quote:Originally posted by Denevius: Who was the last notable white male writer who has published half a dozen books and has won or been nominated for serious literary awards that left you "logically" concluding that he achieved his writing success because he's white despite being a mediocre, bad, lazy writer?
I'm surprised you bothered to ask. Normally, you just read minds.
Of course, as there is no one saying that people should stop reading black authors, or that female Hispanic publishers are not needed, it would be hard to reach that logical conclusion. That is how logic works, by the way. You supply facts, which in logical circles are called "premises," and from these facts others, call "conclusions," flow. So, we a logical structure that looks like:
P: White authors are run down an devalued by literary elite. P: Mediocre book by non-white author has won a half-dozen prestigious awards. C: Awards were given because author is non-white.
The argument is simplistic and doesn't take into account other factors, but at least the conclusion is consistent with the premises.
P: Awards are given because author is non-white. P: Mediocre book by white author has won a half-dozen prestigious awards. C: Awards were given because author is white.
Just doesn't work at all.
Scalzi has made an argument that he is one such author, but to do so he relies on a completely different set of premises, and it would be ridiculous to argue that there must be a mediocre black author who has won undeserved awards in order for Scalzi's argument to be true.
Hmm. I probably shouldn't have typed this. You might be able to divine that I beat homeless people and torture kittens with your keen psychic powers.
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