people I respect(ed)

There are people I normally respect who have said, recently, that John Derbyshire did nothing wrong in writing what he wrote (see here). Derb's basic argument is that one should judge black people one doesn't know based on statistics. What's ironic is that these supporters of Derbyshire are conservative, and conservatives are usually the ones who talk in terms of people, not systems-- individuals, not statistics. Racism is an example of negatively judging an individual based on what one thinks one knows about the group to which that individual belongs. All prejudicial "-ism"s stink of this same trait, and deny the individual any benefit of the doubt-- a point being missed again and again by Derb's obtuse defenders. What I find ironic about this particular school of thought is the fear that underlies it: I thought there was no room for fear or cowardice in an ethos of rugged individualism. Perhaps I was wrong.


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