The Dawkins 'Race' Row

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I think Dawkins dropped the ball when trying to make a nuanced argument over Twitter in 140 characters. If you read the summary, he actually highlights that the points he was trying to make got lost in the 140 character limit.

True, but that doesn't excuse his over-simplification. He should have been able to recognize the limitations and known that such an argument could not be limited in such a manner. The fact that he chose to address a complex issue in a simple manner appears to demonstrate ignorance of the issue.

I believe the issue he was trying to raise was the retarding nature of Islam amoungst the general population (laity) in which Islam, and Islamic rules,are the dominant political and social arbiter.

I agree that was most likely his intent, but he went about it very, very poorly.

Bracketing out socio-economic structures that go hand in hand with these kind of debates, the actual central point I believe is well made. Now we can debate back and forth the level of influence of Islam vis socio-economic structures, but I think the inherent issue (Islam, at least the form of Islam(s) we see today) retards societal development, will remain regardless of the ratio we settle on . Debatable, naturally.

The problem is that the central point was lost in a poorly communicated argument. Having a valid point is useless if you fail to demonstrate you understand the various factors involved.

Pretty much agree with you. I think Dawkins' issue is that, as he himself says, he likes to step up to the plate when it comes to Twitter and enjoys making sometimes overly parsimonious remarks. However, unlike say, PZ, he doesn't then keep bleating on about how terrible everyone else is who doesn't agree with them and start banning them from his blogs/twitterspheres.

However a part of me thinks that Dawkins new exactly what he was doing and intentionally played the 'point got lost' card. He's a veteran on Twitter and has countless followers. He knows how debates go on there, and he also knows the limitation that it imposes on an actual free flowing intellectual debate.

So maybe this was his attempt to stir. It certainly got a lot of people talking, regardless. And I think we can all agree to a point on the actual central issues regarding racism and the nature of political/social Islam.

EDIT: This got me thinking about my MA thesis which I wrote on the nature of extreme violent ideologies in Islam and the way they surpass and surpress more moderate, free-thinking ideologies.