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Richard Cohen: White Man's Privilege

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Media
Posted on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 09:30:00 AM EST
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The world's dumbest newspaper columnist strikes again. The entire piece is a mass of incoherence, but I want to focus on one part:

I do not agree with Sotomayor on the New Haven affirmative-action case and have written a column saying why.

I have read Cohen's column "saying why" (my previous post on the column is here) and it proves yet again Cohen is a fool who has not a clue about the things he writes about. For example, the phrase "Title VII," which is what the Ricci case is about, does not appear in Cohen's column "saying why" he disagrees with Sotomayor on Ricci. Since the Ricci case is about Title VII, it is apparent, yet again, that Richard Cohen is an idiot who has no knowledge of the things he chooses to write about. He is, without a doubt, the worst major newspaper columnist in America. If Cohen were not a white man, he would be out of a job.

Speaking for me only

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    Richard Cohen: White Man's Privilege | 65 comments (65 topical)

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    If people like Cohen, (5.00 / 0) (#1)
    by Jjc2008 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 09:37:59 AM EST
    Buchanan and Tancredo were to be believed, one would conclude that white males, the ones who still retain 98% of all power, political and financial, are the most oppressed group in the world.  

    Ignorance is allowed to permeate because the corporations who run the newspapers and the media in general want to keep us all ignorant. Sadly, there are more than a few so called "progressives" who buy into the "poor white man" being discriminated again.....

    Sigh....

    Well (5.00 / 0) (#15)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:10:56 AM EST
    in their mind they really are. It's not 1950 anymore and they don't automatically get everything they want.

    Parent
    Reading Cohen is like listening (5.00 / 1) (#2)
    by ruffian on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 09:50:11 AM EST
    to the 'cubicle philosophers' around my workplace. Even worse - at least they know they are just average guys pontificating to other average guys. He is no more enlightened, informed, or insightful than the average guy, yet enjoys elite privilege and status.

    I use the word 'guy' deliberately - no women, in this office anyway, act like that.

    and people wonder why (5.00 / 0) (#12)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:03:01 AM EST
    no one reads newspapers anymore.

    Parent
    The people Cohen listed (5.00 / 7) (#3)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 09:50:44 AM EST
    as his examples in his "so-what" speech about rising up out of the projects all had a similar trait:

    Talent

    People from privileged backgrounds can often become successful without extraordinary talent (e.g. GW Bush, and probably most of the clowns who've ruined our banking industry).

    However, I'd love an example of someone who came out of poverty to extreme success without having an extraordinary talent.

    I never lived in the projects (we didn't have projects in my small town), but I lived in extreme poverty and was the child of an alcoholic father and mentally ill mother, essentially orphaned when I was 9 and literally orphaned by age 15.  As the youngest of 3 children, I was the first in my immediate and maternal extended family to graduate high school then went on to graduate college, which I considered a huge deal at the time.

    And, as someone who probably understands the hardships of poverty, I look at people who rose out of poverty and made it BIG the way Sotomayer did, and I can't help thinking:

    Wow.

    Maybe the WOW is my way of forgiving myself because I didn't do as much with my life as she did, but I really don't think so.

    I still think the Supreme Court nomination should be about the issues, rather than the personality or the background, but I will say that the background may have an effect on the standing on issues.  May.  But I will say, it's difficult for those who have't lived certain issues to truly understand them (e.g. Cohen).

    That was a great post, thank you (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by samtaylor2 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 09:59:52 AM EST


    Parent
    Thanks for reading ;-) (none / 0) (#22)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:44:24 AM EST


    Parent
    Your WOW, like mine (5.00 / 4) (#11)
    by ruffian on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:00:24 AM EST
    is an acknowledgment of your special realization of how hard it is to do what Sotomayor and very few others have done. It takes incredible drive and fortitude to do that. I could no more have gotten myself to Princeton than I could have flown to the moon - not because I was not smart enough, but because I did not have whatever else it takes to dream of doing something that big, and then make it happen. Still don't.

    Parent
    I didn't get a chance to add (5.00 / 1) (#36)
    by ruffian on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:08:21 AM EST
    because I had to go to a meeting, that the fact of her extraordinary accomplishments does not necessarily make her legal reasoning any more or less valid than someone with a privileged background. One of the reasons I read this blog is to get reliable assessments of her legal skills, since I don't have that background. But Cohen saying that her accomplishments are not all that special is just ridiculous.

