Oddbean new post about login | logout A huge amount of it is, indeed. I'd argue their are probably genetic components, but I would never go so far as to indite people based on their race. I don't think any genetically coded ethics are "wrong" enough for that anyways. But @Dissident Sound would probably take the other side of that argument.
it isn't so much a matter of race as character. my father is a Sadist and i am not. we are the same race. i do think that Asians are on average less ethical than Europeans and Africans on average less intelligent and more impulsive ... but i would rather hang out with an average African or Mongol than my father and it's not even close. it's the same as any other trait. some races are taller than others and yet there are Chinese Giants and Icelandic Midgets. once you know you're dealing with a sadist though do not kid yourself and think there is any right approach that can be found in dealing with them. character trumps everything. my sadist father ONLY smiles and laughs when he is hurting somebody or reminiscing how he hurt somebody. he is visibly in pain whenever anybody is happy. and he actually cried when i told him that he will soon not be able to hurt anybody anymore because he will have alienated everybody. when i analyze people the first and last thing i ask myself is whether they enjoy the pain of others.
Wow I just learned so much about you there. Makes perfect sense. The racial trait I see that is most strongly genetic is 'drive'. I bought a "high drive" german shepherd puppy. The breeder knew it was "high drive" and warned me. Other german shepherd lines are not high drive. Clearly it is genetic in this line of dogs. I see Ashkenazi as high drive and Jamacians as low drive, and I think that explains a ton of things. These Jews not only are wealthier and hard working, they are also never satisfied. Whereas Jamacians can't even be bothered to build a proper house for themselves, but are always very satisfied with life, kicking back on the beach in the good weather and smoking the ganga. Who is to say one is better than the other? They aren't better or worse. I feel sympathy for the Jews never able to be satisfied, but also for the Jamacians when the storms roll in. Hell, I even feel sympathy for the woke idiots who insist these two races have the same drive and I'm a racist asshole for pointing out the obvious, because they can never be happy either.
The Stranger within my gate, He may be true or kind, But he does not talk my talk— I cannot feel his mind. I see the face and the eyes and the mouth, But not the soul behind. The men of my own stock They may do ill or well, But they tell the lies I am wonted to, They are used to the lies I tell. And we do not need interpreters When we go to buy and sell. The Stranger within my gates, He may be evil or good, But I cannot tell what powers control— What reasons sway his mood; Nor when the Gods of his far-off land Shall repossess his blood. The men of my own stock, Bitter bad they may be, But, at least, they hear the things I hear, And see the things I see; And whatever I think of them and their likes They think of the likes of me. This was my father's belief And this is also mine: Let the corn be all one sheaf— And the grapes be all one vine, Ere our children's teeth are set on edge By bitter bread and wine.