tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post6271917813884094723..comments2024-03-28T16:22:14.888-07:00Comments on Steve Sailer: iSteve: Gopnik: America's historic prosperity = "white people with guns owning a giant chunk of well-irrigated, very well-harbored real estate"Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-33801706379353682412012-10-25T21:35:39.764-07:002012-10-25T21:35:39.764-07:00keep in mind that the most developed civilizations...<i>keep in mind that the most developed civilizations in the Americas made the cities of Europe look like dingy, low-population slums</i> <br /><br /><br />No, they did not. Not unless you're deliberately picking out "dingy, low-population slums" to represent Europe.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-532726308582944212012-10-24T20:22:34.383-07:002012-10-24T20:22:34.383-07:00Largest 100 landowners in the US
http://fayranche...Largest 100 landowners in the US<br /><br />http://fayranches.com/sites/default/files/land-report-2012-fay-ranches-for-sale.pdfAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-41744812011193992732012-10-24T18:28:29.751-07:002012-10-24T18:28:29.751-07:00Ben Franklin was about as urban as an American of ...<i>Ben Franklin was about as urban as an American of his day could be. He was born next to the docks in Boston.<br /><br />When he became ambassador to France he played up the backwoods sage / noble savage shtick to appeal to French fantasies in the Rousseau Era, and it was a hit of historic proportions, but he was a dapper townsman by most inclinations.</i><br /><br />Good point. He was born in Boston and then moved to Philly. And he was fat and had bad eyesight. He wasn't really outdoorsy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-87214859350034347512012-10-24T13:28:13.760-07:002012-10-24T13:28:13.760-07:00History of Atlanta from Wikipedia:
The history of...History of Atlanta from Wikipedia:<br /><br /><i>The history of Atlanta dates back to 1836, when Georgia decided to build a railroad to the U.S. Midwest</i> ( Midwest? No, a railroad hub for the central South. -- DD )<i> and a location was chosen to be the line's terminus. The stake marking the founding of "Terminus" was driven into the ground in 1837 (called the Zero Mile Post). In 1839 homes and a store were built there and the settlement grew. Between 1845 and 1854 rail lines arrived from four different directions, and the rapidly growing town quickly become the rail hub for the entire Southern United States. During the American Civil War, Atlanta, as a distribution hub, became the target of a major Union campaign, and in 1864 Union General Sherman's troops set on fire and destroyed the city's assets and buildings, save churches and hospitals. After the war the population grew rapidly, as did manufacturing, while the city retained its role as a rail hub. Coca-Cola was launched here in 1886 and grew into an Atlanta-based world empire. ...</i><br /><br />My understanding is that Atlanta, orginally named Terminus, was created ex nihilo by I-can't remember-the-name railroad Co. when the railroad decided to establish a rail hub for the central South. <br /><br />Terminus wasn't settled by pioneers. The name was later changed to Atlanta because "Atlanta" is so much more elegant and allusive. Nascent real estate developer thinking ...David Davenportnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-44795491772195850352012-10-24T12:54:43.770-07:002012-10-24T12:54:43.770-07:00"Lol! When I saw 'Gopnik' - I was won..."Lol! When I saw 'Gopnik' - I was wondering where Steve was going with it - Russian chavs built America"<br /><br />Yup! When I first glanced at the title, I read something akin to that too: "Wigger- our most precious natural resource". Mayanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-87752937107620961022012-10-24T11:06:34.259-07:002012-10-24T11:06:34.259-07:00Maya said...Is the guy's name actually Gopnik,...Maya said...<i>Is the guy's name actually Gopnik, or is that his trolling pseudonym?<br /><br />Are there articles floating around written by people named Wigger, Chav and Guido as well?</i><br /><br />Lol! When I saw 'Gopnik' - I was wondering where Steve was going with it - Russian chavs built America.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-76290139497334386192012-10-24T08:24:56.537-07:002012-10-24T08:24:56.537-07:00Are surbuban sections in the US shrinking in the s...<i>Are surbuban sections in the US shrinking in the same way they are in Australia and New Zealand?<br /><br />In 1950s New Zealand, a quarter acrche, was considered a reasonable-sized section for a mid-income family. Today that is considered very large, and only accessible to high income families in semi-rural areas.</i><br /><br />I think so, based only on casual observation. New suburban developments in the US mid-atlantic in, say, the 1980s tended to feature 1/2 acre to 1 acre lots. Now they tend to feature 1/4 acre lots. Also, "semi-detached" houses seem to be making a comeback.Billnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-81802112677571516172012-10-24T07:30:31.070-07:002012-10-24T07:30:31.070-07:00"Ex Submarine Officer said...
