Sunday, August 28, 2005
Race, Rules, and the American Civilization.
I have spent the morning reading Steve Sailer's webpage and blog. Sailer is a pundit and a writer for the American conservative who spends a large amount of time applying evolutionary psychology to public policy issues.
Read his review of Thomas Sowell's new book or his article on racism and sports. He points out the simple fact that racial differences are ignored in the United States; that maybe, just maybe, having been descended from Africa may give you a different genetic heritage than having been descended from China. His ideas are fascinating and troubling. The elephant in the room always is both.
Assume that his points are valid. How do we deal with this? If it was accepted that African-Americans had a different family structure than European-Americans due to genetic or culturally inherited factors, what would this men for public policy? I think that this would create a nightmare. Sailer thinks other wise.
Another source of misplaced anger: mistaking theories of racial diversity for assertions of racial supremacy. As I wrote in "Seven Dumb Ideas about Race"
"Much of the Race Does Not Exist cant stems from the following logic (if you can call it logic): 'If there really are different racial groups, then one must be The Master Race, which means -oh my God - that Hitler Was Right! Therefore we must promote whatever ideas most confuse the public about race. Otherwise, they will learn the horrible truth and they'll all vote Nazi.'"
Look, this is one big non-sequitur. There is no race that's supreme at all thing.
This is a straw man argument. The fear is not that we could trigger a revival of Nazi ideology in the United States. The fear is that we could undermine the respect for individualism that lays at the foundation of our Constitutional structure. For example, the conservative argument against affirmative action is predicate on this very foundation. Also, how would affect this society if the educated openly accepted that there were genetic differences between the races. How would that filter down to mass society? If we are lucky it will be as reasoned and clear headed as the debate over teaching evolution in schools....right.
Just wanted to throw a monkey wrench into your Sunday morning. Have a nice day.
Read his review of Thomas Sowell's new book or his article on racism and sports. He points out the simple fact that racial differences are ignored in the United States; that maybe, just maybe, having been descended from Africa may give you a different genetic heritage than having been descended from China. His ideas are fascinating and troubling. The elephant in the room always is both.
Assume that his points are valid. How do we deal with this? If it was accepted that African-Americans had a different family structure than European-Americans due to genetic or culturally inherited factors, what would this men for public policy? I think that this would create a nightmare. Sailer thinks other wise.
Another source of misplaced anger: mistaking theories of racial diversity for assertions of racial supremacy. As I wrote in "Seven Dumb Ideas about Race"
"Much of the Race Does Not Exist cant stems from the following logic (if you can call it logic): 'If there really are different racial groups, then one must be The Master Race, which means -oh my God - that Hitler Was Right! Therefore we must promote whatever ideas most confuse the public about race. Otherwise, they will learn the horrible truth and they'll all vote Nazi.'"
Look, this is one big non-sequitur. There is no race that's supreme at all thing.
This is a straw man argument. The fear is not that we could trigger a revival of Nazi ideology in the United States. The fear is that we could undermine the respect for individualism that lays at the foundation of our Constitutional structure. For example, the conservative argument against affirmative action is predicate on this very foundation. Also, how would affect this society if the educated openly accepted that there were genetic differences between the races. How would that filter down to mass society? If we are lucky it will be as reasoned and clear headed as the debate over teaching evolution in schools....right.
Just wanted to throw a monkey wrench into your Sunday morning. Have a nice day.
