The lesbian vs. transgender conflict

Latte Island has a series of posts about ongoing clashes between transgender activists and lesbian activists. There’s even a video showing a confrontation between the groups during a march.

In the video, lesbian activist Cathy Brennan can be heard telling a gender-modified man that he is “not a woman”. Here are her own words explaining her position regarding men pretending to be women:

… male persons have cross-dressed in order to gain access to sex-segregated spaces with the specific intent to harm females. This has happened. Many times. That’s all we need to know. Where a harm is foreseeable, it is potentially preventable. And if not actually preventable, then at least we can create a public policy against it. That is the purpose of law. Females, in particular, need laws. For example, a restraining order is just a piece of paper that could not possibly protect a body from attack, but we still need laws that prohibit stalking behavior. Similarly, in our UN submission we argue that:

Females require sex-segregated facilities for a number of reasons, chief among them the documented frequency of male sexual violence against females and the uniquely female consequence of unwanted impregnation resulting from this relatively common form of violence. Public policy, therefore, rationally permits sex segregation in certain settings where a reasonable expectation of privacy exists.

As such, we take specific issue with overbroad legislative language and the foreseeable harm to women that can arise from the refusal to make any legal distinction between sex and ‘gender identity’ in the context of sex-segregated spaces. We advocate for legal screening of unfettered male access to sex-segregated female spaces on the basis of a purely self-reported ‘gender identity,’ expression, or appearance. We propose that this be done by requiring medical evidence…

We’re female. Females are 50% of the human population. Our concerns come from a specifically female point of view (not a libertarian or a trans-centered one). Our arguments stress the need for sex-segregated spaces. We believe that females have a right to these spaces, free from males. When cross-dressing males, who have not sought medical treatment and/or who do not intend to transition, demand access to sex-segregated spaces on the vague basis of a feminine ‘gender identity,’ that is an infringement on our rights. So this is not a hate-mongering, ignorant, or disingenuous attempt to deny trans people anything. We seek to protect women’s right to sex-segregated spaces free from non-trans males.

Makes sense to me, but for this she is called “transphobic”. It seems Brennan has committed the unforgivable sin of recognizing valid biological divisions within humanity. For those on the Left, Brennan’s thinking is dangerous. If we accept gender as biological reality, it could be the beginning of a slippery slope where race is also recognized as such.

To Brennan’s point about men posing a threat to the safety of women, blacks pose at least as much of a threat to whites. Therefore…

We’re white. Whites are 70% of America’s population. Our concerns come from a specifically white point of view (not a multicultural or a Hispanic one). Our arguments stress the need for race-segregated spaces. We believe that whites have a right to these spaces, free from people of color. When non-whites, who have not sought medical treatment* and/or who do not intend to transition, demand access to race-segregated spaces on the vague basis of a white ‘race identity,’ that is an infringement on our rights. So this is not a hate-mongering, ignorant, or disingenuous attempt to deny non-whites anything. We seek to protect white’s right to race-segregated spaces free from non-whites.

Perhaps the hostile elite can hold its own when it comes to gender, but long term, it faces an uphill struggle with race. If race is not a biological reality, then a white should be able to paint his skin, get lip implants, learn to swagger and self-identify as “black” so that he can gain easy access to college, promotions and the “ghetto lottery”. By defining race as a “social construct”, there is no reason this cannot be done – especially if it can be done with gender.

If self-identity is considered a valid tool to transcend non-biological divisions (contrary to Brennan’s position), then all whites can simply self-identify as “black women” and eliminate the gender/race affirmative-action privileged classes altogether. There would be equal access to “black-woman-ness” – and the government jobs that come with it. By denying us this option, the hostile elite is effectively admitting that race is a biological concept.

Their solution, as practiced over the past few decades, is to breed new Americans who are so stupid/brainwashed that they cannot even see the obvious contradiction.

*In theory, it should be possible to mitigate racial differences through surgery and hormone treatment in some cases.

