Mike answers “Why is Charles Murray's white nationalist...”

Kfreed asked this question about The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life:

Why is Charles Murray's white nationalist book so intriguing to some people? The man preaches Nazi-style eugenics for Pete's sake: Southern Poverty Law Center: "Charles Murray has become one of the most influential social scientists in America, using racist pseudoscience and misleading statistics to argue that social inequality is caused by the genetic inferiority..." https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extrem

Mike I would argue (contra some here) that while follow on studies have confirmed some of the book's points in a narrow sense, they've shown that the more …moreI would argue (contra some here) that while follow on studies have confirmed some of the book's points in a narrow sense, they've shown that the more speculative findings are unsupported. For example, I would argue that subsequent research suggests that the heritability of IQ seems to be somewhat lower than they thought and that that undermines several of their arguments. But the SPLC is an illiberal, anti-intellectual hate group that deserves the disrespect of any person of good will or normal mental capacity.... They think that they're fit to act as the nation's censors when they can't even figure out what the word "group" means (hint: an individual can't be one).

If you think that Murray is wrong (and I do on some core conclusions), you should make that case. Shouting "bigot!" and accusing him of preaching "Nazi-style eugenics" (when, in fact, he leans closer to advocating "benevolent" paternalism) is silly and unhelpful.

It's also possible to disagree with some of his points and to still get some value from the book. While I have a few problems with his methodology (starting with his use of the AFQT as a metric) and with his argument (with IQ heritability on the lowest end he claimed to consider, it's not at all obvious that race is significantly correlated with the genetic component of IQ), the book, which, in light of my complaints, I found mediocre, did make me consider his point that it might be unfair to arrange society in such a manner that those with lower intelligence are consigned to misery. He argues compellingly for that point, and regardless of how much of IQ is determined by genes, prenatal development, early childhood exposure, etc., that part seems to hold.(less)

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