Why I Write about Race and IQ

The National Review ^ | July 5, 2017 | Robert VerBruggen

[2ndDivisionVet]

There are good reasons not to confine the discussion to academic journals.

In the latest issue of National Review, John McWhorter has a challenging and thought-provoking essay about the topic of race and IQ — specifically, about whether that topic should even be up for discussion in liberal-arts classrooms and in the media, as opposed to in scientific journals. He suggests not, as there is nothing to gain from discussing it.

I read McWhorter’s essay with special interest because I have violated the norm he proposes. I have written about race and IQ on numerous occasions — and for a general audience, as I am not even a specialist myself. See, for example, my 2013 essay in this space about Jason Richwine’s departure from the Heritage Foundation, as well as my RealClear reviews of Nicholas Wade’s A Troublesome Inheritance and Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray’s The Bell Curve (on its 20th anniversary).

In light of McWhorter’s essay, I thought it would be worth explaining how I became interested in this topic and why I participate in public discussions of it.....

[JohnyBoy]

>An unspoken crime is selective breeding during the days of slavery. Slaves were selectively breed to be the best field workers. It was a horrible crime. This did effect the Bell Curve. It was an ugly sin but it is reality.

Is there actually evidence that this went on in America? Sounds like something out a SJW fantasy novel or from Rome. Christianity was encouraged with American slavery and forced breeding isn’t part of Christianity.

[RegulatorCountry]

It did occur but the word forced is misleading. Jimmy The Greek was fired and discredited for telling an ugly truth on national television, one that goes against foundational principles in this country. Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, though.

[BrokenMachine]

“Despite the fact that the social Marxists are wrong, that doesn’t mean your assertion is necessarily true regarding maintaining “the same level of civilization”. That’s speculation.”

It is not speculation, it is an observation. Look at Chicago, Detroit, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The evidence indicates that Sub-Saharan Africans cannot maintain the same level of civilization as whites, even if they are handed that civilization.

[JohnnyP]

Thanks for the link to Marx Free TV.

Watched the whole thing.

[JohnyBoy]

Sounds like a Myth:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_breeding_in_the_United_States

>Robert Fogel and Stanley Engerman reject the idea that systematic slave breeding was a major economic concern in their 1974 book Time on the Cross.[17] They argue that there is very meager evidence for the systematic breeding of slaves for sale in the market in the Upper South during the 19th century. They distinguish systematic breeding—the interference in normal sexual patterns by masters with an aim to increase fertility or encourage desirable characteristics—from pro-natalist policies, the generalized encouragement of large families through a combination of rewards, improved living and working conditions for fertile women and their children, and other policy changes by masters. They point out that the demographic evidence is subject to a number of interpretations. Fogel argues that when planters intervened in the private lives of slaves it actually had a negative impact on population growth.[2]

It didn’t seem likely to be because human couplings are much harder to control than animal ones. Women don’t have periods where they’ll absolutely become pregnant making the whole practice too costly to do.

That and the maturation period for humans of 15-20 years is way too long to learn how to select for characteristics with any usability especially in the 1800s.

[Netz]

Orientals and Jews see the world differently as their education from age zero teach them to perceive the world by thinking outside of the box and (at least in the Jewish tradition), ask questions by challenging the status quo.

The inquisitive and challenging mind will ultimately win out.

I don't know enough about Asian cultures but Jewish ones, I do.
Think about it, Judaism is based on a G-d that cannot be seen, touched or perceived in the physical world. There is no idol to interact with, he/she, it, is UNSEEN.

Moreover, this G-d has a name that cannot be mentioned except calling him, “the Name”. Ancient Jews observed ritual based on Torah (up to the present day) and witnessed the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai...EN MASSE! That is, 600,000+ Hebrews were witness to the miracles, not a single Shaman that emerged from a tent saying he saw G-d.
From the get go, Jews were literate and STUDIED Torah, the Laws, the Mishna, the many books, trying to understand what the heck G-d wants from them.

From this study the were skeptical, critical and full of chutzpah which means they never blindly accept the status quo anywhere or at any time - even from G-d.
That gives them an advantage but also causes problems. Add this to the fact that they are taught that they are G-d’s Chosen. So, these points are an excellent starting point for achievement and excellence.

