Two pieces addressed to Occupy Wall Street

Memo to the Occupy protesters: here are ten things we evil capitalists really think“.

Chatting to some Occupy protesters this morning, I was struck by how wide of the mark were the beliefs they attributed to me as a Right-winger. In the interests of deeper understanding, here are ten things which — trust me — most of the Tory scum I hang around with think. Obviously, I don’t expect to turn my Leftie readers in a single post; still, they might get a clearer idea of what we actually believe.

Three inconvenient truths for Occupy Wall Street“.

The Occupiers are right about American incomes: They’ve definitely grown more unequal. But this fact presents three inconvenient truths for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

For a first-rate academic article exploring “the collapse of intact families” that Schulz refers to, see Amy L. Wax, “Engines of Inequality: Class, Race, and Family Structure“. Or, for a short summary of a recent book by Professor Wax, see John McWhorter, “What Hope?”

This book is depressing because it is so persuasive. There is a school of thought in America which argues that the government must be the main force that provides help to the black community. This shibboleth is predicated upon another one: that such government efforts will make a serious difference in disparities between blacks and whites. Amy Wax not only argues that such efforts have failed, she also suggests that such efforts cannot bring equality, and therefore must be abandoned. Wax identifies the illusion that mars American thinking on this subject as the myth of reverse causation–that if racism was the cause of a problem, then eliminating racism will solve it. If only this were true. But it isn’t true: racism can set in motion cultural patterns that take on a life of their own.

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