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Social tension due to racial diversity is lower if income/wealth is more equally distributed (just look at other countries or economically successful groups, th

by jpdus 10y ago

Social tension due to racial diversity is lower if income/wealth is more equally distributed (just look at other countries or economically successful groups, this goes into both directions). Normally I like you posts but this is really a bad argument and I did not see a valid counterpoint in your different answers. Same as with your recent, flawed and disturbing blog post [1]. Everyone should have his political opinion, but if you look at the data (and that is, what you normally are really good at!) regarding income/wealth inequality (without any bias) I don't think you can honestly say that everything is fine. [1] https://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2016/are_gays_or_guns_more_dangerous.html https://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2016/are_gays_or_guns_mor...

yummyfajitas 10y ago
Social tension due to racial diversity is lower if income/wealth is more equally distributed (just look at other countries or economically successful groups, this goes into both directions). This might be true, but so what? This doesn't mean that racial diversity doesn't also increase social tension. If social tension = (racial diversity) x (income inequality) - treat that as a stylized equation indicating my line of thinking - we can reduce either one to reduce social tension. (I'm unconvinced it's true, in any case. The US is more unequal than either India or Europe, yet seems to have far fewer racial/ethnic problems. Do you have evidence?) My claim is simply the following. If "x causes social tension, therefore it's bad" is a valid argument, then it's valid for both income inequality and racial diversity. Note that I have no problem with either racial diversity or income inequality - to me both are intrinsically irrelevant, and I'm unconvinced they are extrinsically relevant. I'm curious to know what the flaw is with my blog post. Did I make an arithmetic error? If so, please let me know - I'd love to fix it. I'm also confused why you bring up politics or call that post "disturbing." There is a 2-line "P.S." in that blog post which explicitly disavows the idea that I'm pushing any politics. My comments here have advocated no policy position whatsoever.

by jpdus 10y ago

Social tension due to racial diversity is lower if income/wealth is more equally distributed (just look at other countries or economically successful groups, this goes into both directions). Normally I like you posts but this is really a bad argument and I did not see a valid counterpoint in your different answers. Same as with your recent, flawed and disturbing blog post [1]. Everyone should have his political opinion, but if you look at the data (and that is, what you normally are really good at!) regarding income/wealth inequality (without any bias) I don't think you can honestly say that everything is fine. [1] https://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2016/are_gays_or_guns_more_dangerous.html https://www.chrisstucchio.com/blog/2016/are_gays_or_guns_mor...

yummyfajitas 10y ago

Social tension due to racial diversity is lower if income/wealth is more equally distributed (just look at other countries or economically successful groups, this goes into both directions). This might be true, but so what? This doesn't mean that racial diversity doesn't also increase social tension. If social tension = (racial diversity) x (income inequality) - treat that as a stylized equation indicating my line of thinking - we can reduce either one to reduce social tension. (I'm unconvinced it's true, in any case. The US is more unequal than either India or Europe, yet seems to have far fewer racial/ethnic problems. Do you have evidence?) My claim is simply the following. If "x causes social tension, therefore it's bad" is a valid argument, then it's valid for both income inequality and racial diversity. Note that I have no problem with either racial diversity or income inequality - to me both are intrinsically irrelevant, and I'm unconvinced they are extrinsically relevant. I'm curious to know what the flaw is with my blog post. Did I make an arithmetic error? If so, please let me know - I'd love to fix it. I'm also confused why you bring up politics or call that post "disturbing." There is a 2-line "P.S." in that blog post which explicitly disavows the idea that I'm pushing any politics. My comments here have advocated no policy position whatsoever.