A person with an irrational belief system is insane, A small group with an irrational belief system is a cult. A group of thousands with an irrational belief system is a sect. A group of millions with an irrational belief system is a religion. Clearly the Chicago City Council can only receive solace and wisdom from the last.
EZ, thank you for putting a broader perspective on the statistics showing police shooting are "far less the result of the racism of individual police officers than of historical, systemic racism."
Thankfully, there are far fewer, if any, examples of systemically racist laws or policies in Government or publicly traded entities in today's world. I hope that trend continues to spread to private entities and to individuals of all races.
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports, for the past several years, blacks who represent 13% of the population are the offenders in over 50% of homicides and 50% of robberies nationally. I suppose you can automatically attribute this to institutional racism, and call it a day.
But there are likely a plethora of other factors that play into to this such as almost 3 of 4 black children being born into single parent families which statistically sentences them to more academic failure, increased use of drugs and increased engagement with the criminal justice system. Also black children disportionantly live in large cities with enslavement to the failing inner city public schools. (But giving low income black kids vouchers for school choice is viscerally opposed by the public teacher unions, so that is off limits.)
So yes, police in urban areas have distortionate contact with black offenders and blacks are distortionately represented in the prison population. It's not poverty, because numerically there are many more poor non-black people than black people. But I guess it just easier for everyone to state with authority that this is result of discrimination and excluding any other factors from consideration and never be able to identify and address real root causes.
It's a complex web of causes to be sure, many of them linked to racism and out nation's original sin, but you seem to be hinting at an explanation that goes to something inherent in Black people, but since I don't think you really think that, what ARE you saying here?
I do not claim to have all the answers. But my main point is that it is just a knee-jerk reaction of those on the left and in some segments of the black community to automatically attribute every social ill and bad consequence for blacks to institutional racism. I think that's way too simplistic and excludes behavioral and possibly many other factors.
Slavery was in fact a very grievous sin and stain on this nation. However, slavery has existed in virtually every society since the beginning of time, and continues to exist in many countries today. But the US is perhaps the only country in the history of the world that fought a civil war to eliminate slavery at the cost of 600,000 overwhelmingly white Union casualties.
Multiple factors can be true at that same time, and they're cumulative. "Poverty", "lack of fathers", "guns", etc. don't necessarily explain crime individually, but start combining them and bad behavior gets tempting for a small but significant enough percentage. Traditional factors don't explain a wave however, especially during times of historically low poverty and unemployment rates. For that, we can thank social media, police pull back/staffing, prosecutorial discretion changes, the pandemic, and an unhealthy dose of what Thomas Sowell warned about many years ago:
"those promoting visions of cosmic injustices as the cause of all the problems of black Americans have failed to understand the consequences of this vision for young blacks who do not have either the personal experience or the maturity to weigh those words against reality. The net result has been the development of an attitude of hostility to learning or to conforming to ordinary standards of behavior in society".
Regarding reserved teacher parking: When I worked in Evanston (school librarian) there was often no parking available, and towing signs up, due to snow or other restrictions. The school did not reserve spaces for teachers. It often took a long time to finally find somewhere to park, and then we had to walk a distance to get to school on time. Moving to another suburban school was bliss---they had a teacher/visitor parking lot!
EZ, could you explain what you mean by "community disinvestment". The term is commonly used by Lightfoot and Johnson as an excuse for crime and other problems in Chicago that city government should correct, but it is never specifically defined. I understand the terrible history of red-lining and Jim Crow, but in the last forty years, other than closing or consolidating schools in some neighborhoods due to low enrollment, what has the city government done to "disinvest" in these troubled neighborhoods? Close parks, shut down transit stops, leave streets unimproved? What public infrastructure, or youth programs does the city provide on the north side that they do not on the south side? Are you talking about the businesses and large employers that have left these neighborhoods? Is that something that can be blamed on the city government? When neighborhoods are on the upswing and private businesses and new housing move in I hear complaints of the evils of "gentrification". I have only lived here for the last twelve years so please educate me.
It's largely the flight of businesses, as I understand it, as well as where the TIF money for redevelopment is allocated. You can get caught up in chicken/egg debates, but I invite you to drive through some of these neighborhoods where the housing stock is lousy and shop windows are boarded up. Maybe you can educate ME on what you think the cause of this is?