    Parent
    Exactly (5.00 / 1) (#40)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:13:31 AM EST
    I know many poor people who are also quite conservative. (that's an extreme, but you get my drift).

    Parent
    My poverty was not as (5.00 / 6) (#17)
    by Jjc2008 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:20:08 AM EST
    extreme as yours seemed to be and I was very lucky in having two mentally healthy, mostly positive parents.  My mother was pulled out of school by age 12 or 13 (we don't really know her real age as she was an immigrant at a time when children were given citizenship automatically when their parents became citizens...consequently we had not birth certificates, no official records of my mother's birth) to work in a textile mill (there were no child labor laws).  My father left school in 10th grade and went to the CCC camps.  

    Both my sister and I went to college.  I consider this a tribute to my parents......and proof I was luckier than most.

    I admire though people like you, like Sotomayor, like Bill Clinton, who rose above circumstances.
    I was a teacher for 40 years.  Many of those years I spent in schools in poor neighborhoods.  I was always impressed with so many kids who made it despite abuse, despite poverty, or despite societal prejudices against race and gender; and despite having little or no time to be a child.

    I look at people like W, or Limbaugh or others like them....raised in privilege and still ended up druggies or alcoholics or hate mongers.  And yet some insist they must be admired for their "accomplishments."  I say "What accomplishments?"  Being given special treatment, being rescued by their privilege from duty, from failure, from ever having to be honest and fair to others?  

    Anyway, Sotomayor and her brother, with the help of their mother, rose above.  And no matter how many times hate mongers, some jealous white males insist she is a bigot to cover their seething jealousy and bitterness at her successes, she will be admired and respected by most of us.

    Parent

    And good teachers do amazing things (5.00 / 1) (#18)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:29:37 AM EST
    for needy kids.  After I lost my family in an accident I was very shut down for two years.  In fifth grade I was on the roster for Mr. William Mays' class (not the baseball player but he was black).  I don't know exactly what Mr. Mays did but under his guidance my life began to change.  It would never be the same again but I began to start participating in life.  At the end of the year he had me tested for the one opening in the school districts gifted class, I would have to go to a different school if I got in.  I got it.  I was terrified to leave Mr. Mays but he told me I would be okay.  I still get tears in my eyes thinking about him.  He later became principle of Queen Palmer Elementary in Colorado Springs....same school he taught fifth grade at.  I honestly don't know who I would be today without having had him in my life.

    Parent
    Excellent story (5.00 / 1) (#32)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:00:21 AM EST
    It's amazing how teachers can change your life for the better(and sometimes for the worse).

    I had a drafting teacher like that.  Imagine a 50 year old construction trades teacher in 1979 who was NOT sexist.  He was a rare bird, but helped me understand that women could do things that men did.

    Parent

    Oh my gosh (5.00 / 2) (#35)
    by Jjc2008 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:07:41 AM EST
    I spent all my years teaching in Colorado Springs, and I know Queen Palmer very well.  
    I am so glad Mr. Mays was influential in your life.  
    And hopefully he knows it too.

    Recently, one of the schools at which I taught in Colorado Springs was closing so the school had a afternoon for past teachers and students to come together and remember.  One of my former student's older sister sought me out to give me a message from her brother.   He was unable to attend as he was getting his PhD in computer science.  But he wanted her to let me know that his love of science and computers started when he was in my class (I was getting my MA in computer ed.....and I was excited).

    Not sure what I did exactly but my heart soared when he made the effort (through his sister) to thank me.  For teachers, the success of a student is the ultimate reward and when a few take the time to let us know, we smile for days on end.

    Parent

    Oh my God I can't believe you know of (none / 0) (#41)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:20:21 AM EST
    Mr Mays.  I'm truly crying now.  I ended up being able to attend 6th grade at Stratton in the gifted program.  After Josh was born and I was attempting to piece together a very different life again after a different sort of trauma I often found myself thinking hourly of Mr Mays.  I suppose for some people they think about what Jesus would do when things get tough......I think about what Mr Mays would do when things get tough.  My whole family was devastated by our loss, so he was my anchor because naturally nobody else really could be.  We were all lost on the inside but I lived with my grandparents on Bijou ........with my grandma Vera :)  When I began to feel so much better my grandma Vera used to call him her Willie Mays :)

    Parent
    Small world..... (5.00 / 1) (#54)
    by Jjc2008 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 12:03:12 PM EST
    I am retired now but I still sub...often at Stratton.

