The Soapbox

Joined: 04/30/2006 Posts: 44780
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That's a pretty ignorant and insensitive post, Faz.

A lot of kids with very high IQs but who are disadvantaged by poor upbringing/schooling/negative peer pressure end up in "the system" early in their lives and never pass go. It doesn't help that they grow up in a drug culture-dominated police state where they're very likely to get arrested just by hanging out with their friends and doing the same shit many of us did as kids (drinking underage, smoking weed, breaking stuff, etc.)

Once someone is branded as a "criminal" it's hard to get his life on track. Most of us who grew up on the other side of the tracks were able to make a bunch of mistakes and never get picked up or punished for them. Not the case on the other side.

Then let's talk about school. You really think a kid who goes to a dilapidated inner city school full of kids who don't give a f*** about education puts them on an even playing field? The kids who do achieve academically have to do so in a dysfunctional environment and often with little or no peer or parental support. Those who make it tend to have exceptional, strong-willed parents. But not everyone does, and a lot of those kids fall through the cracks.

If they don't? How about a mom (and maybe a dad) who look at you like you're crazy when you talk about college? That's how it is for a lot of kids. For most of us it was just a question of "where" we would go and prepping for the SAT, etc. What if you don't have any of that? Not to mention the quality gap in education when a lot of kids get to a 4 year school.

Add in pressure to start making money to contribute to a poor family or help feed, clothe, and care for your brothers and sisters when your mom is either working 3 jobs herself or a druggie (how it is for a lot of kids too) and various other factors and lots of good, smart kids who probably would have nice comfy jobs if they'd grown up in privileged suburban homes who never got out.

Add in racial stereotypes -- particularly those that the target of them has heard so many times they start to believe -- and it's not so simple.

A lot of reasons people with "half a brain" don't get out and stay stuck in that environment. Very easy for privileged white people to judge them and say they should have worked harder. It's nice being born on third and having the luxury of pretending you hit a triple, isn't it?

(In response to this post by Faz d. Hoo)

Posted: 09/07/2016 at 1:33PM

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BBC piece on chicago violence. Hard to watch this and imagine it ending -- KCHoo 09/07/2016 09:34AM

The HBO show Vice did an interesting case study on Chicago last year that -- WahooRQ 09/07/2016 2:26PM

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Don't worry -- he's going to bring a feel to your fact fight. ** -- WahooRQ 09/08/2016 08:55AM

Pushing guns on a suicide-prone, impulsive and frequently drunk population -- Toolie92 09/07/2016 10:35PM

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"thugs", eh? Just use the word you mean. ** -- WahooRQ 09/08/2016 09:20AM

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Truth hurts. ** -- Trigon 09/08/2016 08:49AM

Sometimes, let me know when you find some ** -- 111Balz 09/08/2016 08:53AM

And if only the pre-teens in Sandy Hook were armed. Brilliant as always. ** -- AngusHoo 09/07/2016 5:57PM

Were there any adults at Sandy Hook? Brilliant as always. ** -- Trigon 09/07/2016 8:46PM

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What did you learn from Tombstone.... ** -- hoothat 09/07/2016 10:43PM

What did you learn from Orlando? ** -- Trigon 09/07/2016 8:45PM

It's a small world after all? ** -- 111Balz 09/07/2016 8:57PM

I will give you credit for answering honestly. ** -- Trigon 09/08/2016 08:50AM

Clearly Chicago needs more gun laws. -- Hoodafan 09/07/2016 1:59PM

Laws won't help if guns are easily available. ** -- KCHoo 09/07/2016 2:13PM

Especially if they're not enforced. I think that's the guy's point. ** -- Hoodafan 09/07/2016 2:16PM

Willful ignorance about the supply component of illegal guns is maddening. -- WahooRQ 09/07/2016 2:31PM

To begin with, I actually support gun registration because I'm not sure -- Hoodafan 09/07/2016 2:41PM

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Epitaph? ** -- WaxHoo 09/07/2016 12:09PM

Eppy Pen? ** -- Hoogle.com 09/07/2016 1:49PM

Maybe both ** -- 111Balz 09/07/2016 1:00PM

For Balz...Guns are an epithet ** -- Tuckahokie 09/07/2016 12:11PM

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Hey I agree, but we need the pre-marked up price on the epis ** -- 111Balz 09/07/2016 1:30PM

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That's kind of silly as it relates to the violence Chicago is currently -- hoolstoptheheels 09/07/2016 1:17PM

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I am not sure many of of can even imagine/comprehend living in -- KCHoo 09/07/2016 11:02AM

That's why everyone with half a brain gets the heck out as soon as possible ** -- Faz d. Hoo 09/07/2016 11:21AM

That's a pretty ignorant and insensitive post, Faz. -- WahooRQ 09/07/2016 1:33PM

This is just a bunch of excuse making -- Faz d. Hoo 09/07/2016 3:44PM

Another word is "empathy." And understanding that not everyone -- WahooRQ 09/07/2016 4:07PM

Does everyone that lives there have the resources to leave? ** -- Tuckahokie 09/07/2016 11:43AM

No. ** -- Faz d. Hoo 09/07/2016 12:09PM

And we have to ask ourselves how was that society created? ** -- Hokie5150 09/07/2016 11:06AM

1. War on Drugs 2. Housing Discrimination ** -- Wahoo#22 09/07/2016 12:21PM

Well throw in centuries of oppression from slavery to Jim Crow -- 111Balz 09/07/2016 1:12PM

In 1960 there were actually less single parent African American families -- Tuckahokie 09/07/2016 12:32PM

No, you are assuming that something new happened and chnaged everything. -- 111Balz 09/07/2016 1:09PM

You speak as if you have a lot of insight into the issues ... -- Trigon 09/07/2016 2:50PM

Re: You speak as if you have a lot of insight into the issues ... -- 111Balz 09/07/2016 8:44PM

Re: You speak as if you have a lot of insight into the issues ... -- Trigon 09/07/2016 9:36PM

How did the government incent the creation of single familes? ** -- 111Balz 09/08/2016 08:11AM

Really? -- Trigon 09/08/2016 08:56AM

Yeah those assistance payments really cover the cost of a child AND -- 111Balz 09/08/2016 09:47AM

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And yet the rate of out of wedlock births increased with the implementation -- Hokie5150 09/07/2016 2:38PM

Sure, right, that's what happened ** -- 111Balz 09/07/2016 8:38PM

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The first movie to ever glorify violence? -- Quaker 09/07/2016 12:59PM

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Rap music doesnt not fit the tragedy -- Wahoo Ron 09/07/2016 10:19AM

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Wasted effort ** -- 111Balz 09/07/2016 10:58AM

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