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Actually the promulgation of right-wing conspiracy theories gives me more pause about being on this list more than a reasonable debate about how best to challenge race/IQ theories. On Feb 21, 2007, at 5:28 PM, Jonathan Campbell wrote: > George, > > Please don't let the Balterdash drive you from the list. > > When I said that I could only guess Balter's motives for > being on the list, and that my guesses would not be kind, I meant > exactly that. My guess is that he is here to drive away anyone who > questions the scientific authority of the elite. Whether paid to do > so or whether he thinks it is his mission to do so, he has driven > people to wonder why on earth they are subscribed. He thinks it's > reasonable to debate race and intelligence (more than 30 posts in a > day, on a topic that was done and finished years ago), but if we > challenge other beliefs that HE happens to hold dear, and you get > yourself compared to a slug. > > Jon > ----- Original Message ----- > From: George Salzman > To: [log in to unmask] > Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 6:14 PM > Subject: Re: Genetics & Race > > Subject: Re: Genetics & Race > From: Michael Balter <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 18:06:30 +0000 > To: [log in to unmask] > > This is such an amazing distortion of my position on the issues we > have been discussing that I find it staggering and question myself > whether it is possible to discuss these issues here. I will leave > the list if George personally asks me to, although I would be > interested to hear whether others feel that these discussions have > been useless. > > M > ---------------------------------------------------------- > Dear Michael, > The issues here are much larger than you or me or the SftP > listserv. The listserv has hardly discussed anything bearing > directly on the fact that global human society is on a dead-end. I > forget whether it's 80,000 people a day who die, basically from > malnutrition, lack of potable water and related deprivation. The > number is huge, and most of them are children, and most of them > have skin color different from that of damn near everyone on this > list. How many of us middle class people know the amount of fossil > fuel we consume with our automobiles, air conditioning, electric > dishwashers and driers, home laundry equipment, power lawn mowers, > air travel, audio and television equipment, electric tooth-brushes > and pencil sharpeners, ski-lifts and snow-making machinery, > electric golf carts, overheated overlighted large houses, electric > blankets, second houses, motor boats, power-this and power-that? > How many thousand miles a year do we feel we are 'entitled' to fly > and drive? What part have you, Michael, taken in the struggle to > prevent that great center of scientific research, the University of > California at Berkeley, from firing (or, as they say in academize, > not granting tenure, as though tenure is a gift from the all high > administrators) to Ignacio Chapela? What has the American > Association for the Advancement of Science done to confront that > threat to so-called academic freedom bought and paid for by > Syngenta? And how much of its budget does the AAAS get from federal > sources? The threat to the world's food supply is not being done by > mistake, it's for profit above all else. The transgenic > contamination of corn, first discovered here in Oaxaca and reported > in Nature by Ignacio Chapela and a student of his, David Quist, was > disowned by the cowardly editorial staff of Nature on the basis of > a campaign mounted by the biotech industry. I've written about it > in the posting that begins, > ------------- > Mexico, birthplace of corn, threatened by its contamination > Scientist who first announced the danger threatened by firing > > A chance for you to act > May 2, 2004 > > this page is at http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Strate/ > Salz/2004-05-02.htm > > Subject: Help protect honest, courageous scientists. Not just an > academic matter. > From: George Salzman <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Sun, 02 May 2004 19:31:11 -0500; 20:03:05 -0500 > To: [log in to unmask] > BCC: (entire general list) > > Corn is a primary food for many millions of humans. > Transgenic corn was invented by agro-industrial giants in pursuit > of greater profits. In 1998 the Mexican government, aware of the > threat to its native corn, prohibited planting transgenic seeds, > but permitted their importation for animal feed. In November 2001, > in Nature, a premier British science magazine, Prof. Ignacio > Chapela of the University of California at Berkeley and David > Quist, a graduate student, reported finding transgenic > contamination of Mexican corn. Agricultural bio-tech interests > mounted a vigorous smear campaign to discredit the research. But > the original results were subsequently confirmed. In that same > year, 2001, Prof. Chapela's review for tenure began. After three > years, the Chancellor of the Berkeley campus denied tenure. Prof. > Chapela's position there is set to end on June 30. > ------------- > How much are you paid to plow the narrow furrow that you are > assigned? Have you ever seen and talked with a farmer who workes > with his or her hands, who relies more on metabolic energy than > what I call mechanical energy to sustain the life of his or her > family? Do you have any idea why so many of them here in Oaxaca > have had to abandon their land to seek jobs to get money as hand > laborers in the great USA as roofers, stoop laborers in > agribusiness-run industrial farms? Do you think that possibly, just > possibly, it might not be because of their inferior genetic > heritage? In any event, I'm not interested in reading your 'science- > out-of-context' arguments, written from within your subsidized > middle-class bubble. Subsidized, I should add, as all of us middle- > class folk are, by the labor of the poor people of the world and > the robbery of so-called natural resources, which is rapidly > destroying the ecosphere, as many frequent-flyer ecologists and > other learned persons run around the world informing the rest of us. > > There's no reason for me to ask you to leave the SftP > listserv. If others want to make an effort to change your > perception of the world, that's no longer a concern of mine. I just > want Steve to take me off this list. > > Sincerely, with disappointment but not personal rancor, > George > >