Soak Your Head in This, William Saletan
Recap: Slate’s William Saletan seems to have been bitten by racist IQ fundamentalist zombies. He thinks we should all just get used to the fact the some races (guess which ones?!) are just born dumber. He’s “been soaking [his] head in each side’s computations,” mind you.
Lots of smarties have taken on Saletan’s version of the zombie-science. In the most recent New Yorker, Malcom Gladwell talks about why the IQ test shouldn’t tell us much about race. What I want to know is why we still even use the test to talk about intelligence at all.
7 Responses to “Soak Your Head in This, William Saletan”
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December 10th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
He’s actually smarter when writing about other topics. Here are some gems from Saletan on IQ and Race.
“And when you compare black and white kids who score the same on IQ tests, their average difference in head circumference is zero.”
“On average, compared with whites, blacks mature more quickly in the womb, are born earlier, and develop teeth, strength, and dexterity earlier. They sit, crawl, walk, and dress themselves earlier. They reach sexual maturity faster, and they have better eyesight. On each of these measures, East Asians lag whites and blacks. In exchange, East Asians get longer lives and bigger brains.”
December 10th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Upon further reading, I think Saletan is restating the argument for the IQ and race relationship rather than stating his personal beliefs. At least, I hope so.
December 10th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Isn’t IQ often based upon what you have been exposed to in life and the environment you grew up in?
Look at Loose Lips, he is a retarded but can still write as if he was intelligent.
December 10th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
Thanks, Jonathan!
December 10th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Mike:
It’s a high compliment. Rees, as a counter-example, is both an ignoramuses and writes like one. Even his sockpuppets are idiots.
By the way Rees, it’s “as if he were” not “as if he was”. But then again, English is your second language.
December 10th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Correction: Ignoramus singular, not plural. Blame his sockpuppets ;-)
December 11th, 2007 at 1:31 am
ZLckj, would you also care to correct your odd positioning of “both”?