April 20, 2018

"Free advice for any pol who has to visit the Holocaust Museum to prove he's not anti-Semitic: Just assume the Nazis are the bad guys in all the exhibits."

Jonathan Chait, quoted in "Anti-semitic 'Jews control the weather' DC lawmaker makes a disastrous 'conciliatory' visit to the Holocaust museum which sees him DEFEND the Nazis and then leave early" (Daily Mail).

90 comments:

mockturtle said...

Why would this surprise anyone? Remember Jesse Jackson? Leftist blacks have long been Jew-haters which makes it all the more puzzling that liberal Jews kowtow to their radical agenda.

Michael K said...

The anti-Semitism of American blacks is an old old story.

My theory is that, in the days of black ghettos in big cities in the North, most shops were run by Jews who were the small businessmen the blacks saw every day. They resented this and thought the Jews cheated them. This was rarely the case and could have been solved by blacks opening their own shops but that just didn't happen.

Now, in Los Angeles, most shops in black areas are run by Koreans and they are hated by blacks.

Drago said...

We have much to learn from our democrat party betters.

Drago said...

Just a quick note: Al Sharpton already possesses significant urban anti-Jewish combat operations experience and no doubt stands ready to fill the "gaps" that exist in this nation due to (currently) lack of adequate islamic immigration.

Oso Negro said...

Has anyone visited the Holodomor Museum in Washington? How about the Rwanda Museum? The Killing Fields Museum? Great Leap Forward Museum?

rhhardin said...

The Nazis were running on basic human decencies, love for family, kindness to animals, and so forth. A basic Democrat platform.

Evil is not so easily spotted as normal adult culture assumes.

Who is doing the intellectual work to spot evil today.

JPS said...

"The anti-Semitism of American blacks is an old old story."

In some respects I've led an oddly sheltered life. I was in my thirties before I encountered any face-to-face, calm-spoken hostility to Jews (as opposed to some stereotypical remark or trolling graffiti). An NCO's favorite term of contempt was "f^&*ing Jew," which he generally applied to someone not at all Jewish. The third time I heard it I inquired amiably,

"Got a problem with Jews, Sergeant ___?"

"Oh yeah, sir, they mad evil. Always stealin', cheatin' people."

I glared at him for a beat. "That'll be all, Sergeant. Oh, and your situational awareness sucks."

We ended up good friends.

Oso Negro said...

I would like a tax-payer funded Museum of the Failures of Socialism. Whadya think?

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

In his defence, his ignorance is hardly surprising these days. Don't know how old this clown is but the events of WWII are not nearly as central to the frame of reference of the generations that have succeeded the Boomers. Which is why you have brownshirts describing themselves as "Antifa" with a straight face.

Gahrie said...

Fake news. I've been assured that Blacks can't be racist.

YoungHegelian said...

It was naive to think that Councilman White's invincible ignorance could be penetrated by attendance at a seder & a quick trip through the Holocaust Museum.

Mr. White has worked long & hard to be that thick, & he's not going to give it up without a fight.

As pointed out by multiple posters above, anyone who finds such blatant antisemitism surprising among the American black community just hasn't been paying attention since, ohhhhh, about 1968. The numbers in the polls on blacks & antisemitism haven't changed much since then.

Howard said...

Sammy Davis Jr. rolling his eye

mockturtle said...

JPS, I'm not sure when you were in your thirties but was the term 'sucks' commonly used then?

Quaestor said...

How can someone old than 9 years ask whether the Warsaw Ghetto was comparable to a "gated community"? I'll wager that "aide" to Trayon White can discourse at length about important subjects like NBA stats and the American Music Awards, but what else?

Sometimes it's obvious why African-Americans are perpetually at the bottom of the socio-economic heap.

There! I said it.

Drago said...

Howard: "Sammy Davis Jr. rolling his eye"

In Sammy Voice: Hey man, that brutha is meshuga!

JPS said...

mockturtle,

"JPS, I'm not sure when you were in your thirties but was the term 'sucks' commonly used then?"

In the post-Beavis-and-Butthead era....

