Was Paul Ryan's remark inarticulate or racist?

[Anonymous]

The liberals here, and in the press, are creating a controversy where NONE EXISTS.
If you listened to the interview, or read the transcript, you will hear that Ryan said, in response to a question, that we have generations of men not working, particularly in the inner city.
What is NOT true about this? It is more of an indictment of our current administration's policies and inability to bring the unemployment rate down than any kind of comment about race.
I think THIS is what has the liberals upset. Ryan is actually highlighting the miserable condition of our nation when it comes to jobs. And, who exactly promised that the unemployment rate would return to 5% by July, 2013? Not even close.

[Anonymous]

Republicans blame job loss when white communities are besieged by the pathologies above. When black communities suffer from the same problems, Republicans blame the "culture." In other words, bad things might *happen* to white people, but black people cause their own problems. Same old story.

There are jobs available in lots of cities--maybe not Detroit, but there are certainly jobs in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jamelle Bouie is excellent on this (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/12/what-paul-ryan-gets-wrong-about-inner-city-poverty.html):

"Our realities are shaped by a mutually reinforcing matrix of culture, civil society, law, and individual choice (among other things). If America has a “car culture,” it has as much to do with our rugged sense of individualism as it does with our sprawling geography, and a government that made highways an essential part of our transportation infrastructure. To look at our attachment to cars and proclaim “culture” is to miss most of the story....

The same goes for Ryan and poverty. Inner-city poverty didn’t just happen, it was built. It’s the job of a policymaker to understand the full scope of what that means, from the blueprints of past policies, to their implementation, to the forces that drove the issues to begin with. And in the case of urban poverty, the issue was racism."

Also, as someone who grew up amid the poor, uneducated white people of Appalachia, I'd like to see some attention to the "culture problem" there. Multi-generational poverty, domestic abuse, rampant drug abuse, terrible schools, high teenage birth rate, hopelessness--everything Paul Ryan and his type decry in urban black populations. So is that a "culture problem," Paul Ryan? Somehow I suspect he'd be quick to blame the loss of manufacturing jobs instead.

Yeah-- there were articles in the paper a while back how whites in Appalachia don't want their kids to learn to read because it might make it hard for them to collect disability checks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jamelle Bouie is excellent on this (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/12/what-paul-ryan-gets-wrong-about-inner-city-poverty.html):

"Our realities are shaped by a mutually reinforcing matrix of culture, civil society, law, and individual choice (among other things). If America has a “car culture,” it has as much to do with our rugged sense of individualism as it does with our sprawling geography, and a government that made highways an essential part of our transportation infrastructure. To look at our attachment to cars and proclaim “culture” is to miss most of the story....

The same goes for Ryan and poverty. Inner-city poverty didn’t just happen, it was built. It’s the job of a policymaker to understand the full scope of what that means, from the blueprints of past policies, to their implementation, to the forces that drove the issues to begin with. And in the case of urban poverty, the issue was racism."

Also, as someone who grew up amid the poor, uneducated white people of Appalachia, I'd like to see some attention to the "culture problem" there. Multi-generational poverty, domestic abuse, rampant drug abuse, terrible schools, high teenage birth rate, hopelessness--everything Paul Ryan and his type decry in urban black populations. So is that a "culture problem," Paul Ryan? Somehow I suspect he'd be quick to blame the loss of manufacturing jobs instead.

Thanks for the link--Jamelle Bouie is usually worth a read. And I think it's on the nose. "Urban" and "inner city" have been racist dogwhistles for a long time now, and I don't doubt that Ryan meant "black people" when he said "inner city." But even if it wasn't explicit racism, it's an oversimplification of a complex problem. What jobs are available for these black men to get? Does their education prepare them for these jobs? Does he think the problem with the rural white poor is that they just don't want to work?

[Anonymous]

Racist dogwhistles? "urban" and "inner city". Sounds like someone is in denial. What is racist about it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jamelle Bouie is excellent on this (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/12/what-paul-ryan-gets-wrong-about-inner-city-poverty.html):

"Our realities are shaped by a mutually reinforcing matrix of culture, civil society, law, and individual choice (among other things). If America has a “car culture,” it has as much to do with our rugged sense of individualism as it does with our sprawling geography, and a government that made highways an essential part of our transportation infrastructure. To look at our attachment to cars and proclaim “culture” is to miss most of the story....

The same goes for Ryan and poverty. Inner-city poverty didn’t just happen, it was built. It’s the job of a policymaker to understand the full scope of what that means, from the blueprints of past policies, to their implementation, to the forces that drove the issues to begin with. And in the case of urban poverty, the issue was racism."

Also, as someone who grew up amid the poor, uneducated white people of Appalachia, I'd like to see some attention to the "culture problem" there. Multi-generational poverty, domestic abuse, rampant drug abuse, terrible schools, high teenage birth rate, hopelessness--everything Paul Ryan and his type decry in urban black populations. So is that a "culture problem," Paul Ryan? Somehow I suspect he'd be quick to blame the loss of manufacturing jobs instead.

Thanks for the link--Jamelle Bouie is usually worth a read. And I think it's on the nose. "Urban" and "inner city" have been racist dogwhistles for a long time now, and I don't doubt that Ryan meant "black people" when he said "inner city." But even if it wasn't explicit racism, it's an oversimplification of a complex problem. What jobs are available for these black men to get? Does their education prepare them for these jobs? Does he think the problem with the rural white poor is that they just don't want to work?

