Posted on 09/22/2021 1:04:27 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Charles Murray is once again throwing kerosene on the tinderbox of American race relations.
Reviving the explosive argument he made in his 1994 book, “The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life,” the noted scholar is once again highlighting data showing that African Americans score lower on IQ tests than other groups in the United States.
Given the current climate, it is not surprising that his new book, “Facing Reality,” has been largely ignored by almost every major newspaper and magazine. But this dismissal is, ironically, a validation of his premise.
If his numbers were easily debunked, legions of journalists and social commentators would be lining up to do so. If the problem he identifies were easy to fix, they would be telling us how. Their unwillingness to engage Murray (pictured) is tantamount to an acceptance of racial determinism.
Make no mistake, “Facing Reality” – which also addresses connections between crime and race – is inflammatory. Murray not only reports that test cores suggest that African Americans, as a group, do have lower cognitive abilities than whites, Asians and Latinos, but he concludes that the problem is “intractable.”
Reviving the explosive argument he made in his 1994 book, “The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life,” the noted scholar is once again highlighting data showing that African Americans score lower on IQ tests than other groups in the United States.
Given the current climate, it is not surprising that his new book, “Facing Reality,” has been largely ignored by almost every major newspaper and magazine. But this dismissal is, ironically, a validation of his premise.
If his numbers were easily debunked, legions of journalists and social commentators would be lining up to do so.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
The magnitude of single parent homes with parents that are not involved in the education process only magnifies the problem.
Intelligence is a bell curve with all species of mammaols. Some dogs are smarter thqan others of the same breed. Some chimpanzees are smarter than the average chimp, etc. Not all of any species are of the same intelligence level.
Problem? Seems like an opportunity for exploitation. /libthink
Same with humans....Not all are of the same intelligence level.
Too bad that seems to be totally off the table at this point.
The magnitude of single parent homes with parents that are not involved in the education process only magnifies the problem.
~~~
Magnifies, or just creates.
To play devil’s advocate, how much does his research prove that that differences in IQ are not social and cultural, rather than genetic. It’s the old nature versus nurture argument, and I assume it’s been tackled by his work, but asside from arguing that IQ tests themselves are culturally biased, one could also argue that differences in intelligence are not necessarily intrinsic, but a matter of causation.
The classic discussion is always Nature or Nurture?
Is IQ affected by nature — that is, genetic destiny? In which case one might be concerned that blacks would be doomed to always be behind all others, with no possible solution.
Or, perhaps it’s all about culture, and family, and how children are raised and nurtured? In which case, there would certainly be hope that blacks could catch up and any IQ discrepancy could be eliminated.
Usually the compromise conclusion is “a little of this, a little of that”.
But what is telling is that any effort to suggest improvements in how blacks raise the next generation immediately runs into anger against “acting white”. Reading is for suckers. Ebonics be more better than the good English. Math is racist, yo.
The one area in which some control and improvement could be sought, is the one area that they will not go. Which, frankly, makes me think that the “nature” side of the problem is actually dominant.
I’ve used a black concrete worker for several jobs. He’s a really nice guy. He works hard. He does a good job, but even though he’s been doing it for a while, I find I’d better go along behind and remind him to do some basic things.
Recently he managed to total his truck. He was following too close and, although he managed to miss the car ahead he struck a cement barrier. Okay, that can happen to anyone. He smokes a lot of pot. Not smart.
He bought a new truck and immediately did a few smoking donuts. Engine light came on...totaled the engine.
Nice guy. Does stupid stuff. Not just one or two stupid things, but a lot. In my 67 years I’ve known white buddies to do some stupid stuff, but they seem to learn from it and calm down to the point they don’t do stupid stuff anymore.
People always overreact to this stuff. He’s not saying “black people are stupid” and here’s why: There’s way more variation among group members than there is difference between group means. So while research like this is worth doing, it’s only meaningful in the aggregate, it’s not basis for assuming anything about individual group members of whatever race. People need to get their panties out of a twist.
We Jew are smart and YET 90% of my fellow Jews vote Dem cycle after cycle.
It’s almost like they had a death wish:-(
I’d put a Larry Elder or Thomas Sowell up against a AOC or Andrew Yang any day...
Exceptions don’t prove the rule, but part of me still wants to believe that a lot of these apparent differences are due to development set backs due to cultural influences during the formative years.
the current evidence at the border is overwhelming
Not all is learned. Some behavior is pure genetic.
There is a part of the brain that controls impulse and blacks are noted to have less of this brain material than any other race.
Violent criminals of all races also have less or more(cannot remember) brain material that control violent mood springs.
I happened across a crime blotter from Philadelphia in the 1830s. Wouldn't you know it, the majority of the criminals in Philadelphia then happened to be of the same demographic as the criminals in Philadelphia today. You can't fool Mother Nature. It is sort of a family tradition, passed down through the generations. It's in their DNA.
High IQ with corrupt morals is a dangerous combination.
Morals matter. Above average IQ not so much.
Ah yes, still with the nature v nurture issue. It is both actually. But Thomas Sowell is not the product of nurture, he was born smarter than the rest of us. Richard Feynman was not smarter than you and me because his father cultivated curiosity. Richard was curious because he was smarter than the rest of us.
The racist left hates the truth.
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