Why is it okay to say that ABORTING every black baby in this country" would reduce the crim

[jillan]

crime rate?

as said by William Bennett.

This is from Wikipedia:
He was co-director of Empower America and was a Distinguished Fellow in Cultural Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation. Long active in United States Republican Party politics, he is now an author, speaker, and, since April 5, 2004, the host of the weekday radio program Morning in America on the Dallas, Texas-based Salem Communications. In addition to his radio show, he is the Washington Fellow of the Claremont Institute.

story on Bennett's remarks
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/30/bennett.comments /

Wiki link-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bennett

WHY THE F*CK DOES HE STILL HAVE A JOB????

[Kool Kitty]

1. Real good question.

Where was all the outrage then? (I know everyone here was outraged, but what about the MSM?)

[mzmolly]

2. I agree, he's still a commentator on CNN.

Though he did step down from his position at K12, a virtual school he started.

[Casper Alabaster]

28. Not that I want to research this fatass,

but didn't he lose millions of $$$ gambling? On slot machines? What a dipshit.
At least his personal weaknesses diverted millions from bringing the flower of his mind to fruition.

[wisteria]

3. Yeah, I would like to know why he wasn't called out on those remarks.

They sound just awful to me. My only answer is some people like him enough to cover up what he says and he is a conservative. There is a different bar set for conservatives. Just listen to Limbaugh, Coulter, and Savage. Seems, thy can get away with anything. Maybe someone should alert Sharpton and Jackson about Bennett. I don't think they know about this comment. Seem they should get him fired too.
Keep me posted. Everyone here at DU, should be jumping on this comment any minute now.

[Casper Alabaster]

30. I guess Chimp pretended to call him out:

(from wiki cited) Subsequently, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, as well as civil rights groups, condemned Bennett's statements and demanded an apology. President George W. Bush called Bennett's statements "not appropriate" in a statement read by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.<8>
I kind of doubt that Sharpton and Jackson are unaware of the comments, perhaps they've just been keeping their powder dry, so-to-speak.:hi:

[bonito]

4. This is just plain ignorant.

[jillan]

5. I would love to ask Al Sharpton this question

but I can't figure out how to get his email address.

Anybody?

[babylonsister]

11. OMG! Don't disparage Al Sharpton! You'll get attacked!

I was scorned as a Fox mouthpiece. Sigh.

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Casper Alabaster]

31. Thanks!

Sharpton is arguably more powerful than Chimp, especially in the vaunted 'marketplace-of-ideas' that the remains of the neo-con cult always touts.

[FormerDem06]

6. Salem Communications owns a ton of Christian format radio stations

I used to work for a .COM that they bought years ago.

[KharmaTrain]

8. I've Posted About This Company In The Past

They operate three chains. One first is a religious network featuring dollar-a-hollar preachers who make the company a boatload of money. It doesn't matter how whacked out you are...just don't be Catholic. Then there's "The Fish"...the christian music format that, like its competitor K-Love, is funded big time by the major record companies who have found Jesus...or at least the profits therein. The money from both those formats go to pay for the Salem "Patriot" stations that feature Bennett, Laura Ingraham and a lot of other hate mongers. With the funding from those other formats, the political stations don't need ratings or big ticket advertisers to keep them going. It's been discussed that a good chunk of Salem's money comes from big Repugnican donors and the company's execs are big time GOOP contributors.

This company has played fast and loose with dereg rules for years and is dying for an audit...even better...a great reason for the long promised revisit of the '96 Telcom bill that would eliminate the domination of the public airwaves by companies like Salem and Clear Channel and push for more local ownership, voices and empowerment.

[Casper Alabaster]

32. Now THAT is interesting....n/t

n/t

[Casper Alabaster]

33. These are 527's, for the most part...

VERY interesting...

[sandnsea]

7. Because too many racist white people

agreed with him. And there was no group of black babies asking "do you want to abort me?"