If you listen to the interview, he was not discounting ANY of the poor in our country. He highlighted inner city, but discussed the "culture" of unemployment in our COMMUNITIES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Jamelle Bouie is excellent on this (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/12/what-paul-ryan-gets-wrong-about-inner-city-poverty.html):

"Our realities are shaped by a mutually reinforcing matrix of culture, civil society, law, and individual choice (among other things). If America has a “car culture,” it has as much to do with our rugged sense of individualism as it does with our sprawling geography, and a government that made highways an essential part of our transportation infrastructure. To look at our attachment to cars and proclaim “culture” is to miss most of the story....

The same goes for Ryan and poverty. Inner-city poverty didn’t just happen, it was built. It’s the job of a policymaker to understand the full scope of what that means, from the blueprints of past policies, to their implementation, to the forces that drove the issues to begin with. And in the case of urban poverty, the issue was racism."

Also, as someone who grew up amid the poor, uneducated white people of Appalachia, I'd like to see some attention to the "culture problem" there. Multi-generational poverty, domestic abuse, rampant drug abuse, terrible schools, high teenage birth rate, hopelessness--everything Paul Ryan and his type decry in urban black populations. So is that a "culture problem," Paul Ryan? Somehow I suspect he'd be quick to blame the loss of manufacturing jobs instead.

Thanks for the link--Jamelle Bouie is usually worth a read. And I think it's on the nose. "Urban" and "inner city" have been racist dogwhistles for a long time now, and I don't doubt that Ryan meant "black people" when he said "inner city." But even if it wasn't explicit racism, it's an oversimplification of a complex problem. What jobs are available for these black men to get? Does their education prepare them for these jobs? Does he think the problem with the rural white poor is that they just don't want to work?

If you listen to the interview, he was not discounting ANY of the poor in our country. He highlighted inner city, but discussed the "culture" of unemployment in our COMMUNITIES.

Suppose I wrote "The employees in our company, particularly the woman, are ineffective at their jobs. They show up late and do not value work." Would you say I am making a general comment about our employees or criticizing the women?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The liberals here, and in the press, are creating a controversy where NONE EXISTS.
If you listened to the interview, or read the transcript, you will hear that Ryan said, in response to a question, that we have generations of men not working, particularly in the inner city.
What is NOT true about this? It is more of an indictment of our current administration's policies and inability to bring the unemployment rate down than any kind of comment about race.
I think THIS is what has the liberals upset. Ryan is actually highlighting the miserable condition of our nation when it comes to jobs. And, who exactly promised that the unemployment rate would return to 5% by July, 2013? Not even close.

We have it in small towns throughout America. Why pick on one group?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Also, as someone who grew up amid the poor, uneducated white people of Appalachia, I'd like to see some attention to the "culture problem" there. Multi-generational poverty, domestic abuse, rampant drug abuse, terrible schools, high teenage birth rate, hopelessness--everything Paul Ryan and his type decry in urban black populations

This has been a problem for lots longer than the inner city problem--I think. I don't have an answer to this. Jobs would help.

Republicans blame job loss when white communities are besieged by the pathologies above. When black communities suffer from the same problems, Republicans blame the "culture." In other words, bad things might *happen* to white people, but black people cause their own problems. Same old story.

+1 Either there are jobs available or there aren't. Even in DC, unemployment is low overall, but I don't know about a lot of unfilled jobs except maybe in some high skill professions.

[Anonymous]

I know Paul Ryan personally. I wouldn't vote for him, I don't agree with him. But he's no racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know Paul Ryan personally. I wouldn't vote for him, I don't agree with him. But he's no racist.

Maybe he's not a racist, but it's pretty clear he is carrying around some stereotypes about poverty that a data-oriented policy wonk should know better about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The liberals here, and in the press, are creating a controversy where NONE EXISTS.
If you listened to the interview, or read the transcript, you will hear that Ryan said, in response to a question, that we have generations of men not working, particularly in the inner city.
What is NOT true about this? It is more of an indictment of our current administration's policies and inability to bring the unemployment rate down than any kind of comment about race.
I think THIS is what has the liberals upset. Ryan is actually highlighting the miserable condition of our nation when it comes to jobs. And, who exactly promised that the unemployment rate would return to 5% by July, 2013? Not even close.

I am a liberal, and I agree with you 100%. This whole "gotcha" pile-on everyone says something that can be portrayed as inflammatory is getting really, really tiresome. I don't like it when people start parsing something Barack Obama says in this way, and I don't like it when someone starts parsing what Paul Ryan says this way. Give it a rest already. There's a lot to argue with Paul Ryan about without quibbling over the nuance of something he said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Paul Ryan is a "rich" kid from a manufacturing, heavily white town in Wisconsin. There is actual poverty in Janesville, and most of it is white, and the result of the manufacturing jobs leaving in the past 10 years. Having grown up in a community near his, I would say yes, claiming things are an "inner city" problem is absolutely code for poor black people - as he blatantly ignores the poor white people in Janesville.

He is worse than a real rich kid, he's a kid who grew up on government subsidies and benefits and now seems to spend most of his time and energy on making sure that as few people as possible are able to get same.

THAT is a hypocrite.

[Anonymous]

It's painful to hear, but it's true. Best way to attack what Ryan says is not to deny it or excuse it, but to actually FIX things so that they are no longer true and painful.

[Anonymous]

I watch Shameless a lot. I don't think I've seen a black person on that show. It's about the inner city and a culture of not working.