""I ..."Ex Submarine Officer said...<br /><br />""I can't think of too many large cities that aren't located by rivers or navigable waterways.""<br /><br />Ooh, sounds like fun challenge to the peanut gallery here.<br /><br />I'll start with Atlanta Ga. The Chattahoochee River which flows through it is only navigable up to Columbus Ga."<br /><br />Phoenix - an obvious one.Mr. Anonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-3848633184370894022012-10-24T05:14:55.984-07:002012-10-24T05:14:55.984-07:00If geography and land is still so important then w...If geography and land is still so important then why was Argentina 100 years so rich but now so middle income? <br /><br />Land is so no longer tied to prosperity. It's about a country's PISA scores. Just look at that island called Singapore.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-47075140827180935222012-10-24T04:22:06.270-07:002012-10-24T04:22:06.270-07:00Ex Submarine Officer wrote:
"I can't thi...Ex Submarine Officer wrote:<br /><br />"I can't think of too many large cities that aren't located by rivers or navigable waterways.<br /><br />Ooh, sounds like fun challenge to the peanut gallery here.<br /><br />I'll start with Atlanta Ga. The Chattahoochee River which flows through it is only navigable up to Columbus Ga."<br /><br />You can add Las Vegas and Denver. Phoenix too, I guess. But I'll stand by my premise though it is hard to compare things from the past to today.<br /><br />How big were they in 1865? Atlanta is a good example of a city spawned by railroads. Vegas one by the highway system (and the gambling).<br /><br />But most large cities grew from a kernel that was in place because of features that caused it to be a city before the age of rail even.sunbeamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16540822135478202229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-33776996730085207432012-10-24T01:32:31.580-07:002012-10-24T01:32:31.580-07:00It's the same as Jared Diamond - people just h...It's the same as Jared Diamond - people just happen to live in good places, and that makes them successful.<br /><br />Of course the Amerindians didn't do much with North America. White Americans live there because their ancestors had the energy and ability to conquer the continent.Simon in Londonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-81282504404479926742012-10-24T00:43:50.379-07:002012-10-24T00:43:50.379-07:00The Gopniks are not a very attractive clan.
The Gopniks are not a very attractive clan.<br />jodynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-73344343648366303092012-10-24T00:14:28.308-07:002012-10-24T00:14:28.308-07:00Really, we are all back to Malthus - one of the ea...Really, we are all back to Malthus - one of the earliest and greatest economists, and in fact one of the very few economists I have time for.<br /> Acis test: Show me a Malthus denier, and I'll show you a an unperspicacious charlatan.<br /> The carrying capacity of an land is a function of the bounty of its natural resources, rainfall, fertile land etc. Look at how densely populated Egypt, with its Nile Valley is, and sparsely populated equal areaed Libya is, and the fact that Libya has very little water. For the time being ignore the quibblers invoking 'the Netherlands' - that can be explained away, time willing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-33624875982115892642012-10-24T00:12:27.044-07:002012-10-24T00:12:27.044-07:00Are surbuban sections in the US shrinking in the s...Are surbuban sections in the US shrinking in the same way they are in Australia and New Zealand?<br /><br />In 1950s New Zealand, a quarter acrche, was considered a reasonable-sized section for a mid-income family. Today that is considered very large, and only accessible to high income families in semi-rural areas.<br /><br />And of course rules and regulations have increased a lot to.commonwealth contrarianhttp://comcontrarian.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-937732513094707722012-10-23T22:24:27.688-07:002012-10-23T22:24:27.688-07:00So geography is a big factor and so are ideas. Whi...So geography is a big factor and so are ideas. Which explains why Borders bookstores slammed into liquidation? Do you wonder if the chain had any shops in, say, Kashmir? Afghanistan? The West Bank? Or Ciudad Juarez?<br /><br /><br />MUSICAL INTERLUDE:<br /><br />Everybody looks so ill at ease,<br />so distrustful so displeased;<br />running down the table I see a borderline;<br />like a barbed wire fence,<br />strung tight, strung tense,<br />prickling with pretense: a borderline.