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Re: Bell curve
Harriet Lyons (hlyons@WATARTS.UWATERLOO.CA)
Sun, 27 Nov 1994 21:57:26 -0500
If those in Congress who are using the Bell Curve
as a guide to public policy share Murray and Herrnstein's admiration
for Rushton's formulations, they are really going about welfare reform
the wrong way. To deny welfare to single mothers is to rely too much on
individual behaviour rather than indicators of genetic potential. Some
single mothers, after all, might be good breeding stock, however unlikely
that might appear. I therefore suggest that the welfare laws be reformed
to remove from the welfare rolls all mothers who do not meet certain
predictive phenotypical specifications. Rather than launch an expensive
program of intelligence testing, it would be a simple matter to supply all
applicants for AFDC with a brassiere and hat of a size held to predict a
high level of success in their offspring. They would be required to wear
these for their intake interviews, at which they would also be required
to remove their shirts or blouses. A tight bra or a loose hat would
result in automatic
disqualification. In those cases where a male parent was applying for
public assistance, a jockstrap might be substituted for the brassiere,
and disrobing would be limited to the trousers. Anyone who has the e-mail
address of any Member of Congress should feel free to post this helpful
suggestion where it will do the most good. Harriet D. Lyons, Department
of Anthropology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario
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