# Quillette: the thinking racist's magazine **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 17, 2019, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636 "2019-06-17T07:53:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/1 "2019-06-17T07:53:39Z")
So out in ATMB I had some rather choice words to say about Quillette, and some people quite vigorously disagreed with me: > [@"\[Immigrants\] breed like rabbits"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigrants-breed-like-rabbits/834483/161): > > TBH, anyone who thinks Quillette is “The smart racist’s Breitbart news” simply isn’t capable of deciding whether or not anyone is a “Nazi or a troll”. > [@"\[Immigrants\] breed like rabbits"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/immigrants-breed-like-rabbits/834483/166): > > Indeed, BPC is doing a marvelous job of illustrating my point. I’m a little surprised that this is news. Quillette is _incredibly_ racist. They might occasionally publish decent material (don’t ask me to link any, I can name more decent reporting from Fox News off the top of my head), but their most high-profile work is the stuff that goes viral for entirely the wrong reasons. Let’s start with the most recent case. This isn’t about racism per se, but it does help give us a look at the kind of ideology and standards Quillette is working with. > That’s Quillette’s founding editor attacking a journalist for… asking her if she fact-checked a study she ran an article on. A study published by “ProgDad”, a notorious right-wing troll. A study whose actual methodology was [pretty obviously fucking garbage](https://www.cjr.org/analysis/quillette-antifa-journalist-smear-campaign.php), and which for some reason only the far-right fell for. And uh… But for conservative media, the endorsement of peers within its narrow confines is all the expertise necessary for publication. Quillette writer Andy Ngo, who called attention to Lenihan’s work on Twitter and whose work Lenihan cites in his article, insisted that the legitimacy of Lenihan’s findings was self-evident from Lenihan’s Twitter posts. \*\*Human Events publisher Will Chamberlain told CJR that it considered Quillette a “reputable outlet” and would not independently fact-check work appearing on its site \*\*when commenting on it “in broad terms.” CJR did not receive responses to emailed requests for comment from PJ Media’s Tyler O’Neil, RT’s Margarita Simonyan, or Breitbart’s Allum Bokhari. It seems unlikely that anyone reading these publications will encounter the sort of media criticism that dogs the steps of reporters for mainstream news outlets.” Hmmmmmm. Also, when called on exactly this, Claire’s response was… [let’s just say “impolite”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D882nigWwAIdFVg.png:large). Because, as we all know, when you’re an editor, telling a journalist who is criticizing you for taking a right-wing troll at their word to, quote, “Kiss my ass” is totally routine. 🙂 But okay, that’s just showing that the senior editorial staff is really fucking bad at their jobs and wear ideological blinds the size of trash-bin lids - the same you could say for basically any right-wing media source at this point. What about the _racism_? Well, I linked to this in the other thread, but apparently it went unnoticed. Here’s Andy Ngo, editor at Quillette, [defending craniology](https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1139279894515310592), because Quillette ran an article defending… “race science”. [Fucking really](https://quillette.com/2019/06/05/superior-the-return-of-race-science-a-review/): Angela Saini’s new book, Superior, is a cautionary tale about the historical legacy, and putative return, of what she calls “race science.” As far as we can determine, there are four main theses running through the book: [ol] [li]‘Race’ is not a meaningful biological category[/li][li] Genes can only contribute to population differences on certain “superficial” traits[/li][li] Studying whether genes might contribute to population differences on non-superficial traits is tantamount to “scientific racism”[/li][li] Almost everyone interested in whether genes might contribute to population differences on these other traits is a “scientific racist”[/li][/ol] To be blunt, we disagree with all four of Saini’s main theses, as we shall explain in this article. Yikes. Furthermore, these differences reflect their divergent geographical origins. In fact, researchers can classify human variation by continent quite accurately using only data from the human skull. Super fucking yikes! That’s the paragraph that Andy Ngo was defending. [Here’s an actual scientist pointing out some of the many issues in that article](https://twitter.com/diannaeanderson/status/1139298621776490497). And, just for comparison, [here](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/27/superior-the-return-of-race-science-by-angela-saini-book-review)’s how an actual news outlet covered the