Re: IQ AND RACE. The taboo subject.
Stephen Lajoie (lajoie@eskimo.com)
Sat, 11 Feb 1995 19:30:03 GMT
In article <mbanetD3sMyp.4My@netcom.com>,
David Waters <mbanet@netcom.com> wrote:
>Stephen Lajoie (lajoie@eskimo.com) wrote:
>: Later on, I stated that many professors are muzzled by political
>: pressure to not state the obvious; that race and IQ are correlated. I
>: knew very well that many professors will tell you they are not related in
>: public, and but admit that there is a correlation in private when they
>: felt it was safe. They fear for their jobs.
>
>Ask these professors to identify the SPECIFIC genetic sequence(s) in
>African Americans that actually leads to lesser intelligence. In other
>words, one should be able to look at DNA (only) and determine which
>sequence was produced by the more intelligent person(s). Such a test
>should easily be performed between any two (or more) people. Why isn't
>it? Because it doesn't exist!!! Therefore, these so-called professors are
>speaking from speculation (whether public or private) and not acceptable
>evidence based on actual genetic study!!!
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Mendel didn't know about specific genetic squences in his experiments,
but he proved that the genes existed. And it would seem that you are
making the assumption that IQ is determined by one gene, and that is not
likely to be true. What they did is a statistical study to show the
relation between race and IQ score, while other studies showed that there
is a relation between IQ and genetics.
>There's also the problem of explaining/predicting those of us (AfAms) who
>have (much) higher than average IQs versus those (AfAms) who don't. Is
>this because some of us have a gene(s) that promote higher intelligence
>or do we lack the gene(s) that decreases intelligence? How about those
>"whites" who have substandard IQ scores...do they "suffer" for the same
>reasons? Is there a separate (but equal ;-) smart/dumb gene for each race?
It's a distribution of a trait. Distribution.... Distribution...
You know, a BELL CURVE, also called a normal curve. IQ score on the
x-axis, frequency on the y-axis. There is no problem explaining why
"those of us (AfAms) who have (much) higher than average IQs versus those
(AfAms) who don't."
>Besides, if there *was* such a (reliable) test, then the intelligence of
>*ANY* two children (not just AfAm) could be predicted by examining DNA
>alone. Do you want your children to be placed in predetermined
>education/training programs based on what their DNA (alone) says??? I
>don't think you do! Now can you carry that thought a little further to
>comprehend the problems caused when (certain) people ASSUME that there
>is a genetic reason to discriminate?
Well, first you are inventing a straw man, then attacking it. Even _The
Bell Curve_ states that genetics contributes only 60% of intelligence.
No one has suggested we do genetic test. The test do not exist, and
genetics are not 100% what causes intelligence.
>Do you remember the teacher who did the "Brown Eye/Blue Eye" experiment?
>Does *she* qualify in your list of professors???
Look, if you have a problem with your car, you would want to know what is
going wrong. You don't take one part of the car, say the fuel system, and
say it is TABOO to touch it and get irrational when someone suggest the fuel
system is the problem. No, if you want to go somewhere, you have to
explore all the possibilities. IF the problems with black poverty, black
crime rates and under representation in some fields is due to some racial
differences, wouldn't you want to know that so that you could deal with
it? The standard answer has been for the last 50 years is that White
people are the problem. Well, we fixed that. They WERE the problem. But
to be honest, most white people just don't give a damn what race a person
is anymore, no matter how loud black people scream racist.
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--
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Steve La Joie
lajoie@eskimo.com
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