Bottom line: the seeds for a drive for excellence has always existed and has been cultivated as a social and cultural spinnoff towards achievement.

[RegulatorCountry]

The entire Wikipedia listing you’ve linked does not refute the notion but rather supports it.

[itsahoot]

Yes. I would very much like an exact, scientific definition of ‘Race’.

There isn't one that you would approve of except maybe "Human."

[Windflier]

Or maybe, a long distance relative.

Touche'!

[Arlis]

Bullhockey.

Cultural norms and attitudes are the reason far more than IQ.

Where a true Christian culture and beliefs exist, everything is different regardless of IQ. Emphasis on the word “true”, for there are many cultures that are Christian in name, but not in reality. What exists there is a religion controlled and used by men no different than most governments.......

[JohnyBoy]

>The entire Wikipedia listing you’ve linked does not refute the notion but rather supports it.

Nope. I makes a claim that it may have happened, but it was very rare. The only scholarly part of the article was the section I quoted which shot it down pretty convincingly. If you’re going to make a claim you should really support it.

[JohnyBoy]

>Yes. I would very much like an exact, scientific definition of ‘Race’.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subspecies

The only reason human races are not classified as Subspecies is the politically correct need to see all human groups as the same.

Before the age of the political correctness there was 3-7 recognized races depending on how exacting you wanted to be. Modern DNA analysis has confirmed these that these earlier race or subspecies classifications are correct.

See A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race and Human History by Nicholas Wade for references.

[Seruzawa]

Yet in the 1920s IQ tests were used to “prove” that Jews were mental defectives.

[cgbg]

I would like to see a study of black communities prior to the welfare state.

It is not written about very much, but in those days the black family structure was much stronger than it is today.

The other element that muddies the waters is the racism within the black community where lighter skinned blacks are given more status than darker skinned blacks.

I have never seen an IQ study that touched that issue.

Because the universities have been gripped by political correctness these issues cannot be openly discussed.

[RegulatorCountry]

Yet in the 1920s IQ tests were used to “prove” that Jews were mental defectives.

Yes, the IQ test does have an ugly history, I've seen the old photographs of Darwinists running around with calipers measuring skulls, craniometers I believe they called them. They believed cranial capacity dictated intelligence. Darwinism, Eugenics, Nazism and Progressivism were all rolled up together at the time. May still be.

[cynwoody]

Who was Alexander Graham Bellski?

A point on the far right side of the curve?

[octex]

You’re just repeating the “white superiority” meme used by blacks.

It’s not a matter of IQ. Exceeding on tests is more a matter of time spent in studying the subject matter.

Asian families in the US stress the studying by their children and the result is they excell.

That’s a good thing that all parents, regardless of racial background, should embrace.

No relation to IQ. Just relates to application of time and interest of people to learn about subjects.

[wbarmy]

the concept of what it is to be intelligent handily distracts us from a guilty but primal elevation of the particular kind of intelligence Gardner classifies as “logical-mathematical” — i.e., what all of us deep down think of as “real” intelligence.

After reading and thinking about both articles, I feel this line above is the distinguishing factor from the first article. The author wants to create different "IQ"s so that even though you might not be high IQ in the “logical-mathematical” category, you still are high in the other "IQ"s, like dancing or singing.

Nice, but dancers and singers do not do so well in keeping the streets operable and the power plant running, and the medical tests from coming back negative. The real world doesn't give a hoot if you can dance or sing or throw a basketball, all it cares about is if you can keep the food growing or the fire burning. And that takes the “logical-mathematical” category type of IQ.

[octex]

... LBJ’s Great Society plantation.
*********************************
Exactly! Great posting.

LBJ set back the progress of black society with his Democrat ideas and Demoncrat-controlled House and Senate. Didn’t he say something like... “This will ensure the N*****s will vote for Democrats for a hundred years”?

LBJ, followed later by Carter, were the two worst Presidents in my lifetime. I’d rank Obama #3 and Clinton as #4.

[wastoute]

I wonder how folks would feel about a study to look into why it is white folks cant play basketball.