Jared Diamond wrote a book that gives his explanation for the developmental disparity of the world’s civilizations. The book is Guns, Germs, and Steel. The fates of Human Societies. In the preface to the paperback edition Professor Diamond writes:
“Why did history unfold differently on different continents? In case this question immediately makes you shudder at the thought that you are about to read a racist treatise, you aren’t.”
Yes you are.
Prof. Diamond writes that one claimed explanation for the developmental disparity was the supposed innate intellectual superiority of Europeans. Professor Diamond calls that explanation “loathsome“ and “racist.” On the same page though Professor Diamond writes that,
“Why did history unfold differently on different continents? In case this question immediately makes you shudder at the thought that you are about to read a racist treatise, you aren’t.”
Yes you are.
Prof. Diamond writes that one claimed explanation for the developmental disparity was the supposed innate intellectual superiority of Europeans. Professor Diamond calls that explanation “loathsome“ and “racist.” On the same page though Professor Diamond writes that,
..."modern ‘Stone Age’ peoples are on the average probably more intelligent…than industrialized peoples.”
A few pages later Prof. Diamond writes ,
A few pages later Prof. Diamond writes ,
"That is, in mental ability New Guineans are probably genetically superior to Westerners…”
(Only a man of inferior intelligence would think that he could get away with convincing others that he was not suffering from male pattern baldness by combing his hair horizontally over his male pattern bald spot. In deep analytical mode the true essence of Professor Diamond is revealed through discovery of his family coat of arms, top image, thus proving his point of the intellectual inferiority of those who comb their hair over their male pattern bald spot.)
Obviously, that is a racist explanation. Also, to make contradictory statements like these is poor writing. The book won the Pulitzer in 1996.
Prof. Diamond continues in like vein:
“…New Guineans, they impressed me as being on the average more intelligent…than the average European or American.”
“…my impression that New Guineans are smarter than Westerners may be correct.”
Prof. Diamond believes that one explanation for New Guinean intellectual superiority is because,
“Modern European and American children spend much of their time being passively entertained by television, radio, and movies,” obstacles to intellectual development that are not as widespread in Papua New Guinea.
That is not the argument of a highly intelligent person. Prof. Diamond won a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant.
This is scholarship a la mode. Only an American academic could get away with writing a book making the racist claim that Papua New Guineans are genetically superior to Westerners.
Only in America could the author of such a book win the country’s most prestigious prize in literature.
Writing about race is safe in America when it casts white people in negative terms. The cover of Prof. Diamond’s book shows a conquistador grabbing a recoiling native while other natives cower in the background protecting their children. Racism is acceptable in America when it is directed against white people. Imagine a book cover showing a photograph of an African-American man violently grabbing a blonde Caucasian woman.
The proposition of Guns, Germs and Steel is embarrassingly argued; it is almost a parody of those who would write it and those who read it and issue forth praise. The effort is at the level of a college freshman hurrying to complete a paper before the Christmas break. It is truly surprising that well-educated people can overlook all of this even considering their receptivity to the message.
I wish that less emphasis was given to intelligence in our discourse and thinking. For some people that is the most important of a person’s--or a civilization’s--attributes. I don’t think it is. I think goodness is. In my own admittedly personal experience I can find no correlation between intelligence and goodness. Some very intelligent people are mean. Some are also unwise. Intelligence and wisdom are not the same.
I am glad that I was born in the western hemisphere. I am glad that I was born in the northern hemisphere too. I’m glad that I’m Caucasian. And male. And I’m proud of the accomplishments of my race, gender, and culture. But I can’t make the case that “our” accomplishments have produced a people who have more goodness than other peoples. Not with Hitler. I am also fortunate to have been born an American and I think one can make the case that American society has more goodness than any other, now or in the past. I am Benjamin Harris.
public occurrences
That is not the argument of a highly intelligent person. Prof. Diamond won a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant.
This is scholarship a la mode. Only an American academic could get away with writing a book making the racist claim that Papua New Guineans are genetically superior to Westerners.
Only in America could the author of such a book win the country’s most prestigious prize in literature.
Writing about race is safe in America when it casts white people in negative terms. The cover of Prof. Diamond’s book shows a conquistador grabbing a recoiling native while other natives cower in the background protecting their children. Racism is acceptable in America when it is directed against white people. Imagine a book cover showing a photograph of an African-American man violently grabbing a blonde Caucasian woman.
The proposition of Guns, Germs and Steel is embarrassingly argued; it is almost a parody of those who would write it and those who read it and issue forth praise. The effort is at the level of a college freshman hurrying to complete a paper before the Christmas break. It is truly surprising that well-educated people can overlook all of this even considering their receptivity to the message.
I wish that less emphasis was given to intelligence in our discourse and thinking. For some people that is the most important of a person’s--or a civilization’s--attributes. I don’t think it is. I think goodness is. In my own admittedly personal experience I can find no correlation between intelligence and goodness. Some very intelligent people are mean. Some are also unwise. Intelligence and wisdom are not the same.
I am glad that I was born in the western hemisphere. I am glad that I was born in the northern hemisphere too. I’m glad that I’m Caucasian. And male. And I’m proud of the accomplishments of my race, gender, and culture. But I can’t make the case that “our” accomplishments have produced a people who have more goodness than other peoples. Not with Hitler. I am also fortunate to have been born an American and I think one can make the case that American society has more goodness than any other, now or in the past. I am Benjamin Harris.
public occurrences
