Apparently, white people are afraid to speak up and challenge black people. This is because anyone who second-guesses a black person is likely to be labelled a racist, says Dennis Prager. That, or we’re all afraid that the black guy will pistol-whip us and steal our wallets, while his girlfriend tricks us into impregnating her and then drains the economy for more welfare dollars to buy Cadillacs and diamond jewelry.
I was recently shown a videotape of people reacting to radio talk shows. Organized by a firm that specializes in analyzing radio talk shows, the members of the listening panel were carefully chosen to represent all major listening groups within American society.
But I quickly noticed something odd – I saw no blacks among the selected listeners. I asked why. And the response was stunning.
Blacks had always been included, I was told, but no more. Not because the firm was not interested in black listeners – on the contrary, blacks are an important part of the radio audience. They were not invited to give their opinion about various radio shows because in its previous experience, the company had discovered that almost no whites would publicly differ with the opinions of the blacks on the panel. Therefore, once a black listener spoke, whites stopped saying what they really thought, if what they thought differed from what a black had said.
So the totally non-racist and equitable solution, naturally, is just to stop inviting blacks. Because otherwise, white folks might not get their say.
But I still needed to test this thesis. Do most whites really not publicly say what they believe, if what they believe differs from what a black believes – even when the subject has absolutely nothing to do with race (i.e., reactions to a radio talk show discussing other subjects)?
So I posed this question to my radio audience, and, sure enough, whites from around the country called in to say that they are afraid to differ with blacks lest they be labeled racist.
I posed this question to the audience of my extremely conservative talk radio show, and whaddaya know — they’re afraid of black people! Clearly, this is the fault of liberals.
And on which issues are they afraid of being labeled “racist” on? Race issues, perhaps, that white people may not have quite as much personal experience with?
I could not imagine anything more detrimental toward abolishing racism and to enhancing black progress in America than such an attitude. But apparently it is the norm in American life to so fear being called a racist that individuals as well as institutions react to blacks as they would to children – humoring them rather than taking them seriously.
Now, I can think of a few things that are more detrimental to abolishing racism and enhancing black progress in America, but Dennis and I clearly have different worldviews.
This also explains why, if one differs with a black, one is not perceived as merely disagreeing with him, but as “dissing” him. That is what started the liberal hatred of former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers. After asking Harvard professor Cornel West to engage in more scholarship and less rap music making and politicking (West was a major figure in the Al Sharpton campaign for president), West announced that President Summers had shown him “disrespect.” Even a Harvard president doesn’t tell a black professor what to do.
See, I was under the impression that the feminists caused Larry Summers’ demise. But hey, if it’s convenient to blame the blacks this time around, let’s go for it. I wouldn’t want to “diss” Dennis’s ideas here.
Every time liberals force universities to lower standards for black applicants, and every time liberal activists force civil-service exams to be rewritten so that more blacks can pass those exams, another person learns not to treat blacks and their ideas as he would anyone else’s.
That is why most whites won’t differ publicly with most blacks. And that is why liberals and Democrats will have to answer to history for the harm they have done to at least two generations of black Americans.
And not, for example, the people who have crippled our education system so that wealthier whites have access to the best schools, whereas low-income people of color are often trapped in under-funded and under-performing districts. Not the people who continue to cut funding for social services like aid to families with dependent children, head start and early childhood education programs, and daycare for working families. No, it’s easier to blame black people and liberals.