h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Clio, you've hit a central nail there. The entire structure of the western cultural educational system rests on the foundation of test-taking, in one form or another. And how often do we hear stories of the self-made successful business magnate/millionaire/whatever being someone who either failed, or did really badly at school.

My own feeling about school and college was that a "good" eductaion allowed one to talk knowledgeably about, or give articulate opinions on any topic whatsoever, no matter how little one actually knew about it. My best teacher ( in History at school-leaving level ) trained us to write essays that would be interesting to a bored and possibly hung-over examiner with a severe headache who was wading through a monumental pile of papers for very little financial reward. He was Australian, Oxford trained, and rather cynical. He told us to treat the whole business of passing exams as a form of intellectual athletics, and trained us to write a coherent essay using whatever material we could remember to best effect, whether or not it was strictly relevant to the question.

And then, at University, we were told that our arts degree ( Eng. Lang and Lit. for me after flunking out of Pre-Med ) was to train us to think! Which came as a shock to one trained in the art of answering questions entertainingly.

My 6 year old son has just done the WISCIII IQ test for children as part of my degree module-he has an IQ of over 200 according to the test because, I strongly suspect, that the things I've discussed with him are the things that the test makers consider 'clever'. A similarly bright kid from a different background, and I mean by that just down the road but woth a dad in a different line of (not) work, would, I think, fail miserably to shine. Have I fathered a genius, purely because he can run off this test(or, more accurately, set of sub-tests)? I don't think so. I think it is far more likely that the test makers define what they will consider intelligent, and when they find it, Bob's your mother's brother.

Many tests that Eysenck agreed with were faked, and the Neisser et al. paper following 'The Bell Curve' found many and varied sociological reasons for racism in IQ results. Included in these was the fact that IQ testing is a whites only pursuit and non-whites, who perceived themselves to be in the perjorative 'black' camp, lacked belief that scoring well would lead, as it did with 'white' counterparts, to guaranteed success. But was it not considered 'good science' before the political correct lobby got hold of it?

Several years ago the London Met. Police force announced that 80% of reported muggings were committed by "black" assailants. They were told that they could not report this in a multi-cultural society like modern Britain-what gets me is whose interest is served by collating the information and then, at that stage, suppressing it? And if it's *true*-what then? What do we do with the information?

I may be going out on a limb here but most of the perceived racism here seems like it has been examined by somebody with the will to move things forward but the intellect to forever hold things back.

Chaiwallah-I'm still at Universe City, as a mature type, and I have no idea what we are being trained to do. Intermittent bursts of intellect like substance is the best I can come up with.

Sorry-just a few notes, IQ tests were invented by Binet,(not Eysenck) a Frenchman, to see who needed afterschool club in beautiful france, after one Galton, a cousin of Darwin, reckoned, some 35 years earlier, in 1869, that we needed to tell who was not bright enough to live (origin, in modern times of eugenics, and law in USA from 1924 for immigrants, basically 'til they started letting nazis in to help with the bomb and the rockets)basically to fulfill Darwinian notions of 'Natural Selection'. Modern IQ tests have basically followed these ideas but with the newer theorists compartmentalized, basically biologically defined multiple intelligence models are replacing the rock solid older models. Emotional intelligence is still highly regarded amongst your US recruiters, supposedly a more fluid model of intellectual ability rather than simply a measure of what you got.

Digressing should be done more often. It's very informative

Hi Chaiwallah.

How much I have missed in 20 hours... busy day, what with it being Ukrainian Easter and all.

Regarding the 17th Karmapa Lama:
Actually, I believe I may have misread the material regarding the Karmapa. Since many of the websites are either poorly translated from German or from Tibetan, Some of the finer details can be a little confusing.

As well, most of the articles are written by people who support one side of the debate or the other. It is hard to find truly impartial information. Complicating this, are the people who feel that the Dalai Lama and the Karmapa in India have taken a stance of "open dialogue" with China in hopes of negotiating a peaceful settlment of the occupation of Tibet. This is seen by some harder-line ex-patriot Tibetans as tantamount to treason.

I had initially understood that the Karmapa Lama was in India but moved to Pullahari.

However, what I understand now, is that the Karmapa (Urgyen Trinley Dorji) is, indeed in Dharamsala. There is a young Lama who resides at Pullahari who is supported by the Karmapa, and that is where the confusion set in. I appologise for this.

The situation with China's "recognising" the rival Karmapa (Thaye Dorji) is a bit harder to define with any certainty. While they officially recognised the Karmapa who later escaped from Tibet into India and who is also recognised by the Dalai Lama, they haven't "officially" recognised the one who has been put forth by other factions in Tibet. They haven't made a point of denouncing him either.

