It's really important for racists to believe the myth that businesses are maximally meritocratic and would stamp out any racism despite centuries of evidence contrary. That way they can look at the status quo and conclude that any disparity between blacks and whites is due to the inherent inferiority of blacks, and that preferentially hiring whites isn't racist, it's just good business.

This is almost accurate from where I stand, just remove the word racial and leave it as "everyone forms prejudices"
My position is people can learn to change their prejudices and learn to recognize the limited value of stereotypes when making conclusions about other people.

I still don't understand the very premise of this thread. Why would you want to have a friendly chat about racism? is the implication there that FoldN wants to have a nice collegial discussion about how Asians are inherently untrustworthy but ole' meanies on the interwebs keep butting in and ruining it?

Goodman- You learned economics from Peter Schiff Youtubes, kid, what's with this professor act? Who do you imagine knows less about this subject than you do, what aspect of your life makes you think you get to play the role of "educator"?

LOL I love how you write this **** out like you think it's a hard concept that you worked to understand. ****ing rigor and ****.

Goodman, dude, I get that it's exciting for you to learn that you are too the smartest boy in the world and everyone else is sheeple, End the Fed, etc. but you honestly cannot imagine that at the end of 2014 anything you're writing here is groundbreaking, right?

Like you personally are aware that you're loosely paraphrasing a Youtube you saw defending Jim Crow from federal tyranny. So you have to know your ideas aren't unique.

OOOHHH yeah this is a real riot amirite? Let's fantasize about how many of these lazy uneducated leeches would just die off if we stopped offering govt assistance to them altogether?!

Having a ****ing blast ITT with all this ACist brainstorming.

At least it's friendly-like.

It's no secret from the anarchy thread that I'm an anarchist. That said, since most other people feel uncomfortable with embracing the idea of unadulterated, dullard-killing capitalism, I proposed some alternative solutions. They don't have to be government based though. What if I, as an individual funded an initiative to pay people to get vasectomies and tubal ligations. I feel like there wouldn't be too much public backlash, and even if there was, there's nothing anyone could do about it. You people just need an affluent leader benevolent enough to step up to the plate to do that.

Yeah, we gotta stop these poors breeding! Food or forced sterilizations, their choice!

Somewhat related, here's a good article on implicit racial biases

http://www.vox.com/2014/12/26/744397...it-racial-bias

Lunkheads like goodman should probably read it and thank his lucky stars he wasn't born into a poverty trap so that he could gleefully look down upon all the u washed masses and condemn them for their inability to be born wealthy while plotting control of their population numbers.

Well you can't really blame people since it's never been tried before and approximations to it have proven disastrous. And don't be a hypocrite. Your own industry doesn't want it; see hat-in-hand begging for bailout 2008.

I knew that when you posited corporations as meritocracy machines busy eradicating racism and stupidity that you were completely ignorant on the subjects of racism and corporations (and contemporary American history for that matter). But now you have shown yourself to be just completely out of touch with people.

Let me help you out. Post WWII, because of the Nazis and their abominable programs, people know eugenics when they see it and they strongly disapprove. Most people recognize that your post racial meritocratic utopia doesn't really exist to any approximation, and recognize any form of eugenics as simply an a vile tactic designed to fortify the place of whatever group is dominant at the time. Whether or not paying people to sterilize themselves is coercive is debatable, but if people decide (as they would) that such a program is wrong then eventually some question like that will be resolved against the practice. But don't believe me. Please, step up to the plate and let your firm be known to employ associates who sponsor eugenics.

I'll add I think it's important for everyone to get somewhat on the same page with regard to these ideas before any very constructive conversation can take place on the subject. I believe quite strongly the best and perhaps only way to reduce racism in our society is to openly discuss it with one another, hear each other out, convince and come to some common agreements.