Yes, I get it that these neighborhoods are very sad due to businesses moving out and I have driven through a few to visit some non-profits that are located there. But the confusing thing is often politicians talk like the city government has taken public funds out of the neighborhoods and has been the cause of disinvestment. I also understand the disagreement about TIF money, but as I understand it, like Lincoln Yards, a private business has to initiate wanting to go in and "invest and improve the area". I have looked at the Invest West/Southwest site and it seems that all those investments should help those neighborhoods greatly, but at the same time will cause upward pressure on rents and housing prices, like some of the controversy over the Obama Center.
“I don’t know that they’re insincere. And I don’t know what a neutral, functional definition of “religion” is if not an attitude or belief about the supernatural. I don’t particularly want government in the position of taking sides about what a valid or respectable belief is about God or gods or a lack thereof.” -- Zorn
It might be that invoking the presence of the biblical “evil one” with a “Hail Satan” at the start of the Chicago City Council meetings is problematic; and -- recognizing the devil and asserting the spiritual reality -- may seem offensive to some Christians and many other people of various secular views and/or faiths because it is the equivalent of welcoming a/their spiritual nemesis into the assembly:
“Your adversary, the devil (Satan), prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8)” … “The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10)” … and … “You (religious hypocrites) are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).”
So, if the Chicago City Counsel takes a neutral position on this, what is its moral and/or ethical position? After all, we know the biblical characterization of Satan is as an evil being causing universal havoc in the world: Is this a good or evil – if symbolic and/or real -- influence to invoke for Chicago?
I agree with Eric that Chicago is best to steer clear (1st Amendment) of imposing religious interpretations onto the public; but isn’t that equally true of any ideology that can be considered “religious” … like atheism, satanism, or Christianity for example? And, aren’t many moral/ethical/legal positions in Chicago tied into these more traditional definitions, like the secular outlawing of murder and thievery?
But then again, on its face, maybe the evil Satan already feels quite cozy, welcome, and comfortable in Chicago and at the Chicago City Council meetings; … and there is no real change needed or offense indicated when invoking Satan in this obfuscating matter to be concerned about at all.
A person with an irrational belief system is insane, A small group with an irrational belief system is a cult. A group of thousands with an irrational belief system is a sect. A group of millions with an irrational belief system is a religion. Clearly the Chicago City Council can only receive solace and wisdom from the last.
Jesus on a repair truck looks like a South Park Canadian.
For me, this tweet needs explanation: "Veggies see you reach for pudding".
I think that Jack Nicholson is an old veggie sarcastically reminding you of your poor choices. For me, it took too much thought to be funny.
EZ, thank you for putting a broader perspective on the statistics showing police shooting are "far less the result of the racism of individual police officers than of historical, systemic racism."
Thankfully, there are far fewer, if any, examples of systemically racist laws or policies in Government or publicly traded entities in today's world. I hope that trend continues to spread to private entities and to individuals of all races.
According to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports, for the past several years, blacks who represent 13% of the population are the offenders in over 50% of homicides and 50% of robberies nationally. I suppose you can automatically attribute this to institutional racism, and call it a day.
But there are likely a plethora of other factors that play into to this such as almost 3 of 4 black children being born into single parent families which statistically sentences them to more academic failure, increased use of drugs and increased engagement with the criminal justice system. Also black children disportionantly live in large cities with enslavement to the failing inner city public schools. (But giving low income black kids vouchers for school choice is viscerally opposed by the public teacher unions, so that is off limits.)
So yes, police in urban areas have distortionate contact with black offenders and blacks are distortionately represented in the prison population. It's not poverty, because numerically there are many more poor non-black people than black people. But I guess it just easier for everyone to state with authority that this is result of discrimination and excluding any other factors from consideration and never be able to identify and address real root causes.
It's a complex web of causes to be sure, many of them linked to racism and out nation's original sin, but you seem to be hinting at an explanation that goes to something inherent in Black people, but since I don't think you really think that, what ARE you saying here?
I do not claim to have all the answers. But my main point is that it is just a knee-jerk reaction of those on the left and in some segments of the black community to automatically attribute every social ill and bad consequence for blacks to institutional racism. I think that's way too simplistic and excludes behavioral and possibly many other factors.
Slavery was in fact a very grievous sin and stain on this nation. However, slavery has existed in virtually every society since the beginning of time, and continues to exist in many countries today. But the US is perhaps the only country in the history of the world that fought a civil war to eliminate slavery at the cost of 600,000 overwhelmingly white Union casualties.
