Slog
News & ArtsThursday, January 29, 2009
Science Educating Racists
Posted by Charles Mudede on Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 4:35 PM
This comment is from here:
If Europeans and Arabs had avoided Africa entirely, then most black Africans would be extinct by now from all their TNB. Imagine what the USA would be like without blacks, it would be almost like paradise. Curse the short-sighted slavers who brought the terrible affliction that is Africans to our country.Lots of little racists slither and sneeze in the comments, and they have in common the flaw of knowing next to nothing about actual history. The comment above offers us an excellent example of this ignorance of actual history, an ignorance which might have roots in the American education system, a system that fails its subjects when it comes to geography and world history. So pesky little racist, let's, as Badiou says, begin at the beginning. Fact one: Africa was the white man's grave, not the black man's grave. Fact two: Europeans killed millions of Indians without pulling a trigger—sheer exposure to Europeans being enough to undo millions of South American/North American natives. Fact three, a synthesis of the first two facts: A history of the European slave trade cannot be separated from a history of diseases. Therefore: Biology is the main force of this story you failed to understand—the story of blacks in the New World. My point: Because of their disease-dense environment, Africans could survive exposure to Europeans and the continents of the New World, which were in desperate need of cheap labor. And that is why black people are here instead of black people not being here.
1
Maybe dumb comments should be removed and IP addresses banned. Slog normally has the dumbest comments of any blog.
3
Charles,
Unless your posts feature breasts you usually have nothing substantive or of interest to say; therefore, it's funny to hear you scold anyone.
People have given you every chance to be of importance. You've massively failed. Even I've stuck up for you, only to be short-sheeted.
Keep your scolding, and get it out and use it somewhere it may work...but please stop putting it here.
Unless your posts feature breasts you usually have nothing substantive or of interest to say; therefore, it's funny to hear you scold anyone.
People have given you every chance to be of importance. You've massively failed. Even I've stuck up for you, only to be short-sheeted.
Keep your scolding, and get it out and use it somewhere it may work...but please stop putting it here.
4
Charles, I do agree that the racist in question was ignorant (kind of redundant I guess) but your explanation -- is that what it was?-- is pretty loopy.
But I will give you credit for trying to say something instead of your all too frequent posting of other peoples' work with no real obvious reason for doing so.
But I will give you credit for trying to say something instead of your all too frequent posting of other peoples' work with no real obvious reason for doing so.
6
@4 - How is his analysis incorrect? It's basically a combination of 'A Peoples History..' and 'Guns, Germs, and Steel'.
7
Charles is right. If you don't believe me, take yourselves over to PBS and buy the miniseries Guns, Germs, & Steel. Further educational reading is 1491 by Charles C. Mann.
p.s. White people are Africans with a vitamin D deficiency.
p.p.s. There's no such a thing as race, "White" or otherwise in humans, genetically speaking. If humans were really had separate races, when they intermarried they would likely produce sterile offspring...sort of like horses and donkeys make sterile mules.
p.p.p.s Racial purity is just another way of saying "inbred".
p.s. White people are Africans with a vitamin D deficiency.
p.p.s. There's no such a thing as race, "White" or otherwise in humans, genetically speaking. If humans were really had separate races, when they intermarried they would likely produce sterile offspring...sort of like horses and donkeys make sterile mules.
p.p.p.s Racial purity is just another way of saying "inbred".
9
Jesus. Why are people so crazy? I love this blog. When I find a post that doesn't interest me or that I find tedious, I skip over it. I've spent endless hours reading SLOG and have commented maybe five times, only when something really piqued my interest. A lot of the commentators here should self-banish themselves to troll the hateful and inarticulate YouTube comments' forums.
To the Sloggers, let me just say that I am sure there are a multitude of lurking readers like me who simply love reading what you write (most of the time) and know how to separate quality blogging from poisonous commentary.
Anyway, thanks.
To the Sloggers, let me just say that I am sure there are a multitude of lurking readers like me who simply love reading what you write (most of the time) and know how to separate quality blogging from poisonous commentary.
Anyway, thanks.
11
@6-- I didn't say he was incorrect- I said loopy. The reason black people are here (in the USA) is because of slave trading. Not a real complicated answer.
Perhaps Charles meant they are "here" in the broader sense of "extant". If this is what he meant, none of the other talk about slave trading would matter to the argument.
Perhaps Charles meant they are "here" in the broader sense of "extant". If this is what he meant, none of the other talk about slave trading would matter to the argument.
12
@7 - That's technically not true. While I'm with you on the merits, a "race" is not a "species". Humans from different races can produce viable offspring in the same way that most domestic dogs of different breeds (say, a Great Dane and a Schnauzer) can interbreed to produce viable offspring.
On the other hand, it's worth pointing out that there's more genetic variation within an individual "race" than between any two races, and outward skin color doesn't necessarily correlate with any other genetic variation (though in specific cases it does; people of African descent are more prone to sickle-cell anemia, for example).
On the other hand, it's worth pointing out that there's more genetic variation within an individual "race" than between any two races, and outward skin color doesn't necessarily correlate with any other genetic variation (though in specific cases it does; people of African descent are more prone to sickle-cell anemia, for example).
13
Also @7 - I read the PBS article you linked to, and discovered that Dr. Brace doesn't make the "can't interbreed" argument either. He also doesn't say there's no such thing as race. Instead, he says "there is no such thing as a biological entity that warrants the term 'race'". That is, race exists as a multidimensional plethora of dimensions and factors, rather than being indicated by a single trait (such as skin color).