 

Affirmative action for math-challenged women

If you’re not the sharpest knife in the drawer and you’re a white male, then you’re just a “dumb person” with few rights or privileges.  But if you’re also a “minority” or female, then this works to your advantage.  “Affirmative action” is a polite way of saying, “Not the best qualified, but we can use this person to keep the diversity gestapo at bay.”  If you are a white male who happens to be of superior ability, then you have little to worry about; affirmative action was not designed to victimize you.  It was designed to victimize white males who are less than brilliant in their respective fields, i.e. most of the rest of us.

Affirmative action for women is nothing new, but human stupidity (who sends me a lot of stuff) has brought my attention to a more novel way to persecute white men:  Affirmative action for women in math tests.  From the link he sent me:

Affirmative action for women in math contests boosts participation without dropping results

By Matthew Francis

Despite advances in many areas, women are still underrepresented in the upper levels of corporations, electoral politics, and some scientific research fields. This lack of parity is all the more striking because, in much of the developed world, women’s educational achievements have surpassed those of men. (In 2009 in the United States, 57 percent of currently enrolled students were female, a trend that has been fairly stable over several decades.) This imbalance has been ascribed to two factors: continuing gender discrimination, and lower desire for competitiveness among women.

Focusing on the competitiveness aspect, a new study indicates that policy-based initiatives can increase women’s participation and competitiveness in math and the quality of the resulting work. The particular experiment performed by Loukas Balafoutas and Matthias Sutter, released February 2 by Science, involved three methods that provided an initial advantage to women in a math competition. The authors found that, in each case, women entered the competitions more readily, but the aggregate performance of the participants was unaffected, and sometimes even improved.

The common feature in all three methods is an affirmative action approach: the active promotion of the underrepresented group. Passive methods (such as increasing potential rewards for everyone) do improve participation by women, but they also improve men’s performance as well, which leaves the gender gap in place. Affirmative action, on the other hand, not only changes the odds of success by women, but (according to the authors of a related study) also increases their confidence and willingness to compete in the first place…

Left unexplained is why it is a bad thing if women are “underrepresented” in certain fields.  A commenter points out that there doesn’t seem to be much concern that men are underrepresented in traditionally female fields.  I would add that there doesn’t seem to be any concern that women are largely absent from fields such as garbage collection and mining.

While there is nothing wrong with trying to boost the participation of women in certain professions, if we might be missing out on important talent, I still don’t understand why it is a bad thing that there are gender gaps.  It doesn’t seem to bother most people that men are physically stronger than women, so why would it be a problem if there are more male math-geniuses than female ones?

Predictably, most of the comments call a spade a spade and don’t fall for the obvious double-speak.  One commenter, who calls himself Dr Jay (no relation), tries to justify the practice by writing:

I think people are getting hung up on “affirmative action” and missing the forest for the trees. The key question you have to ask yourself is the following: what is the purpose of the competition?

If the competition is simply intended to identify whoever scores the best in the competition, then there really isn’t any call for intervention. But if the competition is intended to identify the most talented math students (a situation more analogous to real-world situations like job hunts), then you face an issue. The issue could be best summarized by noting the following two points:
1) Research has provided a pretty compelling indication that math talents are equally divided between the sexes (some of this has been covered by Ars in the past).
2) Participation in math contests is not equally divided between the sexes.

So, a contest without intervention stands a good chance of not identifying the best talent. Providing an inducement that tackles issue 2 is a way of adjusting for that.

Now, there are all sorts of potential subtleties here – maybe you’re looking to fill a job that requires both math skills and competitiveness, etc. – that can influence how important it is to handle issue 2. And there are studies that could be done to clarify exactly what’s happening (the most obvious to me is determining whether women with exceptional talents are more likely to enter competitions). But i think the issues here are more subtle than a lot of people’s reactions to them.

But, by that reasoning (and I’m not convinced his claims are valid), we can just as easily claim that math talent is equally distributed among heterosexuals and homosexuals (proportionally), right-handed people and left-handed people, innies and outies, people who like classic rock and those who prefer heavy metal etc.  Would this mean that we must search out statistical variations between the above groups and then try to remedy them?  Of course not; it all boils down to politics.  Women are considered “oppressed”, therefore we are told we must guarantee them equal outcomes for prestigious positions.