[Casper Alabaster]

35. It's not only racist white people that listen to Bennett,

but also the targets of his theories.
I haven't looked at the stats of the ratings for Bennett's show, but you can only hope his ratings are down; I would have to think that people that agree with him are well-versed in certain racial theories, both past and hopefully, to them, future.

[hughee99]

9. Reading the transcript...

It doesn't sound like he was suggesting that it was a good idea, or that he would support it. It sounds like he was trying to illustrate how one suggestion is bad by presenting what he believed to be an equally idiotic suggestion.

[jillan]

10. Those were his remarks After he was called out on it

and I really loved this part

"Asked if he owed people an apology, Bennett replied, "I don't think I do. I think people who misrepresented my view owe me an apology."

[hughee99]

12. So you think he was endorsing it when he originally said it

and used this as an excuse after the fact?

[jillan]

16. Am I missing something here????

Are you saying you think it's okay that he said it????

I can't even believe anyone would think like that, let alone say it.
That it even popped into his mind.

What are you saying?
He only tried to soften his comments after he was called out on it.

To even think like that is the extreme definition of racism.

[hughee99]

17. Reading the transcript...

"BENNETT: Well, I don't think it is either, I don't think it is either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don't know. But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could — if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky. "

It sounds like he was arguing against it at the time, not just after he was called out on it.

[jillan]

19. Like I said

I don't understand anyone who would even think it.

If I was arguing with someone on how to reduce crime in this country, that thought never, ever would have crossed my mind.

[hughee99]

21. I imagine he probably read the book

Freakonomics that discussed it, but it doesn't sound to me like he was supporting it even when said it originally.

[Breeze54]

34. Lights are on. Anybody home?

"But I do know that it's *** true *** that if you wanted to reduce crime,

you could — if that were your sole purpose,

you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down."

Sounds very much like he DOES agree with it!!
Bennet is a total, flaming, hypocritical, rethug, asshole but aren't they all?? :puke:

[hughee99]

36. So you're saying that the problem isn't that he's advocating doing it,

just that he's accepting that one would lead to the other?

[Breeze54]

42. He thinks it's a true statement.

He agree's with it.

[hughee99]

43. Although race has nothing to do with criminality,

poverty is a significant contributing factor. If there are fewer people living in poverty, there will be fewer crimes. Statistically, a disproportionate percentage of African Americans live in poverty, and disproportionate number of African Americans are in prison.

I am not in support of the idea of involuntarily aborting ANYONE of ANY race, but I do think there is at least some evidence to support this statement.

[Breeze54]

44. Why would they even

BE DISCUSSING IT?????? :banghead:

:eyes:

"If there are fewer people living in poverty, there will be fewer crimes."

So, just kill them? because they'll 'probably' be poor, criminals, or.....black????

Pretty fucked up.

[hughee99]

45. It sounds like the caller was suggesting

one argument against abortion was that if there were no abortions, social security would have a lot more money, and that Bennett was saying that was a bad argument. Then he brought up this ridiculous argument as a comparison. And he wasn't arguing for, or suggesting that anyone should be killed. Yes, it certainly sounds like a fucked up discussion, but I don't see why people would necessarily be out their demanding that he be fired.

[sandnsea]

15. There you go

You asked, and he was very quickly defended. Between 'he didn't mean it' and 'well black crime is high', the right successfully managed to change the debate to blaming the victim. They didn't get to do that this time because that strong group of women stood up for justice.

I have to wonder what would have happened if they'd been some flashy girls from the ghetto - would people have just said 'well they are ho's', and laughed?

[patrice]

13. I don't get it either.

Maybe the fact that this was related to Sports has something to do with the interest it generated.

BTW, this is absolutely my first ever post on the topic.

[Jamastiene]

14. It is absolutely not ok for him to say that on the airwaves either.

I say we clear out all the trash that makes those type of bigoted comments. They can have their freedom of speech all they want, but it shouldn't be on the airwaves and they shouldn't get paid for it for certain.

