(note: the title has since changed to "Why the US Latinos need to be self-critical")
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-us-latinos-need-to-be-self-critical.html
The Obama speech on absent fathers remind me of Bill Cosby!
It was a few years ago that legendary African-American comedian Bill Cosby was speaking out against irresponsible parents. His speech-making tour was criticized as a "Blame the Poor Tour"!
As a person of Mexican-American ancestry, I say the Mexican-American also needs it's own version of Bill Cosby, and it also need it's own version of the so-called "Blame the Poor Tour"
Someone in the Latino community needs to speak up about the problems within the Latino community, including .......
I also mentioned that the Asian-American community could use their own version of Bill Cosby
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2011/04/why-amy-chua-is-dangerous-to-asian.html
(go towards the end of the blog post to see this part)
It is time for the Asian-American community to publicly stand up and aggressively denounce people like Amy Chua! If Bill Cosby can give aggressive criticisms of his fellow African-Americans who are negligent parents, than the Asian Americans should do the same to Amy Chua!
As you can see, I do agree with Bill Cosby that SOME of the problems within the "minority community" is self-inflicted!
This does NOT mean I (or Bill Cosby) believe "racism is over!"
But I do believe that many people screw up their own lives, making a bad situation (some of it due to external circumstances) even worse!
And yes, I do think the same is true of European-American communities too! The low-income European-Americans shouldn't blame their economic situation on "too many immigrants taking our jobs" or "nobody likes the white guy anymore" nonsense!
I had defended Bill Cosby from some of his critics in this blog post
http://pablothemadtiger.blogspot.com/2004_07_01_archive.html#108977977151843578
I have yet to read Ehrenreich's book "Nickled and Dimed" but I am wondering this - did Ehrenreich even bother to ask her interview subjects whether they cut class, disrupt class, bullied other students, annoy their teachers, etc. when they were young!
But I wouldn't be surprised if Ehrenreich avoided that topic all together - because if she adresses, it might give the right wing some ammunition. Which is why she'll use the word "bigot" to describe anyone who has the nerve to say that many low income adults were once disruptive students! I know, I've seen it first hand! And Bill Cosby knows it, he's seen it first hand
And Thomas Sowell gives Ehrenreich the smack-a-down she deserves
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/ts20040713.shtml
Over the years, Bill Cosby has poured enough of his efforts and money into advancing blacks that he does not need any lessons from Barbara Ehrenreich on how to help his own people.But her attempts to pose as a friend and defender of blacks has implications that reach far beyond this one silly woman.
But I did criticize Bill Cosby with his comments about non-standard English
http://pablothemadtiger.blogspot.com/2004_05_01_archive.html#108580382921957844
While I would agree with Cosby on denouncing parents who spend $$$ on luxuries instead of educational tools and on deadbeat dads, he missed the mark on "non-standard English".
There's this crazy assumption that if a kid speaks ebonics (African American slang) or pidgin (Hawaii slang) that kid will never be able to succeed in a standard English environment. BULL_____!
We have many well educated people who are multi-lingual, who can speak English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, etc fluently! They can speak fluent Japanese in Japan, fluent English in the US and UK, fluent Spanish in Spain and Latin America, so on and so forth.
That being the case, there are so many people who can speak ebonics or pidgin to their friends, families, etc and CAN ALSO speak standard English at work and school. I know PLENTY of people at the University of Hawaii who can speak fluent Pidgin with local folks and can also speak, write and read Standard English in academic setting!
So why I am re-mentioning all the stuff I wrote about Bill Cosby!
He's in the news again, but this time over rape allegations.
When I first heard about the Andrea Constrand's allegation against Bill Cosby, this was right in the middle of when Bill Cosby was in the controversy over his remarks about negligent parents in African-American communities! Some were angry that Bill Cosby had the nerve to not blame all the problems on "white racism".
At the time, I was wondering ..................conspiracy to shut Bill Cosby up?
But more and more women went public with their negative encounters with Bill Cosby! There were allegations that he spiked their drinks with drugs that made them unconscious in bed, and woken up noticing their clothes are off and Bill Cosby acting as if nothing happened!
1 or 2 of those allegations can be questionable. (notice that only 1 woman ever accused 2pac of sexual assault........ which makes it seem that 2pac wasn't a repeat offender .......and gives the idea of doubt among many 2pac fans over the incident)
But 14 of those allegations against Bill Cosby by women who never met each other, over a span of decades?
And more going public?
And with comedian Hannibal Burress mocking the living crap out of Bill Cosby's moral scold image?
At this point, I think Bill Cosby is guilty of some serious sexual predator behavior!
This goes beyond just being too touchy with women he was flirting/dancing with!
This goes beyond just accused of saying inappropriate jokes!
(Sometimes, those things highlighted in pink could be simple misunderstandings that can be solved with a sincere apology)
He is accused of drugging (poisoning) women so that he could insert his body part into theirs!
THAT is NOT some "misunderstanding that can be solved with an apology"
As one of the victims who recently went public said
https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-janice-dickinson-details-bill-223700892.html
Dickinson says that keeping the alleged sexual assault a secret for 32 years drove her to a life of hurting herself."Stuffing feelings of rape and my unresolved issued with this incident has drove me into a life of trying to hurt myself because I didn't have counsel and I was afraid," she says. "I was afraid of the consequences. I was afraid of being labeled a whore or a slut and trying to sleep my way to the top of a career that never took place."But now Dickinson, who says she never confronted Cosby after the alleged incident, doesn't mince words when it comes to what she would say to him now."How dare you," she says. "Go f*ck yourself. How dare you take advantage of me. And I hope you rot."
Bill Cosby thought he was invincible! He was comedy superstar, family sitcom superstar!
He was protected by the same political correctness that he denounced when criticized other African-Americans! He was protected by European-American reluctance to sound racist and he was protected by African-American reluctance to criticize one of their own, especially someone who actually gained popularity with European-American audiences after so much centuries of slavery and segregation!
Bill Cosby was protected by the "no tattling, no snitching" culture he was denouncing all those years! Why else would you think so many women were reluctant to contact police when he violated them?
Bill Cosby was protected by the mentality that "female models and wannabe stars are groupies who always want it", which goes along with the "no tattling, no snitching" culture that intimidates abuse victims from going public!
Well, the "no tattling, no snitching" message is losing its effectiveness with sexual abuse victims!
This "let it go","don't let it bother you", "just leave in the past" message is losing its effectiveness with sexual abuse victims!
The "you have to be a perfect person, a total angel to be believed" mentality is losing its effectiveness with sexual abuse victims!
This is a new era! Times are changing!
-----
So yeah, I can appreciate Bill Cosby's comedy shows, his Jello commercials, his status as an African-American legend who is one of the earliest to gain acceptance with large European-American audiences.
I appreciate him promoting higher education and giving scholarships to African-American students!
I can even appreciate his concerns with negligent parents, gang violence and other self-destructive occurrences in the communities he grew up in! I can even appreciate him saying that "not everything is racism's fault"!
But Bill Cosby has to take responsibility for his actions too!
He can't blame white racism for his irresponsible actions!
He can't just say "I'm not as bad as the gangsta rappers" because what he is accused of doing is WORSE than saying violent lyrics!
Bill Cosby needs to held accountable!
After all, he said that about everyone else!