    I am thrilled that Mr.Mays gave and still gives you so much comfort.  That is a true testament to the value of teachers in the lives of their students.  Sadly, too often we hear of how a bad teacher impacted someone negatively so it is truly a blessing to hear how a good teacher has impacted a life so positively.  Thank you for sharing.

    I am always hoping that when young people can hear how a good teacher can greatly and positively impact a life, some will choose the profession.  While one may not get the monetary rewards, one indeed gets rewards that cannot be matched anywhere.  However, the trick is patience, knowing you may have to wait decades to know that you have succeeded....and touched a life positively.

    Parent

    They are (5.00 / 4) (#21)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:44:13 AM EST
    the same people who, if asked, would say, "if I can have this success, ANYONE can!  And if you're poor, it must mean you're lazy!"

    It just isn't true.

    The extreme example I always give is if Bill Gates had been a Somalian orphan rather than a rich kid and son of someone with connections at IBM, would we be subjected to this crappy operating system we use today?  No.

    Yes, the priviledged always think highly of their "successes".

    Parent

    This reply (none / 0) (#24)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:46:56 AM EST
    became attached to the wrong comment.  I was replying to a comment about Limbaugh and Bush.

    Parent
    I like to tell kids from backgrounds (none / 0) (#25)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:48:06 AM EST
    like mine, "if I did it you can do it".  but in fact it is not that simple.  you have to want it.
    IF you want it.  if you want it badly enough you CAN do it.  its not impossible.

    but there is nothing simple about it.

    Parent

    I always love the comment (none / 0) (#58)
    by of1000Kings on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 01:41:34 PM EST
    that all rich people just worked harder than the middling class or the poor...

    uh huh, keep telling yourself that you 3rd generation Ivy leaguers...

    Parent

    I wish (none / 0) (#51)
    by NYShooter on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:51:33 AM EST
    Judge Sotomayor wasn't special. I wish she didn't excel at Princeton and Yale, didn't have (and overcome) a difficult environment, and didn't go on to gain more experience, and accolades, than any of the current sitting S.C. Justices. She still would deserve being placed in nomination to be our newest S.C. Judge.

    After almost two and a half centuries since our founding, we have had two women, (51% of the population) two African Americans, (10 -15 %) and no, as in Zero, Hispanics (10-15%, and growing)

    Minority based hiring? You betcha, and it's about time.


    Parent

    like you (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:44:57 AM EST
    I had a pretty difficult childhood.  I have done pretty well but one of the things that pi$$es me off most in the world is people like Cohen who obviously havent the vaguest clue what that means minimize it by saying I was lucky.  and I have heard it a lot.
    we have talked about luck before. thats another subject but luck or not when you come from a background like hers yours or mine you do not do well because you are "lucky" you do well by working harder than other people.  

    Cohen is a disgrace.


    Parent

    I think you need both... (5.00 / 1) (#30)
    by kdog on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:56:44 AM EST
    luck and perseverance...nobody does it without a little luck.

    You can get lucky and still blow it if you don't have the work ethic, you gotta be lucky and good.

    Parent

    Not luck so much as opportunity (5.00 / 1) (#34)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:06:53 AM EST
    but it seems to me that the impoverished must make the very most of every possible opportunity while those of us not impoverished, and being white was never a hinderance for me either, can pick and choose which "luck" we will employ because our situations are not desperate ones and we have luck all over the place.  It's great to never have gone to bed hungry.  I can't deny that.  Single motherhood was tough, but I doubt I know what real real insanely tough is day in and day out during a childhood that will be your childhood for the rest of your life.  Strange, we watched Angela's Ashes last night on cable.  It had been a long time since I had last seen it....sobering

    Parent
    and watching for and taking (5.00 / 1) (#38)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:10:55 AM EST
    every possible opportunity.  including the ones other people didnt want or wouldnt take in many cases.
    we have talked about luck before.  I dont think such a thing exists.  more often than not its an excuse.


    Parent
    I believe it's true (5.00 / 2) (#39)
    by TeresaInSnow2 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:11:45 AM EST
    that luck plays a huge role.  However, I don't think it's about work ethic.  I know many people with tremendous work ethic who trudge and toil, find minor successes but never anything to match people who have natural born talents (Mike Tyson, Sonia Sotomayer, etc).

    My mother had a tremendous work ethic, but died at age 39 of mental illness.  My brother has the work ethic of 10 people, and drives a Frito Lay truck.

    Yes, you have to have a work ethic, but that is an equalizing force.  It's not the force that earns you the Sotomayer level of success.

    And the whole notion of "you can do anything if you work hard enough!" is really something of a myth.

