The German people were very productive, and made monkeys out of their Romanian and Russian neighbors when it came to crop yields. He writes about the Germans (Nazis) in a brief detour, citing what he believes is proof that any culture is susceptible to the rise of a ruler like Hitler given a variety of circumstances strong feelings of national pride, many people not caring about politics, a sense of economic resignation, and being responsive to a charismatic leader (Trump?).
“ It is a chilling example of what can happen when people simply do not think ” -Sowell. Slavery ended with an imperative from the British imperialists, whose people could no longer tolerate slavery in an era where people started to ask questions slavery had persisted so long because no one asked whether it was right or wrong, it just was, an extension of serfdom and feudalism. Slavery was in all societies, from Islam to Africa, and imperialism from the Ottoman Empire to Genghis Khan. He thinks that slavery was an awful wrong, but that it permeates World history, as does imperialism. He acknowledges that the World is not fair, but does not think that we can provide justice for those unfair things via government intervention. Sowell points to strong family structures of many other immigrant groups, a priority on education, living on meager resources, and most of all, hard work. There is a disdain for intellectual achievement, and no one wants to “act white” (a study of this from a school in Ohio is cited). Sowell says this culture persists in lower income black communities, and can also seep into the middle class. They were easy to offend, loved showing off (“intensity of personal pride”), were violent (dueling was common in the south), and hated hard work. Says that the modern African American lower class culture came from the white people who ran the plantations in the days of slavery, who were “white rednecks” from the Scottish highlands. Argues that the driving factor in a group or individuals ability to economically produce is their culture.
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