16
@ 15,
I was wrong about C. Loring Brace...but the other shit from "Germs, Guns, & Steel" is good. So's Charles C. Mann.
I was wrong about C. Loring Brace...but the other shit from "Germs, Guns, & Steel" is good. So's Charles C. Mann.
18
@7,
I think you mean a melanin deficiency. I haven't noticed a higher incidence of bow legs (i.e. rickets) among white people.
I think you mean a melanin deficiency. I haven't noticed a higher incidence of bow legs (i.e. rickets) among white people.
19
the thread that the racist post in question originally came from was full of racist crap bc Charles posted the most snobbish and disgusting claptrap I've ever seen on Slog. People were writing in with racist comments to...HOLD UP THE FREAKIN MIRROR.
20
Bullshit, onion. The comments here are generally racist, sexist and homophobic. Issur, ecce homo, etc. do not exist because of Charles. A similar case for misogyny was used to justify slamming ECB during the campaign. Tell me another one.
22
@ 18,
Nope. I was referring to the fact that people who have diets high in Vitamin D and live in less sun-intensive regions have darker skin than folks who have diets low in Vitamin D and live in less sun-intensive regions. I picked that up the same source that said humans didn't have separate races. Unfortunately I can't remember what source that was. I thought it was C. Loring Brace, but I was wrong. Maybe from the Genographic Project.
I could be totally delusional. I thought it was Friday and started the weekend a little early.
Nope. I was referring to the fact that people who have diets high in Vitamin D and live in less sun-intensive regions have darker skin than folks who have diets low in Vitamin D and live in less sun-intensive regions. I picked that up the same source that said humans didn't have separate races. Unfortunately I can't remember what source that was. I thought it was C. Loring Brace, but I was wrong. Maybe from the Genographic Project.
I could be totally delusional. I thought it was Friday and started the weekend a little early.
23
@20,
I'm not sure. Read the whole link. Charles said all sorts of stupid shit, and people got offended and posted under names like "racism is groovy." I'm not sure if anybody in that thread is in the least seriously racist, and the quote Charles pulled might well be tongue-in-cheek. A total parody. I'm not defending it in context, I'm saying there's a chance the post wasn't at all even remotely serious.
If Charles can't see that possibility, he's deficient in understanding written communication.
I'm not sure. Read the whole link. Charles said all sorts of stupid shit, and people got offended and posted under names like "racism is groovy." I'm not sure if anybody in that thread is in the least seriously racist, and the quote Charles pulled might well be tongue-in-cheek. A total parody. I'm not defending it in context, I'm saying there's a chance the post wasn't at all even remotely serious.
If Charles can't see that possibility, he's deficient in understanding written communication.
24
the best enslavers wre the Vikings, they populated Iceland with Irish chicks in about 900. Just like moving cattle and sheep around! And they would have enslaved black people too, they were just too busy enslaving everyone they met in Europe and Russia.
25
epidemic disease was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the American natives.[10]
as it took 1/3 of the European population a century before.
1986 is when this rewriting of native histories began. whites did not attempt anything like genocide on them. I'll take the horrible truths over these racist fantasies.
as it took 1/3 of the European population a century before.
1986 is when this rewriting of native histories began. whites did not attempt anything like genocide on them. I'll take the horrible truths over these racist fantasies.
27
jeez why all the hate on Charles? The man is incomprehensible sometimes, but he can put together a mean sentence.
29
Is no one actually READING what Charles said? It's a little opaque, but it's an interesting rhetorical response to what the guy is saying. Africans were not an affliction; they were immune to the afflictions that the white man carried. He's responding to something stupid by not engaging the guy in his argument, which would 1) be below him and 2) just inflame the thing. He doesn't need to prove to anyone that this racist's argument is wrong because what the guy is saying is absurd and anyone who believes it isn't worth talking to. Instead, he deserves to be laughed at and shamed. Which is what Charles is doing, albeit in a round about way.
Charles probably isn't even following this (or at least I hope he isn't wasting his time), but if he is: Right on. It was a great response to something ridiculous. 9 and I are totally in agreement.
Charles probably isn't even following this (or at least I hope he isn't wasting his time), but if he is: Right on. It was a great response to something ridiculous. 9 and I are totally in agreement.
31
@29 I find it disturbing that Charles can't come up with a decent thought without being provoked by racists. The original post he made was absolutely retarded, the absurd and hilarious at times reaction goaded him into making a sensible post.
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@31 What? You find it disturbing? Beyond the question of whether there is maybe something more important in the world to be disturbed by, why should we police and judge what "provokes" Charles to write? Especially if it produces a "sensible post." He reacted to something, and in doing so, he said something interesting. I don't get why you're disturbed.
As for the other post being "retarded," I don't know about you but I grew up hearing about Jane Goodall and her apes, rather than March of the Penguins, so I got the point. America tends to have a handful of animals that are in fashion at any one time: polar bears; bald eagles; penguins; gorillas. These animals help us dispose of our collective guilt for, you know, destroying the planet. He seems to be playing off that. Also, I don't think his point is really that penguins suck and should die. I think his point is located in the last two sentences: "Everything is fighting to live in a world dominated by humans. We are the ELE [extinction-level event] of the animal kingdom."
But there I go, doing exactly what I said people shouldn't do: engaging. You're silly, and I'm acting like I you're not. My bad. I couldn't help myself.
