Lestat de Lioncourt

If only others could/would follow the same system I'd bet a lot of the problems we see wouldn't be as bad as they are today. I don't know, but just maybe that would be true.

Thanks for everyone's input...it was greatly appreciated. Now, I think I'll hit the pages of the book and see what jumps out at me. Until then...

Lestat

Eikonoklast

Very interesting. I've had several conversations with one of my current college roomates and good friend, who happens to be black, about all types of issues dealing with race, including this one.

One thing that we can agree on is that there is a very strong anti-intellectualism that permeates the "black community", if you want to call it that. This is coupled with a strong emphasis on physical domination and intimidation, and self-destructive behaviors. Add to that, they still want riches, more affectionately known as *bling*bling*. . All of this is seen in gang violence, drug use, a high emphasis on playing sports, and most rap videos.

In a sense, they propagate this stereotype upon themselves, acting as if they are being oppressed by "the man", but not making a concerted effort to improve their situation in a more effective manner. Sometimes I feel as if they wish to be downtrodden, because they wear it with pride, like a badge of honor. Any attempt to part with the "pack", especially in terms of intellectual self-improvement, is seen as succombing to "the man" instead of dominating the man and doing as you please. These people are labled as Uncle Toms. Speech patterns are even a source of osctracization. My roomate is a prime example of this. He's been told that he sounds "too white". His response: "I thought I was just speaking English like it's supposed to be spoken".

Eikonoklast

This is a problem that has to deal with political correctness. People here are too PC. Everybody wants to be a politician for some reason. If you aren't, you can bet your ass someone is going to try and throw the race card, and of course, nobody wants that. Unfortunately, any real discussion that may have led up to that point instantly breaks down to a heated emotional debate and shouting match. This is a real problem. People are scared of offending other people instead of addressing the real issue. Instead of discussing behavioral problems in a meaningful way, many would like to patronize blacks and throw money around as if it is going to solve the problem. We would all be best served by a concerted effort to understand each other through dialogue instead of beating around the bush.

Ultron

You made my day Zar.

I've read D'Souza before but nothing from McWhorter. I think some blacks might play the race card too much but in my experience most of the ones I've been friends with just want to move on.

BTW I hope Al Sharpton wins the Democratic nomination because he is truer to the Democratic party's official stance than any of the other (12, no wait, 11, no wait... ) candidates. I like Lieberman the best but really, the Democrats need to play to their base not the middle/undecided.