I recommend reading "Discrimination and Disparities" by Thomas Sowell. In this book Sowell explains that disparities are normal throughout the natural and human world. Equal outcomes rarely ever happen because so many variables affect outcomes. A few of the many factors that cause human disparities include average age of group, personal preferences and abilities, the desire for upward mobility, parental priority given to education and hours spent doing homework. Lack of a father in the household is a very big factor since more than 80% of black kids are raised by their mothers alone. Being an anti-racist does not change any of the factors involved and, therefore, cannot result in a change in racial disparities. Both Sowell and Thornton do a great job of explaining this.
Related to this, Heather Mac Donald has a book coming out right about now about disparate impact, and how it’s rotting our society. I’ve been listening to her podcasts, and it’s bound to be a humdinger.
Thanks, Matt, for taking the time to think and write about this topic. I want to respond to your statements about creationists and the God of the Gaps argument. I hope you will extend me the grace of suspending your disbelief in my sincerity while considering my response. My aim is only to pique your curiosity as I have no doubt that you have already considered the topic.
Can a man die and produce offspring five years later? That’s an easy answer, yes. Suppose a man donates his sperm to a sperm bank and he dies a month later. Five years after his death, a woman is artificially inseminated and gives birth to his daughter. Given the current state of technology, it is not hard to imagine an artificial pathway to achieving this goal. Now suppose the question becomes, is there a natural pathway to a man dying and producing offspring five years later? This becomes a much more difficult scenario to imagine.
Suppose that after the daughter’s death, scientists discover the 5-year gap between the death of the father and birth of the daughter and want to determine the sequence of events that could have made this possible. They are limited in that any hypothesis which relies on any artificial pathway is not allowed, only natural pathways can be considered. How much time should the scientists spend trying to discover a natural pathway to explain the 5-year gap, controlling for all the other things it could be, before concluding an artificial pathway makes the most sense?
"Every citizen who's listening to this that has any kind of education at all should know that."
By any do you mean anything from a formal education in a government (or private) school to simply learning from your parents and relatives as you grow up as was teh case before schools became widely available or do you mean only in a formal educational environment with a teacher? If it's just the latter that's a bit insulting and possibly arrogant. You're implying that without formal educational setting people lacked basic logic and common sense which is simply not true.
Thanks for drawing the connection between Kendi's racism and the God of the Gaps arguments. Kendi's is indeed "Racism of the Gaps". He can be fairly paraphrased as claiming "wherever there is no evidence, there we have proof of racism".
I recommend reading "Discrimination and Disparities" by Thomas Sowell. In this book Sowell explains that disparities are normal throughout the natural and human world. Equal outcomes rarely ever happen because so many variables affect outcomes. A few of the many factors that cause human disparities include average age of group, personal preferences and abilities, the desire for upward mobility, parental priority given to education and hours spent doing homework. Lack of a father in the household is a very big factor since more than 80% of black kids are raised by their mothers alone. Being an anti-racist does not change any of the factors involved and, therefore, cannot result in a change in racial disparities. Both Sowell and Thornton do a great job of explaining this.
Related to this, Heather Mac Donald has a book coming out right about now about disparate impact, and how it’s rotting our society. I’ve been listening to her podcasts, and it’s bound to be a humdinger.
Read ther Moynihan report, written by one of the last centery's greatest liberal thinkers.
"This is not your father's creationism" - Michael Shermer
https://youtu.be/On-4lOWuWQQ?t=282
Thanks, Matt, for taking the time to think and write about this topic. I want to respond to your statements about creationists and the God of the Gaps argument. I hope you will extend me the grace of suspending your disbelief in my sincerity while considering my response. My aim is only to pique your curiosity as I have no doubt that you have already considered the topic.
Can a man die and produce offspring five years later? That’s an easy answer, yes. Suppose a man donates his sperm to a sperm bank and he dies a month later. Five years after his death, a woman is artificially inseminated and gives birth to his daughter. Given the current state of technology, it is not hard to imagine an artificial pathway to achieving this goal. Now suppose the question becomes, is there a natural pathway to a man dying and producing offspring five years later? This becomes a much more difficult scenario to imagine.
Suppose that after the daughter’s death, scientists discover the 5-year gap between the death of the father and birth of the daughter and want to determine the sequence of events that could have made this possible. They are limited in that any hypothesis which relies on any artificial pathway is not allowed, only natural pathways can be considered. How much time should the scientists spend trying to discover a natural pathway to explain the 5-year gap, controlling for all the other things it could be, before concluding an artificial pathway makes the most sense?
Thank you for considering my response.
"Every citizen who's listening to this that has any kind of education at all should know that."
By any do you mean anything from a formal education in a government (or private) school to simply learning from your parents and relatives as you grow up as was teh case before schools became widely available or do you mean only in a formal educational environment with a teacher? If it's just the latter that's a bit insulting and possibly arrogant. You're implying that without formal educational setting people lacked basic logic and common sense which is simply not true.
Thanks for drawing the connection between Kendi's racism and the God of the Gaps arguments. Kendi's is indeed "Racism of the Gaps". He can be fairly paraphrased as claiming "wherever there is no evidence, there we have proof of racism".