History & Culture

From an excellent review of How to Be an Antiracist by Coleman Hughes:

“Capitalism is essentially racist,” Kendi proclaims, and “racism is essentially capitalist.” To test this claim, a careful thinker might compare racism in capitalist countries with racism in socialist/Communist ones; or he might compare racism in the private sector with racism in the public sector. Kendi does neither. Instead, he presents the link between capitalism and racism as self-evidently true: “Since the dawn of racial capitalism, when were markets level playing fields? . . . . When could Black people compete equally with White people?” Kendi asks, implying that the answer is “never.”

I can think of several historical examples in which capitalism inspired anti-racism. The most famous is the Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case, when a profit-hungry railroad company––upset that legally mandated segregation meant adding costly train cars––teamed up with a civil rights group to challenge racial segregation. Nor was that case unique. Privately owned bus and trolley companies in the Jim Crow South “frequently resisted segregation” because “separate cars and sections” were “too expensive,” according to one scholarly paper on the subject.

A lesser known example is the South African housing market under Apartheid. Though landlords in whites-only areas were legally barred from renting to nonwhites, vacancies made discrimination against non-white tenants costly. As a result, white landlords often ignored the law. In his book South Africa’s War on Capitalism, economist Walter Williams notes that at least one “whites-only” district was in fact comprised of a majority of nonwhites.

History offers little evidence that capitalism is either inherently racist or antiracist. As a result, Kendi must resort to cherry-picking data to demonstrate a link. Citing a Pew article, he asserts that the “Black unemployment rate has been at least twice as high as the White unemployment rate for the last fifty years” because of the “conjoined twins” of racism and capitalism. But why limit the analysis to the past 50 years? A paper cited in the same Pew article reveals that the black-white unemployment gap was “small or nonexistent before 1940,” when America was arguably more capitalist—and certainly more racist. [“How to Be an Anti-Intellectual,” City Journal]

The entire review is a recommended read.

Laissez-faire Capitalism, defined as the social system based on the principle of individual rights, is in fact the social system that defangs racism by legally banning the initiation of physical force from all relationships.

See Andrew Bernstein’s America: A Racist Nation? and Leftist Supremacy, Not White Supremacy, is the Gravest Threat to Black Lives.

“George Washington, “father of his country,” led the Continental Army to victory in the American Revolutionary War, presided over the Constitutional Convention, and served honorably as the nation’s first president, setting the gold standard for leaders worldwide.”

“Animated by the anti-reason ideas of Immanuel Kant and G.W.F Hegel, Karl Marx preached a philosophy of class warfare and violent revolution. He promised a socialist utopia that would end poverty, inequality, and exploitation. Yet, between 1917 and 1989, Marxist regimes killed roughly 100 million people—and tortured, starved, exiled, and enslaved millions more. After being exposed as a thoroughly anti-life ideology, Marxism changed its skin. Today, eerily, the ghost of Marx still lurks.”

Philosopher Aaron Briley at OSI has a fantastic interview with Nick Pilgrim, author of Black Culture Matters: Why It’s Time to Stop Pretending That Racism Is the Problem, about the racial achievement gap, destructive elements of black inner-city culture, and what can be done to enrich black culture.

Just bought Pilgrim’s book on Amazon after listening.

Comedian JP Sears on why applying the principles underlying COVID-lockdowns to car driving.

“What it’s like living in California now is a little bit significantly different than seven months ago. California, now officially the world’s largest prison has the industries of homelessness and lockdowns to bolster its economy. Along with the highest tax rate in the nation, businesses being shutdown is another fantastic strategy that’s sure to improve the economy. Gavin Newsom, Mayor Garcetti, and Nancy Pelosi are spear heading the charge to help make California the zombie apocalypse capital of the world.” –   Comedian JP Sears

Philosopher Aaron Briley at TOS remarks on America’s race fixation in “We Can’t Fight Racism by Engaging in Racism“:

The desire not to be viewed as racist is prompting people to fixate on race—even though doing so harms all involved.

