Comments on: My Journey Through Race and Racism (Part II) http://quichemoraine.com/2009/10/my-journey-through-race-and-racism-part-ii/ We don't need no stinking subtitle Wed, 08 Jun 2011 05:44:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Stephanie Zvan http://quichemoraine.com/2009/10/my-journey-through-race-and-racism-part-ii/#comment-12312 Stephanie Zvan Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:53:46 +0000 http://quichemoraine.com/?p=1844#comment-12312 Do you tell all the people you try not to stereotype how well you're doing at it too, Observer? What Auster is missing is how good stereotypes are at getting things wrong. The start of that article demonstrates it well. Even if it's true that Muslims behead more people than any other religious group (which it may or may not be; bodies are dismembered for a number of reasons), the people you're most likely to encounter on a bus in the middle of a Canadian prairie aren't Muslim. Not by a long shot. Muslims are about 2% of the Canadian population. Muslims would have to be more than 25 times more likely to behead someone than anyone else would be for the math to work out. Not only that, but Muslims found in Canada, not just worldwide, would have to be more than 25 times more likely to behead someone. They're not. It's not remotely surprising he screwed up. Stereotypes aren't "truths we don't say." They're simple rules for dealing with a complex world, and they're based far more on emotion and confirmation bias than any sort of underlying truth. Do you tell all the people you try not to stereotype how well you’re doing at it too, Observer?

What Auster is missing is how good stereotypes are at getting things wrong. The start of that article demonstrates it well. Even if it’s true that Muslims behead more people than any other religious group (which it may or may not be; bodies are dismembered for a number of reasons), the people you’re most likely to encounter on a bus in the middle of a Canadian prairie aren’t Muslim. Not by a long shot. Muslims are about 2% of the Canadian population. Muslims would have to be more than 25 times more likely to behead someone than anyone else would be for the math to work out. Not only that, but Muslims found in Canada, not just worldwide, would have to be more than 25 times more likely to behead someone. They’re not. It’s not remotely surprising he screwed up.

Stereotypes aren’t “truths we don’t say.” They’re simple rules for dealing with a complex world, and they’re based far more on emotion and confirmation bias than any sort of underlying truth.

]]> By: Observer http://quichemoraine.com/2009/10/my-journey-through-race-and-racism-part-ii/#comment-12307 Observer Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:51:31 +0000 http://quichemoraine.com/?p=1844#comment-12307 ***He used to tell me that Jews would always be smarter than Catholics. Here’s why. Catholics scour the community to find the smartest men to be their leaders and make them the priests. The priests are then not allowed to reproduce. At the same time, Jews scour the community to find the smartest men to be their leaders and make them the rabbis. Not only can the rabbis reproduce, but they are virtually bred…everyone in the community supplies them with resources to maximize their reproductive output. According to Miles, since this had been going on for 5,000 years for the Jews and 2,000 years for the Catholics, the difference should be immense.*** I have read Hans Eysenck mentioning this theory. I think Cochran & Harpending dismissed it in their paper on Ashkenazi intelligence, but considered selection had played a role in the high average. Lawrence Auster has written of the moral imperative to remove stereotypes and liberalism: "The NPR program as you've summarized it captures the very essence of modern liberalism put into practical form. Modern liberalism denies that any significant group or sex differences, or stereotypes, exist. To believe that they exist, and to act on that belief, is discrimination, which is the same thing that led the Nazis to dehumanize and exterminate six million Jews. Therefore the eradication of discrimination is a moral imperative. The discovery and removal of stereotypes is the practical means by which the moral, liberal person is constructed. It follows that exposing our secret or unconscious stereotypes is a key activity in the various diversity programs in schools and other institutions. In my four-part article on multiculturalism at FrontPage (I don't remember which part), there is a description of a sensitivity workshop for the staff of a private school in New England that is worth taking a look at. " http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/011102.html btw. I would consider myself to be a liberal in terms of trying not to stereotype people. Although I imagine that I would in terms of choosing a school for my kids or selecting a neighbourhood to buy a house. But not on a personal level. ***He used to tell me that Jews would always be smarter than Catholics. Here’s why. Catholics scour the community to find the smartest men to be their leaders and make them the priests. The priests are then not allowed to reproduce. At the same time, Jews scour the community to find the smartest men to be their leaders and make them the rabbis. Not only can the rabbis reproduce, but they are virtually bred…everyone in the community supplies them with resources to maximize their reproductive output.

