Derbyshire Speaks
Douglas ·
April 11, 2012 at 4:11am
I know we've had a lot of posts about L'Affaire Derbyshire ($1 to Diane Ellis), but up till now, John Derbyshire himself has not commented. He's been given a forum to do so in one of the most unlikely of places: Gawker. They were surprisingly fair minded, he was frank, and the exchange is informative. Apparently, Derbyshire is more concerned with getting his chemo treatments right now than he is with responding to the firestorm he started. Lots of interesting info in the exchange.
Editor's Note: We've had a lot of spirited exchanges over the Derbyshire incident on the Member Feed over the past four days. Here are a few of the many Member-initiated conversations on the topic:
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Comments:
Mar '12
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Well reasoned.
Dec '11
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Horace
Nonsense. His advice is to treat every black person in certain situations the same way
entirely false.
Edited on April 11, 2012 at 4:49pmMay '10
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
First of all, I reject the Darwinist notion that there are multiple races; there is one Human Race. However I find very little to disagree with Mr. Darbishire in terms of expositing about the current state of things as advice to my offspring. It should not be dangerous for 'whites' to be around large numbers of 'blacks', but it is. This sad state of affairs will not change much for the better until intermarriage dilutes the observable difference of skin tone sufficiently UNLESS the darker hued among us decide to come to grips with both our history and their responses to it in a mature and responsible manner.
BTW, when I was asked 20 years ago what I would tell my kids about marriage outside their race my response was, "I'm particular, I want them to marry another human...of the opposite sex...no giraffes or goats!" It was funny at the time (less so now) but my point was serious.
Mar '12
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Guruforhire
entirely false.
It is not false, read his article again. Or explain, with citations from his article how it is false.
Edited on April 11, 2012 at 4:52pmDec '11
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Horace
Guruforhire
entirely false.
It is not false, read his article again. Or explain, with citations from his article how it is false. · 1 minute ago
Edited 0 minutes ago
Para 4,5,10,13
Edited on April 11, 2012 at 4:53pmDec '10
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
I had a lefty aunt (RIP) whose best friend in her later years was a black woman. This woman is from Jamaica (is she still "African" American?). She's a professor of English and a wonder to hear when she lectures. If race played any part in their relationship (and I don't believe it did), it would have been my lefty aunt valuing her black friend as some sort of trophy. No, what they shared was cultural.
This English professor married late and adopted two black boys. She, herself, will tell you she doesn't want her kids around other blacks. NOT because they're black, but because of what black culture has become. She'd probably say the same about the subculture (all races) I witnessed at the County Citizens Service Center a couple days ago.
If Eric Holder had anything right about us being cowards on the issue of race, it's this: not enough people of any color are willing to address the dysfunction and depravity of the underclass in our society and it's roots in the atheistic welfare state.
Dec '10
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
So, the trial is over, and the defense must demonstrate innocence.
And by the way, if you defend Derb, you probably have some of those tendencies yourself.
Clarification: I'll happily defend Derb, if not his ideas.
Edited on April 11, 2012 at 5:06pmMar '12
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Guruforhire
Horace
Guruforhire
entirely false.
It is not false, read his article again. Or explain, with citations from his article how it is false. · 1 minute ago
Edited 0 minutes ago
Para 4,5,10,13
Great, thats the citation part. Now how about the explanation part.
Edited on April 11, 2012 at 4:57pmMar '12
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Jerry Broaddus
So, the trial is over, and the defense must demonstrate innocence.
Umm, excuse me. I was accused of making a false claim. I am the defendant in this exchange.
Jan '12
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
There is nothing Derb said that is beyond the pale of civilized discourse. If he erred in any of his facts, the rational thing to do would be to present the contrary evidence. In fact, much of it, his advice to his children, is just plain prudence, counseling against dangers regarding which anybody who looks beyond the supressions-of-fact inhabiting the MSM can read almost weekly. Our public life, however, is so ruled by the dictates of latter-day Jacobins, eagerly sniffing about for crypto-aristocrats to feed to that milder guillotine, spiteful ostracism, that even "respectable" conservatives fear for their reputations.
Bah, I am becoming thoroughly sick of the transactions of the modern-day public sphere. Even if the majority manage to boot Obama out of the White House--not a sure thing by any means--they have already yielded to the empty promises of the welfare state and the vulgar shackles of political correctness.
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
What civilization are you in? In mine, his contemptuous and sneering rhetoric is beyond the pale, even if he hadn't argued that black people in need of assistance on the side of the road (sorry, *apparently* in need of assistance) be ignored or that groups that are majority black be avoided and so on and so forth.
Pretending that an anecdote here or there and an out-of-context link to something makes it "scientific evidence" doesn't pass muster either.
Dec '11
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Horace
Guruforhire
Horace
Guruforhire
entirely false.