As for the other post being "retarded," I don't know about you but I grew up hearing about Jane Goodall and her apes, rather than March of the Penguins, so I got the point. America tends to have a handful of animals that are in fashion at any one time: polar bears; bald eagles; penguins; gorillas. These animals help us dispose of our collective guilt for, you know, destroying the planet. He seems to be playing off that. Also, I don't think his point is really that penguins suck and should die. I think his point is located in the last two sentences: "Everything is fighting to live in a world dominated by humans. We are the ELE [extinction-level event] of the animal kingdom."
But there I go, doing exactly what I said people shouldn't do: engaging. You're silly, and I'm acting like I you're not. My bad. I couldn't help myself.
35
Charles's post is accurate though a little obtuse.
I think the argument that better counters the idea that blacks are a pox on America is to think of where America would be without them. We could be here all day with this so I'll just give a couple of big points.
Let's start with the actual slaves. We couldn't have had the booming trade in agriculture that we did without slaves. We were the dominant producer of cotton for years among other things. The whites certainly weren't going to produce that much on their own.
Would the pacemaker have been invented without Otis Boykin? Probably, but how many years later?
George Washington Carver, known for Peanuts also improved production of adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink, instant coffee, linoleum, mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, metal polish, paper, plastic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder and wood stain. Three patents were issued to Carver.
Below are a couple of links for more African American Accomplishments.
http://www.black-collegian.com/african/a…
http://biology.about.com/od/genetics/a/a…
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article…
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekl…
I think the argument that better counters the idea that blacks are a pox on America is to think of where America would be without them. We could be here all day with this so I'll just give a couple of big points.
Let's start with the actual slaves. We couldn't have had the booming trade in agriculture that we did without slaves. We were the dominant producer of cotton for years among other things. The whites certainly weren't going to produce that much on their own.
Would the pacemaker have been invented without Otis Boykin? Probably, but how many years later?
George Washington Carver, known for Peanuts also improved production of adhesives, axle grease, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, fuel briquettes, ink, instant coffee, linoleum, mayonnaise, meat tenderizer, metal polish, paper, plastic, pavement, shaving cream, shoe polish, synthetic rubber, talcum powder and wood stain. Three patents were issued to Carver.
Below are a couple of links for more African American Accomplishments.
http://www.black-collegian.com/african/a…
http://biology.about.com/od/genetics/a/a…
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article…
http://inventors.about.com/library/weekl…
36
It is totally non-PC to observe it but it is true that without slavery there would be far fewer Blacks in the US and it is interesting to consider the implications for the race had that been the case.
37
Charles, you forgot one. Fact four: African Americans invented jazz music, which is the sole original art form created in the United States, as well as one of this country's sole redeeming historical features. (Hip-hop, mind you, is part of the jazz-funk-hip-hop continuum. So there.)
"Africa would be extinct if we had left it alone" should be forced to listen to nothing but Ray Conniff records for an entire year straight. Maybe then he, she or it will come to recognize the superiority of African-rooted music over the cracker kind.
"Africa would be extinct if we had left it alone" should be forced to listen to nothing but Ray Conniff records for an entire year straight. Maybe then he, she or it will come to recognize the superiority of African-rooted music over the cracker kind.
38
What I gathered from this post is that Charles believes Africans were biologically superior to native Americans.
Oh and also that he's a bad writer.
Oh, and @37: 'cracker kind'? WTF? 'sole original art form created in the United States'? Not at all. 'Hip-hop, mind you, is part of the jazz-funk-hip-hop continuum.' No, it isn't. Nice attempt at connecting them by creating an awesome term though.
Yeesh, jazz gets way more respect than it deserves. It's not some higher art form beyond all comprehension. But I suppose the 'cracker kind' is merely classical music, which, I suspect we're supposed to be ashamed of? Anyway, it's all just part of the 'baroque-classical-avantgarde-rock'n'roll-metal-hiphop-jazz-tango' continuum, so whatever.
Oh and also that he's a bad writer.
Oh, and @37: 'cracker kind'? WTF? 'sole original art form created in the United States'? Not at all. 'Hip-hop, mind you, is part of the jazz-funk-hip-hop continuum.' No, it isn't. Nice attempt at connecting them by creating an awesome term though.
Yeesh, jazz gets way more respect than it deserves. It's not some higher art form beyond all comprehension. But I suppose the 'cracker kind' is merely classical music, which, I suspect we're supposed to be ashamed of? Anyway, it's all just part of the 'baroque-classical-avantgarde-rock'n'roll-metal-hiphop-jazz-tango' continuum, so whatever.
39
@35, most of those things are actually "Black Invention Myths"
http://www33.brinkster.com/iiiii/inventi…
http://www33.brinkster.com/iiiii/inventi…
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George Washington Carver
"Discovered" hundreds of new and important uses for the peanut? Fathered the peanut industry? Revolutionized southern US agriculture? No!
Research by Barry Mackintosh, who served as bureau historian for the National Park Service (which manages the G.W. Carver National Monument), demonstrated the following:
* Most of Carver's peanut and sweet potato creations were either unoriginal, impractical, or of uncertain effectiveness. No product born in his laboratory was widely adopted.
* The boom years for Southern peanut production came prior to, and not as a result of, Carver's promotion of the crop.
* Carver's work to improve regional farming practices was not of pioneering scientific importance and had little demonstrable impact.
To see how Carver gained "a popular reputation far transcending the significance of his accomplishments," read Mackintosh's excellent article George Washington Carver: The Making of a Myth.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/256246/th…
"Discovered" hundreds of new and important uses for the peanut? Fathered the peanut industry? Revolutionized southern US agriculture? No!
