Posted on 04/11/2007 12:30:36 PM PDT by Cecily
Jews' average IQ score is seven to 15 points higher than gentiles and they are exceptionally accomplished, claims the British social theorist Dr Charles Murray.
"Jewish genius", Murray says, is a topic so sensitive that Jews rarely address it. Writing in Commentary, a neoconservative journal, Murray argues that anti-Semitism has succeeded in blurring the connection, but the Jews' accomplishments are scientifically based. Murray said he regards himself as a Scotsman who came to Britain from Iowa and therefore is not afraid to broach and elaborate on the findings in his research.
Murray sparked outrage with his 1994 book The Bell Curve, which addressed what he saw as black under-achievement. He claims that some groups are genetically more accomplished than others. He mentions that from the birth of monotheism to the medieval philosopher Maimonides, the 17th-century rationalist Spinoza, and the scientists, artists and intellectuals of the modern world, Jews have shown a rare affinity with scholarship.
(Excerpt) Read more at ynetnews.com ...
Really? The Bible says Jews have higher IQs than gentiles? I've missed that part.
“One striking fact is that the average national IQ of the world is 90.”
Are your figures from “The Bell Curve?” (because the figures you note seem different from that book-which I read 8+ years ago).
That book in its entirity is really strong stuff. Murray is a man worthy of listening to, about social issues.
He proposes an across-the-board negative income tax (or minimum guaranteed income), in place of all the individual welfare type programs.
It is because they are also self-destructive.
In all seriousness, the myth of Jewish genius is to my view just as anti-Semitic as the myth of Jewish nefariousness.
The chart was created by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen - who happens to be the father of the (current?former?) Finnish Prime Minister. This caused the PM some trouble a couple of years back.
They have a book out entitled, "IQ and The Wealth of Nations".
So that puts them pretty much on the same plane as blacks.
I'm certainly no expert of Jewish culture but I did study it to the extent of a person romantically involved with a nonreligious Jewish gal with the possibility that he might be asked to convert if the wedding bells ever rang.
I was struck by how hard the twin points of charity and education are driven.
And I believe you can make the same sort of claim with a typical Roman Catholic as well.
It's from IQ An The Wealth Of Nations
(Stolen from an earlier post by Bon Mots)
I agree with you on both points, and from my observations, series study of the scripture is not necessarily a prerequisite to charitable and educational motivation.
Joshua ben Gamla’s ordinance mandating literacy occurred at about the same time as the destruction of the Second Temple—64 C.E. and 70 C.E., respectively. Both mark the moment when Judaism began actively to transform itself from a religion centered on rites and sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem to a religion centered on prayer and the study of the Torah at decentralized synagogues and study houses. Rabbis and scholars took on a much larger role as leaders of local communities. Since worship of God involved not only prayer but study, all Jewish males had to read if they were to practice their faith—and not only read in private but be able to read aloud in the presence of others.He also argues that discrimination against Jews tended to push them into occupations (banking and trade as opposed to farming) that required greater intelligence.In this context, consider the intellectual requirements of literacy. People with modest intelligence can become functionally literate, but they are able to read only simple texts. The Torah and the Hebrew prayer book are not simple texts; even to be able to read them mechanically requires fairly advanced literacy. To study the Talmud and its commentaries with any understanding requires considerable intellectual capacity. In short, during the centuries after Rome’s destruction of the Temple, Judaism evolved in such a way that to be a good Jew meant that a man had to be smart.
What happened to the millions of Jews who disappeared? It is not necessary to maintain that Jews of low intelligence were run out of town because they could not read the Torah and commentaries fluently. Rather, few people enjoy being in a position where their inadequacies are constantly highlighted. It is human nature to withdraw from such situations. I suggest that the Jews who fell away from Judaism from the 1st to 6th centuries C.E. were heavily concentrated among those who could not learn to read well enough to be good Jews—meaning those from the lower half of the intelligence distribution. Even before the selection pressures arising from urban occupations began to have an effect, I am arguing, the remaining self-identified Jews circa 800 C.E. already had elevated intelligence.
It is the Ashkenazi Jews who have the highest IQ...and, they can trace their DNA back to only four women. All the 'other' Jews have an IQ on par with the average of Western Europeans.
90% of the Jewish immigrants to the US are Ashkenazi.
No, I wouldn't think so.
Not quite in those words.
Taken in toto, God’s promises re His commitment to bless Abraham, Isaac & Jacob’s seed . . . that result should be no surprise.
“Could it be that better parenting leads to smarter kids?”
I think you may be right. Jewish parents (not all) expect a great deal from their children, much like the Chinese whose children often excel in scientific and other technical areas where hard study is a prerequisite to success. Besides, after 2,000 years of interbreeding in Europe and America there is hardly any pure blooded Jews left in the gene pool. There are more blue eyed, blond haired children in the Jewish community than be accounted for if they had remained true to their middle eastern roots.
Okay. Encourage your offspring to only marry and procreate with successful, intelligent spouses. Raise education and knowledge to an almost holy pursuit. Embed both these ideals into your culture. Inhabit hostile lands where unintelligent among you die, the average cannot thrive, and only the brightest prosper. Rinse and repeat for umpteen generations.
After all of that, you will find that ... 50% of the people will still be below average intelligence and "stupidity" will be as common as it is now.
Something’s wrong with IQ as a measure of intrinsic intelligence. According to the chart you posted, Singapore and China each gained five IQ points in four years. That has to be an illusion!
I think a lot of Jews are better educated and better read than many non-Jews.
Does that mean there is a special Hebrew gene which makes them smarter than people with a Gentile gene? I doubt it.
But I think there is a distinct cultural difference between the way Jewish people respect and acquire knowledge for its won sake and that of many non-Jews.
The people of the Middle East weren't the same people as they are today.
50% of all Europeans can trace their DNA to one man in the Indus Valley who made their way to Europe via the Middle East. The other 50% of Europeans can trace their DNA to a son of the same man who made their way to Europe through Russia.
My haplogroup is R1b and belong to the group who made their way through Russia to Europe.
90% of the Irish are R1b halpotype.
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