Multiple factors can be true at that same time, and they're cumulative. "Poverty", "lack of fathers", "guns", etc. don't necessarily explain crime individually, but start combining them and bad behavior gets tempting for a small but significant enough percentage. Traditional factors don't explain a wave however, especially during times of historically low poverty and unemployment rates. For that, we can thank social media, police pull back/staffing, prosecutorial discretion changes, the pandemic, and an unhealthy dose of what Thomas Sowell warned about many years ago:
"those promoting visions of cosmic injustices as the cause of all the problems of black Americans have failed to understand the consequences of this vision for young blacks who do not have either the personal experience or the maturity to weigh those words against reality. The net result has been the development of an attitude of hostility to learning or to conforming to ordinary standards of behavior in society".
Regarding reserved teacher parking: When I worked in Evanston (school librarian) there was often no parking available, and towing signs up, due to snow or other restrictions. The school did not reserve spaces for teachers. It often took a long time to finally find somewhere to park, and then we had to walk a distance to get to school on time. Moving to another suburban school was bliss---they had a teacher/visitor parking lot!
EZ, could you explain what you mean by "community disinvestment". The term is commonly used by Lightfoot and Johnson as an excuse for crime and other problems in Chicago that city government should correct, but it is never specifically defined. I understand the terrible history of red-lining and Jim Crow, but in the last forty years, other than closing or consolidating schools in some neighborhoods due to low enrollment, what has the city government done to "disinvest" in these troubled neighborhoods? Close parks, shut down transit stops, leave streets unimproved? What public infrastructure, or youth programs does the city provide on the north side that they do not on the south side? Are you talking about the businesses and large employers that have left these neighborhoods? Is that something that can be blamed on the city government? When neighborhoods are on the upswing and private businesses and new housing move in I hear complaints of the evils of "gentrification". I have only lived here for the last twelve years so please educate me.
It's largely the flight of businesses, as I understand it, as well as where the TIF money for redevelopment is allocated. You can get caught up in chicken/egg debates, but I invite you to drive through some of these neighborhoods where the housing stock is lousy and shop windows are boarded up. Maybe you can educate ME on what you think the cause of this is?
Yes, I get it that these neighborhoods are very sad due to businesses moving out and I have driven through a few to visit some non-profits that are located there. But the confusing thing is often politicians talk like the city government has taken public funds out of the neighborhoods and has been the cause of disinvestment. I also understand the disagreement about TIF money, but as I understand it, like Lincoln Yards, a private business has to initiate wanting to go in and "invest and improve the area". I have looked at the Invest West/Southwest site and it seems that all those investments should help those neighborhoods greatly, but at the same time will cause upward pressure on rents and housing prices, like some of the controversy over the Obama Center.
Not sure you read Marge C.’s comment correctly.
“I don’t know that they’re insincere. And I don’t know what a neutral, functional definition of “religion” is if not an attitude or belief about the supernatural. I don’t particularly want government in the position of taking sides about what a valid or respectable belief is about God or gods or a lack thereof.” -- Zorn
It might be that invoking the presence of the biblical “evil one” with a “Hail Satan” at the start of the Chicago City Council meetings is problematic; and -- recognizing the devil and asserting the spiritual reality -- may seem offensive to some Christians and many other people of various secular views and/or faiths because it is the equivalent of welcoming a/their spiritual nemesis into the assembly:
“Your adversary, the devil (Satan), prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8)” … “The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10)” … and … “You (religious hypocrites) are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).”
So, if the Chicago City Counsel takes a neutral position on this, what is its moral and/or ethical position? After all, we know the biblical characterization of Satan is as an evil being causing universal havoc in the world: Is this a good or evil – if symbolic and/or real -- influence to invoke for Chicago?
I agree with Eric that Chicago is best to steer clear (1st Amendment) of imposing religious interpretations onto the public; but isn’t that equally true of any ideology that can be considered “religious” … like atheism, satanism, or Christianity for example? And, aren’t many moral/ethical/legal positions in Chicago tied into these more traditional definitions, like the secular outlawing of murder and thievery?
But then again, on its face, maybe the evil Satan already feels quite cozy, welcome, and comfortable in Chicago and at the Chicago City Council meetings; … and there is no real change needed or offense indicated when invoking Satan in this obfuscating matter to be concerned about at all.