The science of bigotry: how only dead white males did it all

The Australian ^ | February 04, 2004 | EMMA TOM

[presidio9]

AMERICAN academic Charles Murray is a real trooper. It doesn't matter how many people call him a racist, Nazi-esque brain-weigher.

He keeps churning out books that aren't afraid to call a spade a spade and a nigger a nigger.

Oh, I'm sorry. Did I just say nigger? How scientifically incorrect of me. What I meant to say was "biologically inferior".

This was the thesis of The Bell Curve, which was co-written by Murray in 1994. In it he scientifically "proved" that African Americans were dumber than whites or Asians for genetic reasons.

So what if the IQ testing he used to measure intrinsic intelligence included questions on trigonometry? Knowing about computational geometry is something you're either born with or you aren't. It has absolutely nothing to do with your level of education. In fact the word on the street is that Murray's first words as a little white infant were "cosine ratio".

Back in 1984, meanwhile, the academic shock jock caused a similar outcry with Losing Ground, in which he argued that the US government should abolish social security payments to poor adults because it encouraged intellectually inferior single mothers to reproduce.

Welfare schmelfare. Let them eat crack.

Chuck's new book, catchily entitled Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800BC to 1950, unites his low opinion of women and non-whites into a single mighty raspberry.

In it, he proves – once again completely scientifically – that the only people to have ever achieved anything of significant artistic and scientific worth are dead white males.

While it's a bold (and no doubt unit moving) thesis, critics who have accused Murray of repeatedly parading ugly old prejudices in pseudo-scientific drag will have a field day with this one. Human Accomplishment relies on a geriatric 19th century statistical method known as historiometry, which involves counting words in reference books to see who gets the most mentions.

As a result, 97 per cent of Murray's Top 4002 are male Europeans and North Americans.

What he refuses to acknowledge is that history tends to be written by the victors: as long as deadish white males rule the world, their lives will be over-recorded at the expense of their underlings.

An SBS documentary on the clitoris that screened last Friday night offered a fascinating insight into the political exclusion of the clitoris from medical and scientific manuals right up until 1948 when it was excised from Gray's Anatomy, the surgeon's bible.

Anyone for a textual clitorectomy? Given our combined interest in competitive events and extreme prejudice, it's not surprising people are pitting genders and races against each other in order to make a quick buck.

But even the tackiest reality TV programs offer a level-ish playing field. In Bumfights, for instance, desperate hobos are only filmed fighting other desperate hobos.

Murray, however, doesn't care that some sectors of society might have had trouble curing diseases, inventing polyphonic music or writing Macbeth because they weren't allowed out of their kitchens or their leg-irons.

White men are the winners, he trumpets, followed closely by a cackled "na na na na na naa".

It's telling that his survey stops at 1950 – just before feminism and civil rights gave non-dead, white males more room to flex their scientific and creative muscle.

Also intriguing is the notion that coverage automatically equals accomplishment.

While coverage might mean you are genuinely accomplished, it could also mean you have a good spin merchant, own the publishing company or happen to be Kylie Minogue's bum. As Iraq's gigantic stockpile of WMD shows, column inches are not necessarily the best indicator of substance.

Now, if you will excuse me, I'm off to use historiometry to prove that Charles Murray doesn't exist. I'm only going to use resource material written by Pakistani separatist lesbians, but I will make sure they're all familiar with the sine rule.

[altura]

Four words:
Jesse
Jackson
Al
Sharpton

[ArrogantBustard]

You sure you'd want to?

[ZULU]

The author of this book would have better read "Guns, Germs and Steel" before issuing the critique.

The fact of the matte is there are geographic and biological reasons why Europe was able to advance beyond other cultures and these advacnes were not due in any respect to race.

Take a white "tribe" and transplant them into Subsaharan Africa around 2000 B.C., or a black "tribe" and transplant them into western Europe at the same time, and the geography, climiate and biology of the area would result in the black tribe behaving like whites and the white tribe behaving like subsaharan Africans.

Either blacks, whites and orientals are the same species or they are not. That they can and do interbreed to produce viable offspring indicates they are the same species. Ergo, their mental and phsyical capabilities, within societal and historical circumscribed limits are identical.

Are American blacks better athletes than American whites on the average? Yes. Why? The conditions of slavery, the Middle Passage and selection of slaves themselves were factors conducive to the survivla of physically stronger individuals.

Do American Whites on the average, perform better than American blacks on many performance tests? Yes they do. Why? The average American white and the average American black come from different cultural backgrounds. In most white societies, education and learning are valued skills. In many black environments in America they are not, and the average black kid is not exposed to the same educational opportunities as white kids.

