{"id":5258,"date":"2017-09-08T05:17:53","date_gmt":"2017-09-08T05:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2017\/09\/08\/kimball-on-stove-on-race\/"},"modified":"2017-09-08T05:17:53","modified_gmt":"2017-09-08T05:17:53","slug":"kimball-on-stove-on-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2017\/09\/08\/kimball-on-stove-on-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Kimball on Stove on Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roger Kimball, Who Was David Stove?<\/a> Excerpt:<\/span><\/p>\n

Stove\u2019s essay \u201cRacial and Other Antagonisms\u201d is similarly emollient. He begins by noting that some degree of friction is the common if not the inevitable result when \u201ctwo races of people have been in contact for long.\u201d Only in the twentieth century, however, has such antagonism been described as a form of \u201cprejudice.\u201d Why? Earlier ages had the concept, and the word. Part of the reason, Stove suggests, is that by christening racial animosity \u201cracial prejudice<\/em>\u201d we transform it into an intellectual fault, i.e., a false or irrational belief that might be cured by education\u2014and this, Stove observes, \u201cis a distinctly cheering<\/em> thing to imply.\u201d Alas, while it is certainly true that racial antagonism is often accompanied by<\/em> false or irrational beliefs about the other race, it is by no means clear that it depends upon<\/em> them. And if it doesn\u2019t, education will be little more than liberal window dressing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stove\u2019s essay on race is full of discomfiting observations. He defines \u201cracism\u201d\u2014a neologism so recent, he points out, that it was not in the OED in 1971\u2014as the belief that \u201csome human races are inferior to others in certain respects, and that it is sometimes proper to make such differences the basis of our behaviour towards people.\u201d Although this proposition is constantly declared to be false, Stove says, \u201ceveryone knows it is true, just as everyone knows it is true that people differ in age, sex, health, etc., and that it is sometimes proper to make these<\/em> differences the basis of our behaviour towards them.\u201d For example,<\/span><\/p>\n

if you are recruiting potential basketball champions, you would be mad not to be more interested in American Negroes than in Vietnamese\u2026 . Any rational person, recruiting an army, will be more interested in Germans than in Italians. If what you want in people is aptitude for forming stable family-ties, you will prefer Italians or Chinese to American Negroes. Pronounced mathematical ability is more likely to occur in an Indian or a Hungarian than in an Australian Aboriginal. If you are recruiting workers, and you value docility above every other trait in a worker, you should prefer Chinese to white Americans. And so on.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Stove readily admitted that some of these traits may be culturally rather than genetically determined. But he went on to observe that \u201cthey are still traits which are statistically associated with race<\/em>, well enough, to make race a rational guide in such areas of policy as recruitment or immigration.\u201d As I say, David Stove would not have been made to feel welcome at many American colleges or universities.<\/span><\/p>\n

……………………………………..<\/span><\/p>\n

It can't be racist if it's true. Now what Stove says above is true, except when he says that "everyone knows it is true." There are people who sincerely believe it to be false.  But surely most of us know that it is true even if we won't admit it publicly. In any case, what Stove says above is true, and it can't be racist if its true, whence it follows that Stove violates ordinary usage when he defines 'racism' as he does.  And that is a foolish thing to do. Meaning is tied to use, and only a linguistic Don Quixote tilts against the windmills of prevalent usage. To shift metaphors, some words and phrases are just not candidates for semantic rehabilitation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Stove needs a different word.  Whatever word that is, it won't be '<\/span><\/span>racism.'  'Racism' is currently used to label an attitude of irrational hatred of members of a race not one's own precisely because they are members of a race not one's own.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It is obvious that one's acceptance of the Stovian truths does not entail that he bears any racial animosity to anyone.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I have just engaged in some clear thinking and truth-telling. But what's the point in a world becoming stupider and crazier by the day?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\nRelated articles<\/legend>\n
\n
<\/a>Why the Left Can't Let Go of Racism<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/fieldset>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roger Kimball, Who Was David Stove? Excerpt: Stove\u2019s essay \u201cRacial and Other Antagonisms\u201d is similarly emollient. He begins by noting that some degree of friction is the common if not the inevitable result when \u201ctwo races of people have been in contact for long.\u201d Only in the twentieth century, however, has such antagonism been described … Continue reading “Kimball on Stove on Race”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,15,598],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-language-matters","category-race","category-stove-david"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}