It seems to me that folks of this belief set are spending time fighting a sociological construct that has been discredited by serious students long ago.
Nonetheless, they pursue the fight against the phantom windmill because it is the fight itself that grants them influence and power.
The sociological construct was the answer to the question "Why do some societies prosper, while others fail?"
The discredited answer was generally some form of "The whole reason is because my race is inherently superior."
While serious students still vigorously debate the answer, it's widely acknowledged that race is not a relevant factor at all, and that the answer stew recipe contains issues of the presence of beneficial things in the environment, the willingness of the people to exploit them, and cultural constructs that give a society strength, flexibility and coherency such as "political freedom, capitalism, individualism, republicanism, rationalism, and open debate." (Victor David Hanson's list)
-------------------
Ultimately race is irrelevant: it is an arbitrary attribute of a person whose significance and meaning is entirely defined by the outcome of a negotiation between the various parties involved. Either party can assert that the other's arbitrary attribute is positive, negative, or neutral. What game theory tells us is that any assertion other than "neutral" increases the chances of conflict, and the initiation of a negative sum game, as either a negative or positive assertion is really an attempt to gain advantage based on factors not relevant to the exchange of value.
We therefore, as a matter of enlightened self interest, have determined that a neutral assertion is the best course of action for those seeking to engage in positive sum transactions.
"Grijalva ... plans to attend the University of Arizona to study medicine, with a minor in theater"
Great! She can be a doctor AND she can play one on TV!
When you go to college you know who is going to make it and who is not. And of those who make it you can usually tell which ones will be the most successful. And it is not by the color of their skin but the dedication, understanding, and ability to communicate the topic at hand. I believe it IS that simple.
When I was in graduate school in New Mexico, one of the asshats who founded "La Raza" was a professor there who taught Chicano studies. I won't mention any names as he's not here to defend himself. A couple of Chicano studies classes were required for my discipline. Said asshat went out of his way to put myself and the another Anglo student on the spot. When I gave him a ground and pound on Mexican history (in Spanish) he turned it around that this showed I was elitist. It was really sad and silly, especially as the demographics of North Central NM are not those of the frontera. What a fucktard. And a silly movement. Face it, you lost. Get over it. Tijerina was a jagoff.La Raza are a blight on what is for the most part a valuable contributing part of society, as are Farrakhan's dipfucks to African Americans and the Aryan brotherhood is to caucasians. Flogging is in order.
Protip: If someone calls you "Anglo", and you're not English, I suggest you go totally ballistic on them. This works quite well if you are of Irish heritage. Plus, call him/her a "Spaniard". You'll probably get in trouble, but it could be very funny.
The scary thing is...we are hearing much the same racialist rhetoric (albeit somewhat watered down for the evening news soundbites) from Democratic Presidential Nominee Barak Obama.
Thanks for the links. I heard on the news today that Tom Horn was moving to eliminate "ethnic studies" from the TUSD curriculum. I'll try to put a post up tonight including these links.
Note:
All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost;
references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>
JS-Kit/Echo comments for article at http://smallestminority.blogspot.com/2008/05/balkanization.html (10 comments)
Tentative mapping of comments to original article, corrections solicited.
I'd be very curious to hear the "ethnic studies" experience of non-indigenous race/nationality students attending schools in South American countries.
That's an excellent point!
It seems to me that folks of this belief set are spending time fighting a sociological construct that has been discredited by serious students long ago.
Nonetheless, they pursue the fight against the phantom windmill because it is the fight itself that grants them influence and power.
The sociological construct was the answer to the question "Why do some societies prosper, while others fail?"
The discredited answer was generally some form of "The whole reason is because my race is inherently superior."
While serious students still vigorously debate the answer, it's widely acknowledged that race is not a relevant factor at all, and that the answer stew recipe contains issues of the presence of beneficial things in the environment, the willingness of the people to exploit them, and cultural constructs that give a society strength, flexibility and coherency such as "political freedom, capitalism, individualism, republicanism, rationalism, and open debate." (Victor David Hanson's list)
-------------------
Ultimately race is irrelevant: it is an arbitrary attribute of a person whose significance and meaning is entirely defined by the outcome of a negotiation between the various parties involved. Either party can assert that the other's arbitrary attribute is positive, negative, or neutral. What game theory tells us is that any assertion other than "neutral" increases the chances of conflict, and the initiation of a negative sum game, as either a negative or positive assertion is really an attempt to gain advantage based on factors not relevant to the exchange of value.
We therefore, as a matter of enlightened self interest, have determined that a neutral assertion is the best course of action for those seeking to engage in positive sum transactions.
"Grijalva ... plans to attend the University of Arizona to study medicine, with a minor in theater"
Great! She can be a doctor AND she can play one on TV!
When you go to college you know who is going to make it and who is not. And of those who make it you can usually tell which ones will be the most successful. And it is not by the color of their skin but the dedication, understanding, and ability to communicate the topic at hand. I believe it IS that simple.
When I was in graduate school in New Mexico, one of the asshats who founded "La Raza" was a professor there who taught Chicano studies. I won't mention any names as he's not here to defend himself. A couple of Chicano studies classes were required for my discipline. Said asshat went out of his way to put myself and the another Anglo student on the spot. When I gave him a ground and pound on Mexican history (in Spanish) he turned it around that this showed I was elitist. It was really sad and silly, especially as the demographics of North Central NM are not those of the frontera. What a fucktard. And a silly movement. Face it, you lost. Get over it. Tijerina was a jagoff.La Raza are a blight on what is for the most part a valuable contributing part of society, as are Farrakhan's dipfucks to African Americans and the Aryan brotherhood is to caucasians. Flogging is in order.
Protip: If someone calls you "Anglo", and you're not English, I suggest you go totally ballistic on them. This works quite well if you are of Irish heritage. Plus, call him/her a "Spaniard". You'll probably get in trouble, but it could be very funny.
The scary thing is...we are hearing much the same racialist rhetoric (albeit somewhat watered down for the evening news soundbites) from Democratic Presidential Nominee Barak Obama.
Please pass this on like WILDFIRE throughout the nation!
http://www.ade.state.az.us/pio/Press-Releases/2008/pr06-11-08-OpenLtr.pdf
Here is the proof!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiAJwmqH_fU
Thanks for the links. I heard on the news today that Tom Horn was moving to eliminate "ethnic studies" from the TUSD curriculum. I'll try to put a post up tonight including these links.
Note: All avatars and any images or other media embedded in comments were hosted on the JS-Kit website and have been lost; references to haloscan comments have been partially automatically remapped, but accuracy is not guaranteed and corrections are solicited.
If you notice any problems with this page or wish to have your home page link updated, please contact John Hardin <jhardin@impsec.org>