12 years ago, almost to the day, conservative journalist and...
Jeremy Kauffman 🦔🌲🌕@jeremykauffman
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Apr 05, 2025
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12 years ago, almost to the day, conservative journalist and programmer John Derbyshire was canceled and lost his job at the National Review.
Why? He wrote an article, called "The Talk: Nonblack Version"
Derbyshire shared 15 suggestions. How do they hold up today? Let's look
Why? He wrote an article, called "The Talk: Nonblack Version"
Derbyshire shared 15 suggestions. How do they hold up today? Let's look
Matt Walsh@MattWalshBlog
If I told you that a young man stabbed another young man to death for telling him that he was in the wrong seat, and then I told you that one young man in this altercation was white and the other black, and then I asked you to guess the race of the assailant, every single person would know the answer immediately. Young black males are violent to a wildly, outrageously disproportionate degree. That’s just a fact. We all know it. And it’s time that we speak honestly about it, or nothing will ever change.
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1 - Among your fellow citizens are forty million who identify as black, and whom I shall refer to as black. The cumbersome (and MLK-noncompliant) term “African-American” seems to be in decline, thank goodness. “Colored” and “Negro” are archaisms. What you must call “the ‘N’ word” is used freely among blacks but is taboo to nonblacks.
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2 - American blacks are descended from West African populations, with some white and aboriginal-American admixture. The overall average of non-African admixture is 20-25 percent. The admixture distribution is nonlinear, though: “It seems that around 10 percent of the African American population is more than half European in ancestry.”
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3 - Your own ancestry is mixed north-European and northeast-Asian, but blacks will take you to be white.
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4 - The default principle in everyday personal encounters is, that as a fellow citizen, with the same rights and obligations as yourself, any individual black is entitled to the same courtesies you would extend to a nonblack citizen.
That is basic good manners and good citizenship. In some unusual circumstances, however” e.g., paragraph (10h) below” this default principle should be overridden by considerations of personal safety.
That is basic good manners and good citizenship. In some unusual circumstances, however” e.g., paragraph (10h) below” this default principle should be overridden by considerations of personal safety.
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5 - As with any population of such a size, there is great variation among blacks in every human trait (except, obviously, the trait of identifying oneself as black). They come fat, thin, tall, short, dumb, smart, introverted, extroverted, honest, crooked, athletic, sedentary, fastidious, sloppy, amiable, and obnoxious.
There are black geniuses and black morons. There are black saints and black psychopaths. In a population of forty million, you will find almost any human type. Only at the far, far extremes of certain traits are there absences. There are, for example, no black Fields Medal winners. While this is civilizationally consequential, it will not likely ever be important to you personally. Most people live and die without ever meeting (or wishing to meet) a Fields Medal winner.
There are black geniuses and black morons. There are black saints and black psychopaths. In a population of forty million, you will find almost any human type. Only at the far, far extremes of certain traits are there absences. There are, for example, no black Fields Medal winners. While this is civilizationally consequential, it will not likely ever be important to you personally. Most people live and die without ever meeting (or wishing to meet) a Fields Medal winner.
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6 - As you go through life, however, you will experience an ever larger number of encounters with black Americans. Assuming your encounters are random”for example, not restricted only to black convicted murderers or to black investment bankers” the Law of Large Numbers will inevitably kick in. You will observe that the means “the averages” of many traits are very different for black and white Americans, as has been confirmed by methodical inquiries in the human sciences.
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7 - Of most importance to your personal safety are the very different means for antisocial behavior, which you will see reflected in, for instance, school disciplinary measures, political corruption, and criminal convictions.
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8 - These differences are magnified by the hostility many blacks feel toward whites. Thus, while black-on-black behavior is more antisocial in the average than is white-on-white behavior, average black-on-white behavior is a degree more antisocial yet.
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9 - A small cohort of blacks (in my experience, around five percent) is ferociously hostile to whites and will go to great lengths to inconvenience or harm us. A much larger cohort of blacks (around half) will go along passively if the five percent take leadership in some event. They will do this out of racial solidarity, the natural willingness of most human beings to be led, and a vague feeling that whites have it coming.
