Posted on 07/07/2008 6:33:25 AM PDT by liberallarry
Sources: All this is pretty common knowledge and analysis. See, for example, “The Bell Curve”, or any reference on psychometrics.
Do you think Asians and Jews should be given preferential treatment because they are naturally smarter? Do you think we should continue to discriminate against Asians in the name of diversity as far as admissions to elite Universities? Or do you think we should abandon racial quotas altogether and go strictly by merit.
I embrace the last option.
On a social level there are two possibilities.
The first is that IQ is not really an accurate measure of ability. This is Thomas Sowell's position which he supports by reference to IQ creep. If he's correct then all these problems will disappear as black work habits, social attitudes, and opportunities improve.
The second is that Sowell is wrong and IQ measures really fundamental differences. That's bad. Very bad. Society will come apart.
I work in a highly technical Scientific field with many Asians, Indians and Jews. I know I wouldn't kick any of the cute ones (cute for me being synonymous with female) out of bed. ;)
You didn’t mention blacks...and I noticed.
The only Black I really work closely with is a older guy. A really great guy. There is/was a really cute black girl I used to flirt with, but she just got engaged so she fell off the radar! And unfortunately there are not that many blacks who work at my company, and the major city in the area doesn’t produce many who are even minimally qualified, which I blame almost entirely upon the predominant culture.
I am going out on the second date with a Jamaican black girl this Saturday. She thinks the Blacks in the area are all nuts, is highly educated, smart, sweet and sexy.
You’re in California. You work in high-tech or high end science, so my guess is Bay Area or Los Angeles. If those cities don’t produce qualified blacks then no place in the country does. So where are they?
That's excellent that you want to do away with racial quotas. The problem is, quotas are based on the assumption that racial IQ gaps are cultural/environmental in nature. The argument is that blacks would be proportionally represented in every top flight field if it weren't for societal factors. Thus, if blacks are 20% of the population in a particular area, then they should be 20% of the people who hold any leadership position, who gain admission to prestige universities, or who hold any high paying or high status job. If they fall short of those numbers because they don't pass the tests for admission or employment, then we're told that quotas need to be instituted because those blacks didn't get treated fairly.
"But weren't they given the same test as everyone else?" someone may ask.
"Yes,", the leftist will reply, "But because of white privilege, cultural factors, sociological distortions, test biases, and a zillion other factors, blacks just couldn't pass that test in significant numbers. So we need to adjust things for them. We need to lower the requirements for their admission so that they get in in exact proportion to their population numbers. If that means booting out some whites or Asians who did pass the test, then so be it. They only did better because they were culturally privileged, not because they really have higher average IQs."
So you can't simultaneously oppose quotas and reject the genetic basis of IQ. Once you say genetics has nothing to do with it, that any group which consistently lags is a victim of culture, and that they'd do just as well as everyone else otherwise, you've doomed yourself to accepting quotas in perpetuity. The argument is inevitably going to arise that it's the responsibility of society to compensate the poor performing group for the problems they face. It's the responsibility of the successful group to sacrifice "x" number of jobs and educational opportunities by giving them to the less successful group. After all, the successful group only did better because of "cultural factors", not because they really are better (on average) at those things.
I don't reject the hereditary basis for IQ, I just point out that it is only 40% compared to environmental factors that make up 60%.
Stopping discriminating against Asian Americans and for African Americans has nothing to do with the ideological justification of wither or not it is cultural or genetic factors that account for the discrepancy. Indeed such a merit based system doesn't care WHY there is such a discrepancy, if you got the chops you are in, if you don't then shove off.
These things do not bode well for blacks.
Correction. High IQ individuals should be concentrated in urban areas for both genetic and environmental reasons.
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