Kenders' Musings

Racism: noun; a belief that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior. Source

I have been thinking a lot about John Derbyshire's Taki column that got him booted from National Review. I've also been having some conversations on the column and race in America, both in person and via the Internet. In this time when screaming "racism" at every turn as a means to stifle one's opponent has become commonplace, my rule of thumb is to demand that the accusers "Show Me The Racism."

While Derbyshire's column was not pleasing in tone, there was nothing that was clearly of a racist nature and only a very little that could be spun and "interpreted" to be so. The one argument Derbyshire makes that seems to be causing the greatest uproar is his recognition that Blacks tend to score lower on IQ tests than people of other cultures in America.  The uproar appears to be over the sensitivity that people have to the notion that to speak the truth about these scores might encourage bigots to conclude that these low IQ scores are a product of Black peoples' mental inferiority. 

But that is not what Derbyshire said.  Ignoring or obfuscating the facts in order to prevent bigots from using the facts in an inappropriate manner neither serves the truth nor does Derbyshire's refusal to do so in any way make him a racist. Nowhere did it advocate being racist.  People are naturally sensitive to marking an entire group of people not as smart as another group of people, yet no whites that I have heard of are complaining about Derbyshire's pointing out the fact that Asians, as a group, score higher than whites on those same IQ tests.  The fact that Asians DO score higher than whites, on average, points out that the tests are not culturally biased, or if they are they must be culturally biased in favor of Asians.

Where Derbyshire went wrong is in not mentioning that the most likely reason for the IQ test score averages are cultural.  The sad fact is that the black community does not put a high priority on education, as evidenced by any number of objective statistics not least of them the high drop out rate in the African-American community.  Few deny that Asian-Americans score unusually high on similar aptitude tests and fewer still ascribe it to traits inherent to their race or skin color.

I defy anyone to show me the racism in Derbyshire's column, or even a single lie or an instance of where he was dead wrong. The fact that the left threw Derbyshire under the bus is to be expected. The fact that the right did it so easily is a terrifying reality of life in America today, as it proves you are not allowed to point out uncomfortable truths. The right's willingness to look no further than the tone and accept the charge of Derbyshire's racism is proof positive that no matter the talk on the right about seeking the truth when it comes to being called names, and wrongly being called those names, those on the right are just as weak willed as always.

Here are perhaps the most outrageous facts from Derbyshire's article summed up for the sake of expediency. "The mean intelligence of blacks is much lower than for whites."  While this could have been couched in more diplomatic terms, if standard IQ tests are a fair arbiter, than Derbyshire's statement is nothing other than the reporting of an unpleasant truth. Many have also taken Derbyshire to task for writing: “If you are at some public event at which the number of blacks suddenly swells, leave as quickly as possible.” Given the relatively new phenomena of "Flash Mobs" and that these violent mobs have been, almost without exception, comprised almost exclusively of black youths, Derbyshire is only applying prudent advice to objective facts.  The charge of "racism" could posssibly apply if Derbyshire had attempted to explain the cause of black Flash Mobs.  But he didn't.  Does anyone out there deny the existence of Flash Mobs?  Is the claim that these Flash Mobs are almost exclusively predominently black?  So how, exactly, is being aware of and responding prudently to the facts an act of bigotry? And finally, “Do not settle in a district or municipality run by black politicians.” This one is simply common sense. Those areas run by black politicians tend to have a high black population and statistics show, as has been mentioned, that crime is higher in an area with a higher black population. Detroit has been run by black politicians for years, and by not one standard is it considered a decent place to live. Again, there is no racism here, simply common sense.

In order to make their point, a number of the anti-Derbyshire people I've spoken with have engaged in intellectual dishonesty.  They acknowledge the accuracy of the things the author claims, but take exception to the fact that in raw numbers it is whites who commit more crimes or drop out of school more, etc.  Of course they do, there are far more of them in general.  When a community of perhaps 12 percent of the population commits eighty percent of the murders the raw numbers may be lower, but clearly there's a cultural pattern.

Of course, no discussion on racism in America would be complete without asking why the left is so ready to yell racism and shut down the dialogue. The short answer is the left has a vested interest in identity politics, of playing groups against each other and keeping Blacks on the modern plantation of welfare, food stamps and government housing. It equals control and virtually guarantees votes for the side promising to punish the rich and give to the poor.

You will notice we hear the left scream "KEEP FAMILIES TOGETHER" when it comes to immigration, but the same hue and cry is singularly absent from the welfare system, where it is exceedingly hard for someone to get welfare if dad is present. Let the father leave, however, and the deadbeat dad laws kick in with program after program to help the single mother and her offspring while the state does everything in its power, up to and including taking away the father’s ability to make a living, to punish the man for leaving and not supporting those children. The schism in chasing the father away so the kids may have a roof and food is fodder for another whole series of columns, and I digress.

The racism one sees in America is not from the right in some column on a website whose very description reads:

We at Taki’s Magazine take our politics like we take life—lightly. We believe political labels such as conservative and liberal are as outdated as flared trousers and Nazis. Ideology is a false god, a secular religion that seeks vainly to create a paradise on Earth. Our only ideology is to be against the junk culture foisted upon us and mirages of a new world order. Think of us what you will, but read us. Our writers are never boring.

It is seen from the left, who push identity politics, dividing groups by various demographics, promising to punish those who have in order to reward those who don't, and shutting down the dialogue for fear of the exposure which would surely have those most harmed by their policies running from them in droves. The left's position on race is one of "you're not as capable, so somebody owes you," and THAT is racism defined.

So far nobody has been able to show me definitive proof of racism in Derbyshire's column outside of Derbyshire's own admittance to being a racist, albeit a mild and tolerant racist. So even though the words came from a self-proclaimed mild and tolerant racist, there was nothing wrong in his column: no lies, half-truths, fabrications or indeed anything outside of facts. In case it escapes you--and no matter what the left claims--facts are simply facts and cannot be racist.

Derbyshire's column, instead of getting him fired and blackballed, should have opened up a dialogue on the underlying causes of those higher crime rates and lower test scores. Until we can leave the knee-jerk rhetoric behind and stop yelling "RACIST" at anyone who speaks to these issues, we will never be able to have an honest discussion on the subject and that is the saddest truth to come from this whole debacle.