Crack this Walnut

Crack this Walnut

Genes have loose correlations to all sorts of things. Personality, behavior, beliefs, ideals, emotional tendencies, and of course the mother of them all IQ.

However, none of these correlations are 100%. Many are as low as 20%. What would become of a society that accepted genetic differences, good and bad, and concentrated solely on developing everyone we can to their fullest potential? For instance, suppose someone has a genetic predisposition to alcoholism. If raised correctly, and with enough force of will, this person can avoid drinking and thus never become an alcoholic. Here we have genes weaving their nefarious webs, and culture cutting right through them. How many other victories could we as a nation, and we as individuals, score over our genetic default?

Is there really no hope of progress, no chance at a better life? Are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over, we as individuals and we as groups, just because we have certain tendencies, or correlations, or predispositions, towards those things? There are no 100% correlations between genes and anything else. This means nothing is decided, no one is past hope, we can always change people for the better—if only we try hard enough.

At a certain period in US history, blacks were all free, and were also committing very few crimes, they wore respectable dress, they had a solid family life, and for all intents and purposes they were completely harmless additions to our society. Take a picture of blacks in 1910, 1920, or what have you and they look just like anyone else. No government handouts were being rewarded to them, no drug gangs were infesting inner cities, nothing. The genes of the black race probably haven’t changed much in the last few generations, but their behavior certainly has. This means culture can determine everything. Who cares if blacks start from a lower base? They can still become decent fellows with good lives, perfectly integrated into our society and economy. Ditch the bad habits, relearn the lessons of the past, and blacks will be as good as new.

If even blacks can perform well, with their genetic flaws, what then of any other race? Do we really believe hispanics are irretrievably bad, when blacks wore dapper coats and hats just a century ago? When blacks bowed to the ladies, didn’t cause trouble, and went to work just like the rest of us? What about arabs, asians, subcons, amerindians? Is there nothing culture couldn’t cure? So long as people obey the law, earn their keep, and leave us free to associate with whom we choose, what harm are they doing us? Sure, theoretically, a higher population puts a strain on public goods and resources, but without any handouts luring degenerates into the country, we can be assured they’ll always contribute more to the economy than they’ll cost.

What if we could develop some perfect government policy, some perfect set of laws, that would allow all races to coexist and even thrive in harmony? Suppose we gave pre-natal care to pregnant minorities, followed by the perfect schooling starting from age 1, insist the children be given breast feeding for the first six months, banish all possibility of drug use (singapore did it, so can we) and require babies only be born into stable married homes? Suppose we gave a citizen’s dividend to all married couples that could help pay for their health care and made corresponding laws requiring people lead healthy lives? Suppose we taught children in new, unorthodox manners that show much better results than our current ‘sit in a desk all day’ classrooms manage? Why won’t we even try? It’s heartless to simply give up on someone, simply because it would be easier on a genetically ‘fitter’ individual. That ‘fitter’ individual doesn’t exist, this one does. He’s alive, he’s suffering, and he needs our help. It’s too late to dream of an easier task with some 20% improvement due to some genetic correlation, we have a real breathing human, who like it or not is here and has to be taken care of, with the genes they like it or not have. Let’s work around it—has anyone bothered to even try?

Blacks don’t perform well in school. So change the schools to something that they perform well in. Teach them something they’re good at, or become good at teaching them. Does anyone seriously believe 2009 is the last word in education, that there is no way to improve our schools, whatsoever? That despite our lack of perfection in every other field, education is done, we’ve maximized its potential, it is just the optimal schooling experience that even Jesus has set up for babies in heaven?

Blacks have a crime problem. Well, when was there less crime? What were people doing in that age? Can we mimic that period? Can we bring back their policies? What was it? A no-nonsense enforcement policy? Higher culturual expectations and ostracism of ne’er do wells? Why can’t we bring it back? If there was any time blacks were doing less crime, we know we at least have the potential to bring it back to that level.

Voting has become a grab-bag for ethnic and special interests. Well then, when did voting work better? Was there a time when votes were limited and the results more rewarding for our republic? Could we not change voting to rest more on merit, or have some other qualifications, or change government entirely to something that might work better? If minority voting habits are a problem—change voting! Why immediately insist on going after the minority? There’s more than one way to skin a cat---and this way is more humane, which is all that matters. People come first, not projects.

Jews are defrauding us of trillions of dollars by gaming the business world. Well when were they not defrauding us? Perhaps we could change the way debt works, or perhaps the fed could be abolished, or new regulations be set so that such fraudulent practices would be illegal? America has had many recessions and the economy is a complicated business. Mistakes will be made, but there’s no need to get out the tar and feathers. Every time a crash occurs, we learn something, all we have to do is culturally apply what we’ve learned. With a proper set of laws, it will become impossible for anyone, regardless of the malice in their hearts, to steal from anyone. All it takes is a serious interest and effort in making things transparent, fair, and safe for the everyday investor.

