A guess: the portion of the population in lower economic strata use Macs in lower percentages than those in higher economic strata, even after all possible adjustments are made for computer-owning vs not-computer-owning populations, and use-computer-in-public-library, vs use-computer-at-home, etc.

and John:

Commenters are right about this particular debate really being about class more than race. The poorer people are, the greater every cost becomes and looking at a Mac Mini compared to the sloughs of Dell pretty much answers the question.

The problem with these arguments is that not all black people are poor. In fact, there are some very wealthy black people. And it’s demonstrably untrue that black people don’t use Macs.

So, what was Drunkenbatman trying to say? Why did he make an untrue statement on an inflammatory topic? And then you guys come along, claiming there’s no racism in this, and just go and further racist stereotypes.

How does this help anybody? It would be do much more for the situation if we recognized that “black people” aren’t a uniform mass - but they are individuals who are all different. That’s the real problem with his comments. They don’t treat black people as people.

I’m not going to claim any deeper insight than a regular Mac using non-ethnic minority Scot can have while reading of this distant furore online. But then again race does seem to have to be handled differently on the American media compared to the BBC for instance, despite both countries being in similar phases of increasing diversity with economic migration.

Commenters are right about this particular debate really being about class more than race. The poorer people are, the greater every cost becomes and looking at a Mac Mini compared to the sloughs of Dell pretty much answers the question. Apple don’t compete in the low end; ergo Apple appears exclusive when you really have to count every penny.

What’s more striking though is indeed this charge of DB (who I’d never heard of before, for my ignorance) being “racist” for addressing race. He was certainly mistaken in choosing this particular angle with such little preparation; but surely a racist would gloat at the supposed disparity instead of bring it up for discussion at a panel? Racism is a position, not a shying from debate. He made a fool of himself but the racist themed reaction is another mistake in itself. Understandable when a sore nerve is touched, but not it seems a positive sign of a multicultural society at ease with itself.

(Britain is far from perfect either. *Tries not to change an argument over addressing race into one about countries!* We just seem to have differently placed lines in the sand for when, where and how we address these universal concerns.)

I don’t have all the statistics to back this up. Neither does DB. Neither do you.

I wasn’t at C4. Neither were many of you.

But my read of this whole nonevent is: DB, who has spent a lot of time in both the Mac and Linux communities, shared an observation that he believes to be true, but many of the listeners don’t want to believe.

Again, I don’t have the statistics, but. …how can it not be true, that statistically, black people don’t use Macs in a quantity that reflects their representation in the population as a whole?

OK. That’s not what he said? Yes, it is. Try this:

“Cats hate water”. OK, not all of them, but a large enough portion of the cat population compared to other living things, definitely do. It’s a generalization, but for the purposes of most discussions, it’s completely true.

DB was talking about a human race and subculture, not cats, and it invoked all sorts of social baggage that doesn’t really change the content of his message. He thought we were intelligent and adult enough to put his statement in the context that it was intended, after we got over the initial “wow, i can’t believe someone is saying that, and it makes me kind of uncomfortable” moment.

So, is his statement likely to be more-true or more-false? Another sticky but incontrovertable fact: economic position in the US shows clear divisions along race lines. A guess: the portion of the population in lower economic strata use Macs in lower percentages than those in higher economic strata, even after all possible adjustments are made for computer-owning vs not-computer-owning populations, and use-computer-in-public-library, vs use-computer-at-home, etc. (another guess, supported by observation: most public computer terminals are not Macs).

Don’t like it? Me either! I think it is an unfortunate side effect of Apple’s value-brand positioning, which is so successful and valuable for it (and us) in so many ways. Maybe they also don’t market well to minorities.. I have no idea. Maybe it’s Apple’s fault. Maybe it’s Louis Farakkhan’s fault.

But it isn’t Drunken Batman’s fault. From everything I’ve read, he thinks it sucks, and wishes it would change, for the betterment of Mac software and users everywhere. How can that possibly be a racist comment?!?

I’m astounded at the collective discomfort that this has caused, and the tendency to place the blame for uncomfortable-but-probably-mostly-true observations on the speaker (or his style) instead of giving them consideration. I’d take a long-odds bet that DB is absolutely correct. And also that if we could find a way to change it, the Mac ecosystem would be a better place.

News flash: if DB’s assertions are true, it isn’t your fault either. You don’t have to take responsibility for it as an individual. There is no reason for you to hide from the possibility by attacking DB instead.

but its impact is no more significant than the movie title “White Man Can’t Jump” (wonder why nobody cried racism over that movie)

Huh? People did cry racism over that movie title. Perhaps you’re being selective in your recollections?

If he’s going to make ridiculous statements, then he should back them up with facts. What on earth is his evidence that there’s more diversity among Linux users than among Mac users? I’d love to see his sources.

I also don’t understand how you can so definitively state that he is not a racist. Surely the jury is out on that. He made a comment that sounds rather racist, and didn’t back his comments up. That’s looking pretty fishy right there.

And even if this statement is not racist in itself, how do you know that he doesn’t secretly lynch black people at night? It’s almost impossible to prove a negative. The most can say is that you think that his comment was not racist. You don’t know everything about him, and you are not the arbiter of what constitutes racism.

Anyway, racist or not, his comments were disgusting, and I’m not sure why anybody is bothering to defend him, when he won’t even bother to clarify his meaning on his own blog. I think his lack of subsequent comment on this is pretty damning. Why isn’t he offering an olive branch of clarification or apology?

However, this issue shouldn’t be an issue. The slide IMHO was not racist. Had he written “White people use Macs” on a slide, it wouldn’t be getting the slant it is getting now. Also, the comment about beggars at MacWorld was not racist, it was an observation he made about MacWorld.

I buried the Digg story, but some of the comments I am seeing here are suggestive that he was certainly in the wrong.

Now, I wasn’t there, but I would say that it was the wrong venue to start a debate/discussion on the topic, but to say he made racist comments and the slide itself was racist is simply not true from what I have seen and read.

Now, DB, get back to writing in the blog. Evening at Adler was great. You have accomplished a lot in the Mac community, why disappear for so long? Although, these comments probably don’t bother you, get back into becoming a Mac type of an icon that calls people/communities out in the proper venues.

Tomorrow they will forget, and everything will be fine. Tell DB to keep his head up. This topic got way more attention than it deserved.
The statement wasn’t a racist statement, it contains sweeping generalizations - that are totally wrong and ignorant. But since you can’t prove that it is better to be a wintel owner or a mac owner, and the slide has no context unto itself - inferiority isn’t being directly or indirectly implied based on race in regard to computer ownership. It is simply a stupid fucking slide.

Can you say run-on sentence.

DB - go and update your blog, we are waiting to read some new stuff buddy
I know it’s your blog Daniel - I just figured DB will probably read this at some point.