The Bell Curve, and why my Economics class is making me puke...

[bicentennial_baby]

Oy vey....This is Economics of Social Welfare. During the semester, we are examining the conservative, liberal, and radical views of social welfare programs, such as Food Stamps, SS benefits, Welfare, Unemployment, etc.

We are starting with the conservative p.o.v., and it's 6 chapters by Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve :puke:

It's basically like this: Poor people make bad decisions. Non-Poor people make good decisions. People who make bad decisions tend to be Black, and people who make good decisions tend to be White.

:puke:

[PDJane]

1. sigh...........

I think I read that text at some point.......I didn't keep it.

[ThomWV]

2. Why would you call a Political Science course an Economics course?

[bicentennial_baby]

3. Well, they call it ECON 395...

:shrug:

[Deja Q]

4. So, a good decision is raiding pension funds and peddling cheap products?

:crazy:

[Tansy_Gold]

5. Just as good a decision as deciding to be born to wealthy

white conservative parents. Making the choice to be born to black or brown poor parents is obviously a bad choice.

Oh, don't even get me started. . . . ..


Tansy Gold

[bicentennial_baby]

6. A good question for Mr Murray!

:crazy:

[Gormy Cuss]

7. Why are you wasting your time on that POS?

Seriously, the conclusions of the authors have been rejected by left and right solely on the basis of the data. There must be another conservative POV out there besides that knuckledragger.

[bicentennial_baby]

9. It's a tiny part of the semester, so...

I can bear it. Our papers are entirely based on our own personal experiences and lifestyles. We're just surveying the general dominant theories in each of the aforementioned political positions. Yes, I'm sure we could get better examples. I don't know how I feel about my Prof. I'm wary of her...

[Democrat 4 Ever]

10. Actually had an Econ Professor lecture in class that feeding the poor,

healing the sick, taking care of people is a very bad business decision. He was talking about America helping poor countries in Africa.

Said if the world would just let the poor and sick die off without wasting vaccines, food and such the continent would immediately correct itself and be able to thrive fairly quickly. By giving HIV medicines, by preventing children from starving and getting preventable diseases we are just continuing the problem when these people grown up and create the next generational mess ad infinitum.

Those "liberal" colleges evidently let fundie whack jobs slip through the cracks from time to time.

[johnfunk]

8. Murray's book is filled with FACTUAL errors -- loook for Web resources...

... but double-check their sources.

The book has a reputation as a laughingstock among serious social scientists.

[baldguy]

11. Next - a few chapters of "Mein Kampf"?

then "The Protocols of tthe Elders of Zion" after that?

[angstlessk]

12. Them white people being born to rich white people...what a great decision

and we think fetus are not people??

[Capn Sunshine]

19. it's a known fact fetuses choose the vagina they emerge from

some make bad choices , even in the womb.

Then later if they choose to be gay, they are just compounding it.:wtf:

[undergroundpanther]

13. Rich people make bad decisions

Rich daddies bail them out with great great grandpa's robber baron fortune that has ballooned the family assets over the years that ensures the richies never want or need..... Economic narcissism 101.

Rich people collect welfare, corporate welfare and the bell curve was created by a game of glorified plinko.

Conservatism is always unwanted by those ruled by it if they knew what it really is,because it's tenets are to serve the wealthy the conservative can't sell feudalism so it rules the people by a game run by corporations pretending they are people ,by deception,by a pyramid scam called "the market".

It is really alarming to know that nearly all money in the economy is debt number money, created out of nothing essentially.
http://www.proaxis.com/~randau2/singles/stockmkt.htm
Economics is the study of sophisticated thievery and the tactics of manipulation.How to lie without looking like a liar and how to steal from the public and say it isn't really stealing while rich pig points at a person on welfare and screams they make the problems ..The wealthy ARE the problem they want a society of haves it all and nave nots which THEY can control,after all if you have so much money you could not possibly blow it in 100 lifetimes what is there left to pursue? Control..The rich are terrified of anyone proposing we become a society of have enoughs..because the rich choose to never stop hoarding.That is how you live as a king in a democracy, hate the weak.
http://web.mit.edu/people/fjk/essays/greenspan2.html
http://landru.i-link-2.net/monques/debtscam.html

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Bring up in class how Charles Murray was a white supremacist.

Actually held cross burnings.

[Cleita]

15. I don't know where you are going to school and if you can

even protest this, but if you can drop that class, file a complaint with administration and look for another class that is taught by someone that isn't a racist, biased right wing nut.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Read the OP.

It's being used as an example of conservative thought.

The Bell Curve is a perfect example of conservative thought. Or lack thereof.

[Cleita]

18. I did read the OP and I got the impression that this is what the

class was about and not that it was an example. If the teacher is one who tries to influence his students with his ideology instead of the facts, administration needs to know that he's not teaching what he's supposed to. If it's that he's trying to present all sides and decided to start with this, then he should be clear about what he's doing.

[idgiehkt]

17. that's good they are starting with the bad stuff though

get it out of the way first. :hug: :hug:

[Nikia]

20. It is good to know competing view points

On the otherhand, The Bell Curve is a bunch of crap. I would think that the Conservative view point would be best represented would be more Liberatarian saying something about a lack of government funding towards welfare encourages individual responsibility and giving by private organizations. I cannot think of who writes something like that offhand, but I have read and heard that point of view.
The Bell Curve is just a bunch of racism that contributes nothing to to the real discussion. In addition to being bigotted, saying that poor people make bad decisions and are black, adds nothing to coming up with a solution to decreasing poverty.

[Macchendra]

21. This is not a new theory...

It is the very foundation of all Classism.

No doubt started by a commoner.