We’re Different
People are different. The genders, tribes, and races of Man are neither homogeneous nor necessarily equal, especially when it comes to cognitive ability and the capacity for decision making. No matter how often the Liberals scream otherwise, you cannot change the fact that we’re not the same in our ability to think.
I’m an American, an American born of Americans whose family has been in the United States for long time. I obviously would make different, and probably better, decisions concerning anything American than a foreigner or the spawn of foreigners would.
I’m also White and male and so was raised to be an American White Male. That means I was raised to think, to evaluate, to decide things, and to shape the course of my own life and guide the lives of those women and children who are beholden to me for support and protection. That’s a totally different upbringing than that of women, of foreigners from radically different cultures, and of many of the minorities – Blacks and Hispanics – in America who were never raised with the same cultural tools and expectations.
And the above doesn’t even take into account the basic physiological differences between the genders and races of Man. We evolved in different ways due to environmental stresses. It’s just not logical to believe that people of middle or upper class White population would choose mates based upon the same criteria as Blacks, Hispanics, Arabs, or Asians would. The natural selection process guarantees that that, over the course of just a comparably few generations, differences would arise based upon those reproductive choices and decisions as to what were survival traits.
One only has to look at the education, employment, and income demographics to see what the various races and the genders evolved towards over time. It is far more likely that decisions made by those who bred for intelligence are going to better than those made by scions of groups who evolved for physical strength and endurance.
These are the fact of our existence. There little reason to discount them and less to abhor them.
At this point many of my regular guests are probably shocked by my diatribe. Others who’ve just found this blog by accident are probably ready to lynch me for being all manners of a bigot.
My apologies to my regular readers. Trust me though; I’m only trying to make a point as you will see below.
To those of you who are readily to vilify me, at the very least, as a sexist, racist, classist, and rabid nationalist I have to say that I would agree with you assessment of whomsoever espoused such villainous and anti-American – Hell! Anti-Human – sentiments in all seriousness
Thankfully for my opinion of my self, they’re not my sentiments. I’ve only interpolated the basis of someone else’s sentiments
The rather vile ideas expressed above were presented in wordy and less than felicitous style. They can be, and have been, so much more eloquently stated by someone who considers herself quite wise.
Whether born from experience or inherent physiological or cultural differences, a possibility I abhor less or discount less than my colleague Judge Cedarbaum, our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging.
— Judge Sotomayor
2001 Speech, UC Berkeley, School of Law
All I did was flesh out Sotomayor’s statement in an un-nuanced, though less eloquent, manner while spinning it around 180 degrees from Sotomayor’s perspective of relative values of the races and genders. So, if you have a problem with what I wrote, I would think you would have a similar problem with what Sotomayor said to an auditorium full of attorneys and law students.
Nice pick for the SCOTUS, President Obama. Who’s your fallback nominee, Al Sharpton?
Remember the old adage about detecting prejudice and bigotry? Just replace Black for White? Well it has to work in all pertinent directions or it’s a worthless measurement. Of course I doubt that most Liberals see it that way…
Tags: Blacks | Classism | Hispanics | Law | Obama | Politics | Prejudice | Racism | Sexism | Society | Sotomayor | The Constitution | US Supreme Court
July 8th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
*headdesk* nope, the stoopid does not go away, no matter how hard i do it.
look, sotomayor said the obvious: our upbringing and culture influence the way we see the world. try denying it. try telling me that a Bedouin tribesman sees the world exactly the same way you do. she did not say that some races, genders or cultures are better than others. interesting that that’s what you think she said, though.
July 8th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Try hitting your head much harder, Personal Failure. The stupidity of what passes for modern Liberalism take a lot more cranial trauma just just a bruise to be rid of. 😉
Firstly – I see you’re choosing to completely ignore the “physiological differences” part of Sotomayor’s comment. Hoping that part would be forgotten?
Secondly – Context is important. This is the same speech in which she made the “Wise Latina” comment. Indeed that comment immediately follows the one cited here. That adds a value judgment to her views. Therefor, it’s obvious that Sotomayor does, in fact, say that one group, American White Men, make worse decisions than others. Interesting (not really; it’s too predictable) that you don’t see it that way.
Thirdly – her lack of abhorrence for the idea of allowing racial, cultural, or gender-based preconceptions and agendas to affect a judge’s rulings or decisions is disgusting.
As I said, I’m a Heterosexual, American-born, White Male. How would you respond to those same words coming out of my mouth?
July 8th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I hate to say it, but you put exactly the same spin on Sotomayor’s comment as you attacked yesterday about Palin’s comment. Next, once again you bundle all liberals into a single pot. Are you implying that all conservatives can be bundled similarly?
What you wrote and what you referenced may have some similarities, but they are choice similarities. From that sentance I can draw countless different similar points of views, many of which would be polar opposites to what you wrote.
… at this point, I think stolen is more or less a given.
July 8th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
How is it the the same, zhann? I’m not quite denying that it is so, but I don’t see the connection between the ideas behind the two posts. I’d be interested in you viewpoint, since I admit to a generally Conservative bias.
As for the “choice similarities” – that was deliberate and for the purpose of showing what Liberals and minorities would read into exactly the same statement if it had been made by an American White Man.
…And, of course one has to read this in context of all the various things that Sotomayor has done during her life, from pushing for “active balancing” of the races of students in college through her ruling in Ricci.
Oh, and on some issues it’s fairly safe to lump all Liberals together in one pot (a particularly pleasant fantasy BTW) just as on some issues it’s fairly safe to lump all Conservatives the same way. That’s not on all issues, however; there is a range of specific opinions in both groups.
July 9th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Spin is spin, regardless of how you look at it, as far as I’m concerned. While it is obvious that mainstream media has more of an audience than you do, that doesn’t take away from the manner in which speech is spun. Let me try this another way …
The bashing of Sarah Palin is common among the liberal media outlets. Their job is to find a sentence or phrase that she said and concentrate on that specifically. By picking out a specific phrase and using it out of context it is very easy to push it in any direction they want, such as the “if I die” comment. Looking at it as a standalone phrase it is very easy to pick apart … but, you already know that.
What you did isn’t that much different. You took a phrase that was uttered by Sotomayer and concentrated on that specifically, labeling her as a racist. Now, maybe she is a racist, or maybe not … but, making that type of statement based solely on a single phrase (or even group of phrases) can be done to absolutely anyone. I guarantee that if I try hard enough I will find countless racists comments by former President Bush regarding Mexicans. If I string them together, I can paint Bush as an extreme racist.
Of course, when people are regularly making racists statements, regardless of context, they are racist. I just think it is unfair that you have labeled Sotomayer as a racist on this phrase alone. Again, she may be a racist, but of what I have read about her she seems intelligent … at least as intelligent as most others.
Last thing, if we begin analyzing ‘any’ political figure, ANY, we will be able to find that they are racists, liers, criminals, frauds … you name it. ALL OF THEM ARE. Singling out a single one of them is a meaningless task. Of course, the president of any country deserves extreme criticism, but otherwise it is simply a case of opinion as far as I’m concerned.
… But, thats just my opinion
July 10th, 2009 at 10:01 am
OK, zhann. Having explained you point, I have to agree that under those criteria the two things are quite similar.
Of course, to me it seems that Sotomayor has, in fact, repeated made similar comments and repeatedly taken actions that I would consider racist under the proper definition of the word “racism.” But I didn’t add that background information to this post which may have been a mistake and an oversight.
Thank you for pointing that out.
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