book in question. This is not the first time Quillette has dabbled in “race science”. Nor should it surprise anyone, because the founding editor, [Claire Lehmann](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Claire_Lehmann), is a notorious fucking racist (and [anti-feminist](https://www.mcclernan.com/2018/02/how-much-does-alt-right-claire-lehmann.html), and transphobe, and all-around competitor for “worst person in Australia”, but this mostly about the racism). She’s been quoted as saying “nationalism is the antidote to racism”, which, given the contents of her publication, seems… totally wrong. The idea that Quillette is somehow not “alt-right” (read: nazi), despite being founded by the alt-right and parroting alt-right talking points seems a bit silly to me. So let’s run through some of Quillette’s other greatest hits. [It Isn’t Your Imagination: Twitter Treats Conservatives More Harshly Than Liberals](https://quillette.com/2019/02/12/it-isnt-your-imagination-twitter-treats-conservatives-more-harshly-than-liberals/) - in which Quillette touts a “study” claiming that it found “a list of every prominent individual or political party known to have been banned from Twitter since its founding”, which is a list of 22 people, of which they claim 21 are Trump supporters. The actual list includes David Duke, the American Nazi Party, Gavin McInnes (founder of the terrorist group “the Proud Boys”), and quite a few other prominent [fucking nazis](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Quillette#Banning_neo-Nazis_is_oppressing_Conservatives). [On the Reality of Race and the Abhorrence of Racism](https://quillette.com/2016/06/23/on-the-reality-of-race-and-the-abhorrence-of-racism/) - in which Quillette defends race as a biological category, something you’ll note actual biologists _won’t do_, but Nazis necesarily must believe. [https://quillette.com/2017/06/11/no-voice-vox-sense-nonsense-discussing-iq-race/](https://quillette.com/2017/06/11/no-voice-vox-sense-nonsense-discussing-iq-race/) - in which Quillette defends The Bell Curve (fucking really) [Getting Voxed: Charles Murray, Ideology, and the Debate on IQ](https://quillette.com/2017/06/02/getting-voxed-charles-murray-ideology-science-iq/) - in which Quillette continues to defend The Bell Curve, this time by Brian Boutwell, seen [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQBKn_GNHa4) on known neo-nazi Stefan Molyneux’s podcast. Boy, weird that you can find connections like that on a website like this, right? Weird. Shall I continue? I don’t spend much time reading Quillette, for the same reason I don’t spend much time reading Breitbart - nearly every time I interact with them, it’s because they’re being _racist as fuck_. But on the whole, Quillette was founded by a neo-nazi who used to work for Rebel Media, is run by her and a handful of other neo-nazis such as [Toby Young](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Toby_Young), and just generally full of exactly the kind of racist shit you’d expect from those people. The idea that this is somehow “controversial” shows how little a great many people have looked into the publication, its history, and its founder. Quillette is the thinking man’s Breitbart News - racism and all. But then, what do you expect from someone who worked for The Rebel Media, an outlet created and run by neo-nazis on what they call a “counter-jihad”. They’re not even very smart - they just manage to look smart for the dumb motherfuckers who decide to spend time there. Oh hi, **SlackerInc** , didn’t see you there. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/2 "2019-06-17T09:11:55Z")
I have not followed any of your links. But I did read your whole post, including the limited number of pull quotes you provided. Immediately after one such excerpt (the one with four numbered points), you wrote only “yikes”. Huh? 😕 The quote in question, while engaging in a controversial area of inquiry, contains nothing that I can see justifying such a response, with no elaboration. (Personally, I would go further and call it spot on.) ---
**Author:** ![Unreconstructed\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/76d3ee/32.png) [@Unreconstructed\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unreconstructed_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/3 "2019-06-17T09:15:22Z")
This is a long and interesting post which deserves a detailed response. Unfortunately, I’ve only got my phone today so I’m going to have to leave that for another day. However, I must make one point… > [@Budget Player Cadet](#): > > Super fucking yikes! That’s the paragraph that Andy Ngo was defending. Here’s an actual scientist pointing out some of the many issues in that article. And, just for comparison, here’s how an actual news outlet covered the book in question. The ‘actual scientist’ BPC refers to is a lady called Dianna E Anderson. According to her website she has a BA in English Lit. and an MS (not to be confused with an MSc) in Women’s Studies. She isn’t a scientist. Furthermore, her “critique” totally misses the point of what the Quillette article was actually about. Anyway, carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/4 "2019-06-17T09:26:52Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > (Personally, I would go further and call it spot on.) Yikes. