*âSomething likeâ= if you substitute âall there isâ with âa major cause, which makes some standard albeit controversial ways of targeting racial inequality fail a cost/âbenefit test that they might otherwise pass.
**Full quote: âEveryone is so circumspect when talking about race that I can never figure out what anyone actually knows or believes. Still, I think most people would at least be aware of the following counterargument: suppose youâre the math department at a college. You might like to have the same percent black as the general population (13%). But far fewer than 13% (letâs say 2%) of good math PhDs are black. So itâs impossible for every math department to hire 13% black math professors unless they lower their standards or take some other drastic measure.
Okay, says our hypothetical opponent. Then that means math grad programs are discriminating against blacks. Fine, theyâre the ones we should be investigating for civil rights violations.
No, say the math grad programs, fewer than 13% of our applicants are black too.
Fine, then the undergrad programs are the racists. Or if they can prove theyâre not, then the high schools are racist and we should do busing. The point is, somebody somewhere along the line has to be racist, right?
I know of four common, non-exclusive answers to this question.
Yes, the high schools (or whatever) are racist. And if you can present a study proving that high schools arenât racist, then itâs the elementary schools. And if you have a study there too, itâs the obstetricians, giving black mothers worse pregnancy care. If you have a study disproving that too, why are you collecting all these studies? Hey, maybe youâre the racist!
Maybe institutions arenât too racist today, but thereâs a lot of legacy of past racism, and that means black people are poor. And poor people have fewer opportunities and do worse in school. If you have a study showing that black people do worse even when controlled for income, then maybe itâs some other kind of capital, like educational capital or social capital. If you have studies about those too, see above.
Black people have a bad culture. Something something shoes and rap music, trying hard at school gets condemned as âacting whiteâ. They should hold out for a better culture. I hear nobodyâs using ancient Sumerian culture these days, maybe they can use that one.
White people have average IQ 100, black people have average IQ 85, this IQ difference accurately predicts the different proportions of whites and blacks in most areas, most IQ differences within race are genetic, maybe across-race ones are genetic too. I love Hitler and want to marry him.
None of these are great options, and I think most people work off some vague cloud of all of these and squirm if you try to make them get too specific. I donât exactly blame Hanania for not taking a strong stand here. Itâs just strange to assume civil rights law is bad and unnecessary without having any opinion on whether any of this is true, whether civil rights law is supposed to counterbalance it, and whether it counterbalances it a fair amount.
A cynic might notice that in February of this year, Hanania wrote Shut Up About Race And IQ. He says that the people who talk about option 4 are âwrong about fundamental questions regarding things like how people form their political opinions, what makes for successful movements, and even their own motivations.â A careful reader might notice what he doesnât describe them as being wrong about. The rest of the piece almost-but-not-quite-explicitly clarifies his position: I read him as saying that race realism is most likely true, but you shouldnât talk about it, because it scares people.
(*Iâm generally against âcalling people outâ for believing in race realism*. I think people should be allowed to hide beliefs that theyâd get punished for not hiding. I sympathize with some of these positions and place medium probability on some weak forms of them. I think Hanania is open enough about where heâs coming from that this review doesnât count as a callout.)
Scott seems not unsympathetic to something like* that step here**, though he stops short of clear endorsement: https://ââwww.astralcodexten.com/ââp/ââbook-review-the-origins-of-woke I think this is a dangerous path to go down.
*âSomething likeâ= if you substitute âall there isâ with âa major cause, which makes some standard albeit controversial ways of targeting racial inequality fail a cost/âbenefit test that they might otherwise pass.
**Full quote:
âEveryone is so circumspect when talking about race that I can never figure out what anyone actually knows or believes. Still, I think most people would at least be aware of the following counterargument: suppose youâre the math department at a college. You might like to have the same percent black as the general population (13%). But far fewer than 13% (letâs say 2%) of good math PhDs are black. So itâs impossible for every math department to hire 13% black math professors unless they lower their standards or take some other drastic measure.
Okay, says our hypothetical opponent. Then that means math grad programs are discriminating against blacks. Fine, theyâre the ones we should be investigating for civil rights violations.
No, say the math grad programs, fewer than 13% of our applicants are black too.
Fine, then the undergrad programs are the racists. Or if they can prove theyâre not, then the high schools are racist and we should do busing. The point is, somebody somewhere along the line has to be racist, right?
I know of four common, non-exclusive answers to this question.
Yes, the high schools (or whatever) are racist. And if you can present a study proving that high schools arenât racist, then itâs the elementary schools. And if you have a study there too, itâs the obstetricians, giving black mothers worse pregnancy care. If you have a study disproving that too, why are you collecting all these studies? Hey, maybe youâre the racist!
Maybe institutions arenât too racist today, but thereâs a lot of legacy of past racism, and that means black people are poor. And poor people have fewer opportunities and do worse in school. If you have a study showing that black people do worse even when controlled for income, then maybe itâs some other kind of capital, like educational capital or social capital. If you have studies about those too, see above.
Black people have a bad culture. Something something shoes and rap music, trying hard at school gets condemned as âacting whiteâ. They should hold out for a better culture. I hear nobodyâs using ancient Sumerian culture these days, maybe they can use that one.
White people have average IQ 100, black people have average IQ 85, this IQ difference accurately predicts the different proportions of whites and blacks in most areas, most IQ differences within race are genetic, maybe across-race ones are genetic too. I love Hitler and want to marry him.
None of these are great options, and I think most people work off some vague cloud of all of these and squirm if you try to make them get too specific. I donât exactly blame Hanania for not taking a strong stand here. Itâs just strange to assume civil rights law is bad and unnecessary without having any opinion on whether any of this is true, whether civil rights law is supposed to counterbalance it, and whether it counterbalances it a fair amount.
A cynic might notice that in February of this year, Hanania wrote Shut Up About Race And IQ. He says that the people who talk about option 4 are âwrong about fundamental questions regarding things like how people form their political opinions, what makes for successful movements, and even their own motivations.â A careful reader might notice what he doesnât describe them as being wrong about. The rest of the piece almost-but-not-quite-explicitly clarifies his position: I read him as saying that race realism is most likely true, but you shouldnât talk about it, because it scares people.
(*Iâm generally against âcalling people outâ for believing in race realism*. I think people should be allowed to hide beliefs that theyâd get punished for not hiding. I sympathize with some of these positions and place medium probability on some weak forms of them. I think Hanania is open enough about where heâs coming from that this review doesnât count as a callout.)
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