culture & poverty again

[Rakesh Bhandari]

Harrison thinks that that "the cultural roots of Appalachina poverty can
be traced back to the British borderlands. Most of the Appalachia settlers
come from that poverty striken Scottish Irish region. Its culture of
violence, distate for work, and disdain of education starkly contrasts
with the literate, pacific, communitiaran settlers from East Anglia, who
settled Mass."

So not only must Harrison invent a tradition or culture that is do all
this exlanatory work, he must then imply that it is passed on as if each
generation were nothing but a vessel for the transmission thereof. It's
not hard heredity,  it's hard culturalism: Culture is no less destiny than
race was held to be. 

He then feebly grants: "It's true cultures change, sometimes
dramatically."  But the inertial force with which he invests his invented
culture makes this most interesting aspect of the human condition a mere
after thought. 

By the way, the latest *Telos* has an article by Benoist on "WHat is
Racism?" Haven't read it. There is also a probing discussion of the
transition from hard racism to hard culturalism, as I am terming it here,
in  Richard M Lerner's  Final Solutions: Biology, Prejudice, and Genocide.

yours, rakesh