    IMHO.

    Parent

    "you can do anything" (5.00 / 0) (#42)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:23:34 AM EST
    might be a bit of a stretch but I have seen people with extraordinary abilities left in the dust by people of average abilities who were willing to work for it.

    Parent
    Life Chances (5.00 / 1) (#44)
    by jeffinalabama on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:26:08 AM EST
    Sociologists call these opportunities 'life chances.' Life chances are distributed in an inverted triangle on an SES scale, with the point of the triangle, the fewest life chances, in the lowest socioeconomic statuses.

    In other words, fewer life chances to be taken or not for those at the bottom, more at the top.

    Parent

    No doubt... (none / 0) (#46)
    by kdog on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:33:42 AM EST
    natural born talent plays a role too...but even that can be overcome, like poor beginnings, through a superior work ethic.  

    Not to even get into the question of "what is success?"  

    Parent

    "what is success?" (none / 0) (#47)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:34:44 AM EST
    good point.  not the same for everyone.

    Parent
    In my book... (5.00 / 1) (#49)
    by kdog on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:40:54 AM EST
    in a nutshell, sustaining your existence while having a ball and enriching the lives of those around you in some way is a most successful life...its got nothing to do with degrees or bank account balances or professional accolades or fancy titles like Supreme Court Justice.

    Parent
    The best predictor (none / 0) (#50)
    by jeffinalabama on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:47:27 AM EST
    for socioeconomic success is the SES of the parents... talent notwithstanding.

    Parent
    this makes sense to me (5.00 / 0) (#52)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:53:04 AM EST
    both my parents were pretty uneducated so they knew better than most the value of an education.
    IMO it has a lot more to do with the values you get from them not the allowance

    Parent
    very true. (none / 0) (#53)
    by jeffinalabama on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:58:41 AM EST
    A lot of lower SES parents push hard work or athletics instead of education. I have taught in two colleges where 70 percent of the students were first-generation college students. I always ask them if they knew someone who HAD to go to work... most do. or people whose parents told them to get a job, not worry about education. Almost all of them had heard that.

    Parent
    there was an article in Cabinet magazine (none / 0) (#59)
    by of1000Kings on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 01:47:11 PM EST
    a few years ago about how the word success has evolved to a point where it has nothing to do with the type of person you are buy solely the income you earn...they make the argument that it hasn't always been this way, that success wasn't always tied to the car you drive or having a bigger house than your neighbor...

    somehow we need to get that meaning back to where it needs to be...I think...

    but that delves into the definition of capitalism itself, and fear of God I don't want to be called out as a Socialist...might be rounded up some day if that were the case...

    Parent

    Your book seems to be... (none / 0) (#62)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 03:15:59 PM EST
    ...right on track.

    Psychologists at the University of Rochester evaluated survey responses from 147 recent graduates, noting their achievements and their level of happiness over a period of two years. People's goals were divided into two categories: extrinsic (things like wealth, fame and personal image) and intrinsic (for example, meaningful relationships, health and personal growth). Achieving intrinsic goals led to higher self-esteem and a greater sense of well-being, the researchers statistical analysis revealed. But, in a snub for the American dream, attaining the extrinsic goals of wealth and fame led to anxiety and unhappiness.


    Parent
    what it takes years to understand is (5.00 / 0) (#63)
    by Capt Howdy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 03:30:21 PM EST
    that by working on the intrinsic stuff you will eventually get to the extrinsic stuff.  Joseph Campbell:

    Now, I came to this idea of bliss because in Sanskrit. . . I thought, "I don't know whether my consciousness is proper consciousness or not; I don't know whether what I know of my being is my proper being or not; but I do know where my rapture is. So let me hang on to rapture, and that will bring me both my consciousness and my being."
    If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. Wherever you are -- if you are following your bliss, you are enjoying that refreshment, that life within you, all the time.

    years later Campbell was told this was being interpreted as hedonism and he had some bliss/career advise:

    Campbell is reported to have grumbled, "I should have said, 'Follow your blisters.'"


    Parent
    {chuckle} (none / 0) (#64)
    by nycstray on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 03:41:18 PM EST
    thank you :)

    Parent
    Tracking recent college graduates, (none / 0) (#65)
    by jeffinalabama on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 04:15:31 PM EST
    especially such a small sample size, doesn't tell us anything about the rest of the population though.

    Parent
    And (none / 0) (#67)
    by cal1942 on Wed Jun 03, 2009 at 02:42:30 PM EST
    No one does it alone.  It takes a village.