Anthony said...

Blogger Oso Negro said...
I would like a tax-payer funded Museum of the Failures of Socialism. Whadya think?


Can't think of a museum big enough to fit it.

J. Farmer said...

Regarding anti-semitism among blacks, one potential cause could be that Jews are a living refutation of the social justice ethos. Despite facing huge disruptions in Europe, Jews have remained an extraordinarily successful ethnic group. And this is likely related to higher mean IQ scores among Jews. This also explains, to a degree, the varied conspiracy theories about Jewish control of the world. Thinks to their outsized achievements and the meritocratic system we built in the first half of the 20th century, Jewish people are disproportionately represented among the elites.

tcrosse said...

I would like a tax-payer funded Museum of the Failures of Socialism. Whadya think?

It's Venezuela. Open every day.

Ken B said...

Trayon White is a Life Long Jew.

Big Mike said...

American Jews support people who support people who want them dead. I’m sure that as they’re being herded onto cattle cars by their Democrat brethren they’ll still be blaming the #%*&-ing Republicans.

Rob said...

Let it be noted that Trayon White graduated magna cum laude from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. It should have been Lawdy how come.

robother said...

Councilman Trayon White left the 90 minute tour early for a meeting, but was observed walking around outside the museum aimlessly. Meanwhile his aide was saving the day inside, describing the Warsaw Ghetto as a gated community. You almost have to wonder if this whole thing isn't a Hotep Jesus- style trolling of the whole caustic thing.

Ken B said...

Hardin and Farmer win the thread for the bravest and most thoughtful comments.

Quaestor said...

And this is likely related to higher mean IQ scores among Jews.

And more importantly, a culture that emphasizes family life and achievement above all. For generations, since the days of LBJ's "anti-poverty" programs, African-American culture (strongly abetted by government and academia) has been the polar negation of Jewish culture.

Sebastian said...

"Just assume the Nazis are the bad guys in all the exhibits." There he goes again, asserting white privilege in telling blacks what to think.

How many blacks think the world would be a better place if the Nazis had been a tad more thorough?

Fabi said...

"Meanwhile his aide was saving the day inside, describing the Warsaw Ghetto as a gated community."

His situational awareness also sucks.

rcocean said...

Who's the bigger victim the Jews or the Blacks?

Lets hear your arguments.

rcocean said...

When victim groups fight over victimhood, its bound to be bloody.

And whiny.

rcocean said...

And full of self-pity.

Quaestor said...

Are those who suffer self-inflicted wounds victims? Asking for a friend.

Michael K said...

And this is likely related to higher mean IQ scores among Jews.

Somewhat but I agree also with Quaestor:


And this is likely related to higher mean IQ scores among Jews.

And more importantly, a culture that emphasizes family life and achievement above all.


This is very characteristic of Orthodox Jews and Reform Jews might be running an experiment to see if adopting left wing culture would affect this. Probably not as their high IQ probably also tells them that Bourgeois Culture is safer.

Murray has also pointed this out. The "Elites" tend to adopt Bourgeois Culture, no matter than they tell the proles to do otherwise.

SDaly said...

Western Jews are going to be very surprised that all of the new immigrants don't give a rat's ass about the Holocaust.

mockturtle said...

Ken B reminds us: Trayon White is a Life Long Jew.

That's right! I keep forgetting. ;-)

J. Farmer said...

@Quaestor:

And more importantly, a culture that emphasizes family life and achievement above all.

I think that is possibly in the mix, but I'm beginning to think it is a bit overemphasized. While virtually all complex traits are some combination of heredity and environment, the "environment" that seems to matter is the absence of severe deprivation, such as extreme trauma or malnourishment. I think Northeast Asians have a culture that tends to emphasize family and success, and they are nowhere near as disproportionately represented comparable to their numbers.

Murray has also pointed this out. The "Elites" tend to adopt Bourgeois Culture, no matter than they tell the proles to do otherwise.

Amy Wax, too, used to remark on this by saying that elites "talked the 60s and lived the 50s."

readering said...

Why did I just know this post would attract all kinds of weird shit?

