I think they do encourage kids to do this, to some extent (to a great extent with very ambitious kids).
Right. That’s one reason they’re bad role models.
One in a million kids decides to follow their dream of becoming like these people and is actually successful at it. The rest are either failures or select/adjust to more realistic goals. But if there’s a dearth of more realistic role models you have a lot more failures from people pursuing these unrealistic goals to the exclusion of more realistic ones.
Right – but it works the other way too (to some extent, at least). If, say, we had no lack of black middle/upper-middle class professionals, but no black CEOs, Senators, Presidents, media figures, and the like – that might discourage high-achieving kids from putting their all into their work, since they might assume that they have no chance of rising above the middle of the pack in any case.
I’m not saying it’s better the way it is now – ideally we’d have plenty of both (and there are plenty of black professionals, of course, but perhaps not enough or not spread widely enough to serve as role models for all kids) in every community.
OK, but net-net, I think celebrities are a negative as role models. Even for whites, but especially so for blacks who have a relative dearth of middle-class role models.
I do. You?
I don’t know whether you’re Wong or right. But there’s something called neoteny, which refers to the retention of juvenile characteristics in adults. Things like large eyes (in relation to the face), small nose, small mouth, lack of facial or body hair. In women neotony is seen as attractive. In men, not so much. It could have something to do with it.
Interestingly, in children’s TV shows neotony in female characters is wildly exaggerated. The “Glitter Girls,” “My Little Pony” and “Power Puff Girls” are examples.
In a discussion about Asians, this is either a spectacular Freudian slip or an appalling joke.
I laughed, but then again I am a terrible person.
Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the world. 2nd only to Monaco for homicides, for example. (The rate is 0 for Monaco.) People don’t bother to lock their bikes there, or so I’ve been told. They have approximately zero immigration, and their population is falling, because deaths outnumber births. Still, it’s a great place, or so I’ve heard. They welcome visitors, but don’t encourage outsiders to stay there. I’m not sure I’d call them racists or bigots. Perhaps they just like Japan staying Japanese.
You described several actions, and I’m characterizing those actions. I’m not saying the Japanese people are racist. Perhaps some policies of their government are. Whether Japan is a nice place is entirely immaterial. If we instituted summary execution for black and Hispanic people for every crime more severe than theft, our crime rate might decrease substantially. That wouldn’t justify bigoted policies.
Not saying the Japanese approach is wrong or incorrect etc, but the thing is, pretty much any other first world country saying “Yeah, look, you’re welcome to visit but we’d prefer you don’t live here unless you’re part of our predominant ethnic group” would generate enough outrage to fuel the internet until the heat death of the universe.
But not in the same neighborhoods.
Rappers and basketball players is disaster. But not everybody can be an astronaut or president. The world needs mechanics and plumbers and carpenters and accountants and web designers as well as doctors and lawyers. Everybody changes their aspirations as they mature.
True. “White guys” is not an “identity” in the sense of identity politics. Should it be?
Plenty of people, including members of the current administration, have been saying this for years. Somehow they have endured the heat.
There are hundreds of thousands - strike that - millions of hard-working black people with ordinary jobs. Including many of the parents of the kids in that school.
If I got the raw numbers wrong I apologize. My larger point is about the effects of bigotry and discrimination in wider society and culture on these sorts of statistics. There’s a reason that the two most oppressed and brutalized groups in American history – black people and Native American people – are statistically represented at the bottom of criminal, financial, educational, and similar statistics, resulting in a relative dearth (even if the raw numbers seem large) of the kinds of role models kids need. Centuries of brutality and present outcomes are related. Apologies if I poorly stated my point.
No one should be forbidden from voting against Donald Trump. Or Hillary Clinton, for that matter. That we had to choose between two politicians with historically low approval ratings is a commentary on the poor state of our political parties.
I agree 100%.
Neither. It was auto-correct.