    Parent
    Terrific post (none / 0) (#14)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:08:52 AM EST
    And George W Bush, who had no significant talent other coming from a wealthy family deeply dug into American politics, was our leader for eight long years. Under his leadership the World Trade Center along with our economy and Iraq were destroyed, the Pentagon was partially destroyed and planes full of people were taken over by suiciding terrorists while he ignored the warnings.  There were also things that were not destroyed as well, like weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

    Parent
    Uh... (5.00 / 4) (#4)
    by lilburro on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 09:50:58 AM EST
    Sotomayor's coming out of the projects is no miracle. The tragedy is that we think it is.

    Yeah, she's just another run of the mill Latina Supreme Court nominee.  Yawn.

    Did he really write that? (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by andgarden on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 09:52:20 AM EST
    Tell me he didn't write that.

    Parent
    oh yes, he did (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by ruffian on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 09:53:51 AM EST
    you really have to read the column. I know BTD focused on the court case, but the whole thing is unbelievably stupid.

    Parent
    Honestly, I don't feel like giving wpost (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by andgarden on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 09:54:29 AM EST
    the clicks for junk like that.

    Parent
    It is like some weird (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by lilburro on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 09:58:26 AM EST
    rhapsodic Americana piece.  Ex:

    This was the gift of liberalism, especially New York City-style liberalism. The city would provide housing -- about 400,000 now live in public housing -- and it would provide good schools, and later, with good grades and the proper attitude, it would offer an excellent higher education: City College, Brooklyn College, Queens College and my own beloved Hunter College. The vast poor were the city's oil fields. Any kid could be a gusher.

    Ah yes, the good ol' days!  When every kid could gush with equal opportunity!  Why Sotomayor says the same herself of her experience at Princeton (did you know Cohen, she was allowed to go there too!)

    Parent

    dime a dozen (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by ruffian on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 09:52:51 AM EST
    Really, he is an idiot. BTD was right about that.

    Parent
    what an idiot n/t (5.00 / 1) (#55)
    by CST on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 12:07:31 PM EST


    Parent
    Well, look... (5.00 / 1) (#61)
    by masslib on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 02:39:51 PM EST
    it's hard out there for a wealthy white male pundit.  Heh.

    Isn't it great for Cohen that he can afford the luxury of seeing the tragedy in the response to Sotomayor's story?

    Parent

    Methinks the man needs to be forced to (none / 0) (#45)
    by nycstray on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:28:08 AM EST
    live in the projects for a week or three with no access to his money, only public assistant or what he would make at some of these poverty level jobs. Do a little walking in other's shoes, and then let's see what he has to say.

    Parent
    depends on the meaning of (5.00 / 0) (#16)
    by Turkana on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:11:58 AM EST
    "major newspaper columnist"...

    debra saunders is astonishingly stupid.

    Hey - let's all move to the projects! (5.00 / 5) (#19)
    by Anne on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:34:28 AM EST
    Richard Cohen makes them sound really, really special.

    Lord, help me, I read the whole thing [urrr.....rrrrp].  Why do I do that to myself?

    I think I know, though, what he was trying to do.  He thinks that by treating Sotomayor's rise to a Supreme Court nomination as something unexpected and extraordinary, we are exposing our prejudice against "those people" from the projects who we deep down believe are not capable of attaining that kind of success.  By treating Sotomayor's rise as, "well, of course she made it - what did you expect?" he thinks he is being the bigger, and less biased, person.  Little does he know that he managed to reveal nothing but his own idiocy, and in more spectacular fashion than usual.

    As for his pronouncement on Ricci - pffft! - means about as much as my non-lawyerly opinion - as in "very little;" the difference between us is that I'd be too embarrassed to have mine printed in a column next to my picture (I haven't even ventured an opinion here, just continuing to read the various arguments about it, but more and more convinced that Sotomayor made the only decision she could have in relation to Title VII, which was, I believe, the crux of the matter).

    I don't know whether we are all getting smarter, or these columnists are getting dumber, but I so rarely can read these people without almost uncontrollable eye-rolling, that I'm sure if I read these columns in public, someone would think I had a "condition."

    Yes - shades of Bush (none / 0) (#29)
    by ruffian on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:56:38 AM EST
    All that is holding them back is 'the soft bigotry of low expectations.'

    Parent
    I'm trying to think (5.00 / 1) (#26)
    by jeffinalabama on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:51:10 AM EST
    of a description beyond 'fool.'

    off topic but (none / 0) (#27)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:52:47 AM EST
    get any bites?

