The double whammy of human and canine illness has laid us low at Chez M.G. Please excuse our late posting; we shall be back on line as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.
25 October 2013
13 October 2013
Meritocracy and Its Discontents
We've considered the dangers inherent in a multi-ethnic society. One of them is a policy that deserves special attention, because it (1) is getting ever more popular, (2) can lead to disastrous outcomes, and (3) has actual merit from a race-realist perspective. That policy is affirmative action.
We've looked before at its history. Though unpopular amongst conservatives, there are two plausible arguments that could be made in its favor:
I. Natives should restrict foreign immigrant groups' ability to dominate certain institutions.
II. It is a social good to 'insert' members of lower-perfoming groups into roles where they can feel productive.
Our first argument is one for which there is much evidence, both for and against.
28 September 2013
When the Melting Pot Reaches a Boil
As we have seen, some are hoping fervently for a 'post-racial' West in which we all blend to a mocha color and harmony comes at last. In such a world, so it's thought, we'll see no more prejudice, exclusion, oppression, micro-aggressions, or 'other-ing.' There isn't a social problem, it appears, that cannot be righted by us all becoming beige.
But where is the evidence that tossing diverse ethnies in a pot leads to a happy racial purée? To those who insist it is coming, we at Those Who Can See offer three counter-hypotheses:
(1) No multi-ethnic society will blend smoothly down to one race.
(2) Multi-ethnic societies will always breed inequality, and the more disparate the groups, the more inequality there will be.
(3) The resentments that spring from this can only weaken, not strengthen, society.
For these reasons, we propose that the ideal society is not ethnically diverse, but ethnically homogenous.
* * *
'Ours! ... It was our people! ... Everywhere you saw nothing but this superb brown color that only the loveliest human beings have... [...] Personally, I don't want to be Western. I don't want to be a white Catholic; I'd rather be a black atheist.'
--French Socialist MP (and white Catholic) Jean-Luc Melenchon, describing a political rally full of immigrants
'Look at all the beautiful colours the women here are wearing. Within ten years this is what it is going to look like all over Europe. Back home it’s so bleak and dreary, the colours are devoid of life. ...'
--Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg, appreciating the aesthetics of Lagos, Nigeria
We see echoes of the 'exoticism' of 18th and 19th century colonialism, where displaying a Chinese painted screen or an Ashanti mask in your drawing room was a sign of status. Today, appropriating not the possessions but the very identity of these 'exotics' has become à la mode.
But let us not be fooled: The light-skinned elite may preach 'marrying out' to the masses, but they avoid it scrupulously among themselves. At the same time, it is rare that high-status men of color have children as dark as or darker than themselves.
Black legends and their wives: Music greats Herbie Hancock and James Brown, sports icons Michael Jordan and Pele, acting legends Sidney Poitier and James Earl Jones (Courtesy of A Field Negro)
Which leads us to the two great color systems the colonial world has known: The one-drop rule and the pigmentocracy. Is there evidence that either one can lead to post-racial paradise?
16 September 2013
The Madonna or the Whore?
Cheerleaders of mass immigration from the South to the North have a number of arguments:
1) They spice up our lives:
'I think that's what makes many Swedes jealous of immigrant groups. You have a culture, an identity, a history, something that brings you together. And what do we have? We have Midsummer's Eve and such silly things.'
---Swedish Social Democrat MP Mona Sahlin, in a speech to the Turkish youth organization Euroturk, March, 2002.
2) They boost our standard of living:
'Various surveys of [London] employers come to the predictable conclusion that migrants are better employees: they are more highly skilled, work harder and are prepared to do jobs that locals disdain. They may also be more innovative. In America they are disproportionately responsible for tech start-ups; similarly, they are over-represented in Silicon Roundabout, the tech hub east of the City, ... firms set up or managed by migrants are more innovative.'
---The Economist, opinion leader since 1843 for the elite and those who strive to join them
3) Diversity is a religious principle the Gods of Equalitarianism want us to uphold:
'I'm concerned that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers ... Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.'
--George W. Casey, highest-ranking general in the U.S. Army, reacting to the Fort Hood army base shooting, in which a Palestinian army major cried 'Allahu Akbar!' while killing 13 and wounding 30.
One of the oddest things about such cheerleaders, especially in Europe, is their avid support of 'women's rights.' Odd, because the peoples with which they long to fill up their countries share no such notion. The proof is starting to bubble to the surface. Besides the honor killings, child marriages, genital mutilation, polygamy, and gender segregation these neo-colonists have brought to the West, they are starting to act out against the native populations. The results give pause.
