Race and Abortion
Oct 4th 2005MichaelPro America
In a post I did the other day about Bill Bennett’s comment about using abortion for the benefit of reducing crime and the reaction on both sides of the aisle reacted differently but also predictably. Below are the comments with the context of the conversation.
CALLER: I noticed the national media, you know, they talk a lot about the loss of revenue, or the inability of the government to fund Social Security, and I was curious, and I’ve read articles in recent months here, that the abortions that have happened since Roe v. Wade, the lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30-something years, could fund Social Security as we know it today. And the media just doesn’t — never touches this at all.
BENNETT: Assuming they’re all productive citizens?
CALLER: Assuming that they are. Even if only a portion of them were, it would be an enormous amount of revenue.
BENNETT: Maybe, maybe, but we don’t know what the costs would be, too. I think as — abortion disproportionately occur among single women? No.
CALLER: I don’t know the exact statistics, but quite a bit are, yeah.
BENNETT: All right, well, I mean, I just don’t know. I would not argue for the pro-life position based on this, because you don’t know. I mean, it cuts both — you know, one of the arguments in this book Freakonomics that they make is that the declining crime rate, you know, they deal with this hypothesis, that one of the reasons crime is down is that abortion is up. Well –
CALLER: Well, I don’t think that statistic is accurate.
BENNETT: Well, I don’t think it is either, I don’t think it is either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don’t know. But I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could — if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.
I have read and re read this to make sure I understand what is being said. I don’t know if I got it write but this is what I think. Bill is reviewing a book that talks in hypothesis about different current social issues. The language Bill used could be construed as both pro and against this the topic they are discussing. I have listened to Bill on the radio once in a while when I am up very early (Arizona) and he seemed to be a very articulate person. Previous to this issue I believed that Bill dealt with tough issues in a very precise manner that would not leave people questioning what he said. (I am no expert in meaning of words). So I have been kind of confused by this discussion and given human nature on seeing and hearing what you want to I can see how people on each side of the race issue could see it in a way that supports their cause.
I expected some arguments on this topic but instead of this had a very insightful question that might lead us all to a better understanding of each other. I think that hearing different view points will allow us to become a better people.
So Lisa made brought some information that I did not know and asked a question that might bring some light to the race issue. Me being a tall white male, I can say that I don’t know how to put my self in her shoes and see the world from her point of view. I hope she helps me with that a little.
so here is the question:
I would like to know how many conservatives grew up around us? I know about these modern liberals already, but how many of you grew up around us too?
My answer is this; Their were two black kids in my school of 700 graduating class. Not a lot at all. They were not related. The Girl “Michelle” was a volley ball, track, soccer, star. She was also on the student counsel. “Gerald” was an outsider, he liked auto shop, metal shop, but not wood shop. Michelle was a part of the in crowd, she was always happy and positive. She was cute and was nice to everyone around her. Gerald was strong and tough and didn’t have many friends. Gerald lived two houses down from me and we were friends from eighth grade to after graduation. Michelle went to collage and was happily married with two teenagers at our twentieth reunion. Gerald was a no show so I don’t know what happened to him. I went into the Marine Corps and he went into the Army and we never talked after that.
While Michelle was accepted in our school and I don’t ever remember seeing any prejudice against her, I did see lots of prejudice against Gerald. Most of that came from parents at school events. Gerald and I would often be doing stupid kid stuff like all of the others but because he was black they were openly hostile and angry with him. This returned the anger in Gerald’s life and made it hard for him to make friends with even my other friends, who were also outsiders.
Race is an still an issue that brings strong feelings to the surface in both blacks and whites. We all need to admit to the fact that we treat people different based on their skin color. It is a fact I am not a racist but I see myself looking differently, changing my expectations of people and reacting differently based on race. I now have a group of friends that are black and I see them treat each other differently based on who is around. And they are very different when they are not around any each other.
It is going to take all of us to get over this. Racism is learned trait that starts very young and we need to make strides in stopping it before it rips America apart.
5 Comments »
5 Responses to “Race and Abortion”
FbL on 05 Oct 2005 at Wed 05 October 2005 11:27:13 #
Regarding Lisa’s comments
Sigh…
As a white woman, I’m am so tired of having to prove my lack of racism! What about innocent until proven guilty? Why the assumption that I didn’t–as Lisa writes–”grow up around us?” Why the automatic assumption that I was taught as a child to be a racist?
But I’ll do it once again. I didn’t not learn the racism trait–quite the opposite, as my father went out of his way to teach me that under the skin we were all equally different from each other and all worthy of respect and of getting to know so that we could better understand that which we didn’t experience.
My first best friend was an adopted girl from India raised by parents of two different races. My mother’s lifelong best friend (and a second mother to me) is black. In my high school, white was a plurality (not a majority). Our class president (and popular with all of us) was hispanic with a chinese last name, and the vice-president was a black boy from a gang-ridden neighborhood who had introduced me to rap in 1990. My high school circle of friends consisted of about equal numbers of blacks, whites, asians, and latinos; I visited their homes and we reveled in the different languages, music and foods we brought to each other (many were immigrants).
Then I went to college, walked into the cafeteria and discovered that each race sat at separate tables! Suddenly whites like me were supposed to look at ourselves and feel terribly guilty for the color of our skin, and we were supposed to learn that we were inherently racist.
And no, that doesn’t prove anything about whether or not I’m a racist. I can’t prove it unless you meet me and bother to interact with me. And I’m getting more and more tired of encountering people of a different skin color than me who don’t even bother to get to know me. And yes, you can say all “people of color” deal with that everyday. I’m sure they do. Thanks so much for being racist right back in my face and making assumptions about me and my background simply because of my skin color. You don’t deserve that, and neither do I.
And yes, I’m conservative in much of my political thinking, though I fall into the Libertarian camp.
FbL on 05 Oct 2005 at Wed 05 October 2005 11:37:29 #
Sorry to rant like that. I feel like race relations have gotten worse in the last 10-15 years, not better. I long so much for those days in high school where we felt free to interact honestly/acceptingly, and openly learn from each other as we did…
Seth on 05 Oct 2005 at Wed 05 October 2005 13:01:13 #
Much of todays racism only exists because of politicians on the left who need racism to keep their constituencies intact.
White people are supposed to feel guilty about being white while blacks are supposed to feel like they are being given the shaft by us and whichever Republican happens to be President. I didn’t see any concerted attempts at improvement during eight years of Clinton, just the usual reverse prejudice giveaways and lowered standards for blacks.
And Rightly So! » Racism, American Style on 13 Oct 2005 at Thu 13 October 2005 03:31:13 #
[...] Michael had a post up about this and has some interesting insights: I expected some arguments on this topic but instead of this had a very insightful question that might lead us all to a better understanding of each other. I think that hearing different view points will allow us to become a better people. [...]
Raven on 14 Oct 2005 at Fri 14 October 2005 03:34:49 #
Don’t get me going about this.
I’ve said how I feel…it’s all about money, cash as Ogre says. And it will only end when EVERYONE stops using the color of their skin as an excuse. I refuse to play the game anymore too…we’re all equal dammit and some of us really need to except that.