Is this racism?

What about a snickers

 

Yup

 

Do you even need to ask that question?

 

Looking at your posts I conclude you are a sad sack .

 

You know me so well .

 

I haven't got a racist bone in my body.It did actually come to mind whilst reading about the West Ham story.

 

Clearly not true but if he had been given false info he is not necessarily a racist in my opinion. Just thick when it comes to science

 

Common sense would say give the guy a trial and if he runs out of stamina easily, don’t sign him. Don’t just look at him, see he is black and jump to conclusions without ever seeing him play.

 

How about this for a theory (only an idea for discussion before anyone chooses to cry racism)..

Slavery was an unwitting/unintentional form of eugenics. By that I mean:

African slaves were subjected to unbelievable hardship not only on the plantations but on the actual slave ships. Furthermore, long term survival depended on strength, fitness, ability to adapt and in many cases strong self belief (often strong belief in religion played a major part), strong will and intelligence. Slavers often selected their victims for their physical attributes and weaker or older prisoners were killed or left behind. Only the strongest were transported to the plantations and even fewer - the strongest - survived and in general, it was they that produced subsequent generations each enduring and coping with it's own set of challenges. So there we have the potential of a stronger gene pool of superior human beings both in intelligence and physique

Whilst the American Pioneer is held up as a paragon of strength indomitable spirit etc. and whilst they too suffered hardships in general those hardships were not at the same level as those overcome by the African slaves and subsequent generations. In truth, many European settlers were simply refugees from religious persecution, convicts, and in general people who were less than successful in their native country seeking a new start, in short, ordinary people.

One could therefore argue that, on a level playing field, where the odds were not stacked against the black Americans, kept in ghettos, denied education, opportunity, Jim Crow Laws, Apartheid, etc. they would almost certainly have filled far more senior roles in American society than they do.

I suspect that one of the things that perpetuated apartheid and the white supremacist movement was not the belief that they were superior, but, in fact, a deep seated fear that the 'black man' could be a threat to white domination unless controlled. You only have to look at the limited areas where white society allows African Americans freedom to pursue activities - music, entertainment and sports. In all those fields African Americans excel. As they now move into other areas, politics, law, commerce. they time after time prove themselves equal and in many case more adept in their chosen fields further eroding the myth that they are somehow inferior to their former 'masters'. YOU may or may not agree with some of Obama's politics, I know I did not, but he was, for me, presidential and statesman like. Something that JW Bush never carried off. Trump certainly fails on both those counts too.

 

Just out of interest, why do Kenyans excel at long distance running but don't appear to be much cop at any other sports?

 

Cos sports in Kenya is severely underfunded so running is pretty much all they can afford to do.

 

So why do they not excel at middle distance and sprinting?

 

In Kenya there are limited sports to get good at due to lack of funding, coaches, equipment etc. Anyone can run and so any Kenyan can practice and get good at it. In the absence of other sports as a distraction they may put more effort in to running as that’s really their only chance at a medal and world recognition. If they had the same opportunities as Americans for example then I’m sure the disparity wouldn’t be the same.

 

Races are different though, clearly people with West African origins are faster than anyone else, as seen from the 100 metres.

No-one white or asian is ever going to win that race again unless they're on serious steroids.

And talking of stamina, clearly East Africans have more than anyone else hence the success of Kenyans, Ethiopians, Somalis in the distance events.

There are numerous differences in race, most Chinese are short-sighted for example, blacks are more prone to diabetes, white people are more likely to get spina bifida, I could go on.

 

Because they don't have enough coaches to train up vast numbers of athletes...

 

There is a factor of genetics. Historically, when there was less movement of people, (some) tribes in the area had genes that were slightly more suitable for long-distance running. That doesn't mean all of them have that ability, but it is more prevalent.

It would be ignorant to say that race has no factor in anything. But it would be wrong to apply some more prevalent features to the entire group of people. And it's more geographically oriented as well. So it occurs more in Kenya/Ethiopia, but not so much in Namibia. And with the increase in people's movement, these regional fluctuations will slowly dissipate.

 

It's due to most settlements in Kenya and other central/east African countries being at a high altitude. Therefore this is a natural abundance of white (I think? Possibly red) blood cells which aid stamina in cardiovascular/aerobic activity.

That's why European and American athletes go to Africa for high altitude training to increase their cell rate.

 

A lot of it as Runner says is physiological. In different ethnicities muscle make up is slightly different. Muscles are made up of fast twitch and slow twitch fibres. In some races the genetics of muscle types differs from one to another.

When you also add in the fact that African athletes can train in hot, humid and well above sea level conditions, you get almost unbeatable athletes.

 

I think the Brits excel at the Olympics at 'sitting down sports ' like rowing , show jumping , cycling etc cos we're naturally bone idle .

 

Add Darts and Snooker.