Where will it all end?  it is not hard to foresee a future where smart people are penalized in all academic tests and strong people must wear weights in order to offset their advantage over weak people.  I remember reading a science fiction story about just such a scenario once; it described a world few of us would want to live in.

 

Playing favorites with kids

Time Magazine recently had an article about a study dealing with the favoritism many parents display toward one of their children:

One oft-cited study showed that about 70% of fathers and 65% of mothers exhibit a preference for one child or another. For fathers, it’s most often the youngest girl; for mothers, it’s typically the oldest boy. And remember, the key here is the exhibited preference. Since parents do such a good job of concealing any bias — especially when a scientist is watching — the numbers are almost certainly a good deal higher.

If it’s any consolation for Mom and Dad — to say nothing of the unfavored kids — favoritism is hardwired into our species. Since families, at their evolutionary essence, exist principally as a way to get as many genes as possible into the next generation, we’re programmed to place our bets on the kids who stand the greatest chance of being reproductively successful.

It’s an interesting article, but far more interesting are the comments.  Most of the comments take the “liberal” stance that humans have transcended nature, that only fairness can prevail, that there can be no hierarchy among children because we are all equal.  Here is one example of such a comment:

As a scientist and a mother and whatever we humans are – I can tell you with whatever guarantee you would ask of me – that that is not true, not in terms of love anyway.

Parents love all children equally.  The parents themselves might not even know or think they do but at the deepest level where it counts the most, love is equal.

Now, emotional energy and attention might be unequal.  Families are a mix of personalities and parents can identify with one child more than another or behavioural or medical issues can interfere with relationship dynamics.

I was the “difficult child” in my family.  In my adolescence I did feel less favoured and loved less.  I wasn’t, they loved me so much they were worried about me and it put anxiety into our relationship.

We can talk about relationship and emotional dynamics.  Love is unmeasurable, it is endless, and it is always there.

In typical leftist fashion, and probably unaware she is even doing it, “Red Bess Road” (above) sets up a straw man (love) and then denies the validity of the study based on that.  It never occurred to her that the study had nothing to do with love.  It was about “exhibited favoritism” – as it clearly stated.

There are a few comments that take the “conservative” stance, that humans are part of nature, that we should strive to be fair and just but, at the same time, maintain harmony with the greater natural world.  Here is a comment that represents the “conservative” minority view:

I find the responses just as interesting as the article. Most people want to deny that they have a favorite, even when it is measurable. What many studies find is that we act in ways that we are not really conscious of – and want to not believe that we do. The article also pointed out that favoritism is found in about 70% of cases – which means it is not an absolute for everyone, so just because it may not exist in some people doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Unfortunately, the denial of scientific evidence runs rampant in the population these days – and manifests itself in politics, too.

I’ll point out here that the article does contradict itself, stating at the beginning that favoritism is an “iron-clad” rule of parenting – but then citing a study that found it in only 65%-70% of cases.  But this is just sloppy journalism; it does not undermine the study.  Is Paul McDonald (comment above) a race-realist?  If not, he should be.

The “liberal” position holds that humans (at least white humans) are above nature, that we are akin to gods.  We can significantly alter our planet’s climate, we have the power, and responsibility, to oversee the fate of other species – from lowly snails to whales and elephants.  We can overcome old-age and our destiny is to live for centuries or even forever.  Our own capabilities and proclivities (such as I.Q. and crime) are determined by the choices made by humans (nurture) rather than our own genetic codes (nature).

“Liberals” tend to reject the notion of a traditional god – because they want the position for themselves.  Conservatives tend to have a more humble approach, considering themselves subservient to a higher being – whose will is manifested in nature.  Even if Mankind was given dominion over nature, we do not have the power to replace, or reject, it because we are part of it.

I have already written about this theme elsewhere.  If we pay attention, we can see it played out over and over again in the media.

