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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   2082 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 25, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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I just had my bike kicked out from under me by a pedestrian while I was stopped in a cross walk. I shouldn't have been in the cross walk (and I won't in the future, at least for the next week), but I also would have happily moved if he asked, or he could have, you know, walked one foot to the right and went around me. My bike weighs about 10 pounds so I was fine, but because he was black (and I'm white) I was seething with racial animosity on the rest of my ride home. On one level I recognize that this is obviously irrational (and racist), but at the same time I have had so many negative interactions with black people in this city (Baltimore) that I'm starting to wonder if there maybe is some truth in the HBD/race realist positions.

Something stark that the Floydenning taught me was that black people really are living their lives assuming that whites absolutely hate their guts. It was a shock to me how unified the black voices were in the chorus against widespread white hatred. And in a way it was a bit of telling on themselves for how tightly woven into their worldviews general racial animosity is. I wondered if their models for how they assumed whites spoke of blacks in unmixed company mirrored black people's true experience of the inverse.

I know for a fact that white people self-police among themselves for distasteful and inappropriate stereotyping. And I no longer make such assumptions for other racial groups.

There was no real question in your Sunday questions thread post. So I'll answer a question you didn't ask: Yes, you should get out of Baltimore. How did you end up there anyway?

I'm doing my PhD at Hopkins. I'll be done by May 2026 probably.

Godspeed son.

What, your wheels were in the crosswalk zone while you were in the road? On what fucking planet is that a justification for someone kicking you off your bike?

A lot of discussion about who wins in racial fights downthread. I've probably seen more interracial fights than most. Numbers and viciousness are the biggest factors in who wins. Honestly man, this has very little to do with HBD and more to do with black people hating you. You're in a city where racial animus is a way of life. Many of your fellow Baltimoreans want an excuse to hurt you (especially if they have numbers on their side), so act accordingly.

Numbers and viciousness are the biggest factors in who wins.

It's been a long-standing trope in internet fight video communities that—not only do blacks have a relative penchant for group-based Zerg rush/swarming approaches—even in 1 on 1 fights between a black person and a white person, black bystanders will "helpfully" intervene and stop or restart the fight if the white person gets the upper-hand, if not seize the opportunity to gang-up on the white person to get some free shots in. Vice versa would generally be untrue for white bystanders when the black person gets the upper-hand.

White people imagining themselves as physically the same as black people is leading to ridiculous situations like this. Asians don’t have this problem they just avoid living around black people. Seems to fundamentally stem from the arrogance of the white mentality and a reticence to admit to weakness even in the face of mountains of evidence of weakness. Black people assaulting whites is hideous because of the power imbalance and white people lack the humility to admit this to themselves, or to people who are willing to exploit this arrogance to their advantage.

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In the real world, except for a window in the teens(blacks hit puberty early), white men are usually a match for equivalent black men, physically.

Blacks are bigger, stronger, faster, and more aggressive than whites. In a one-on-one fistfight, they win.

Which is, of course, why you never let it get down to a one-on-one fistfight. Move to a gun-friendly state and carry daily. Organize crime watches. Avoid black neighborhoods.

Quite literally, black men are not bigger or stronger on average- except for a window in the teens where whites aren’t done growing yet.

Although I'm a strict theoretician in this realm, I cannot fully agree. Even in fistfight brains counts too. Of course if you got knocked out, this would be of little use, but speed of thinking, some planing and reflex are critical and strictly connected with higher intelligence. For an average Joe like me, this wouldn't turn the tide, but an experienced street fighter could stand a chance.

an experienced street fighter could stand a chance.

Almost definitionally, of course. Blacks aren't gorillas; their advantage is perhaps statistically significant but hardly insurmountable. We don't live in some parallel universe in which the bell curves of black and white fighting abilities don't or barely overlap; they're just slightly shifted relative to each other.

I've had this conversation before here, I do not agree with you, look at NFL stats, blacks have more fast twitch muscle, whites are less prone to acts of violence, violent crime and aggressive behavior. In the real world.

