A Bunch of Entitled Kids

 

A bunch of entitled kids

A news story today reports that “Portland’s top newspaper reported Tuesday that after weeks of unrest in the city’s downtown, the ‘main action’ appears to have shifted to neighborhoods just outside the city.

This has suburban residents very concerned, as one might imagine. As the mostly peaceful rioters and looters focus their efforts at urban renewal on residential neighborhoods, the nice liberal Portland suburb dwellers are struggling to criticize the wanton destruction of their own neighborhoods without sounding racist. A nice liberal can’t criticize Black Lives Matter, right? Not even if that organization has just peacefully protested their neighborhood into a post-apocalyptic video game cityscape.

One resident of the Kenton neighborhood, just outside of Portland, was displeased about his suburb being destroyed. He commented, “Lots of people worked hard to make our little neighborhood pleasant and to help local businesses stay open. Now it’s trashed. This was not a BLM [Black Lives Matter] protest, this was a tantrum by a bunch of entitled kids.” Some cynics, like me for example, have been struggling with the distinction between “Black Lives Matter” and “a bunch of entitled kids” for some time now.

I think that by blaming “a bunch of entitled kids,” the Kenton resident feels better because that sounds like he is blaming rich people for his troubles. After all, all problems are because of rich people, right?

Selfie time at the riot

But I think he’s stumbled upon a fundamental truth. Black Lives Matter is little more than a bunch of entitled kids. These kids may be 25 years old, but they’ve never had to grow up. They may be black, but a lifetime of entitlements have made them feel, well, entitled. They may be white, but a lifetime of spoiling and over-protective parents have made them feel, well, entitled. And it’s not clear what specific policy proposals that BLM is making at any given time. They don’t debate their viewpoints during panel discussions. They use bullhorns and spray paint to get their message across. Which sounds more like a tantrum than a debate.

Which is why it can be so hard to discern a Black Lives Matter protest from “a tantrum by a bunch of entitled kids.” After all, that’s all it really is.

So I think the Kenton resident has a point. But not for the reason he thinks.

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  1. Housebroken Coolidge
    Housebroken
    @Chuckles

    Dr. Bastiat: wonton destruction of their own neighborhoods

    I suppose too much Chinese food could be behind it.

    • #1
  2. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Housebroken (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: wonton destruction of their own neighborhoods

    I suppose too much Chinese food could be behind it.

    Dang!

    Fixed it.  Thanks.

    • #2
  3. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Housebroken,

    Now I feel virtuous: I used Private Message.  And I stifled my urge to say something witty about the good Doctor’s finger-fault, even in that confidential note.  Well, I sort of stifled it. Partially.

    I feel smart, too.  I cleverly got credit for my sharp eyes in this public Comment, while simultaneously claiming that I used PM, out of compassion for my fellow Ricocheteer.

    I hope I don’t make a habit of this.

    PS: I just re-read this Comment, and wish to add that I recommend no one try to figure out what I was trying to say. If it were of any possible value, and if I could explain my thoughts in English, I would do so.

    • #3
  4. Housebroken Coolidge
    Housebroken
    @Chuckles

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Housebroken,

    Now I feel virtuous: I used Private Message. And I stifled my urge to say something witty about the good Doctor’s finger-fault, even in that confidential note. Well, I sort of stifled it. Partially.

    I feel smart, too. I cleverly got credit for my sharp eyes in this public Comment, while simultaneously claiming that I used PM, out of compassion for my fellow Ricocheteer.

    I hope I don’t make a habit of this.

    PS: I just re-read this Comment, and wish to add that I recommend no one try to figure out what I was trying to say. If it were of any possible value, and if I could explain my thoughts in English, I would do so.

    After the first paragraph I was thinking you should change your pen name to Gunga Din.

    • #4
  5. Al French of Damascus Moderator
    Al French of Damascus
    @AlFrench

    It doesn’t detract from your point, but don’t trust everything you read. The “suburbs” Described in the story are neighborhoods within the city of Portland. Kenton is not “just outside Portland”, but firmly within it, and has been for probably 100 years. The area surrounding East Precinct, also mentioned in the story, is three miles from the city boundary and has been part of the city for forty years. “Portland’s top newspaper” reported it correctly; Fox got it wrong.

