Rating: 4/5
Review:
very good
I found How To Argue With A Racist interesting, well written and
thoughtful. Adam Rutherford is a good writer and a very good
scientist which makes for a winning combination here.
Rutherford sets out
to combat some of the myths, misinterpretations and downright lies
which racists believe, and he does it well. His arguments are
insightful and very well informed, and he is honest about the
ambiguities and subtleties of drawing conclusions from genetic data.
This in itself is a powerful argument against crude racist
generalisations, which almost always use selective or distorted
“evidence” in their support – if they use any evidence at all.
And there’s the
problem with the book’s title, of course. Arguing with racists is
seldom productive because bigotry isn’t interested in fact,
evidence or nuance. Bigotry, by its very nature, has made its mind
up and almost never listens to anything which doesn’t support its
point of view.
Nonetheless, it’s
a very good book which taught me a lot about the state of our current
knowledge and should help rationality in discussions about race and
will further the overall cause of educating people about race and its
meaning. It’s an interesting, sometimes entertaining read which,
unusually, addresses a very serious subject without being over-solemn
about it. Recommended.
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