 

Feeling sorry for yourself?

Perhaps you shouldn’t; there is always somebody worse off than you – like this guy, who chose to skip the office mega-pool lottery purchase.  In hindsight, perhaps he should have bought that ticket:

A hapless state information-technology worker who usually joined his office lottery pool took a pass last week — only to learn that seven positive-thinking pals nailed a whopping $319 million Mega Millions jackpot, said a deli owner who knows the winners.

“The word is that when they were going around the office asking who wanted in on the pool, one guy said no, that he wasn’t feeling lucky,” said Jill Cook, who with husband Tom owns Cook’s Deli in Albany, where the winners are lunchtime regulars.

“They asked him twice. They said, ‘Are you sure?’ and he said yeah, he was going to pass this time. I feel horrible for him,” Jill said.

The number of players in the pool varied from week to week, she said, and the identity of the mystery loser — who could have won a $16 million after-tax share under the lottery’s lump-sum option — was as elusive as those of the big winners, who sources say worked in IT for the state Homes and Community Renewal agency.

Hmmm… 16 million dollars.  I would feel bad if I were that guy.  But still, he made the right choice.  He is no worse off than he was before and the damage is purely psychological.  He had no way of knowing what was going to happen.  No matter how you package it, state lotteries are a form of voluntary taxation.  The odds of winning the jackpot are vanishingly small.

A lot of people condemn state lotteries for their disproportionate impact upon the poor.  By some accounts, poor Americans spend 9% of their income on lottery tickets.  Of course, the MSM cannot get the word “poor” out of its collective mouth without also saying a word like “black”, “Hispanic” or “minority”.  It must be some sort of speech impediment.  In any case, the Chicago Reporter says:

In the South Side’s 60619 ZIP code area, lottery players spent more than $23 million on lottery tickets in fiscal year 2002, more than any other ZIP code in the state, according to lottery sales records. The 60619 area includes parts of the predominantly black neighborhoods of Chatham, Avalon Park, Burnside and Calumet Heights…

“Lotteries are, in essence, a form of regressive taxation that distributes wealth and resources away from those who can least afford to pay,” said Paul Street, vice-president for research and planning at the Chicago Urban League. He said he was not surprised by the Reporter’s findings. “[Lotteries] especially extract wealth from communities of color, and most particularly from African Americans.”

It is sad when manual laborers spend so much of their money gambling.  But we might look at it philosophically and say that this is a “low-I.Q. tax”.  A way for the underclasses to repay some of the benefits higher I.Q. people are forced to provide them through taxes.  A large chunk of lottery money goes into preserving the environment (or so they say).  This is a cause that most tax-payers sympathize with.

There is also a benefit to the poor who buy the tickets.  They give themselves a shimmer of hope in their otherwise dreary lives.  Far be it from me to deny them that.

 

Nature versus nurture and Jack LaLanne

The great fitness icon of the 20th century has departed this Earth at the ripe old age of 96.  My generation grew up with Jack LeLanne and, for a long time, his name was almost synonymous with fitness.  As if it were yesterday, I remember his boast that he would live to 150.

LeLanne belonged to an era when people believed man could transcend his genetic destiny if only he could control his behavior and what goes into his body.  Of course, not everybody in that era bought into this philosophy; it was mainly hippies and their sympathizers on the Left.  Certain members of my own family seem to have been of the opinion that they could live to extreme old age, and retain the rigors of youth indefinitely if only they maintained a vegan lifestyle and practiced enough of whatever physical discipline they favored.  All of those hippies are now growing old; in the end, their genes are proving to be the greatest determinant of how they age and at what rate.  A few still cling to dreams of immortality, but I am fairly certain that the vast majority have begun to notice the tell-tale signs that Mother Nature gives us as hints that our time is nigh.