Research by Barry Mackintosh, who served as bureau historian for the National Park Service (which manages the G.W. Carver National Monument), demonstrated the following:
* Most of Carver's peanut and sweet potato creations were either unoriginal, impractical, or of uncertain effectiveness. No product born in his laboratory was widely adopted.
* The boom years for Southern peanut production came prior to, and not as a result of, Carver's promotion of the crop.
* Carver's work to improve regional farming practices was not of pioneering scientific importance and had little demonstrable impact.
To see how Carver gained "a popular reputation far transcending the significance of his accomplishments," read Mackintosh's excellent article George Washington Carver: The Making of a Myth.
http://www.network54.com/Forum/256246/th…
41
Peanut Butter
George Washington Carver (who began his peanut research in 1903)? No!
Peanuts, which are native to the New World tropics, were mashed into paste by Aztecs hundreds of years ago. Evidence of modern peanut butter comes from US patent #306727 issued to Marcellus Gilmore Edson of Montreal, Quebec in 1884, for a process of milling roasted peanuts between heated surfaces until the peanuts reached "a fluid or semi-fluid state." As the product cooled, it set into what Edson described as "a consistency like that of butter, lard, or ointment." In 1890, George A. Bayle Jr., owner of a food business in St. Louis, manufactured peanut butter and sold it out of barrels. J.H. Kellogg, of cereal fame, secured US patent #580787 in 1897 for his "Process of Preparing Nutmeal," which produced a "pasty adhesive substance" that Kellogg called "nut-butter."
George Washington Carver (who began his peanut research in 1903)? No!
Peanuts, which are native to the New World tropics, were mashed into paste by Aztecs hundreds of years ago. Evidence of modern peanut butter comes from US patent #306727 issued to Marcellus Gilmore Edson of Montreal, Quebec in 1884, for a process of milling roasted peanuts between heated surfaces until the peanuts reached "a fluid or semi-fluid state." As the product cooled, it set into what Edson described as "a consistency like that of butter, lard, or ointment." In 1890, George A. Bayle Jr., owner of a food business in St. Louis, manufactured peanut butter and sold it out of barrels. J.H. Kellogg, of cereal fame, secured US patent #580787 in 1897 for his "Process of Preparing Nutmeal," which produced a "pasty adhesive substance" that Kellogg called "nut-butter."
43
Jazz was originally "music" played by druggie drunks (who didn't really know how to play the instruments that were invented by Europeans) for druggie drunks while they fucked whores at crappy roadhouse bordellos. Most of the lyrics (when the "music" had lyrics) are typical "muh dik let's fuck and do drugs and drink and fight." It's abomination of a "child", Hip-Hop, is even more degenerated and is nothing more than gorilla-like muh dik grunting accompanied by crotch-grabbing and annoying noise, said annoying noise usually stolen from a white musician and then electronically fucked up. Jazz and Hip-Hop are LOW CULTURE "art forms" for LOW CULTURE "people".
44
@ 22: Before we started fortifying foods with vitamin D, no one's diets were rich in vitamin D. You get it from sunlight and from foods that have had vitamin D added to them.
45
Man, what is this impulse to be proud of things introduced by your race, anyway?
I mean, I don't personally take credit for things like hadron colliders, jet engines, cars, computers, etc. The fact that things were invented by people with my racial background is just completely neutral in my mind. If anything, I'm just disappointed that I personally haven't added to the list...
If it's supposed to illustrate 'see we can do it too,' fine. We get it. I don't think anyone can argue the fact that each and every race on earth has contributed something valuable to history, and the world.
One of the true luxuries of being white in America, is being race neutral. I don't identify with other people based on their skin color. As a matter of fact, I get to loathe 80% of my race without feeling like I'm betraying some deep-seated 'alliance' we're all supposed to share. It's awesome!
I also get to look at what's wrong with this country untainted by perceptions of who's in charge. I don't have to see it all as old white people, or men, or whatever. I get to see it as it is... Rich people! They're no more interested in 'suppressing' blacks as they are in promoting them. It's simply irrelevant.
Most racists are redneck idiots who control nothing at all. They're hardly in control of their own lives, and wouldn't have the time or ability to 'keep _X_ people down.'
I mean, I don't personally take credit for things like hadron colliders, jet engines, cars, computers, etc. The fact that things were invented by people with my racial background is just completely neutral in my mind. If anything, I'm just disappointed that I personally haven't added to the list...
If it's supposed to illustrate 'see we can do it too,' fine. We get it. I don't think anyone can argue the fact that each and every race on earth has contributed something valuable to history, and the world.
One of the true luxuries of being white in America, is being race neutral. I don't identify with other people based on their skin color. As a matter of fact, I get to loathe 80% of my race without feeling like I'm betraying some deep-seated 'alliance' we're all supposed to share. It's awesome!
I also get to look at what's wrong with this country untainted by perceptions of who's in charge. I don't have to see it all as old white people, or men, or whatever. I get to see it as it is... Rich people! They're no more interested in 'suppressing' blacks as they are in promoting them. It's simply irrelevant.
Most racists are redneck idiots who control nothing at all. They're hardly in control of their own lives, and wouldn't have the time or ability to 'keep _X_ people down.'
