A powerful defense of Individualism

Here.  Go read.

Key point:

The primacy of the individual — that we judge people not by their lineage but by their deeds — is at the very foundation of a free society and of the American experiment.

That, and the overall theme of Individualism being the antidote to racism... which is, after all, a species of Collectivism.  If you regard people as individuals, race ain't rightly a thing, aside from being a convenient shorthand for some aspects of appearance.

See also Chesterton's Eugenics and Other Evils.

Oh, another thing?

While these sorts of incidents are unlikely to be legally charged and recorded as hate crimes, that doesn’t mean that prejudice necessarily plays no role at all. As the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights noted in a 1992 report, “many Asian immigrants operate small retail stores or restaurants in economically depressed, predominantly minority neighborhoods. The entry of small businesses owned by Asian Americans into these neighborhoods and their apparent financial success often provokes resentment on the part of neighborhood residents.”

Consult Sowell's Black Rednecks and White Liberals for more on this.  Asians, like Jews, often occupy the merchant role; cultures that encourage hard work, thrift, education, and family and community solidarity can lead to this.  This puts them in the position of Kulaks, who are widely resented by nobles and serfs alike.

Comments

[Ellen Fox]

Who else are you following on Substack? I'm reading Scott Alexander, Matt Yglesias, and Freddie DeBoer, because I apparently can't get enough of the opinions of 40-year-old white guys. Also follow Heather Cox Richardson because she's depressing but nutritious. I'm looking for medical people, too, so I've got Emily Oster.

[Eric Wilner]

I'm not really following anyone on Substack, though I have some bookmarked (Scott Alexander and a few others). It's more a matter of stumbling across a link somewhere-or-other on any random day, generally out among the more traditional blogs.