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John Derbyshire

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  • Might be my favorite cuisine. Plus, I love a people who end a meal with a shot.

  • I believe the Greeks sin was speaking of the slavery days when the largest male and the largest females were bred for a large strong offspring. The exact same thing Ali and joe Frazier discussed on a panel.

    WSS

  • The point wasn't that what he was saying wasn't true to some extent - owners did find strong partners to breed stronger slave offspring - but that he used that to explain why he thought black athletes are superior to whites, and saying it was because of slavery.

    It was old man racism - not necessarily ill-intentioned, but not exactly the type of thing you want to be opining on if it's not exactly your field.

    Derbyshire's column is far, far worse than what Jimmy the Greek said, and far less defensible.

  • >>I believe the Greeks sin was speaking of the slavery days when the largest male and the largest females were bred for a large strong offspring. The exact same thing Ali and joe Frazier discussed on a panel.>>

    That's why I asked if what Snyder said was true or not?

    Kind of like the scene in Mandingo when Ken Norton was 'measured for success'.

    Ali called Smokin' Joe a 'gorilla' and lots and lots of people thought it was hillarious. Of course, his Contientious Objector status washed him of all his sins in many eyes.

  • The point wasn't that what he was saying wasn't true to some extent - owners did find strong partners to breed stronger slave offspring - but that he used that to explain why he thought black athletes are superior to whites, and saying it was because of slavery.

    It was old man racism - not necessarily ill-intentioned, but not exactly the type of thing you want to be opining on if it's not exactly your field.

    Derbyshire's column is far, far worse than what Jimmy the Greek said, and far less defensible.

    @heckofajobbrownie said:

    The point wasn't that what he was saying wasn't true to some extent - owners did find strong partners to breed stronger slave offspring - but that he used that to explain why he thought black athletes are superior to whites, and saying it was because of slavery.

    It was old man racism - not necessarily ill-intentioned, but not exactly the type of thing you want to be opining on if it's not exactly your field.

    Derbyshire's column is far, far worse than what Jimmy the Greek said, and far less defensible.

    So Ali is a racist too. Great.

    Seems like everybody is except you huh?

    WSS

  • @heckofajobbrownie said:

    The point wasn't that what he was saying wasn't true to some extent - owners did find strong partners to breed stronger slave offspring - but that he used that to explain why he thought black athletes are superior to whites, and saying it was because of slavery.

    It was old man racism - not necessarily ill-intentioned, but not exactly the type of thing you want to be opining on if it's not exactly your field.

    Derbyshire's column is far, far worse than what Jimmy the Greek said, and far less defensible.

    So Ali is a racist too. Great.

    Seems like everybody is except you huh?

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    So Ali is a racist too. Great.

    Seems like everybody is except you huh?

    WSS

    You've finally understood my point!

    Delightful.

  • Here is something I would take issue with.

    If we are using IQ as a basis of intelligence I would not say vastly.

    I recal a study years ago that found slight differences among the races.

    WSS

  • Any time something good happens to black people because they are black, that's racist

    Any time something bad happens to black people because they are black, that's not racist

    Any time a white person gets in trouble for talking about blacks, they are not racist but everyone else is

    I agree with the elderly on this board. BLACK PEOPLE ARE SCARY!

  • Steve, do you think the Derbyshire column espouses racist beliefs?

  • Steve, do you think the Derbyshire column espouses racist beliefs?

    @heckofajobbrownie said:

    Steve, do you think the Derbyshire column espouses racist beliefs?

    Like I said.

    I do not believe that race is solely responsible in the slight iq differences.

    I do think it's wise to be cautious in general in the situations he describes.

    And if woody wouldn't be nervous in downtown detroit, hough or the south bronx he's an idiot.

    And maybe you are right. Maybe it's just the lack of funding for social programs that causes the problem.

    Nonetheless the problem exists.

    And braying the word racism over and over and over hasn't seemed to help yet.

    Neither has pretending it doesn't happen.

    Neither has over reacting to every situation like the martin case.

    WSS

  • As a group, there is a higher percentage of black people who are successful american professional athletes than white.

    Is that a racist statement or not?

    WSS

  • Also it's not racist to warn white people to stay out of Hawaii after dark, right?

    Just wanted to be politically correct you know.

    😉

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    So basically you agree with those things but don't like the way they were stated?

    Stay away from large group who perceive you as different?

    Are you okay with stay out of neighborhoods inhabited mostly by people that don't look like you?

    In other words this is a style issue for you.

    Also it's not racist to warn white people to stay out of Hawaii after dark, right?

    Just wanted to be politically correct you know.

    😉

    WSS

    I agree with some of the things, yes. Staying away from large groups of people that I am different from, is absolutely one I would take to heart. Is that racist? A little bit. But whatever, who isn't that racist to this degree? What separates most people from this guy, however, is that he goes 10 steps further and makes it a point to mention the ways blacks are inferior to whites.

    And guess what!

    665-thats-racist.gif

  • Here is something I would take issue with.

