Chapter One: The Web of Trust
Bill Whittle - excellently written, as usual for Mr. Whittle. Unfortunately, he still believes that war is a necessary component of civilization.
I believe that human beings are interchangeable.
By this I mean that had Baby Billy been dropped off in the heart of the Amazon rainforest and raised by Yanomami tribesmen (and according to my mother there were times when I was in real danger of this happening), I would have spent my youth learning to hunt monkeys with my bow and 6ft. long arrows, and generally hanging around the shabono sleeping in till almost 6am. Likewise, if Baby Kopenawa had my parents, he'd probably be cranking out online essays at irregular intervals and shooting instrument approaches in experimental canard airplanes.
I don't believe such a thing because I want to (although I do)...I believe it because to me it seems like coastline rather than map. I believe it based on the fact that wherever I look, I see a full spectrum of multi-colored barbarians and savages, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, a rainbow of the brilliant and the civilized and the decent. Rwanda and Bosnia are on different sides of the planet, and their citizens as different-looking from each other as humans can be, but the horrors each perpetrated during the last decade should put to rest forever the idea that a few millimeters of melanin can save us or doom us one way or another.
There may in fact be some genetic component to intelligence, but if there is, I believe it pales compared to the effect of culture -- and by that, mostly I mean the luck of the draw regarding your parents. In fact, I'll bet my life on the fact that I can make astronauts and engineers out of any healthy babies of any color. I know I could make murders and rapists out of anyone, and that this is far easier to do than the former.
Previous Posts:
Murdering the Group, Saving Individuals
The Weight of Evidence
Marshals: Innocent People Placed On 'Watch List' To Meet Quota
AK Peep Sight
Another 9/11 Anniversary is just around the corner
Another 9/11 Anniversary is just around the corner
Quote
Bushnev Slays the Deficit Dragon
Handwritten letter from President Saddam Hussein to the American people
The Shame of Being an American