Muslims are taught silly things in their Koran that promotes violence. Well, why don’t we teach them a different way in our schools, and show them love is always better than hate? It’s not like terrorism is a big deal, it kills fewer people than car accidents do every year. What is a big deal is giving up on millions of people, all fellow human beings, who if we tried even just a little could be shown the western cultural way. So long as muslims don’t do crime, go to work, and aren’t rioting in the streets, we can forgive each other our differences and move on! Life is too good to concentrate on what your neighbor is doing in the privacy of their homes, or what they are thinking in the privacy of their heads!

Sure diversity causes problems we wouldn’t ordinarily have. But let’s face it, so long as rich people have jobs, and poor people need them, diversity is going to happen. And more importantly, they’re already here. We can’t do anything about it now, they’ve just as much a right to live here as anyone else does. All we can do is try to make the best of it, for everyone’s sake. Are they suffering from a disease? Let’s get together and cure it. Do they have bad moral habits? Let’s get together and raise them right. Do they have a tendency to violence? Let’s teach them what is and what isn’t acceptable. Do they vote the wrong way? Let’s change government until only correct decisions are capable of being made. Do they make too little money? Let’s provide a generous citizen’s dividend that will help ends meet. After all, the rich of this country, the top 1%, earn as much as the bottom 50%! That kind of balance is disgusting, and I doubt it’s merited either. Regardless, the first few thousand dollars someone receives can buy food, clean water, a place to stay —the next few billion can only buy yachts and chandeliers--who needs it? We should be looking out for everyone, after all, we’re all in this together. A little less poverty goes a long way. People will not be as sick, if they just have a good diet and a good neighborhood--in the end it will save us money by avoiding all the complications poverty brings to people down the road. There’s so much we can do! Lots of people have good suggestions. Republicans want to be tough on crime--fine! Democrats want to provide better health care--good! Republicans want school choice--excellent! Democrats want school funding--let’s do it! What we all want is the betterment of our people’s lives. A place we can live, and our children can live, in peace and prosperity. Think for a second, what would YOU do to improve the life of EVERYONE in this country, from the most genetic superman to the lowest genetic reject? Think of that one change that would rise all boats, across the board, that you’d implement if you could. And then go do it! Make a crusade out of it. Go for it!

Do you want mothers to breast feed their children, because it rises IQ by 5 points and helps the child’s immune system forever--children of any color? How much would it hurt to change that? Let’s do it!

Do you want children as young as 1 to 5 year olds being given a healthy, nutritious diet no matter where they live? Do you want young children to receive top quality daycare that’s proven to energize and engage children’s minds? Let’s do it! How much could it cost? How much more will it cost, rather, if we DON’T do it? If we abandon these children, who in turn will someday abandon their country, and cause the chaos we so abhor?

Do you want english to be taught to all children at the time they learn it best, so we have a common language we can engage each other in, as one nation, as one people? Do you want english to be as innate to hispanics and haitians as it is to the purest boston clubhouse? Let’s legislate it! Test scores are certain to rise when hispancis aren’t busy trying to translate everything into their native tongue, before they can even address the question.

Life could be so much better, we know it can, in so many ways. Off the top of my head, I know of 30 different changes that would improve the life of every single human on earth, if only they gave it a shot. When we are so deficient as nurturers, what does nature have to do with it? Suppose we are stuck in a brace, blindfolded, our hands are tied behind our backs, and there’s a gag in our mouth. Now someone walks up and says to you: “You know why you can’t win this 100 meter dash? it’s because your genes are just too weak! If you simply had better genes, you could’ve been the winner. But now we’re carting you off to Ecuador, and good riddance!”

If only you could protest through your gag, you could tell him that the genes had nothing to do with it, it was really the blindfold, the hand tying, and the brace holding you back. And that with all those things removed, heck, you could’ve given the race quite a shot! This is how race-on-the-brains determinists are thinking, and it’s positively insane. Sure, maybe in the end they still couldn’t run as fast as a rocket. But you know what, they could run pretty damn fast. All we have to do is work together, and give it a real, honest-to-goodness shot. Until we have gotten the best out of everyone, how do we know it isn’t good enough? How do we know it isn’t wonderful? Lovable? Beautiful? Brilliant? Inspiring? Great? How do we know? How can we judge until we’ve let them bloom? There’s nothing wrong in this country that couldn’t be made better, with the very people living in it today. If we’ve done everything and made it as good as we can, and you’re still not content--well okay THEN tell us we were wrong, and we’ll admit it and apologize. Until then, taking into account the humaneness of our position, and the compassion we must all feel for our fellow man, what reason to jump the gun? I won’t question your motives or intentions, but I still can’t help but think how sad it must be to turn to violence, exclusion, and hate as the first and only recourse to every problem. If your daughter said she wasn’t going to eat the broccoli, do you get out the hammer and slug her across the head? Or do you work with her? Individuals make mistakes, societies make mistakes. Sometimes they do the wrong thing. The important thing is to love them, forgive them, and teach them a better way. Life is a process, there is no end point. If you let love enter your heart, you’ll always find a way to make up. This world is big enough for all of us, nurture is powerful enough to lift all boats, so let’s put the hammers away and give it another go, okay?