The average white man is slightly larger, significantly smarter, and in much better physical shape than the average black man. In a fight this adds up- yes blacks are more likely to start fights, but non underclass non teenaged whites probably have an advantage in a completely random equivalent pairing.

The average white man is less used to violence and probably less aggressive, too.

I wouldn't claim to know whether that evens the odds in the average or in the mean or otherwise.

Nice bait

I don’t know what this means, can you speak plainly?

Link

Bait is a an internet slang term used to describe comments or opinions which are considered to be made purposefully to troll other posters or to start a flame war.

Thank you for the explanation. My comment wasn't intended to troll anyone or start a flame war, I was describing my sincerely held beliefs. To the extent that they are annoying beliefs, they annoy me too. I'd prefer to believe something else. I imagine other people feel this way too. The downstream effects of other people preferring to believe something else are people getting their bikes kicked out from under them by slightly more aggressive and violent groups of people. The least I can do is point at what I see as the objective ugliness of the situation.

Sounds like you need someone to give you permission to believe in HBD. Permission granted. It‘s not that big of a deal. Just stop assuming any random black person is as smart and friendly as you.

On the plus side, now you can tell these stories you‘ve been ruminating on. They eat some well-meaning people up from the inside.

If your small-scale question is AITA? The answer is No. If it's "Is this a sign of the end times?" The answer is Yes.

Please don't make me choose between the blacks and the cyclists.

Whoever wins... we lose.

I just hope both sides have fun.

but because he was black (and I'm white) I was seething with racial animosity on the rest of my ride home. On one level I recognize that this is obviously irrational (and racist)

That's the most problematic part about a black man impulsively assaulting you with zero consequences: you becoming slightly more racist. Hopefully he enjoyed the assault more than you were upset by it, thus increasing the net happiness in the world.

Noticing which demographic is disproportionately responsible for acts of animosity and negative interactions—and updating your priors accordingly—is the opposite of irrational. Your feelings are valid.

I have had so many negative interactions with black people in this city (Baltimore) that I'm starting to wonder if there maybe is some truth in the HBD/race realist positions.

Just starting? Living in Baltimore is like nightmare difficulty setting for trying to remain an un-Noticer. In years past, an amusing example would be the topic of "squeegee boys" on /r/Baltimore. There occurred a sporadic but recurring three-way civil war between those who Noticed and found them all so tiresome, those who found them all so tiresome but refused to Notice, and those who insisted they were good boys just having some fun and helping their families make a living (you should be a Decent Human Being and tip extra to show gratitude for the mostly consensual squeegeeing experience).

Hopefully he enjoyed the assault more than you were upset by it, thus increasing the net happiness in the world.

Do you think the bike cuck got himself another bike and posts at the Motte?

Hopefully he enjoyed the assault more than you were upset by it, thus increasing the net happiness in the world.

Caught me off guard and made me chuckle. Impressive, very nice.

Someone that casually antisocial would have a pretty high chance of being beaten up by bystanders in India. The West has forgotten that some social norms benefit from the slight application of force as needed.

We'll solve P = NP before we figure out how to get whites to defend each other against racial violence happening right in front of their fucking faces.

Each other? Whites even struggle to defend themselves against violence when the perpetrator(s) is/are black. Perhaps understandably so, as no one wants to get the Bernhard Goetz/Daniel Penny treatment.

Oh please. Blacks won’t mess with identifiable rednecks. This has nothing to do with unequal legal treatment and everything to do with white liberals being pussies.

I have to say I agree with you here. So many people have been trained that any violence - even in self defense - is verboten. It's a core tenant of public schooling.

Even if they do shock themselves into realizing they're in danger they don't go far enough and lose anyway. I know it first-hand!

The race difference makes that impossible in America. On the flip side, if he'd tried that in some locations he might have gotten shot by the bike rider, well if it wasn't a cyclist.

You're allowed to be upset. I would as would most of us.

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