[lit-ideas] The Bill Bennett Flap
- From: "M.A. Camp" <macampesq@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 10:59:04 -0500
The Bill Bennett Flap
Townhall.com
^<http://www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/StarParker/2005/10/10/170701.html>|
10-10-05 | Star Parker
Words are as fragile and sensitive as the human beings who utter them. They
need careful nurturing and appropriate context and presentation for their
meaning and intent to be realized.
This point was made effectively in a best-selling book on punctuation a few
years ago that showed how a sentence pointing out the simple truth that "The
panda eats shoots and leaves" takes on a new life and meaning with the
addition of a few commas, becoming "The panda eats, shoots, and leaves."
So we have it with the recent almost-too-ridiculous-to-discuss incident with
Bill Bennett's alleged racist remarks on his radio show. The remarks, taken
out of context by those attacking Bennett, are being used to make the exact
opposite point of his and brand him a racist.
A listener called in suggesting that abortion might be an explanation for
our Social Security crisis (with more adults around paying Social Security
taxes, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in). Bennett replied that such a
hypothesis is as absurd and repugnant as the suggestion made in a
best-selling book called "Freakonomics" that aborting more black babies
would lead to a lower crime rate.
Bennett's point, perhaps to belabor what for some reason to many is not
obvious, was that such an allegation is a bizarre, perverse way to view the
world.
What is going on in our country today? Is there not enough evil around that
we have to look for it and manufacture it where it doesn't exist?
Sure, one could argue that Bennett should have considered that he broadcasts
to a large audience and that he might have been insensitive to not
appreciate that such a supercharged example might elicit emotional
responses. However, even if this captures what happened, an insensitive
moment is not racism.
A number of questions and ironies come to mind as I review this strange
incident.
Ask yourself, in moments when you have doubts about someone and her motives,
if you tend to err on the side of suspicion of bad or attribution of good. I
sadly think that, overwhelmingly, our tendency is to be suspicious and
accuse. Why does the natural tendency seem to drift toward the bad and not
the good?
Ask yourself, when you listen to someone speak, if you are truly listening
to him. Are you really paying attention? Did you walk away hearing what he
said, or were you really listening to yourself and did you walk away with
what you think he said or want to believe he said? How many of us really
listen carefully to those speaking to us?
Regarding the army of those attacking Bennett, most of whom are black, my
question is this: Why are you outraged about Bennett's supposed remark about
black abortions and not outraged, every day, about the 400,000-plus black
babies that actually are aborted every year? Or about the 13 million black
babies that have been aborted since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973?
If what you truly care about are black babies and black lives, why do you
overwhelmingly vote for candidates who support abortion and perpetuate a
culture that devalues and cheapens lives - black and white?
Ironically, Elayne Bennett, wife of the alleged racist, founded and has run
for a good number of years the Best Friends Foundation. It runs programs for
teenagers, largely black, in communities all over the country, helping these
kids build satisfying, responsible lives. In the words of the mission
statement, Best Friends "promotes self-respect through the practice of
self-control and provides participants the skills, guidance, and support to
choose abstinence from sex until marriage and reject illegal drug and
alcohol abuse."
Perhaps the explanation for the tendency to suspect rather than to give the
benefit of the doubt, the tendency lean to the negative, rather than to seek
the positive, is because it is easy. Suspicion, accusation and blame take
little effort. Careful listening, clear thinking and a pure heart require
real work. Maybe that's why, unfortunately, we see so little of these
things.
--
Semper Fi,
M.A. Camp, Esq.
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