Imagine a group of Social-Psychologists conducting a major study on the impact of intelligence on various forms of "success."
From the overall population, they select a group of 50,000 individuals, such that the AVERAGE tested IQ is one standard deviation below the national mean IQ. That is to say, 85. The 50,000 includes people who are along the entire spectrum of intelligence, from genius level to the lowest testable level, but maintaining an average of 85.
And they follow these 50,000 "selectees" from Kindergarten throughout their lives. They include White people Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and people whose race and ethnicity is so muddled it is impossible to classify. They are religious people, non-religious people, people born to wealth and poverty, people born to PhD's and high school dropouts. The entire spectrum, in every conceivable way.
Would anyone be surprised if that group ultimately, was,
And those bulleted traits could have nothing to do with prejudice or discrimination against them; they are representative of every single demographic group. They are just people who happen to be, on average, less intelligent.
And yet, if rather than a randomly selected group, we find that we are talking about 50,000 members of an ethnic, racial, or religious group which happens to have an average IQ that is one standard deviation below the mean, ALL of those bulleted items are attributed to ill treatment by the majority against them BECAUSE OF THEIR RACIAL, ETHNIC, or RELIGIOUS affiliation.
In all of science, "we" seek out the simplest explanation for an observed phenomenon, but here we seek out - and exalt - the most nefarious explanation, even where the individual examples of bigotry are so sporadic as to be newsworthy.
It is perverse.
From the overall population, they select a group of 50,000 individuals, such that the AVERAGE tested IQ is one standard deviation below the national mean IQ. That is to say, 85. The 50,000 includes people who are along the entire spectrum of intelligence, from genius level to the lowest testable level, but maintaining an average of 85.
And they follow these 50,000 "selectees" from Kindergarten throughout their lives. They include White people Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and people whose race and ethnicity is so muddled it is impossible to classify. They are religious people, non-religious people, people born to wealth and poverty, people born to PhD's and high school dropouts. The entire spectrum, in every conceivable way.
Would anyone be surprised if that group ultimately, was,
- less prosperous than average,
- less educated than average (more likely to fail to graduate from HS, less likely to go to college or graduate),
- less likely to be in the Learned Professions (doctor, lawyer, etc.),
- less likely to be in other "professions" requiring a technical degree,
- more inclined to substance abuse than average,
- more inclined to criminal behavior than average,
- more likely to produce out-of-wedlock children, or
- more likely to be unemployed?
And those bulleted traits could have nothing to do with prejudice or discrimination against them; they are representative of every single demographic group. They are just people who happen to be, on average, less intelligent.
And yet, if rather than a randomly selected group, we find that we are talking about 50,000 members of an ethnic, racial, or religious group which happens to have an average IQ that is one standard deviation below the mean, ALL of those bulleted items are attributed to ill treatment by the majority against them BECAUSE OF THEIR RACIAL, ETHNIC, or RELIGIOUS affiliation.
In all of science, "we" seek out the simplest explanation for an observed phenomenon, but here we seek out - and exalt - the most nefarious explanation, even where the individual examples of bigotry are so sporadic as to be newsworthy.
It is perverse.
