Dusty Baker, 2 thumbs up

Dusty Baker coach of the Cubs made a comment and I paraphrase, "Black people are better suited for the heat than white people". The PC crowd is beside themselves over this alleged "reverse racism" comment.

Give me a break! What he said is nothing more than what he believes to be fact and is probably correct. Somehow and this runs true for the spectrum of races and genders, some have decided the truth can be a horrific thing and it must be silenced so not to possibly offend.

4 of the guys that work in the shop for us are embarrassed and laugh when they ask me to pick them up some chicken. It's a bunch of B.S. to be embarrassed to ask for chicken because you are black, it's wrong and the PC crowd has made it that way.

I applaud Dusty Baker. Finally a public figure made a "insensitive" comment and stands by the truth. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

This is a really weird situation.
There is no doubt that a white manager would have been vilified/fired for making the same statement -- yet it's a true statement.

Aren't things complicated when the PCers are in control?

So far we've got one saying "it's probably correct" and another saying "it's a true statement". What evidence or rational do you have to offer support to the statement "black people are better suited for the heat than white people"?

The Journal of Human Evolution.
The Encylopaedia Britannica.
My elementary-school biology book.

I suppose they all could be wrong.

Remember Jimmy the Greek from the CBS Sports pre-game show? He was vilified and fired for making a statement that would not have raised an eyebrow had it been said in a college classroom by a history professor.

The PC crowd has gone way overboard.

There's a web site that collects and presents all the excesses of the PC people, http://tonguetied.us/ Go there anytime you're in a good mood and want it ruined or if you just need a reason to be angry.

[ QUOTE ]
Empath said:
So far we've got one saying "it's probably correct" and another saying "it's a true statement". What evidence or rational do you have to offer support to the statement "black people are better suited for the heat than white people"?

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It doesn't matter if it's fact although it probably is. The fact that "he" thinks it's true is enough for him to make the statement and it should be enough for everyone else. You don't have to believe it and it could be wrong but so what. We should be able to say what we think especially when it's spoken with no malicious intent and not be slammed as racist, bigoted, homophobic, or a woman/man hater.

Even without any other resource it makes a lot of sense unless you don't believe in acclimatization. If someone goes through boot camp they know guys from the north have a tougher time in summer than guys from the south. I never thought about the color issue in boot camp but also don't recall any of the black men having trouble with the heat. Again, it doesn't matter. He wasn't putting anyone down or slandering whites for not being able to take heat as well as black or brown skinned people. It was just a simple and politically incorrect statement and from his point of view a valid one. That's enough to satisfy me.

The way I heard it, he was talking about Hispanics as well... referring to the darker skin, not the race.

I believe you are correct fair skinned woman.

[ QUOTE ]
GJW said:
The Journal of Human Evolution.
The Encylopaedia Britannica.
My elementary-school biology book.


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Sorry, GJW, but saying you read it in some books is neither evidence nor rational to support your statement.

David, my question didn't even touch on the subject of PC. The extremes to which PC is taken isn't difficult to see. But, that doesn't mean every statement that's not PC is to be praised, nor the fact that some fool believes it isn't justification for promoting a falsehood. Promoting a generalize falsehood as truth, whether someone believes it or not, has the same effect as if it's truth. The difference is that if it's not truth, then the damage is unjustified.

Empath, The point of THIS thread is in THIS case someone was called for making a UPC statement and stood up and said, "Yea I said it," which is unusual.

Every day we are confronted with things that by definition are not aboulute truth. It is up to the individual to decide what to believe and disbelieve. Your and my post here falls into this category. I am not proclaiming all UPC statements come from the burning bush. I am not proclaiming Dusty Baker to be all knowing. I don't care if he's right or wrong, that's not the point of the thread.

In this thread I am only offering my personal observations, which do support his theory and praising the man for standing up for his convictions. We meaning you and I cannot produce empirical evidence in one way or another but would be fools not to have an open mind to the possibilities and bigger fools to automatically judge him wrong.

I believe he was referring to people of darker skin coming from warmer regions genetically being able to withstand warmer climates. He was also referring to people of darker skin being less sensitive to sun than fair skinned people in hot climates. This is a classic example of people amplifying what they consider to be politically incorrect when in reality nothing he said, I believe is really open to review. After all , it is his opinion and I agree with him. People in general react with horror when someone simply refers to anything racial, regardless what the intention.

I understand what he was saying, Keith. The PC element is of no interest to me. I'm also fully aware that many people are of the "opinion" that dark skinned people are more able to take heat than light skinned. I do doubt that "opinion" will alter facts, though.

It's something I could discuss, and I think it could be a worthwhile discussion. But, apparently it's not permitted in this thread.

I'm out of it.

I believe Dusty was trying to allude to darker skin players being better as they can withstand the summer heat better. That seems kind of strange to me in that the vast majority of Major League Baseball games occur at night or in a temp controlled dome. Hmm. Perhaps it only applies to the Cubs at light-challenged Wrigley?