Saturday 5 January 2013

White Entitlement Causing Black Crime?

I've recently read some new studies about criminal activities in relation to race. There are a lot of misconceptions out there in the general public. It seems everyone thinks black people are the cause of nearly all misery. Hardly!

You see, there are more black people in American prisons, and it's been discovered that there's a very good reason for this. It has nothing to do with race, and although it might have something to do with black people being picked on by law enforcement, that's not something for which a reliable study can be done. No, it has to do with poverty.

Poor people can be desperate. Poor people commit more crimes. Black people tend to be stricken by poverty more than white people. Those are the simple facts. When white people are poverty stricken, they commit just as many crimes as black people. There is no difference in people, black or white.

If you're suffering, and worrying about buying your next loaf of bread to feed your children, you are a lot more likely to commit a crime to do so. The crime may be simply stealing a loaf of bread, or it may be growing pot to supplement your income so you don't have to steal bread. Maybe dealing drugs, or breaking and entering, is the choice made to increase income in a desperate situation.

When it comes to murder, there are two parts to it. Some people kill to protect their territory or themselves and family members. Some people kill for the sheer enjoyment of it, or for money.

Here's the really interesting part. Serial killers are usually white. There are far fewer black serial killers, and even when the numbers are normalized according to population, those statistics stand firm.

The general statistics about crime being perpetrated by black people need to be amended to show that the crimes are being committed by poor people. White people don't think of themselves as being unworthy of good jobs or nice homes. There's no sense of hopelessness in the white race, in general. Yes, there are poor, desperate white people, living in dire straights just as there are black people, but there are nowhere near as many.

When it comes to creating wealth and keeping it, attitude is everything. If you feel you should be living a life of moderate income, chances are you will be. Wealthy people have a specific way of thinking, and if anyone wants to become wealthy they have to have a similar thought process.

Think of all the people who got rich because they won the lottery. A large number have lost everything that they won. Why? Because they don't think like rich people. They think like poor people who suddenly have lots of money to spend on all the things they ever dreamed about having. So, they spend it all. It's a hoarding mentality common in people who have suffered through an economic depression. Rather than hoarding it in such a way that they never have to be poor again, they buy things to surround themselves with. Feeling deprived will do that to you.

Many white people feel entitled to a decent life, and they certainly don't feel like anyone should be stepping on them. Racism works in mysterious ways. Black people get angry because they feel stepped on, and who could blame them? However, if the thought process is changed to an attitude of entitlement, where black people have the same mental attitude as white people, racism disappears. Why? Well, if you think you're like anyone else, entitled to the same things, the odd person who might try to keep you down isn't going to be an issue.

How do I know this if I'm not black? Well, I'm a woman. Women have dealt with the same issue that black people are dealing with. We're treated differently. Some people go out of their way to treat women better and more fairly than they do men, just the same as they do with black people. They wouldn't want to be accused of being racist or bigoted or chauvinistic.

Then there are the people who still think that white men are the 'master race' and therefore are better than either black people or women. Those people can be nasty jerks, but they can also be ignored. It's what I generally do, unless they say something really stupid and I can't help pointing it out to them and making an ass of them in front of others. It humiliates them, and makes them even more hateful toward women, but it has another interesting, more positive effect. When they get angrier they start spewing completely irrational viewpoints, which only underscores the stupidity of their prejudice.

This is what happened with the guy I mentioned in another blog. He's from a country where women are thought to be less than men in every way. When I made him feel like an idiot he started making comments about me on my articles, directed at other readers, and the other readers got totally offended. I didn't have to say a word. One reader was a man who told him he owed me an apology, and said that this kind of behaviour was considered offensive by men of his culture. In my country the chauvinistic guy would never even get a date.

Whether it's racism or sexism, if you honestly feel like you're just as worthy as the next person, you don't have to do anything to prove it. You look at them with puzzlement instead, wondering where the hell they would get that idea. I have been taught my whole life that I was intelligent. Sure a mention of my looks popped up every now and then, but it was my brain people noticed, and I have to say that's the best thing to focus on with anyone. Looks fade with age, usually, but we often get smarter with age. I don't have to worry about losing my looks and getting old, because that's never been the thing I valued most about myself.

When Morgan Freeman was asked how he thought we could stop racism, his response was, "Stop talking about it." It's absolutely true, and something I've been thinking for a very long time. The more we think about something, the more likely it is to stick around in our consciousness.

So, what the hell am I doing writing about it?

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