    This is the second recent story about Portland which Fox got wrong. They reported a story of an assault (stabbing IIRC) and implied that it happened as part of the protests when, in fact, it happened far away and was totally unrelated.

    • #5
  6. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Dr. Bastiat: “As the mostly peaceful rioters & looters focus their efforts at urban renewal on residential neighborhoods,…”

    Lots of us try to do this, and a few do it well.

    But no one can do it as well as Dr. B.

    • #6
  7. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Al French of Damascus (View Comment):

    It doesn’t detract from your point, but don’t trust everything you read. The “suburbs” Described in the story are neighborhoods within the city of Portland. Kenton is not “just outside Portland”, but firmly within it, and has been for probably 100 years. The area surrounding East Precinct, also mentioned in the story, is three miles from the city boundary and has been part of the city for forty years. “Portland’s top newspaper” reported it correctly; Fox got it wrong.

    This is the second recent story about Portland which Fox got wrong. They reported a story of an assault (stabbing IIRC) and implied that it happened as part of the protests when, in fact, it happened far away and was totally unrelated.

    Thanks for the correction.  I should have checked it.  My mistake.

    You’re right, though.  I don’t think that changes the point of my article.

    • #7
  8. Richard Fulmer Inactive
    Richard Fulmer
    @RichardFulmer

    Dr. Bastiat: These kids may be 25 years old, but they’ve never had to grow up. They may be black, but a lifetime of entitlements have made them feel, well, entitled. They may be white, but a lifetime of spoiling and over-protective parents have made them feel, well, entitled.

    Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, pp. 626-628:

    [American despotism] would degrade men without tormenting them…. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild.  It would be like the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood…. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances; what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?

    Thus, it every day renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less frequent; it circumscribes the will within a narrower range, and gradually robs a man of all the uses of himself…. Each nation is reduced to being nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.

    • #8
  9. Dr. Bastiat Member
    Dr. Bastiat
    @drbastiat

    Richard Fulmer (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: These kids may be 25 years old, but they’ve never had to grow up. They may be black, but a lifetime of entitlements have made them feel, well, entitled. They may be white, but a lifetime of spoiling and over-protective parents have made them feel, well, entitled.

    Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, pp. 626-628:

    [American despotism] would degrade men without tormenting them…. That power is absolute, minute, regular, provident, and mild. It would be like the authority of a parent, if, like that authority, its object was to prepare men for manhood; but it seeks, on the contrary, to keep them in perpetual childhood…. For their happiness such a government willingly labors, but it chooses to be the sole agent and the only arbiter of that happiness; it provides for their security, foresees and supplies their necessities, facilitates their pleasures, manages their principal concerns, directs their industry, regulates the descent of property, and subdivides their inheritances; what remains, but to spare them all the care of thinking and all the trouble of living?

    Thus, it every day renders the exercise of the free agency of man less useful and less frequent; it circumscribes the will within a narrower range, and gradually robs a man of all the uses of himself…. Each nation is reduced to being nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.

    Holy cats that’s a great quote.  Thanks!

    • #9
  10. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    I’m dying to hear a judge tell one of them at a hearing, “Alright, son, I’m taking your phone and putting it on the fridge until you clean up your mess.” 

    • #10
  11. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    Kenton is a mix of homes, warehouses, manufacturing, and Burlington Northern has a major railyard in the Kenton-St. Johns area. There are four or more deep water ports in the same area. The Port of Portland is the largest grain exporter on the West Coast.

    The Kenton-St. Johns area are blue collar neighborhoods. I’ve worked that area, and Northeast Portland as well. Neighborhoods retained their original names when they were absorbed into Portland decades ago. If you want be a good cop then these neighborhoods are the place to work. The Lents neighborhood in Southeast Portland is another good test of your policing skills. We called it Felony Flats because it had more parolees from the state prison system than any other place in Oregon. I’ve worked that neighborhood as well.

    • #11
  12. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Dr. Bastiat: this was a tantrum by a bunch of entitled kids.

    I prefer to call them America-privileged. And never was a group of ingrates more undeserving of America.

    • #12
  13. Maguffin Inactive
    Maguffin
    @Maguffin

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Housebroken,

    Now I feel virtuous: I used Private Message. And I stifled my urge to say something witty about the good Doctor’s finger-fault, even in that confidential note. Well, I sort of stifled it. Partially.

