Postby Syphon the Sun » Sat Oct 20, 2007 12:23 am
*cough* The Bell Curve *cough*
The Bell Jar is a novel by Sylvia Plath, which is--I'm assuming--what Kelly hates.
As far as The Bell Curve goes, I find it slightly amusing that people get so worked up over it, when in reality most of them haven't read it. Only two chapters deal with the racial intelligence gap, and they explicitly say that they do not attempt to explain the differences as genetic.
Regardless, if they had enough data to back the claim up, I really don't see the problem with their hypothesis. (Begun, the flame war has. I'm sure this is the point many of you stop reading and start arguing.)
Genetic markers exist. There is absolutely no denying that. We see it in skeletal proportions, skin and eye color, body fat disposition, jaw shape, hair texture, etc. Diving deeper, we see differences in responses to stimuli, bloody chemistry, endocrine function, maturity rates, nutritional requirements, and disease patterns. There is a whole host of this kind of evidence to illustrate the point that differences exist among the various races.
And guess what? Evolutionary biology is behind that principle. Africans, Asians, and Europeans all had very different living conditions with very different threats to the species. All three were, clearly, suited best to their environment. Acknowledging these differences, though, probably makes me a racist. And that's fine, if you want to believe that. But denying that those differences exist at the biological level is silly, indeed.
So, what does this mean? It means that certain races--as a whole--are likely better equipped for certain activities than other races--as a whole. There are extremes on both ends, so it's not all-inclusive (hence the "bell curve"), but as a whole, one group very well could be superior to another in a given category. Blacks, for instance, tend to be faster than whites. They're not faster because they are black. They are fast because their genetic makeup (in part) determines their abilities. So, race is more a group of genetic markers than anything else, allowing us to categorize people in order to better understand the whys of the world. "Is it genetic? What genes help determine it? Is it an interaction among different genes? Etc etc etc."
So, their hypothesis isn't "evil," despite the rampant claims otherwise. It just lacks the needed evidence, as the evidence presented isn't enough to make an accurate judgment on their hypothesis.
EDIT:
I just noticed something. All of the whites are screaming bloody murder (well, more accurately, "Nazi!" or "racist!" or whathaveyou. Yet, the only person who actually seems remotely interested in the science of it is Jason, who happens to be black. I'm not sure if I can blame this on oversensitivity and political correctness, or what, but it is interesting to look at, certainly.