tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post3803104415316070223..comments2023-11-03T06:35:48.003-05:00Comments on Shark and Shepherd: Urban right, pt 4: A reflection on GurdaRick Esenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07280070509167910367noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-56864284397342725482007-05-09T20:02:00.000-05:002007-05-09T20:02:00.000-05:00Clearly, the military wouldn't be a good fit for a...Clearly, the military wouldn't be a good fit for all - some kids are just too far gone (deeply rooted oppositional defiant disorder or full blown anti-social personality) but what we are (not) doing now isn't working at even the most minimal level. And if kids that are drafted go beyond mere occassional misconduct to outright criminal offenses, well...that's what stockades or Levenworth exist for.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-65891397649529301462007-05-09T16:21:00.000-05:002007-05-09T16:21:00.000-05:00lew:The military cannot redirect junkies and most ...lew:<BR/><BR/>The military cannot redirect junkies and most losers.<BR/>They go underground and drag others with them.<BR/>Late in the Vietnam War, discipline broke down in some units due to this problem.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-44687290403342720852007-05-09T11:10:00.000-05:002007-05-09T11:10:00.000-05:00rearranging deck chairs on the titanic...just a qu...rearranging deck chairs on the titanic...<BR/><BR/>just a question / thought experiment:<BR/><BR/>what would constitute terminal, final failure of MPS, or the city, etc.?<BR/><BR/>are institutions capable of meaningfully defining failure (and what wd it mean?) or must it come in the form of "the hand of god," i.e. the undeniable and self-evident fact that the individuals leading and sustaining the organization are gone?<BR/><BR/>it seems business organizations do this--define a point at which you cut your losses and move on. the corporation is dissoilved and you may or may not move to another, start another, etc.<BR/><BR/>but governments and quasi-governmental agencies do not do this. is there any historical precendent? <BR/><BR/>In education and in general human relations where there is some shared purpose and accountability for the purpose of achieving goals, I perceive that a lack of consensus on 1) the possibility of failure and 2) what failure is in a concrete, specific sense (so you know where you are in relation to it) is ESSENTIAL to the authenticity, functioning, and prospects for success. <BR/><BR/>Perhaps governmental bodies are or have become (more so) insulated from the reality and prospect of failure. <BR/><BR/>This inquiry is motivated by the absurd phenomenon of MPS which by any sensible account has, at best, a majority of failed schools within it. If its leadership is now essentially in the position of going down with the ship, it would be good to know and be honest about that. They do not appear to believe this is the case, but it certainly looks that way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-13240782623559311252007-05-09T09:18:00.000-05:002007-05-09T09:18:00.000-05:00I landed at Ft. Campbell in June 1968. DI's were 1...I landed at Ft. Campbell in June 1968. DI's were 101st Airborne, and all had done a tour of Vietnam. You messed with them at your peril. Coming in with me were regular army recruits, but most were draftees from the streets of Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Detroit, and yes, the hills of Tennessee. The hard case kids were broken down in a couple of weeks. By the end of the 8 weeks basic training all were entirely compliant (me, too!) OK, today's military probably isn't as stiff or rigorus, so maybe it will take all 8 weeks to redirect these kids, but it will be far better than simply letting thousands of feral kids run the streets of Milwaukee. What we're not doing now isn't working. What we used to do seemed to work better.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-82416609460809761682007-05-08T21:18:00.000-05:002007-05-08T21:18:00.000-05:00lew;Drafting these kids into our modern military i...lew;<BR/><BR/>Drafting these kids into our modern military is a bad idea.<BR/>If we had a WWII style military, it would be productive.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-84722307191085099362007-05-07T22:56:00.000-05:002007-05-07T22:56:00.000-05:00In the last 25 or so years I have represented scor...In the last 25 or so years I have represented scores of young black men accused of murder or armed robbery (sometimes both), and a litany of violent crimes. All, yes all, have a common biography: they experienced child abuse, saw and then participated in drug use in the home, and had poor to nonexistant school attendance. No amount of community prosecution or policing, no cascade of government or agency social programs, and nothing MPS does will have any effect whatsoever until the african american community decides that the flood of drugs into neighborhoods, blocks, homes, and into people stops. Then the community can get a handle on child abuse. Then the schools can teach the way they were meant. And MPS must de-centralize into neighborhood schools that serve a small but local core of students. Shipping kids out to schools around the county divests the shipping neighborhoods of a certain script and commitment that comes with walking your kid to school. Finally, we must bring back the draft. 16 years old and you're not going to school? Then you're going to Ft. Campbell. Let me say it again: until the community rids itself of drugs and epidemic child abuse, nothing changes, and there is no future for this city, or county, or country. We may have already crossed the "event horizon" for this city, and if so we are all part of that doom.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20692053.post-46777947283508239912007-05-07T18:03:00.000-05:002007-05-07T18:03:00.000-05:00"Unprepared" is quite an understatement. The psych..."Unprepared" is quite an understatement. The psychological and habit formation/nonformation of much of the urban "labor pool" is ruinous.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com