Crime & Fitness
The Times has an article about the link between muscles and crime. A couple of really smart guys comment here and here.
As they note, people with more muscle are able to commit more crimes. But that doesn't mean muscles cause cause. Criminals will use whatever means they can to commit crimes. Give them a gun, and they'll use it. Give them a brain, and they'll use it. Give them big muscles, and they'll use those, too.
Shocking, right?
Steve Sailer must be a smart guy. How could somebody who consistently seems to dance along the edge of overt white supremacy get quoted so often and linked so much if he weren't....
Posted by: Aaron | July 23, 2008 at 09:04 AM
Aaron: I don't follow. If indeed he is a racist (I don't know much about the guy), what does that have to do with his intelligence? Most people are racist to some degree - even very intelligent people. They just hide it better.
Look at today's world. Today's accepted bigotry is against gays. You don't need to hide anti-gay bigotry, since it's still socially accepted in many circles. So we see a a lot of very smart people who are anti-gay.
I don't like either form of bigotry. But I really don't think calling someone a racist shuts down their arguments.
Posted by: Mike | July 23, 2008 at 11:52 AM
I didn't say he was stupid because he's a racist. Quite the opposite. I said he must be smart to get so much attention and so many links despite his apparent, outspoken beliefs.
I did not say he was a racist "to shut down his argument" - I didn't even suggest that one has anything to do with the other. But there's nothing wrong with "calling out" a racist, is there.
Posted by: Aaron | July 23, 2008 at 02:16 PM
Dang. Maybe I reply to what you wrote instead of what I thought you wrote? ;-)
Posted by: Mike | July 23, 2008 at 04:21 PM
Jeez, Steve Sailer sound a lot like a less eloquent
Shelby Steele, or
Bill Cosby
Posted by: Anton | July 24, 2008 at 06:51 AM
The other problems with your attempted redemption aside, last I checked "less eloquent" was not synonymous with "racist".
I must have missed the part where Cosby or Steele described African Americans as inherently inferior to other races. When, for example, did I miss them calling Obama a "wigger", or claiming that African Americans "tend to possess poorer native judgment" as compared to other races?
Posted by: Aaron | July 24, 2008 at 10:07 AM