“I Just Pulled a Number Out of My Ass” — John Cougar Mellencamp’s Astonishing Smugnorance on Black Progress
Rocker claims that, post-slavery, only “one or two percent” of black Americans have better lives
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Ted
Imagine you were being interviewed by Bill Maher, and the conversation turned to the topic of race. Would you pull a thought out of your keister, and share it with the host and his audience?
By his own admission, classic rocker John Cougar Mellencamp did just that.
During a recent interview on Maher’s “Club Random” podcast, Mellencamp mentioned that he’d written a song called “From the Cotton Field to the Playing Fields” that draws a parallel between how black people were exploited during slavery and how Mellencamp thinks they’re exploited today.
“Us white people love to have black people entertain us,” said Mellencamp.
“I would say,” Maher replied, “that the playing fields are a lot better than the cotton fields. That’s what I would say about that. Maybe I’m crazy, John, but it seems like making no money as a slave picking cotton — it was not as good as playing left field for the Yankees.”
Mellencamp responded, “No doubt there is one or two percent of black people in America who have a better life.”
Maher challenged Mellencamp right away, who then backpedaled: “Okay, let’s say 10%. I just pulled a number out of my ass.”
“That’s where it belongs,” said Maher.
How did that thought make its way from Mellencamp’s rear to his tongue?
Certain thoughts and impulses may originate below the belt, but we adults are expected to let our brains have a whack at them before we blurt out something stupid.
It’s astonishing that a grownup could believe that most of black America has not made any progress since slavery. It’s the kind of claim that should not require debunking because it’s constantly refuted by everyday experience.
Does Mellencamp ever go outside?
Today Americans of all backgrounds routinely enjoy things that even 1-percenters didn’t have access to just a short while ago. We waste our time on smartphones, beat the heat with air conditioning, and have very little reason to fear blisters.
It didn’t used to be that way, as an anecdote from Amity Shlaes’ book The Forgotten Man reveals.
In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge’s son developed a blister on his toe while playing tennis on White House grounds. Infection developed and he died. Penicillin would have saved his life.
Imagine that—the son of a US president died because he did not have access to something that is widely available today, something that drug store chains sometimes give away for free.
Penicillin and countless other medical advances have contributed to higher life expectancies:
In 1900, the estimated life expectancy for White men was 46.6 years; for non-White men it was 43.5 years; for White women it was 48.7 years, and for non-White women it was 33.5 years. By 2011, the life expectancy for White men was 76.6 years; for Black men it was 72.2 years; for White women it was 81.1 years; and for Black women it was 78.2 years.
Thomas Sowell beats the life expectancy average by a lot.
He was born a black orphan in the Jim Crow South, but became a genius professor of economics courted by presidents. He’s authored dozens of books, and just released his latest at age 93.
For decades Sowell has fumed at those who overlook the early and rapid progress of black Americans. Sowell often notes the “plain fact that the black poverty rate declined from 87 percent in 1940 to 47 percent in 1960, prior to the great expansion of the welfare state that began in the 1960s under the Johnson administration (emphasis in original).”
Today, the black poverty rate stands at 22 percent, and among black married couples it’s remained under 10 percent for two decades.
Yes, disparities remain—and for a sensible exploration of that I highly recommend Sowell’s book Discrimination and Disparities (perhaps someone will send Mellencamp a copy)—but the classic rocker was focused on progress. And the black poverty rate falling by 75 percent (by 89 percent percent for married couples) certainly counts as progress.
Sowell continues:
The poverty rate of married blacks is not only lower than that of blacks as a whole, but in some years has also been lower than that of whites as a whole. In 2016, for example, the poverty rate for blacks was 22 percent, for whites was 11 percent, and for black married couples was 7.5 percent.
Even those categorized as poor have enjoyed great progress over time.
Today, the average poor person lives in an air-conditioned, centrally heated home or apartment, owns a car, at least one flatscreen television, a smartphone, and computer, and enjoys broadband internet access.
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Mellencamp’s claim remains astonishing for its smugnorance. How could someone so ill-informed make such a consequential declaration with such confidence?
Isn’t he worried about coming off as insulting to the black people in his life?
It reminds me of the 2018 Oscars when Frances McDormand, who, with approximately zero percent knowledge and 100 percent confidence, ignited Hollywood’s obsession with inclusion riders.
Yes we could dismiss such incidents as the products of celebrity groupthink, but there’s more going on. Even beyond the red carpet world of rockers and actors, an idea persists among monoculture members that those in the know should embrace pessimism.
Whether it’s racism, sexism, or climate change, social climbers will ascend higher if they pull a Mellencamp. The more you’re down with the movement, the more down you’re supposed to be.
How sad.
Our attempts will always be imperfect, but we should try to make our words correspond to reality. If the situation is bleak, then call it bleak. But if it’s not, we’re not doing anyone any favors by peddling pessimism.
Everyone acknowledges that we shouldn’t understate problems, but social incentives often nudge us toward the equal and opposite blunder of overstating them. Some prominent voices, including female academics looking for sexism and the world’s top climate official, have begun to warn us that overstating problems can backfire and foment despair. Sowell and other thinkers like Glenn Loury, John McWhorter, and Kmele Foster have long advanced a reality-based view on race.
But if you’re looking to avoid trouble, it’s still far easier to go bleak. And consider how such pessimism may be received.
If we’re really doomed, what’s the point of fixing the environment? If STEM fields really are packed with sexist pigs, women might not pursue careers in science. Imagine what a Mellencamp view of the world could do to the aspirations of black kids.
The sad irony is that relentless negativity can undermine the progress that would-be reformers seek to achieve.
Ted Balaker is a filmmaker, and former network newser and think tanker. His recent work includes Little Pink House starring Catherine Keener and Jeanne Tripplehorn, Can We Take a Joke? featuring Gilbert Gottfried and Penn Jillette, and a soon-to-be-released feature documentary based on the bestselling book, The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt.
Mellencamp the Unready.
I understand from people who have worked with him that Cougar only travels on private jets.