    If we are using IQ as a basis of intelligence I would not say vastly.

    I recal a study years ago that found slight differences among the races.

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    Here is something I would take issue with.

    If we are using IQ as a basis of intelligence I would not say vastly.

    I recal a study years ago that found slight differences among the races.

    WSS

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_intelligence

    There is a shit ton of information there to read on. Careful when they refer to books though. Books =/= Science.

    Check out the results of scientific studies as well in the genetics and IQ section. Again, be wary of the results as the tables presented are from single papers. There's no consensus on whether or not genetics affects intelligence. I would think that it would have some effect, but I doubt there'd be a significant difference between people of differing ethnic backgrounds due just to genetics. There are just wayyyyyyy too many confounding factors, especially the brain. How the hell do you separate what is caused by genetics from what is caused by environment? Plus, we don't even know what genes make people intelligent. There are decades of work to be done before we have a real grasp of what's going on.

  • Any time something good happens to black people because they are black, that's racist

    Any time something bad happens to black people because they are black, that's not racist

    Any time a white person gets in trouble for talking about blacks, they are not racist but everyone else is

    I agree with the elderly on this board. BLACK PEOPLE ARE SCARY!

    @mld-woody said:

    Any time something good happens to black people because they are black, that's racist

    Any time something bad happens to black people because they are black, that's not racist

    Any time a white person gets in trouble for talking about blacks, they are not racist but everyone else is

    I agree with the elderly on this board. BLACK PEOPLE ARE SCARY!

    Children should be seen and not heard. Go to bed.

  • @heckofajobbrownie said:

    Steve, do you think the Derbyshire column espouses racist beliefs?

    Like I said.

    I do not believe that race is solely responsible in the slight iq differences.

    I do think it's wise to be cautious in general in the situations he describes.

    And if woody wouldn't be nervous in downtown detroit, hough or the south bronx he's an idiot.

    And maybe you are right. Maybe it's just the lack of funding for social programs that causes the problem.

    Nonetheless the problem exists.

    And braying the word racism over and over and over hasn't seemed to help yet.

    Neither has pretending it doesn't happen.

    Neither has over reacting to every situation like the martin case.

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    Like I said.

    I do not believe that race is solely responsible in the slight iq differences.

    I do think it's wise to be cautious in general in the situations he describes.

    WSS

    But that's not what the column is saying, or why it's being described as racist.

    I was just wondering how explicitly someone would have to say, "Blacks are inferior to whites and you should avoid them, especially in numbers" before you would call it racist. Apparently, this isn't explicit enough.

    Perhaps I'll post all the responses from his co-workers at the National Review since you can't take it from me without pretending this is about social programs, or whatever else.

  • As a group, there is a higher percentage of black people who are successful american professional athletes than white.

    Is that a racist statement or not?

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    As a group, there is a higher percentage of black people who are successful american professional athletes than white.

    Is that a racist statement or not?

    WSS

    No.

    I'd also think it may not even be true. You'd have some sports where it was, but looking at, say, hockey or lacrosse or swimming or ice skating or skiing or tennis wouldn't give you the same picture.

  • Rich Lowry:

    Anyone who has read Derb in our pages knows he’s a deeply literate, funny, and incisive writer. I direct anyone who doubts his talents to his delightful first novel, “Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream,” or any one of his “Straggler” columns in the books section of NR. Derb is also maddening, outrageous, cranky, and provocative. His latest provocation, in a webzine, lurches from the politically incorrect to the nasty and indefensible. We never would have published it, but the main reason that people noticed it is that it is by a National Review writer. Derb is effectively using our name to get more oxygen for views with which we’d never associate ourselves otherwise. So there has to be a parting of the ways. Derb has long danced around the line on these issues, but this column is so outlandish it constitutes a kind of letter of resignation. It’s a free country, and Derb can write whatever he wants, wherever he wants. Just not in the pages of NR or NRO, or as someone associated with NR any longer.

    John Barro:

    Conservatives so often get unfairly pounded on race because, so often, conservatives get fairly pounded on race. And this is the Right’s own fault, because conservatives are not serious about draining the swamp. ... My challenge to conservatives who feel they get a bum rap on race is this. Stand up for yourself and your colleagues when you feel that a criticism is unfair. At the same time, criticize other conservatives who say racist things, cynically tolerate racism in the Republican base, or deny the mere existence of racial issues in America today. The conservative movement desperately needs self-policing on racial issues, if it ever hopes to have credibility on them.

    Jason Lee Steorts:

    In 2010, John Derbyshire gave remarks on the race/IQ question in which he said this: “Group differences are statistical truths. They exist in an abstract realm quite far removed from our everyday personal experience. They tell you nothing about the person you just met.”

