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Stereotypical stereotypes stereotypically tend to fall short.

Reader comment on item: Turkey Is on the Path to Rogue Dictatorship
in response to reader comment: Eastern 'concepts'

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Oct 29, 2015 at 17:43

Hello, George. You said,

It seems to me it's all genetic. Otherwise, how can one explain their inability to learn from the past? Is that a racist view?

Let's look at the idea. I don't think it is "racist", since the kleptocratic cuckoo states don't divide from capitalist cuckoo states along racial lines. Consider the following examples"

Mahmoud Achmadinejad (Iran) vs. Peter Falk. (US, Ashkenazi Jewish). They would pass for brothers.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkey) vs. Adolph Hitler (Austria). What more can be said? If anything, the Turkish President looks more like Hitler than Hitler.

You might also note that there is little difference in appearance between the Japanese, Koreans and especially Taiwanese and Hong Kongese, on the one hand and the mainland Chinese on the other; yet they have entirely different economies, lifestyles, outlooks on life, etc. More to the point, just compare the North Koreans with the South Koreans.

Generalizations have a way of never making an exact fit. On the other hand, trends seem at first glance to follow ethnic lines. Upon closer examination, however, the generalization fails. Consider the following Corruption Perceptions map:

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/maps_and_graphs/2011/11/30/1322676740295/World-corruption-index-in-007.jpg

If you thought of North Americans, Chileans and Uruguayans, Australians & New Zealanders and NW Europeans as all part of one "race", you might think corruption went along racial lines. On the other hand, the Russians are in the same category as the Central Africans; and the Japanese are in the same category as the Germans.

It's a complicated situation.

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Reader comments (16) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
2Erdogan perfidy [71 words]Earl GreenOct 27, 2015 10:09226090
Erdogan has time on his side -- but only so much [659 words]Michael SNov 2, 2015 13:59226090
3Dictatorship has many faces [191 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
CharlesOct 27, 2015 05:52226083
1Erdogan and the mafias. [80 words]Giorgio BalestrieriOct 27, 2015 05:05226082
2Big Deal And So What [117 words]Uncle VladdiOct 26, 2015 22:05226077
1Ritual [109 words]DajjalOct 28, 2015 17:51226077
1Eastern 'concepts' [123 words]George KeselmanOct 26, 2015 21:13226076
1"Orientalist" racism is backwards! [391 words]Uncle VladdiOct 28, 2015 17:52226076
Stereotypical stereotypes stereotypically tend to fall short. [248 words]Michael SOct 29, 2015 17:43226076
A bit more on Eastern 'concepts' [516 words]George KeselmanNov 1, 2015 16:42226076
1no way supporting Eastern 'morality' [73 words]George KeselmanNov 1, 2015 16:47226076
Where is the line? [227 words]Michael S.Nov 4, 2015 03:01226076
showing the line [66 words]George KeselmanNov 4, 2015 20:11226076
Not much air between Obama and Erdogan... and the Saudis, for that matter. [673 words]Michael SNov 9, 2015 04:31226076
1Are Merkel and Co. ready for this? [363 words]Michael SOct 26, 2015 20:56226075
Rogue dictatorship [64 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Edmond BeniacarOct 26, 2015 18:46226073

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