The new racism and the attack on racial equality

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This doesn’t look like any kind of “new” racism to me, dude. Looks like the old kind.

I do think, though, that any idea of equality that is not based on a transcendental idea is a bad thing, in the long run. The oldest argument against equality, and one which is absolutely unassailable (because as far as it goes it’s true), is “But people are not equal.”

Some people are stronger.
Some are faster.
Some are smarter.

Statistically, by the way, we can say that some groups are smarter or faster or stronger than others. It seems wrong (well, not to me, but I have no expectations), but it is true.

Any idea of equality that is based, as yours is, on the idea that groups are equal in things like intelligence, is doomed to failure: because it isn’t true. At any given moment, some groups will be better in some areas than other groups. That’s how statistics work.

And yet, I say, they’re all equal. Because they are humans. All members of a class are fundamentally equal to all other members of that class. No other kind of equality exists in the world, except the equality of humanity. None of those other things matter.

Think, if you can, of humanity as an aristocracy. In every historical aristocracy, there have been members who have been poor, or weak, or sickly: but they were still members of that class. A penniless umbrella-maker ronin is still a samurai. A half-mad hermit whose only possession is his sabre is still a szlechta. In the same way, all humans, no matter how weak or ignorant or foolish or prone to alcoholism, are still members of that aristocracy.

Once you understand that, and make a set of laws that applies to any and all members of that aristocratic class (in this case humans), you will no longer have to worry about racism–or worse, about the demonstrable, provable inequalities between groups. Nobody would say, “Well, since you’re kind of ugly, you don’t have the rights of a samurai, so let’s take your swords away.” Similarly, nobody can in conscience say, “Well, since you currently do poorly, as a group, on standardized testing, you don’t have the rights of a human, so let’s sterilize you.” It’s the easily falsifiable idea that people are equal in traits like intelligence or strength, that allows there to be a challenge to the idea that they are equal in value. Your argument for equality is based on a bad premise; disprove that premise and you disprove equality. Mine is based on the indisputable: humans are humans.
 
You think you’re worked up about racial equality, start looking into how the disabled, the elderly, and the mentally challenged are treated.

I have a feeling you’ll love reading this blog:
wesleyjsmith.com/blog/

Please let me know if you enjoy it as much as I do.

In any event, I agree with Hastrman that at the root is the functionalist idea of human worth - i.e., you’re valuable because of what you can do, not because of what you are. Unfortunately, I’m hard pressed to find a materialist/reductionist basis for according humans any worth whatsoever - it’s not like we climbed out of the primordial ooze with our inherent human dignity, carrying a full set of inalienable rights on our back…

If functionalism is correct and we are only valuable for what we can do, I see no problem with going where the science takes us. If that means one race cannot accomplish as much in a given area, so be it.

If, however, functionalism is wrong and people are valuable precisely because they are people, this type of research can only undermine the according of worth. This sort of research pushes us ever closer to a new genocide - oh, wait, over 90% of Down Syndrome children are aborted. The new genocide is already here. Just wait until we find “the gay gene”! Truthfully, I doubt we’ll even notice. Just look at what Margaret Singer did with Planned Parenthood and blacks. We hardly even care.

Eugenics by abortion - it’s the next big thing. Time to usher in the new master race.

God Bless,
RyanL
 
I am disgusted by the “scientific” works of J. Philippe Rushton.

For a sample of his thinking, go here: charlesdarwinresearch.org/Race_Evolution_Behavior.pdf

and his writings on VDARE: vdare.com/rushton/index.htm

Long story short, he argues that the socio-economical problems of Africans are due to innate cognitive inferiority, not the result of our actions. In his VDARE columns, he shows not concern for social justice, and he eagerly asserts that Africans are inferior.
Why are the Problems in Africa 'our" fault?
 
Why are the Problems in Africa 'our" fault?
I take it that you are a fan of Richard Lynn and you support this thesis.

In other words, the misery of our poor is an inevitable outcome of their innate defects, and that it is not the result of our own actions. Because they are innately defective, we should not try to help them because our aide will never trump the influence of genes. Other factors influence these outcomes, but they pale in comparison to the influence of our hereditary material.

When I say “actions”, I meant to imply the “sin of omission”, that is we do not actively nurture third world countries and help the battle the afflication of poverty.
 
I take it that you are a fan of Richard Lynn and you support this thesis.
As if that were the only other possibility. Given the billions of dollars sent to Africa and other developing areas annually by the U.S. government and American citizens working through private organizations, talks of Africa’s problems being “our” fault are naive at best.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
In other words, the misery of our poor is an inevitable outcome of their innate defects, and that it is not the result of our own actions. Because they are innately defective, we should not try to help them because our aide will never trump the influence of genes. Other factors influence these outcomes, but they pale in comparison to the influence of our hereditary material.
Tch, who cares about the influence of genes–you’re talking horoscopes, you just don’t realize it.