In the current climate, the mere appearance of being racist can cost a person dearly. People who are presumed to be racist can be and often are fired from their jobs, banned from social media, even subjected to death threats. The upshot: Instead of being rationally color-blind, people and institutions are putting undue focus on race. That is, instead of judging people not by “the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” they are doing just the opposite. They are judging people by the color of their skin—and acting accordingly—in order to not appear racist.

Of course, judging people differently because of the color of their skin is the very essence of racism. And such patent racism is sweeping through our institutions.

[…]

Consider an increasingly popular policy regarding minority criminal suspects: More and more, police departments are omitting race when describing suspects, especially black suspects, even when divulging it clearly would help to ensure public safety.

***

An illustration of this “color-washing” is CNN’s report of black children slaughtered over the July 4th, 2020 holiday weekend, titled “At least 6 children were killed by gun violence across the nation this holiday weekend.” Apparently, according to CNN, a bunch of guns decided all on there own to go celebrate independence day by causing some violence. (Obviously, guns are inanimate objects, that had nothing to do in causing the violence, as only human beings possess free-will.)

From the CNN article:

At least six children were killed in shootings across the country over the holiday weekend, sparking calls from officials to end the gun violence plaguing their communities. The children, ages 6 to 14, were all shot and killed while doing everyday things — riding in mom’s car, walking in a mall, and playing in a yard with their cousins. [ “At least 6 children were killed by gun violence across the nation this holiday weekend“]

In every case, where a description is available the perpetrator is black, though you would not know this from the CNN article. The most we get is that they were “persons”:

“A suspect has been arrested on charges, and police have released additional surveillance images of several persons of interest they are seeking in connection to the child’s death.”

Going to the police press release of the shooter — and the suspects — we see they are all black. (It is also chilling that the police report does not describe them as black either). Or, from the same article reporting on another shooting:

A group of children were playing in the yard in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood when three suspects exited a light colored vehicle and fired shots at a group gathered outside a home on the 100 block of North Latrobe Ave, police said.

[…]

“As a city we must wrap our arms around our youth so they understand there’s a future for them that isn’t wrapped up in gun violence.”

At least we know the shade of the suspect’s vehicle.

Now compare this to another shooting report and take a look at CNN’s description when the perpetrator is white and the victim is black:

“…a White officer firing seven times into Jacob Blake’s back in front of the 29-year-old Black man’s three young sons.”

And later in the same article where the perpetrator is white:

“…Confusion also spread about the shooting during the protests, with critics asking how the White teenager armed with a military-style rifle, …”

Dave Rubin of The Rubin Report talks to the author of America’s Revolutionary Mind, C. Bradley Thompson (Professor, Clemson University) about the origins of the Declaration of Independence, myths about American slavery and the founding fathers, why 1765 was possibly a more important year than 1776 for the American Revolution and why Donald Trump is one of the few presidents to ever challenge the deep state.

Issues covered include:

• Myths about slavery in America at the time of the founding fathers. He talks about the founding fathers beliefs in universal truths, human rights, and equality. He discusses the complexities of the founders regarding their different and changing views on slavery and why it is far more complicated than 1619 project from the New York Times would have you believe. Some founders like John Adams and Sam Adams were never slave owners, others like Benjamin Franklin formally owned slaves, others like George Washington who owned slaves and freed them on their death, and others like Thomas Jefferson owned slaves and did not free them upon their death.
• The founders conflicting actions and beliefs about the abolition of slavery and why it is far more complex then we have been led to believe.
• The philosophical origins of the Declaration of Independence. He believes the year 1765 was far more important than 1776 because this was the year that the American mind was born. He tells the story of why Americans suddenly made liberty, freedom, and natural rights their priorities that would eventually be enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and fought for during the Revolutionary War.
• Donald Trump’s unique accomplishments, taking on the deep state. He feels that Donald Trump is the first president in 70 years to wage war against the deep state in it’s entrenched political class, but also in the mainstream media.
• Is Donald Trump a moral person and if morality and virtue are personality traits we should expect in a president.

Recommended:

• America’s Revolutionary Mind by C. Bradley Thompson