Narcissistic and other-blaming

 

I just watched Chris Rock's Oscars monologue. Disgusting. The guy can be funny, but we get a 15 minute lecture.

It occurs to me that if the black race were a person, it would have the personality of a common criminal.  Research shows that crooks tend to be narcissistic and always blame their problems on others. They are victims, and yet they're so special, every other consideration must take a back seat.

Over-rated black performances

With the exception of Denzel's performance in Training Day (which I loved--he's one of my favorite living actors), I agree with black movie critic Armond White that the following Oscar-winning performances were over-rated: 

1990: Whoopi Goldberg’s update of the maid stereotype into buffoonish in “Ghost” (unlike her still-moving lead performance in “The Color Purple”).

1996: Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s “Show me the money!” football player in “Jerry Maguire” became the poster boy for self-destructive materialism.

2002: Denzel Washington in “Training Day” portrayed the most monstrous cop in movie history (“King Kong ain’t got #*^@ on me!”)

2002: Halle Berry in “Monster’s Ball” as a thieving, widowed mother, updated the black wench in sexual submission to a white racist.

2006: Forest Whitaker portrayed the murderous, psychotic, flatulent dictator Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland.”

2006: Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls” gave an untrained, caterwauling performance as an overweight, R&B diva who was also a stalker.

2009: Mo’Nique in “Precious” played a nightmarish, barbarous, incestuous mother to a hopelessly obese daughter and disabled granddaughter.

Indifferent to data

This visual shows the quantitative/qualitative divide in sociology.  The obvious difference is the term "data."  Qualitative folks downplay data--the single most important element in science, in my view.  They like flashy theories and flashy politics. I loathe Freudianism and Marxism, for example, because these schools are indifferent to data.

Sex differences in the ideal body

From Time, here are the sex differences in the ideal man and woman. Women like the less extreme versions.

Serial killers are disproportionately black

Why haven't we heard more about the trial of black serial killer Lonnie Franklin who murdered several black prostitutes?  Americans love serial killer stories.  The media seems to want us to believe that blacks are small-time crooks who are sympathetic victims of the ghetto, while white criminals kill on a massive scale, motivated by pure evil.

Wrong. According to the serial killer expert Eric Hickey, 20% of American serial killers are black even though African Americans are only 13% of the population. Even worse, Hickey says they are half of recent cases.

A clear difference between blacks and whites is that blacks have shorter CAG repeats on the androgen receptor gene which makes people more sensitive to testosterone. Androgen levels and sensitivity might help explain the fact that more than 90% of serial killers are male and that they are disproportionately black.

"Bring them to heel"

I've known Hillary Clinton for 25 years, and I've liked her for a total of 30 seconds. Even liars accidentally say the truth once in a while.

Trump is the Master Persuader

Have you read the Dilbert guy's stuff? Get the summary here.

Two-thirds of young Americans admire socialism/communism

I don't see the graphic which shows the results of a survey of 1,000 Americans ages 18 to 26 conducted by Snapchat and Frank Luntz, but I about fell off my chair: When asked which economic system was most compassionate, SIXTY-SEVEN percent said socialism or communism (58% and 9%, respectively) while only 33 percent said capitalism. The evil media and educational system are brainwashing our idiot kids.

Non-whites saving us from the socialism of young white idiots!

In an earlier post, Jayman wrote that non-whites shouldn't be characterized as liberal but as more likely than whites to vote for Democrats. This graph shows self-descriptions for non-whites. As Jayman suggests, a plurality--more than 40%--describe themselves as moderates, and that number has grown a bit over the past 2 decades. Twenty-one percent currently say liberal or very liberal.

Maybe the large number of non-white moderates helps explain the strong support for Hillary. Non-whites seem to be saving us from the socialism of young white idiots!

Recidivists with rhythm

I never watch black movies because they're no good.  It's not me saying that. Critics hate black movies. How many times have I seen them, as a group, pan Tyler Perry movies on Rottentomatoes.com?  I think it's close to 100%. Even though their politics are the opposite of mine, movie critics are smart, and I often like what they like, so I just watched Straight Outta Compton. Quentin Tarantino is right that biopics are an inferior genre. At least there was lots of violence, and that always helps.

But what struck me was the following question: I'm no historian, but in the history of world, have we ever seen the top musicians of a genre made up of a class of common criminals? I guess gypsies might be a good example. Perhaps criminals and musicians share common traits like debauchery.

The movie doesn't shy away from the fact that these people are simply recidivists with rhythm. I mean, Charles Manson learned how to play guitar in prison, and even recorded some songs with the help of Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. Singing to his followers was a big thing in the Manson cult, but do we make reverential movies about him?

