Oh, Man, Another Response

Greg is somewhat convinced by the argument that women are biologically inferior in math and sciences, for reasons that are obscured by sarcasm. (Greg is willing to accept what most researchers on the topic understand to be true, versus what Alice wants to be true...and Greg does not phrase it the way Alice does so as to connate some sort of victimization...but rather, is trying to explain a fact - more men than women in math and science in acadamia - what is Alice's reason for this fact?)

- G finds individuals breaking social stereotypes more interesting, albeit improbable (e.g., the biological improbability of a beautiful genius. Can't be done. Nope.)(Improbable? See Eminem, or Tiger Woods. Are you guys claiming that Denise Richards is convincing as a nuclear scientist? This is the girl who married Charlie Sheen, for chrissake. This is your position?)

-Feminism and civil rights are unfashionable, as, presumably, will someday be those other crazy fads, like gay rights and multiculturalism (can't we ever have any fun?)

-But for those individuals gauche enough to still subscribe to the feminist ideology, the only legitimate way to demonstrate feminism is to be outraged over gross misogyny in other cultures. To be disgruntled about academic leaders making "scientific" claims about biological limitations of women in the United States would be... like griping about a baseball loss. (whose making any claim about biological limitations??? the question is why more men are in science and math professions than women. my point about feminism is that some "feminists" can't see the forest cause they're looking at the trees. it's a metaphor.)

Have I got that right?

The thread is hard to follow, but I'm guessing that it's not unlike the logic that concluded that Africans were better suited to pick cotton because their natural darkness helped them withstand the sun, and that the shapes of their heads made them closer akin to apes. Scientists, backed by piles of research, were willing to swear by it - and by gum, those slaves sure worked hard, so it must have been true. (deductive reasoning by a nihilistic utopian - see the prior post)

Anomalies like Nat Turner and Fredrick Douglas were definitely interesting, but the idea that a strong black man could be a rocket scientist? Well, that's pretty improbable - though, that Carver WAS pretty smart, huh? (deductive reasoning by a nihilistic utopian....with an added flavor of deep cynicism to someone you happen to know and probably suspect isn't waving a confederate flag his doorstep)

I imagine that it got pretty old listening to those abolitionists go on and on about the issue of slavery - get over it already - because if they REALLY cared about the plight of Africans, they would have been shipping some aid back to Africa. It was a mess back there! (so, the way women are treated in America is similar to how slaves were treated? Uhhhh....yeah, I can see that. Alice - please tell Kevin I would like to purchase you - I'll write him a check, he can name the price.)

There are other examples, I suppose, of the dangers of bigotry cloaked in biology - native americans, chinese coolies, the holocaust - but ho hum. The topic is soooo passe that, honestly, it's getting a little boring. (true that)