Thread by @CathyYoung63

A few words about criticisms of my @arcdigi essay on the problems with race-difference discourse (and specifically Charles Murray's recent commentary). I can't respond to each comment individually, but here are some general points.

cathy.arcdigital.media/p/the-reality-…

1. Do I dispute that there are currently substantial disparities between racial groups in America in crime rates and (average) cognitive skills? I think my article makes it clear I don't dispute that. I've *discussed* differences in crime rates in my articles on race & policing.

I make the point that there are plenty of people who have discussed these problems (including @JohnHMcWhorter, @coldxman, etc.) without portraying these differences as intractable & probably genetic in origin.

FWIW, I also don't think the denial of racial gaps in crime rates is nearly as widespread in the mainstream media as Murray's supporters claim. One person sent me 3 links yesterday to articles saying crime stats are unreliable... but NONE of them were about racial demographics!

In fact, this is what I say at the end of my piece, so I think it should be pretty clear where I stand, no?

It's also been suggested that I'm expecting Murray & other mainstream-ish advocates of normalizing race/IQ/criminality discourse to condemn and repudiate every racist person they've ever known (b/c I say it's not enough to just generically condemn racism).

Yeah, no.

I'm NOT saying that if you write on race & intelligence and declare in general terms that suggesting some racial groups are inferior is abhorrent, you must publicly denounce your cousin who tells racist jokes or your high school pal who thinks Obama should go back to Africa.

Rather, my point is that when some other prominent advocates of "human variation" inquiries conjoin that advocacy with open & disgusting racism, & when most of that discourse (in social media at least) is infested with racist crap ... yes, you do need to repudiate that.

And if you treat such individuals as colleagues on *that specific issue* (not just, say, friends with whom you share an interested in baseball or, I don't know, Broadway musicals or stamp collecting), then, yeah, people will conclude you don't abhor their racism that much.

Again: as I say in my piece, Murray specifically says in his book that both the left & the right need to repudiate their extremists. I agree! Maybe people who are interested in biology and IQ can do the same!

So, those are the main points. Also, if you're going to tell me that racist ideas about race, crime & IQ show why we need critical race theory - nah, we're quite capable of critiquing racist ideas without it. Classical liberalism rocks. 🙂 /FIN