dagblog - Comments for " The Problem With the Triple Package: Why Immigrant Parents Aren't Superior"

Sailer does not show up much

EmmaZahn — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 15:36:23 +0000

In reply to Oh Steve Sailer, what a blast

Sailer does not show up much anymore in comments on other blogs but I went looking for him around this time last year as a much needed corrective to all the white bashing that was going on and found he has his own blog where he does respond to other bloggers' posts, among other things.

He does have an engaging style by which I mean clearly conveying data along with his own perspective without anger and often with humor. For example,

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Pitbull: Not White

Actually, according to Pitbull's Wikipedia bio:

He encountered problems early in his career as a rapper because he looks white with blue eyes, hails from the South, and is Cuban.

But, America needs Cubans to demand more Hispanic immigration because Mexican-Americans don't seem to be mediagenic enough, so Pitbull's Not White.

Sure, liberal Chinese culture

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 11:28:17 +0000

In reply to .... there's probably an

Sure, liberal Chinese culture where being wealthy is hailed as one of the prime virtues; being a dissident not so much in the land where "the neck that sticks out gets lopped off". Here's a Chinese import who's discovered that Chinese luxury tastes are an exploitable attribute! Here comes an MBA grad with a keen sense of place.

I'd also be curious to see the state of Jewish liberalism in 2014 vs activism in 1964 - it's one thing to self-profess liberalism and another to actually practice it - I'd fully expect a much less altruistic performance these days (across many ethnic groups, not just Jews, but their participation 50 years ago in a more idealistic time stood out)

Oh Steve Sailer, what a blast

artappraiser — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 09:29:03 +0000

In reply to .... there's probably an

Oh Steve Sailer, what a blast from the past. He was once famous as a genius troll on race issues on internet forums. He was like this: take the controversy over The Bell Curve and multiply it by 50, then also be loud and proud about being politically incorrect...smart as a whip with all kinds of data in his head ready to be spouted, and really really devoted to sort of like, for want of a better description, a new kind of eugenics.

Edit to add: thanks for reminding me about Taki's magazine. If I am gonna read right wing opinion, it sure goes down better with wit.

Again, thanks. how little the

artappraiser — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 09:03:03 +0000

In reply to Also wanted to point out the

Again, thanks.

how little the states south of New York change between 1850 and 2000

That's a major major point. Which makes the change in the decade after all the more interesting. Who were the pioneers of that? I wouldn't be surprised if that was something as simple as Asian Indians taking over a lot of the motels.

I think I might have had some

artappraiser — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 08:56:28 +0000

In reply to The key insight of the

I think I might have had some of the Stanley stuff in the back of my mind when I commented on Maiello's "victimized rich" thread. Though it doesn't have to do with the super-rich, still I think some of the principles apply to how it isn't so easy to get a lot of garden variety well-to-do Americans to demonize them, especially those that tend to vote GOP-leaning Independent. So thanks for bringing it up.

.... there's probably an

EmmaZahn — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 08:22:22 +0000

In reply to They don't define success,

.... there's probably an undercurrent of a "Mitt Romney vulture capitalist with 5 kids who look squeaky clean and completely unremarkable".

Or not. From another response to Chua's NYT op-ed. Dare you to read the whole thing.

of [Chua's] eight minorities, only Mormons are uncool enough to admit they reject liberalism.

Mormons are interesting because they are the minority among minorities—an odd group out whose members publicly aspire to being ordinary Americans, as Americans used to define themselves before the 1960s.

Being an insular sect that pretends to be regular Americans, the Mormons are the only minority that publicly dissents from the reigning worldview that minorities are inherently morally superior to the majority.

But do Mormons actually benefit financially from their strong moral culture? Or does their notorious niceness, their lack of a chip on the shoulder, their shortage of hostility toward the majority keep them from fully cashing in?

They don't define success,

PeraclesPlease — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 07:03:21 +0000

In reply to The Problem With the Triple Package: Why Immigrant Parents Aren't Superior

They don't define success, but there's probably an undercurrent of a "Mitt Romney vulture capitalist with 5 kids who look squeaky clean and completely unremarkable".

Guess those poor saps Hewlett & Packard didn't have enough insecurity and the right ethnic superiority story to succeed. Steve Jobs on the other hand probably created his own out his insecurity.

Whatever - has anyone ever contemplated the success of raising a well-rounded child who's a joy to be around and reads poetry or has an interesting hobby and is happy and content shelving books or working at the Y or repairing cars or selling real estate or giving tennis lessons?

They are pretty superficial

tmccarthy0 — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 04:32:02 +0000

In reply to The Problem With the Triple Package: Why Immigrant Parents Aren't Superior

They are pretty superficial these two, I have to say I kind of pity their children, because these parents seem to lack the most basic form of humanity, empathy for others. It's weird, they seem to have taken the remnant of the turn of the century Social Darwinism and wrapped it into their long held prejudices.

Also wanted to point out the

EmmaZahn — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 00:45:20 +0000

In reply to The Problem With the Triple Package: Why Immigrant Parents Aren't Superior

Also wanted to point out the great gif accompanying the article.

Percentage of foreign born population by state (Imgur)

Notice how little the states south of New York change between 1850 and 2000.

Also, note how uniform the states are in 1960 and 1970.

The key insight of the

EmmaZahn — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 00:38:55 +0000

In reply to The Problem With the Triple Package: Why Immigrant Parents Aren't Superior

The key insight of the critique:

The authors never define "success," but for them it seems to hover somewhere in the nexus of money, fame, and power. But that isn't everyone's definition.

These are of course what the media presents as the definition of American success but people buy into them in varying degrees depending on their personal social groups. For immigrants largely torn away from their former cultures, popular media culture definitions are probably the easiest to assimilate.

While reading this I remembered a book from the late nineties:

The Millionaire Next Door : Thomas J. Stanley Ph.D.

Most of the truly wealthy in the United States don’t live in Beverly Hills or on Park Avenue. They live next door.

America’s wealthy seldom get that way through an inheritance or an advanced degree. They bargain-shop for used cars, raise children who don’t realize how rich their families are, and reject a lifestyle of flashy exhibitionism and competitive spending. In fact, the glamorous people many of us think of as “rich” are actually a tiny minority of America’s truly wealthy citizens—and behave quite differently than the majority.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Formerly a professor of marketing at Georgia State University, Dr. Stanley spent approximately 20 years interviewing America’s wealthy, starting in 1973—and focusing on people with a net worth of at least $1 million.

His first book, Marketing to the Affluent, was chosen as a Top 10 Outstanding Business Book by the editors of Best of Business Quarterly. He achieved popular acclaim with The Millionaire Next Door—selling over 2 million copies. In total, Dr. Stanley’s books have spent over 170 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list.

FWIW, $1 million in 1973 inflates to $5 - 6 million in today's dollars.