46
Wow, 43, thanks for negating my last comment before I made it. Jesus. I'm not fond of hip-hop or jazz, but man, that's not true at all. Jazz musicians are really fucking good musicians, and while I agree that hip-hop sucks, they're less likely to 'steal' music from whites than they are from other black people. The 90's were predominantly filled with rap music stolen from (black) funk musicians, who were also really good musicians. That is, until Puff Daddy started stealing from new-wave.
Either way, your comment is embarrassing.
Either way, your comment is embarrassing.
47
Charles, you forgot to mention that one specific reasons Africans were used in the Atlantic slave trade and it is not just greater resistance to disease.
African people, during the trade, were capable of working outside in the south and the Caribbean much longer than any (say, white) ethnic group, almost any of which could easily have been enslaved at the time.
I'd imagine the racist you complained about above would have preferred for white slaves to have been used on the route (it probably would have made integration a lot easier).
I'm thinking the cost of sun block would have made that a non-starter.
To the racist: you should be glad to have us here.
African people, during the trade, were capable of working outside in the south and the Caribbean much longer than any (say, white) ethnic group, almost any of which could easily have been enslaved at the time.
I'd imagine the racist you complained about above would have preferred for white slaves to have been used on the route (it probably would have made integration a lot easier).
I'm thinking the cost of sun block would have made that a non-starter.
To the racist: you should be glad to have us here.
48
FBI - Gangs Responsible for 80% of USA crime
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009…
Thanks blacks and mexicans!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009…
Thanks blacks and mexicans!
50
Charles comes from Zimbabwe. Look at how ABSOLUTELY STUPID they are in Zimbabwe! No wonder they have lots of problems. These were European-educated, high-ranking government ministers! TNB! Everything infuriating about Charles makes sense when viewed in this context.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/wo…
‘Miracle’ fuel that made a mockery of Mugabe
Jan Raath in Harare
When Nomatter Tagarira, a spirit medium, claimed that she could conjure refined diesel out of a rock by striking it with her staff, ministers in Robert Mugabe’s Government believed that they might have found the solution to Zimbabwe’s perennial fuel shortage.
After witnessing her apparently miraculous gift they gave her five billion Zimbabwean dollars in cash (worth £1.7 million at the start of the year but now worth one seven-hundredth of that) in return for the fuel. Ms Tagarira was also given a farm, said to have been seized from its white owner during Mr Mugabe’s lawless land grab, as well as food and services that included a round-the-clock armed guard on the rock in the district of Chinhoyi 60 miles (100km) from Harare, the capital.
More than a year later officials realised they had been duped. Ms Tagarira is now in custody, awaiting trial on charges of fraud or, alternatively, of being “a criminal nuisance”. Details from court papers published this week said that over 15 months, until July this year, Ms Tagarira convinced Cabinet ministers, ruling party heavy-weights and top army and police officers that by striking the rock with her staff she could produce enough fuel to supply the country for 100 years.
The legal firm representing her told The Times that she had been refused bail and no trial date had been set yet.
“It’s an outlandish story but the people in government who believed this are the same ones who believe that Mugabe’s official policy of printing money will end inflation,” said an economist, who requested anonymity.
After 27 years of economic misrule, what was once one of Africa’s most prosperous countries is in a nightmare of hyperinflation, famine and infra-structural collapse.
According to the police docket at the court, Ms Tagarira, 35, discovered a large bowser of diesel last year, suspected to have been abandoned in the hills of Chinhoyi during the country’s civil war in the 1970s.
She laid pipes from the bowser to a point at the bottom of the hill. Whenever she assembled an audience, she would strike a rock and an assistant at the top of the hill would open the tap and lo, fuel would pour out. The bowser eventually ran dry but that didn’t stop Ms Tagarira. “They would buy diesel from lorry drivers and keep it in the pipe on the pretext it was coming from a rock,” the docket said.
By June the Government had decided the claims were plausible enough to warrant an official investigation. However, where a single geologist would have sufficed, they dispatched a large “task force” of politicians and members of the security forces, led by the deputy commissioner of police.
The task force duly reported to Mr Mugabe’s politburo, the most powerful body in the country, that the liquid appearing at the rock had been siphoned into lorries and that they had driven off without problem.
More...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/wo…
‘Miracle’ fuel that made a mockery of Mugabe
Jan Raath in Harare
When Nomatter Tagarira, a spirit medium, claimed that she could conjure refined diesel out of a rock by striking it with her staff, ministers in Robert Mugabe’s Government believed that they might have found the solution to Zimbabwe’s perennial fuel shortage.
After witnessing her apparently miraculous gift they gave her five billion Zimbabwean dollars in cash (worth £1.7 million at the start of the year but now worth one seven-hundredth of that) in return for the fuel. Ms Tagarira was also given a farm, said to have been seized from its white owner during Mr Mugabe’s lawless land grab, as well as food and services that included a round-the-clock armed guard on the rock in the district of Chinhoyi 60 miles (100km) from Harare, the capital.
More than a year later officials realised they had been duped. Ms Tagarira is now in custody, awaiting trial on charges of fraud or, alternatively, of being “a criminal nuisance”. Details from court papers published this week said that over 15 months, until July this year, Ms Tagarira convinced Cabinet ministers, ruling party heavy-weights and top army and police officers that by striking the rock with her staff she could produce enough fuel to supply the country for 100 years.
The legal firm representing her told The Times that she had been refused bail and no trial date had been set yet.
“It’s an outlandish story but the people in government who believed this are the same ones who believe that Mugabe’s official policy of printing money will end inflation,” said an economist, who requested anonymity.