    John’s recent column abandons that principle. It gives practical advice (think twice about voting for a black politician; do not be a Good Samaritan to blacks; and much more) according to which each individual black person should start out at a kind of deficit. We see John’s departure from his stated view of 2010, as well, in the recent column’s hyperlinks. For example, on not being a Good Samaritan, John offers an article about a black man who, while beating up his girlfriend, stomped to death a white man who tried to defend her. There are many abusive people of all races, and many of them would attack any third party who intervened to stop the abuse. The statistics John cites do not even begin to justify the notion that the individual in this case acted as he did because he was black; but John is perfectly happy to make that assumption. This move from the abstract and statistical to the very personal is the most overtly racist aspect of the column, to my mind, and I think John’s defenders are failing to register it.

    I think they are also insufficiently troubled by John’s readiness to assume that statistical differences between races — e.g. between their incarceration rates or average scores on IQ tests — are due to innate psychological and cognitive differences. The causation is hotly disputed, but John has always seemed interested in only one explanation — or, at a minimum, he has seemed startlingly uninterested in telling us why he finds that explanation the most compelling.

    I share Mark’s frustration with the selectivity of our culture’s racial outrage, and his alarm over the manner in which political correctness restricts the bounds of discourse and thought; but neither point strikes me as a good reason for NR to affiliate itself with a writer who expresses genuinely racist sentiments. (Two wrongs don’t make a right &c.) At the same time, there is something thuggish, not to mention insecure, in the mob’s expectation that a head be thrown to it without any discussion of the nature of the offense, and in its refusal to entertain any possibility of forgiveness.

    Human beings are complicated. It is possible for good people to have deep flaws, and for traits utterly worthy of condemnation to exist alongside admirable ones. And so I will end by saying that in my personal dealings with him I have always found John to be thoughtful and kind, that some of his work (for instance his novel Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream, which Rich has mentioned) expresses a deep and generous humanity, and that I will sorely miss his column “The Straggler” in NR’s books section.

  • @westside-steve said:

    As a group, there is a higher percentage of black people who are successful american professional athletes than white.

    Is that a racist statement or not?

    WSS

    No.

    I'd also think it may not even be true. You'd have some sports where it was, but looking at, say, hockey or lacrosse or swimming or ice skating or skiing or tennis wouldn't give you the same picture.

    @heckofajobbrownie said:

    No.

    I'd also think it may not even be true. You'd have some sports where it was, but looking at, say, hockey or lacrosse or swimming or ice skating or skiing or tennis wouldn't give you the same picture.

    Oh I thought of that. Hence the successful and american but you know what I mean. I'd imagine the highest paid athletes on this earth for football and basketball players.

    But do you think there might be something physiological that would make, for instance, the guy from kenya the distance running champ year after year?

    WSS

  • @heckofajobbrownie said:

    No.

    I'd also think it may not even be true. You'd have some sports where it was, but looking at, say, hockey or lacrosse or swimming or ice skating or skiing or tennis wouldn't give you the same picture.

    Oh I thought of that. Hence the successful and american but you know what I mean. I'd imagine the highest paid athletes on this earth for football and basketball players.

    But do you think there might be something physiological that would make, for instance, the guy from kenya the distance running champ year after year?

    WSS

    @westside-steve said:

    Oh I thought of that. Hence the successful and american but you know what I mean. I'd imagine the highest paid athletes on this earth for football and basketball players.

    But do you think there might be something physiological that would make, for instance, the guy from kenya the distance running champ year after year?

    WSS

    Well, sure, they think so. But the reason Kenyans dominate marathon running isn't because they're black. There are lots of countries with black athletes in them. Why do Kenyans specifically dominate marathons? It's got to do with the running culture and the altitude and the training regiment as well.

    Why do Russians dominate in hockey?

    If blacks are inherently better athletes, why does the one sports that is played equally around the world, soccer, not dominated by African countries? They're competitive, of course, but the dominant teams are from Brazil and Argentina and Spain and Italy.

    Also, what are you getting at? Because there are physiological differences between the races you should be able to ...what? You're trying to go down a rabbit hole.

  • @westside-steve said:

    Like I said.

    I do not believe that race is solely responsible in the slight iq differences.

    I do think it's wise to be cautious in general in the situations he describes.

    WSS

    But that's not what the column is saying, or why it's being described as racist.

    I was just wondering how explicitly someone would have to say, "Blacks are inferior to whites and you should avoid them, especially in numbers" before you would call it racist. Apparently, this isn't explicit enough.

    Perhaps I'll post all the responses from his co-workers at the National Review since you can't take it from me without pretending this is about social programs, or whatever else.

    @heckofajobbrownie said:

    But that's not what the column is saying, or why it's being described as racist.

    I was just wondering how explicitly someone would have to say, "Blacks are inferior to whites and you should avoid them, especially in numbers" before you would call it racist. Apparently, this isn't explicit enough.

    Perhaps I'll post all the responses from his co-workers at the National Review since you can't take it from me without pretending this is about social programs, or whatever else.

    Whether it conforms to your definition of racism or not the numbers are what they are.

    Do you think it's a patently ridiculous idea that large group of blacks might have inherent danger for white people? Do you think a group of hip hop black teens should probably avoid bensonhurst ?

    WSS