Dark-N-Romantic Posted June 30, 2008 Posted June 30, 2008 I was listening to a radio talk show by Dr. Duke late last night (I found it on YouTube). The subject was about the rate of black crimes against whites. He talked about statistics and lynching and justice and fear and all this other stuff which is good for those who believe in separatism and racial supremacy. He made a few intelligent and noteworthy points about the overwhelming number of black criminals vs. whites (but again my belief in statistics is very minimum due to who are the ones actually doing the statistics and their reasoning), but a few things like how bad Affirmative Action is definitely was off the mark (Affirmative Action was about finding fairness and equality throughout ALL employment levels that were and still mainly is dominated by whites (and yes racism in all walks of life is still alive today)). But, my issue with his broadcast was not because of his thoughts and feelings, too be honest I find ANY talk of separatism and supremacy of ANY race, gender, faith, etc. very laughable and entertaining, but with his obsessions with numbers. To me statistics is like the pointing blame game. You know the one we use to do as a kid when comparing our wrongs with a siblings. Or how we'd love to stack all our goods against our bads when trying to get what we want. Statistics is such a game, while yes they can have "some" validity, the problem is that they mean nothing in the long run when dealing with living creatures, especially sentient ones where there are ALWAYS exceptions to the rules or if instead of others behaving typically could alter what an individual's outcome can be. And lastly, statistics which are used to prove a point usually leaves out other aspects of facts that need to be addressed. For example, YES their IS a high rate of African Americans behind bars, BUT lets look at what facets of life they are from and compare them to the number of whites who are actually even charged with similar crimes. Or lets compare different types of criminal behaviors. If it is true that blacks commit many of the more violent crimes, is that any worst than the number of whites who commit white collar crimes or who tend to get involved in crimes of deception and fraud? To me it is not about the numbers, it is not about what whites did to blacks, what blacks did to whites, who did what to whom. My concern is with humanity in the overall. My disgust is not with the numbers, but with the fact there are people out there of every nation and gender who think they have the right to rob, cheat, steal, maim, rape, murder, and all these other wicked acts upon this world. To me I don't care about the fact that whites enslaved blacks, not because it isn't tragic, but because there are as many stories of whites enslaving each other, blacks enslaving blacks, Asians and Hispanics enslaving each other. Who has the right to force others into bondage? Who has the right to degrade and terrorize anyone? My problem is with any man or woman who believes they can take what they want from others. How dare someone force themselves on another and have what they want and corrupt the flow of life EVERY living being has? How dare a man or woman seduce or force themselves upon a child and warp the innocence of life? My problem is with those who feel that because they want, they can cheat and steal for what they perceive as rightfully their's. Who's fault is it if one does not have the same job that allows them to afford the same things that others possess or choose to live above their means or trying to impress someone else? No my issue is with humanity as a whole and the evils we do unto one other based on our anger, envy, lusts, pride, laziness, gluttony, and greed. So I have a few questions... 1) Am I approaching this too simplistically? 2) How valid are statistics are to you when it concerns things in your life? 3) Do you believe in separatism and a superior or master race? If so, why and who?
Author Dark-N-Romantic Posted June 30, 2008 Author Posted June 30, 2008 ALL of humankind's advancements and achievements all spring from the backs of someone else. Someone had to come up with the math, someone had to come up with the correct way to combine elements to do what they do. All of the things we have in the form of art, science, education, writing, etc. comes from every culture and peoples. Some of our military tacts comes from what we learned from warmasters from the world over. Who really come up with the recipe for fried chicken, yet we every nation have their own way they fry chicken. Now if there was REALLY a superior species, I am sure it would of surfaced a long time ago. And lets look at this concept of a superior or supreme race...If I know human correctly, there are predators within every race. Those who pray on those of their own kind as well. We all have people to be proud of and who have made their mark on the world as we have of the disgraces in within our social circle. Lets not mention the innate fallacies of ALL individuals. So this idea of there being a master or superior or supreme race is totally laughable and a joke. In short, this world was created for ALL people to work together for its protection and advancement (though we are doing a very poor job in both areas). One's achievements is suppose, and in many cases, a boon to us all. There is not one nation of people ruling us because it was never designed for it to be that way. If it wasn't so, someone would of do so by now. DNR
mental_traveller Posted July 2, 2008 Posted July 2, 2008 Well, I studied stats so have some idea on this. Statistics are very powerful tools but only when understood and applied appropriately. There are so many ways to misrepresent them, and unless you've had training in the subject, or are particularly adept at it, then it's easy to get bamboozled. Often the stats are valid, but the interpretations drawn from them are not. People are generally very bad at drawing correct interpretations from data - instincts and emotions that worked well in the stone age, or on the playing field, don't work with probability and inference. This applies to professionals with top educations too - doctors for example make elementary errors when assessing very basic medical statistics such as false positives in disease tests. The best way to see if some cited statistics, and the conclusions drawn from them, are valid...is to ask a trained statistician. Your typical news anchor, columnist, or talk radio commentator is not going to have the first clue about it - they'll just try to use whatever looks or sounds good to back up their pre-existing beliefs. As for your other stuff - no I don't believe in any "master race" or any of that bull. If you look at the Dark Ages, white Europe was backward whilst places like N Africa, the Middle East, and China were leading the world in science, the arts, and philosophy. More recently the West has the advantage, but that could be changing as we progress through the 21st century. In any case, isn't it the social system, rather than the race, that is making the difference? Look at the success of many immigrants of all races who went to the USA. The races stayed the same but the performance differed radically. And according to the current scientific understanding, we all basically descended from Africans back in the past anyway. Evolving slight physically differences to cope with different climates is hardly the basis for segregation or racial superiority theories IMO. If one race was superior, wouldn't you see a consistent pattern of dominance and outperformance across all fields? In any case, almost all the differences are down to culture and opportunities, rather than race IMO. If you look at the huge discrimination and ill-treatment handed out to minorities, it is no surprise that it's harder to make a success of yourself in a society riddled of hostility based not on who you are as a person, but your skin colour and facial features.
Trialbyfire Posted July 2, 2008 Posted July 2, 2008 1) Am I approaching this too simplistically? Your approach is idealistic, not simplistic. Where it falls down is that mankind are predators. You'll never find a truly altruistic person. 2) How valid are statistics are to you when it concerns things in your life? Give me a data dump and I can spin statistics from any direction that's needed. When viewing statistics, read all the small print because these are the drivers for how the raw data was moulded. 3) Do you believe in separatism and a superior or master race? If so, why and who? Absolutely not.
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