\doc\web\99\06\bruck.txt Date forwarded: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 22:34:25 -0500 (EST) From: "Clyde Bruckman" To: "upstream" , Subject: Re: [Upstream] Diversity, News Credibility Linked Date sent: Tue, 30 Mar 1999 22:32:17 -0500 Forwarded by: upstream-list@cycad.com Send reply to: upstream-list@cycad.com Since I am the one who posted the David Duke transcript, let me make my views known. I don’t support David Duke. I find some of his views wrong and some disturbing, but many things he says are factually correct. It is interesting to see the media deal with someone who says forbidden things, which is why I posted the transcript. It’s good for Tim Russert to ask skeptical questions, but I don’t know if it’s neccessary for him to be in attack mode. I should add that I’ve only read the parts of Duke’s book that are available on the web (http://www.duke.org/awakening/toc.html), so I may not be giving the fullest account of his beliefs. Chris Brand has an interesting review at http://www.crispian.demon.co.uk/McDNLArch7.htm (warning: it’s part of a very large file). Duke has rightly recognized that race differences cause some problems, but now sees race as behind most problems, which is simplistic–although no more so than those who see "discrimination" in every statistical difference. Other than being against affirmative action, he’s generally unclear on policy questions–although the media almost never ask him policy questions. Duke’s views on the Jews are similar to how African-Americans view whites: he takes snippets which are mostly true – Jews dominated communism, Jews dominate the media, the Talmud says intolerant things about non-Jews – and concludes that there’s a Jewish conspiracy against whites. Similarly, black people blame all their problems on whites, even though it’s only somewhat true. Duke talks about issues that need discussing, issues that are taboo. Unfortunately, I think that he will perpetuate the association that belief in racial differences leads automatically to ... the Klan, Jim Crow, Apartheid, Slavery, GENOCIDE! Historically, of course, that’s nonsense. Sure Adolf Hitler believed in racial differences, but so did Abraham Lincoln. It makes no more sense to suggest that belief in equality leads automatically to the genocides of Stalin or Mao, so we shouldn’t talk about equality either. Since this association exists, many reasonable people who believe in racial differences but support equal opportunity keep quiet, so the association is strengthened. The taboo about talking about racial differences–or, for that matter, intelligence differences among individuals within races–has a tremendouly distorting effect on public discourse and public policy. I could go on at length, but I’ll hold my tongue for now. --- This is a message from the Upstream mailing list. Visit the Upstream Website at http://cycad.com/cgi-bin/Upstream/ Visit the Upstream Mailing List archives at http://cycad.com/upstream-list-archive To subscribe to this list send email to the address upstream-list-request@cycad.com with just the subject subscribe To unsubscribe from this list send email to the address upstream-list-request@cycad.com with just the subject unsubscribe