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10 - Thus, while always attentive to the particular qualities of individuals, on the many occasions where you have nothing to guide you but knowledge of those mean differences, use statistical common sense:
a) Avoid concentrations of blacks not all known to you personally.
b) Stay out of heavily black neighborhoods.
c) If planning a trip to a beach or amusement park at some date, find out whether it is likely to be swamped with blacks on that date (neglect of that one got me the closest I have ever gotten to death by gunshot).
d) Do not attend events likely to draw a lot of blacks.
e) If you are at some public event at which the number of blacks suddenly swells, leave as quickly as possible.
f) Do not settle in a district or municipality run by black politicians.
g) Before voting for a black politician, scrutinize his/her character much more carefully than you would a white.
h) Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.
i) If accosted by a strange black in the street, smile and say something polite but keep moving.
a) Avoid concentrations of blacks not all known to you personally.
b) Stay out of heavily black neighborhoods.
c) If planning a trip to a beach or amusement park at some date, find out whether it is likely to be swamped with blacks on that date (neglect of that one got me the closest I have ever gotten to death by gunshot).
d) Do not attend events likely to draw a lot of blacks.
e) If you are at some public event at which the number of blacks suddenly swells, leave as quickly as possible.
f) Do not settle in a district or municipality run by black politicians.
g) Before voting for a black politician, scrutinize his/her character much more carefully than you would a white.
h) Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.
i) If accosted by a strange black in the street, smile and say something polite but keep moving.
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11 - The mean intelligence of blacks is much lower than for whites. The least intelligent ten percent of whites have IQs below 81; forty percent of blacks have IQs that low. Only one black in six is more intelligent than the average white; five whites out of six are more intelligent than the average black.
These differences show in every test of general cognitive ability that anyone, of any race or nationality, has yet been able to devise. They are reflected in countless everyday situations. “Life is an IQ test.”
These differences show in every test of general cognitive ability that anyone, of any race or nationality, has yet been able to devise. They are reflected in countless everyday situations. “Life is an IQ test.”
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12 - There is a magnifying effect here, too, caused by affirmative action. In a pure meritocracy there would be very low proportions of blacks in cognitively demanding jobs. Because of affirmative action, the proportions are higher. In government work, they are very high. Thus, in those encounters with strangers that involve cognitive engagement, ceteris paribus the black stranger will be less intelligent than the white.
In such encounters, therefore (for example, at a government office) you will, on average, be dealt with more competently by a white than by a black. If that hostility-based magnifying effect (paragraph 8) is also in play, you will be dealt with more politely, too. "The DMV lady" is a statistical truth, not a myth.
In such encounters, therefore (for example, at a government office) you will, on average, be dealt with more competently by a white than by a black. If that hostility-based magnifying effect (paragraph 8) is also in play, you will be dealt with more politely, too. "The DMV lady" is a statistical truth, not a myth.
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13 - In that pool of forty million, there are nonetheless many intelligent and well-socialized blacks. (I’ll use IWSB as an ad hoc abbreviation.) You should consciously seek opportunities to make friends with IWSBs. In addition to the ordinary pleasures of friendship, you will gain an amulet against potentially career-destroying accusations of prejudice.
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14 - Be aware, however, that there is an issue of supply and demand here. Demand comes from organizations and businesses keen to display racial propriety by employing IWSBs, especially in positions at the interface with the general public”corporate sales reps, TV news presenters, press officers for government agencies, etc.”with corresponding depletion in less visible positions. There is also strong private demand from middle- and upper-class whites for personal bonds with IWSBs, for reasons given in the previous paragraph and also (next paragraph) as status markers.
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15 - Unfortunately the demand is greater than the supply, so IWSBs are something of a luxury good, like antique furniture or corporate jets: boasted of by upper-class whites and wealthy organizations, coveted by the less prosperous.
To be an IWSB in present-day US society is a height of felicity rarely before attained by any group of human beings in history. Try to curb your envy: it will be taken as prejudice (see paragraph 13).
To be an IWSB in present-day US society is a height of felicity rarely before attained by any group of human beings in history. Try to curb your envy: it will be taken as prejudice (see paragraph 13).
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Derbyshire concludes:
You don’t have to follow my version of the talk point for point; but if you are white or Asian and have kids, you owe it to them to give them some version of the talk. It will save them a lot of time and trouble spent figuring things out for themselves. It may save their lives.
You don’t have to follow my version of the talk point for point; but if you are white or Asian and have kids, you owe it to them to give them some version of the talk. It will save them a lot of time and trouble spent figuring things out for themselves. It may save their lives.
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My Irish grandfather (a mathematician and early computer programmer) sent me Derbyshire's book about Bernhard Riemann when I was just a teenager
Derbyshire's cancellation played a partial role in my own awakening to the lies we're taught about race in school and on TV
Derbyshire's cancellation played a partial role in my own awakening to the lies we're taught about race in school and on TV
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Here's the link for the Derbyshire article on Taki Mag, where it was originally published
takimag.com/article/the_ta…
takimag.com/article/the_ta…
