Debating an intelligent racist
Posted: 2009-11-22 10:48pm
So I got into a surprisingly civil and intelligent conversation on Youtube with this guy who insists that the evidence indicates that, on average, black people are less intelligent than people of other races, even when accounting for socioeconomic status. His first exchange with me had to do with black SAT scores in the US, and how white peope's average scores were consistentely higher, even when comparing low-income whites to middle-class blacks. Ironically, one of his own links offered an explanation that didn't involve genetics. Rather, it blames African American culture for stigmatizing academically inclined black students as "oreos" and "Uncle Tom's". Now, I'm not entirely satisfied with this explanation, but it is something that is discussed seriously in the black community, polarizing as it may be (maybe some of you know how unpopular Bill Cosby has become for espousing some of these ideas). Anyways, I pointed this out, and he naturally resorted to an Appeal to Motive, saying that Professor Graglia only said that because the liberal PC elite would've shut him down if he had even mentioned genetics.
As the discussion moved on, he referenced The Bell Curve. I, in turn, referenced its numerous criticisms by Stephen Jay Gould, C. Loring Brace, and others. Now I noticed in Wikipedia that an updated version of the book has been published by Charles Murray, which is supposed to establish a conclusive link between IQ and socioeconomic success. I didn't see any specific rebuttals to it, but as an amateur, it didn't seem to address any of the criticisms leveled at the previous book. For one thing, the validity of the IQ test has never truly been established, though it's reliability is beyond doubt. Still, the fact that no one has addressed it bothers me, is it sound science?
My opponent also referenced the lack of technological process "black" or African civilizations have experienced. Luckily, I've read Guns, Germs, and Steel more than once, and am more prepared to deal with this.
He says that I'm starting from the default assumption that all races are of equal intelligence, and that I'm finding data to support this conclusion, rather than drawing the obvious conclusion from the available data. Essentially he's shifting the burden of proof to me. My response is going to be that the default assumption IS that we're all equally intelligent because we're all the same species, we're all relatively homogeneous, and time we've had to diverge from our common African ancestor probably isn't enough to result in a significant difference in our heritable intellect.
The only other thread I could find with a quick search on this subject seemed to end (abruptly) with the conclusion that there MAY in fact be a difference in the average intelligence of races, all external factors accounted for. I feel that the data don't support that, but I'm an amateur, so I ask: should I amend my position, and are my responses logically and scientifically sound?
As the discussion moved on, he referenced The Bell Curve. I, in turn, referenced its numerous criticisms by Stephen Jay Gould, C. Loring Brace, and others. Now I noticed in Wikipedia that an updated version of the book has been published by Charles Murray, which is supposed to establish a conclusive link between IQ and socioeconomic success. I didn't see any specific rebuttals to it, but as an amateur, it didn't seem to address any of the criticisms leveled at the previous book. For one thing, the validity of the IQ test has never truly been established, though it's reliability is beyond doubt. Still, the fact that no one has addressed it bothers me, is it sound science?
My opponent also referenced the lack of technological process "black" or African civilizations have experienced. Luckily, I've read Guns, Germs, and Steel more than once, and am more prepared to deal with this.
He says that I'm starting from the default assumption that all races are of equal intelligence, and that I'm finding data to support this conclusion, rather than drawing the obvious conclusion from the available data. Essentially he's shifting the burden of proof to me. My response is going to be that the default assumption IS that we're all equally intelligent because we're all the same species, we're all relatively homogeneous, and time we've had to diverge from our common African ancestor probably isn't enough to result in a significant difference in our heritable intellect.
The only other thread I could find with a quick search on this subject seemed to end (abruptly) with the conclusion that there MAY in fact be a difference in the average intelligence of races, all external factors accounted for. I feel that the data don't support that, but I'm an amateur, so I ask: should I amend my position, and are my responses logically and scientifically sound?