[madnak]

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Right. And I understand there are exceptions. But all I'm saying is that if you look at people who have black skin tone, they are more likely to be bigger, stronger, and more athletic than people with white or yellow skin tones. I find this to be almost indisputable, yet I seem to be having probems with this?

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They are more likely to be bigger, stronger, and more athletic. But that doesn't mean anything. People who eat chinese food are more likely to be good at math. So what? There's a correlation here, but there is no causation.

Look at it this way. Imagine there are four different kinds of nerfs. Type A is red, and of average strength. Type B is red, and of below-average strength. Type C is blue, and of average strength. Type D is blue, and of above-average strength.

Are blue nerfs generally stronger than red nerfs? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean type C nerfs are stronger than type A nerfs. Color is not the best way to classify nerfs. It's better to simply classify the types of nerf based on their strength. Type A and C are then in the same category. By using color to categorize the nerfs, type A nerfs end up in the same category as type B nerfs (and so are treated as being weak), while type C nerfs are put in the same category with type D nerfs (and so are treated as being strong), all because of an incidental similarity.

Of course, we could go even further and just deal with each nerf individually. A freakishly strong type B should be treated as stronger than a frail type D, obviously. I know you haven't been making these arguments, Lestat, but Phil has suggested that people should be educated differently on the basis of their skin color, based on the correlation between IQ and skin color. That's really stupid! How about we just educate children based on their IQ instead? Then a black person with a high IQ won't be miscategorized, nor will a white person with a low IQ. Similarly, if Kenyans tend to have low IQs, then the education system and the politics in Kenya will have to take that into account. That Kenyans also happen to have dark skin doesn't.

Across the board, the divisions based purely on skin color just muddy things. It's not a particularly relevant trait.

But you are right about one thing. If you're choosing between two swimming partners, and your only information is that one of them is black and one of them is white, you should probably choose the white partner.