I am an American who taught philosophy in several African universities from 1976 to 1988, and have lived since that time in South Africa. When I first came to Africa, I knew virtually nothing about the continent or its people, but I began learning quickly. I noticed, for example, that Africans rarely kept promises and saw no need to apologize when they broke them. It was as if they were unaware they had done anything that called for an apology.
It took many years for me to understand why Africans behaved this way but I think I can now explain this and other behavior that characterizes Africa. I believe that morality requires abstract thinking—as does planning for the future—and that a relative deficiency in abstract thinking may explain many things that are typically African.
What follow are not scientific findings. There could be alternative explanations for what I have observed, but my conclusions are drawn from more than 30 years of living among Africans.
Question is, is it racist? What if it's true? Still racist? Is it wrong to notice these things and try to explain them?
There was no mention of the actual substance of the article.
BC, you posted to an article with passages like this:
The failure to keep promises is therefore not a language problem. It is hard to believe that after living with whites for so long they would not learn the correct meaning, and it is too much of a coincidence that the same phenomenon is found in Nigeria, Kenya and Papua New Guinea, where I have also lived. It is much more likely that Africans generally lack the very concept and hence cannot give the word its correct meaning. This would seem to indicate some difference in intellectual capacity.
And:
To the extent people are deficient in such abstract thinking, they will be deficient in moral understanding and hence in human empathy—which is what we tend to find in Africans.
And which closes with:
It should go without saying that my observations about Africans are generalizations. I am not saying that none has the capacity for abstract thought or moral understanding. I am speaking of tendencies and averages, which leave room for many exceptions.
To what extent do my observations about Africans apply to American blacks? American blacks have an average IQ of 85, which is a full 15 points higher than the African average of 70. The capacity for abstract thought is unquestionably correlated with intelligence, and so we can expect American blacks generally to exceed Africans in these respects.
Still, American blacks show many of the traits so striking among Africans: low mathematical ability, diminished abstract reasoning, high crime rates, a short time-horizon, rudeness, littering, etc. If I had lived only among American blacks and not among Africans, I might never have reached the conclusions I have, but the more extreme behavior among Africans makes it easier to perceive the same tendencies among American blacks.
You seem to think this tripe has some validity or application. I admit that I found the article endlessly fascinating in that context.
I am an American who taught philosophy in several African universities from 1976 to 1988, and have lived since that time in South Africa. When I first came to Africa, I knew virtually nothing about the continent or its people, but I began learning quickly. I noticed, for example, that Africans rarely kept promises and saw no need to apologize when they broke them. It was as if they were unaware they had done anything that called for an apology.
It took many years for me to understand why Africans behaved this way but I think I can now explain this and other behavior that characterizes Africa. I believe that morality requires abstract thinking—as does planning for the future—and that a relative deficiency in abstract thinking may explain many things that are typically African.
What follow are not scientific findings. There could be alternative explanations for what I have observed, but my conclusions are drawn from more than 30 years of living among Africans.
Question is, is it racist? What if it's true? Still racist? Is it wrong to notice these things and try to explain them?
Sounds like he could have been speaking about the government in Johannesburg during his 1976-1988 tenure.
Yes, that article is incredibly racist. Asking what if it is true is like asking "What if Mormons did sacrifice infants in the temple. Would it be bigoted to point it out then?!" Well, no, but there's the rub, isn't it?
Jared Taylor has used both mainstream and extremist venues, including a cable TV network, universities, radio and conferences, to promote his racist ideas.
Taylor has scheduled the ninth annual American Renaissance conference to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina, February 4-6, 2011. Speakers include a variety of racists from the United States and abroad. As he has with previous conferences, Taylor has invited speakers who focus on the racial divide and race relations and their impact on white culture in the United States, Europe and South Africa.
And
In June 2010, Taylor was one of the keynote speakers at the annual conference of the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens in Nashville, Tennessee.
In 2010, Taylor also made multiple appearances on "The Political Cesspool," a white supremacist Internet radio show run by racist James Edwards.
And
Taylor's portrayal of his racist views as intellectual inquiry enables him to maintain a position as a respectable academic source for racists, many of whom frequently cite his work.
Not surprising. People drawn to homophobic ideas are often also drawn to racism as well.
Parley P. Pratt wrote:We must lie to support brother Joseph, it is our duty to do so.
BCSpace, does your Bishop know you associate with ARM? Doesn't that fall under the category of associating with groups that are contrary to the church? Or maybe ARM doesn't fall into that category.
"We have taken up arms in defense of our liberty, our property, our wives, and our children; we are determined to preserve them, or die." - Captain Moroni - 'Address to the Inhabitants of Canada' 1775
Holy s***, BC. Please tell me you don't take that guy seriously.
I don't necessarily. But the mention of Robert E. Lee's feelings of the time reminded me of it. It sounds perfectly reasonable. It may even be true culturally. But is it true inherently? Probably not. At least I hope not.
I've had the opportunity to mingle for long periods of time with African blacks as well as American "ghetto" blacks and more educated and "Americanized" blacks and maintain friendships in all groups. Even dated a couple of black girls back in the 80's (no, not at the same time). There is at least some cultural truth in the article and I believe many of my friends from those groups would agree based on what they've said to me before.
I'm getting the "I'm not racist because I have black friends" vibe. Is that a misinterpretation?