I'm not seriously claiming that the following "Evolutionary Psychology Theory of Racism" is original (or necessarily true). But it has been rattling around my brain lately so I thought I'd finally share it. Here is "my" idea: 1) Nearly entirely independent of a "pure meritocracy", I think most people fundamentally define "good" as that which enables their descendants to survive & prosper. 2) Consequently, people are constantly try to "rig the game" to favor their descendants. If you're smart you want to create/reinforce a society that rewards intelligence. If you're beautiful, you place value on that and de facto "punish" those you deem unattractive. Same dynamic with athletic ability, humor/charm, religion, legacy status advantage at an alma mater (or "blue blood"/genetic appreciation in general), and nearly all other tribal Balkanizations. It's also why bellacose people want to resolve disputes with war/fighting and fear/avoid any tactic or path where they don't have an advantage. 3) Racists, at least subconsciously, know they themselves are actually inferior to the general population and thus don't want a meritocracy because it would hurt them and their descendants. Here's why: a. - Racism is the negative prejudice/discrimination that is invalided by science/truth/facts. Only for the sake of this semantic argument, "a prejudiced comment validated by science/truth/facts would not be racist - e.g. expecting the Bambenga Pygmie you're about to meet will be short is not racist". Consequently racism must be inherently contrary to a pure meritocracy. b. - If you rationally assume racism exists at least somewhat then that proves that we don't have a "pure meritocracy". Even if you irrationally believe races have significant differences in potential (like those who still accept the dubious conclusions in Hernstein & Murray's "The Bell Curve") surely you still recognize that a higher percentage of affluent children reach a higher proportion of their potential, due to their advantages, than do disadvantaged children (exceptions notwithstanding). c. - In a meritocracy advantages are only granted to those who achieve in order to maximize their achievements (you can't truly know if someone can hit a 90 mph fastball if you only let him experience 70 mph pitches). d. - Consequently, rich racists have the most to lose in switching to a meritocracy. They would lose their advantages and thus necessarily diminish their levels of potential achievement. This is compounded by the likelihood that a previously disadvantaged person could now achieve more which, while potentially net increasing the country's wealth macroeconomically, would result in a relative decrease in those rich racists' success. 4) Consequently, seeing someone spout racist comments should signify to you his/her ignorance and frustration with losing the "rigged rules" that unduly benefited him/her which were contrary to a pure meritocracy. p.s. What would be a "pure meritocracy" and whether such a system would be desirable to humanity as a whole are very separate and worthy questions. |
CAVEAT! I'm an amateur philosopher and idea-generator. I am NOT an investment professional. Don't take any of my advice before consulting with an attorney and also a duly licensed authority on finance. Seriously, this my personal blog of random ideas only for entertainment purposes. Don't be an idiot.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Defining "Good" via Descendants' Prosperity / Evolutionary Psychology Explains Racism
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