# Did You Read Andrew Sullivan Today?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-read-andrew-sullivan-today/855584>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [June 13, 2020, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-read-andrew-sullivan-today/855584 "2020-06-13T03:12:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\
**Post date:** [June 14, 2020, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-read-andrew-sullivan-today/855584/21 "2020-06-14T18:28:22Z")

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> [@Unreconstructed\_Man](#):
>
> Bad take. Racial inequality _is_ a complex topic and solving it _does_ require us to consider lots of different things at the same time. Your comparison to a car engine, where one malfunction really _can_ cause the whole system to shut down, is fatuous. In the real world, social breakdowns have lots of different causes. He’s _not_ suggesting we “stop talking about racism”. That’s pure projection on your part. He’s saying we should broaden our analysis to consider other factors _as well as racism_. This is a perfectly sensible suggestion which reflects the complexity of the problem.

What we seem to disagree about here is a matter of interpretation. Again, he says  
_“Economics journals are still filled with papers that emphasize differences in education, upbringing or even IQ rather than discrimination or structural barriers.” But why are these avenues of research mutually exclusive?_  
I read the quoted statement as saying that racism is not being addressed adequately, if at all, in economic papers. He sees “_… rather than …_” and portrays that as meaning that only racism should be addressed, but not the other issues. So, as far as I can tell, his premise is flat out wrong, and he is running with that.

Discrimination and structural barriers are a key element, and burying those things under the weight of looking at all the factors simply becomes another way of ignoring those key factors. It basically sounds like he wants us to stop talking about racism because, reasons.

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