<br /><br />Why are you smirking at your friend?<br />Is this to be the night<br />when all well-wishing ends?<br />All crediblity revoked,<br />thin skin, thick jokes:<br />can we blame it on the smoke,<br />this borderline?<br /><br />Every bristling shaft of pride,<br />church or nation, team or tribe,<br />every notion we subscribe to is just a borderline.<br />Good or bad, we think we know,<br />as if thinking makes things so,<br />all convictions grow up along a borderline.<br /><br />Smug in your jaded expertise<br />you scathe the wonder world<br />and you praise barbarity.<br />In this illusionary place,<br />this scared hard-edged rat race,<br />all liberty is laced with borderlines.<br /><br />Every income, every age<br />every fashion-plated rage<br />every measure every gauge<br />creates a borderline.<br />Every stone thrown through glass,<br />every mean streets kickass,<br />every swan caught on the grass<br />will draw a borderline.<br /><br />You snipe so steady you snap so snide,<br />so ripe and ready to diminish and deride.<br />Oh, you're so quick to condescend,<br />my opinionated friend,<br />all you deface, all you defend<br />is just a borderline.<br />Just a borderline<br />Another borderline<br />Just a borderline. <br /><br /> - "Borderline" Joni Mitchell -<br /><br /><br />I can't agree with some of the lyrics' more Eloi viewpoints; but the song, as she sings it on her album 'Turbulent Indigo,' is (like her earliest, best works) hauntingly lovely; so that despite the lyrics' willful ignorance of certain, shall we say, realities, I like to think kindly of the words as an earnest plea for civility.<br /><br />And now for that geography-defying discussion of Climate Change...!Auntie Analoguenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-1530598470505539282012-10-23T21:36:24.215-07:002012-10-23T21:36:24.215-07:00I can't think of too many large cities that ar...<i>I can't think of too many large cities that aren't located by rivers or navigable waterways.</i><br /><br />Ooh, sounds like fun challenge to the peanut gallery here.<br /><br />I'll start with Atlanta Ga. The Chattahoochee River which flows through it is only navigable up to Columbus Ga.Ex Submarine Officernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-61535277142697321342012-10-23T21:08:14.353-07:002012-10-23T21:08:14.353-07:00Ben Franklin was about as urban as an American of ...Ben Franklin was about as urban as an American of his day could be. He was born next to the docks in Boston. <br /><br />When he became ambassador to France he played up the backwoods sage / noble savage shtick to appeal to French fantasies in the Rousseau Era, and it was a hit of historic proportions, but he was a dapper townsman by most inclinations.Steve Sailerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920109042402850214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-751418552437438222012-10-23T20:34:37.261-07:002012-10-23T20:34:37.261-07:00"That's why the Indians had the highest p..."That's why the Indians had the highest per capita living standards in the world and created such an amazing civilization on that very same land."<br /><br />Actually, they did pretty well, given the extremely limited resources they had - don't underestimate the power of animal husbandry.<br /><br />Also keep in mind that the most developed civilizations in the Americas made the cities of Europe look like dingy, low-population slums - and they did it without metal, too.Melendwyrhttp://occludedsun.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-3768466899891427772012-10-23T20:30:47.058-07:002012-10-23T20:30:47.058-07:00Fishbu wrote:
"I don't really buy the arg...<b>Fishbu wrote:</b><br />"<i>I don't really buy the argument that deep down everyone hates cities and would rather live as some farmer in the middle of nowhere</i>"<br /><br />Different groups tend towards different ideal densities, at which they feel most comfortable. <br /><br />Yes, people live in urban areas now, because that is where the money is. Yet density has never been particularly desired by Europeans, especially those from the Germanic core. Think of high-population Germany (82 million pop.): Its biggest city is a mere 3.5 million... There is an aversion towards hyperdensity. Likewise in the USA, this may explain suburbanization (and now exurbanization) to some extent -- though the Race Problem is a biggest factor, surely.<br /><br />Sociologists noticed a century ago or more that the Jews of Europe lacked this aversion, and urbanized rapidly and much more easily than Europeans were able to. Most Polish cities were heavily Jewish, and some even outright-majority Jewish in the interwar period, for example.