Re: Social Engineering (was: Different patriarchy Model)

Richard Foy (rfoy@netcom.com)
Tue, 27 Dec 1994 02:39:43 GMT

In article <3dahoeINNeit@hpsdlmf7.sdd.hp.com>,
Gerold Firl <geroldf@sdd.hp.com> wrote:
>In article <3cfbg4$nns@newsbf01.news.aol.com> pioneertom@aol.com (PioneerTom) writes:
>
>>examples of bad planning abound in recent history.
>
>
>A little closer to home, consider the american civil-rights reforms in the
>60's. Thirty years later, american black culture has still not recovered,
>and appears to continue a tailspin into dissolution. Perhaps this should be
>interpreted as symptomatic of absorbtion, as black culture is integrated
>into mainstream american culture, but it is still surprising to me that it
>has taken such a destructive form. The amazing level of crime and personal
>suffering within black culture, which appears to have been triggered by the
>repeal of legal restrictions on black citizens, is a sobering example of
>how delicate social stability can be, and how costly social instability can
>be. Attempts to anticipate future problems, and head them off by
>pre-emptive social engineering, must be undertaken very carefully, with
>full cognisance of previous problems. Unfortunately the social sciences
>seem very poorly prepared for predicting where and how such problems will
>occur.

It seems to me that you are taking a very narrow view of what has
happened as a result of the civil-rights reforms.

In the 60's almost the only blacks one saw in the wrok place was the
janitors. Now there are numerous blacks in a all areas of society.

You are also attributing the "tailspin into dissolution" to the
civil-rights legislation. There are many other things this may be
attributed to, such as the decline in factory type jobs, the war on
drugs, the globalization of the economy etc.

You are also assuming that the dissolution of black culture is worse
than it is for whites in the same social/economic class. I am not
sure there is a significant difference.

-- 

"The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never

	worshipped anything but himself" -- Sir Richard F. Burton 



UDC --"Developing the whole person." Richard Foy