No, really. The theory is that self-reliance, etc., is encoded in the blood of those who chose to pull up stakes and come here. Naturally, this does not apply to African-Americans.
Actually, this is not what the piece says. Did you read the whole thing?
Yes. It says the initiative gene or whatever has been added to the black gene pool “because of vast waves of post-slavery black immigration.” Which sounds too much like CYA to me, considering that the numbers of black immigrants to the U.S., even in recent times, have been negligible compared with the numbers here descended from slaves, and everybody knows it.
Well, I tend to agree more with Thomas Sowell’s arguments that the cultural difference is, well, cultural. But I don’t see why this theory has to be dismissed out of hand, either. Like most things, there has to be more than one force at work, but certainly I see no reason why inherent, inherited traits couldn’t be one of them.
My lips got tired about halfway through, but yeah, it does say that and then take it about half back. To witless:
So Mexicans are, like, the ultimate Americans?
Well, might be, if it were not for that unfortunate taint of Spanish blood…
Anyway, I don’t think racism is the point here, I think he is looking for some sort of empirical underpinning for American exceptionalism. If it can offer some sort of sop to the American myth of vigorous entreprenuership and self-reliance, so much the better.
Michael Medfly is pretty smart, over all, and an absolute master of weasel logic. A tool, but a sharp tool. Its dimly possible that he is a racist, but only in the sense of having unrecognized and unacknowledged biases.
Agreed. The real dumbth is in his conclusion:
I guess the massive widespread popularity of FDR and the New Deal must have happened in some other country.
I’m pretty sure that it derives from the influence of Cherokee bloodlines. ** Lib** and I are in complete agreement on this, so you can take that as Gospel.
My bolding.
What. the. fuck? “Command and control” economy? Right, because the Democrats are openly Communist. Where’s the “eyes rolled so hard they fell out” smiley?
Some conservatives have notorious difficulty distinguishing Keynes from Stalin.
Yes, I think you are spot-on here that this is what he’s trying to do. But it’s a mistake to attempt to attribute the US’s culture to one factor, especially one as little understood as genetic personality traits
We have a culture?
It’s mostly mold. A virus or two maybe.
I’ve heard enough of his show to have to disagree with you on his intelligence. There are some right wing radio screamers who are reasonably sharp (Limbaugh isn’t stupid), but Medved always strikes me (along with Glen Beck) as one of the least bright out there. He’s a creationist, for one thing (and uses the most ridiculous pseudo-logic to defend it). I also think he’s a genuine racist, though he tries to disguise it.
This whole idea of “American DNA” is obviously asinine, wishful thinking (I’m living proof of that – a descendant of long lines of hard working, European immigrants on both sides and I’m an irredeemably lazy sod), and the attempt to exclude black American slave descendants from this magical gene pool is stupidly racist despite the CYA attempts to say their (in Medved’s mind) inferior genes have been been boosted by the robust genetic material of a few Somalian immigrants here and there.
As carefully as he (typically for him) tries to couch this bilge, the true, radioactive allegation at the center is that white Americans are genetically predisposed to work hard and black Americans are genetically lazy.
I think watching one episode of Cops or Jerry Springer should be enough to completely refute any notion of any genetic predisposition to a work ethic in white Americans.
Yes. I think there is an element of truth that migrants tend to be more entrepreneurial and adventurous, and that these traits can be inherited. (Of course, I’m biased: I’ve been an international migrant three times in my life – twice by my parents’ choice, and once by my own – and I come orginally from another country full of immigrants, Australia).
However, personality traits are not just inherited through DNA. Most are inherited through the way we are brought up, by our families, school and surrounding society. There isn’t a Protestant-work-ethic gene, even if there is a genuine Protestant work ethic.
America’s “exceptionalism,” such as it is, has nothing to do with any unusal character in the people but everything to do with an overwhelming wealth of natural resources and political and economic systems which allowed for plenty of creativity and invention. There isn’t anything special about just being born an American.
I remember another guy who started talking about nationalist, genetic superiority…
The thing about this is that there was a great migration of African-Americans from the Southern States to the Northern ones; driven by the same reasons that the Europeans had when they came to America. The only difference being that the African-Americans didn’t have to cross an ocean to find their opportunities.
It’s this lack of understanding the history of African-Americans in this country, that’s the biggest problem in this discussions about genetics and culture.
Is there a difference between crossing an ocean to find “freedom” and crossing state lines? I don’t see it, especially considering the risks African-Americans had to endure when they made the choice to leave their homes behind them.
Let’s not forget the squishage of the industrial bases of more or less every other competing power during WWII.