I don't know how anyone measures the results of programs like midnight basketball, but if the expectation for it was to COMPLETELY ERADICATE THE SCOURGE OF CRIME, then yeah, it's failing on every level.
I guess that's exactly what Rush Limbaugh was expecting, because he throws it back in everyone's face as proof that "liberalism doesn't work." I guess in Rush's mind, basketball was supposed to break through the stone walls around our hearts and unlock the love within, because if Rush knows nothing else, it's how to love his fellow man. Also in Rush's mind, right next to the Oxycontin addiction and catycornered to the racism, is the idea that midnight basketball is the only thing that "liberals" can come up with to fight crime.
So, since crime still exists in our post-midnight basketball world, does that mean we should scrap it and programs like it? No, idiot, because programs like these are giving teenagers something to do. Midnight basketball isn't a Disney flick, where there's a stern but loving coach who inspires his charges to completely turn around their lives, but if kids are in a gym playing basketball, you know what they're not doing? They're not fucking committing crimes. I know kids today amaze people with how quickly they develop, but even they have yet to evolve into beings who can be in two places at once.
I know the logic is hard to follow, because it makes so much sense, but that's the benefit of not being Rush Limbaugh. In his world (and those who have no idea what the world outside of gated communities is like), the solution is to lock down high crime communities and put everyone in jail. After all, if people act like criminals, they should be treated like criminals. It's very black-and-white to him, mostly because he's white and all the criminals are black.
I know it's hard to tell, based on the positive images put out by pop culture and the news, but all black people aren't criminals. All black people don't live in crime-ridden neighborhoods. Racial profiling doesn't work. Jailing drug abusers doesn't work. But all Rush sees is that black people are safely away in jail, not realizing that security wasn't gonna let us in his neighborhood, anyway.
He also doesn't see (or maybe he does) that prison has become big business. There's no benefit for prisons to rehabilitate ANYONE, because that's less people coming back to jail. And programs that help keep people from becoming criminals don't benefit prisons, either. They also don't keep people who are afraid of criminals sleep better at night.
After all, trying to help people better themselves is so "liberal." "Those people" can't be helped, because if they could, they wouldn't have gotten into trouble to begin with. They should have known better than to be influenced by their environments. If they were smart, they would have used school vouchers to get to a private school, so they can rob the white kids. Because it's in their nature to be criminals.
Ah, that wacky Rush. It's going to be interesting to see that exodus of black players once he fulfills his lifelong dream of actually owning a black person. What will your players be, Crips or Bloods?
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