Women and "Influencers"

I want to point out three interesting articles and I've written a short piece on the last one.

Here's a link to a very interesting article that completely debunks the whole "Women aren't paid the same as men" theme so prevalent in the feminist mantra.

I've also been reading a very real young author, trying to grok, she puts down in words what young military wives have felt for centuries as their men go off to war, and more importantly, as their men come home.

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Interesting article about military recruitment and blacks. The number of black recruits has fallen from 23.5% to 13.9%. I won't even suggest that blacks are chicken. However, the article asserts that,

"...the propensity of black youth to enlist is impacted by the war and increasingly by views of parents, teachers, coaches, clergy and other "influencers."...Fear of being killed or injured was the top reason to avoid service for 26 percent of youth in 2004, almost double the 14 percent reported in 2000..."

However, all other racial group percentages have increased - including whites. It sort of debunks the myth that "America goes to war on the Black man's blood." Bear in mind that this is a California newspaper from Northern San Diego and Southwest Riverside county.

According to the article, poll data also indicates "...more black parents, particularly mothers, worry that their children could be killed or injured in the war..." Are black mothers the only mothers concerned about their sons' welfare? Clearly this can not be the case.

Though the article did not clarify why black "influencers" have arrived at their current negativity towards the military, my own experience in the Austin public schools indicates that black youth are being force-fed the whole "fear and unjust war" mantra that liberal democrats have been spouting since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom(OIF). My own observations indicate that predominately white/hispanic schools in Austin escape this force-feeding, though the democratic message exists just below the surface. Yet the black schools are inundated with the message.

Through my conversations with black, white, and hispanic students - trying to probe their thought processes to determine why they believe what they believe - I've noticed that most white/hispanic students will describe the military action in Iraq within the moral context of "liberation of people and protection of life." However, most black students tend to express their position in the moral context of, "I don't want to die for any other country", "Iraq is not a just war", or "Bush lied to us about WMD".

My conclusion is that the black students' "influencers" are promoting an attitude of internalism, whereas white and hispanic students' "influencers" are speaking of duty to a cause outside of themselves - a greater cause. In support of this, I'm going to offer up a recent interview Time conducted with Sgt Bozik and other injured service members. Even with their wounds and incredibly different lives, each is moving forward. To my knowledge, none of the three are black. (I was not able to verify the ethnicity of Jim Batchelor) The key quote is one from Sgt. Boznik, "Even knowing that I would lose three limbs, I would sign up again." Read the article.

Humans are by nature afraid of the unknown, and the generic warning of slaughter in war seems to carry more moral weight than suggesting that there is, on occasion, even a utility or morality in the use of arms to stop evil. So why is this lost on black "influencers"? For the life of me, I suspect I will never be able to answer this question.

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