Some unfortunate happenings at the Rippetoe forum

[JasonLB]

A. There is no reason to put the adjective "scientific" in front of evidence. Evidence is evidence. Just a pet peeve of mine that people do all the time.

Fair enough. Any cursory look at history reveals more than enough evidence to prove, conclusively, that "race" has absolutely no bearing, whatsoever, on intellectual or technical ability. Western Europe was an intellectual backwater for much of the common era while Middle Eastern, North African, and Chinese civilizations flourished.

D. If you concede the fact that there are visible differences between the average bodies of people of different races; then, the burden of proof is on those who believe that those differences are confined only to the physical and not to the mental.

Apples and oranges. Physical characteristics are entirely the product of genetics; intelligence (a broad term) is very much reliant on environment. The achievement gap observed in American schools between blacks and whites is a product of a number of things (socio-economic, cultural and structural issues) that have nothing to do with genetics.

[RobCosimo]

When people say that, they generally don't want it to include white culture. As if white culture is something bad or dangerous. I want you to see this video, it's an eyeopener.
( http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... ace&hl=en# ).
It shows how normal middleclass people are very tolerant towards other cultures, but cringe and become uncomfortable when talking about "white" culture. It's a cultural taboo at the moment.

It's hilarious when white middle class people of Britain or USA whine about not being able to celebrate their culture, because it's EVERYWHERE - culture isn't just about flags and exclusion, it's also power, laws, education, media etc, which is based predominantly around white middle/upper class ideals.

[itsbruce]

+1, Rob, +1

[steelcutoats]

some interesting things here, and I'll offer my thoughts on some related things

First thing is that I am all for censure, which is not the same thing as censorship. It drives me nuts when I call people on being racist and they say that I censoring them or making them feel uncomfortable. They should freaking stand up for their beliefs. If somebody really thinks that "I don't like black people" or "the Klan isn't all bad" are defensible opinions, they should try to make a case for it. My guess is that they back off and whine because they can't. They know Klan is a bunch of violent thugs and criminals, and they know when they are unfairly hassling people for some crap they have in their own heads.

Next thing is "the race card". While there are certainly cases when people call "racism" when there is none, racism is still pretty real in all parts of the world. As a white guy in America, I have walked down the street with friends and had people yell "nigger" at us , had people confide their racism to me, heard the N-word at least a half-dozen times a week when I was kid, and observed similar cat-calls to minorities in the streets when I visited Europe. (This was more shocking since I have spent no more then a few months total time in Europe during my entire life versus a liftime in the states. ) Yet, some people swear that racism is long dead and that if a minority ever complains about racism or discrimination, it is "just playing the race card".

As far as Rip is concerned, I think that he might be at risk of "jeopardizing his brand" for not calling out something that was xenophobic, but I suspect that he was mostly concerned with the gun-rights stuff and that his approval was more for that part of the post. If I earned my money as a famous coach/educator, I would not get involved with flame wars like that, but that is his style.