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/5 "2019-06-17T09:38:51Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > (Personally, I would go further and call it spot on.) What a shock from a self-described racist who has advocated the (evidence-free) hypothesis that black people are inherently genetically intellectually inferior! You really should include this as an addendum to every post you make that’s even tangentially related to race. We wouldn’t want people considering your posts without realizing that you’re a bigot. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/6 "2019-06-17T09:49:43Z")
So no justification of the now multiple “yikes” is apparently forthcoming. OK then. I can see this will be a fruitful thread. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/7 "2019-06-17T10:01:48Z")
> [@](#): > > ‘Race’ is not a meaningful biological category Correct. “Pittsburgh” is a more meaningful biological category, in terms of genetic variation, than “black people” (i.e. people in Pittsburgh, or any randomly chosen city, have more genetic similarity, on average, than random “black people” do, on average). > [@](#): > > Genes can only contribute to population differences on certain “superficial” traits I’m less than convinced this is actually a supposition in Saini’s book – let’s see a cite that the book says this. > [@](#): > > Studying whether genes might contribute to population differences on non-superficial traits is tantamount to “scientific racism” Not necessarily, but making bogus assertions about race that just so happen to match the white supremacists’ claims is tantamount to “scientific racism”. > [@](#): > > Almost everyone interested in whether genes might contribute to population differences on these other traits is a “scientific racist” Everyone who makes claims about the supposed inherent genetic intellectual inferiority of black people is making a racist (and unsupported) claim. People actually interested in population genetics understand that categories like “black people” are not useful when it comes to biological classification, and don’t fall into these dumb, obvious and (yes) racist traps. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/8 "2019-06-17T10:19:06Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Correct. “Pittsburgh” is a more meaningful biological category, in terms of genetic variation, than “black people” (i.e. people in Pittsburgh, or any randomly chosen city, have more genetic similarity, on average, than random “black people” do, on average). I believe it, because of the great genetic diversity among those with recent ancestors in sub-Saharan Africa. However, I am sure you could not say the same about Ashkenazi Jews, blue-eyed Caucasians, or people of predominantly East Asian ancestry. More broadly: you guys need to much more finely calibrate your bigotry detectors. Coincidentally, some asshole just posted the following on a private FB group I belong to: [The Memphis riots and the African American IQ. | Minds](https://www.minds.com/RobTownsend1226/blog/the-memphis-riots-and-the-african-american-iq-986733002708529152)? My response to another member who criticized the author as being a halfwit: > [@](#): > > The article is hateful garbage—and as you note, the simplistic writing style indicates, ironically, that the author possesses a mediocre intellect indeed. > > And I say that as someone who vigorously defended Sam Harris and (to a more limited extent) Charles Murray in the wake of the recent dustup with Vox’s Ezra Klein. Townsend is nowhere in their league intellectually, and his naked, seething bigotry is exactly what Klein and his allies so unfairly strawmanned Harris into representing in their wildly distorted characterizations. Learn to be a little more discerning about who the bad guys really are, and stop painting with such a broad fucking brush. It’s like you’ve never heard of Chicken Little, or the boy who cried “wolf”. :smack: In the same thread, I also responded to someone who raised the issue of black children eating lead paint chips: > [@](#): > > There is also some indication that African Americans are more susceptible than others to the effects of lead. It’s very sad and should galvanize us all to support stricter governmental intervention to eliminate this public health hazard. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/9 "2019-06-17T10:23:27Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I believe it, because of the great genetic diversity among those with recent ancestors in sub-Saharan Africa. However, I am sure you could not say the same about Ashkenazi Jews, blue-eyed Caucasians, or people of predominantly East Asian ancestry. It’s always about black people. These claims always get around to the supposed inferiority of black people, science and evidence be damned. Once they make these claims about black people, then it’s clear that they’re bigotry based, not science-based. It’s kind of amazing, really. You just admitted the incredible genetic diversity of sub-Saharan Africans (far, far more so than any other group), and yet you still haven’t renounced your insistence that this most-diverse-of-all group is inherently genetically intellectually inferior. It doesn’t make any sense, and still you cling to this racist bullshit. Which shows that it’s not about science for you. I don’t think it’s about hatred, but whatever it’s about, it’s neither scientific nor positive in any way. Perhaps it’s just about some misguided sense of ethnic pride – you want to feel good about the group you’re in, so somehow you believe other groups must be inferior. I don’t know, but it’s bullshit. Racist, bigoted, pseudoscientific bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/10 "2019-06-17T10:36:45Z")
You don’t seem to remember the long debate we had about this previously. I see categorization of all black people into a single “race” as extremely wrongheaded. It’s a simplistic, broad brush label based on a general geographic connection (most of a large continent) and the common factor that this very sunny region has spurred all its populations to develop a high concentration of protective epidermal melanin. These statements, with which I expect you agree, are not applicable to groups like East Asians who descend from a small band of ultimately wildly successful pilgrims who left Africa millennia ago. They are the ones who have developed certain intellectual strengths that no doubt played a role in their being so successful in exponentially expanding the number of descendants they produced far beyond what any similar sized band who stayed in Africa can boast. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/11 "2019-06-17T10:42:28Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > So no justification of the now multiple “yikes” is apparently forthcoming. OK then. I can see this will be a fruitful thread. :rolleyes: What, you want me to defend the idea that scientific racism is a crock of shit? No, sorry, I think I’d have a more fruitful conversation convincing a flat earther that planes are not secretly [sky demons](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhibN89WJtI). What else, should I defend that Rebel Media is pretty much just nazis next? Look, bozo, I don’t expect you to get the “yikes”, because you actually believe all this stupid shit. I left nothing more than a “yikes” there because I assume that most reasonable people can see the problem with the paragraph in question, not because I want to explain to a sealionining racist what exactly I find abhorrent about the claims made. Same thing with the Bell Curve - I’m not particularly interested in a nuanced discussion of why this long-discarded racist relic is bad science; I expect people to notice, “Oh, they’re defending The Bell Curve” and reach the reasonable conclusion that they’re a bunch of racist nitwits. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/12 "2019-06-17T10:44:33Z")
I don’t know anything about anyone or any publication mentioned in your post except for Stefan Molyneux. I hear he has moved considerably to the right over the last few years, but I know that he is not a neo-Nazi. This makes me believe you are, once again, full of shit. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/13 "2019-06-17T10:55:06Z")
My emphases: > [@SlackerInc](#): > > \*\*Ashkenazi \*\*Jews, **blue-eyed** Caucasians, or people of predominantly East Asian ancestry. ♪♫♬ One of these things is not like the others ♪♫♬ ♪♫♬ One of these things just doesn’t belong ♪♫♬ ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/14 "2019-06-17T10:57:28Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > These statements, with which I expect you agree, are not applicable to groups like East Asians who descend from a small band of ultimately wildly successful pilgrims who left Africa millennia ago. It’s cute that you think East Asians lack genetic diversity, or have only had one founding event, or …whatever it is you’re actually trying to say, here. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/15 "2019-06-17T11:25:23Z")
[https://www.genetics.org/content/161/1/269](https://www.genetics.org/content/161/1/269) > [@](#): > > Africans differ from one another slightly more than from Eurasians, and the genetic diversity in Eurasians is largely a subset of that in Africans, supporting the out of Africa model of human evolution. [https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/neanderthal/](https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/neanderthal/) > [@](#): > > Everyone living outside of Africa today has a small amount of Neanderthal in them, carried as a living relic of these ancient encounters. A team of scientists comparing the full genomes of the two species concluded that most Europeans and Asians have approximately 2percent Neanderthal DNA. Indigenous sub-Saharan Africans have none, or very little Neanderthal DNA because their ancestors did not migrate through Eurasia. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/16 "2019-06-17T12:03:10Z")