What is clear is that the Chinese government finds it "of value" to have whichever Karmapa is recognised by the factions in Tibet, as a figurehead, if you will, to enable them to carry out their business.

From Asiaweek:
"More important, the Karmapa controversy has highlighted Beijing's growing involvement in the selection of top Tibetan lamas. If the Chinese can determine who gets recognized as the next Dalai, Panchen and Karmapa lamas, their control over Tibet will be sealed as the top lamas are revered by their deeply pious people. For Tibetan exiles, that is an increasingly vivid nightmare. The Dalai Lama, widely regarded as the only figure with the authority to hold the Tibetan exile movement together, is now 65. "When he dies, there will be danger here," says Thupten Rikey, editor of the Dharamsala-based Tibet Journal. Fears about the Dalai Lama's mortality have been heightened by a recent car crash. "If he dies and Beijing can influence or name his reincarnation, the exiles will really be in trouble," says a Tibet specialist in Hong Kong. "Much could depend on how the Karmapa affair plays out."


Here are two pages with coverage of the controversy. They give a fairly clear picture of the whys and wherefors of the controversy:
http://www.karmapa.org.nz/articles/2001/globe.html
http://www.karmapa.org.nz/articles/2000/asiaweek.html (this includes the quote above)

This is the site for the Karmapa Lama residing in India:
http://www.kagyu.org/karmapa/kar/kar03.html

And this is the one for the Karmapa Lama that resides in Tibet: http://www.karmapa.org/

Cheerful Dragon,

Just a point to remember when speaking about people "losing" their cultural heritage if they don't use it. When dealing with most aboriginal groups such as tha Maori, the Australian Aboriginees, and the Native peoples of North America, many of them didn't lose their heritage by their own choice. Most were denied the right to use their culture by the paternaistic and/or racist policies of the missionaries and/or successive governments.

In Canada, the Potlach, hundreds of languages, dances, traditional foods and arts, family ties, knowledge of the land.... all supressed or outright stolen by the government and churches, and generations of chidren removed from their families, communities and culture and forcibly placed in Residential Schools (many were not permitted to return to their homes between the ages of 4 and 18).

The Residential Schools had another effect. To teach the children that "Indian Culture is bad", that being Indian was something to be ashamed of, to be embarrassed by the "heathen-ness" of their own people. They are now beginning to retreive their heritage, but some can never be regained as it is lost completely.

Yes, for many, their cultural re-awakening has come from non-aboriginals. That is only because the same governments that forced it out of the Native people's hands put enough value on it to record it or put it in a museum. If they didn't value it it was discarded and is gone.

You noted the loss of Gaelic as a point. Gaelic was virtually outlawed in Scotland. Children were not permitted to speak it in school. Again, children were taught that their traditional ways were "backward" and wrong. Little wonder Gaelic all but died out.

However, having said that... you are correct. Culture is lost if it isn't used. The people who choose to forget the songs and stories, the arts, the language lose it. Globalization is an excellent example of how absorbing of the Western culture can erase traditional ways.

I would argue the point about mixed-race marriages being the cause of loss of culture, at least in this day and age. The people I know who (and I know a LOT) are Native/non-Native, Brazillian/Swedish, Polish/Native.... all value both heritages and teach their children about both. I have friends whose children are learning Mohawk and Polish.

Certainly, in the past and in the most case of Native/non-Native marriages in Canada, if the wife was Native and she married a white man she was required to give up her Indian status. Her children became "white". Shame of Native heritage and blood, combined with the need to hide the fact that one was Native, to "pass" as it is referred as in African American culture, from the predjudice of one's white neighbours resulted in loss of culture.

For a white woman marrying a Native man, she was, by law, considered part of her husband's Band and gained Indian status. The rationale was that by bringing white blood and ways onto the Indian Reserves, Indian culture would be watered down and the "civilising influences" of the white mother would gradually eliminate "pagan ways.

Other methods of removing cultural ties included "Enfranchisement" which entailed a Native person, generally the male, to remove himself from Band membership, give up his status and move off the Reserve. There were many pressures to do this. For instance, it was illegal up until the 1960s (I believe) for a Native person to own a home or property. In order for him to do so required Enfranchisement.

Canadian veterans of War received benefits upon their return from war. This came in the form of pensions, houses, and other perks. Native men who fought in WWI, WWII, and Korea did not qualify for the same benefits unless they Enfranchised.

