Re: Flynn Effect ...yes, testosterone

Bryant (mycol1@unm.edu)
11 Nov 1996 18:11:39 -0700

In article <3282AAA3.61A3@concentric.net>,
Aadam Young <chenoa@concentric.net> wrote:

>Very eloquent racism. It appears that those with racist opinions
>(e.g. The Bell Curve) will stop at nothing to pursue their agenda. I am
>certain if you try hard enough you will be able to prove that crime, and
>the neccesity for public support of prisons are a neccesity because of
>the downtrodden.Why don't you explain the Greek (Jimmy) speculation that
>blacks are better athletes, or would just citing him be enough evidence
>for you.

You know, it's funny. The observation that slaves underwent astoundingly
brutal artificial selection for vigor doesn't seem absurd or inherently
racist to me. Not very many folks participating in this thread, I'd
wager, could survive the conditions imposed on kidnapped Africans on
the slave ships of old.

A few months before the uproar over Jimmy the Greek's comment, a (black)
Portland Trailblazer spoke at my high school (1987, I think), and he said the
same damned thing. It's simply not an absurd or inherently racist notion.

If blacks are not over-represented in the upper proportion of
the continuum of phenotypic quality, why are so many of our Olympic and
professional sports achievers of African descent? It may not be
because of the slave trade, but there is an evident over-representation
of blacks in sports.

Is that racist? Perhaps, in that it suggests a partially genetic basis
for race differences. It's sure not putting blacks down to say they're
built better, though.

Bryant