[Jezebel]

By now you’ve surely heard of that hate-mongering Nobel prize winner. Let’s see.. demented genius, hates a specific demographic, and is fucking scary looking. This man is clearly a super-villain.

Of course nothing says his statements are not true. In fact, to say there cannot be genetic differences in the way different races’ brains have developed is more ignorant than to dismiss the possibility outright as society would have you do. Unfortunately, it’s just not a popular thing to say, to the point that even evil geniuses will retract their bold proclamations. Hell, making a statement along the lines of “african-americans are better athletes”, as suggested by a former college football coach¹ resulted in his being universally lambasted for his racial insensitivity. Seriously.

Among the top 50 rushers in the NFL and college football, I could find one white guy in each league. It’s not like there’s some cultural thing at play here, where we could say all the really fast white guys are doing something else like, say, log driving.

I also noticed a trend within these photos of Olympic gold-medal winning 4×100 relay teams.

• 2004 UK Men’s 4×100 relay team
• 2000 US Men’s 4×100 relay team

• 1996 Canadian Men’s 4×100 relay team

  Now, I’m not advocating racial profiling. Repeat: racial profiling = bad. What I am saying is that I am very much against the idea of political correctness stifling science. You cannot fucking tell me water’s boiling point is not 100ºC, in much the same way that you could not make the case that genetics have robbed me of the ability to grow an afro like that freaky looking dude on America’s Next Top Model. And certainly not because it offends your precious sensibilities. It’s science, motherfucker. Is it possible that, in addition to having different bone structure, different hair, different skin pigmentation, different muscle development, different eye color and the ability to dance like a machine that.. dances.. really well.. Is it possible that in addition to those things, Michael Vick’s brain may be different than my own? Wait, is it still okay to suggest that African-Americans are genetically predisposed to having darker skin than Bill O’Reilly and his clan of hellspawn? Is it insensitive to suggest that the Japanese, as a race, are not well suited to playing basketball? You know, because they’re short; a full 5 inches shorter than Americans.

  I realize there would be some seriously negative cultural/social ramifications that would accompany a science-backed proclamation that “in general, race X are better/worse than caucasians at mental task Y”. And that is certainly one possible path towards that dystopian future we’ve all read about in which a person’s entire life is pre-determined based on their genes. But unlike, say, cloning or genetic modification, we’re not trying to mess with the way God intended it to be, so that should be ok, right? Besides, would blacks really complain if they were forced to be either running backs, basketball players or best-selling hip-hop artists while white people without the last name “Manning” end up as farmers or Wal-Mart greeters? I think not.

  ¹ Fisher DeBerry, ex-head coach of the Air Force Academy, came under fire for the following:

  He said Air Force needed to recruit faster players. “We were looking at things, like you don’t see many minority athletes in our program,” DeBerry told the paper.

  The next day, during a question-and-answer session at his weekly luncheon, the coach didn’t hesitate to elaborate.

  “It just seems to be that way, that Afro-American kids can run very, very well. That doesn’t mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can’t run, but it’s very obvious to me they run extremely well,” DeBerry said.

  Days after the comments, DeBerry was reprimanded by Lt. Gen. John F. Regni, superintendent of the academy, but was not fired.
  

  Source: Findarticles

  ]]> http://tex.texerson.com/2007/10/19/the-evils-of-genetics/feed/ http://tex.texerson.com/2007/06/27/for-the-birds/ http://tex.texerson.com/2007/06/27/for-the-birds/#comments Wed, 27 Jun 2007 09:16:10 +0000 tex http://tex.texerson.com/2007/06/27/for-the-birds/ There is a whale of a woman lumbering along the path carrying a bag of birdfeed. From this heavy sack she extracts handfuls of seed, which she then tosses overhand at the gathered ducks. Her portions are in line with what I imagine the scene at her dinner table to be like – substituting the seeds for mashed potatoes and gravy. The five or six waterfowl in the vicinity shall not go hungry tonight, this much is for certain. The irony of me eating a 1/2 lb swiss melt burger as I ponder this is not lost on me. That I will wake up tomorrow morning a svelte 120lbs while she will still be pushing 260 is not either. A pair of seagulls arrive to feast just as Big Bertha distributes the rest of the feed, which now forms a thick carpet around her mammoth feet. I suppose she is one up on the ladies who have chosen to stay indoors munching on Cheetos and watching Oprah, but they have not waddled into my line of sight wearing tank tops so we’ll call it a wash.

  If only birds were like fish when it comes to food, eating whatever is in front of them until they explode. I might like them a lot more, and the thousands of scattered bird carcasses would create work for people who might otherwise be blowing their family’s savings pretending to be daytraders.

  A bitter old man asks a passing cyclist if she can see the nearby sign telling people they must walk their bikes. It’s one of those ones where the required behavior is circled in green, as opposed to a red circle crossing out the prohibited behavior. There is a usability case here but I think it speaks for itself. She wisely ignores him, as do I, but I see his point.

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