleteIn that Ace of Spades entry above he linked the (quite amusing) 2010 semi-riposte by Roger Ebert; that explanatory link ought to accompany all future posts of Sailer praising harebrained O'Hehir's reviewing acumen.
ReplyDeleteDunno WTF that guy's talking about. I love me some Detroit.
ReplyDeleteI love sticking Detroit under libs' noses. It's libs who can't stand Detroit, talking about Detroit, or thinking about Detroit.
Comparing New Orleans to Detroit is just downright idiotic. Check out your facts and you will see that New Orleans is only about 40% AA post Katrina and has a white mayor. Also, last time I checked, tourists weren't flocking to Detroit to soak up the local culture and arguably the finest local cuisine in the United States. I am white, very well educated and gainfully employed making over 100K living in the inner city. I guess I should pack up and go since this great light has just shined upon me.
ReplyDelete