tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post2064536675506223975..comments2023-06-15T09:13:45.467-04:00Comments on Liberty's Torch: Somebody’s Gotta Say ItFrancis W. Porrettohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05862584203772592282noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-5234542079179481982015-05-07T12:54:42.264-04:002015-05-07T12:54:42.264-04:00I wonder if the silence exhibited by reasonable, i...I wonder if the silence exhibited by reasonable, intelligent blacks, or their inability to successfully affect the behavior of the savages in the inner cities is due more to fearing the response ("Uncle Tom", "Oreo") and possible attack from those sub-par blacks.<br /><br />Sowell, Walter Williams, and other black men of intellect who have a real concern for the situation realize they have no "handle" by which they may grasp the issue to useful effect. Many conservative blacks wish to have no part of these savages, understanding that even speaking out puts them and their families at risk, much as the so-called "moderate" apostates of islam would in attempting to deal with orthodox, violent muslims.<br /><br />Add to their lower IQ, their inability - and unwillingness - to assimilate into American culture (speaking English instead of Ebonics, behaving appropriately), and the damage done by the welfare system which has destroyed the black family and made them dependent on the State, and you have a recipe for complete failure. When you still in the toxic contributions of the race-baiters (of which Sharpton, Jackson, and Obama are "masters" ;-), there remains zero hope of improvement, of a peaceful, non-violent correction.Reg Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14099612693763932005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-1979690320936531112015-05-06T10:42:49.350-04:002015-05-06T10:42:49.350-04:00Like anything in life, intellectualism comes with ...Like anything in life, intellectualism comes with trade-offs. My wife is less intellectual than I am, and yet she can be remarkably insightful because her mind is correspondingly less cluttered than mine.<br /><br />When I was looking to trade down on my car, to eradicate the payment, I was caught in an endless loop which prevented me from making a choice. Multiple variables were in my brain: fuel efficiency, handling, power, cost, expected depreciation, reliability, miles, condition, etc etc... Each of the vehicles I was looking at had pros and cons. I was locked, unable to make a decision.<br /><br />My wife asked me the simple question: "well, which one do you like better?" It doesn't naturally occur to me to think along those lines, but it certainly made the decision easier.<br /><br />Intellectualism comes with a price, and it's one that some societies can ill afford. Aborigines don't have time to debate ad nauseam in their minds before making a critical choice related to survival. They must act, quickly and decisively. This seems to shrink time preference, compared to more advanced societies. But the critical point to remember is that this is a positive attribute in the context of their society.<br /><br />It only becomes negative when introduced into ours, or vice-versa. Short time preference may, for example, increase the proclivity to violence. But when a society is limited to bows, arrows and swords, the damage they can do is limited. Introduce RPGs and AK-47s into that mixture, however... and you get cesspits like Somalia.<br /><br />Vox frequently mentions a theory of his, where he suspects it takes roughly 1000 years of contact with an advanced civilization for a more primitive society to fully civilize itself. And to silence those who would say this is racist, he applies this equally, regardless of race. Indeed, it seemed to take Latins, and then the Germans after them, similar amounts of time. Perhaps this is natural selection at work, changing the time preference and analytical intelligence to more closely match the civilized society. Whatever the mechanism, however, it seems anecdotally true. And if it is true, then those who expect Sub-Saharan Africa to suddenly become part of the First World, after a mere 300-400 years of prolonged contact, are fooling themselves.Manuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13082153758868357687noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-35452036185572324162015-05-05T14:31:23.454-04:002015-05-05T14:31:23.454-04:00How can stating facts and applying logic be racist...How can stating facts and applying logic be racist? Facts and logic are indisputable, however, "racist" is subjective, albeit quite convenient for those devoid of ideas. I'd argue that anyone who throws around the phrase "racist" is most likely a racist themselves, suffering from white guilt and looking for a way to absolve themselves in front of their psychotic liberal friends, at the expense of the productive members of society. Hint: good people don't lie about facts just to make other people feel good, and they don't require others to do this either. This country wasn't built by people who were looking for ways to minimize their talents and gifts, or to build a reality on a framework of lies. There's plenty of glory to go around, unless your primary skills are collecting unemployment, popping out daddy-less babies, and rioting, in which case a little introspection is probably past-due.