lol no, evry1 is equals and intelligant in of they're own specail way <3

Is this a trap of some sort? ignoring the validity of IQ scores as a measure of someones intelligence (I'm not versed on the subject) and assuming a low IQ was a good representation of someones dumbassery, if a majority of a nations inhabitants scored poorly then yes I'd say a majority of them are dumbasses. The problem is, being born on that side of the rock doesn't make you a dumbass, being a dumbass makes you a dumbass.

The Irish make good programmers, not because our nation is special but because many major computer companies have set up base here, with a lot of jobs going in the computer industry we've invested more in that sector and thus produced more programmers, with more people entering that area the bar gets raised so the quality goes up, that being said if you were going to hire me to do programming you'd be better off hiring a carrot.

This thread title is racist.

It's not a trap; I'm trying to understand your logic on this issue. So far, every example of prejudice has been based on personal encounters, which are faulty and anecdotal. I'm trying to find out how you stand when we've science saying that there are observable, distinct trends amongst various groups of people.

You can prove anytning with facts... :p

And if the facts are inconvenient, just throw some "scary quotes" around them, and proceed to deny, deny, deny.

Most anti-immigrant and racist attitudes today are actually based on personal experiences and encounters, along with the role that modern media plays, in fact media was probably the prime tool for boosting ethnic conflict throughout most of the 20th century and its littered with examples. Facts are all good and well and only serve to support the above conclusions, as Goofle said facts can be corrupted and dressed up for whoever is using them, or did you have some particular facts that you wanted to comment on?

Of course there are going to be observable differences between different groups of people, but how much do statistics play a part with individuals? Statistics are good for an insurance company for example, they can make rough estimates based on peoples age sex ect. but this comes at a complete disregard for the individuals involved, statistically women may make safer drivers but being a woman doesn't you a safer driver. The moment you remove someones individuality and treat them as if they belong to some sort of hive mind then you've crossed into the realms of racism, sexism, ageism ect.

I would be tickled pink if you could substantiate the above claims, namely that (1) the role of the media & (2) how racist attitudes are formed.

Statistics are also great for forming public policy, Rubato.

Now, in regards to the -isms; what's more problematic about this discriminatory behavior, that it's unfair to the outliers who perform better than group averages, or that you're discriminating against people for what they have no control over?

And, no, I'm not just asking to be a dick; I'm trying to suss out what discrimination means to people on this board.

Very easy really, as pre-WW1 media set the tone for the rest of the century. They were so good at stirring up mass hysteria in most European countries, that when WW1 kicked off people were falling over themselves to fight for some patriotic cause.

Der Sturmer was a widely read newspaper in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s and was a great tool for the Nazis.
http://www.holocaustresearchproject....nstigators.jpg

Serbian media that backed Milosevic, were so good at their job, he usually had rallies like so where nationalists listened to his every word.
http://static.politika.co.rs/uploads...racije%201.gif

Here in the UK, The Sun is the most widely read newspaper, its right-wing and usually tells the masses things like how immigrants are stealing their jobs, how the EU is stuffing the UK etc.
http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/a...80_898938a.jpg

Now we're often told that we shouldn't believe everything we read, but given that most racists are not the brightest sparks in the park, they DO tend to believe what they read. Now if you can't see the power of the media and how it can help to promote racist attitudes..................

That it's unfair to the outliers who perform better than group averages. If the majority of a group fare worse at something than another group you would expect less of the first group to make the cut, I wouldn't call that discrimination it's just unfortunate (I assume this is what you meant from the second option).