More important than any other value: anti-racism

This survey of English teachers shows that To Kill a Mockingbird is far and away the most popular book assigned to 9th and 10th grade students. The most important lesson that teachers want to teach our children--more important than the horrors of totalitarianism (1984) for example--is that white Americans, as a rule, have been unfair to blacks.  

Trump on genes

Trump believes in a "business gene."

Check out this link. If I recall, Audacious posted that Trump said he was very smart like his uncle who was a MIT professor, and that he believed in the power of genes. I also heard Trump at some rally using the term "racehorse" to refer to the inheritance of superior qualities. Here he gives a speech today in SC and tells the audience that many of the young people present will probably become successful businessmen because they have the gene for it.

Millenials are more liberal because they are less white

I've read studies that suggest that Millenials are significantly more liberal than previous generations of young people. It makes me wonder, is that due to more non-whites, or are young whites more liberal?

The above graphs shows trends for males 18-29. The clearest change is an increase in moderates. You can also see a small drop in the number of those who are conservative or slightly conservative.

This graph is of young females. There are no large changes for them. It looks like most of the liberalism in this generation of young people is due to the growing number of non-whites. 

Bernie's mistake

Although there has been some move by blacks and Hispanics toward Bernie Sanders, it has not been as dramatic as I expected. I've been wondering why so many of these people would pick Hillary over a socialist--someone who sounds so generous. Perhaps the problem is that Bernie might be best known for proposing free college. White liberals LOVE the idea, but if I'm an ordinary black guy, what do I care about college? Bernie would do much better if he proposed sending each black person a check because of the burden of being black.

By the way, as a professor, I hate the idea of free college even though it would improve my job security. I already have way too many students who shouldn't be in college, and this would make the problem much worse.

Hillary-ous

This spoof is Hillary-ous.

Those black boys don't look like my son

New from Heather Mac Donald:

Police officers—of all races—are also disproportionately endangered by black assailants. Over the past decade, according to FBI data, 40% of cop killers have been black. Officers are killed by blacks at a rate 2.5 times higher than the rate at which blacks are killed by police.

Some may find evidence of police bias in the fact that blacks make up 26% of the police-shooting victims, compared with their 13% representation in the national population. But as residents of poor black neighborhoods know too well, violent crimes are disproportionately committed by blacks. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, blacks were charged with 62% of all robberies, 57% of murders and 45% of assaults in the 75 largest U.S. counties in 2009, though they made up roughly 15% of the population there.

She goes on to argue how Black Lives Matter, and everyone else, should focus concern on the high rate of blacks, many of them children, being killed by other blacks. But I look to the President as a moral example. Those black boys don't look like my son, so why should I get worked up about that problem?

Whites only three-fifths of a person

Evidently, a white individual in Iowa and New Hampshire is only three-fifths of a person.

Islam is the future

Troubling graph from a Pew report I just ran across projecting tremendous growth for the Muslim world over the next 3 or 4 decades, while the non-affiliated shrink as a share of the global population. Christians are expected to hold steady.

Gallup: Democrats across the country now like Bernie more than Hillary

This Gallup graph provides more evidence that Democrats and Leaners country-wide now, for the first time and just when it counts, like Bernie more than Hillary.

UPDATE: The latest estimate puts Bernie up 4 points to 57% and Hillary down 2 points to 47% in only a couple days.

Ann Coulter on Trump becoming President

In case you missed it. Is there any better high-profile spokesman for the way we look at things than Ann Coulter?

Bernie is gaining with non-whites, too

I wondered if nation-wide support for Sanders is growing among non-whites as it has been among whites. Reuter's tells me there are not enough non-whites to calculate estimates, but I was able to figure it out with the white sample and the total sample.

Since January 5th, support among whites has risen from 31 to 44%.  For non-whites, it has moved from 18.5% to 34%. So non-whites are moving, too, just from a lower initial level.

Watching the debates, I find Bernie more convincing and likeable. But that's not saying much because the more I see Hillary, the less I like her. Decades of learning at the feet of Bill Clinton doesn't change a genetically influenced personality. I wouldn't be shocked if Bernie won the nomination. Sounds crazy, but Hillary is that bad, and Democrats like Bernie. They are eating up promises of free stuff and the chance to stick a big banker with a pitchfork. 

Small move to the left among liberals

Seeing so many democratic socialists in the Iowa Caucus disturbed me.  I wanted to see if this is part of a larger trend of liberals moving left. The green areas show that the percent of liberals who say they are extremely liberal has stayed at around 14% for more than a decade. Where we see change is the move away from slightly liberal to liberal. In 2002, 41% said they were liberal. In 2014, this had increased five points to 46%.

This is consistent with other data I've seen that the country (just like the national leadership) is more polarized--fewer people in the middle.

We'll have to watch whether Bernie can convince liberals in the South (i.e, blacks and Hispanics) and beyond to vote for him. If he does, this country is more open to European-style socialism than I thought.