Andrew Hagen

On his radio show on September 28, William Bennett said:

But I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime you could if that were your sole purpose you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do but your crime rate would go down. So these these far out these far-reaching you know extensive extrapolations are I think tricky.

(*) Bennett purports to be a philosopher. The very act as described would constitute genocide, which is a crime of great magnitude. Therefore, what Bill Bennett said is nonsense on its face.

To “abort every black baby in this country” would not lower the crime rate. Instead it would create a crime wave of unimaginable proportions.

Furthermore, Bennett’s remarks are offensive. His defense of speaking hypothetically doesn’t wash because his remarks were indecent and impolite. (†)

While black people do commit more crimes than average, the proper way of addressing that is to address the issue directly. Is it because of poverty or culture? An open discussion of this or any other public issue should be welcome.

Bennett should not be forced off his radio show because he made his remarks. This is a free country. What is highly likely to occur, however, is that Bennett has shredded his own credibility. Unless he somehow puts out the fire, few people are going to care what he thinks anymore, the show’s ratings will decline, and he will be out looking for work.

As an occasional listener to his show, though not at the moment in question, I can say that Bennett’s credibility with me is shot.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 1st, 2005 at 08:17 and is filed under Social issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.