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-1810685037633581822015-05-05T07:22:20.039-04:002015-05-05T07:22:20.039-04:00You have stated facts clearly, and applied properl...You have stated facts clearly, and applied properly reasoned logic; clearly proving, you are racist. <br /><br />Facts and logic? Check your patriarchal privilege, man. <br />/sAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-41465727213483703282015-05-05T06:39:39.314-04:002015-05-05T06:39:39.314-04:00Well, Esky, abstract reasoning is itself a special...Well, Esky, <i>abstract</i> reasoning is itself a specialization of societies in which subsistence / survival lifestyles are no longer necessary, so there's a good argument that the concept is inapplicable to Aboriginal society. On the other hand, without the concepts of time and measurement, there's no way (as far as I can see) to reason causally, which is integral to the concept of abstract intelligence. So the Abos' path to the sort of society in which intelligence is a useful concept still lacks a few steps.<br /><br />(This whole notion of abstract intelligence is itself a bit...abstract, wouldn't you say?)<br />Francis W. Porrettohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05862584203772592282noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-19632366318979768522015-05-04T19:51:30.747-04:002015-05-04T19:51:30.747-04:00Excellent post, Francis. Concise and information-r...Excellent post, Francis. Concise and information-rich.<br /><br />That mean old bell curve tells no lies- though I remember (in a previous life) hearing of some psychologists back in the 1920s who gave IQ tests to Australian Aborigines; they interpreted their results as, "them guys is dumber than rocks!"<br /><br />What the psychologists didn't know was that the Aborigines had no concept of passing time. There's "now" and "then" and "dreamtime." Most Aborigines were (and are) pretty unreliable on the concept of <i>number</i> too, and anything over 3 is uncertain.<br /><br />On the other hand, if those psychologists were dropped in the middle of the Great Sandy Desert, I wonder how long they would last; no matter where they placed on the Bell Curve, it wouldn't help keep them alive.Eskymanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15947922645001422523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-27213647671784179362015-05-04T14:21:07.952-04:002015-05-04T14:21:07.952-04:00I found that particular book unimpressive, mainly ...<b>I found that particular book unimpressive, mainly a compendium of soft libertarianisms. There was little original thought in it.</b><br />Though I've not read that one, I strongly suspect that it's like many ''wrote'' by other talk-radio hosts - show transcriptions, edited into book form.<br />They do sell well, so there's that.<br />I used to be a regular listener of Boortz (since retired, succeeded by Herman Cain), and he has his issues indeed.<br />There was his brainless boosterism of 'Operation Iraqi Freedom' despite the fact that it was an abject failure - and was even before 0bama came on the scene.<br />Also he authored <i>The Fair Tax</i> which literally became such a joke that when Herman Cain ran for President he sidestepped it and cribbed 'the 9-9-9 plan' from the game <i>SimCity</i> (<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/13/herman-cain-999-sim-city_n_1008952.html" rel="nofollow">no, seriously</a>).YIHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16149048850538200399noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6557458849091969678.post-38654362792840123522015-05-04T13:43:24.134-04:002015-05-04T13:43:24.134-04:00You're absolutely right, but there's anoth...You're absolutely right, but there's another half to the problem. Karl Denninger has <a href="http://www.market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=230090" rel="nofollow">pointed out</a> the other half.<br /><br />If you have an "average" IQ, half the citizens will be above it, and half below it. If you're not going to literally <i>murder</i> that lower half of the population (which I'm sure you would consider unacceptable), you have to have a social, political, and employment system that provides opportunity for <i>all</i>. Unfortunately, the jobs that those people on the lower end of the bell curve <i>used</i> to perform have largely been exported to places like China, where the factories can employ <i>de facto</i> slave labor to cut costs. Meanwhile, government deficit spending destroys their purchasing power and their ability to accumulate wealth, and, unlike those on the higher end, they have no defense that can give them any financial security. You can't lay the blame for this solely at the door of the Democrats <i>or</i> the Republicans; <i>both</i> political parties are complicit here. Is it any wonder that their despair has turned to crime and rioting? How long before the entire nation becomes Baltimore writ large?Erbohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07805469070199736156noreply@blogger.com