Potpourri

"The left is losing the middle."

Elon Musk

I'm not sure the left is losing the middle, I think they believe that they can win without the middle.

Bernell Trammell, was shot in front of his business last week.  Surprisingly there have been no BLM protests, and very little "mainstream" news coverage of his killing.  I wonder why.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53444752

"The current debate on race relations and slavery - which has seen statues toppled and names removed from buildings - has concentrated on the European and American role in the trade of fellow humans.
 
But there is another, lesser known, aspect of the slave trade - which also raises uncomfortable questions. The Nigerian journalist and novelist, Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, had a great grandfather, from the Igbo tribe of south eastern Nigeria, who traded in a number of goods, including human beings."

No, it's not a "lesser known aspect of the slave trade", it's widely known.  It's just ignored because it doesn't fit the current narrative.

"If there truly is a wrong side of history, then God must exist.  Otherwise, there'd be no objective right and wrong; moral values/duties would be nothing but useful fictions.  But if God exists, then shouldn't we care first and foremost about whether we're on *His* side."

Seth Dillon

There are a number of problems with the "right side of history" trope.  But, this is probably the most obvious.  For a "right side of history" to exist (or be a meaningful distinction) there must first be a "right" that can be applied to everything  that has happened throughout history.   Absent a standard that can be applied universally (which would seem to indicate an objective standard), then there is no "right side of history".

https://www.philasun.com/week-in-review/black-woman-found-hanged-in-white-roommates-garage/

The headline reads, "Woman found hanging in her White roommate's garage".      The body of one story gives a more accurate account.  "Gloria Bambo, a South African citizen, and a resident of McKinney, Texas was found hung inside her garage."   It seems clear that, there's no point in letting facts get in the way of a good headline.   Or in failing to use the apparent suicide of another black person to advance a narrative.

"All truth comes from science" is a truth claim about science that comes from philosophy.  And if a claim has to be scientific for it to be true, that statement isn't true.  So, science is built on philosophy, and any building can only be as sure as it's foundation.

Frank Turek

https://blogs.ams.org/blogonmathblogs/2020/06/21/what-does-anti-racist-mathematics-look-like/

Apparently it's been decided that "mathematics is part of a societal system that is inherently racist.".

If folks are going to remove racism from math, they'd better figure out a way to maintain the integrity of math itself.  Failing to do so just might have unintended consequences.  You know, things like structures collapsing, mechanical devices failing to work, and rethinking virtually everything we know about various scientific disciplines.   Math has always been something that we had to accommodate.   I've never been particularly good at math, yet I had to learn to accommodate my lifestyle to math, not the other way around.    For example, the banks have never been sympathetic to my argument that my checkbook was "balanced" in my check ledger, and building inspectors were not particularly receptive to "it's close enough".  

"Propagandists in the classroom are a luxury that the poor can afford least of all.  A mastery of mathematics and English can be a ticket out of poverty, a highly cultivated sense of grievance and resentment is not."

Thomas Sowell.

"Mathematics is becoming part of grievance studies."

Nancy Pearcey

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/07/does_mathematics__western_imperialism.html

Two things I've seen recently that I find strange.

1.  A plethora of leftists posting pictures of African Americans who are using their legally owned guns to protect businesses or other people.  The assumption, driven by prejudice, seems to be that since "conservatives" hate and fear black people that these pictures will scare us.  Of course the response from those on the right is usually supportive of African Americans who use their 2nd Amendment rights for the good of themselves and others.   What's more interesting is that pro 2nd Amendment conservatives have been encouraging African Americans for years to use guns for self defense.   

2.  The fact that there have been certain individuals who engaged in the wanton destruction in MPLS who aren't black, or leftists, or whatever.  As if they think that a person's skin color or politics somehow mitigates their crimes (I guess that's exactly the argument they've made for quite some time).   The reality is that making the "Because a "conservative or white" person did something wrong, then it's OK for everyone else to do the same thing.   Unfortunately, it's called individual responsibility for a reason.  Individuals are responsible for their actions, regardless of race or politics.   My problem is that I saw too many people of varying skin colors engaged in arson, rioting, destruction, etc to buy the "It's all a bunch of white agitators from out of town" narrative.  

I know there are more then two strange things, but these stuck out recently.