Moral Philosophy: How Low Does a Culture Set the Bar as Far as Acceptable Behavior Goes?

Alpha Unit: Human beings are good at figuring out who they should defer to (or at least pretend to defer to) and who they can take advantage of. “Low class” people are probably very skilled at detecting weakness in other people, and once they know they can get away with treating you like crap, any respect they might have had for you takes a nosedive.

No problem. But then if I am such an obvious sucker or mark,  why don’t White people take advantage of me then? And I would argue that any culture that  habitually sizes up others to figure out if they are marks or not is frankly sociopathic. Because that’s exactly what sociopaths do? So I’m going to argue that this low class or ghetto Black culture is  somewhat sociopathic, certainly more sociopathic than White culture, even poor or working class White culture. Sure, White people, no matter how low class, yes, treated me like that, but in general, they never stooped to those lows. This “take advantage of this person” idea seems to be rampant among this group of low class or ghetto Blacks as Tulio calls them. I haven’t seen it a lot among Whites. Whites don’t usually take advantage of me like that, and in White culture, even poor and working class White culture, there are extreme rules about politeness that disallow a lot of the manipulative behavior that those who take advantage of others engage in. I mean I am not even talking crime here. I am talking very low level offenses more properly seen as politeness or manners violations. But even there, the differences between low class or ghetto Black culture and even low class White culture are stark and dramatic. Low class or ghetto Black act pretty bad from a White person’s perspective. I am not going to say it’s genetic. Let’s try culture. White culture, even poor White culture, has deep and profound politeness, manners, and proper behavior rules that result in the White culture we White folks like. I am looking at this low class or ghetto Black culture, and I am thinking that these people were raised in a permissive culture that set the bar way too low on behavior. They simply did not demand that these people behave in a proper manner. Proper manners and politeness rules were simply not instilled in them. Now by saying this, I am hopeful. I suggesting that this behavior is not genetic but is instead caused by a crap culture that lacks proper rules for decent behavior. Obviously a culture that sets the bar far too low could theoretically be taught and teach their children and fellows to behave better. If you are going to argue that this culture has the same politeness and manners rules of proper behavior as White culture does, I am going to call bullshit. If they instill these same values in their kids as we do, why do the people in this culture act so awful? And what’s wrong with saying that this is a crap culture that needs to instill better rules about behavior? Is there something wrong with saying that? I mean it’s a modest proposal, right? We can’t even say that this is a culture that needs to shape up?

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24 thoughts on “Moral Philosophy: How Low Does a Culture Set the Bar as Far as Acceptable Behavior Goes?”

  1. There’s nothing wrong with calling a crap culture a “crap culture.” Lord knows nothing has stopped you from complaining about it for years. But there’s probably never going to be a world without low class people and sociopaths. All you can do is try to learn how to recognize them and avoid them as much as possible.

    1. These people are the cause of all of the racism you experience in your life, and you won’t say one word against them.
      And if one race has dramatically more low class behaved and sociopathically inclined people than the other races, this is a serious problem which you for one refuse to address. It’s not really my problem. It’s YOUR problem. These people are bringing it down on you, not me. But you won’t lift one finger against them.
      I don’t get it.

        1. Because it’s your problem. Racism against Blacks bothers me, and if this is what’s driving it, then it’s important to talk about it. I am pointing out that this is what’s driving all the racism. And my position is that until this behavior improves, the racism will continue. It angers me that we talk about anti-Black racism all the time, but no one ever talks about why it exists in the first place. Yes, people are wrong for feeling that way, but they aren’t feeling that way for no reason. Black people to some extent are creating their own rejection. They’re creating the racism that is then used against them.
          Assuming cultures can be changed, I think it’s incumbent on Black people to try to change their culture. If they can change it and act better and reduce racism, wouldn’t that be better for everyone?
          Also it annoys me personally, but I don’t deal with these folks too much, so it’s not that big of a deal with me.
          I talk about it in an abstract sense in that my writing discusses societal issues, what causes them, how we might remedy them, etc. I’m not writing about what effects me personally. This goes way beyond this. I write this because I care about Black people and I hate seeing these Black actors bringing down the whole race. It’s painful to watch and it’s even more painful to watch all these Black ostriches sticking their heads in the sand and saying there’s no problem.
          I mean you call yourself an anti-racist activist. Good. To the extent you are fighting actual racism against your people, Godspeed to you. But you won’t touch the one issue that driving the racism more than anything else. I don’t get it.
          These people act horrible. If you like them so much, why don’t you invite them into your home?