When it comes to I.Q.,  stubborn tenacity is still the rule.  Despite all the evidence, the average joe on the street will tell you that nurture is the main determinant of I.Q.  Perhaps this is because, unlike aging, I.Q. does not manifest itself so clearly.  Lower I.Q. people often look just like higher I.Q. people.  I recently wrote about an amazingly intelligent girl and how even the mainstream media seems willing to admit that there might be a genetic component to intelligence in extreme cases of genius.   Perhaps, when it comes to extreme old age, their attitude will be the same.  Everybody agrees that those who die very young almost always do so mainly because of environment.  It might be that even the firmest believers in the dominant role of nurture will agree that genetics must play a vital role in those who live to be 115.  Just as environment tends to do more harm than good when it comes to longevity, so to would it take the leading role in making people retarded – but only a passive role in making a person a genius.  In other words, environment can make a retard.  It can only allow a genius.  It can cause an early death.  It can only allow old age.  When it comes to the good things, environment is most beneficial when it allows desirable genes to express themselves.

We can only guess how long LaLanne would have lived had he eaten twinkies every day, smoked and passed his time on the couch.  But I think the more important question is: would his life had had just as much meaning?  Since physical fitness was what defined LaLanne, there should be no doubt that he chose the right path for himself.

 

Poor British white boys

Countenance recently linked to a UK Telegraph article which states…

By Tim Ross, Social Affairs Editor 3:12PM GMT 03 Jan 2011

By the age of 16, only 23% of white boys eligible for free school meals achieved five or more GCSE exams at grade C or better, in subjects including English and maths.

This was a significantly worse success rate than for all other poor pupils on free school meals, among whom 34% achieved the target of five good grades, which is regarded as the benchmark for further study and employment…

The new analysis of Government data, released by the Conservatives, showed that 61 per cent of the poorest Chinese boys and 42 per cent of Asian boys on free school meals achieved the GCSE target last year. Among black boys, the figure was 34 per cent…

At first blush, this case (if it is being accurately reported) flies in the face of what we know about racial differences and what we have generally seen elsewhere.  Race realists should not sweep such reports under the rug just because they do not fit the usual pattern we have come to expect.  The most logical explanation I can think of, and some at Stormfront have suggested this, is that U.K. schools are so anti-white (and probably anti white male as well) that these white boys are disenfranchised.  Years of oppression have demoralized them to the point where they hardly even try any more.  And why should they?  Their odds of finding a decent job are minimal and they face a life of discrimination – as they watch themselves becoming a minority in their own ancestral lands.

The logical thing to do would be to spend a lot of time with those boys and find out what is really on their minds.  Attention and research should be focused on them; until then, all we can do is guess.  I can already hear my critics asking, “why don’t you suggest doing the same for poor black boys in America then?”  The answer is, of course, that it is normal for black boys (as a group) to perform poorly in academics.  It is not normal for white boys (as a group) to do so.  Everything humanly possible has already been tried in order to improve the performance of black boys and failure has almost always been the outcome.  I say “almost” because there is one method that yields results (but not to the extent that it will erase the racial gap): all-black schools that demand strict discipline and real, solid, learning.  But I am not holding my breath that this will become widespread any time soon.  Those who fancy themselves “liberals” have other plans.

 

Ethiopians in Israel

Stupidity can be found among all races and peoples, even among Jews.  For example, in “Operation Moses” the State of Israel airlifted most of the Ethiopian “Jewish” community to Israel.  This was followed up, several years later, with “Operation Solomon“.  The end result was, of course, a new black underclass within Israel.

Personally, I have nothing against Ethiopians; the few I have known were friendly and refined people.  Many Ethiopian women also happen to be quite attractive (in my opinion); this is due to a generous amount of Eurasian ancestry among the peoples of the Horn of Africa.  Mathilda writes:

Anyway, the gist of these collected DNA studies is that Ethiopians are about 40% Caucasian, and are genetically a little more closely related to Mediterranean Caucasian groups like Berbers and Arabs than Western Africans, as is shown by this twig map. The actual amount of admixture varies from one group to another, but 40% is the average of all these samples.

