Dear Mr. Stoloff: June 5, 1969
It isn’t a question of disagreement between Farmer and myself as to what I said – it’s a disagreement as to the meaning of what was said.
One example of misunderstanding of facts: movies and TV were very reluctant to use blacks as major characters for many years. This was not because they were bigoted and motivated by racist discrimination? No, not to the apparent extent – they were motivated by the fact that blacks are indeed very inferior to whites – when it comes to reflecting the light. Get light enough for the blacks face to show some character and expression – and a white under that level of lighting is completely washed out. Or was, until Eastman Kodak and RCA made some very major technological advances in contrast control of film and photo electric surfaces. Do you think camera directors didn’t have headaches enough without battling that added handicap?
What I have said – and maintain – is that race has no bearing whatever on the problem; the competance of the individual is what counts.
But… it’s a law of nature (human now; intelligent-entity when we get Out There!) that a member of a group is expected to have the behavior pattern characteristic of that group. Entities will react towards him on the basis of the probabilities – and find out later if the individual is different. Thus if you visit Sweden, the natives will speak to you in English, and assume they can converse privately in your presence in Swedish – whether or not you do in fact know Swedish better than they do or not.
This is what ties an individual to his group Dash whether he likes it or not. In Sweden, you belong to the American group.
Much of the trouble I have with people like Farmer – and you! – is that I have a dirty habit of pointing out hard, nasty, and highly unwelcome facts and their consequences. Facts are thoroughly disliked, when they disagree with preconceived ideas.
Prejudice always exists – and always will; passing laws against it is like pissing laws against gravity. It simply represents group experience. On the average, prejudice serves a highly desirable purpose of promoting survival. If, on another planet, I encounter a 4,600 pound animal having long, pointed teeth, considerable agility, and retractable claws on its feet, I’m going to be prejudiced immediately, although I have never before encountered this species of creature. On the other hand, if it has no noticeable teeth, stout horns on its head, and is chewing a cus – I’ll be prejudiced in favor of trying out a new kind of dinner.
Prejudice, my friend, is a genetic characteristic, bread into any race that survived a few billion years of tooth and claw.
You aren’t going to eliminate it with sweet words; it takes a changed experience over a significant period.
About 95% of the problem is people trying to do everything now-today-right-away-quick-hey-presto.
As to Wallace – even he never thought he would win.
So you, too, dislike the party line candidate we were handed; fine. So what did you do about expressing that this taste? Sulk because you could do nothing? I, and a few million others, at least said, “Dammit, we’re sick and tired of this nonsense of rigged elections!”
Now one of the serious errors blacks are making now is that they are not suppressing those loudmouth, irrational, violent militants were doing everything possible to convince still – somewhat – prejudiced – against – Negroes – whites that a strong dislike of blacks is a sound, reasonable approach to things.
The armed rebellion at Cornell must’ve improved relationships greatly – from the KKK viewpoint. That disruption of a major church service by a black demanding a half a billion dollars demonstrates the blacks are basically, just as sensible and reasonable citizens as we, doesn’t it? The Grand Dragon couldn’t ask for better recruiters for his jolly klub.
That sort of thing however, must be suppressed by blacks, not by whites. We cannot do it for them; if we do, it simply proves that they really are childish people who need to be watched and cared for.
So far as giving help goes – as anyone with actual experience in the problem can tell you, the reason that God helps those who help themselves is that not even God can help someone who won’t bother to help himself. Give up on that; not every poor person can be helped.
I have one daughter who teaches remedial reading. She gets the ones who are entering high school, but can’t achieve a third grade reading capability. One she found couldn’t learn, because of a form of aphasia; he couldn’t be helped because of a medical problem – although he was quite intelligent, well above norm. Missing neural tissue. One girl just haven’t been able to get started, and had withdrawn from reading; in eight months my daughter got her past 11th grade work; she could be helped. One 14-year-old boy informed her, “I don’ wanna learn to read. I got better things to do with my time.”
Any suggestions for helping him to read?
I’ve said this in editorials; I repeat it: no problem can be solved if you refuse to acknowledge the facts inherent in the problem. One intensely disliked fact is, simply, all men are not created equal, and not all men can be benefited by the same things.
Instance: a lot of milk protein was sent to Biafra by a lot of good hearted people, to help the starving children, dying of protein shortage. Everybody knows milk is good for children, and milk protein is the best kind.
And everyone is wrong. About 14 of 20 black kids cannot digest milk; it’s a genetic characteristic. That’s also true of Asians. It just happens that European somehow developed a peculiarity – as adults, we can still digest milk. Remember that normally, only infants get milk; the enzyme necessary to digest it was lost after the first few years of life.
The fact is that people or not equal, and what’s best for one type maybe destructive to another. Those who sent dried milk meant only the best – but it’s an actual allergenic poison to the Biafra kids. Australia found out that Asians couldn’t except gifts of milk protein – it’s sticken them. Hindus traditionally use ghee, clarified butter – because when the butter is melted and filtered, the milk proteins and sugars are safely eliminated, making the butter digestible.
You can not solve problems by denying differences; you study them, acknowledge him, and learn to work with him.
But such a statement can make a lot of people rise up in wrath and decide instantly that I’m a violent racist.
O.K. – go ahead, send a note to Biafran kids because all people are alike. It will kill them if someone doesn’t divert it.
If you really want to help them, acknowledge African blacks or not just like us, and send them a cargo of fish meal the FDA declared unfit for human consumption. It’s excellent protein that Biafran kid can grow strong on.
Sincerely
John W Campbell
editor
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