Advantage Versus Privilege

Often people, who consider themselves to be “intellectuals”, spend a great deal of time thinking about things. More often than not, what they imagine to be the TRUTH turns out to be an untestable hypothesis. The fact that their hypothesis cannot be subjected to scientific examination does not deter the intellectual from publishing it. Not on;y is the core idea untestable, by the time it reaches publication it will have acquired certain embellishments so as to make the idea more palatable (to other intellectuals. At this stage, it has acquired the aura of “solid fact”.

One supposes that it is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer (adopting the tone of the intellectual) that some individuals (and even groups) have an advantage in certain areas of life. Very tall athletes are most likely to be called when choosing sides for basketball. Beautiful women are most likely to marry steel magnates. Intelligence can have an influence on ones success in any field. Having a nose the bridge of which will not break when punched is an advantage in boxing. Being an extrovert is an advantage in making friends (as well as having a good memory for names and faces).

There is an argument that being of one race or ethnic group is an advantage. There seems to be empirical evidence for this notion, and it depends on who and where you are. What is an advantage on one group usually means a disadvantage for some other group. People living in what is now Eastern Europe where at considerable disadvantage when the ordus of Jingus Khan rode across the Steppes and invaded Silesia. The Aztecs had no advantage over the Spanish Conquistadors. Those living in Spain (at least southern Spain, where the main ports are) had been overrun by the Moors of Africa in 711 A.D. When Cortés invaded Mexico in 1519, it is likely that his Conquistadors were of mixed blood. So, the question is, who had the advantage?

The advantages of Caucasians over others has been demonstrated in many places. During the Raj the people of England dominated the Indian subcontinent. They also did well in Canada, Jamaica, Egypt, Java, Penang Island, Singapore, Malacca, Burma, Rhodesia, Australia and New Zealand. Such success may have had more to do with superior armament and navy. I doubt if the people of those lands said, “Oh, oh. The White people are here. We must give up.”