Decisions and choices have consequences. These are not made in a philosophical vacuum, they are made according to the values the individual holds - which are largely influenced by the culture from which the individual comes. Indeed the term "culture" arises from the Latin "cultus" which is a religion or value structure.

A culture that passes on default values of industriousness and a high regard for education will generate individuals that are more motivated and perhaps more resilient than one who does not. A culture that values consistent parenting of children will likely pass on more deliberate traits than a culture that does not value active parenting.

One should not be surprised to see different distributions of outcomes from different groups who hold different values. One of the advantages of living in a multicultural society where people live together peacefully and actually listen to one another is that we can learn which choices lead to the best outcomes and encourage our children to emulate those and to avoid choices that lead to dependency and addiction.

The Brookings Institute can hardly be considered a right wing think tank and yet they published a well reasoned piece on the behavioral aspects of poverty [1].

[1] https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-behavioral-aspects-of...

No they're not, the second is just a clarification of the sense in which the first was meant.

By comparison, take the statement "All men are not equal. Or at least, they're not equal in their ability to play football". The second statement is obviously true, the first is controversial.

Why is that so? How can all men be equal if they're so obviously unequal in just about any metric you might choose to measure them on? Because they're equal in one specific sense: that we (most of us) believe they should have equal rights.