From: gln@cs.arizona.edu (Gary L. Newell)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro
Subject: Re: Debunking the standard myth was Re: Couple of thoughts..
Date: 14 Aug 92 09:01:26 GMT
Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson

In article <55692@olivea.atc.olivetti.com>, rsmith@strobe.ATC.Olivetti.Com (Russ Smith) writes:
> Wayne can't prove blacks are superior genetically just by saying the 
> NBA is 80% black, but you can't prove Wayne is wron by citing Jews in
> the 30's because we can never know if the NBA would have been 80% black
> in the 30's had they been allowed to play.

Nobody can "prove" jack-shit - that's the whole problem. The idea that r.s.bb.p
can do more than represent a variety of people's bias is absurd. Great - 
person A thinks blacks are "natural" basketball players/sprinters/whatever
and person B thinks it is a bunch of shit - big deal - I'd start worrying what
Ed Lor thinks before I wasted my time considering the views on racial
advantages from the majority of this group...

 Look, my personal feeling is that we just don't have a clue one way or the
other. In the meantime we have already seen how some are willing to alter
and distort the findings of a single study in the effort to "prove" their
belief that blacks are superior in certain physical areas than whites - now
that in itself is really not an "evil" act - however, we have also seen how
quickly the "... but whites are smarter..." bullshit comes into play whether
directly or implied in such a discussion. It serves no purpose (other than
perhaps indicating the racial bias of particular individuals) to discuss
this topic in this forum. It has been shown many times before that "the times
they are a changin.." and it appears that many individuals truly believe that
insensitive attitudes towards racial and/or gender differences are not 
important today - I don't happen to feel that way - it bothers me a great deal
to see a group such as this, which by definition is dominated by white
middle class males, discussing the relative merits of the races - yes I know
that Ronnie isof african-american descent and others who have posted are
of oriental heritage but the reality is that the net is for the most part
a white middle class forum (a group I am not a part of by the way) and
further more the folks here (and in other groups) tend to be in technical
fields , as may be expected I suppose. My experience tells me that few
folks "out there" have had even a limited exposure to areas of study which
deal with racial bias/ racial differences/ cultural differences/ etc. 
and to sit here and listen to arguments like "I noticed a bunch of
blacks in the 100 meter final so they must be different/superior runners
than whites" is ...... I can't find the word to be honest - it sucks, it
is insulting in some ways, it is also laughable - it simply strikes me as
wrong - and frankly there are few things that I would say that about...

 Let me also add that I realize that most of the folks who post on this issue
are well-intended and many have come to their present views through long and
hard thought upon this issue - but unfortunately many have not - they see a
very simple view of the world - a "black and white" view if you will, and they
have grown up in a day and age where it is OK in this country to banter about
someones gender or race and to in some cases ridicule the perceived
abilities of one race/gender/social class without the risk of public
ridicule that would have faced them 15-20 years ago. I'd be the last one to
carry the "politicly correct" flag but when I login and see insults
directed toward the physical features of blacks (if you weren't here for that 
discussion then shut up and wait until you've been here long enough to matter)
or blanket statements about the physical advantages of one race over another,  
I can't help but wonder where things went off track in this country - there
really was a time when people were sensitive to these issues and would not make
outrageous, generalized statements about one group or another for fear of
being ridiculed themselves for their ignorance and lack of education - now
however it seems that the "Rush Limbaugh" approach to life is the norm
and one can make unsubstantiated claims and charges and cloak oneself 
from criticism with references to "political correctness" and "liberal
agendas".... I've wondered often of late about what went wrong - it is easy
to point to 12 years of under-educated, conservative-based administrations
but one can't help but wonder how many of the folks who voted for David Duke
were giving lip-service to racial equality and women's rights a decade
ago....  but I wander..... now back to your regularly scheduled racial
bias...
 
			gln