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I refrained from responding yesterday, but I see now how committed you are to the whole thing. I have to imagine you took a turn along the decision tree of life

I refrained from responding yesterday, but I see now how committed you are to the whole thing. I have to imagine you took a turn along the decision tree of life and arrived where you are. Fair enough. Do you know that a hundred years ago, there was no such thing as "white people"? There were Irish, English, German, Italian, French, etc. Some of them were considered to be almost subhuman by others in Europe and here in the US. They washed upon the shores of this great land and filled the ghettos of the cities, brought crime and degradation and were generally thought to be a blight on society by the Americans who lived in this country and wanted them gone. Today, those deplorables enjoy a status that their ancestors wouldn't have been able to conceive of. Some of them even take it upon themselves to oppress other groups of Americans in what can only be considered tragedy, not irony. At every point in history there have been those who used some type of reasoning to position themselves as "better". Whether it was for personal gain or ignorance or a personal or cultural need to oppress, it is a story that is repeated over and over with every generation. The lines may shift and change but, it is the same. So I guess I would ask you, as a thinking person that you seem to be, to consider whether you are committed to division and oppression or will you instead commit yourself to understanding and unity? Choose wisely. History will judge you.

ebfe 10y ago
The Naturalization Act of 1790- the first legislation implementing the rules for citizenship- limited immigration to "free white persons of good character". [1] It's revisionist nonsense to say that whiteness is a modern invention. The point of this is not to establish oneself as better, it's to answer a question that is the backbone for our current social policy. The underrepresentation of black people among life outcomes that correlate with high intelligence (physicists, CEOs, leading politicians, etc.), and overrepresentation of black people among life outcomes that correlate with low intelligence (prison, death by shooting, etc.) has been accepted as proof that our society is fundamentally opressive, and needs to be torn down. If black people and white people are as groups genetically equal, then this reasoning is perfectly valid- different outcomes would be the result of environmental bias. If not, however, then no such inference can be made- these disparate outcomes are exactly what you would expect from two disparate groups, even in the absence of any oppression. If this is the case, suddenly teaching black children that white supremacy will limit their ability to succeed in tech, taking medical school slots away from more qualified Asians, and requiring equal proportions of blacks and whites in various positions becomes tremendously harmful. [1]http://legisworks.org/sal/1/stats/STATUTE-1-Pg103.pdf http://legisworks.org/sal/1/stats/STATUTE-1-Pg103.pdf
- dang 10y ago
  You've been using HN exclusively to propagate racial and political rhetoric. That's not what this site is for, so what you've been doing is abusive here. Please stop. There are places on the internet where this war (and it is war, in the sense that politics is war by other means) is welcome; Hacker News is not one of those, so kindly keep your racial passions elsewhere. The guiding value of this site is intellectual curiosity, and that spirit does not survive five minutes with this stuff. I've noticed that proponents love to speak as if they were the voice of science incarnate, but the truth is that this is politics all the way down, and nasty politics at that.
  - partisan 10y ago
    I really appreciate having your voice in this discussion, dang. I wouldn't want to see the OPs contribution downvoted to oblivion, but I was put off by the lack of contrary viewpoints. I was hoping there would be others bearing the flag of reason. Regarding having the opinion expressed for all to see instead of hiding or downvoting it, I think having it available proves that racism is alive and well even among the more educated. Some people believe we are in a "post racial" society and that is clearly out of ignorance at the least.

ebfe 10y ago

The Naturalization Act of 1790- the first legislation implementing the rules for citizenship- limited immigration to "free white persons of good character". [1] It's revisionist nonsense to say that whiteness is a modern invention. The point of this is not to establish oneself as better, it's to answer a question that is the backbone for our current social policy. The underrepresentation of black people among life outcomes that correlate with high intelligence (physicists, CEOs, leading politicians, etc.), and overrepresentation of black people among life outcomes that correlate with low intelligence (prison, death by shooting, etc.) has been accepted as proof that our society is fundamentally opressive, and needs to be torn down. If black people and white people are as groups genetically equal, then this reasoning is perfectly valid- different outcomes would be the result of environmental bias. If not, however, then no such inference can be made- these disparate outcomes are exactly what you would expect from two disparate groups, even in the absence of any oppression. If this is the case, suddenly teaching black children that white supremacy will limit their ability to succeed in tech, taking medical school slots away from more qualified Asians, and requiring equal proportions of blacks and whites in various positions becomes tremendously harmful. [1]http://legisworks.org/sal/1/stats/STATUTE-1-Pg103.pdf http://legisworks.org/sal/1/stats/STATUTE-1-Pg103.pdf

dang 10y ago
You've been using HN exclusively to propagate racial and political rhetoric. That's not what this site is for, so what you've been doing is abusive here. Please stop. There are places on the internet where this war (and it is war, in the sense that politics is war by other means) is welcome; Hacker News is not one of those, so kindly keep your racial passions elsewhere. The guiding value of this site is intellectual curiosity, and that spirit does not survive five minutes with this stuff. I've noticed that proponents love to speak as if they were the voice of science incarnate, but the truth is that this is politics all the way down, and nasty politics at that.
- partisan 10y ago
  I really appreciate having your voice in this discussion, dang. I wouldn't want to see the OPs contribution downvoted to oblivion, but I was put off by the lack of contrary viewpoints. I was hoping there would be others bearing the flag of reason. Regarding having the opinion expressed for all to see instead of hiding or downvoting it, I think having it available proves that racism is alive and well even among the more educated. Some people believe we are in a "post racial" society and that is clearly out of ignorance at the least.