This is all fine and well.  Unfortunately, it does not help the Ethiopians when it comes to average I.Q.  My opinion is that the Caucasian migrations Mathilda speaks of took place before the increase in non-Negro I.Q.’s.  According to Richard Fuerle, in “Erectus Walks Amongst Us“, there are actually selective pressures in Africa that work against high I.Q.  Either way, today’s Ethiopians rank among the lowest in the world for average I.Q.  According to Richard Lynn, in his book “I.Q. and the Wealth of Nations“, Ethiopia has an average I.Q. of only 63.

While it is possible that the so-called Jews of Ethiopia boast higher I.Q.’s than the gentile population, I am not aware of any such studies.  Even if this is the case, and even accounting for the inevitable increase in their I.Q. due to better education, healthcare and nutrition in Israel, it is still hard to imagine them being able to compete with the Jewish citizens of Israel, whose average I.Q. is 94 (according to Lynn – and accounting for the large non-European population there).

According to The Israeli Association For Ethiopian Jews…

Juvenile delinquency is growing even among children as young as 8 or 9 years old. A woman who runs a program in Beersheva to try to help children in elementary school reports that children are remaining at the malls until all hours, ditching school on a semi-regular basis, and often getting involved in petty crime. She describes this as a pattern that is spreading very quickly and involves 300 children under the age of 14 in Beersheva alone. There are also Ethiopian youth gangs in many of the cities where there is a concentration of immigrants such as Rehovot, Rishon LeZion, Netanya, Beer Sheva, Hadera etc., as well as in Tel Aviv. In neighborhoods with a high concentration of Ethiopian immigrants, we have encountered Israeli criminals actively recruiting Ethiopian youths into drug sales and other criminal activities…

… of nine schools with high concentrations of Ethiopians, there are major gaps in achievement between the Ethiopian-Israeli children and the native Israelis in all the important subjects. In another recent study of six schools, 50% of the Operation Solomon children and 48% of the children whose families came 12 years ago in Operation Moses or before (that means they were probably born here) were judged by their teachers as below their class level in reading comprehension. In comparison, 23% of the native Israeli, non- Ethiopian children were so judged by the teachers. In math, 56% of the Operation Solomon immigrant children and 51% of the Operation Moses children were seen as below class level, as opposed to 21% of the “regular” Israeli children.

And so now we find ourselves, several decades after the airlifts to Israel, with a black underclass in Israel.  Is anybody surprised?  What prompted me to write this post was an appeal I got by email:

I hope the organizers of this campaign see this post; I shall attempt to send it to them.  In any case my answer is “no”.  I shall not throw any of my hard-earned money at a hopeless cause.  50 years from now, they will still be making the same appeals; my guess is that Ethiopian D.N.A. will not have changed much by then.

 

Heritability and the extremes of intelligence

It is difficult to fathom, but some people believe that intelligence is determined strictly by nurture.  These people subscribe to the belief that nature conveniently packaged all its creatures into neat categories and that our category, called “human”, has no meaningful variation when it comes to inherent intelligence.

But even according to the above doctrine, if a person is mentally retarded due to a genetic defect, for example a mongoloid*, then this would be an exception.  Barring genetic defects, all the rest of us are subject only to the accidents of nurture when it comes to the power of our intellect.

What about the other side of the Bell Curve?  A 13 year old Oregon girl, Kristin Qian, is blessed with an intellect most of us could hardly even dream of (from The Oregonian 12/12/2010):

… At one and a half, Kristin learned to read; at two, she had her first solo painting exhibition, at Portland French School.  At three, possessing perfect pitch, she could sing any theme she heard,  At four, she performed in her first violin concert; at five, she won a national piano competition.  The same year, she had her first composition published in a national magazine…

… She won her first local piano competition at eight; at ten, she became the youngest finalist at the Turech International Piano Competition in New York City.  Also at ten, her book of poems and illustrations, “The Silly Monkey World”, was published…

… She teaches violin, speaks six languages and won a Rubik’s Cube contest in sixth grade.  Three years ago, she surprised her parents and dazzled her classmates at Oregon Episcopal School in a pi competition where contestants tried to recite as many digits of the never-ending decimal as they could… After preparing for half an hour, Kristin rattled off 500.

