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When Academics Deny Reality
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | July 31, 2026 | George Leef

Posted on 08/31/2026 1:35:09 PM PDT by karpov

You’ve no doubt heard the expression, “That’s an idea so ridiculous only an academic could believe it.” It kept coming to mind as I read Professor John Staddon’s new book Inevitable Differences: An Inquiry into Human Variation. That individuals vary enormously in their talents and desires is an obvious fact, and yet many academics have become famous by declaring that individuals and especially groups must be treated as though they were equal.

Staddon, an emeritus professor of biology at Duke University, takes a critical look at the obsession among “progressives” for engineering equality, particularly with regard to race. Why, he wonders, are academic writings about race and “diversity” so filled with factual errors, logical fallacies, and animosity? The reason, he maintains, is that few scholars are willing to subject the work of leftists to rigorous analysis—especially black writers who claim that America’s past racism calls for a national transformation. Toxic ideas that ought to have withered on the vine have therefore spread widely and influenced policy.

The first issue Staddon takes up is that in his title—inevitable differences. He observes that some writers contend that, at least as far as racial groups are concerned, there are no differences. That camp is headed by Ibram X. Kendi, now a professor at Howard University, whose book How to be Antiracist declares that all racial groups are equal in talent and therefore any differences in income, health, education or other measures must be due to racism. And racism can only be eradicated through deliberate efforts to bring about group equality.

(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...


TOPICS: Education; Science
KEYWORDS: academia; bellcurve; kendi; race; xyxx
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1 posted on 08/31/2026 1:35:09 PM PDT by karpov
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To: karpov

It’s just The Emperor’s New Clothes. We are all supposed to say that all the races are equal, and if some individuals have a rough life, then it can’t be their fault — it has to be our fault, because we are racist. This is the societal myth that everyone is expected to cling to.

But more and more people seem willing to say, “The emperor is naked”. There are differences. And the people on the bottom of society are mostly there because they lack impulse control, they make poor decisions, they can’t keep their families intact, and they are prone to violence. Of course they are on the bottom. It’s not my fault, and I refuse to feel guilty.


2 posted on 08/31/2026 1:45:47 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Enoch Powell warned us about Rivers of Blood. Well, I sure hope they're coming. It's the only fix.)
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To: karpov

blml


3 posted on 08/31/2026 1:50:53 PM PDT by sauropod (Make sure Satan has to climb over a lot of Scripture to get to you. John MacArthur Ne supra crepidam)
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To: ClearCase_guy

“There are differences. And the people on the bottom of society are mostly there because they lack impulse control, they make poor decisions, they can’t keep their families intact, and they are prone to violence. Of course they are on the bottom. It’s not my fault, and I refuse to feel guilty.”

This BS has been going on for so long that people have gotten “black fatigue.” It’s not just on FR. It’s in a lot of places. I’ve even witnessed the reactions of people in places like Walmart when a black woman displays her crazy for all to see. Even many blacks roll their eyes.


4 posted on 08/31/2026 1:51:47 PM PDT by Gen.Blather (Oh, gosh! I said that out loud. I'm so sorry.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

more and more people seem willing to say, “The emperor is naked”. There are differences. And the people on the bottom of society are mostly there because they lack impulse control, they make poor decisions, they can’t keep their families intact, and they are prone to violence. Of course they are on the bottom. It’s not my fault, and I refuse to feel guilty.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.
Print it up, I’ll gladly sign it!


5 posted on 08/31/2026 1:53:12 PM PDT by fortes fortuna juvat (RC Traditionalist from birth to death. Puck the Fope.)
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To: karpov

My favorite academic denial was the idiotic Anthropology PhD who, when asked, stated that we cannot determine the sex of skeletons we excavate. The crowd laughed at him, which really mad him mad.

Liberalism really is a mental disorder.


6 posted on 08/31/2026 1:57:29 PM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try. )
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To: karpov

Anyone two years in the work force must see that groups differ. The Dutch are the tallest people on earth, the Ecuadoreans are the shortest. A Dutch jockey, however might well stand in the shadow of a point guard from Ecuador. Within groups there are those that are best, that’s how we get a Clarence Thomas or a Thomas Sowell. There are also the worst i.e. Charlie Manson and Joe Stupid.

A German Shepard can eat a greyhound but it could never catch one.


7 posted on 08/31/2026 1:57:58 PM PDT by muir_redwoods (You choose; a world without dogs or a world without muslims.)
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To: karpov

Iq distribution

https://human-intelligence.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/general-race.png


8 posted on 08/31/2026 1:58:19 PM PDT by combat_boots
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To: karpov

Nothing will be achieved with delusional thinking. Sadly a rational, educated person must now view once highly esteemed academic institutions to now be fraudulent.


9 posted on 08/31/2026 1:58:49 PM PDT by allendale
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To: karpov

‘Blaming disparities in science (and other fields) on “institutional racism” is, he argues, a distraction from dealing with the actual reasons (such as poor basic education) why relatively few blacks make it into academic positions in science. “Systemic racism” is just a feeble excuse.’

OK, the “disparities in science (and other fields)” are not due to “systemic racism” at their entry level, but that does not preclude “the actual reasons (such as poor basic education)” being due to “systemic racism”, it just moves the point at which “systemic racism” should be addressed, which he doesn’t do.

And he didn’t define “systemic racism”. I’m not sure what “systemic racism” is or when it begins, if it does at all.


10 posted on 08/31/2026 2:06:56 PM PDT by KrisKrinkle (c)
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To: karpov

Individuals vary enormously due to their family and other influences that affect them as they go through life. When they join collectives their individuality changes for better or worse. “You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.”


11 posted on 08/31/2026 2:44:05 PM PDT by PGalt (Past Peak Civilization?)
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To: combat_boots

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/08/30/a-different-kind-of-college-ranking-5/


12 posted on 08/31/2026 2:45:22 PM PDT by combat_boots
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To: PGalt

It is the school system’s fault that I never became a NBA star.

My parents were at fault as well.

If they had just encouraged me to grow another foot tall I could have done it.

I want my reparations and I want them now.

Lol.


13 posted on 08/31/2026 2:53:40 PM PDT by cgbg (Four seconds is all it takes to beat the brainwashing.)
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To: karpov

Kendi insists that blacks are superior.


14 posted on 08/31/2026 3:34:11 PM PDT by TBP (Decent people cannot fathom the amoral cruelty of the Democrat cult.)
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To: karpov

ACADEMIC (ak-uh-DEM-ik): An individual educated beyond his intelligence who, being unable or unwilling to create or provide goods or services of value to others, pontificates while hiding out in a college or university and expects to be paid for it, usually from public funds.


15 posted on 08/31/2026 3:57:07 PM PDT by JimRed (TERM LIMITS, NOW! Finish the damned WALL! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH! )
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To: Gen.Blather

Chris Rock very succinctly summed up the root cause back in 1996. He was right then, and his analysis remains correct now (even if his opinion has changed as of late, which I don’t know if it has or not).


16 posted on 08/31/2026 4:02:16 PM PDT by cross_bearer_02
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