After 27 years of economic misrule, what was once one of Africa’s most prosperous countries is in a nightmare of hyperinflation, famine and infra-structural collapse.
According to the police docket at the court, Ms Tagarira, 35, discovered a large bowser of diesel last year, suspected to have been abandoned in the hills of Chinhoyi during the country’s civil war in the 1970s.
She laid pipes from the bowser to a point at the bottom of the hill. Whenever she assembled an audience, she would strike a rock and an assistant at the top of the hill would open the tap and lo, fuel would pour out. The bowser eventually ran dry but that didn’t stop Ms Tagarira. “They would buy diesel from lorry drivers and keep it in the pipe on the pretext it was coming from a rock,” the docket said.
By June the Government had decided the claims were plausible enough to warrant an official investigation. However, where a single geologist would have sufficed, they dispatched a large “task force” of politicians and members of the security forces, led by the deputy commissioner of police.
The task force duly reported to Mr Mugabe’s politburo, the most powerful body in the country, that the liquid appearing at the rock had been siphoned into lorries and that they had driven off without problem.
51
FACT: Racist are stupid.
Black contribution to the US history has always been ignored, down played and denied.
"White" doesn't exist unless there is a "black" to degrade.
I still meet idiots who say shit like "You are not like black people", as if that isn't an insult. I respond with, "You are exactly like ignorant white people."
Race is a social construction used to justify the social inqualites present in every aspect of society. Black people are treated as a homogenous group. Whites get treated as individuals.
The exploitation of black slave labor built this country. The US would not have achieved its economic might without it. US capitalism was birthed on the backs of slaves.
Black slaves were more valuable than white and indian labor because exploitation of them was easier and cheaper.
A more revelent question is how would blacks in the US been had they been treated like human being instead of cattle or if their social and family structures had been valued and recognized.
Anyway- we got a black President and a sista as a First Lady..bitches!
White people can keep the peanut butter and George Bush.
Black contribution to the US history has always been ignored, down played and denied.
"White" doesn't exist unless there is a "black" to degrade.
I still meet idiots who say shit like "You are not like black people", as if that isn't an insult. I respond with, "You are exactly like ignorant white people."
Race is a social construction used to justify the social inqualites present in every aspect of society. Black people are treated as a homogenous group. Whites get treated as individuals.
The exploitation of black slave labor built this country. The US would not have achieved its economic might without it. US capitalism was birthed on the backs of slaves.
Black slaves were more valuable than white and indian labor because exploitation of them was easier and cheaper.
A more revelent question is how would blacks in the US been had they been treated like human being instead of cattle or if their social and family structures had been valued and recognized.
Anyway- we got a black President and a sista as a First Lady..bitches!
White people can keep the peanut butter and George Bush.
53
"Black slaves were more valuable than white and indian labor because exploitation of them was easier"
And just why do you think they were easier to exploit?
No other race ever allowed themselves to be enslaved for hundreds of years like blacks did. Every other enslaved race fought and won their freedom. Thus, blacks are wimps. Also, blame the black Africans who enslaved other blacks in the first place.
Guess what? Black slavery still exists. Guess where? Almost every country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Guess who enslaves them? Other blacks.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?repo…
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-pla…
http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/reso…
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?repo…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/409157…
etc. etc. etc. Clean up your own house before blaming others for the mess you made in the first place.
And just why do you think they were easier to exploit?
No other race ever allowed themselves to be enslaved for hundreds of years like blacks did. Every other enslaved race fought and won their freedom. Thus, blacks are wimps. Also, blame the black Africans who enslaved other blacks in the first place.
Guess what? Black slavery still exists. Guess where? Almost every country in Sub-Saharan Africa. Guess who enslaves them? Other blacks.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?repo…
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-pla…
http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/reso…
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?repo…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/409157…
etc. etc. etc. Clean up your own house before blaming others for the mess you made in the first place.
54
"Anyway- we got a black President and a sista as a First Lady..bitches!"
And tons of white people like myself voted them in. So, ahem, stop talking about white people like they're racists, when it's pretty obvious that's not the case.
Also, try not to ruin the remainder of your comment with grammatically goofy header like this: "FACT: Racist are stupid", Only to follow up with racist assumptions about white people. It makes you look racist and stupid. I get the impression you're the counterpart to all the rednecks we abhor around here... And, in fact, you probably are. Way to go!
"Race is a social construction used to justify the social inqualites present in every aspect of society."
Then shut up, get a dictionary, and fix those 'inqualities' instead of ranting about them to the same people who have been fixing them for you for years. Most of us are tired of being blamed for shit we're not doing.
'Sista'... pshhhhhh!
And tons of white people like myself voted them in. So, ahem, stop talking about white people like they're racists, when it's pretty obvious that's not the case.
Also, try not to ruin the remainder of your comment with grammatically goofy header like this: "FACT: Racist are stupid", Only to follow up with racist assumptions about white people. It makes you look racist and stupid. I get the impression you're the counterpart to all the rednecks we abhor around here... And, in fact, you probably are. Way to go!
"Race is a social construction used to justify the social inqualites present in every aspect of society."
Then shut up, get a dictionary, and fix those 'inqualities' instead of ranting about them to the same people who have been fixing them for you for years. Most of us are tired of being blamed for shit we're not doing.
'Sista'... pshhhhhh!
55
The recent argument is that “race” doesn’t really exist, that it’s only a “social construct.” Now even that defense of egalitarianism, an increasingly common one, is starting to shrivel.
