Why are people jumping all over William Bennett?

I'm not a huge fan of Bill "Virtues" Bennett, esp after the gambling stories broke, but it seems he was making a reasonable point of logic and rhetoric with this counter-argument in responding to the crime-abortion relationship posited by a radio show caller, and I'll bet the book he (the caller) was referencing for this question is the one I bought the other day called "Freakanomics" which addresses exactly these sorts of relationships, and argues that more readily available abortions to the poor in the 60's & 70's had a lot more to do with the reduction of crime in the 80's than the effects of more aggressive policing, which is usually credited with the drop in crime rates.

In any case why is everyone, including the White House, behaving like idiots. As an example about the limits of means (in his opinion) he answers this question by positing a ridiculous counter-scenario, (which he condemns, in strong language). I'm not seeing what's there to be outraged by. You may or may not think his counter-argument had merit, but it hardly dis-respected black people.

Bennett, on his radio show, “Morning in America,” was answering a caller’s question when he took issue with the hypothesis put forth in a recent book that one reason crime is down is that abortion is up.

“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,” said Bennett, author of “The Book of Virtues.”

He went on to call that “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.”

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Then, of course, you have far-left hypocrites calling for his show to be cancelled.

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) circulated a letter, signed by 10 of his colleagues, demanding that the Salem Radio Network suspend Bennett's show.

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And this next one from an actual civil rights leader. Gimme a break.

Wade Henderson, the executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, demanded that the show be canceled.

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I know that its a fad these days to attack everything and everybody that has an (R) next to their name when they comment during newscasts, but this is rediculous.

We don't be likin nobody to tell da troof bout us less'n it be one 'o our own.

Dial_tone said:

We don't be likin nobody to tell da troof bout us less'n it be one 'o our own.

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Racist!

While his argument may be valid (if you eliminate any race the crime rate will drop as all races contribute to it) he is using a stereotypical conservative racist view that only black people commit crimes. I find the comment apprehensible and morally crooked. Had he chosen "the poor" or "Lower class" he wouldn't have gotten as dramatic a backlash, but due to his choice of an openly bigotted response I understand the harsh criticism.

Cheers,
Scotsman

Scotsman said:

While his argument may be valid (if you eliminate any race the crime rate will drop as all races contribute to it) he is using a stereotypical conservative racist view that only black people commit crimes. I find the comment apprehensible and morally crooked. Had he chosen "the poor" or "Lower class" he wouldn't have gotten as dramatic a backlash, but due to his choice of an openly bigotted response I understand the harsh criticism.

Cheers,
Scotsman

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Why is it a "conservative" racist view? Especially considering that a "conservative" view wouldnt even allow abortions?

Besides, the standard "liberal" view suggests Affirmative Action, which is basically a way of saying that minorities arent adept enough to do anything on their own without some help from The Man.

Besides, if you read about what happened (ie the caller's original question), the caller makes patently ridiculous claim regarding the extrapolation of something based on abortion. Bennett illustrates the stupidity of such extrapolations by making another, equally stupid extrapolation, clearly identifying it as such, in the hopes of illustrating a basic point.

No bigotry intended, no racist agenda, except perhaps in the minds of our esteemed, professional race lords, peace be unto them.

75th said:

Why is it a "conservative" racist view? Especially considering that a "conservative" view wouldnt even allow abortions?

Besides, the standard "liberal" view suggests Affirmative Action, which is basically a way of saying that minorities arent adept enough to do anything on their own without some help from The Man.

Besides, if you read about what happened (ie the caller's original question), the caller makes patently ridiculous claim regarding the extrapolation of something based on abortion. Bennett illustrates the stupidity of such extrapolations by making another, equally stupid extrapolation, clearly identifying it as such, in the hopes of illustrating a basic point.

No bigotry intended, no racist agenda, except perhaps in the minds of our esteemed, professional race lords, peace be unto them.

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Well it will automatically be termed racist because it's a white guy advocating eliminating a portion or all of the black community. That crime is cause by minorities is a typicall conservative viewpoint. While you are correct in saying that abortion is typically a liberal focus. I should have been more clear distinguishing my point.

And this is much like the claim that it was the societal acceptence of homosexuality that led to the coming to power of the Nazi party in Germany. If you can find any two events that occur at the same time then someone will say that they are endelibly related. Much like the new claim that drinking soda/pop causes esauphagal cancer. This report was made because someone looked at the higher rate of consumption is occuring at the same time as a higher rate of E.cancer. Though no scientific evidence has been done to validate this theory, many doctors have supported it as fact.

Cheers,
Scotsman

I think he was simply pointing to the fact, that statistics show that there are more black people incarcerated(sp?) than any other group of people. then of course there is the argument that this is only because of a racist judicial system, run by racist people. But that's a whole diff. story. Yes it's very insensitive and stereotypical, and he def. should have kept that comment to himself.

Scotsman said:

Well it will automatically be termed racist because it's a white guy advocating eliminating a portion or all of the black community. That crime is cause by minorities is a typicall conservative viewpoint. While you are correct in saying that abortion is typically a liberal focus. I should have been more clear distinguishing my point.

And this is much like the claim that it was the societal acceptence of homosexuality that led to the coming to power of the Nazi party in Germany. If you can find any two events that occur at the same time then someone will say that they are endelibly related. Much like the new claim that drinking soda/pop causes esauphagal cancer. This report was made because someone looked at the higher rate of consumption is occuring at the same time as a higher rate of E.cancer. Though no scientific evidence has been done to validate this theory, many doctors have supported it as fact.

Cheers,
Scotsman

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According to the US Department of Justice, it is a common sense viewpoint:

As of December 31, 2004, black males from 20 to 39 years old accounted for over a third of all sentenced prison inmates under state or federal jurisdiction. On that date 10.4 percent of the country’s black male population between the ages of 25 to 29 were in prison, compared to 2.4 percent of Hispanic males and 1.2 percent of white males in the same age group.

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And again, he wasnt advocating anything. He said right after that it would be morally reprehensible to even consider such a thing.

sublime35 said:

I think he was simply pointing to the fact, that statistics show that there are more black people incarcerated(sp?) than any other group of people. then of course there is the argument that this is only because of a racist judicial system, run by racist people. But that's a whole diff. story. Yes it's very insensitive and stereotypical, and he def. should have kept that comment to himself.

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Thats the thing, the purpose of his comment wasnt to point it out.

The caller had suggested that if the citizens had much more abortions throughout the 1970s-1990s then the Social Security system would be different today. Bennett was just throwing this out as an absurd counterargument to an absurd statement.

75th said:

According to the US Department of Justice, it is a common sense viewpoint:



And again, he wasnt advocating anything. He said right after that it would be morally reprehensible to even consider such a thing.

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I know it is a proven statistic, it just isn't PC (fuck I hate that shit) for a white guy to say anything bad about any race in the public forum.

Yeah but to say it in the first place was wrong even to go back seconds later and say that it's wrong. You have to remember in todays trigger happy media world there are no take backs allowed. Many a political/media figure has lost their carreer over one little remark, just look at Jimmy the greek, and Howard Dean for examples of how one tiny thing ended them almost instantly.

I am all for open discussion, but if you are going to say something controversial then you need to be ready for the fall out, no matter how overdone it may be.

Cheers,
Scotsman