Half Sigma’s article on how to convince people of the truth of human biodiversity. He, and the commenters, have some suggestions I like and some I don’t. The suggestions stop about 1/3 of the way down the comment thread, but no matter.

Good ideas: Convince readers that other people, just like themselves, believe in human biodiversity; when it comes to convincing people, stories work better than facts; don’t get into arguments (remember this?); speak to the peanut gallery (i.e. the lurkers); keep your cool.

Basically, if you want to spread the truth about HBD, or about anything, you have to appeal to people’s desires. There’s no need to lie, but keep in mind the emotional effect you will have on other people. You don’t see advertisements for lipsticks that go into the lipstick’s chemical compounds, for example. The ads appeal to deep-seated desires to be desired and to feel feminine. Likewise, leftist propaganda appeals to deep-seated desires to belong to a group, to love and be loved, to feel good about the world, to be protected (from reality and responsibility), etc. Aleister Crowley summed it up pretty well:

Roughly speaking, any man with energy and enthusiasm ought to be able to bring at least a dozen others round to his opinion in the course of a year no matter how absurd that opinion might be. We see every day in politics, in business, in social life, large masses of people brought to embrace the most revolutionary ideas, sometimes within a few days. It is all a question of getting hold of them in the right way and working on their weak points. 

I would add that discussing these things in the real world is a good idea. People are much nicer in the real world than on the internet. If you’re still not convinced, just try putting a bit of doubt in your friends’ minds, e.g. by comparing leftist ideas on race to creationism.

Here’s another good idea, from sabril:

Just do a google search of blogs and discussion boards now and then for keywords like “race” and “intelligence.” When you find a discussion, just make a simple post as Halfsigma suggested. Give a few facts about your life — don’t lie, but spin things a bit to make yourself seem a bit SWPLish. Say that you believe in HBD, but don’t use the phrase “HBD” or any other lingo. Then disappear.

It’s kind of like advertisements for Coca-Cola — no single advertisement convinces anyone, but the cumulative effect of seeing lots of advertisements does.

Not sure what sabril means by “lingo,” my guess is acronyms like HBD, SWPL, NAMs, DWL etc. He’s right. Little is more alienating than an alphabet soup of unknown acronyms. Save it for iSteve.

Bad ideas: Using sockpuppets to agree with yourself on forums; doing nothing in the real world (like this, this or even better, this); giving up.

The main problem with human biodiversity is that it’s unpleasant to believe in. Part of this unpleasantness stems from having no real world outlet for discussion. It’s frustrating to see powerful people doing stupid things, without anyone to commiserate with over their stupidity. It also means wrestling with more or less impossible questions, all the while knowing that the answer you reach has little to no possibility of being enacted in the real world.

One reason that so many people resist HBD is because they intuitively grasp that no race takes on the characteristics of its exceptions. (Same with cultures, societies, sexes, etc.) It’s all very well to say “There are exceptional _____s who don’t have these traits,” but if most _____s have that trait, or if a substantial minority do, treatment of _____s in the social, and to some extent the political, spheres must reflect that.

Also, lots of race realists get an obvious pleasure from mocking leftists. This may be necessary to maintain sanity, but it turns people off. Why? Read this post and try to put yourself in the mindset of a young leftist. Likely it strikes several nerves and holds up a mirror to parts of yourself that you’d rather not see. It’s much easier to just close that browser window and try to forget about it. For a better (but shorter) example, look at how mefites react to this comment:

These smug liberal whites can’t conceive of their pet minorities acting in a racist way. It is one of the tenets of the Church of Diversity that People of Color are incapable of racism. They know this because they read about it in a sociology text book at their liberal arts university. Despite their condescending rhetoric, their political views are a matter of fashion, and are hardly ever acted out in a politically significant way. How many of these people would actually send their kids to a mostly black school?

A good definition of SWPLs (Stuff White People Like)

Post-Ethnic West-Caucasians who try to prove their un-whiteness; having been saturated in affluence, and having filled their need for identity through gross consumerism, they play the anti-white-status game in attempt to gain affirmation from others and so obtain self-actualization.

Again, it’s satisfying to write this stuff. It’s satisfying to read when you’re in a lean and angry mood. But I doubt that comment changed anyone’s mind, although it amused at least one person. The response is as articulate as you’d expect:

• jesus fucking christ acromion
• Acromion, I’m trying really hard not to police my own thread, but please cut that shit out. The whole point of the linked article, as I read it, is that ‘racist’ needs to stop being a term that we use to label other people as bad and start looking at how we, each of us is racist and how we can attempt to better that behavior.
• Acromion there’s a lot of loaded wording in your comment - we’d have an easier time listening to what you say if it were the sentences didn’t have little spikes and barbs all over them.

My experience talking to people about HBD and eugenics has been a mixture of positives and negatives. What’s helped me is to approach the subject as if I’m talking to a cult member about their cult. I try to find out why they believe, and then ask questions. In these questions, I (gently) point out inconsistencies in their thinking, or draw their attention to things they may not know much about. The important thing isn’t to make them agree with me in every particular, it’s to show them how they’ve been lied to. What they do with that information is up to them.

Hope that was helpful. The moral of the story is to pick your battles. Oh, and don’t try to convert Unitarians. I speak from experience.