Poverty Inc.: The Sack of Huntsville

Yes, the word is elicit. Since it came from a direct quote that I put in italics from another author, I left it alone. With today's spell checkers, words often get switched.

We should probably just agree to respectfully disagree but you have put several words in my mouth, most likely unintentionally, that require clarification.

Nowhere in my reply did I make the claim that my readers here at Free Republic are lazy (If they were my readers, they would not be lazy.). What I said was:

Attempting to provoke thought (by using some non-linear techniques) is not an easy task. With many readers, this style will fall flat. Some people do not like it and they are perfectly free not to. There are also some that do.

By your own words, you prefer plain, unadorned facts. Most people do and there is nothing wrong with that either. My preference is for a complex, non-linear style which can easily fall flat with the just the facts crowd. In my opinion, our disagreement is more about style than substance.

I also did not accuse every Freeper or even you of expecting to be spoon fed. I just made a simple statement of fact that many people do. In any large group of people, human nature dictates that a fairly large number do not want to have to think too deeply. This is obviously not my target audience either..

The vast majority of posters at Free Republic excerpt only the topic paragraph and that is exactly what I did. By definition, the topic paragraph should be a teaser. Further, it would be a stretch to assume that any excerpt should provide an adequate basis for any real discussion.

What you seem to be proposing is the posting of entire sections of articles in the excerpt section, which I believe is a violation of copyright laws (for most items) and is against Free Republic policy.

When taken as a whole (the title, excerpt, initial comment, and keywords), one would be hard pressed to claim that they were inadequate to forewarn the reader about what the post would be about:

Title: Poverty Inc.: The Sack of Huntsville

Poverty Inc. - It is common to put “Inc.” after a word to indicate that something has been turned into a big business (i.e. the poverty business) (e.g. government welfare agencies, community organizers, non-profits, legal foundations).

Sack – Even though I thought sack was a pretty common word, apparently high school world history classes no longer teach about the sack of Jerusalem, Rome and/or Constantinople anymore because that is where I learned about many of these topics.

Huntsville – I would assume that the majority of adults know that Huntsville is a city somewhere in the South.

When put together, the title tells one that the article will be about poverty advocacy groups somehow destroying a southern city. On top of this, one of the key words is “Fair Housing,” which should be a familiar term for anyone that casually reads the new. This is the a tip off that the it will be about housing advocacy groups in particular.

Excerpt:

“In the Spring of 1968 at the Bing Nursery School in Palo Alto California, America came to an end. Within its walls, the elites learned just how cheaply our souls could be had: All it cost was a couple of minutes and one marshmallow per soul on average.”

In 1997, the author, Daniel Goleman published the book, Emotional Intelligence, in response the the controversial book, the Bell Curve. EI was a smash world-wide hit. With the author appearing on numerous radio and tv shows. I was living in Tokyo at the time and the Japanese translation was a hit even over there and a hot topic of conversation in the media there too. The book is still in print and has spawned many knock offs and follow up versions. Check Amazon and you will clearly see that is has spawned a whole emotional intelligence publishing industry that continues to this day.

In any case, the book popularized the Bing Nursery School Marshmallow experiment. Goleman used to fascinate tv and radio audiences with tales of it so it is part of popular culture. Also anyone with even a passing interest in psychology, particularly behavioral psychology, is certainly aware of it.

You should also note that the article was posted as a Science topic. I often see scientific article posted at Freeper that contain complex scientific terms without explanations let alone ones that are part of popular culture and have yet to see any complaints about them.

America came to an end – This clearly indicates that America has sold its soul.

How Cheaply Our Souls Could Be Had – While this does presume some biblical knowledge, I feel pretty safe that this is not an issue at Free Republic. Most people should know that souls are sold to the devil for some temptation. In this case our souls are being sold cheaply.

When one puts the title together with the excerpt, you get:

A Southern City is being destroyed by fair housing poverty advocates. This involves involves a change in the American character that will destroy our whole country.

If one is familiar with the Marshmallow Experiment, you would understand that this change is the loss of self control, which is the most important determinant to success.

Comment Section Quotes:

I have posted quotes for one of the most famous episodes in the new testament and one of the most important works of Western literature. Since most children are taught the bible and the tale of Odysseus and the sirens is also featured in many cartoons and family oriented movies, they should be familiar to most people even those without a high level of education. Both of these quotes involve resisting temptation via self control.

Since both Jesus and Odysseus resist temptation, they are meant to serve as a hopeful bookend to the grim excerpt. There is hope for America and that hope is self control.

When one puts everything together you would get this:

An American city in the South is being destroyed by fair housing poverty advocates. This involves a change in American character related to the loss of the most important determinant to success, self control, that will destroy us all. There is hope if we resist temptations for cheap riches and maintain self discipline.

