Believing It

 

The wise Dennis Prager, the other day on his radio show, suggested that one way to be happy is not to let praise from others go to your head, nor criticism from others go to your heart.

 

My interpretation of this wise approach is that , if you are authentic and largely honest with yourself, then you approximately who you are, what you are about, what you are worth, and where you are headed. It is fine to receive or even welcome input from others, but the final arbiter must be you about you, and that is what an individuators would insist upon. He writes his own narrative, and he describes, characterizes and then judges himself, not delegating this power to anyone outside of himself.

 

 

The problem with group-oriented people is that too many of that racial or ethnic live vicariously, viewing themselves as others see them, whether that take is accurate or nonsense. That characterization need to be made personal, private and internalized.

 

Eric Hoffer may seem prejudiced or too hard on American blacks, but mostly he wants them to live as individuals first, group-oriented and racially conscious secondly. That is the only way that each black will build the will, ambition, resolve and courage to build a life for himself.

 

On Page 6 of the book, Eric Hoffer: The Syndicated News Articles, Hoffer wrote this about American blacks: “Despite the vehement protestations of negro writers and intellectuals, the Negro is not the white man’s problem. On the contrary, the white man is the Negro’s chief problem. As things are now, the Negro is what the white man says he is—he knows himself only by white hearsay.

 

That which corrodes the soul of the Negro is his monstrous inner agreement with the prevailing prejudice against him. To annul the white hearsay and be what he chooses to be, the Negro must become his own playwright, stage his own play, and cast himself in a role of his own choosing. “

 

My response: American blacks desperately need to be individuals first and then to identify with their race secondarily. As an individual to self-realize any black can develop his talents, and make a unique, powerful commitment to Ameri-an culture. This message is not conveyed by the Left. Progressives have done blacks no good, and their condescending sympathy for blacks is the most racist, debilitating attitude towards blacks that can be fielded.

 

Going forward, as blacks think for themselves as individual’s and stage their own plays that they alone write, their fortunes should much improve.