[Hamlette]

18. is it safe to admit the crime rate is higher amoung blacks or are we still in denial? n/t

[jillan]

20. Is it higher among black, or is it higher among people

living in poverty?

What are the statistics?

[Hamlette]

22. higher in both groups

statistically

[jillan]

23. and Hispanics

so aborting black babies - hypothetically- wouldn't be an answer.

[Hamlette]

39. I happen to think poverty has more to do with it than race so you have to decide

if poverty would go down if we "eliminated" minority races. I don't think so. So, he was wrong. But I don't know that we actually know what would happen. (There is a part of me that thinks we will always have a lower class and "we" like having minorities there which is one reason "we" frown on interracial marriage. But I'm speaking historically, not psychologically so I could be wildly off the mark.)

But I think what he said was wildly different from what Imus said.

[mmonk]

38. So you think aborting babies of a particular race would reduce crime is an ok

statement based on some sort of statistic? And as far as statistics go, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. Race is NOT a determinig factor concerning crime.

[Hamlette]

40. no, I don't think it is OK and I do not think race is a determining factor in crime

but I think poverty is.

So lets say Bennett said "We abort all babies of poor people." And it turns out that a much higher percentage of poor people are minorities. Would he be a racist?

A VERY inconvenient truth (and yes I'm prepared to be flamed) is that if I walk down the street at night in a vulnerable situation there are some groups I would rather not come accross and one of them is young black men (yes, some young white men too) and it has nothing to do with racism. It has to do with statistics. If you are not willing to admit that fact, you can't "get" where some racism comes from.

Yes, I think police arrest minorities at a higher rate than whites but I also think that does not account for all of the higher statistics.

Blacks need to join the discussion. I admit to being pissed at Bill Cosby but what he was getting at was relevant. We are in a deadly cycle, blacks pretend to be gangsters, their music glorifies sexism and violence, we come to think of them as sexist and violent but even worse, we tend to treat them as violent and sexist. I'm not blaming them. They are the product of their environment. But it would be more helpful if we (and I mean all races) did not accept it.

What happened to Imus was the correct thing to do but the point that rap musicians feed the image is not helping get rid of the image.

[SoCalDem]

24. For the ame reason that John Fund is still a "special commentator"

and retained his job at the WSJ.

When republicans/conservatives screw up, they do not suffer the consequences because the media-machine excuses them..

Fund is a woman-beater who got his girlfriend's daughter pregnant and then forced her to get an abortion.. and yet, he's still a "valued" conservative mouthpiece :puke:

[jillan]

29. I never knew that about John Fund

He's on all the time!!

And I never knew that Walgreens had Ass Fragrance either :)

[City Lights]

37. And Fund was on Anderson Cooper the other night, denouncing Imus

for his sexist, misogynist views. I had to keep a barf bag near me just to listen. :mad:

[Casper Alabaster]

25. I kind of remember this from 2 years ago...

Yeah, conservatives HATE abortion, right.
Here's what he said, from the wiki link provided in the OP: Well, I don't think it is either, I don't think it is either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don't know. But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could — if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.
Another old white guy commenting about black people, or in this instance, the hoped-for extermination thereof.
Holy shit.:scared:

[NormanYorkstein]

26. It's called "eliminationist rhetoric"

Remember Rwanda? First makes some jokes on the radio about "killing them all". Then make them "jokes" - you know the kind that aren't funny, like an Ann Coulter joke or a Don Imus joke? Then you just say it, kill them. Then you do it.

[ecstatic]

41. We weren't organized or mobolized. We felt powerless

Maybe a new sense of power has come due to us winning back Congress?

Before Slimus, it seemed as if only O'Reilly &Co. had the power to organize boycotts against people and organizations.

Either way, now that we know the power we wield, we can make sure that these type of outrageous comments get addressed swiftly.