Take a young white kid, move him into such an environment, and he'll preform like a black kid from such an environment, and vice-versa.

HOWEVER. these stereotypic behaviors are changing in America - QUICKLY. More blacks are rising through the cirporate and social ladders and these individuals are indistinguishable, in performance from their white colleagues.

An "iintelligence" test is a tricky thing.

[newgeezer]

I just don't remember unimportant things.

The way you can remember obscure lines from movies you haven't seen for decades says a lot about how unimportant this thing is to you. ;O)

[WOSG]

"This columnist lacks the intellectual background to critique Charles Murray's work in any valid way, so instead she caricatures it then demonizes the caricature.
The result is an article that is about a subject of her own invention, rather than anything Murray said."

Dittos, well said.

[presidio9]

Four Words:
Thomas
Sowell
Clarence
Thomas

Technically three words, but you get the idea...

[tbird5]

Yes more blacks are rising through the corporate and social ladders but I don't see the same rise with white athletes. Maybe there should be affirmative action is sports, then you'd see more whites.

[Abcdefg]

But what about Michael Jackson?

I'm not even sure of the gender of that critter.

[WOSG]

Actually the Gould book is *not* a refutation of modern IQ science. He ignores a lot of modern understanding and uses a shabby argument about early discredited attempts to measure intelligence as his cudgel against more modern scientific studies.

This is like discrediting Einstein's theory of relativity because his mentor Ernst Mach had wacky views on reality.

[cyborg]

http://www.audiblox2000.com/dyslexia_dyslexic/dyslexia014.htm

I don't think Binet intended the IQ test to be used in this fashion, much like the makers of RU 486 didn't intend it to be an abortion pill.

[Hootowl]

No, Jesus was not black. He was Semite, darker in skin color than, say, a Norwegian, but not anywhere close to a Swahili. In earlier times, Semites were considered Caucasion. Now they're generally accorded a racial classification of their own.

[Ancesthntr]

But Murray's scientific approach flies in the face of todays politically correct "mutli-cultural" crowd, a crowd that pretends that every culture on this planet is just as advanced and "equal" as every other.

Well, not every culture is considered just as advanced and equal: look at how the PC multi-culturalists treat anyone that says anything positive about firearms - you are treated as some kind of subhuman, someone to be either locked up or pitied rather than treated seriously or reasoned with.

[newgeezer]

A good Christian honors the request of his fellow man.

In that case, what if I were to request that you would cease posting photos such as this one, the lower one here, and this one? Would you be willing to honor that request (i.e. would you meet your standard for a "good Christian")?

[dwd1]

We have the three point shot in basketball...


My apologies.... There are many sports where merit is the only issue... Of course, one can gain an advantage in long distance if one is from Kenya.

I think of Shirley Babashoff and several other American Women swimmers who were not given the respect they deserved when they lost to the East Germans and Russians back in the 70's... Steroids... Wonderful stuff....


Then, there's Roy Jones in Seoul.... Ben Johnson and several others involved in steroids...

These are good for national pride for a moment but I would bet Cuba would trade all the gold medals they have won for a better economy and better relations with the world....

[xm177e2]

It's telling that his survey stops at 1950 – just before feminism and civil rights gave non-dead, white males more room to flex their scientific and creative muscle.

Yup. Murray took books written almost exclusively by white men during a time when white men prevented nonwhites from competing on an equal field to invent things. Then he claims that white men invented everything. Well, yeah, because nobody else was allowed to.

[presidio9]

Depends on the context. For the purposes of a thread on the homosexual subculture, the first two photos are appropriate. For the purposes of mocking David Hasselhoff's delusions of grandeur, the third one is right on the money. There's a difference between responding to a thread on subject and seeking out an audience for your delusions. Not only have I asked this person not to accost me with his bizarre theological views in the past, but also, his particular single track is not even germane to this article. If Jesus were green, he's still be the Son of God.

Short answer: I shall do my best not to offend your delicate sensitivities sir. But I make no promises.

[cyborg]

http://www.audiblox2000.com/dyslexia_dyslexic/dyslexia014.htm

What are IQ tests really testing? That I can spin a rubiks cube faster than some other people? I took the IQ test, what a snore.

[muawiyah]

Halle Berry as Cleopatra would not be "correct" since Cleopatra was Greek. Besides Halle Berry isn't a very good actress.

[presidio9]

Huh? I thought Cleopatra was Egyptian.