Re: racism pollutes the extropian list

Damien Broderick (damien@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)
Wed, 02 Jun 1999 12:22:37 +0000

At 06:55 PM 1/06/99 +0200, den Otter wrote, quoting James Rogers:

>> Actually, I think you misread the intent of the quote. This particular
>> quote is often used as an ironic example of historical revisionism or
>> perhaps cultural license. [ snip ] The only racism implied would
>> be that of Lincoln.

>Exactly, that was the point of the "sig". It was a (tongue-in-cheek)
>response to someone else's Lincoln sig, namely:

>> "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."
>-Lincoln

Yeah, right.

There's a context here, which the archives show plainly enough. In July 97, someone suggested that genetic engineering might permit people to alter skin colour and other `racial' characteristics.

>> There is a real possibility of an entire generation of
>>whites with black parents, followed by a "brownlash" (couldn't resist
>> the pun) as color becomes chic.

Here's what Mr den Otter posted in response:

>Underneath that aryan exterior there still
>will be a negro soul...people will still hate eachother, just not at first
>glance. The change of skin won't solve the problems of unevenly distributed
>intelligence (in the broadest sense of the word), the real cause for
>racism.

No, I don't wish to start a flamewar - just to register my revulsion at this sort of nonsense emerging again on a list that should surely find talk of a `negro soul' (in this demeaning sense) abominable.

But if Mr den Otter has changed his views completely in the meantime, and really was just being playful, I withdraw my remark.

Damien Broderick