I. Foreign Predation in the West
Belgium:
A college student, hoping to raise awareness about street harassment in Brussels, secretly filmed one of her strolls through the capital and unwittingly showed the world that her country's catcalling epidemic is not a man problem but a Muslim one:
'Sexy ass.' 'Tramp.' 'Whore.' 'You turn me on.' 'Let's have a drink...at my place...or in a hotel, directly.' Without stopping once nor looking anyone in the eye, modestly-dressed student Sophie Peeters fields a barrage of sexual propositions on her afternoon stroll through Brussels. As the hidden camera shows, every single one clearly comes from the mouth of a foreigner.
03 September 2013
Arabs and Liberal Democracy: A Primer
The Arab Spring, two years on:
Since the first waves of revolt swept the Arab world two and a half years ago, we at Those Who Can See have dug into the data to find out just how likely is a series of Swedens on the Sahara. We have looked at Arabs through observers' anecdotes, democracy and freedom indices, their peculiar marriage practices, and their opinions on Western 'human rights.'
For those who feel the media's handling of the question falls short, we thought it might be useful to present a synthesis of the data we've found so far.
So: What is the evidence English liberal democracy will take hold in the Muslim Arab world?
First, a regional sum-up, pre-Arab Spring:
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) remains the most repressive region in the world—16 out of 20 countries in the region are categorised as authoritarian [most repressive category out of four].
Technical difficulties, please stand by...
Be it our ancient computer or Blogger itself, this latest post is having a hard time appearing...please stand by...
19 August 2013
Whence Afro criminality?
[This will be the final of our three-part series in reaction to the 2012-13 Trayvon Martin Affair.]
The country has been in an uproar in the wake of the trial for the shooting of an Afro teenager by Floridian George Zimmerman. The question being asked by many Blacks is, 'Why are we profiled?' Having looked at the data,, Those Who Can See concluded: 'You are profiled because Afro crime is very high relative to other groups.'
If such is the case--and we believe the data points in that direction--one may ask, 'Why is Afro crime high relative to other groups?' Blackness experts have proposed several hypotheses, of which the most popular is:
'The history of slavery and exclusion makes us commit crime.'
As we have seen, the opposite is the case: As slavery and Jim Crow recede further into the past, black crime is increasing, not decreasing.
As well, Afros who emigrate to countries that never practiced slavery or colonialism still commit more crimes than other groups there.
Disproportionate Afro immigrant crime in France, Switzerland,
Furthermore, many Sub-Saharan countries are well-known to be dangerous places inside and outside the cities.
The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security reports on Haiti, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Liberia, and Ethiopia.
In addition, other ethnic groups who've suffered oppression, such as Asian-Americans, not only don't commit more crime than Euros--they commit less.
'Oppression makes us criminal' does not seem, then, as an argument, to hold water.
So where do the real causes lie?
06 August 2013
Why We Profile
In the outcry following the recent acquittal of Floridian George Zimmerman in the shooting death of an Afro teenager, many in the black community have voiced their displeasure. Canadian graduate student Matthew Simmermon-Gomes is one:
What I do know is what it’s like to be a Trayvon Martin. To be suspect. I do know what it’s like to be followed by staff in a nice clothing store; to be stopped by police for walking down the street; to endure the thousand micro-aggressions and the hundred fearful looks, the patronising astonishment coupled with quiet indignation at my education or erudition. I know, in other words, what it is to be a person of colour in a world that privileges whiteness.
While we must take this nearly Euro-looking young man from Ottawa at his word, we are left a bit bemused that despite his 'education' and 'erudition,' he is flatly unaware of basic statistics and probability.
We all live our lives based on probabilities. This gentleman's Afro father, for example, got itchy feet and decided to abandon life in beautiful but tiny Antigua (then under British rule). Though he had the choice of over thirty Afro-run countries to emigrate to, he opted to take his chances in chilly white-run Canada. Why? Easy: Statistically speaking, Euro-governed countries provide a better quality of life in nearly every way--rule of law, lack of corruption, solid infrastructure, plentiful white-collar jobs, generous welfare state, a cornucopia of material comforts. Mr Gomes took a chance--and was right. Can we fault him that?
Antigua or Canada....Decisions, decisions...
We can't speak for Canada, but chance is also the reason U.S. Whites lock their car doors, clutch their purses, and cross the street in the presence of Blacks. There is a folk knowledge culled from 400 years of disproportionate black crime in North America. It can be seen in the statistics, in the anecdotes, in the earliest colonial writings.
Statistical probability is the wellspring of stereotypes. It is what pushes us to avoid snakes, spiders, and scorpions; it is why Swiss clocks, German cars, and Jewish lawyers are so sought after; it is why the global South continually tries to emigrate to the global North. Past performance is no guarantee of future success, warn the experts, but from our experience, we know it usually is.
So in response to Mr. Matthew Simmermon-Gomes, 'Why are Afros profiled everywhere they go?' is a question that has concrete answers. Here they are.
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