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Jayson_Virissimo comments on I've had it with those dark rumours about our culture rigorously suppressing opinions - Less Wrong Discussion
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Interestingly, that Diamond quote comes shortly after his dismissal of previous attempts at "big history" for being "racist".
Which the New Guinea quote is a sarcastic parody of. It's a "one could just as easily say" gambit. I don't have much time for GG&S, but you have to be willfully misreading that passage- or deaf to tone and context- to interpret it as a paen to the New Guinean master race.
I am a fan of Diamond's work in general and GG&S in particular. It sure doesn't feel like like I am "willfully misreading" him. I would lean more towards being "deaf to tone and context" (although it seems unlikely that I don't understand the context, since I have read the entire book and watched the documentary based on it). On the other hand, I have been accused of being too literal in the past, so I can't merely dismiss your criticism.
On a related note, I must admit that I was rather disappointed with Diamond for dismissing previous attempts to answer the "cargo question" for being racist rather than being false (which is question-begging).