Lando 
Posted on 06/29/2005 7:30:23 PM PDT by Lando Lincoln
The gun control is a cause of the problem. What you said about personal responsibility and entitlement are true. If you start out making someone feel helpless and oppressed, then you make them the victim, then they feel entitled. There are far more good black folks out there than bad ones, but they can't clean up their neighborhoods because they are all disarmed. Again, only the criminals have guns so the good folks are held hostage byt the complacent 911 system. And if they move out of their neighborhood, they are coined, "Uncle Tom".
< Bill wasn't basing his criticism on income group. >
I agree. It's the black "culture" that is in trouble. It's not about money. The message is high income...low income..."get control of your kids".
I disagree, personal responsibility is a requirement for good citizenship. The right to bear arms is to protect oneself from those who don't practice personal responsibility.
Personal empowerment from a weapon is what makes folks climb the clocktower.
Lando
Not just the criminals have guns in black neighborhoods, everyone does. A common misperception.
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.
If you own a gun in New York, DC, or Chicago you are a criminal.
bump
Cosby had a moment on stage where he asked how a black from Africa could get into college, but not a black from LA? I know a man, from Nigeria with two sons, one starts at the Naval Academy this fall the other is on their short list. He would not let his children do anything that would not look like they are men of honor.
We disagree and agree. I believe that the right to bear arms is fundamentally rooted in personal empowerment and responsibility. By choosing to own and operate a firearm for the purpose of self-defense, one imparts to oneself a sense of empowerment that one can defend themselves against aggressors who would otherwise have the advantage of overwhelming force.
In other words, one acts responsibly by exercising their right to own a weapon for a legal purpose - self defense or hunting. The act of ownership of a firearm is an act of empowerment.
Examine the effect on a car. Similar to a gun, ownership of a car lends to a person sense of empowerment - that they can go anywhere the roads go. A gun lends a person a more personal sense of empowerment, that they can defend themselves.
It is psychological. If people are taught to rely on government for self defense, to rely on government for handouts, then that is an act of disempowerment. Now, remove their "right" to empower themselves - to own a weapon, or to get a job, or place the bar of entry to empowerment too high, then you end up with a recipe for structural poverty.
Bill Cosby has it right, as does the original poster who linked "the right to bear arms" to "personal empowerment". It is the "right to" that allows people to empower themselves. Just giving people a job, a car, a gun doesn't do anything for them unless they empower themselves. Telling them that everything they have can be taken away, that they own absolutely nothing in the world, is another way to disempower people.
Psychology. Bill Cosby is fighting against the psychological indoctrination of the Far Left that has immobilized and disempowered the poor. Of course there are always those who pull themselves out of the ghetto, but the numbers could be higher if the programs that immobilize them are removed or reformed to provide a hand up, rather than a hand out.
It's pretty devesting getting shot by people on your side.
He may lose his effectiveness if he switches. He can donate to Teddy Kennedy for all I care as long as he keeps the speaking tours preaching personal responsibility.
Bill Cosby is a rich old man who doesn't have to do anything more. People who want to hear what he has to say are lucky he is willing to make the effort. Critics should just shut up and stay away, if they don't like it.
I think he needs to get a little more blunt with these media weenies and place the blame where it belongs, not on the victims --- the kids and kids who have kids, destroyed before they even have a chance. He should directly target the preps; --- the welfare and "social advocate" industry parasites from ACORN to the ACLU, who have built power and fortunes on the basis of perpetuating poverty, ignorance and dysfunctionality, based on race.
I have no doubt Cosby understands this fact. The question is, does he have the guts to voice it? If anyone thinks he's catching heat now, just imagine the S**t he'll catch if he does go after the high roller perps.
Cosby is a conservative, as it happens. A good one too. His advice is good. Skin color doesn't matter. It's your acitons that count. He pulled himself up from the street. He's a damn fine role model, provided the sex charges are false (which I am fairly sure they are). He educated hiimself, and made something of himself and now has a positive message. Libs should listen instead of calling it a "Blame the poor tour". He's not blaming the poor. He's saying many, but not all, poor blacks (though its good advice that could apply to any people) have bad habits that holds them back. And he's not talking about the poor blacks who are doing better and better these days and becoming middle class, because they don't need his advice clearly.
The "high roller perps" also include the media, the record companies, the movie studios, the TV networks. They, light years more than "social advocates" are to blame. It's a lot to take on.
I guess that if someone does AGREE WITH YOU COMPLETELY they are no good.
s/b doesn't AGREE
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