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From: markrose@spss.com (Mark Rosenfelder)
Subject: Re: RACE and IQ 
Message-ID: <CypFo4.G1H@spss.com>
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References: <Pine.SOL.3.90.941026002730.9817D-100000@cslab5c> <CyKHDG.Fnr@festival.ed.ac.uk> <CyL27G.ty@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> <CynMHo.4J4@festival.ed.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 1994 18:36:03 GMT
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In article <CynMHo.4J4@festival.ed.ac.uk>,
Chris Malcolm <cam@castle.ed.ac.uk> wrote:
>What I am interested in, is that given the extreme unlikelihood that
>there are no differences, why are so many people so upset by the idea
>that there might be? Nobody seems to be much upset about whether there
>are differences in disease susceptibility, height, weight, etc., and
>seem quite content to let research uncover the details and supply the
>answers.

People get upset because certain scholars (e.g. in the last century)
used to claim that they had discovered differences in intelligence between
the races; and these claims were used by racists to justify the continuing
oppression of the "inferior" races.  

>Note too that even the most extreme of the claimed differences in
>average IQ falls far enough within the variation between individuals
>as to be of no utility in making judgements about individuals.

Yes, *you* understand this point; but does the same hold for most employers,
legislators, teachers, and judges?  

There is still an enormous amount of racism in the US, and any "scientific"
findings of differences between the races would be certain to be abused.
