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Comment by forapurpose | Hacker News Reader

> a politically convenient assumption

The centuries-long existence of slavery, segregation (which was brutal oppression, including lynching), and racism isn't an "assumption", but indisputable fact. Occam's Razor is not a real arbiter of truth, but in this case it cuts the other way: Racism is the simpler and blazingly obvious explanation, backed by endless reearch and even the most casual observation. You really have to work to contrive explanations that don't include systemic and structural racism.

> poverty

Another outcome of those centuries.

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>Racism is the simpler and blazingly obvious explanation, backed by endless reearch and even the most casual observation.

Things that are wrong can be obvious to individuals and groups of people. It's certainly not obvious to half the country, and that "endless research" is tainted. How long do you get to keep your job in academia if you point out the primary drivers of black misery in the US (out of wedlock births, drugs, and violence) are self inflicted?

> How long do you get to keep your job in academia if you point out the primary drivers of black misery in the US (out of wedlock births, drugs, and violence) are self inflicted?

To "point out" something (in academia or elsewhere), that something must be a fact.

> It's certainly not obvious to half the country

It's certainly obvious to the most of the U.S., and facts are not subject to a popularity vote regardless.

> "endless research" is tainted

Easily said, but completely unsubstantiated

> How long do you get to keep your job in academia if you point out ...

Can you substantiate that such a thing is true, and then answer your question? One thing that will lose you your job in academia is making intellectually weak, baseless claims. Academia doesn't run an affirmative action program to include all political ideologies; you have to actually have evidence and good arguments.

facts are not subject to a popularity vote

I seem to recall "scientific consensus" being important on certain things?

> How long do you get to keep your job in academia if you point out the primary drivers of black misery in the US (out of wedlock births, drugs, and violence) are self inflicted?

It's almost as if the sins of the past affects the lives of people in the present somehow.

It's almost as if people like to use the sins of others long dead to excuse their own shortcomings.

In any event, if free will isn't a thing, there's no point in trying to make the world a better place, right, so we should just leave things as they are?

You've been using HN primarily for political and ideological battle. That's an abuse of the site which destroys its main purpose, so we ban accounts that do it. Would you please read https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html, take its spirit to heart, and use HN as intended from now on?

> sins of others long dead

You are suggesting that there isn't widespread racism now? What knowledge or basis do you have for all this?

> if free will isn't a thing

So either there is no free will or there are no systemic problems? Are poverty in Somalia and Kirghistan systemic issues, or is it just a failure of the people there that they don't live like people in the Bay Area? In the U.S., is poverty on Native American reservations, and among almost every group that isn't white men, just due to laziness? Society, health care, schools, the economy, racism, etc. - all have no effect?

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