Blog Pimp

If my post consisted of just my excerpt and a few scraps, I would agree with the Blog Pimp characterization but that is not the case. In fact, its scope and references would more likely overwhelm most readers who typically expect to tackle much more modest articles.

It is funny that you mention me baiting users who appear almost hopeless to resist my temptations because it oddly parallels the marshmallow test scenario. If JQ is up there with marshmallows, America must truly be doomed.

Amongst other things, the post is rather large and took several days to compile plus discussion boards have format limits, otherwise, I might take you up on your suggestion.

Any writing beyond an elementary level relies on literary techniques. They are not suitable for children as they would sail over their heads.. By definition, a topic paragraph should be compelling. It should also promote discussion which mine certainly has done. I have already provided a detailed analysis of it via a separate reply to help clear up any confusion. Per your request, I have already provided you with a detailed outline and have clarified other items. As far as seeking your hit, please do not read my blog post as you probably will not enjoy it.

In regards to the pimping allegation:

I am a conservative blogger who has received consistently high comments. My post involves the importance of self reliance and uses biblical references for support. In my book, that is about as conservative as one can get.

I have conscientiously joined in every discussion for the small number of items that I have posted and have attempted to respectfully respond to all comments directed to me. Even to the extreme of providing a detailed outline and analysis of my title, excerpt, comment and tags.

My post involves sharing research that has shown to accurately predict success and happiness in life. This is certainly an important topic.

"Per your request, I have already provided you with a detailed outline and have clarified other items. As far as seeking your hit, please do not read my blog post as you probably will not enjoy it. "

You are probably right.

I generally do not enjoy arrogant pedantry.

If you somehow took offense to my comment, please accept my apologies.

You mentioned that you felt I was cajoling you to read my post so I was telling you not to bother because you would not like it. Based on your comments, it seemed obvious to me that it was not for you.

I honestly do not want to waste your time and would rather have one person read it and enjoy than have a thousand people read it and have a bad time.

Hope there are no hard feelings.

Doesn’t matter if you’re bi-sacksual.

When I lived there in the sixties, there were no poor people: only Rocket Scientists, Engineers and Computer Programmers

We must have lived in a different 60's.

In my 1960's, there were plenty of poor people.

In fact, I visited Galveston recently where I lived for some time in my childhood and the same projects were right down the street from my old house.

In my 1960's, there were plenty of poor people.

You were in Huntsville Alabama in 1965?

The Saturn 1B rocket was being built then.

Where most Southern towns rolled up the sidewalks at 06:00 PM, "The Rocket City" was open 24/7. The tremendous local population explosion included the German Rocket Scientists from Peenemünde along with a very large contingent of Military and Industry professionals to support our "Giant Step for Mankind." You could count the poor people in Huntsville back then on your fingers.

The Davis Hills subdivision where we lived sprang up almost overnight. Day-by-day on a previously empty street there would be suddenly six or seven foundations, each with four basement walls and a slab. The next day they had four walls and a roof dried in for each home. The next day they had the bathrooms plumbed and tiled, with the painters racing to keep up. This happened with waves of houses all over the city back then. I even got a job cleaning up after the construction and sprigging Bermuda Grass in the new yards out in the blazing sun.

Thanks for clarifying. It sounds like it must have been a wonderful place. No, I was in Galveston not Huntsville. Galveston also benefited from the space program due to its proximity to "Houston Control."

Huntsville was used as the backdrop for my post because it is the latest victim of HUD poverty decentralization programs. Huntsville was a good choice because it is a midsized southern city that people normally do not associate with crime and poverty.

People soon will though. The Huntsville Housing Authority has already demolished the Council Courts Projects near the medical center and have moved many of the residents to luxury apartment complexes that the Housing Authority has purchased on the south side of town.

Like many once great Southern cities, Huntsville will soon spiral out of control. Do you know that Atlanta, Birmingham, Orlando, Memphis and Miami now make up 5 of the top 7 most dangerous cities in the US? If you include St. Louis, which is a border city, six out of seven are Southern, leaving only Detroit as the only non-southern one.

The 11 Most Dangerous Cities

It turns out that they have all become victims of the poorly thought out plan to disperse poverty. First HUD broke the families, a lot of them black, with welfare dependency in concentrated projects and now they are dispersing these people throughout cities all over the South. A policy that has been shown to increase overall violent crime rates and tip marginal communities into poverty, thus increasing the overall poverty rate too.

Why Is Memphis the New South Bronx?

Local experts offer an unsettling answer: demolition of low-income housing projects isn’t eradicating crime and poverty by giving residents a fresh start—it’s just decentralizing and relocating the problem.

The big difference between then and now is the poverty of spirit nowadays. Instead of being proud and self reliant, a whole generations had been raised to be dependent and feel entitled.

It is one of the great unpublished news stories of our day. One that you will not hear widely publicized in our major media because it would not make our President look good. Their is also to much graft to be had on building projects.