"Leaving Brett Bellmore’s blatant racism aside”

JS, repeat after me: "Islam is not a race”, "Islam is not a race”, Islam is not a race”. It could be argued that my view of Islam constitutes prejudice, though I would defend the proposition that it doesn’t, and will, starting in the next paragraph. But even were it, racism is a specific subset of prejudice, and prejudice against Islam is not part of that subset. Do I need to draw a Venn diagram? Just try to remember that "racism” isn’t an all purpose curse word, it actually has a meaning, and some things you don’t like don’t match that meaning. Even if you like to think of people who disagree with you as racists.

Now, let us consider that, statistically, blacks tend to have high blood pressure at a higher rate than whites. (To take an example which isn’t fraught.) To notice this is not "racism”, even though race is involved. But, let us suppose you met some random black, and asked, "Which blood pressure med are you on?”; THAT would be racist, because you would be taking a generalization about the group, which is only statistically true, and treating it as though it told you something non-statistical about specific individuals. OTOH, if you ran a pharmacy chain, and you made a decision to stock slightly more blood pressure meds in stores located where there were lots of blacks, that would just be a normal response to statistical data, like stocking less typical black cosmetics in Montana.

Islam, of course, is not race, it is a religion, a belief system. You have to expect that different belief systems are going to have different effects on behavior. Adherents of Thuggee are going to be more likely to strangle you, Jehovah’s witnesses more likely to turn down a needed blood transfusion, Mormons more likely to wear funny underwear. But these are going to be statistical observations, which don’t guarantee any particular Thuggee you meet will strangle you in your sleep, any particular Jehovah’s witness will refuse a blood transfusion, or that any particular Mormon will be wearing unusual underwear.

Some of the behavioral consequences will scale non-linearly to the percentage of the population that comprises the group. Which is just a fancy way of saying that members of religions act differently when they’re a tiny minority, and when they’re the local majority. Hence my analogy to U235, which is pretty innocuous in small quantities, and blows up in a spectacular explosion if you pile too much in one place.

It is my observation that individual Muslims, in areas where they are a small minority, are generally fine people. Most individuals of essentially any group, (Not defined on the basis of bad behavior, of course.) are going to be generally fine people, that’s the default for people in general. Most people are nice.

But, it has been my observation, and the observation of people who aren’t willfully blinding themselves to an unpleasant reality, that the group dynamics of Muslims have some unfortunate features. In small numbers they make good citizens, but as their percentage of the population grows, they start getting worse in that regard. About the time they become a plurality, they stop coexisting peacefully with other groups. Once they’re an absolute majority, kiss democracy and secular government goodbye.

I don’t think noticing this is prejudice, because I’m well aware that it doesn’t tell me anything about how any particular Muslim is going to behave, not in isolation, not in Saudi Arabia. (Where you’ll get executed for trying to stop being a Muslim.) It’s just an observation concerning group dynamics.

An observation people which some people are desperate not to admit, because it might suggest something they’re ideologically incapable of coping with.

But, keep this in mind: Just because you don’t like it, or agree with it, doesn’t make it "racist”.

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Prescription: A foam wedge for my bed, and antacids.

Yay, I can eat bacon again!

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I'm now on diuretics, a severe diet to lose at least 50lbs, no more salty foods, (Been hooked on those since I got a rock collection as a child, and *ate* the piece of rock salt!) and researching my supplement options. Co-Q 10 and L-Carnitine, certainly, they're so obvious even Webmd recommends them.

Well, can't say this was a shocker. I've been in denial about that bubbling noise in my lungs at night for at least 6 months, and I already knew odds of getting it were uncomfortably high after the chemo regime I went through a few years back. 

Gonna really miss potato chips. And buttered popcorn with extra salt at the movies.

Hey, tissue printing researchers: Get cracking on those printed hearts, I want to put in an advance order for some time around 2025...

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Brett Bellmore here, long time lurker.

My interests are technology, especially space and biotech, and politics.

In technology, a particular interest of mine is Von Neumann machines. (No, not the ones using paper tape!) I believe we're approaching the point where it might be feasible to build one, and doing so is the only way to make our colonization of space economically plausible, given the high ratio of infrastructure to population needed.

In biotech, I'm interested in life extension and human augmentation. I used to be a cryonicist, but as I'm now a family man, with a wife and child to support, I can't justify spending my money on something with such a low probability of paying off. Maybe if I earned a bit more...

My politics are somewhat libertarian, but I quit the Libertarian Party a decade ago, when I realized that the ballot and election laws had finally been sufficiently rigged against third parties to make the LP a futile diversion.

As  you'll learn by observing me, Asperger's isn't just a condition, it's a way of life.

My brilliant son, (Started reading at 18 months!) product of me and my wife's experiment in hybrid vigor:

Said wife, without exception the best decision I ever made in my life:

And here's me, just so you can put face to name:

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