But the shriveling isn’t happening without a good deal of last-ditch egalitarian resistance. On April 17th 1997, The Washington Post reported in a front page story that archaeologists have now found remains of quite a few prehistoric pilgrims to North America whose skeletons are – well – “Caucasoid”. This is a problem for two reasons.
In the first place, as everyone who has seen the Eisner version of “Pocahontas” knows, Caucasians were invaders who stole the country from the “First Americans”– namely the North American Indians, who, as Post staff writer Boyce Rensberger put it, “all resembled today’s Asiatic peoples, popularly called Mongoloids.” (Popularly? When was the last time you heard someone in a bar referring to Asians or Orientals as Mongoloids?) If the “First Americans” or “Native Americans” were really Caucasian, then maybe Mr. Eisner will have to remake his movie and a lot of textbooks will have to be rewritten.
First, how could scientists tell the skeletons were Caucasian rather than Mongoloid? Identification, says the Post story, was “based on a scientific technique called craniofacial morphometric analysis. It involves detailed study of the shape of the skull and face, using a sophisticated method called multivariate analysis. In some cases, more than 60 different dimensions of a skull are measured and compared with comparable dimensions considered typical of specific racial groups.”
But if race doesn’t really exist, if it’s just a “social construct,” how can you identify the race of a skeleton? Mr. Rensberger (or his editors at Egalitarian HQ) tried to handle the difficulty manfully and sensitively. Here is their solution:
“Most anthropologists agree that races, as most people use the term, are socially defined groupings with no scientific definition. No physical traits are exclusively the property of one race or another. Still, anthropologists agree that certain combinations of measurements, chiefly of the face and skull, can be used to determine whether individuals belong to one population [!] or another. This is true primarily for groups [!!] that have been separated geographically for thousands of years.”
Now in the first place, the above paragraph has nothing to do with the news content of the story. It is inserted purely for ideological instruction, to let readers know that the Post has not signed up with the Bell Curve boys who believe that race might really exist after all. Back in the good old days of the Soviet Union, Pravda probably had lots of paragraphs just like it. But in the second place, whether Mr. Rensberger or his editors realize it or not, they have just told their readers that race really does exist. It exists, not as a social construct or as “socially defined,” but as an objective fact of nature.
More...
But the shriveling isn’t happening without a good deal of last-ditch egalitarian resistance. On April 17th 1997, The Washington Post reported in a front page story that archaeologists have now found remains of quite a few prehistoric pilgrims to North America whose skeletons are – well – “Caucasoid”. This is a problem for two reasons.
In the first place, as everyone who has seen the Eisner version of “Pocahontas” knows, Caucasians were invaders who stole the country from the “First Americans”– namely the North American Indians, who, as Post staff writer Boyce Rensberger put it, “all resembled today’s Asiatic peoples, popularly called Mongoloids.” (Popularly? When was the last time you heard someone in a bar referring to Asians or Orientals as Mongoloids?) If the “First Americans” or “Native Americans” were really Caucasian, then maybe Mr. Eisner will have to remake his movie and a lot of textbooks will have to be rewritten.
First, how could scientists tell the skeletons were Caucasian rather than Mongoloid? Identification, says the Post story, was “based on a scientific technique called craniofacial morphometric analysis. It involves detailed study of the shape of the skull and face, using a sophisticated method called multivariate analysis. In some cases, more than 60 different dimensions of a skull are measured and compared with comparable dimensions considered typical of specific racial groups.”
But if race doesn’t really exist, if it’s just a “social construct,” how can you identify the race of a skeleton? Mr. Rensberger (or his editors at Egalitarian HQ) tried to handle the difficulty manfully and sensitively. Here is their solution:
“Most anthropologists agree that races, as most people use the term, are socially defined groupings with no scientific definition. No physical traits are exclusively the property of one race or another. Still, anthropologists agree that certain combinations of measurements, chiefly of the face and skull, can be used to determine whether individuals belong to one population [!] or another. This is true primarily for groups [!!] that have been separated geographically for thousands of years.”
Now in the first place, the above paragraph has nothing to do with the news content of the story. It is inserted purely for ideological instruction, to let readers know that the Post has not signed up with the Bell Curve boys who believe that race might really exist after all. Back in the good old days of the Soviet Union, Pravda probably had lots of paragraphs just like it. But in the second place, whether Mr. Rensberger or his editors realize it or not, they have just told their readers that race really does exist. It exists, not as a social construct or as “socially defined,” but as an objective fact of nature.
56
Oh, it's a "social construct" alright, that's why so many diseases and pharmaceutical companies specifically target one special "social construct"...
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-women/200…
Why Your Race Matters to Your Health
October 01, 2008 01:23 PM ET | Deborah Kotz |
Corrected on 10/02/08: An earlier version of this blog post incorrectly identified the journal where a study was published; it should be the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. It also incorrectly stated that Algeria is part of the Bight of Biafra region.
Focusing on someone's race or ethnicity, whether in politics or social settings, is widely frowned upon these days—a very good thing. In medicine, though, your ethnic background can play a crucial role in determining certain health risks. Because of my and my husband's eastern European-Jewish background, for instance, I was warned that we had an increased likelihood of giving birth to a baby with the deadly Tay-Sachs disease, which led us to get genetic screening. (Luckily, we weren't carriers.)
