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Old 05-09-2007, 05:37 AM   #205 (permalink)
loquitur
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Host, in my line of work that would be an effective jury presentation, complete with pictures on an emotional topic invested with moral truth. Problem is, you're using it to explain or illustrate something that may (I think probably) have little do with it.

You're investing politics and government with an explanatory power for specific things that it doesn't have, and in my view at least <i><b>shouldn't</i></b> have. There are many possible explanations for lots of different phenomena that are going on, and what you are doing is tagging the current government with responsibility for everything going on that you don't like.

Here is an example of why your reasoning on this is flawed. Can you name me three Jewish NASCAR drivers? You probably can't. I know I can't name even one. In fact, I'd bet there are no or almost no Jewish NASCAR drivers at all. I'd also bet that it would be silly to say that it's because of rampant anti-Semitism in NASCAR. Wouldn't you? My point simply being that there are lots of alternative explanations for why certain population pools look a certain way other than discrimination. I have my own theories about why the hiring in the civil rights division looks a certain way, but it's more speculation than anything else. Thing is, your explanation is speculative, too, and I'd submit it's probably counter-factual as well. Consider this: if 90+% of the black community is Democratic, how many of them will want to work in a Republican administration? The absence of dark faces in GOP is self-reinforcing in that way. We can argue about whether it's a good or bad thing for African Americans to be monolithically Democratic (I happen to think it's a bad thing, but I'm not black, so maybe I'm missing something), but it is a fact, and it has consequences. The shunning of people like Condoleeza Rice and Clarence Thomas as "race traitors" can't help these things.

Roachboy, the virtue of America is that it doesn't wallow in the past, tries to learn from its mistakes and moves forward. Societies that wallow in the past tend to be stagnant and violent. I have no desire to be stagnant and violent. Our country benefits tremendously by allowing all its citizens of whatever background to participate in what society has to offer - if we make sure that that is what happens and continues to happen, we'll be fine. It's more relevant to me that we got rid of slavery (and sacrificed hundreds of thousands of lives to do it), that we eliminated Jim Crow and continue to enforce civil rights laws. Most human societies had slavery at some time or other and some still do, so it's less telling that we had it than that we eliminated it. Ditto for discrimination against those who are different.

"Imperfect" is not a synonym for "evil."

Finally, be very wary of seeing the entire world from inside yourself or inside your own country. We are not nearly as powerful as we think we are, and not everything that happens is in reaction to our thoughts and actions. That's a tempting form of political narcissism that should be avoided.

One of the websites I like to read is called "<A HREF="http://www.overcomingbias.com/">Overcoming Bias</A>," and it analyzes the habits of mind people have that lead them astray in their reasoning. I'm always afraid I'm missing something, which is why I enjoy reading that website. Also, the authors are very smart and amusing. I highly recommend it.

Last edited by loquitur; 05-09-2007 at 05:43 AM.. Reason: Automerged Doublepost
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