I say fate is what happens to people who give up.

Help them because they’re inherently worthy of it–even if every mother’s son of them has an extra chromosome or no tyrosinase. It’s irrelevant why they’re in whatever condition they’re in (and I’d say it’s probably a mix of genes and choices, both ours and theirs; free will doesn’t go away below a certain income level), unless we’re discussing how to fix that problem.

All humans are innately defective. We’re selfish, stupid monsters. If you don’t think it’s worth it to help the innately defective, you should give up on humans right now. Even if you can’t save anyone in the long run, you may have eased their suffering before they died. And you definitely won’t save anyone if you don’t try.
 
I take it that you are a fan of Richard Lynn and you support this thesis.

In other words, the misery of our poor is an inevitable outcome of their innate defects, and that it is not the result of our own actions. Because they are innately defective, we should not try to help them because our aide will never trump the influence of genes. Other factors influence these outcomes, but they pale in comparison to the influence of our hereditary material.
I don’t know Richard Lynn other than what I read in the link you provided and I haven’t read any of his books or articles and therefore don’t know what his data looks like. Do you object to him based on the validity of his data or on his conclusions? If on his conclusions, can you address his data differently?

I personally think that we should try to help the poor, even if they are “innately defective”. By the way, I just quickly scanned the wikipedia article so I may have missed it, but does he use the term “innately defective” or is that your term summarizing your view of his thesis?
When I say “actions”, I meant to imply the “sin of omission”, that is we do not actively nurture third world countries and help the battle the afflication of poverty.
Well, doesn’t your statement agree, at least in kind, with Lynn’s thesis? After all, how are we in a position to nurture them if we aren’t in a more advantageous psition to begin with?

Peace

Tim
 
This doesn’t look like any kind of “new” racism to me, dude. Looks like the old kind.

I do think, though, that any idea of equality that is not based on a transcendental idea is a bad thing, in the long run. The oldest argument against equality, and one which is absolutely unassailable (because as far as it goes it’s true), is “But people are not equal.”

Some people are stronger.
Some are faster.
Some are smarter.

Statistically, by the way, we can say that some groups are smarter or faster or stronger than others. It seems wrong (well, not to me, but I have no expectations), but it is true.

Any idea of equality that is based, as yours is, on the idea that groups are equal in things like intelligence, is doomed to failure: because it isn’t true. At any given moment, some groups will be better in some areas than other groups. That’s how statistics work.

And yet, I say, they’re all equal. Because they are humans. All members of a class are fundamentally equal to all other members of that class. No other kind of equality exists in the world, except the equality of humanity. None of those other things matter.

Think, if you can, of humanity as an aristocracy. In every historical aristocracy, there have been members who have been poor, or weak, or sickly: but they were still members of that class. A penniless umbrella-maker ronin is still a samurai. A half-mad hermit whose only possession is his sabre is still a szlechta. In the same way, all humans, no matter how weak or ignorant or foolish or prone to alcoholism, are still members of that aristocracy.

Once you understand that, and make a set of laws that applies to any and all members of that aristocratic class (in this case humans), you will no longer have to worry about racism–or worse, about the demonstrable, provable inequalities between groups. Nobody would say, “Well, since you’re kind of ugly, you don’t have the rights of a samurai, so let’s take your swords away.” Similarly, nobody can in conscience say, “Well, since you currently do poorly, as a group, on standardized testing, you don’t have the rights of a human, so let’s sterilize you.” It’s the easily falsifiable idea that people are equal in traits like intelligence or strength, that allows there to be a challenge to the idea that they are equal in value. Your argument for equality is based on a bad premise; disprove that premise and you disprove equality. Mine is based on the indisputable: humans are humans.
Well said, Hastrman.

And to Ryan L - Wesley Smith’s blog is VERY interesting. I have it in my rss reader and read his posts every day.

My own “hobby” website has links to a number of interesting articles related to the ethics of genetic engineering, transhumanism, euthanasia, etc. It’s not a spectacular site, but if you enjoy reading this type of stuff, go to:

www.nochimera.com
 
As far as whether people of African descent are not genetically endowed, as a whole, with quite the intellectual capacity as other races, this is certainly a possiblity. Yes, it’s a politically incorrect hot potato to even speculate regarding this idea, but it’s certainly possible.

Intelligence in undeniably partially an inherited quality. Compare, for example, a highly intelligent border collie and the irish setter. Both are dogs, yet as a whole, border collies are capable of a much higher level of learning, and have certain inborn tendencies.