Sometimes, ethnic differences can pose risks for a couple. I was quite surprised by a new finding showing that Asian women married to white men had a 30 percent higher rate of cesarean sections compared with Asian or white couples and white women married to Asian men. The researchers gave a plausible reason why: Previous studies have shown that the average Asian woman's pelvis is smaller than the average white woman's and thus less able to accommodate babies of a certain size. "We're certainly not concluding that these women always need C-sections," says study coauthor Yasser El-Sayed, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Stanford University Medical Center. But he would be less likely to allow a prolonged labor to continue for hours in such women because a vaginal delivery would be very unlikely.
The study, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, also found that pregnant women who were part of an Asian-white couple had a higher rate of gestational diabetes than those who were part of a white-white couple, a nearly 4 percent risk compared to a 1.6 percent risk for white couples. Asian couples, known to have higher rates of diabetes, had nearly a 6 percent risk. What's intriguing is that white women married to Asian men also had higher rates of gestational diabetes compared with those married to white men, possibly due to a genetic characteristic in the fetus that triggers some sort of interaction with the mother. "It could be that these women should be screened in the first trimester for gestational diabetes instead of waiting until 24 to 28 weeks, but we'll need additional studies before we know that for certain," says El-Sayed.
Ethnicity—rather than race—may also be a factor when it comes to other diseases. Researchers are now studying breast cancer in African-American women to see whether genetic differences exist among groups hailing from different areas of Africa. Those who descended from slaves captured from the Bight of Biafra region (East Nigeria, West Cameroon), for instance have an increased risk of developing a particularly aggressive form of inflammatory breast cancer that often strikes in a woman's 20s or 30s. Other African-American women have a somewhat lower incidence of breast cancer compared with white women, though they still have higher death rates due to later diagnoses and less access to state-of-the-art treatments. Studies are also examining breast cancer differences among Asian women. There are more than 65 subethnic groups that have varying incidences of breast cancer, points out California State University researcher Sora Park Tanjasiri, who spoke at a Susan G. Komen breast cancer conference I attended two years ago.
More research certainly is warranted, but one thing is for certain. While it's great to be colorblind at cocktail parties and at the ballot box, women and their doctors should be talking about race and ethnicity.
More...
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-women/200…
Why Your Race Matters to Your Health
October 01, 2008 01:23 PM ET | Deborah Kotz |
Corrected on 10/02/08: An earlier version of this blog post incorrectly identified the journal where a study was published; it should be the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. It also incorrectly stated that Algeria is part of the Bight of Biafra region.
Focusing on someone's race or ethnicity, whether in politics or social settings, is widely frowned upon these days—a very good thing. In medicine, though, your ethnic background can play a crucial role in determining certain health risks. Because of my and my husband's eastern European-Jewish background, for instance, I was warned that we had an increased likelihood of giving birth to a baby with the deadly Tay-Sachs disease, which led us to get genetic screening. (Luckily, we weren't carriers.)
Sometimes, ethnic differences can pose risks for a couple. I was quite surprised by a new finding showing that Asian women married to white men had a 30 percent higher rate of cesarean sections compared with Asian or white couples and white women married to Asian men. The researchers gave a plausible reason why: Previous studies have shown that the average Asian woman's pelvis is smaller than the average white woman's and thus less able to accommodate babies of a certain size. "We're certainly not concluding that these women always need C-sections," says study coauthor Yasser El-Sayed, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Stanford University Medical Center. But he would be less likely to allow a prolonged labor to continue for hours in such women because a vaginal delivery would be very unlikely.
The study, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, also found that pregnant women who were part of an Asian-white couple had a higher rate of gestational diabetes than those who were part of a white-white couple, a nearly 4 percent risk compared to a 1.6 percent risk for white couples. Asian couples, known to have higher rates of diabetes, had nearly a 6 percent risk. What's intriguing is that white women married to Asian men also had higher rates of gestational diabetes compared with those married to white men, possibly due to a genetic characteristic in the fetus that triggers some sort of interaction with the mother. "It could be that these women should be screened in the first trimester for gestational diabetes instead of waiting until 24 to 28 weeks, but we'll need additional studies before we know that for certain," says El-Sayed.
Ethnicity—rather than race—may also be a factor when it comes to other diseases. Researchers are now studying breast cancer in African-American women to see whether genetic differences exist among groups hailing from different areas of Africa. Those who descended from slaves captured from the Bight of Biafra region (East Nigeria, West Cameroon), for instance have an increased risk of developing a particularly aggressive form of inflammatory breast cancer that often strikes in a woman's 20s or 30s. Other African-American women have a somewhat lower incidence of breast cancer compared with white women, though they still have higher death rates due to later diagnoses and less access to state-of-the-art treatments. Studies are also examining breast cancer differences among Asian women. There are more than 65 subethnic groups that have varying incidences of breast cancer, points out California State University researcher Sora Park Tanjasiri, who spoke at a Susan G. Komen breast cancer conference I attended two years ago.
More research certainly is warranted, but one thing is for certain. While it's great to be colorblind at cocktail parties and at the ballot box, women and their doctors should be talking about race and ethnicity.
57
all my ideas in this post came from here: http://worldhistoryconnected.press.uiuc.…
it's a much older book.
as for the continuum between jazz and hiphop, it is weak. it's more productive to think of a break existing between the two rather than a continuum.
social constructs and biology must not be separated. every important theory in science has arrived at, or is moving toward, that conclusion.
it's a much older book.
as for the continuum between jazz and hiphop, it is weak. it's more productive to think of a break existing between the two rather than a continuum.
social constructs and biology must not be separated. every important theory in science has arrived at, or is moving toward, that conclusion.
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