    I feel smart, too. I cleverly got credit for my sharp eyes in this public Comment, while simultaneously claiming that I used PM, out of compassion for my fellow Ricocheteer.

    I hope I don’t make a habit of this.

    PS: I just re-read this Comment, and wish to add that I recommend no one try to figure out what I was trying to say. If it were of any possible value, and if I could explain my thoughts in English, I would do so.

    Is it a sign of a superior or inferior intellect that I understood the above?

    Yes is a valid answer to my question I suppose.

    • #13
  14. StChristopher Member
    StChristopher
    @JohnBerg

    I live in the Kenton neighborhood and rioters have repeatedly tried to burn down the police union building nearby.  When thwarted, the rioters went through our downtown.  The neighborhood was neglected for years and had been improving a lot over the last few years.  All that will likely change because of this and every third home in the neighborhood has a BLM sign. 

    • #14
  15. Cal Lawton Inactive
    Cal Lawton
    @CalLawton

    If when you say “entitled kids” you mean white, snot-faced, commie bastards, then yes.

    • #15
  16. Cal Lawton Inactive
    Cal Lawton
    @CalLawton

    StChristopher (View Comment):

    I live in the Kenton neighborhood and rioters have repeatedly tried to burn down the police union building nearby. When thwarted, the rioters went through our downtown. The neighborhood was neglected for years and had been improving a lot over the last few years. All that will likely change because of this and every third home in the neighborhood has a BLM sign.

    If you wear polarized sunglasses and look at those signs you see the words “Eat Me Last”.

    • #16
  17. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Maguffin (View Comment):
    Yes is a valid answer to my question I suppose.

    Correct.

    (You gave me a copout answer, and I took it.)

    • #17
  18. Maguffin Inactive
    Maguffin
    @Maguffin

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Maguffin (View Comment):
    Yes is a valid answer to my question I suppose.

    Correct.

    (You gave me a copout answer, and I took it.)

    My superior inferior mind thanks you for your response.  Or was it my inferior superior mind? 

    • #18
  19. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    Maguffin (View Comment):

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Maguffin (View Comment):
    Yes is a valid answer to my question I suppose.

    Correct.

    (You gave me a copout answer, and I took it.)

    My superior inferior mind thanks you for your response. Or was it my inferior superior mind?

    If I’d answered candidly, I’d have appeared vain.  

    (I’m not saying that I think that you can decode that statement.  But you can decode it. Does that answer your question?  Please do not share the decoder ring.)

    • #19
  20. Maguffin Inactive
    Maguffin
    @Maguffin

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Maguffin (View Comment):

    Mark Camp (View Comment):

    Maguffin (View Comment):
    Yes is a valid answer to my question I suppose.

    Correct.

    (You gave me a copout answer, and I took it.)

    My superior inferior mind thanks you for your response. Or was it my inferior superior mind?

    If I’d answered candidly, I’d have appeared vain.

    (I’m not saying that I think that you can decode that statement. But you can decode it. Does that answer your question? Please do not share the decoder ring.)

    I lost my decoder ring and haven’t drunk enough Ovaltine for my replacement yet, so I think I’ll stop here.

    • #20
  21. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    I blame Dr. Spock for some of this nonsense. Children are not dogs, or cats. The word no needs to be applied once in awhile. Self-esteem is overrated if honest achievement is not emphasized from time to time. Children do not know what they need in this world, they do know what they want. A parent’s job is to socialize them. A parent is not their best friend, at least not until they can function as an adult. When they become a self-supporting responsible adult then the relationship between child and parent becomes one of friendship. That moment takes some work before it happens. It is well worth the wait. That is what love is all about from parent to child.

    • #21
  22. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Housebroken (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: wonton destruction of their own neighborhoods

    I suppose too much Chinese food could be behind it.

    But you don’t get Rice with that.

    (I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to work that in.)

    • #22
  23. She Member
    She
    @She

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Dr. Bastiat: this was a tantrum by a bunch of entitled kids.

    I prefer to call them America-privileged. And never was a group of ingrates more undeserving of America.

    Mr. She was fond of saying, “In an age of entitlement, the scarce resource is gratitude,” and I think he was right.

    • #23
  24. Ammo.com Member
    Ammo.com
    @ammodotcom

    The mantle of destruction is one-size-fits-all.

    • #24
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