Sunday, March 17, 2019

Ethnicity and Identity

This has been festering for some time. It's not a concept that the Elites want to address - they want to pretend that all ethnicities are exactly the same, except that the darker ethnics are BETTER - more noble, more compassionate, better lovers, richer in family life, oh - BTW - they were also ALL kings in their ancestral country, etc.

This is, of course, nonsense. All ethnicities are NOT identical. Some of that is due to their environment, growing up - the often-commented upon lack of physical grace in Anglos - "White men can't dance" - has, partly, a basis in the unimportance of dancing in most White households. In other words, we don't punctuate family moments by spontaneously breaking into The Dougie, or other steps.

But, I have seen that in other ethnic households. It's a way of bonding, using familiar traditions. And that, to an extent, will explain most of the differences in ethnicities.

But, not all. There is also something to be said for physical being, which is - almost completely - a genetic heritage. If you don't have the right kind of flexibility in your joints, you just aren't going to be able to make those movements smoothly.

Many White Americans descended from laborers and peasants - strength was important, flexibility and agility, much less so. The genetic heritage is likely responsible for the relatively stiff ligaments, shorter, stockier build, and tendency to mesomorphic proportions.

Few people would argue that. The physical evidence is hard to deny.

But, in fact, the mental component is also a combination of culture, and genetics.

I am NOT saying that some races are smarter. In general, the average of any race is smart enough to manage their life without needing someone to tell them what to do.

Smartness is relative. There are some undeniably high-IQ individuals that are - in terms of common sense or 'street smarts' - dumb as posts. And, the reverse is true - there are some that seemingly have limited brain power, that manage to work, raise a successful family, and earn the regard of neighbors and community. That's what I would call Life-Smart.

BTW: a successful family may be defined as: are your kids living in your house, on drugs/alcohol, or trailing a passel of kids of indeterminate fathers? Then, you are NOT successful. If ONE out of the bunch falls into one or more of those categories, but the others do not, that MIGHT be just an accident. If all, or nearly all, do, your family was a failure.

But, the various types of intelligence are NOT evenly distributed. Singers come in every ethnicity, but perfect pitch is 100% inheritable. That trait Both musical and artistic giftedness express themselves at an early age, and certainly indicate one type of intelligence.

The so-called 'street smarts' accounts for the successful careers of many salesmen, and is likely to be primarily the result of an outgoing personality (extroversion) and the kind of brain that can sense those subtle facial and body movements that indicate the inner feelings of the subject. Again, likely inheritable - the extroversion/introversion orientation can be sorted right at birth - it's clear that early (probably exists even before birth, but means to determine are not readily avaiable).

Introverts used to excel at school. Today's noisier classrooms make it harder - sometimes, nearly impossible for them to have the quiet they need to think clearly.

Let's look at just ONE of the physical indicators that many differences in people are likely genetic.

Perfect Pitch. It was a factor in the developed musical talents of Mozart, Beethoven, and the musically-inclined Bach family. While not a substitute for training, it gives possessors a huge leg up.

Geneticists have begun narrowing down the gene(s) responsible for that trait. Will that discovery, along with genetic tinkering in utero, bring forth a new generation of musical prodigies?

Not without some cultural/familial prodding. And, even with it, that trait is only ONE of the components that affect musical genius.

Similarly, many of the brain differences affect only a few parts of our lives. But, those differences exist, and account for many facets of ethnic distinction.

Do those hard-wired differences also affect culture? It would be hard to make an argument that they do not.

So. What does all of this mean in a world that is increasingly trying to fit all ethnicities, and genders, into the same mold? Trying to pretend that there are not differences in abilities, which would lead to different outcomes. Not to mention picking "winners" and "losers" in the race.*

Chaos. And resentment. And ethnic strife.

*If you think Whites are uniquely favored in America, consider this - you could not call the men of any ethnicity "losers", without triggering the Hate Onslaught upon you.

Unless that ethnicity was White men. In that case, let's laugh and agree with that characterization.

No comments: