Now, it’s obvious that hard work, intelligence, and assistance from others are necessary to succeed. I grew up in a trailer in rural Alabama and I graduated from Stanford University. I am publishing this blog post at a start-up magazine that I founded with capital that I — along with my African-American husband, a Brown University graduate — saved from our wage earnings. We work hard and our families have always worked hard too (See slavery). The problem is that Marks seems to think it’s okay to require black kids to be “special” to “succeed.” I don’t. [emphasis added]posted by Wretch729 at 1:58 PM on December 13, 2011 [54 favorites]
Yeah, I imagine that Gene Marks isn't so much a bad guy as a hopelessly sheltered one.Perhaps he should avail himself of some technology and broaden his world-view then.
When I read stuff like this (the Gene Marks post) it's not even the content that boggles me. Rather, I find myself wondering what actually goes through someone's head when they're writing it? What is their motivation, what is their purpose?You know they say you get more right-wing as you get older, and I think it may be happening to me.
When I read stuff like this (the Gene Marks post) it's not even the content that boggles me. Rather, I find myself wondering what actually goes through someone's head when they're writing it? What is their motivation, what is their purpose?Seriously. The best thing to do about poor people is nothing at all. You could give them money, but that, well, costs money--and Lord knows I'll never have enough money that giving some to someone else seems like a good idea. Open your mouth about poor people, or put pen to paper, and you'll quickly learn that they don't want your words or your opinions--they want your money. That brings us back to the first point.
I suggest Mr Marks build himself a moon rocket. All the tools and technology are there. There are examples of how it’s been done successfully in the past. All he needs to do is introduce himself to an astronaut or two, and maybe an overworked engineer at Boeing. There are lunar landing simulators all over the Internet. He just needs a little more pluck.And it made me want to build a so-called "moon rocket."
@1doze – thanks for sharing your story, and for jumping in. I agree that even so-called “disadvantaged” kids have a chance.Cool Papa Bell: Look at the folks lining up to throw rocks at the idea that it might be a good idea for a poor person to try to better themselves through smart choices and hard work.
If I was a poor black kid, I would use my iPad to start a change.org petition to get improved wifi access at the school and a locavore menu in my cafeteria.Some of these comments, it must be said, are pretty amazing.
I will give you an example of how race affects my life. I live in a place called Alpine, New Jersey. Live in Alpine, New Jersey, right? My house costs millions of dollars. [some whistles and cheers from the audience] Don't hate the player, hate the game. In my neighborhood, there are four black people. Hundreds of houses, four black people. Who are these black people? Well, there's me, Mary J. Blige, Jay-Z and Eddie Murphy. Only black people in the whole neighborhood. So let's break it down, let's break it down: me, I'm a decent comedian. I'm a'ight. [applause] Mary J. Blige, one of the greatest R&B singers to ever walk the Earth. Jay-Z, one of the greatest rappers to ever live. Eddie Murphy, one of the funniest actors to ever, ever do it. Do you know what the white man who lives next door to me does for a living? He's a fucking dentist! He ain't the best dentist in the world...he ain't going to the dental hall of fame...he don't get plaques for getting rid of plaque. He's just a yank-your-tooth-out dentist. See, the black man gotta fly to get to somethin' the white man can walk to.posted by argonauta at 5:06 PM on December 13, 2011 [109 favorites]
But I am opposed to participating in an economy in which people like Marks A) unilaterally set the rules and B) stack the deck against my community and pretend that the real problem is our “ignorance” of opportunities.The deck is certainly stacked, and the right thing to do is to make a serious and persistent effort towards everyone having an actually reasonable chance to get ahead in life, but on what grounds is she accusing that people like Marks are doing the stacking? As far as I understand the deck was stacked a long time ago and it stays well stacked on its own. To the extent that others are doing harm to the community comparable in magnitude to the problems that already exist, by all means make the case, but you will lose a fair bit of sympathy if you promote a blanket assumption of guilt like that.
