Kane Watch: Logic

Here is a standard, accepted definition of "racism":

"The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others."

Here are Bryant Gumbel's comments about the Winter Olympics:

"Try not to laugh when someone says these are the world's greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the games look like a GOP convention."

I think the logical equivalent of Gumbel's statement would be: The Winter Olympics cannot claim to have the world's greatest athletes because nearly all of them are white, and only sports that are dominated by blacks are valid sports, because blacks are the world's best athletes.

Therefore, Bryant's claim, is in fact racist by definition. What's more, it is a racist claim in two ways: He is claiming here that (1) black athletes are superior to white athletes and that as such, (2) white-dominated sports are inferrior.

I'd also like to point out that this is a claim that numerous white commentators and writers have lost jobs over.

Anyway, I just thought I'd point out that Logic 101 breakdown in response to Mr. Kane's post today.

He writes, "Some of the same people are mad at Bryant Gumbel - and me - for acknowledging that some blacks don't follow winter olympics because there are not many black athletes to cheer for."

Mr. Kane the issue is not with the fact that some blacks don't follow the winter olympics. The issue is that Mr. Gumbel's statement was inherentlty racist.