Rethinking Victimhood

Front Page Magazine ^ | 05/28/10 | Thomas Sowell

[TigerLikesRooster]

Rethinking Victimhood

Posted By Thomas Sowell On May 28, 2010 @ 12:00 am In FrontPage | 1 Comment

A heartbreaking social statistic is that children on welfare have only about half as many words per day directed at them as the children of working-class families— and less than one-third as many words as children whose parents are professionals. This is especially painful in view of the fact that scientists have found that the actual physical development of the brain is affected by how much interaction young children receive.

Even if every child entered the world with equal innate ability, by the time they were grown they would nevertheless have very different mental capabilities. Innate ability is the ability that exists at the moment of conception, but nobody applies for a job or for college admission at the moment of conception. Even between conception and birth, other influences affect the development of the brain, as well as the rest of the body.

The mother’s diet and her intake of alcohol or drugs affects the unborn child. Differences in the amount of nutrition received in the womb create differences even between identical twins. Where one of these identical twins is born significantly heavier than the other, and the lighter one falls below some critical weight, the heavier one tends to have a higher IQ in later years. They may be the same weight when they become adults, but they didn’t get the same nutrition back when their brains were first developing.

[Spudx7]

The idea that people are victims of their circumstances and therefore not as responsible for their crimes has prevailed in the US court system only since an evolutionary/secular humanism worldview has replaced a Judeo-Christian worldview in our society.

A Judeo-Christian worldview holds individuals accountable for their actions regardless of their circumstances. To quote Comedian Bone, “It doesn't say thou shalt not steal unless thou is hungry.” This is exactly how our society used to approach people who chose to do the wrong thing.

It's my understanding that Clarance Darrow was instrumental in changing the courts approach to those charged with a crime...not through the Scopes trial, I think it was the People vs. Leopold?? Worldviews matter.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Years ago, I was on a NYC subway sitting across from a young, very welfare-looking black woman and her baby in a stroller. She was interacting with the baby, which was nice to see (many of these women are far too absorbed in the music blasting into their ears or the boyfriend-of-the-week sitting next to them, to pay the slightest attention to their babies). But she was communicating with the tot in grunts, literally. I couldn’t make out anything remotely resembling a word, and I’m pretty familiar with Ebonics from years of riding the NYC subway. She might as well have been a dog or a monkey, for all the language exposure her baby was getting from her. It was really scary. Probably her own mother was similarly nonverbal, and she never stood a chance.

[rhoda_penmark]

“She might as well have been a dog or a monkey”
I can’t speak for monkeys, but please don’t insult dogs. ;-)

[r-q-tek86]

I looked back through my pings this time. I think this is one you did’t get for your list.

[r-q-tek86]

Dangit! Although now that I read it more carefully, it seemd to be one of those that is posted under a different title.

Maybe I should quit trying to help and leave the Sowell pings to the professional. ;-)

[jazusamo]

:-)

Thanks anyway, I do appreciate the pings.

It really is confusing, it used to be that only one or two sites changed titles now there’s a bunch that do it.