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-47333882411122702702012-10-23T20:24:33.637-07:002012-10-23T20:24:33.637-07:00The overwhelming trend of human history is increas...<i>The overwhelming trend of human history is increasing urbanization. De-urbanization and depopulation is associated with civilization decline. </i><br /><br />The overwhelming trend of human history has been that most people don't have any say in the matter with respect to urbanization. People don't urbanize. People that don't own land get urbanized.<br /><br />De-urbanization and depopulation associate with civilization decline because civilization is simply population structure organized into cities. That's all that civilization is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-9040104838289601802012-10-23T20:16:14.075-07:002012-10-23T20:16:14.075-07:00Again, quite the opposite based on trend of migrat...<i>Again, quite the opposite based on trend of migration to cities.</i><br /><br />Migration towards cities happens when people become dispossessed of rural subsistence assets. This was true during the Clearances and is true today in places like China, where the gov't evicts farmers off their land. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-19413015211344287952012-10-23T20:14:42.066-07:002012-10-23T20:14:42.066-07:00I think Geography definitely plays a role, it'...I think Geography definitely plays a role, it's not just the people.<br /><br />People from the Midwest have always seemed very competent and hardworking to me.<br /><br />But North Dakota and Nebraska aren't exactly centers of world trade.<br /><br />The modern era is a different, but in the old days for an area to become something economically powerful you needed to be able to grow enough food to support large cities, and most importantly have a transport network for the place.<br /><br />Refrigeration and easy long distance transport have changed a lot about the food situation, but even with all the transportation changes I can't think of too many large cities that aren't located by rivers or navigable waterways.<br /><br />As far as the rest of what this guy wrote, he used about 10 times as many words as he needed to communicate his point. I think I've heard a lot of his ideas in bars over the years anyway, so it was kind of a repeat.<br /><br />How does this Kaplan dude keep getting published? I read a book or article by him in the 90's called The Coming Anarchy. Seems like the Anarchy has always been pretty much a constant though.sunbeamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16540822135478202229noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-84457322583702270042012-10-23T20:11:06.535-07:002012-10-23T20:11:06.535-07:00Success of Whites throughout history can be explai...Success of Whites throughout history can be explained so simply:<br /><br />Two parts dumb-luck/chance/coincidence, one part Pure Evil. (The Michael-Moore Left inverts the portions).<br /><br />A century hence, some Eric Holder of the future will hunt down any White person who believes that there is anything <i>special</i> about his race's achievements. This future Multicultural Hero will commit the exposed bigot to an institution for delusional racists. (Call is the James Watson Institute for Hate-Crazed Racist Rehabilitation).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-64998836589889810162012-10-23T20:04:59.645-07:002012-10-23T20:04:59.645-07:00@ Matthew
Bangladesh sucks because it's full ...@ Matthew<br /><br />Bangladesh sucks because it's full of stupid, primitive, incompetent brown people, not because it's dense Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9430835.post-10922704575209413912012-10-23T19:46:44.048-07:002012-10-23T19:46:44.048-07:00"...knowledge and wisdom lost when people wit...<i>"...knowledge and wisdom lost <b>when people without much connection to land</b> came to dominate highbrow discourse."</i><br /><br />i also blame this for why people are/can be so dumb about genetically inherited stuff. farmers breeding cows/sheep/horses (and having a dozen or so kids) <i>knew</i> that there were innate differences between individuals -- and that you could breed different traits in and out of a population. a society full of real estate agents and apple store experts just ain't gonna know those things (and will be easily persuaded that the opposite -- or anything! -- is true).hbd chickhttp://hbdchick.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com