According to Miles, since this had been going on for 5,000 years for the Jews and 2,000 years for the Catholics, the difference should be immense.***

I have read Hans Eysenck mentioning this theory. I think Cochran & Harpending dismissed it in their paper on Ashkenazi intelligence, but considered selection had played a role in the high average.

Lawrence Auster has written of the moral imperative to remove stereotypes and liberalism:

“The NPR program as you’ve summarized it captures the very essence of modern liberalism put into practical form. Modern liberalism denies that any significant group or sex differences, or stereotypes, exist. To believe that they exist, and to act on that belief, is discrimination, which is the same thing that led the Nazis to dehumanize and exterminate six million Jews. Therefore the eradication of discrimination is a moral imperative. The discovery and removal of stereotypes is the practical means by which the moral, liberal person is constructed. It follows that exposing our secret or unconscious stereotypes is a key activity in the various diversity programs in schools and other institutions. In my four-part article on multiculturalism at FrontPage (I don’t remember which part), there is a description of a sensitivity workshop for the staff of a private school in New England that is worth taking a look at. ”

http://www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/011102.html

btw. I would consider myself to be a liberal in terms of trying not to stereotype people. Although I imagine that I would in terms of choosing a school for my kids or selecting a neighbourhood to buy a house. But not on a personal level.

]]> By: Mike Haubrich http://quichemoraine.com/2009/10/my-journey-through-race-and-racism-part-ii/#comment-7335 Mike Haubrich Thu, 15 Oct 2009 03:54:53 +0000 http://quichemoraine.com/?p=1844#comment-7335 I was brought up in a family that spent a lot of time with migrants from Texas, as friends, so for me it was cool knowing them. I had friends in school who didn't, but knew all about them. I was brought up in a family that spent a lot of time with migrants from Texas, as friends, so for me it was cool knowing them. I had friends in school who didn’t, but knew all about them.

]]> By: Anastasia http://quichemoraine.com/2009/10/my-journey-through-race-and-racism-part-ii/#comment-7314 Anastasia Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:26:07 +0000 http://quichemoraine.com/?p=1844#comment-7314 These are very compelling posts. Thank you for writing them. One question I have is - why didn't more people come to the conclusions you did as a child? Obviously there was more than just you growing up in mixed neighborhoods, or at least neighborhoods of different races that interacted in whatever ways. Hm. Now that various groups of Spanish decent are entering the picture, I wonder how that will affect things. These are very compelling posts. Thank you for writing them.
One question I have is – why didn’t more people come to the conclusions you did as a child? Obviously there was more than just you growing up in mixed neighborhoods, or at least neighborhoods of different races that interacted in whatever ways. Hm.
Now that various groups of Spanish decent are entering the picture, I wonder how that will affect things.

]]> By: Ian http://quichemoraine.com/2009/10/my-journey-through-race-and-racism-part-ii/#comment-7310 Ian Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:55:24 +0000 http://quichemoraine.com/?p=1844#comment-7310 Fascinating pair of articles Greg. Makes me want to write about my own development of ideas about race and racism. In Canada as a child I knew I was different, but didn't know what I was...I knew that there were two types of people in Trinidad, black people and "something else", i knew my father was that other thing, but I didn't know what that other thing was. Back in Trinidad, where so much of identity was tied up in belonging to one group or another, I was forced to deal with looking like one group, but feeling like I belonged to another, eventually ending up with an identity that was Indian one day, 'mixed' the next. I had to leave home to really see myself as "Trinidadian". I had to leave Trinidad to really see myself as West Indian. But any conventional label paints things with strokes so broad that they're meaningless... Fascinating pair of articles Greg. Makes me want to write about my own development of ideas about race and racism. In Canada as a child I knew I was different, but didn’t know what I was…I knew that there were two types of people in Trinidad, black people and “something else”, i knew my father was that other thing, but I didn’t know what that other thing was. Back in Trinidad, where so much of identity was tied up in belonging to one group or another, I was forced to deal with looking like one group, but feeling like I belonged to another, eventually ending up with an identity that was Indian one day, ‘mixed’ the next. I had to leave home to really see myself as “Trinidadian”. I had to leave Trinidad to really see myself as West Indian.

But any conventional label paints things with strokes so broad that they’re meaningless…

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