Re: BELL CURVE CRITIC EXPOSED?

Tim Benham (tim@duh.cs.adfa.oz.au)
Wed, 1 Feb 1995 11:42:33 GMT

A factlet found will cruising the web: the US NIH apparently believes
that races are a real and scientifically important concept. Take a look
at http://www_hbp.scripps.edu/HBP_html/ProgramAnnouncement.html, the
program announcement for the Human Brain Project. It is a long document
so I advise you key on 'racial'. Briefly, it requires that all applicants
for population study research grants to use a racially balanced sample.
While this stratification would be pointless if 'race' where as inutile
a concept as some have claimed in this forum, the motivation for this
requirement may be political.

jerrybro@uclink2.berkeley.edu wrote:
>labonnes@csc.albany.edu (S. LaBonne) wrote:

>> Obviously it is in a sociolgical sense, but sociological
>> concepts of race have always had illegitimate sources of support in
>> the popular fallacy that "races" have an objective biological meaning.

>No, not a sociological sense, a common sense. If you have eyes
>to see the tension between blacks and whites, you have eyes to
>see blacks and whites. There's no avoiding the distinction unless
>you want to bury your head in the sand. There's no point in
>projecting your fantasies about the "objective biological meaning"
>of races on everyone who discusses race in the U.S.

--
People who like this sort of thing
will find this the sort of thing they like.
Tim J.Benham bentj93@cs.adfa.oz.au