RACE VI: AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, A.K.A. NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO TALK ABOUT: That’s the most important thing about affirmative action: It isn’t the most important thing. It may not operate very well even on the basic level of getting black people jobs (scroll, scroll, scroll like the wind! to the last paragraph); but even if it does do that, it manifestly isn’t going to be the way that most black people who succeed do so, and it somewhat less... Read more

RACE V: RACE IS FAKE: A reader writes (among other stuff, of which more later) that I should examine the notion, “What if [race] doesn’t exist? Cuz it doesn’t, ya know.” Here’s what I sent him in reply: Right–I agree with the basic point you’re making here…–and I hinted that I would get at the totally bizarre, shifting, and socially-constructed nature of race eventually. But for the moment I’m using the standard-issue categories because I’m talking about how people are... Read more

AMARTYA SEN, SUPERSTAR: Yes, the Nobel-winning economist has been offered a role in a Bollywood movie. This is true. Via Natalie Solent. Here’s a Sen essay, the only one I’ve read so far–cogent look at development plans that focus on population control rather than more direct ways of making people less hideously poor. Read more

THE YEAR’S WORST BOOK TITLE and much more. Via The Corner. Not a laff riot, but several good giggles. Read more

why can’t I see my own blog? can YOU see my blog? peekaboo… THERE it is! thanks, Blogger! (say thank you to the nice Blogger, honey) Read more

GOOD BASIC POST ON WMDs from CalPundit. He also writes about “Ozma, the Transsexual of Oz,” but I wonder how his case for Baum’s feminism can be squared with the disastrous (if I’m recalling the book correctly) results of Jinjur’s army of women? Read more

DEBUNKING THE GLOBAL VILLAGE: Julian Sanchez takes a whack at a big pinata: “The spam purports to describe what the composition of a ‘global village’ would be like if we compressed the world’s population into a hundred person town. …Spam: 80 would live in substandard housing Fact: 25 would live in substandard housing Source: Habitat for Humanity International, ‘Why Habitat is Needed.’ …” Fun! Cheering! Spamalicious! Read more

RACE IV: MILWAUKEE. There was a ton of interesting stuff in the article InstaPundit linked about how Northern cities are now more segregated than Southern or Western ones. Here’s the article (link requires registration); here are the best bits: “In Milwaukee, where 37% of the city’s 600,000 residents are African American, the disparities between the races are among the greatest in the nation. The inequities are glaring in nearly every social index: income, child poverty, education, even access to home... Read more

RACE III: EX-RACISTS. In the post below, I mentioned that I believe that there are lots of white racists in the US because I’ve met a bunch of white racists here. However, I should note something else: Almost all of these racists were quite elderly, or else they were still racist but a lot less so than they used to be, or both. Except for the stupid time that I stupidly went and counterprotested the stupid KKK (it only encourages... Read more

RACE II: THAT EMPLOYMENT STUDY. Earlier this month, the New York Times reported on a careful study of racial discrimination in hiring practices in Boston and Chicago. Here’s the study in PDF. The researchers found significant discrimination: White “applicants” (there were no real applicants–I’ll explain this momentarily) had a 10.08% chance of getting called in for an interview after sending in a resume, whereas black “applicants” had a 6.70% chance. That may not sound like much, but it cashes out... Read more