          1. “If you like them so much, why don’t you invite them into your home?” Lol, seriously?
            You seem to be having this conversation with somebody else. I don’t like low class Black people any more than you do. I certainly don’t want to live around sociopaths, no matter who they are. But as you said, it’s my problem. I’m clearly not handling my problem the way you think I should, but don’t worry about it.

        2. I see this problem in my own family, something Alpha is alluding to:
          I have a relative that’s a felon for stealing, drug dealing – not sure. Anyway, she is hated by the snooty, bossy Christian assholes in my family – considered a thief.
          But they don’t understand is that she was abandoned by her parents when she was younger.
          So now the upper and middle classes in America are now calling everyone down and out a thief – because they either are thieves, felons etc. of they’re taking their tax money via social programs.

          1. Telling you that I don’t like them and don’t want to be around them isn’t sufficient as criticism for you. So be it.

          2. Alpha, I want to thank you so much for this comment. I doubt if it was easy for you to write this, but I am so happy that you did. Thank you for your courage and honestly.
            God bless.

          3. I am happy to receive God’s blessings. I will accept.
            At the risk of sounding ungracious (and as a Southern woman I am keenly aware of when I’m yielding to ungraciousness) I have to tell you that my memory is probably better than yours on this. This isn’t the first time on this blog that I’ve put some distance between myself and the worst-behaving Black people. I got into an argument with someone here way back in the beginning who didn’t like the idea of “good” Black people fleeing bad Black neighborhoods. She thought they should stay and make those neighborhoods better. I defended the choice those Black people made.
            There have been other similar conversations.

        3. Bad behavior should be criticized – if you can do it without being a snooty bitch yourself. But a lot of middle class Americans can’t do that.

        4. Thank you Alpha, you are right. They should leave. But my posts on this issue are trying to understand the nature of this behavior, what causes it, and if it is cultural, my goal would be to try to change that culture. If there was no hope for these people, I wouldn’t even write about them. In order to say what? Put them on the moon? There’s no point bitching about hopeless things like death, illness, and mosquitoes. I only bitch about things I believe can be ameliorated.
          Now there’s a new word for you. Maybe. It’s a great word. I always hear, “How are we going to solve the problem of this, that, or the other?”
          YOU WON’T.
          Because problems like that don’t get “solved.” They are part of the human condition and hence at least in the forseeable future, can only be improved or worsened and never solved. To ameliorate a situation means to better it or to improve it. That is all we can hope for regarding most human problems – amelioration.

          1. You won’t get any argument from me about what we can hope for regarding most human problems. The thing with me is that I see Black people as just people. All the normal rules of human psychology apply to Black people. Black Americans have certain problems, sure. But being Black isn’t one of our problems.

          2. You don’t even think Black culture, in particular that low class or ghetto Black culture, is any sort of a problem at all. We are outside of genes altogether here and just arguing that this is a lousy culture for some environmental reasons and they could start acting better anytime they wanted to. Black culture is just fine? There’s no issues with it at all?

          3. Where are you getting this? Of course I think ghetto culture has problems. I’ve only been saying this for years. However, ghetto culture is a part of Black American culture. It’s not our entire culture. People can’t understand this for some reason.
            Black Americans have an authentic culture the same as everyone else. It’s made up of our history, our various religions, our customs, traditions, our Civil Rights Movement, unwritten rules for how we interact with each other and with outsiders, the whole bit. That’s our culture. Like any other group of people, we have poor, dysfunctional members of our community. They don’t define our entire culture.

