Sound Politics: A Self-parody from the Seattle Times Editorial Board

June 25, 2008

A Self-parody from the Seattle Times Editorial Board

A Seattle Times editorial explains today's report of racial disparities in the state child welfare system:

Another area where biases come into play is reporting violations. Sixty percent of the calls to Child Protective Services come from schools, clinics and other official agencies required by law to report suspicions of abuse and neglect. Minority and poor children are reported to CPS more often because they come into contact with government services more often.

My modest proposal: Change the policies so that government officials are forbidden from reporting all cases of suspected abuse of minority and poor children. We should instantly see a decrease in the number of minority and poor children in the foster care system. Problem solved!

Then, in 5 years time or so, after there are reports of a scandalous wave of abused minority and poor children on whose behalf state officials have failed to intervene, we can pay several hundred thousand more dollars to consultants who will sound the alarm that state officials are disproportionately ignoring the abused minority and poor children who need their help. And the Seattle Times editorial board will have the satisfaction of publishing another righteously indignant screed about institutional racism.

Sheesh.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 25, 2008 10:13 PM | Email This

Comments

1. Of course it is too much of a logical and politically incorrect leap for the editorial board to consider why there are more minority kids in the system to begin with. At some point, it becomes impossible for even the most ardent Progressive to hide from the fact that bad philosophy, bad culture and bad behaviors generate bad results.

Progressives want so desperately to believe in multiculturalism. But the facts on the ground won't square. If you neglect your kids, beat them, don't read to them, plop them in front of the TV, feed them a bad diet, etc. then it's no wonder they end up in contact with government services. Progressives want to hide from the reality that ghetto culture is responsible for ghetto outcomes. It's not because someone has a particular amount of melanin in their skin that they make bad choices. It's because they believe in a foolish ideology and have that consistently reinforced by guilt-ridden Progressive elitists who love to use them as pawns in their class warfare games.

Skin color has nothing to do with anything. It's about bad choices. Speaking to skin color is a slander on all those of any color who simply work hard, play by the rules, and steer clear of defective color obsessed culture.

The racism of the left is so appalling, and it will continue the downward slide for all those who view their behavior as a function of their color or ancestry.

This is simply a false idea. All humans have volitional consciousness and we can all make choices regardless of our skin color. It's not hard for anyone to figure out right from wrong simply by observing the world around them. It is no secret that better choices will lead to success.

Don't let racist Progressives tell you that you are limited by their definitions of you based on arbitrary attributes.

Posted by: Jeff B. on June 26, 2008 12:49 AM

2. Jeff B,

I live in inner city Seattle, and fully agree with your post. Progressives are using blacks in their class warfare game. Blacks are reinforced to believe all faults are in anyone not poor and not black. This ideology has contributed to the trend among blacks to target whites and Asians (anyone they see as more wealthy and mobile) for assaults or murder.

It is sickening.

Posted by: Lance Miller on June 26, 2008 02:29 AM

3. I smell D.Parvaz' hands in that inane editorial. The problem with the left is that they aren't intelligent enough to connect the dots. The cause and effect concept is foreign to them,so instead they rely on compartmentalizing the problem as a whole and cherry pick certain areas to explain away or rationalize.

It's the ultimate in 'square peg/ round hole' thinking bourne out of a misguided political ideology.

Posted by: Rick D. on June 26, 2008 07:18 AM

4. I have to say that I agree and disagree with the idea that those who think they are helping are exacerbating a bad situation by their limited deinitions and their insistance that people are vitims because of their race. I can also agree and disagree with the statement that culture in general can certainly be a big influence on how children are treated.

Now that being said, when a child gets injured, regardless of how it happens, and then has to be taken to the hospital, it is the hospital's responsibility to call the child protective services in case it is abuse. I have to be honest and say that child protective services will do a more thorough investigation on a minority then they would on a wealthy Caucasian parent.

I'm not claiming racism as the number one factor (it is racial profiling) but the mentality of the system is based on past experience and unfortunately, minorities are the majority in this case. But if every case was treated properly and equally, there would be a few less minorities in the system. Not as many as some people would like to think, but quite a few less.

I speak from personal experiences and viewed the system from inside and out. I think that people need to stop looking at it as a race issue (or blaming everything on race) and focus on education.

In the end everyone needs to remember because they either tend to forget, don't care or don't comprehend...... That there is truth in stereotype. The confounding question then becomes, does the stereotype persist because it existed initially or did it come into existence prior to the action and then become ingrained? What do we do to fix it rather than pointing fingers?

Posted by: Mad on June 26, 2008 07:55 AM

5. I smell D.Parvaz' hands in that inane editorial.

Doesn't she "write" for the P-I?

Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on June 26, 2008 08:10 AM

6. @ 5 ~ Indeed you are right. D.Parvaz is with the Pravda-Intelligentsia. My bad.

Posted by: Rick D. on June 26, 2008 08:21 AM

7. I don't think I have a problem with how the system functions. A couple of years ago, my daughter had red eye. The school took her aside and questioned her to insure the red eye wasn't from physical abuse or the like.

Another time, my not-so-great bike rider wife ran into a the wood post of a stop sign (she couldn't negotiate the wheel chair ramp and sign) and got a good bloody gash above her eye. At the emergency room, I don't think they believed her when she said she ran into a stop sign. We still laugh about my recollection of all the dirty stares I got.

I think it was good they checked.

So, I don't think it is the minority and poor children who are being targeted. We all are being checked.

It is sad the editorial board can't see the distinction. There are some things wrong with society and numbers don't always tell the story but point in the right direction.

Taking the words of Bill Cosby and Juan Williams and the DalaiBama, black men need to be more involved with their families.

There will always be poor. Sometimes people are poor because of drugs which causes abuse with the family.

Sorry, editorial board, get a clue.

Posted by: swatter on June 26, 2008 09:11 AM

8. Without those dirty little words "responsibility" and "accountability" making an appearance at some point in the discussion, it's a moot point. Nothing will change.

Posted by: Rick D. on June 26, 2008 09:53 AM

9. Swatter - That's pretty scary that you think those dirty looks you got were funny. A large number of completely innocent men and father go from those dirty looks into a nightmare domestic violence system that assumes that all men are violent and perverted.

Posted by: bananaland on June 26, 2008 10:36 AM

10. I thought that I said in retrospect.

It was kind of scary having them look at me. But, the wife did leave blood at the site, so I felt safe if they came over. I certainly was glad when she got stiched up and we left, though.

Posted by: swatter on June 26, 2008 11:25 AM

11. We have 3 sons with the resultant mishaps and accidents that come with them. I find it equally insulting and comforting that they seperate the kids from the parents to grill them about what "really happened'... multiple times.

Clearly there are abused kids for whom this is the only way they can admit abuse. BUT there are also savvy older kids who use the weapon that they can bury their family in the nightmare of CPS (or whatever the current alphabet soup is) because they were yelled at or feel some parental injustice.

Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on June 26, 2008 11:39 AM