It is not false, read his article again. Or explain, with citations from his article how it is false. · 1 minute ago
Edited 0 minutes ago
Para 4,5,10,13
Great, thats the citation part. Now how about the explanation part. · 35 minutes ago
Edited 35 minutes ago
Sure, I do not have word count to copy and paste, so I will paraphrase.
Be good to everybody. Be mindful that statistics do not describe any given individual or situation. If at all possible avoid judging someone solely based upon race. Seek out and have meaningful relationships with one's black peers.
Jan '12
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Absolutely. The right freely to assemble implies the right freely to associate--or to refrain from association. This is another right that affirmative action has trampled upon. Whatever one feels about blacks originally, one cannot feel better about them when one is forced under penalty of law to associate with them.
A similar argument may be made about the original portion of the Civil Rights Act that forbade private, commercial discrimination in public accomodations. There, however, one might counterargue that the public aspect to commercial transactions demand public regulation. Affirmative action--let's call a spade a spade: quotas--stand on a harsher plane: one is forced to disregard whether a person might be disqualified for a particular association. One is also forced to treat a person not as an individual but as a category. Such thinking can only prove to be discriminatory in itself.
But then, the editors at NR have a right of association too, even if they should exhibit cowardliness in exercising it.
Edited on April 11, 2012 at 6:28pmDec '10
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Horace
Jerry Broaddus
So, the trial is over, and the defense must demonstrate innocence.
Umm, excuse me. I was accused of making a false claim. I am the defendant in this exchange. · 1 hour ago
That makes no sense unless prosecutors get the benefit of the doubt for the evidence they say they have but don't present. And they don't.
Dec '10
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
What civilization are you in? In mine, his contemptuous and sneering rhetoric is beyond the pale, even if he hadn't argued that black people in need of assistance on the side of the road (sorry, *apparently* in need of assistance) be ignored or that groups that are majority black be avoided and so on and so forth.
Pretending that an anecdote here or there and an out-of-context link to something makes it "scientific evidence" doesn't pass muster either. · 45 minutes ago
Who used the term "scientific evidence"?
Jan '12
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
What civilization are you in? In mine, his contemptuous and sneering rhetoric is beyond the pale, even if he hadn't argued that black people in need of assistance on the side of the road (sorry, *apparently* in need of assistance) be ignored or that groups that are majority black be avoided and so on and so forth.
· 45 minutes ago
I am in and for the civilization of freedom of expression, not for nannies' censoring me or Derb merely for sneering. Oh, imagine the pain! A slavish attachment to "sensitivity" can sap the vigor necessary for standing up for one's rights. It seems that even at Ricochet there is much too much sensitivity and too much feeling, nothing but feeling. Let me tell you, such self-abnegation will not save the republic from the tentacles of the socialists, the bureaucrats, and their clients, whether pliant or panther-like.
And if you don't like it, Ms. sensitive editor, you can refund the remainder of my subscription any time you wish. I doubt that we shall miss each other.
Edited on April 11, 2012 at 6:43pmMar '11
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Mollie Hemingway, Ed.
What civilization are you in? In mine, his contemptuous and sneering rhetoric is beyond the pale, even if he hadn't argued that black people in need of assistance on the side of the road (sorry, *apparently* in need of assistance) be ignored or that groups that are majority black be avoided and so on and so forth.
Pretending that an anecdote here or there and an out-of-context link to something makes it "scientific evidence" doesn't pass muster either. · 40 minutes ago
And when someone takes offense at something you write about gay marriage that's perceived as hateful and beyond the pale by the LBGT community, what then, Mollie? It amazes me that the the default reaction to ideas we don't like is now to silence them rather than challenge them.
Apr '12
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Mar '12
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Jerry Broaddus
That makes no sense unless prosecutors get the benefit of the doubt for the evidence they say they have but don't present. And they don't.
I characterized Derbs points entirely accurately, I was told my characterization was false. That means I'm being accused of something. I asked for an explanation of how the accusation is justified. That doesn't qualify as me demanding someone prove innocence. It means I expect people to justify their accusations with reasoning and specifics. There is no unfair standard at work there. Try again.
Dec '10
Re: Derbyshire Speaks
Horace
Jerry Broaddus
That makes no sense unless prosecutors get the benefit of the doubt for the evidence they say they have but don't present. And they don't.
I characterized Derbs points entirely accurately, I was told my characterization was false. That means I'm being accused of something. I asked for an explanation of how the accusation is justified. That doesn't qualify as me demanding someone prove innocence. It means I expect people to justify their accusations with reasoning and specifics. There is no unfair standard at work there. Try again. · 9 minutes ago
Or, it means that you didn't present the evidence that supports your contention that you were accurate. That's where we sit right now.
We should limit ourselves to one trial at a time.