Are black people genetically good at basketball

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Pepe
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21 Jan 2021, 4:43 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
The OP is about a stereotype....very possibly clickbait.


Or social commentary. 8)



Pepe
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21 Jan 2021, 4:50 am

slam_thunderhide wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
Do different races have different inborn aptitudes?

When someone with only 65 posts starts a thread about a sensitive topic like this...one tends to get suspicious that the person is trolling.

Just sayin.


65 posts seems a decent number to me. How many posts does a person have to make before you will give them the benefit of the doubt?


More than around that 12,900, apparently. 8O

slam_thunderhide wrote:
The fact that accusations of trolling get thrown around so easily in this sub-forum in instances like this really shows what an ideological bubble most of the posters on this sub-forum live inside.


Don't take it personally. Every new person has to earn their stripes, and there *have been* many sock-puppets, in the past.
Ignore the comments about trolling.
This thread hasn't been locked, so things can't be too bad with what is being written.



Pepe
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21 Jan 2021, 4:55 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
I cannot "become" Asian or black---because I don't have Asian or black African ancestry.

If I had African ancestry, I could "technically" call myself black.


I'm guessing I have Neanderthal ancestry, so... :mrgreen:

kraftiekortie wrote:
In the old days, if a person had a great-great grandparent (1/16th), or a 3 times great-grandparent (1/32nd) who was black (depending on the state), that person was considered black "legally."


Same thing here in Australia, regarding aboriginal heritage, for the 1/16 figure.
I don't know about 1/32.



kraftiekortie
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21 Jan 2021, 6:44 am

If I want to play a Rasta, I play a Rasta :P

Just like a black person could dance a Jig, and adopt a Scottish accent.



naturalplastic
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21 Jan 2021, 12:56 pm

cyberdad wrote:
Black people are also good at Irish dancing



If youve seen the movie "The Commitments" you wouldnt be surprised.



Last edited by naturalplastic on 21 Jan 2021, 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

naturalplastic
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21 Jan 2021, 1:37 pm

The_Walrus wrote:
roronoa79 wrote:
None of this is even going into the fact that race is fake and Africans and those in the diaspora are not monolithic and identical.

There are other social factors at play that encourage those of African descent to seek success in sports. Why are Jamaicans and Kenyans such good runners? They have a less sedentary lifestyle and running teams can be formed and practice without needing to shell out money for equipment or facilities that you might need for eg: baseball. Underfunded schools with no money for other sports programs? Track and cross-country are your best options.
I'd wager another part of it is racism against those of African descent. Your racist English teacher can keep you out of college by rationalizing giving you a failing grade. Racist college admissions offices can decide you shouldn't get in or get this or that scholarship. Your racist boss can rationalize firing you or passing you over for a promotion. If you're great at sports though, people can't argue with the scoreboard. In a racist society, sports is a comparative meritocracy--and plenty of them know this.

There is a slight contradiction here.

Yes, Jamaicans and Kenyans are very good at “running”, but “running” is at least two different things, sprints and distance running.

Jamaicans, Trinidadians, and African Americans dominate sprinting, followed by black British and Canadian sprinters. China and Japan do perform quite well, generally better than white people. China has a very large population, and Japan’s population is much larger than any white-majority nation except the US - but Jamaica and Trinidad have quite small populations. Yes, Jamaica has a real culture of sprinting, but they still punch hugely above their weight. Their success is partially due to their population having a larger than average number of fast twitch fibres, amongst many other genetic coincidences, as well as a culture that glorifies sprinting the way that most countries glorify football. It seems in general that people of West African descent are more likely to have genetic advantages when it comes to sprinting, although this doesn’t mean that every West African person will be fast. (Also, West Africa is a very genetically and culturally diverse place)

Why Jamaica, Trinidad, and US rather than say Nigeria or Ghana? Jamaica and Trinidad both have more resources. Trinidad and Tobago has a GDP per capita comparable to Bulgaria, but Jamaica has twice the population and invests more into sprinting. The US of course has a larger absolute black population than them and is also much richer. Comparatively Nigeria and Ghana have larger populations than Jamaica, T&T, or St Kitts and Nevis, but their GDP per capita is less than half Jamaica’s and 20% of T&T. A large portion of the population is in poverty. Football is also much more culturally important.

East Africa does not produce elite sprinters, but it does produce elite distance runners. Ethiopia and Kenya obviously come to mind, but arguably the greatest distance runner of all is Sir Mo Farah, who is British... from a Somalian background. People in parts of Ethiopia and Kenya often run at altitude in their daily lives, which helps to build stamina, but there is also evidence that they have genetic advantages. Again, of course, not all people from these countries have the genes in question, but more so than in other countries. Even more so than in sprinting, distance running requires a combination of extremely hard work and natural aptitude.

So simplifying things down to race doesn’t work, but neither does dismissing genetics out of hand. Some people just naturally find it easier to move quickly, maintain fitness, or generate power. Sometimes this overlaps with our traditional, flawed models of “race”, but skin colour doesn’t affect running speed.

Swimming, cycling, martial arts? Slightly harder to believe genetic explanations there - access to training facilities and culture are likely to play even bigger roles. But of course there are genes which impact hand-eye co-ordination and so forth. These skills can be improved through practice, but some people find it easier to improve than others. But I think race is a red herring.


Good overview.

Its hard to peg geography correlated skills to the genetics of geographic areas, but DNA cant be dismissed either.

I have heard that "west Africans dominate in sprinting, and east Africans dominate at long distance running". DNA of the folks of those regions might well play a role. Though apparently with the former its not west africa itself so much, but new world countries populated by descendants of West African slaves.



cyberdad
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21 Jan 2021, 6:28 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
cyberdad wrote:
Black people are also good at Irish dancing



If youve seen the movie "The Commitments" you wouldnt be surprised.



I didn't want to say but yes tap dancing (which is African) looks an awful lot like Riverdance

Country/bluegrass is copied from blues

Chuck berry , Little Richard, James Brown and Fats Domino were ruthlessly copied to create modern pop music



naturalplastic
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21 Jan 2021, 9:11 pm

Yes, Irish step dancing does have similarities to African American tap dance. Both have similarities to flamenco. Practitioners of all three develop similar joint problems.



cyberdad
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21 Jan 2021, 9:59 pm

naturalplastic wrote:
Yes, Irish step dancing does have similarities to African American tap dance. Both have similarities to flamenco. Practitioners of all three develop similar joint problems.


Yes Flamenco dance and guitar is directly copied from Spanish Gypsies who originated in India



Pepe
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22 Jan 2021, 3:55 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
If I want to play a Rasta, I play a Rasta :P

Just like a black person could dance a Jig, and adopt a Scottish accent.


I wouldn't suggest it. 8O

Image



cyberdad
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22 Jan 2021, 4:06 am

Pepe wrote:
kraftiekortie wrote:
If I want to play a Rasta, I play a Rasta :P

Just like a black person could dance a Jig, and adopt a Scottish accent.


I wouldn't suggest it. 8O

Image


Yeah but that's called cultural denigration, Kraftie is talking about "playing a rasta"