    Parent
    nibbles (none / 0) (#28)
    by jeffinalabama on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:54:05 AM EST


    Parent
    Any nibbles (none / 0) (#31)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:58:35 AM EST
    from the Brits?

    Parent
    not yet :( (none / 0) (#33)
    by jeffinalabama on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:03:09 AM EST


    Parent
    hmmmmm (none / 0) (#37)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:10:04 AM EST
    Spouse asked the other day and then ya know....the million things got in the way and the Tiller debate for me :)  Spouse is certifying an instructor today but perhaps he can snoop around tomorrow now that we know where to snoop.

    Parent
    Agree with everything said here (5.00 / 3) (#43)
    by DancingOpossum on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:25:01 AM EST
    I come from a privileged but not wealthy background (briefly: was lucky enough to be raised in unusual, interesting circs by education-happy parents who stayed together forever) and I am smart and talented AND YET...there is no way in flying Jumping Jehosaphat I would have been able to get myself to Princeton or to anywhere near the Supreme Court. (My parents' biggest ambition for me was to become a lawyer-- and I didn't even manage THAT!)

    But my life was by no means sheltered so I do know what Sotomayor and those of you who have posted so eloquently about your own difficult backgrounds have had to face. Where I live now, it's pretty common for poor people (these are mostly poor white people btw) to use the military as their ticket to upward mobility, their only shot at anything resembling a stable and dignified life. (I've known two people who actually detoxed from drug addiction in boot camp.)

    It's pretty bad when you're willing to get your brains blown out in Iraq just for the chance to stop living like a refugee, but I guess Mr. Cohen doesn't know anyone like that.

    Cohen's statement is despicable. Just how out of touch is the Post trying to get, anyway? Get rid of Cohen, already, he's been nothing but an embarrassment since the days when he wrote a series of articles about African-Americans that did all but incite riots in D.C. Jeesh, WaPo, give up on the overprivileged git already.

    The HS across the street from me (none / 0) (#48)
    by nycstray on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:34:52 AM EST
    used to look like a recruiting station. The school has since been overhauled (not just the building). Can't remember the last time I saw recruiters there.

    Parent
    Cohen demonstrates one of biggest problems (5.00 / 2) (#56)
    by samtaylor2 on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 12:13:06 PM EST
    In our society.  The inability to look outside of your own experience.  I know so many people (I am most likely guilty of it on occasion), that make judgments about someone else's abilities based upon one's own life.   That is, I was blessed, both my parents went to college, and graduate school, the notion of not going to college NEVER crossed my mind.  Even the dumbest kids in my class went to 4 year school.  However, to say I would have automatically gone on to college if I wasn't surrounded by silver spoons is the height of arrogance.  We are partially made by our environment.  In the book "Makes Me Want to Holler"  McCallan (think that is his name) makes a point about the drug dealers he grew up with (and tried unsuccesfully to become) would have been the successfull stockbrokers if they grew up in another world.   This is what makes the story of Sotamayer so amazing.  Not that she is a really smart woman (there are a lot smart people in a over-populated world), but that she had the ability to look outside her environment and see opportunities that were outside of her world and see a place for herself there.  This is also why she is so important.  That is, most of us don't have the ability to change our trajectory without visible role models.  This is also what the racists fear the most about her.

    You mean (5.00 / 2) (#57)
    by jbindc on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 01:27:22 PM EST
    Cohen has no empathy? <snark>

    Parent
    Don't poke fun at the handicapped (none / 0) (#13)
    by koshembos on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:08:42 AM EST
    Richard Cohen is really missing a cog or two. It's about 10 years that that fact is known. I think, we should stop reading him.

    And if we are at that, let's add to the list the other, the Times, Richard Cohen. Once we stop reading them, they will disappear and we will go on to other morons.

    Well, (none / 0) (#20)
    by bocajeff on Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 10:39:59 AM EST
    I especially loved this nuggest of idiocy: "Sotomayor's life instructs her that the projects are chock-full of people like her. They are propelled by the greenest of fuels, their indomitable parents, and they are nourished by wonderful teachers, determined principals -- and the opportunities provided by a generous government. Sotomayor's coming out of the projects is no miracle. The tragedy is that we think it is."

    How dare she believe that the projects are filled with people who have so much talent that if not nurtured it will be wasted...! He shouldn't write such drivel being so stupid and all...

    Richard Cohen: White Man's Privilege | 65 comments (65 topical)

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