Therefore, it is a possiblity that humans from one area of the world have different inborne traits, and intellectual capacity could very well be one of them.
 
Something to remember is that these kinds of statistics tell you absolutely nothing about a particular individual. For example, women are in general not as good at math as men. But in my particular example, even though I’m an engineer, my daughter has far exceeded my math abilities, and she’s only 18.
 
I take it that you are a fan of Richard Lynn and you support this thesis.

In other words, the misery of our poor is an inevitable outcome of their innate defects, and that it is not the result of our own actions. Because they are innately defective, we should not try to help them because our aide will never trump the influence of genes. Other factors influence these outcomes, but they pale in comparison to the influence of our hereditary material.

When I say “actions”, I meant to imply the “sin of omission”, that is we do not actively nurture third world countries and help the battle the afflication of poverty.
I simply asked you to back up your assertion that the problems in Africa were “our” fault. Instead of answering that you accused me of being a racist. I guess that means you cant answer my question.
 
I don’t know Richard Lynn other than what I read in the link you provided and I haven’t read any of his books or articles and therefore don’t know what his data looks like. Do you object to him based on the validity of his data or on his conclusions? If on his conclusions, can you address his data differently?

I personally think that we should try to help the poor, even if they are “innately defective”. By the way, I just quickly scanned the wikipedia article so I may have missed it, but does he use the term “innately defective” or is that your term summarizing your view of his thesis?Well, doesn’t your statement agree, at least in kind, with Lynn’s thesis? After all, how are we in a position to nurture them if we aren’t in a more advantageous psition to begin with?

Peace

Tim
I object to his conclusions, that is I think the disparity in the intelligence scores of people in third world nations in contrast to more developed nations is the result of economic disadvantage, not to a genetic disadvantage. We know that poverty hurts people and it is not conducive for one’s intellectual development.

Those are NOT Lynn’s words, but if we assume that intelligence is largely based on heredity and the lack of intelligence is the result of economic stagnation, then doesn’t “innately defective” aptly describe those who possess undesirable genes that do not promote the development of intelligence?

I will reiterate, I do not think the misery of the poor is caused by one’s hereditary traits, but rather how one is nurtured and treated as they developed.

I will answer the other posts when I am less concerned with my school work.
 
I simply asked you to back up your assertion that the problems in Africa were “our” fault. Instead of answering that you accused me of being a racist. I guess that means you cant answer my question.
I was being slightly sarcastic, but I hope you did not take it as a personal attack. I apologize for that remark. I merely thought you might partially agree with Richard Lynn’s ideas by your previous sentiment regarding our lack of culpability.

Instead of accusing you as a “racist”, I thought this would be another opportunity to reveal an attempt to exculpate humanity (in general as I do not specially intend blame a specific group of people) in their failure to rectify socio-economical inequality in the world.

Lynn does not argue this directly, but he argues that the intrinsic characteristics of some races forbids economical prosperity.
 
I object to his conclusions, that is I think the disparity in the intelligence scores of people in third world nations in contrast to more developed nations is the result of economic disadvantage, not to a genetic disadvantage.
Do you have data that supports your position versus Lynn’s position or is that based on a feeling?
We know that poverty hurts people and it is not conducive for one’s intellectual development.
Again, I don’t know Lynn, only what I briefly read in the wikipedia article, but I didn’t get the impression that he would disagree with that statement. I sense that he would argue that the reason whole populations continue generation after generation in poverty, despite efforts by more affluent countries to help, is based on genetics. I don’t know one way or the other, but he seems to have data that supports his view. Do you?
I will reiterate, I do not think the misery of the poor is caused by one’s hereditary traits, but rather how one is nurtured and treated as they developed.
Well, do you have data to support that feeling?

Peace

Tim
 
Do you have data that supports your position versus Lynn’s position or is that based on a feeling?Again, I don’t know Lynn, only what I briefly read in the wikipedia article, but I didn’t get the impression that he would disagree with that statement. I sense that he would argue that the reason whole populations continue generation after generation in poverty, despite efforts by more affluent countries to help, is based on genetics. I don’t know one way or the other, but he seems to have data that supports his view. Do you?Well, do you have data to support that feeling?

Peace

Tim
If you say it is based on genetics, one has to show that certain intelligence genes exist and that they are less prevalent in African populations in contrast to Oriental and Caucasian populations. Lynn does not provide this information, and his thesis is based on the critical assumption that human intelligence is not a significantly malleable entity and it is profoundly affected by heredity.

Here are two abstracts:
journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=135589

www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/108565299/ABSTRACT?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Education and enviromental improvements can alter the phenotype of human intelligence. The abstracts of those papers argue to support that point.
 
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