(2004-06-07) Cosby Blogosphere

Matt Rosenberg on Blogosphere coverage of the Bill Cosby Educating Kids controversy.

Update: Barbara Ehrenreich responds Or, if he's looking for tantrum fodder, what about the fact that a black baby has a 40 percent chance of being born into poverty? You can blame adults for their Poverty - if you're mean-spirited enough - but you cannot blame babies, and that's, in effect, what we're talking about here.

Jul13 update: Thomas Sowell responds to Barbara Ehrenreich. Many young blacks likewise regard speaking correct English, or even observing the rules of polite society, as "acting white." White liberals often cheer them on in their self-destructive behavior or at least "understand" them and defend them. Blacks have, in effect, been adopted as mascots by many white liberals. Mascots serve to symbolize something for others but the actual well-being of the mascot himself is seldom a major concern.

Aug3: Henry Louis Gates Jr connects Barack Obama's Democratic Party National Convention speech to Cosby's remarks. "Americans suffer from anti-intellectualism, starting in the White House," Mr. Obama went on. "Our people can least afford to be anti-intellectual." Too many of our children have come to believe that it's easier to become a black professional athlete (Spectator Sports) than a doctor or lawyer.... It's important to talk about life chances - about the constricted set of opportunities that Poverty brings. But to treat black people as if they're helpless rag dolls swept up and buffeted by vast social trends - as if they had no say in the shaping of their lives - is a supreme act of condescension.

Some of this history is covered in The Future Once Happened Here.