Lets talk Jimmy the Greek

[hepcat]

So this "Nick Goings is white?" thread has got me thinking. Not so much about the whole black people being athletically superior to white people for whatever reason, but why it seems to be such a taboo subject. If you even mention the IDEA that one race is superior to another in ANYTHING you get called a racist immediately. I'm a fan of Immanuel Kant, who few of the people who will comment on my thoughts have heard of. Humans are immature in their thoughts, and today this notion is still very much alive and well. We struggle in our society still to combat the idea of racism. But what is racism? It seems like even mentioning the idea of race will get you called a racist. This to me is a direct cause of ignorance and perpetuating old ideals from the civil rights era. This is a new generation, and while racism is still alive and well, are we not mature enough in our thoughts yet to discuss race without it being racist? Immanuel Kant would say no, because 95% of this discussion will end up with me being called a racist. Being well read in philosophy and writers of the enlightenment shows humans must not be misinformed to gain a clear view of anything, and to properly gain a clear view, one must understand all sides of a point. I understand the other side of my point, that it is taboo because people are still too immature in their thoughts to discuss the idea that black people might be genetically superior to whites in athletics so they don't appear to be racist. Frankly, if you are just some hothead who got offended by what I said for whatever reason, I don't want to hear from you. If you *disagree* and have something insightful to say that isn't ignorant or just calling me a racist, say it. Combat my thoughts with facts. But I know, it's hard for low level thinkers to determine what is ignorant and what is not, especially in a football forum.

So who disagrees that selective breeding done during slavery contributed to blacks being better athletes than whites? Lets get to the bottom of it.

There's a book coming out very soon on this subject:
http://www.southendpress.org/2007/items/87781

In 1808, slave imports from Africa were outlawed. And in the 50+ years that followed before emancipation, domestic slave trade grew exponentially. What were the results?

This forum had an excellent discussion on this very topic.
http://civilwartalk.com/forums/civil...fiction-2.html

[jangler]

This will be the only time I'm in this thread. I'm sick of the bullshit surrounding race and who's better, smarter, faster.





Have fun...

[hepcat]

Originally Posted by jangler

This will be the only time I'm in this thread. I'm sick of the bullshit surrounding race and who's better, smarter, faster.





Have fun...

This thread is just as much, if not more about why people have such a hard time disussing race. I'm not as much concerned about WHY who's better/smarter/faster, but why we can't talk about it? I feel like something has to change in our society to free thought. We are not living in a free society if we cannot discuss facts without being castrated. This is not a racist idea, it is a discussion of history. Those who can't see that are ignorant.

[rodeo]

i think it's probably cultural more than anything. there is more poverty among the black population, so more emphasis on making it big as an entertainer or athlete. that's not a big emphasis in white america.

for an example of cultural influence breeding better athletes, look at jamaica's track stars. track is the national sport of jamaica, they spare no expense on their training and they dominate. but where are their basketball team? did they even qualify for the olympics?

that's not because jamaicans are bad at basketball, but because their culture doesn't emphasize it.

though i still can't explain why white people can't play cornerback.

[Dawg]

I've always wondered the same thing. One time on here I made the observation that black people don't listen to AM radio nearly as much as white people do. Yes, it was based on limited experience (driving the players to appearances and knowing several white people who do nothing but listen to Rush on AM all day long). But it's not like I was saying "black people are too this or too that to listen to AM radio." I was just making an observation. People were calling me racist on here for two months after that.

We all like to pretend that we've got a handle on race in this country. Then we go to an all-white or all-black environment, someone makes a crack about the other race, and everyone laughs.

To me, racism is simply defined as the belief that one race is superior to another. Period. A lot of the stuff KK throws on the wall down here, hoping it will stick, is not even close to racism. But throwing that charge at white people is like throwing the charge at men that they don't really respect women. We've seen it before in your kind, therefore you must be guilty by association if nothing else.

[dksmith17]

You should of just retitled this thread "let me attempt to pull my foot from mouth thread."

BTW that book that article did not mention anything about slavery affecting running backs ability in the NFL. IDK why that got confused.

some things are better left unsaid. truth or no truth

jus sayin

[DinGo_Ate_Baby]

combination of both genetics and social upbringing.

[dbulls874]

Originally Posted by rodeo

i think it's probably cultural more than anything. there is more poverty among the black population, so more emphasis on making it big as an entertainer or athlete. that's not a big emphasis in white america.

i agree with culture influencing a person's affinity for a certain sport...but if poverty drives players to the nfl, then how come 70 percent of the league is black? according to the census, there are four times as many white households in the lowest quintile of income than black households in the united states.

and in the article that originally sparked this topic on the other thread, jemele hill quotes someone asking why it's racist to say blacks are superior athletically, but not racist to say blacks are poor. My guess is that it's terminology. anytime you throw the words "superior" or "inferior" into a conversation about race, people start race-baiting and pretend to be offended. instead of considering the possibility that it's true that blacks are superior athletically, to protect ourselves from the stigma of racism, we look for other possible explanations for the nfl being 70 percent black.

I had a high school math teacher who also happened to be the track coach, and in a statistics class he pointed out to us that for many years, the U.S. Olympic sprinting team was comprised entirely of blacks. Given the general population of the U.S., he had us calculate the odds of that trend occurring if the teams had been assembled randomly from the U.S. population, with ethnic demographics distributed proportionately. The odds were infinitesimal. His explanation, based on something he told us he'd read, was that in the continent of Africa you find the highest standard deviations in most physical characteristics of anywhere. For example, the fastest person in Africa is faster than the fastest person anywhere else, and the slowest person in Africa is the slowest in the world. They have the tallest (the Dinkas?) and the shortest (the pygmies), the strongest and the weakest.
Taken on average, Africans are not significantly different from anywhere else. But in sports, average does not come into play, nor does the low end of the spectrum. The best are the ones who become famous. If there was a league comprised of the country's worst football players, it might be 70 percent, too.

I only started the thread about Nick Goings because I'm a diehard panthers fan and my ego was a little hurt to find out that I didn't know a fairly obvious (albeit mundane) detail about a player who's been on the team for years. But I do enjoy the discussion that's sprung from it.

Also, I hope our tackles are OK for Kansas City.