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Title: Taboo: Why Black Athletes Dominate Sports and Why We're Afraid to Talk About It by Jon Entine, Earl Smith ISBN: 158648026X Publisher: PublicAffairs Pub. Date: 09 January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.82
Rating: 5
Summary: Can the obvious be denied?
Comment: In many sports, black athletes dominate and Entine posits that there are specific genes responsible for this dominance. There may, be a mix of environmental factors too. For example, greatness in the 100 meter dash is determined by fractions of a second. If blacks descended from West Africa have an advantage over whites of a fraction of a second, they must still train hard to realize this advantage. Culture also intervenes. For example, if white athletes adopt the attitude that the best black sthletes cannot be beaten they, therefore, may not train seriously in a given sport.
In distance running, as in sprints, black athletes dominate but it is a decidedly different ethnic group of blacks, i.e. East Africans, particularly Kenyans from a very small geographic region in that country. Whereas West Africans have a high anount of a muscle fiber known as fast twitch, East Africans have a disproportionate level of slow twitch fiber. Those who deny that dominance in a sport is genetic state that there is no smoking gun, i.e., specific genes that have been isolated that are linked to athletic dominance. However, Entine states that if there are physical traits that are peculiar to certain population groups, such as a type of muscle fiber, we do not need the smoking gun of being able to isolate the gene to know that the trait is genetic. If one group is tall and another is short, e.g., we need not isolate the gene for tallness to correctly conclude that the trait was inherited.
There was a period when white athletes, mainly women, challenged black dominance in the sprints and certain other sports. However, Entine shows that these were Eastern bloc women (mostly East Germans), whose performance had been greatly enhanced by streoids and other drugs that gave them masculine traits. As far as natural ability is concerned, genetics plays the greatest role.
The reason this subject is taboo is because many state that pointing out racial differences is racist. There is a fear of a slippery slope in that if there are racial differences in athletic ability, then, perhaps there are such differences in intelligence. Entine points out, however, that this does not necessarily follow in that the classic standard of a superior person was the athlete scholar. However, regardless of the implications of determining genetic differences in athletic ability, I believe that scientific truth should be searched for, not censored. Therefore, I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 2
Summary: Interesting, but it's not science
Comment: The main thesis of TABOO is stated very early on. In answer to the question implied in the books subtitle: Why black athletes dominate sports, we are told that "the decisive variable is in our genes - the inherent differences between populations shaped over many thousands of years of evolution."
In getting to the essence of TABOO's thesis consider the following fact: the reading of the draft of the human genome has done nothing to disprove the reality that most genetic variation in humans is within populations rather than between groups. TABOO is primarily concerned with black athletes - a very specific population group - but the universal rule still applies. Should we not then expect to see the same pattern of greater genetic variation within this group rather than between this population and another? Further, if genes for athletic prowess exist then should they not also follow the normal pattern? If on the other hand, like Mr Entine you argue otherwise, then it's incumbent on you to provide proof of an alternative genetic pattern. How fortunate for Mr Entine's book that - coincidentally - this proof is in "the harder-to-study regulatory genes (that circumscribe our physical athletic abilities)" Bottom line - no proof is forthcoming.
The book is interesting for its discussion about the cultural background to Kenyan long distance running and for the look at the careers of sports icons. As a scientific analysis of empirical data on the superiority of black athletes - keep looking.
Rating: 2
Summary: At Least Spell Correctly
Comment: Taboo by Jon Entine did not approach it's controversial topic of black athletic superiority in a new or significant way. Entine presents the information largely in the manner in which it is discussed in American society: by anecdotes. And Entine can't even present his point of view without bad grammar and typos.
I was hoping for some fresh research on the topic of physiology regarding athletic performance. Instead what I got was the inference that almost all of the world class distance runners are from East Africa so they must be genetically superior. I already knew this. Tell me something I don't know. I guess this may just have been Entine's non-threatening approach to a threatening topic.
Lying underneath the surface of inate black athletic superiority is the racist implication that athletic prowess is inversely proportional to intelligence. Since we use common sense perception to determine that blacks are the superior athletes, we can also use common sense perception to slay the myth of the dumb jock. One look at the ranks of the top athletes in America will dispel it. Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Latrell Sprewell, Allen Iverson, Grant Hill, Tim Duncan, Patrick Ewing, Donovan Bailey, Carl Lewis, Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds (I could continue for many more) all have one thing in common: they are all highly intelligent men who could succeed at most intellectual endeavors outside of the sports world. I think, while blacks do have an inate athletic superiority, it takes a lot of determination, drive, and *BRAIN POWER* to approach the level that these athletes I have just mentioned have attained. It is the rare athlete who can succeed without the corresponding intellectual ability. We should all remember that, until blacks came to dominate athletics, sports were considered the provence of the intellectually gifted. The dumbing down of the athlete was just a way for a racist population to downplay the success of black athletes. The dumb jock syndrome was no more true of Jesse Owens or Joe Louis than it is of any of the men I previously mentioned.
One thing that Entine does do with his book that I liked was exploding the myth of the superior white female athlete. Many people pointed to East European females as proof that it was environment, not genetics, that made Africans better athletes than Europeans or Asians. With the fall of Communism in East Europe we are now seeing just why these 'women' dominated (barely) women's athletics for a 20 year period. It was largely due to drugs. Communist governments had instituted official state policies that doped up their athletes in the hopes of producing something which an increasingly dissatisfied populace could rally around. This worked better on the female athletes because women have less testosterone than men. Injecting the same amount of testosterone into a man and a woman will have a greater impact on the woman and her performance as opposed to his. That these governments had these programs is no longer in doubt. We have the papers which document them in full. What is further evidence that East European success was due mainly to drugs is the abysmal performance of the countries athletes since the fall of Communism. Runners who had all the benefits of a Communist sports machine no longer run with the best African runners now that they aren't receiving their doses of steroid injections.
The main aspect of Entine's book where I thought he came up way short on was the 'why' we should be interested in this subject. I have always been a believer in science for science's sake. Anything and everything is worth exploring to me. Entine gives a little mention of this in the final chapter. He says this discussion determines what kind of society we are. Are we the kind that lets uncomfortable topics go unstudied for fear of what we might find? Or are we the type of society that seeks knowledge out in all of its forms regardless of the outcome? There are positives and negatives to each one. I for one hope that we are the latter type, the kind that seeks to progress in our understanding and knowledge of even unpleasant topics because one never knows what pearls one may find while rummaging through the muck.
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Title: Race, Evolution, and Behavior: A Life History Perspective (3rd Edition) by J. Philippe Rushton ISBN: 0965683613 Publisher: Charles Darwin Research Institute Pub. Date: 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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