{"id":7699,"date":"2014-09-12T14:13:58","date_gmt":"2014-09-12T14:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/09\/12\/bruce-levensons-racist-e-mail\/"},"modified":"2014-09-12T14:13:58","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T14:13:58","slug":"bruce-levensons-racist-e-mail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2014\/09\/12\/bruce-levensons-racist-e-mail\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass Race Delusion: Bruce Levenson’s ‘Racist’ E-Mail"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently I have been pinching myself a lot, figuratively speaking, to see if I am awake and not dreaming all the delusional race nonsense I keep hearing about.  Herewith, a very recent example.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bruce Levenson, owner of the Atlanta Hawks, sold<\/a> his controlling interest in the NBA franchise  because of this<\/a> piece of 'racist' e-mail  that he very foolishly sent in naive ignorance of the climate of the country.  I excerpt the 'offensive' part, bad writing, bad punctuation and all.  Emphasis added.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Regarding game ops [operations?], i need to start with some background. for the first couple of years we owned the team, i didn't much focus on game ops.  then one day a light bulb went off [went on?].  when digging into why our season ticket base is so small, i was told it is because we can't get 35-55 white males and corporations to buy season tixs [tickets] and they are the primary demo [demographic] for season tickets around the league. when i pushed further, folks generally shrugged their shoulders.  then i start looking around our arena during games and notice the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

— it's 70 pct black<\/span>
— the cheerleaders are black<\/span>
— the music is hip hop<\/span>
— at the bars it's 90 pct black<\/span>
— there are few fathers and sons at the games<\/span>
— we are doing after game concerts to attract more fans and the concerts are either hip hop or gospel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then i start looking around at other arenas. It is completely different. Even DC with its affluent black community never has more than 15 pct black audience.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before we bought the hawks and for those couple years immediately after in an effort to make the arena look full (at the nba's urging) thousands and thousands of tickets were being giving away, predominantly in the black community, adding to the overwhelming black audience.<\/span><\/p>\n

My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a signficant season ticket base.<\/strong> Please dont get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arean [arena] back then. i never felt uncomfortable, but i think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority.<\/strong> On fan sites i would read comments about how dangerous it is around philips yet in our 9 years, i don't know of a mugging or even a pick pocket incident. This was just racist garbage. When I hear some people saying the arena is in the wrong place I think it is code for there are too many blacks at the games.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Now could any reasonable person, as opposed to a person in the grip of a delusion, take offence at any of this?  Of course not.  Levenson is a business man who is offering an explanation of why ticket sales are low.  His explanation is two-fold. First, the black crowd scares away the southern whites who are uncomfortable with being in a minority and who do not enjoy black entertainment (hip hop, all black cheerleaders) and do not want to be in a family-unfriendly environment (few fathers with sons). Second, there is a lack of affluent black fans.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now whether or not Levenson's explanation is correct, it is surely plausible.  But the main thing is that there is nothing racist about it. To report that certain whites are scared by certain blacks is to report a fact about the way those whites feel.  It is not to imply that the whites are justified<\/em> in feeling the way they do.  Maybe they are and maybe they aren't. 
<\/span><\/p>\n

The mistake that liberals (whether white or black) make is to confuse a racial<\/em> explanation with a racist<\/em> explanation.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is a special case of the confusion of a racial statement (a statement whose subject-matter is race) with a racist statement.  For example, the statement that blacks are 13-14% of the U. S. population is a racial statement, but not a racist statement.  Capiche?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Suppose I state that men, on average, are taller than women, on average.  Is that a hateful thing to say?  Is it sexist or 'tallist'?  Does it express a 'bias' that I need to overcome?  Of course not, it is true.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now here is another distinction that is probably wasted on a liberal.  It is the distinction beween the content of an assertion and the asserting of that content.  I see a man with no legs.  His name is Joe Blow.  I assert within earshot of Joe Blow, Joe Blow has no legs! <\/em> The content of my assertion is true and unobjectionable.  But my asserting of it in this context is morally objectionable and for obvious reasons.  But in other contexts both the content and my asserting of it would be unobjectionable.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is going on here?  How do we explain the mass race delusion of liberals?  Some possibilities:<\/span><\/p>\n