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"Cancel Culture Goes After “Racist” Chess" Topic


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Asteroid X02 Jul 2020 9:38 a.m. PST

Because White Moves First, This Chess Expert Shut Them Down

Is chess racist?

That's the question that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reportedly wished to explore last week when, according to Yahoo Sports, the ABC sought John Adams, an economist who represented the Australian Chess Federation in 2015, to participate in a radio discussion on the matter.

Rather than entertain the ridiculous question, Adams declined the interview request and took to Twitter to explain why he had no plans to discuss the "irrelevant" topic with ABC.

link

Old Wolfman02 Jul 2020 10:14 a.m. PST

Reminds me of a skit on Laugh-In from 1968.

Ed Mohrmann Supporting Member of TMP02 Jul 2020 1:01 p.m. PST

Actually, maybe 'White moves first' is merely a
convention. When I was learning the game waaaaay
back, my G'father used to let me (as Black) move
first.

He explained that the game being primarily one of
trying to force your opponent into moves, it gave a
tiny advantage to move first.

BTW, his chess set pieces were wood – maple and
cherry…

Repiqueone02 Jul 2020 3:41 p.m. PST

Sooooo… A Right wing blog quotes a right wing economist ( with a tendency to see marxists everywhere) who claims this is a case of Cancel Culture ( a term that only exists in RW commentary) that the radio broadcasters said was only a discussion starter and sounds pretty much like a tongue in cheek bit of Aussie leg pulling.

This all to prove that the fears of people ripping your culture from you is true and a nefarious bunch of lefties are running amok. Talk about snowflakes! (usually only found in RW agitprop as well.) Boy, you see one statue of a traitor being taken down and next thing you know white supremacy, dominating women, and carrying around firearms in grocery stores will be taken away!

Nick Bowler02 Jul 2020 6:52 p.m. PST
snurl102 Jul 2020 11:21 p.m. PST
Repiqueone03 Jul 2020 5:34 a.m. PST

" A statue of Baldwin was first erected in Philadelphia in 1906, and moved in front of Philadelphia City Hall in 1936. In late May 2020, it was briefly defaced with the words "colonizer" and "murderer", and was cleaned soon afterward. The incident increased interest in Baldwin's legacy, according to the president of the volunteer group Friends of Matthias Baldwin Park.[9]"

From Wikipedia

Well, it seems no lasting damage done two months ago and it turned out well for Mr. Baldwin's legacy ( other than the steam engines disappearing).it is likely that many statues of admirable people will serve to burnish their reputation and, contrary to the RW narrative, people will be reminded of the history long forgot.

See: link

Thanks, Nick, for the definitive truth about the " Chess Outrage!"

Personal logo etotheipi Sponsoring Member of TMP03 Jul 2020 3:19 p.m. PST

Our chess set is frogs vs turtles from Eureka minis … which one should properly go first? I don't want to be a racist like the Medieval Indians and Persians who came up with the system where the ivory pieces went first.

Repiqueone03 Jul 2020 4:11 p.m. PST

Eto, if you read the links, you'd find that no one was being racist. It was a totally manufactured story by a very strange economist and the internet echo chamber.

Aesop's rules require frogs to move first as the turtle always starts slow. Sophocles' rules always require the turtles to move first as the frogs are always singing and distracting the players.

korsun0 Supporting Member of TMP04 Jul 2020 6:42 a.m. PST

Wouldn't put it past the Aunty to try it though; as an impartial peoples broadcaster they are anything but……

Personal logo etotheipi Sponsoring Member of TMP05 Jul 2020 3:26 a.m. PST

Sophocles' rules always require the turtles to move first as the frogs are always singing and distracting the players.

Definitely going with Sophocles, then.

Eto, if you read the links, you'd find that no one was being racist.

I read the article and the person you mention was trying to stir the pot. They were making accusations of racism, which is independent of the fact that the Oz chess authorities (that sounds like an interesting group) didn't bite.

One of the challenges of living in a free society with the third largest population on the planet is you can always find groups of people who will say pretty much anything. Then you can report "Americans believe XYZ", leaving out the "<0.01% of" at the front. But when you use numbers AND you actually describe your sampling process, you can no longer attack the American education system by asking questions of a bunch of drunk college students trying much harder to hook up with each other than to care about some reporter asking questions.

Personal logo etotheipi Sponsoring Member of TMP05 Jul 2020 9:27 a.m. PST

I did reread it.

