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Re:Broken: What the Hell Happened in East New York? by pjlegato on Friday April 08, 2016 @02:51PM (#11456940)
First, these are strawman arguments. I said nothing about bootstraps or market forces at all.

The general tone (the emotionally charged use of the word "fucking," and so on) is also entirely uncalled for. Are we here for a rational discussion, or to berate and insult those who disagree with us?

Second, do you honestly believe that nobody at all in ENY is trying to do anything at all to try to make anything better in their own community?

Or do they sit idly by and wait for a wise, educated, ostentatiously sympathetic, upper middle class white liberal to come in and fight off the various boogeymen that they are incapable of tackling themselves?

Don't you think that's a rather condescending and patronizing attitude to take to people whom you clearly regard as your inferiors, whom you regard as incapable of doing anything for themselves?

Re:Broken: What the Hell Happened in East New York? by eric_h on Friday April 08, 2016 @02:58PM (#11456985)
> Second, do you honestly believe that nobody at all in ENY is trying to do anything at all to try to make anything better in their own community?

I believe most people in ENY are just trying to get out. I'm not sure anyone is terribly optimistic about inciting change from the inside.

Re:Broken: What the Hell Happened in East New York? by pjlegato on Friday April 08, 2016 @03:08PM (#11457053)
You may be right. I don't know. I haven't spent months going around interviewing people in ENY.

This is precisely the sort of thing that the author should have covered in the article.

Re:Broken: What the Hell Happened in East New York? by eric_h on Friday April 08, 2016 @03:51PM (#11457387)
I have a friend who grew up there, getting out was his top priority. Fortunately, he succeeded.
Re:Broken: What the Hell Happened in East New York? by some1else on Friday April 08, 2016 @04:06PM (#11457489)
Wow. I think it's sort of silly to spend so much time arguing about your evaluation of the reporter's competence. If you were truly interested, you could have gotten their opinion by now.

What about the place being a hellhole and how to fix it?

Re:Broken: What the Hell Happened in East New York? by simplemath on Friday April 08, 2016 @03:01PM (#11457005)
You DID though, implying that it's the community that needs to take more concerted better action on its own, to reverse 100 years of endemic sociopolitical dysfunction.

It's basic libertarian boilerplate bullshit.

Re:Broken: What the Hell Happened in East New York? by pjlegato on Friday April 08, 2016 @03:06PM (#11457037)
You are, again, putting words into my mouth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

I said nothing at all about the community needing to do anything whatsoever. I was talking about the article, not the community.

I also very explicitly said that all the various outside forces that the author blames for these problems are probably true.

Re:Broken: What the Hell Happened in East New York? by mistermann on Friday April 08, 2016 @03:08PM (#11457051)
You think a community taking action on its own to better itself is a bad idea?
Re:Broken: What the Hell Happened in East New York? by wildmusings on Friday April 08, 2016 @03:34PM (#11457258)
Every successful group in history has gotten there by assuming the victim-position and being saved by wealthy activists. /s