No side marker warts..., The original design did not include them Options

[dsmeyer]

The side marker wart was a U.S.DOT only requirement.
The factory did not install them on 914s for other markets...
Can you spot the DOT car in this picture?
(IMG:http://members.rennlist.com/914_collectibles/zVPhFactory03.JPG)

[Charles Deutsch]

Alfred wants us to think that his opinions are based entirely on logic and that he only holds his racist beliefs because the objective evidence requires him to. But he makes a number of logical fallacies:

1. Groupism: First, Alfred assumes that an individual's worth should be measured by the value of the group that individual is a member of. This is the fallacy of "groupism." Individual people cannot be reduced to the group they happen to be a member of. Individuals are people. They are not groups. To treat people like mere members of a group is to dehumanize them. Moreover, it dehumanizes us too because then we begin to think of everyone, not as individuals, but as a group members. Think of the Borg and you will get the picture.

What is the concept of conditional probability in statistics? The more you know about a person or thing (e.g., which groups they belong to) the more you can know with certainty something about that person. Is this really a foreign concept to you?

2. Selective Groupism: In addition, Alfred is very selective about his groupism. He assumes that the most significant group one is a member of, is one's racial/nation group. But that is a fallacy as well. Why reduce people to members of their racial groups when there are other groups out there? There are friendly people and unfriendly people. There are people with earrings and those without. There are groups of people with high cholesterol and low cholesterol. There are near limitless ways in which we can categorize people if we wanted to, but Alfred only wants to look at racial/nation groups. Why isn't Alfred talking about the superiority of tall people? After all, plenty of studies have concluded that tall people are more likely to be more successful in business. For example, only 3% of the nation's Fortune 500 companies are run by CEOs who are shorter than 6 foot. Alfred's "selective groupism" exposes the fact that Alfred isn't looking at the facts "objectively" but only at the facts he prefers to see. Alfred prefers to look at racial/nation groups exclusively, not because this is the only group that exists, but because he prefers to be a racist.

Why would you group people by race and not by their cholesterol level or their height? You got me there.

3. Technological Centrism: Alfred further assumes that the nations/races who create more technology are "better" than nations/races that create less technology. Again there is no logical precept that would require this to be the case. Technology does not make a nation or its people good or virtuous. For its time, Nazi Germany was, arguably, one of the most technologically advanced and organized, nations in the world. This did not make them a great or virtuous people. Similarly, low technology nations are not, for that reason evil or morally inferior. Think of India under Gandhi's leadership. During the middle of the last century, India was one of the most technological backwards nations in the world, but Gandhi undermined one of world history's greatest empires (the British Empire), not though technology but through moral clarity, resolve, bravery, and his connection to the divine. Alfred wants to assume that nations/races with more technology are good, and smart, and virtuous, and great but there is no necessary logical connection between technology and those positive values; sometimes they align sometimes they don't.

Here's a recent story about Malaysia's high-tech industry. Intel CEO, Craig Barret suggests that if Malaysia doesn't want China to "take away its vital high-tech industry", it should "educate and train its workforce better". "Malaysia is making the migration from what I would have called an initially manufacturing site to more value-add, more innovation for R&D," he told Reuters last month. Data from the World Bank (news - web sites) showed Malaysia had 154 R&D engineers and scientists per million people, compared with China's 354 per million.

Silversix, you should write the Malaysian government and tell them not to worry about it.

4. Intellectual Centrism: Last, Alfred assumes that those with high IQs are superior in some significant way to those with low IQs. This, of course, is a logical fallacy as well. Putting aside the long tortured argument as to whether IQ tests really measure intelligence or whether they measure something else like mere cleverness, or one's familiarity with the world and language of the wealthy, the assumption that Alfred wants to make is that high IQ people are superior or are of greater value than other people. Again there is no logical reason to believe this. People of high IQs can do evil things. Think of the recent corporate scandals, Enron, or even the villains of history, Genghis Kahn, Saddam Hussein, Joe Stalin. These were not dumb people but they acted in tremendously destructive ways. People of low IQs, similarly, can lead great lives. George W. Bush is my own personal favorite example but regardless of whether you're with me on that one or not, you can understand the point.

Yup, I believe that smarter is more better.

Conclusion The most significant point, of course, is to note that people can act well and live virtuous, brave, generous, and loving lives without having high IQs and people from all nations and all races, possessing all levels of technological access, have it within them to be good people regardless of these outward manifestations. Alfred is a racist not because he is compelled by logic or the objective facts to be one. Neither logic nor objective facts require that. Alfred is a racist because he wants to be one.

I'm not allowed to post the US government graphs with the relative murder rates of blacks vs. whites but it seems that the blacks are significantly less virtuous year after year.