How does she do it? Is it innate?  Genetic?  Nurtured by parents?

Who knows?  Prodigious talent remains a mystery.

Is The Oregonian seriously suggesting that any child can learn to read by age one and a half – if only her parents nurture her the right way?  I nurtured my children very well (so they tell me), but none of them came anywhere close to Kristin.  Perhaps the author of this article, David Stabler, appreciates the absurdity of attributing such genius to good upbringing and, therefore, allows that it might by genetic.  Clearly, Stabler is one of those people I described at the beginning of this post.  In this case, reality threw a real-life ad absurdum objection to his convictions and he wavered.  Still, he would rather leave it “a mystery” than admit the obvious.  Perhaps he realizes that once we admit that genius is hereditary, the genie is out of the bottle and some people might conclude that finer differences in intelligence are also hereditary.  So he would rather let his readers believe that some sort of magical, mystical power is responsible for Kristin’s abilities.

I’ll be the first to admit, I am not as smart as Kristin.  But it is difficult for me to understand how people can believe that genes only influence intelligence at the extremes.  How would they explain this?  Do they claim that anybody with an I.Q. under 70, or over 140 is a product of his genes – but everybody in between must only answer to his environment?  What an odd proposition!  Perhaps, some day, we can ask Kristin herself.

* I find the term “Down’s Syndrome” too negative so I prefer the term “mongoloid”.

 

Sex ratio and average I.Q.

The normal state of affairs, in human society, is for males to compete for females.  The fact that more boys than girls are born (in every society) serves to intensify this competition.  Though there is a tendency for excess boys to die off through war and rivalry, this only underscores the fact the the fittest males tend to be the ones who survive and reproduce.

When we look at world sex ratios, it becomes clear that low ratios (i.e. less of a predominance of boys over girls) are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa.  When examining such tables, it is important to consider the overall size of a population along with age distribution.  For example, Granada only has 90,000 people and Lichtenstein only 34,000.  Furthermore, 12% of the latter’s population is over 65; there are always more females than males amongst the elderly.

In contrast, China is heavily skewed toward males.  My understanding is that this has been the case historically as well.  India, on the other hand has, historically, been more balanced.  Female infanticide was practiced mainly among the higher castes because higher caste females were not permitted to work outside the family.  This was not the case among the lower castes, where women were required to work just like the men.

Sex ratios in Europe are similar to those in sub-Saharan Africa.  It seems to me that the underlying causes are different.  Modern Europe has a low sex ratio because of modernization and gender equality.  Sub-Saharan Africa has a low sex ratio mainly because more girls are born to begin with.  It is known that Medieval Europe (or, at least parts of Europe) had a very high sex ratio, sometimes as high as 253 men for every 100 women.  Some have suggested female infanticide as a possible explanation.

When we look at these historical trends, scant as they are, and compare them to average I.Q.’s, a pattern emerges.  When men have easy access to women over long periods of time, the average I.Q. of that population would fall.  This does not bode well for modern Western society and it goes hand in hand with the backwardness of Africa.

What about American blacks?  Blacks in America do not live in an isolated reproductive community.  If they did, then it is likely that their average I.Q. would match that of sub-Saharan Africa (plus whatever European contribution they happen to have).  Currently there is an artificial premium on black males.  At the same time, countless non-black females are available to them – thus intensifying competition among black females for black males.   Hence there is practically no selective pressure, among American blacks, for higher I.Q. in finding mates.  On the contrary, there is selective pressure for lower I.Q. in reproducing; higher I.Q. blacks will tend to have less children, just like their white and Asian counterparts.

My prediction?  White I.Q.’s are likely to stagnate.  Chinese and Indian I.Q.’s will surge.  American black I.Q. will plummet.  Of course, India is unlikely to maintain its current anti-female practices for long; social unrest might force drastic changes before any I.Q.-boosting evolution can take place.  The same is true for China, except that China has maintained this pattern for centuries, so its higher I.Q. is already a fait accompli.

