Re: Another Critique Of The Cosby Piece

Nathanael Johnson — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:26:37 -0000

I read your Cosby piece in the Atlantic Monthly. I am a white male, and it was extremely enlightening to get a nuanced view of the streams of thought within the black community (though I have been exposed to some of them before).

What Cosby is getting right isn't just about African Americans. It's about all people, everywhere. The virtues of hard work, honesty, responsibility and sexual integrity are traditional values for a reason. They have been prized by 'successful' civilizations. When comparing some of Confucius' thought to the biblical book of Proverbs, the emphasis on self-control, hard work, respect for God and marital integrity are pathways to prosperity not just in the "sweet by and by", but in the here and now on earth.

For those who are well off, money has a way of ameliorating the consequences of poor choices in the short term (though one can become relationally and morally bankrupt) but the poor are destroyed when families and individuals lose their virtue and bedrock morality. The fact that our culture celebrates the loss of virtue and the 'truth' that there is no truly universal personal morality is not just a sad day spiritually, but is a crime against the most vulnerable in our culture.

Re: Another Critique Of The Cosby Piece

Joe L. — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:14:08 -0000

I don't really have a critique. I just thought it was a fascinating piece on the whole. I'm a young white guy, politically conservative. In particular I found the analysis of why it is so hard to get more conservative blacks to align with the GOP pretty interesting. Also, why black nationalism is more attractive. Those are insights that I'd have trouble coming up with just using my own life experience.

On the whole, great read.

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Re: Another Critique Of The Cosby Piece

Re: Another Critique Of The Cosby Piece