Conservative National Review Does Itself Proud – Shows Lack of Tolerance for Racist Rant by One of its Writers

Here is Well Deserved Praise for a Conservative Iconic Magazine

One of the lamentable things, out of many lamentable things of the Conservative populace is their lack of ability to discipline their own ranks.  Everyone who participates in public discussion and public life does things and says things which are wrong, and the right thing to do in that case is to (1) apologize, (2) take steps to correct the damage done by the mistake and (3) try to avoid repeating the error in the future. 

But Conservatives rarely do this, because their’s is a movement based on absolute faith that they are right and everyone else is wrong.  To admit that they have made a mistake calls into question their entire agenda, and so they refrain from recognizing offensive and inappropriate positions.  But not always.  One of the writers for The National Review, the publication of William F. Buckley’s Conservative group wrote a highly racist rant.  Here’s what happened next.

The National Review has fired longtime columnist John Derbyshire following an article he wrote for an online magazine that was widely viewed as racist.

The article in question, in something called Tiki’s is so virulent, so racist, so offensive that if one just happened upon it one would think it was satirical piece on racism.

In the highly controversial column, written for Taki's Magazine on Thursday, Derbyshire suggests white and Asian parents talk to their children about what makes black people different and the threats posed to their safety by black people. Five percent of black people are "ferociously hostile" to whites, according to Derbyshire, and most are willing to be hostile. Derbyshire advises parents to tell their children not to live or stay long in predominantly black communities.

"You don’t have to follow my version of the talk point for point; but if you are white or Asian and have kids, you owe it to them to give them some version of the talk," Derbyshire concludes. "It will save them a lot of time and trouble spent figuring things out for themselves. It may save their lives."

And actually that section is one of the milder quotes. Here is a better sample.

(10c) If planning a trip to a beach or amusement park at some date, find out whether it is likely to be swamped with blacks on that date (neglect of that one got me the closest I have ever gotten to death by gunshot).

(10d) Do not attend events likely to draw a lot of blacks.

(10e) If you are at some public event at which the number of blacks suddenly swells, leave as quickly as possible.

(10f) Do not settle in a district or municipality run by black politicians.

(10g) Before voting for a black politician, scrutinize his/her character much more carefully than you would a white.

(10h) Do not act the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway.

(10i) If accosted by a strange black in the street, smile and say something polite but keep moving.

(11) The mean intelligence of blacks is much lower than for whites. The least intelligent ten percent of whites have IQs below 81; forty percent of blacks have IQs that low. Only one black in six is more intelligent than the average white; five whites out of six are more intelligent than the average black. These differences show in every test of general cognitive ability that anyone, of any race or nationality, has yet been able to devise. They are reflected in countless everyday situations. “Life is an IQ test.”

 But the news here is not that a Conservative turns out to be a racist.  No the news here is that National Review promptly fired Mr. Derbyshire even though the offending piece was not in National Review nor associated with that magazine.  Now it is true that Mr. Derbyshire has been tolerated far longer than he should have, but for Conservatives taking any action is progress,  no matter how late.

Here in grateful appreciation is the statement in full made by National Review’s editor Rich Lowry

Anyone who has read Derb in our pages knows he’s a deeply literate, funny, and incisive writer. I direct anyone who doubts his talents to his delightful first novel, “Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream,” or any one of his “Straggler” columns in the books section of NR. Derb is also maddening, outrageous, cranky, and provocative. His latest provocation, in a webzine, lurches from the politically incorrect to the nasty and indefensible. We never would have published it, but the main reason that people noticed it is that it is by a National Review writer. Derb is effectively using our name to get more oxygen for views with which we’d never associate ourselves otherwise. So there has to be a parting of the ways. Derb has long danced around the line on these issues, but this column is so outlandish it constitutes a kind of letter of resignation. It’s a free country, and Derb can write whatever he wants, wherever he wants. Just not in the pages of NR or NRO, or as someone associated with NR any longer.

Nice going Mr. Lowry, all of us admire  your eloquence here.