Mav invites RCG to dinner...will he accept?
- Thread starter Maverick74
- Start date
Start at page 25 and you decide.
https://portal.chicagopolice.org/po...s/Statistical Reports/Annual Reports/09AR.pdf
You are implying that I'm a racist, a klansman, a stormfront member, etc. This is probably your idea of surfing the net and having fun, why I have no idea. But you don't actually believe this shit do you?
See, this brings it back to my dinner invitation to Ron. I think people conjure up all sorts of fantasies about the aliases they talk to on message boards. Then once they meet them in person, they often feel silly for thinking such crazy thoughts. Hence my invitation to Ron. Did you like how I brought that back full circle?
I deny that poverty is the root cause of the epidemic on the south side of Chicago. Absolutely.
There is poverty all over the US, all over the world. And no where else in the US are we talking about declaring a state of emergency and bringing in the national guard. Ricter, we have been through this. This city is not some conservative red neck city. It's very liberal. The politicians have thrown billions of dollars over the last 40 years at the problem here and it has only gotten worse. Money is not the cause, but is one of the symptoms.
Poverty is a major contributing factor. The breakdown of the family is also a major player. The question is, does poverty cause the breakdown of the family, or does the breakdown of the family cause poverty? What we do know is throwing money at it doesn't help. We know that excusing and minimizing criminal behavior doesn't help. We know that using it as a political issue on the campaign trail doesn't help. We know that illegal immigration exacerbates the problem. And one thing I know for sure. If I had to grow up under these circumstances in some southside shithole, I'd probably be out there doing the same thing.
Ricter, it's all relative. We are not talking about petty crime here. We are talking about gangs. There is a huge difference. When you go to Europe into the poor areas, which I have, they would always tell me to be careful. I would ask why? They would say be careful, there are pick pocketers everywhere. I kind of laugh at that now thinking that I should be scared of getting my wallet stolen. We don't have a problem with pick pocketers on the south side. We have a problem with gun fire. With violence. With rape. With murder. And a lot of it is black on black crime as mentioned above. We have more shootings there then NY, Miami, LA, DC, Philly. This is not about "poor neighborhoods". That is a liberal construct you have got to get out of your head. Because if it was, if you were right, and it was simply a matter of money. Then hells bells, we could just flood the south side with money. Just drop it from the sky. Bring in Helicopter Ben Bernanke. But see Ricter, we did that. We showered the area with money. Not just one day or one week or one year, but for over 4 decades. And the problem has gotten incrementally worse every single decade. Obviously, money is not the problem.
Now, to be fair, do I general believe that poverty gives rise to petty crime in most circumstances? Sure, I do. Do I believe that poor areas in general have higher crime rates? Yup. Do I believe in general that a healthy vibrant economy will offer moderate improvement to the situation? Absolutely.
But here's the thing Ricter. During the Reagan heyday of the 80's, during the dotcom bubble of the 90's, during the roaring real estate bubble of the 2000's when this country was flooded with prosperity and money and jobs, the south side was still poor. They were still killing each other. The streets were still run by gangs.
So maybe don't you think it's time we try a different solution. what is it they say about the definition of insanity?