- Average
Intelligence
- Of what use is
understanding average intelligence, especially considering that Americans
are so ignorant?
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- Ek
Jaenicke Traces TBC's Racist Roots
- All the way back
to Nazi supporters. This anti-integrative movement
with such stupid racist publications like Murray / Herrnstein's "The
Bell Curve", published and financed by international right wing
and neonazi connections...
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- Lane
Singer Debunks TBC
- On several quick
points.
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- Claude
Steele Evaluates 'Stereotype Threat'
- When capable black
college students fail to perform as well as their white counterparts,
the explanation often has less to do with preparation or ability than
with the threat of stereotypes about their capacity to succeed. Educators
at Stanford who tested this hypothesis report their findings and propose
solutions
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Yesterday's
Prejudice, Today's Science
- It is not
enough to call Herrnstein and Murray racists because they would think
we have been goaded into fearing the power of their Truth. If we resist
their racism, then we must prove them wrong.
-
- James
White Debunks TBC
- In
my continuing assault and relentless attack on "The Bell Curve"
and the kind of pseudo science it represents, I will go over IQ tests,
what they are and how they are conducted or should be conducted.
-
- Randolph
T. Holhut Challenges TBC
- Challenging
the Racist Science of "The Bell Curve" Murray and Herrnstein
claimed that the IQs of blacks are 15 points lower than whites, a claim
that most of the mainstream media has treated as fact. The book's presence
tapped into the resurgence of overt racism in American society, and
helped people back up their prejudices with ``scientific'' proof. It
is no surprise that the Right has seized upon the book as justification
for abolishing welfare and other social programs to the poor. After
all - they say - if Latinos and blacks are genetically doomed to fail,
why should we give them money? ...
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Leon
Kamin of Scientific American Debunks TBC
- An extensive review
of the book. "At long last, Herrnstein and
Murray let it all hang out: "Affirmative action, in education and
the workplace alike, is leaking a poison into the American soul."
Having examined the American condition at the close of the 20th century,
these two philosopher-kings conclude, "It is time for America once
again to try living with inequality, as life is lived...." This
kind of sentiment, I imagine, is what led "New York Times"
columnist Bob Herbert to the conclusion that "The Bell Curve"
"is just a genteel way of calling somebody a nigger." Herbert
is right. The book has nothing to do with science."
-
- Tim
Beardsley of Scientific American Debunks TBC
- Evaluates the right
wing agenda of the authors. "A tendentious
tome abuses science to promote far-right policies". Even though
boosting IQ scores may be difficult and expensive, providing education
can help individuals in other ways. That fact, not IQ scores, is what
policy should be concerned with. "The Bell Curve's" fixation
on IQ as the best statistical predictor of a life's fortunes is a myopic
one. Science does not deny the benefits of a nurturing environment and
a helping hand.
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How
Media Let The Bell Curve's Pseudo-Science Define the Agenda on Race
- Anyone
who flipped through the footnotes and bibliography of Murray and Herrnstein's
book could see that there was something screwy about their sources.
And there is hardly a proposition in their book that had not been thoroughly
debunked more than a decade ago by Steven Jay Gould's classic work on
the pseudo-science behind eugenics, The Mismeasure of Man.
So why
is The Bell Curve suddenly an "important book" that needs
to have cover stories, news broadcasts, even whole magazines devoted
to it? In large part, because the book is well-timed to take advantage
of a resurgence of racism in U.S. media and society--a racism that
does not want to face up to its own identity.
In a proposal
outlining the book, Murray wrote that there is "a huge number
of well-meaning whites who fear that they are closet racists, and
this book tells them they are not. It's going to make them feel better
about things they already think but do not know how to say."
(New York Times Magazine, 10/9/94) The Bell Curve does indeed tell
closet racists that they aren't racist, and makes them feel better
by saying that their prejudices are grounded in science. "
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