As for sub-Saharan Africa, things will only get worse.  As more intelligent African men migrate out of Africa, only the dullest will remain – and these remaining men will be like roosters in the hen house.  The only way to prevent such a scenario would be to rapidly make African societies more attractive for successful men.  This can only happen from within.  African leaders have their work cut out for them.

 

“Science” at The Kellog School of Management

Sometimes I am left flabbergasted at what passes for “science” among leftists.

The Kellog School of Management recently did a “study” that was intended to reveal which approach is best in educating children, a) a colorblind approach that de-emphasizes  racial differences and focuses on our similarities or b) an approach that emphasizes diversity and draws attention to inequalities.

The conductor of the research, Evan P. Apfelbaum explains:

“However, our research suggests that exposure to colorblindness can actually reduce individuals’ sensitivity to meaningful racial differences. And as a result, when discrimination does occur, individuals with a colorblind mindset often fail to see it as such.”

In a perfect world, social engineers would not be allowed to experiment on children to test the efficacy of their indoctrination techniques.  But, alas, this is not a perfect world:

In their experiment, the researchers explored the effects of promoting a colorblind approach to diversity among 8- to 11-year-old students. First, students reviewed different versions of a multimedia storybook. Half received a colorblind version and the other half received a version that framed diversity as a value. In both stories, the narrator championed racial justice, but the colorblind version encouraged the minimizing of race-based distinctions, whereas the value-diversity version encouraged readers to embrace these differences.

What did Apfelbaum mean by “discrimination”?  Not surprisingly, it is only white on black discrimination that is considered “discrimination”:

After the storybooks were read, the students listened to three stories featuring varying degrees of racial bias: a control story in which a white child was marginalized by his white schoolmate’s contribution to a school science project; an ambiguous story regarding a white student’s exclusion of a black student from his birthday party; and an explicitly biased story describing a white student’s unprovoked assault of a black student in a soccer game.

Here are some of the assumptions made by the researchers:

1)  One white student marginalizing another white student is not worthy of special concern.  Picking on another child because of his height or freckles is not as serious as picking on him because of his race.

2)  Not inviting a black student to a birthday party could/ should be considered “discrimination” and cause for concern.

3)  An unprovoked attack, by a white student on a black student is certainly due to racism.  The victim cannot simply be a random “wrong place, wrong time” target of aggression.

4)  The perpetrators of (white/black) racial discrimination are always white while the victims are always black.

According to the authors, it is a “decline in sensitivity with severe consequences” when the group that viewed the “colorblind” presentation detected racial discrimination less often than the group that had viewed the “diversity” presentation.  It is left unstated how we know, for a fact, that the latter two hypothetical stories were due to racism.

What we have here might qualify as “research” but only insofar as it is to sharpen the tools of childrens’ indocrination.  The researchers are training children to detect racism in every inconsiderate or violent act perpetrated by whites against non-whites.  It is an example of the early brainwashing of whites to believe that it is more evil to be mean to a black child than to be mean to a white child.  Also, it is an example of the brainwashing of blacks to believe that every slight or misfortune they may suffer in life is the result of racism.  If this is not child abuse, I do not know what is.

When these children get older, the brainwashing continues.  They had already been taught that there are no “random” acts of cruelty against “people of color” by whites – but the newspapers and television teach them that almost every act of cruelty by “people of color” against whites is “random” and “not a hate crime”.  Since they are raised, from an early age, to accept this blatant double standard, most of them will never recognize it for what it is.

Some of them do notice the double standard and suddenly they see it all around them every day.  They notice other things too – like the very Jewish sounding name of the researcher above.  They become angry and they often become radicalized.  It is easy to become radicalized when one suffers constant oppression and no official organs recognize one’s plight.  Unfortunately, becoming radicalized and angry is synonymous with becoming hysterical for many people.  When others see a hysterical person, his views suffer diminished credibility.  Herein lies one of our primary challenges: to remain angry enough to do constructive things – but not so angry that we come across as hysterical.