

An Intelligence Test - chad_oliver
http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=4270

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kaeluka
It IS racist. The statistical approach is fine but things like: "Do not act
the Good Samaritan to blacks in apparent distress, e.g., on the highway." are
racist: Doing good for people I don't know very rarely pays off, no matter if
towards white or black. Then, on the few links I clicked was anecdotal
evidence, no statistics. Talking about a statistical approach and then backing
it up is manipulative which makes it racist in this case.

Based on the assumption that the author does not tell his kids to not help
whites: yup, racist. There would be several indicators that influence that
decision that are ignored here, like: is it a man or a woman? Is it a family?
What car do they drive? How are they dressed? ...

I repeat: using a statistical approach is very fine with me -- prejudices are
heuristics. It's important to know what your prejudices are and where they
come from; and it's very important to have diverse friends; the more cultures
you have in your circle of friends the more you can learn from them, the more
they can learn from you.

Earlier today, there was an article talking about how often German police uses
guns against people (84 bullets a year, I believe) and that American uses more
bullets on some chases alone.

Should I think that Americans have it 'in their blood' and not help them out
in cases of emergencies?

Nope, I will not.

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smoyer
I'd like to see the statistics backing some of his points, but what about
those of us that fail on purpose? Isn't the only way to improve the remaining
racial divide to ignore race altogether? That's what I attempt to do and I
refuse to a) apologize for it and b) refuse to believe that I'm an idiot
because one person says so.

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robertskmiles
This is really a rationality test, not an intelligence test.

And I 'failed', because I answered Yes to question 4. By the common usage of
the word 'racist', John Derbyshire is pretty clearly a racist. Though that of
course has no bearing on the truth or falsehood of the statements in this
article.

~~~
jonnathanson
_"This is really a rationality test, not an intelligence test."_

Yes. This seems to be a test of your ability to gauge, be aware of, and
override your first emotional reactions to material. That process, which is
driven primarily by the prefrontal cortex within the brain, is correlated with
intelligence -- but it is not the sole basis of intelligence.

 _"...I answered Yes to question 4."_

Questions 4 and 5 are the most problematic on the "test," precisely because
they require us to make or withhold judgments based on something we can't
verify: what John believes about race, what motivated him to write the
article, etc.

John Derbyshire is still likely to be a racist _even if every statistic he
cited is true_ , just as it's possible for him to be a racist if nothing he
cited is true. Labeling him a racist, or not a racist, is our best attempt at
guessing his views on race based on the text he's written. Arriving at the
conclusion that he _is_ racist, based solely on reading his text, is fairly
rational -- regardless of whether or not we're open-minded w/r/t to what his
article says, and regardless of whether or not we consider the label of
"racist" to be a good, neutral, or bad thing.

I suppose the answer that the author wants us to arrive at for Question 4 is
"We can't know for sure." And, while that's true in some respects, the
available evidence points us in a direction that we'd be silly to disregard.

~~~
robertskmiles
Right, that's a pretty accurate clarification of my position. The implicit
assumption in question 4 is that people will be unwilling to apply the label
'racist' to a position they believe to be true.

Here I get to quote Paul Graham[1]:

" _In every period of history, there seem to have been labels that got applied
to statements to shoot them down before anyone had a chance to ask if they
were true or not._ "

[1]: <http://paulgraham.com/say.html>

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chris_wot
I read the article referenced by esr. One of the few times I get to do this
again, but [citation needed].

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gavinpc
Dear sir, my children are black. Should my wife and I arrange to leave our
home? My concern is that we are nonblack.

I also wonder where we should take refuge, and where should they?

O, rationality, thou art a hard master!

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sajid
An IQ test which blacks are guaranteed to fail. Oh, the irony...

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jhrobert
Change "black" into "non jew" and see how it works. This is definitely racist
stuff, no question about it, disgusting (intelligence is also a matter of
"taste").

