Here’s what I don’t get. Let’s assume, for the sake of discussion, that we can meaningfully determine some set of races and we can determine some sort of meaningful statistics about how they perform on some sorts of standardized tests in various types of abilities and that there are some differences. I’m not sure what sort of conclusions we’re supposed to draw from it.
For instance, say race X scores a few IQ points higher than race Y on average. What conclusions do we draw from that? If we try to cause that there’s a causal relationship there that gives race X an advantage or race Y a disadvantage, I don’t think we can say that statistically since there are countless other variables involved with race that are not statistically independent, particularly culture and socioeconomic pressures. So maybe it’s a combination of things.
But let’s take it a step further, let’s even say that we can control for all of those other variables and can say that there actually is some sort of meaningful difference between races, even if it’s slight… so what? Are we supposed to treat individuals of one race differently because of that? Are we supposed to create social programs or policies to account for these differences?
Let’s compare it to sex, where there absolutely is a genetic basis for the differences in the sexes. For instance, on average, a man is stronger than a woman… so what? If I have a task that needs to get done that requires a certain amount of strength and I have a set of several people of both sexes willing to do it, I should pick someone that’s strong enough independent of that person’s sex. To automatically reject a woman would be sexist because she may be strong enough to do it even if statistically an average woman may not be able to; similarly, to automatically choose a man would be sexist because he may not be strong enough even if statistically an average man could. All that statistic tells me is how likely I am to have someone able to do it, it doesn’t tell me the reality of the choices I’m faced with, and it’s the very definition of sexism to come to a conclusion about a person based just on their sex, even if that conclusion is based on some sort of real statistic.
So really, even if you can meaningfully say that blacks aren’t as smart as whites… so what? It’s one thing if you’re talking about a difference in a way that can be useful in helping people, like I believe some racial groups are at higher risk of heart disease, so it can save lives to do an extra screening on groups that are identified as being at risk. But when you’re talking about intelligence, and just saying one group is dumber than another, how is that really meaningfully useful other than at an individual level where coming to a conclusion that someone is dumber just because of their race is, by definition, racist. So, don’t you see that without knowing what your motivation is behind why you’re so interested in it, why it comes off as being motivated by racism and why so many people are offended by it? And it’s only made worse that the arguments for it aren’t nearly as convincing as you think they are.
So, maybe you can illuminate us on your motivation behind these discussions?