I am not a racistI don't believe that races exist the way nineteenth century biologists described them. Neither do I believe that every human population must be assumed to be entirely identical in all politically sensitive measures such as intelligence, propensity toward promiscuity, initiative, drive and penis size and yet is allowed to be free to vary on those measures which are undeniable such as skin colour or those deemed to be trivial such as stature, amount of body hair, breast size and shape and forms of lips and eyelids. I don't expect reality to be that convenient. The fundamental reality is that people are people and the way to find a smart hard working person is not to look at the colour of their hair, skin and eyes but to look at them as individuals. In this last decade I have come to the conclusion that at least 90% of the explanation for why certain countries are rich and ones are poor is explained by long term trends of geography, history and biology that have nothing to do with human differences. But I have never been of the opinion that providing a convincing explanation of something proves that there couldn't possibly be anything in any alternative explanation. Many things in life are explained by multiple explanations, you can't win the F1 World Championship in a second rate car no matter how hot your driver is. I believe there is enough explanatory power in geography and long history without needing to rely on any differences between races, tribes, clines or whatever other term gives you fewest palpitations but that does not prove that all people are equal. People don't have to be equal for it to be right to treat everybody fairly. Equality of opportunity is an ethical stance, not a rational response to the latest data. There is no data that would frighten me, unlike those who maintain that races can't exist and everybody just has to be equal. They are the people who are afraid of research because of the possibility of truth not being quite as convenient as they would like. They can't handle the truth. I can. Whatever it may be. I don't have to believe that the ten smartest people on the planet will be five men and five women any more than I need to believe the same for the ten fastest runners. I know that on average women are not as strong as men but that knowledge would not help me find the strongest people in a small crowd, especially if it was a gay pride march. Quotas and bans on the basis of membership of a particular group is unfair. Selection should always be on the basis of personal qualities not on belonging to a particular group. It is quite absurd to reserve a place on the Canadian basketball squad for an Inuit and let a hundred better (and probably taller) players be overlooked as a result. Of course it's just as absurd to say that it's pointless looking at an Inuit player because everybody knows they're all short and squat and not the right shape for the game, if that is the case it will be so on an individual basis, and there is nothing wrong with selecting on the basis of merit or even potential merit as long as it based upon the qualities of the individual and all get a fair opportunity to demonstrate merit or potential. Nobody needs equality of outcome, all we should require is a fair chance. There is no good reason to discriminate on the basis of race. Genetic self interest does not come into it. We can construct a genetic explanation for why a person should show favouritism towards a brother or a cousin. But such selfish gene theories run into diminishing returns long before we get to second cousins once removed and the bloke who lives in the next village who may share three great great great great grandparents with us. People in our race are, genetically speaking, rivals, not allies. Your race wouldn't die for you so why should you die for your race? Come on, think about it, do you give a bloke a discount because he's your fourth cousin twice removed? No. So why should you be expected to risk your life fighting for his interests in a race war? Fighting for your race makes no more sense than fighting for the interests of the people with the same star sign or shoe size. However there is a good reason to defend your culture, especially when that comes to defending the values that you share. We do now have something which we can call, for want of a more accurate term western society. The culture of Europe and America plus a few other countries such as Japan, Australia and Israel. It is not an entirely uniform culture, which is a good thing, it is good to have differences. But it does have some core values. We value freedom, both economic and social. We don't want to be told what to do and what to think all the time by anybody, whether that is the state, corporations or the oppressive forces of society, convention and public opinion. We welcome pluralism, we like to be able to choose to listen to different voices. We don't want to be the same. We don't want anybody to be able to take us and our support for granted. We have different words and phrases to express our individuality, which is just as well, what would the point of being different in a uniform way? Some Americans of the redder necked persuasion may prefer to be considered ornery. Some people may like to be considered unconventional, eccentric, individual or their own person. This is healthy. This is being free. If somebody, or everybody, insists that you are a particular way then