Native men who did not Enfranchise were required to request and benefits due through the Indian Agent, who then had the right to dole out the money as he saw fit. Insome cases corrupt Indian Agents kept the money for themselves.

(The irony was that they fought and died in larger (percapita) numbers than non-Native Canadian men, for a country in which they could not vote until the 1960s. Many of them have yet to receive pensions. Many could not even go into their local Canadian Legion Hall and have a beer with men they fought beside.)

I digress.... the issue of losing ones culture is not cut and dried....

Hi there raindog.

I am currently trying to complete the intelligence project at the university over at A584525 and if you have any further information not already covered by the articles, I would be pleased to hear more about it over there.

Well...

I finally finished the 20 hours worth of posts (I REALLY need to NOT get a life!) and I have to say that I am really impressed with the courage of people to stand up and make their opinions know.

In many such places, as well as out in the "real" world, people either drift off into an uncomfortable silence, try to ignore and carry on a stilted conversation until the offender leaves the room (hoping they take the bad smell with them), or leave.

I have always felt that the best way to counter the "bomb throwers", the trolls, the numbskulls, is to turn their offensivness back on them but in a constructively (if possible) intelligent discussion of the issue. I think what this conversation has shown is that, if you have an opinion, you better bloody well be able to defend it intelligently, and that people can have differing opinions that others can respect if they discuss it reasonably.

Fortunately, the vast majority of his/her (I may be the lone person who thinks IT is a she) ilk are seriously deficient in the intelligent discussion department. They usually prove it by descending into highly entertaining, if not very effective, insult.

Peace!

'Several years ago the London Met. Police force announced that 80% of reported muggings were committed by "black" assailants.'

The rascists always like to trot this one out, I just reply that over 80% of house burglaries and 95% of Major fraud is committed by white people...

Hi All .

Having skip-read my way through nearly 300 postings I must admit to being amused and appalled in equal measure. Only humans would think to find more reasons to divide themselves than already exist.

From the perspective of a druid I can tell you that the gods and spirits of my land have no concept of race or colour, only honour, duty, love and respect. From the many conversations I have had over the years with the priests of other religions and faiths most other gods are of the same opinion.

The only deity, strangely, that makes any racial distinctions is the OT Jehovah. I say 'strangely' as he is the one most often followed by modern white racists. It makes me laugh when they quote a God as justification for their views who, if the OT is to be believed, wouldn't include them in the 'chosen people'. In fact the closest racial groups to the original 'chosen people' are probably Palestinian, Jordanian and Syrian Arabs. The diaspora having significantly diluted the modern hebrew gene pool.

The tribalism of the human will, most probably, be the factor that relieves this planet of its depredations. I look forward to my reincarnation into a less disagreeable species .

Blessings,
Matholwch /|\.

And that 88.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot .

Blessings,
Matholwch /|\.

Very true....

Most of the shoplifters caught in our store were white, many were over 30, and many were not what the average person would consider as "criminal types".

chai,

<>

Bill Gates?
(thanks Hoo )

az

Bill Gates didn't do *that* badly at school - but it's true he didn't finish his degree, so he's certainly not the *academic* genius.

Lest we forget however, his parents were millionaires. He didn't exactly go from rags to riches, he went from riches to ridiculous riches. Which is quite different

H.

Human Design theory says we divide into four types, but not along racial lines.

http://www.genekeys.co.uk/
http://www.jovianarchive.com/

And astrology says we divide into twelve types, and that's not along racial lines either.

I say we divide into two types: superstitious and sensible.
(but I usually say that to wind people up...)


H.

Hoovooloo, you are wrong
"astrology says we divide into twelve types"

is actually 13 types

When it comes to racism, there are two types:

Those actively working towards acceptance and understanding

and

Everyone else

Well, actually, chaps and chapesses, humanity is divided into two types, the "either/or" types and the "both/and"types. This usually shows up when there's a choice of puddings. Me, being a greedy "both/and" type, always choose both. So I'm superstitious and sensible. Tolerant and prejudiced. Stupid ( much of the time) and intelligent ( occasionally ). Lazy, ( mostly,) very hard-working ( when there's a deadline ) and so on. God ( sorry ) bless us everyone.

PS. ( Backtrack to Mudhooks entry 285 )
Hi Mudhooks, Are you sure that Thaye Dorje is actually in China? I was under the impression that he was camped out in Sikkim along with Sharmapa, his patron and main proponent?

PPS. I should be discussing this with you on your home page, but having met Urgyen Thinley Dorje, there is no escaping tha impression that he is the genuine article.