Only one

Of the hundred other people mentioned as being contacted in the article? That's a common method to misrepresent facts, putting a modifier that implies something that is not demonstrated "Only one of one" doesn't sound as good.

No, if you read the linked Yahoo Sports article, you get all the way up to one of two. That type of statistic certainly merits being given a modifier that makes him sound like an outlier.

"authority"

Putting authority in quotes is another way to denigrate someone else's position without actually offering facts. Maybe you should reread the article and focus on the part "Adams, an economist who represented the Australian Chess Federation in 2015" in the first sentence. The ABD called on him as an authority. But, hey ,denigrate the person, too. That helps … um … you, I guess.

It has been often said that the far right and left often have no sense of irony, or inevitably miss anything that's tongue in cheek

Of course, keep denigrating others, this time as a group. It doesn't really make a point, but I'm sure it makes you feel better.

Maybe you should help the conservatives (I guess me included) reread the article to find all the quoted material from the conversation that made it obvious that this was for a larf.

I note yesterday at Gettysburg another bunch of militiamen showed up in tactical gear and heavily armed to confront another faux invasion of Antifa who were going to " burn flags". All they ran into was a bunch of fellow internet incited RW "patriots". I wonder if they ever considered that QAnon et al is an elaborate joke meant to make them look foolish?

An, of course, don't forget to bring up a completely unrelated issue to attack an entire group of people by assuming the actions of a few represent everyone you don't like.

But, I'm not surprised you apply these faulty logic and deceptive techniques in your speech, given the racist nature of the wargaming topics you espouse.

Personal logo etotheipi Sponsoring Member of TMP05 Jul 2020 12:14 p.m. PST

Again, you try to bolster your argument by bringing up unrelated issues.

Again, you say "only one" but out of one person contacted. Is that rate not high enough for you? Should it have been two or one or three out of one?

Again, you need to read the story. He reacted to being asked to be interviewed on the topic. How could the episode have aired already?

Again, could you show me some of the basic facts that that lead you to believe that the person contacted should not have taken the request seriously? I am not avoiding facts that are there. I am ignoring ones you make up,

Your last sentence sorta sums it all up.

Yes it does. I was wondering if when other people are accused of racism, they should take it light as a joke, but if you are the target, then it is serious. Thanks for answering.

Repiqueone05 Jul 2020 1:57 p.m. PST

Actually, there were two contacted and the second one a Mr. Bonham, seems to get the context that Mr. Adams did not:

"The segment eventually went to air with Australian Chess Federation vice president Kevin Bonham, who explained the history of chess rules.

He explained that the rule came in the 1880s to standardise competition and was chosen arbitrarily.

'Not really, but the topic does come up and is discussed,' Mr Bonham said of whether there was any racial component to the rule's creation."

I think anyone reading the entire link will find that, other than giving Mr.Valentine a ton of free publicity, the whole affair is a pretty silly example of people willfully mistrepresenting the available facts to portray their world view.

I think this horse has been beaten senseless. Say goodnight, Gracie!

Personal logo etotheipi Sponsoring Member of TMP05 Jul 2020 2:49 p.m. PST

Actually, there were two contacted and the second one a Mr. Bonham, seems to get the context that Mr. Adams did not:

I know there were two. I said that in my earlier post. Maybe you should read all the material. Only one person reacted out of one person who declined, so far as the info you have shows.

You're still not addressing why you used the qualifier "only" two different times.

people willfully mistrepresenting the available facts to portray their world view.

You are good at that.

Deleted by Moderator

So, where is your transcript of the two invitations so we can read for ourselves what was said to them?

I think this horse has been beaten senseless.

Well, if you are not going to respond to the earlier posts and just make up more "facts", then feel free to run away.

Deleted by Moderator

Personal logo Editor in Chief Bill The Editor of TMP Fezian06 Jul 2020 5:24 a.m. PST

Political posts have been removed.

deephorse08 Jul 2020 2:54 a.m. PST

Which makes it difficult to follow the conversation, because when X quotes Y in their post and you can't find the post that Y made, you wonder why you bothered to read the topic in the first place.

USAFpilot24 Jul 2020 8:19 a.m. PST

How do you pick and choose what you censor when the entire thread is political?

Greyalexis02 Oct 2020 8:28 a.m. PST

and what happens if you are playing with a themed chess set. gaming has much better items to argue about.

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