        5. You’re right. I am thinking that this mercenary attitude towards sex in Black women and this attitude that being a prostitute is a laudable career choice extends beyond ghetto culture. I’ve seen way too many middle and even upper class Black women with the same mindset. I am beginning to think there is something wrong with a lot of Black culture where they cultivate this mercenary attitude towards sex in their women and this prostitute-type mindset and they don’t look down on prostitution as a gutter life choice the way Whites do.
          You say there’s nothing to see here but there’s got to be something going on. My eyes and ears are not fooling me.
          Black culture is simply too permissive. They set the bar too low behavior-wise. They should set the bar higher IMHO.

          1. Concerning the mercenary attitude toward sex, I’ve never said there’s nothing to see here. This behavior just isn’t on my radar screen. I’m not really interested in the sex lives of other Black women so I don’t pay attention to these things. What I will say is that no one ever told me or even hinted to me that being a prostitute is a laudable career choice.

        6. Would you agree that this low class or ghetto culture, which may represent 50% of Blacks, is what is for the most part behind the anti-Black racism that you and other Blacks experience in your lives? I mean would you agree that these people are bringing it down on you and making you look bad and fostering racism against you?

          1. I don’t know if 50% is accurate, but I get your point. I believe that some people who’ve had bad experiences with Black people become anti-Black racists as a result. But I don’t think that “bad Black behavior” has ever been a significant driver of anti-Black racism. Anti-Black racism existed long before there was any critical mass of badly behaving Black people in American society. Black people have never been able to count on “good behavior” as some kind of guarantee of fair treatment in this country. The problem is deeper than that.

        7. I dunno, I guess I will disagree with you on that one. You go to those racist sites and see why they hate Blacks and while the reasons are pretty variable, a lot of them do mention that there’s a high % of bad behavior in the Black community and the bad behavior is at a higher level than in other places.
          However, I am noticing that some people hate them because they think they are stupid. That’s a bad reason to hate people. There’s nothing immoral about being mentally slow. Others do simply seem to hate their appearance or general behavior which they think is sloppy or crass somehow. Neither of those seem like good reasons to hate people. It’s wrong to hate a race due to their appearance. Even if a race acts sloppy or crass, that’s not much of a reason to hate them. It’s no big deal, really.
          I have met quite a few Whites who don’t like Blacks and I have been around a lot of racist and White nationalist sites. What you get from the overwhelming majority of those people is that they openly state that they hate Black people because of the way that they act, and they site a lot of what most would call pretty bad behaviors as evidence of what they don’t like.
          Now they could be lying but that’s what the horses say coming right out of their mouths.
          Also if they hate Blacks due to behavioral reasons, isn’t that more hopeful? I mean the behavior can theoretically be changed, right? I believe your opinion is that Blacks are not doomed to act that way.
          If you say people just hate Blacks due to pure unreason, I don’t think that’s going to work. First it’s not true, and second it means those people are crazy and cannot be reasoned with.
          If antiracists can’t get the reasons why people hate Blacks correct, how do they ever expect to fight this enemy of theirs?

          1. I didn’t say that people just hate Blacks due to pure unreason. The reasons have always been much deeper than “I don’t like the way they act.” Some antiracists have written extensively on where they think anti-Black hatred comes from. I won’t go into all of that but academia is filled with that sort of thing.
            I guess I’m not a traditional antiracist because I’m not interested in trying to persuade anti-Black racists not to hate Black people. As long as I can live and thrive, in a society where other people can do the same, I don’t care how racist some person out there might be. He can drown in his racism for all I care.

  2. My experience with Filipinos, not sure if it would apply to most or not – is that their attitude is similar to low-class blacks. They literally expect money for nothing when possible. My guess they would steal if they could get away with it.
    OK, I think a lot of low-class whites would do the same. Oh, I know they do. They swindle as I had noted many times with the old commentator Trash, They would resort to drugging people to control them. They might even try raping people like Bill Cosby would do.

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