> [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](#): > > I left nothing more than a “yikes” there because I assume that most reasonable people can see the problem with the paragraph in question, not because I want to explain to a sealionining racist what exactly I find abhorrent about the claims made I wonder if you have ever noticed that the [original cartoon](https://wondermark.com/1k62) which spawned this “sealioning” concept actually begins with a couple of well dressed white people talking about how much they hate a certain dark-skinned population, that is an identifiable group solely because of a shared genetic inheritance they were born with and cannot change. A member of this population then overhears and, rather than lashing out in anger, politely inquires if they have any substantive reason for this antipathy toward his/her group. The upscale white people are annoyed and refuse to respond to this polite, dark-skinned questioner. :dubious: But in the age of Trump and his army of hateful, foulmouthed Twitter trolls, this other polite group is the one we should be denouncing? Really? Furthermore, how have I done anything metaphorically equivalent to pestering you about this in your home, as depicted in the cartoon? You responded to me in a different thread with a link to this one! ---
**Author:** ![Unreconstructed\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/76d3ee/32.png) [@Unreconstructed\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unreconstructed_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/17 "2019-06-17T12:21:34Z")
Must admit I never got the whole ‘sea-lioning’ thing. In the context of today’s furious, relentless, psychotically abusive “callout culture” he seems like a nice change of pace. Maybe, instead of being polite, he should’ve just turned up with a megaphone and and a placard with ‘NO FREE SPEECH FOR VICTORIANS’ on it and screamed ‘FUCK YOU’ over and over til his voice box popped… ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/18 "2019-06-17T12:29:02Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > You don’t seem to remember the long debate we had about this previously. I see categorization of all black people into a single “race” as extremely wrongheaded. It’s a simplistic, broad brush label based on a general geographic connection (most of a large continent) and the common factor that this very sunny region has spurred all its populations to develop a high concentration of protective epidermal melanin. > > These statements, with which I expect you agree, are not applicable to groups like East Asians who descend from a small band of ultimately wildly successful pilgrims who left Africa millennia ago. They are the ones who have developed certain intellectual strengths that no doubt played a role in their being so successful in exponentially expanding the number of descendants they produced far beyond what any similar sized band who stayed in Africa can boast. At most, this is wild hypothesizing (and it appears to be based on an incorrect understanding of the facts, if you think there was a single “small band” who settled Asia, rather than a choppy and rather chaotic flow in and out of that and other regions between various populations, including to and from Africa). But your previous extremely weird mention of “blue eyed Caucasians” demonstrates your true motivation – your own feelings of superiority. The idea that blue eyes mark some sort of special ethnic group crosses beyond dumb pseudoscience into comical self-parody. No one but Aryan-supremacists actually believes that kind of crap. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/19 "2019-06-17T12:50:52Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I wonder if you have ever noticed that the [original cartoon](https://wondermark.com/1k62) which spawned this “sealioning” concept actually begins with a couple of well dressed white people talking about how much they hate a certain dark-skinned population, that is an identifiable group solely because of a shared genetic inheritance they were born with and cannot change. I don’t think I can add anything to this post to make it sound _more_ stupid. 😃 I also don’t think this is the first time I’ve made that exact post in response to something you’ve said. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636/20 "2019-06-17T13:17:46Z")
Great thread, BPC. Really eye-opening. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quillette-the-thinking-racists-magazine/835636.md?page=2)