It's Kenya's national sport, a kind of national obsession. From a tiny age, young Kenyans dream of the roar of the crowd, the fame and success that comes from demonstrated excellence on the field.
Conventional thinking--and quite a few liberal academics--hold that this cultural obsession is the best explanation for the incredible Olympic success of Kenya's distance runners. Kenya in particular, and East Africa in general, enjoys a near-monopoly in medals in the long distance races.
The only problem--pointed out by John Entine in his fascinating book Taboo--is that the national obsession in Kenya is not running but soccer. Kenyans are crazy about soccer! "Unfortunately," Entine observes, "Kenyans are among the world's worst soccer players." Even in Africa, Kenya is routinely routed by West African countries like Cameroon and Nigeria.
Running is not such a big deal in Kenya. And when it comes to short-distance sprints, Kenyans and other East Africans aren't particularly good. Virtually every running record from the 100 to the 400 meters, male and female, is held by athletes of West African ancestry. It's only in the 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters and in the marathon that the special abilities of East African runners manifest themselves.
Entine, an Emmy winning journalist formerly with NBC News, has done his homework. He does not completely reject economic and cultural explanations of athletic prowess. He just shows their inadequacy. For instance, examing the notion that poverty is responsible for success in sport, Entine notes that most poor countries do terribly in sports. How many runners from poverty-stricken Bangla Desh, for instance, have won Olympic medals in Beijing? The "spur" of poverty is more than trounced by the benefits of superior nutrition, superior facilities and superior coaching in affluent countries.
So what about culture? Yes, culture can help to account for why Americans do well at baseball and why the Chinese usually triumph in ping pong. Americans play baseball more than most others, and no one takes ping pong more seriously than the Chinese. But Entine notes that running is universal. In every country, young people run races. "Given the universality of running," Amby Burfoot writes in Runner's World, "it is reasonable to expect that the best runners should come from a wide range of countries and racial groups." So why are there such enduring and overwhelming racial differences in the outcome?
Entine is not afraid to say that "genetically linked, highly heritable characteristics, such as skeletal structure, muscle fiber types, reflex capabilities, metabolic efficiency, and lung capacity are not evenly distributed among populations." These traits help to explain why groups succeed--and sometimes fail--in certain sports. For instance, the same body type that works so well in the boxing ring and on the track doesn't do so well in the water. How many black swimmers have there been on the U.S. Olympic team? Even countries on the African coast have a terrible record when it comes to swimming medals.
Entine's book is titled "Taboo" because he knows how controversial his thesis is, how fiercely it is hated and resisted. I suspect this is not because of powerful academic evidence that Entine is wrong. If there is such evidence, I would like to see it, but so far I've had a hard time finding it. Rather, the resistance is due to the liberal fear that if we praise black athletic superiority and attribute it to genes, this opens the door for racists to speculate about black intellectual inferiority and to attribute it too to genes.
Yet this is a non-sequitur. Groups can be unequal physically and still be equal intellectually. Men and women are clearly unequal in upper-body strength, for instance, and yet the average IQ for males and females is the same, although the bell curve distribution of that IQ is not. But I'll leave that subject for a later blog.
My general point is that many liberals are looking in the wrong place to find a justification for their support for political equality. As Jefferson noted a long time ago, inequality of endowment, whether it exists or not, is no warrant for inequality of rights. Equality is not a factual proposition, derived from biology. It is a moral proposition, derived from Christianity.
Reader Comments ( Page 3 of 8)
31. Atheists are planning to acquire nuclear weapons to wage war on Christians. It's TRUE!
http://objectiveministries.org/gametheory/militantatheists.html
Are you ready to take arms and help us fight back before it's too late? We only have one shot at the End Times, people! Let's not do a sloppy job of it!
SPAMB0T at 11:38AM on Aug 22nd 2008
32. DD writes:
"Rather, the resistance is due to the liberal fear that if we praise black athletic superiority and attribute it to genes, this opens the door for racists to speculate about black intellectual inferiority and to attribute it too to genes."
DD seems to think that this is a new discovery that people from different races have inheritable traits that can contribute to superior athletic performance in some sports. You twit! He is now using his "new" discovery as a platform to bash liberals.
DD, you seem to forget that its conservative wackos like you who constantly undermine unguided evolution and natural selection as the forces that shaped the natural world into what we see, including the various human races. Liberals, by and large, have much less trouble with this concept.
DD...in your world, why would an Intelligent Designer guide evolution to make the races different...why not imbue them all with the same superior traits?
John Galt
John Galt at 11:45AM on Aug 22nd 2008
33. Many intellectuals fail to see the bigger picture of sport(s) vs the other aspects of society that they generally fall victim to in the sense of historical knowledge, acquiesence to the status quo and downright bowing to the parties that provide economic equity.
Here the deal:
In sports arena, you have pure talent, drive determination, and training and abopve all you get to see with the naked eye, the props, the lights, the replays within the athletic area. You have drug testing to see siphon out the cheatsm who otherwise would steal the limelight from the true talent.
On the other hands, substitute the marketplace, business and the like and the same scenario would be missing due to lights, cameras, etc and the deceit of the marketplace. Plainly speaking, if we put those same people and follow them with a microscope, we will see the barriers added to prevent certain groups from participating. X goes to buy a house, he has the credentials but because of being the wrong hue, he is told the house is sold, he doesn't qualify or under contract. Add the cameras, etc and we will see the real culprits.
