George Hirsch wrote:
ggilder wrote:George, you had an incandescent series of comments going before you blew it with this dim-witted riposte.
It happens to be true. Perhaps having been born before the Civil Rights Movement, rather than after, I know a few things others do not. Either way, I am sorry for you, truly sorry.
Respectfully, George, I think that you're off-base here. A lot of us were born before the civil rights movement, including George Gilder ("ggilder"), who is almost as old as you and was not unaware of the law and politics of race in the U.S. throughout the 1960s.
I don't believe that the negative or skeptical judgments of the various commentators on Ayana's (and other East Africans') performances are based primarily on race. Athletes from certain countries, regions, and cultures have been the target of suspicion before, often with very good justification, as was the case with athletes from the Soviet bloc and some of its successor countries. There is, unfortunately, now some basis for recent suspicions about some East African runners, who were long regarded by many (including me) as some of the least likely dopers in the sport.
That said, I do believe that many of the recent accusations and snide comments (such as Torrence's comments about Lagat and Magness's comments about Ayana) are inappropriate, insufficiently justified, and irresponsible. Even Paula's remark that she is "not sure" that she "can understand" Ayana's performance is, to my mind, an ugly insinuation from someone whose own history should give her some understanding about breakout performances and their causes, as well as an understanding of what it feels like to be accused of unethical practices based primarily upon the magnitude of one's accomplishments.
