“Stop trying to get me fired for things I didn’t say and don’t believe“:
I thought that writing 5,000 words about what I think genes influence and don’t, how much variation is likely attributable to genetics, and discussing the predictive powers and limitations of IQ would be sufficient to prevent people from deliberately misreading my post as an endorsement of race science. Sadly, that is not the case, and so of course Twitter is accusing me of believing literally the opposite of what the very first lines of the first post said.
The vast majority of (violent) protestors against Charles Murray, who insanely believe he’s a “white nationalist,” have never read a word he’s written. I personally have no opinion about average IQ of various “races,” but I think the notion that something heritable won’t have an effect on a population is the kind of nutty thing that only a leftist could believe. I understand why some are uncomfortable with studying it, but I’ve never understood why the fact that a member of a group that has a certain characteristic must be treated as a member of that group, rather than as an individual. But since leftists hate treating people as individuals, believing only in the collective, I guess that would explain it.
So the second line is–
“They pointed out that a lot of progressive people think that any discussion of “intelligence” [sic]– a contested and socially-constructed concept, as I said in both posts – and genetics is necessarily a Charles Murray-type act of pseudoscientific racism.”
So this guy’s discussion of genetics and “intelligence” is goodthink, as opposed to “Charles Murray-type … pseudoscientific racism.” No sympathy here, and he deserves all the grief he’s getting.
To the left, evolution ends at the neck. Except where it doesn’t. So being gay is genetic, but being smart is a social construct.
We’re all the same under the skin. Except when we’re not.
To the left being smart is a social construct, but some races are inherently incapable of competing on a level playing field or living up to civilized standards.
“I’ve never understood why the fact that a member of a group that has a certain characteristic must be treated as a member of that group, rather than as an individual. But since leftists hate treating people as individuals, believing only in the collective, I guess that would explain it.”
Agree 100%, but if you can include a lot of self described “conservatives” leftists in with those who believe in not treating people as individuals.
Sorry, a couple of typos there.
Minorities in particular in the west have been ill served by the “race is a social construct” school of thought. The concept itself has been employed mainly as a tool for political power, while forcing inaccurate, unreal and ineffective “solutions” on it’s subjects as they become progressively worse off. It’s pretty obvious that present “progressive” thought on the subject has spectacularly failed and another direction needs to be taken.
There are whole swathes of academia that need to be flushed. If Trump wants to do that, I suggest his administration exert control of accreditation, and exploit their control over funding, to make this happen.
If academia has become political, it can reap the consequences.
How does accreditation work?