El 9 Jul 97 a las 18:16, Alan Spector <spector@calumet.purdue.edu>
dixit:
> ...And in a climate where the dominant ideology will use the
> rhetoric of "differences" mainly to subordinate darker skin toned
> people, (because very few of the people who strongly assert that
> there are significant biological differences between the races will
> say that, for example, blacks and Latinos are probably "more
> intelligent" than whites)---that in that cultural context,
> agnosticism in the absence of evidence is generally taken by the
> public at large to be "partial support" for the white racial
> superiority position, despite the agnostics' protests that they are
> really not taking any position at all....
I infer from this snippet that Alan Spector is of the opinion
that "blacks and "Latinos," whatever else they may be, are separate
races; separate from Asians as well as Caucasians and, by extension,
separate from each other. If that's so, then I wonder if he will
explain this apparent anomaly of pigment:
Willie Mays, the "Say-hey Kid," and Roberto Clemente, who perished in
a plane crash while transport relief supplies to earthquake victims
in Managua in 1972, have much in common. Both are distinguished
baseball players who were voted National League M.V.P. in 1954 and
1965, respectively; and according to their somatotype, both are
people of color. Yet the Puerto Rican Clemente is a "Latino", and
the American Mays a "black" or, in keeping with ethnic labelling's
chameleon-like changeablity, more precisely an "African American."
(Doubting Thomases will find compelling iconographic proof of my
claims by simply pointing their browsers to the S.F. Giants' and
Pittsburgh Pirates' homepages.)
Was gibst, Alan? Seems to me we have in what you say a textbook
example of a statement deriving from expectations generated by an
accepted hypothesis, without troubling to find out what's
actually going on first.
El 9 Jul 97 a las 23:20, james m blaut <70671.2032@CompuServe.COM>
dixit:
> Nikolai is throwing all sorts of weird ingredients into his witches'
> brew in hopes of cooking up the magic elixir that will explain the
> European Miracle. Its a waste of effort. There is no such elixir.
> There was no miracle. Before 1492 Europe had ->nothing<- -- no
> ingredient or combination of ingredients -- which would explain its
> later rise to world hegemony. It all started at Palos.
Ah ha! Blaut's finally let the cat out of the bag and revealed the
secret of Europe's success. But what's the sleepy Andalusian port of
Palos de la Frontera got to do with it, anyway? Well, for one thing
it ain't European and thus fits his principal criterion; we all know
that Africa begins at the Pyrenees.
But what else might Palos have, besides being Columbus's point of
departure, to commend it? Let's see, among other things it's an
outlet for the renowned, spiritous wine produced from the vines that
populate its hinterland, el campo jerezano. Andalusis and other
Iberians, as well as Brits, Frenchmen and other European folk, all
took a liking to fine sherry, and whet their whistles on it as often
as possible. The Brits even went so far as to guarantee a ready
supply, by establishing themselves in Palos and its environs from
the late 14-c. onwards. Even today such well-known viticultural
concerns as Williams & Humbert, Gonz=E1lez Byass and Osborne, attest
abiding Brit influence in sherry production.
Could it be that some ingredient in fine sherry--that "sol de
Andaluc=EDa embotellado" (bottled Andalusian sun)-- did more to awake
or instill an imperialist, capitalist macho beast in the collective
European soul than, say, the mons argentorum of Potos=ED? Might be
possible. Consider, for instance, the logo of the House of Osborne:
an enraged feral bull, rearing up on its hind legs and exposing a
pair of hypertrophied testicles. What capitalist oppressor worth his
filthy lucre wouldn't wish to sport such virile accoutrements?
Some, to be sure, might consider my reasoning far fetched, even
preposterous. I would invite such skeptics to review the
discussion's development thus far: Doesn't it seem to have gone from
reverse invidious comparisons--Europeans were no better, and perhaps
less, endowed with the wherewithal for imperial conquest than other
peoples--to magic elixirs to... to...--Oh, come now!-- scholarly
snake oil passed off as T=EDo Pepe? To paraphrase Padre Las Casas, who
was surely by no means ignorant of the exquisite pleasure which
accrues from sipping fine sherry, one doesn't know whether to laugh
or cry.
Desde las Monta=F1as Verdes, saludos virtuales de
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