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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   30145 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 13, 2023

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Yes, I also get the feeling that HBD is starting to go mainstream. For example, Bryan Caplan's "Let's Ban Discrimination: A Socratic Dialogue" includes this gem:

Leonidas: [frustrated] I’m not even going to engage that, Socrates. You’re ignoring my central point.

Socrates: Namely?

Leonidas: That the average Egyptian worker endures horrible discrimination at Greek hands.

Socrates: How do you know that?

Leonidas: Open your eyes! [He waves in the direction of the street-sweepers.] Egyptians are much more likely to do hard, low-paid jobs than Greeks.

Socrates: Agreed. How, though, does that show “discrimination”?

Leonidas: [stunned] Isn’t it obvious?

Socrates: Hardly. Suppose the two of us were standing at the finish line of a marathon, keeping time.

Leonidas: Very well.

Socrates: Suppose further than out of the first hundred runners in the race, only two are Egyptian. One possible explanation for their poor performance, granted, is “discrimination.” For example, the judges could give Egyptian competitors unfavorable starting positions. But there are plainly other ways to account for their subpar performance.

Leonidas: Such as…?

Socrates: You tell me.

Leonidas: Perhaps… Greeks practice running more. We “try harder.”

Socrates: We did invent the marathon, after all. Can you think of any other explanations?

Leonidas: Well, uh…

Socrates: I promise I won’t repeat a word you say.

Leonidas: [grumpily] I guess you could say that Greeks just have more running ability.

Socrates: A distinct possibility.

Leonidas: So you’re justifying the mistreatment of Egyptian workers?

Socrates: Not at all. I’m trying to discover the extent to which Egyptian workers are mistreated.

Looks like the whisper network paid off.

Bryan Caplan has always been shouting this stuff from the rooftops. He hasn't been whispering anything. He's usually subtle just saying stuff like if we control for IQ and criminality there is little evidence for discrimination instead of making a point of saying blacks are low IQ or criminal, but it's always been there in his writings.

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