you are not free. We do have freedom in the west, to say that we don't is absurd. Of course there are always pressures to conform and this is inevitable and necessary, if you think it is undesirable just imagine what would happen if nobody used the same words – communication would be impossible. The efficient working of a society requires some common standards of behaviour. Over time these standards vary. I remember the first time I saw somebody pick up dog shit in the street, it was twenty years ago. Now the picking up of dog shit is required by law and it is accepted as a perfectly normal social expectation. I can't remember the last time I stepped in dog shit, it used to be a regular occurrence. When I was born homosexual acts between men could be punished with long jail sentences, consensual sexual activity between two men, including long term lovers, was regarded as being on a par with raping virgins at knife-point. Now of course things have changed completely to the point where it would be considered a social faux pas not to invite a man's male civil partner to a Buckingham Palace garden party. This is a good thing. We can accept that different people have different needs and desires. If they are not hurting anybody what is the problem? While I don't particularly feel comfortable seeing two men kissing it is little different than seeing an old woman with her dyed a shade of red that would look implausible on a thirty year old or seeing a fat man in shorts – it's a feeling I can neither suppress nor defend as being entirely reasonable. It is certainly not grounds to call people abominations or to throw them in prison. It is certainly not grounds to throw them from a mountain top. We are more civilized than the Muslims. There. I've said it. And I will make no apology for it. We are more civilized than those who follow the teachings of a sixth century warlord. It would be difficult to imagine how we could fail to be. We have more knowledge of the world to base our laws and customs on. To be fair Islam, in its day, was quite civilized in many respects. The way that Muslims kill animals was quite good by the standards of the sixth century – using as sharp a knife as possible and cutting the throat in a single positive slash. It has much to recommend it. It is better than the practice in many third world meat markets today. But it does not compare well to way we kill our animals in the west today. Our standards are better. We care more about the things which really matter – stunning for the animal to prevent suffering, and we don't bother with the nonsense of saying a prayer for the animal. If you saw an alien butchering your child and saying a prayer over their body would that make you feel any better? If somebody said a prayer to an alien god when you were being bled to death do you think that would lessen or add to your sense of outrage at the pain and indignity? We are more civilized in the way we treat women. It is entirely outrageous to expect women to cover themselves up entirely in shapeless clothes and it is an insult to men to suggest that this is the only way to prevent rape. While personally I don't feel comfortable with women walking around half naked that is largely because they expect me to act as if I hadn't noticed. Apparently it is impolite to notice, unless they find you attractive, which is utterly bizarre and unreasonable. However it is not down to me to decide what other people should wear and it should not be for any men to tell their wives or adult daughters what they can wear in public. The idea that a man should have the right to beat his wife is uncivilized. There. Again, I've said it. I have crossed the line and made a value judgement. Do you think the imam at the local mosque worries about making value judgements of people following another culture? He's entitled to his opinion, and to express it, and I am entitled to mine. And I will express it. This is not hatespeech or racism. I am not a racist. I have nothing against brown people and I have no problem with them living in my country. I do have a problem with the primitive and uncivilized values of Islam being introduced into my country. I also have a problem with these values being taught in schools using taxpayers money and I have a problem with the idea that to say that I have a problem makes me a racist. Islam is not a race! Islamophobia is not a meaningful charge. A phobia is an irrational fear. How can a person have an irrational fear about a belief system which if enshrined into law would see him reduced to the status of cattle? Would you call a Jew in 1930s Germany a Naziphobe? It's not paranoia when they really are out to get you. We knew what Hitler thought about the Jews and what he planned to do in Europe, he wrote about in his book. Hitler wrote a book when he was in prison. Today there are thousands of Islamic radicals in prison planning what they will do when they take over my country. Do you know what the title of Hitler's book was? Mien Kampf. My struggle. If you translate Kampf into Arabic do you know what it comes out as? Yes. You're right. Jihad. MIRROR of the original video which has been BANNED BY YOUTUBE - so it must be good.Yes it's broadly the same words, but not quite, the video versions are usually shorter, edited down to fit and sometimes with digressions removed and hard-to-enunciate sentences re-written.Restatement |
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