[extropy-chat] brain scans for racial attitudes

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Olga Bourlin <fauxever at sprynet.com> wrote:
> It is immaterial whether the racist individual can or cannot "choose"
> to be a racist.  And in a somewhat similar (yet somewhat different)
> vein, the reason Asians, blacks and other so-called "minorities"
> are entitled to equal treatment is because they *are* equal, and
> not because they cannot "choose" who they are (an obnoxious notion,
> which presupposes that if a member of a "minority" could change
> their "race" - they would). 
> IMO comparing racism to homophobia could easily put one on a road
> that warns:  "slippery slope ahead."

I wasn't comparing racism to homophobia, I was comparing it to
homosexuality, which is claimed by liberals to be genetically caused
and not a learned behavior as a rationale for demanding equal rights
for gays, since they can't 'choose' to be gay or not. Similarly, drug
addicts and alcoholics are claimed to have genetic predispositions to
addictive behavior and are thus health care patients and not criminals.
If racist behavior is determined to have a genetic cause, then racist
individuals deserve the same minority/victim status as homosexuals
and/or addicts.
I am quite sure that you do find this notion to be quite obnoxious,
because it implicates liberal dogma as lacking in logical rigor.

> 
> > Perhaps the racist may be justified in applying for
> > welfare disability payments if their racism impacts their ability
> > to keep a job...
> 
> Even if this is meant to be humorous, it is egregious balderdash.

How so? The courts have determined addictions to be medical
disabilities because they are genetically based diseases, a disability
for which an individual can receive disability subsidy from the
government. If racism is similarly a neurological disease, then being
racist, and to the degree that one's racism impacts one's ability to
keep a job, maintain a career track, etc., it is medically disabling,
just as much as alcoholism or drug addiction.

Similarly, gay claims for equal rights are based on science (so far
unreplicated) that claims that homosexuality is a genetically caused
behavior just as heterosexuality is. If racism were similarly proved to
be genetically caused behavior, then racist rights would have equal
standing with gay rights.

> 
> > Hate crimes, of course, could no longer impart more severe
> > sentences if the perpetrators cannot help themselves.
> 
> There are all kinds of "hate crimes," and I would hope they're not
> tolerated
> (e.g., at the workplace, in school) in a civilized society because
> mean-spiritedness is not conducive to carry on the business at hand,
> whether the unpleasantries are "perpetrated" against women, men,
> "minorities," or
> what have you.  Sorry, I say - the perps will just have to learn
> better manners if they cannot help themselves.
> 
> As to other more serious crimes, the fact that a sociopath like Ted
> Bundy "couldn't help himself" and therefore went on a murder
> rampage ... doesn't excuse him, does it?

Are you, a previously avowed liberal, now espousing a policy that those
who are judged to be genetically deficient or in the genetic minority
should be punished for being what nature has made them, so long as
their genes are not politically correct?

> 
> > Odd when one
> > liberal prejudice smacks head on into another one.
> 
> I don't understand how you've come to this conclusion.

That is specifically your blind spot.

=====
Mike Lorrey
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
"Fascists are objectively pro-pacifist..."
                                       - Mike Lorrey
Do not label me, I am an ism of one...
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

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