I don't mind interesting tangents developing, but the one about why or whether or not we should even try and have such discussions civilly is played out. As far as I'm concerned it's obvious, and further meta-discussion should be taken elsewhere. While, understandibly, these topics can get people riled up, tempting us to denegrate and curse each other, smash dishes against the wall, whatever, at some point calm minds need to truimph so that progress can be made resolving these important problems.

FoldN you're a moron and a racist, nobody cares about the uneducated opinions and impossibly fragile feelings of human ****ing garbage. Here's some progress for you: shut the **** up.

Failing that, go back to SMP

You're in like month, what, 6 of a ****ing temper tantrum over Bruce getting demodded for being racist? Shut the **** up. Nobody believes you want to 'solve the problem', everyone knows you just want fewer people to call racist **** racist. End of friendly discussion.

I'm sorry you feel that way, Fly. If you have ideas you'd like to share on how to solve the problem of racism and would like to share them with us, please do. If you would rather throw tantrums, take it elsewhere. You're no longer welcome in this thread.

If I can say so in a friendly manner, fly acts just like a fundamentalist, only with blasphemy laws against discussing racism. But does he really prefer keeping people in discord and ignorance or is it all an act to "entertain" the forum?

I have put in a request with the mods of PU that FlyWf be banned from this thread. Carry on.

Your sentiment here and in previous posts about letting the racists and other stupid people "die off" is not uncommon, I hear people joke about "the Darwin award" often, and plenty of people in P discuss "waiting out" the old racist republicans until they all die out. I find it to be tasteless when presented like this, because our compassion for those in our species who are weaker, less able, and even less intelligent is partly what separates us from the rest of the animals. Our morality is not strictly based on utilitarian concepts like survival of the fit. So framing the idea as such is wrong, imo.

If you want to say everyone should plan better before having children, making sure they can afford to take care of them, that's fair. Planned Parenthood would agree. As much as lasseiz-faire capitalism makes sense as an ideal to you, I doubt you want to see people starving to death on the street any more than the rest of us, so public education, welfare programs and the like become necessary "evils" (irony intended), don't you think?

I feel a bit stupid explaining the joke... I probably should have just put the term "friendly" in the title in quotes. Carry on.

Why do you assume that a population decline would be good for the US?

You aren't going far enough. We have evolved to have feelings of solidarity.

Someone saying that they'd like us to have us act less like the social animal that we are is them saying that they'd like our species to devolve not evolve.

If we are going to suggest improving our species, I recommend the following:

Eliminate sunscreen and clothing along with medical/dental/eye care. If you aren't naturally equipped to survive such things as "going outside without dying" or "ingesting food without teeth rotting" or "seeing crap so you don't fall off a cliff" you simply ought do the right thing and not procreate. At the very least we should eliminate inhalers and allergy medicines.

Ignore Fly, Foldn. We've already established in other threads that Fly is just bitter because he knows he'd be one of the donks eliminated from the gene pool in a true meritocracy.

Where did I assume that? Perhaps it may only result in a slower rate of population growth. But even if it did decline, are you assuming that would be bad? Based on my rents in Manhattan, I see nothing wrong with thinning the herd a bit.

You know Social Darwinism went out of style among the educated classes like a century or so ago, right?

You mean that Hitler-style positive eugenics blonde hair blue eyes nonsense? No wonder. I'd be happy to see a renewed resurgence in serious talks about the benefits of good old fashioned survival of the fittest. The problem is that plenty of people know they aren't "the fittest", and modern politicians can't say anything that offends anyone. The reason ideas of Social Darwinism and eugenics died wasn't because they aren't awesome ideas, it was because talking about it became taboo. Even, apparently, when the target to be weeded out is racists.

Any complete analysis of benefits includes both gains and losses. Even if it's true our society could gain in certain ways from people getting "weeded out," the loss is people get weeded out. Many of my friends aren't the brightest box of bulbs, but I love their dim glows just the same. I hope they feel the same of me. Let's get real, Goodman.

Surviving and procreating indicates that the individual is filled to the rim with fitness.

It doesn't matter at all whether you approve of mother nature's choices.