So many kids from West Philadelphia don’t even know these opportunities exist for them. Many come from single-parent families whose mom or dad (or in many cases their grand mom) is working two jobs to survive and are just (understandably) too plain tired to do anything else in the few short hours they’re home. Many have teachers who are overburdened and too stressed to find the time to help every kid that needs it. Many of these kids don’t have the brains to figure this out themselves – like my kids. Except that my kids are just lucky enough to have parents and a well-funded school system around to push them in the right direction.But then he changes tack so quickly I get whiplash:
Technology can help these kids. But only if the kids want to be helped. Yes, there is much inequality. But the opportunity is still there in this country for those that are smart enough to go for it. [emphasis mine]WHAT? WHAT? You just finished saying that parents are stretched to the limit by the strains of poverty; you just said that the education system is better funded for middle-class kids than poor kids, and that teachers in poor schools are overburdened and stressed. But the problem is whether or not kids "want to be helped" and "are smart enough to go for it"? The cognitive dissonance is amazing.
"This week, Forbes contributor Gene Marks wrote a story titled “If I Were A Poor Black Kid.” As soon as I saw the title, I groaned. “This is going to be offensive,” I thought. And it was. . . In addition to staff writers (of which I am one), Forbes has a stable of 850+ writers who are “contributors” — they get a little special tag on their pages that says, “The opinions expressed are those of the writer.” Forbes pays these folks for the unique visitors and repeat visitors they attract. . .
Gene Marks has proved to be pretty awesome at trolling the Internet. He wrote a post shortly after Steve Jobs’s death about how he was a jerk, and another about how most women will never become CEOs. Like his current post, these produced a lot of outrage — and also a lot of traffic. . .
So what keeps people from trolling? When your name and face are attached to what you write, you start to develop what our CPO Lewis D’Vorkin loves to call “a personal brand.” I think of it as voice, authenticity, and reputation. As writers’ bylines become bigger and our photos become more prominent, this comes to matter more. After a certain amount of race- and gender-baiting, you establish a “troll” brand and that brand may become so toxic that you become irrelevant. And that is the worst fate for any writer (and every troll): to be ignored."It is comforting to believe that we, through our sheer will, could transcend these bindings -- to believe that if we were slaves, our indomitable courage would have made us Frederick Douglass ... that were we poor and black our sense of Protestant industry would be a mighty power sending gang leaders, gang members, hunger, depression and sickle cell into flight...
Still, we are, in the main, ordinary people living in plush times ... In the great mass of humanity that's ever lived, we are distinguished only by our creature comforts, but on the whole, mediocre.
That mediocrity is oft-exemplified by the claim that though we are unremarkable in this easy world, something about enslavement, degradation and poverty would make us exemplary. We can barely throw a left hook--but surely we would have beaten Mike Tyson...
It's all fine and good to declare that you would have freed your slaves. But it's much more interesting to assume that you wouldn't and then ask "Why?" But that was just the beginning of how your exceptionally relevant, grounded and experience-based advice changed my life. Thanks only to your article, I discovered technology.posted by deanklear at 12:45 PM on December 15, 2011 [5 favorites]
Why did my teachers not teach this? Why isn't this technology mentioned anywhere in popular culture? I don't understand, but you do.
You listed so many different websites and resources, at first it was overwhelming. But I didn't let that deter me. I thought to myself, "If a successful, caring, complicated, intelligent man like Gene Marks says to do it, then I'd better head over to rentcalculators.org right now!"
I did not stop there. I became an expert at the CIA World Factbook, started using Evernote and made it my goal to get into one of those private schools you wrote about. Before your article, I never wanted anything more for myself. I used Google (thanks for the tip!), found the names and addresses of the school admissions officers, and showed up outside of their homes. It's like they were waiting for me. They smiled, waved and immediately told me about their secret scholarship programs.
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I'd also use tools of privilege like invisible backpack to condescend to people while pretending to help them.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 1:54 PM on December 13, 2011 [71 favorites]