The marketplace in the eyes of 'minorities' is never fair because of the underhandedness of those that direct it. If we add cameras or transparency, the results would surely change.
WIth sports, you see people doing their best!
Within the marketplace, the manipulation is evident but again the resourcefulness of decent people and illegal immigration will surely change USA for the better!
God bless America
edouard at 9:53AM on Aug 23rd 2008
34. OBJECTIVE MINISTRIES IS SEEKING TO AQUIRE FUNCTIONING HUMAN BRAINS! It's true check it out before it's too late.
http//www.whycantwehavemorecontentandlesscrappyconspiracytheoriesandinsaneBSontheweb.com
Pliny-the-in-between at 12:03PM on Aug 22nd 2008
35. Atheists are planning to acquire nuclear weapons to wage war on Christians. It's TRUE!
http://objectiveministries.org/gametheory/militantatheists.html
Are you ready to take arms and help us fight back before it's too late? We only have one shot at the End Times, people! Let's not do a sloppy job of it!
SPAMB0T at 12:11PM on Aug 22nd 2008
36. Someone else said it better than me, but here goes. If someone was going to use nuclear weapons against christians to start the end of days, shouldnt you christians be rejoicing. Obviously you will go to heaven to hop, skip, and sing with Jesus and Friends. Why get upset?
Besides, didnt christians use them against the pagans of Japan???
Cackodemon at 12:17PM on Aug 22nd 2008
37. Pliny,
Why would you give us a dead link like that? Got my hopes up.
Mokele Mbembe at 12:28PM on Aug 22nd 2008
38. Hey Objectionable Ministries!
If you guys are all going to be raptured away before the big show, why worry about liberal WMD's? OH I GET IT NOW! This excuse worked in Iraq, so why not try it as a way to invade San Fran, Portland, Seattle, New York, etc. all those places infested with liberals.
Pliny-the-in-between at 12:40PM on Aug 22nd 2008
39. No matter the topic he chooses, DD's blog is always about Christianity. That, in itself, is enough to guarantee controversy. And, of course, that's why he included the last paragraph. Controversy guarantees hits.
There are some mean old atheist posters here that won't cut the Christians a break. You know who you are. DD is aware you'll be swift to bedevil the credulous crowd. That's his bread and butter. He runs a good scam.
We skeptics should reserve our cynicism for the real culprits, those such as DD who milk the poor souls for all they can get. Scammers have a great ability to use others' credulity and ignorance for their own advantage. Look at how the televangelists soak their victims.
Make no mistake, Christians and other believers are the real victims here. Their ignorance, or gullibility, or sloth is immediately apparent to more enlightened individuals such as we, but beating them with their own foolishness is reprehensible.
These folks deserve our sympathy. Many of them are denied the pleasures of scientific comprehension. Would you be willing to substitute six days of orgiastic creation and a handful of dirt for the awesome wonders of the evolutional universe, the real genesis of our solar system, the marvelous story that our home planet weaves for us, or the beautiful and marvelous history of life? I wouldn't wish to be so deprived.
Pity the fools. Remember, they are the victims of this human tragedy. Treat them gently.
naturalpuppy at 12:44PM on Aug 22nd 2008
40. 35. Pliny,
Why would you give us a dead link like that? Got my hopes up.
Mokele Mbembe at 12:28PM on Aug 22nd 2008
xxxxxxx
Sorry MM, the right wing conspiracy cut off the last part of the link and shut down the site. working hard now to get it up and running again...
I'll keep ya posted!
Pliny-the-in-between at 12:47PM on Aug 22nd 2008
41. Heed objective ministires!
Forget terrorist or Russian aggression. The real threat is Kathy Griffin.
tmo at 1:04PM on Aug 22nd 2008
42. I didn't even read the article, was it good? I have some gift certificates to TGI Fridays that I got as a tip for a job I did, now I just need to find someone to take to dinner. Maybe God will answer my prayers. Maybe a black athlete... :)
a born atheist at 1:09PM on Aug 22nd 2008
43.
This incessant insistance that morality comes from christianity is absolute hogwash.
Here's a great piece on morality.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/morality-definition/
ex-christian at 1:15PM on Aug 22nd 2008
44. So basically what you're saying Dinesh is that Gary Coleman can whoop you in a sidewalk relay race???
LOL
Danish DeSosa at 1:52PM on Aug 22nd 2008
45. We skeptics should reserve our cynicism for the real culprits, those such as DD who milk the poor souls for all they can get. Scammers have a great ability to use others' credulity and ignorance for their own advantage. naturalpuppy
xxxxxxxx
You know the sad truth in all of this? Growing up I was surrounded both by morally driven skeptics and people I thought of as true
Christians - people who lived the golden rule whether they thought it was divinely inspired or just the culmination of man's quest to
overcome our biological programming. I grew up thinking of Christians as liberals because the ones that I knew cared less about politics and
self promotion and a lot more about the plight of the poor or disenfranchised. They were side-by-side with the skeptics trying to
make the world a more just place.
Pliny-the-in-between at 2:28PM on Aug 22nd 2008