Fernandinande said...

J. Farmer said...
Regarding anti-semitism among blacks, one potential cause could be that Jews are a living refutation of the social justice ethos.


The stress of their ancestors has been passed down via "epigenetics", which basically means they're running on damaged DNA - thru no fault of their own.

Despite facing huge disruptions in Europe, Jews have remained an extraordinarily successful ethnic group. And this is likely related to higher mean IQ scores among Jews.

Despite their awful DNA, I've heard that there are even some Jewish physicists, and the most famous one has been on TV quite often because he's so smart.

Howard said...

This is your daily Altpost where Trumpsters feel free to express their generic superiority to Blacks. Dronald's con is sustained on teh inferiority cuckplex of deplorables.

Fernandinande said...

J. Farmer said...
While virtually all complex traits are some combination of heredity and environment, the "environment" that seems to matter is the absence of severe deprivation, such as extreme trauma or malnourishment.


That's a fact which has been approached asymptotically, namely as slowly and with as much resistance as possible.

Check out Steve Hsu's posts on genomics, recently e.g. "The Genetics of Human Behavior", and genetic engineering, recently "Outlier selection via noisy genomic predictors", something he worked on with BGI (China), where the "outliers" are high IQ.

In case I was unclear, as often happens, my previous post was sarcasm.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

That councilmember's ignorance was astounding. What do kids learn about WW2 in school now? He never heard of the Warsaw Ghetto?

Gahrie said...

This is your daily Altpost where Trumpsters feel free to express their generic superiority to Blacks.

And inferiority to Asians and Jews......

David said...

" He never heard of the Warsaw Ghetto?"

Far from alone in that.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

This is your daily Altpost where Trumpsters feel free to express their generic superiority to Blacks.

Sounds like projection. You're the only one alluding to inferiority, so it must be a complex you are afflicted with. Because it is quite racist to overlook such ignorance and asininity among ELECTED OFFICIALS just because he's black. You're like the Obama programs which urge us to go easy, just because they're black. Or to pass them to the next grade, just because they're black. Or with the man himself, to vote just because he's black.

How does that help anyone succeed?

gspencer said...

Maybe if the good rabbi and the descriptions next to the Museum's pictures had used Ebonics the councilor would have understood. (I know, I know. Presumes ability to read.)

What's frightening, seriously frightening, is that he is the pinnacle reflection point of the stupidity of his "constituents."

Krumhorn said...

In the entertainment biz, it’s not at all uncommon for the most vocal leftie Jews to tell schwartze jokes in private. The outward, publicly visible leftie politics is often thought to be an inoculation against retribution when the next pogrom propelled by the inevitable uprising of the lower economic classes passes through Bel-Air, Holmby Hills, and Beverly Hills. Surely this disdain, condescension, and hypocrisy is palpable to the cook, driver, housekeeper, gardener, politician, and clergy.

If I were black, I would greatly prefer the company of a Strom Thurmond who I would, at least understand, to a WME agent, actress, studio head, or producer who loudly donates to leftie causes and thinks that he or she has bought some peace...and luv.

- Krumhorn

Ralph L said...

The Daily Mail often covers American news the natives won't, plus you get all that FEMAIL.

An epigram from my grandmother's youth in the South was "Your town isn't prosperous until it gets its first Jew."

I'm still not sure which is chicken and which is egg, but I hope it was said as a (backhanded) compliment and not a slur.

In the Thirties, my father's hometown had 3 Catholics and my mother's 1--who'd been ex-communicated for marrying a Protestant. NC was 98% Protestant in 1900.

Rusty said...

Howard said...
"This is your daily Altpost where Trumpsters feel free to express their generic superiority to Blacks. Dronald's con is sustained on teh inferiority cuckplex of deplorables."

Oy vey!

AllenS said...

I've known a shit load of black people, and I can say this: blacks are the most racist people that you'll ever meet. Blacks From Africa only wish for a better life, and will work, work, and work some more to reach that goal.

Boo, on Trayon The Black Crayon From America Who Ain't Got A Clue.

rcocean said...

"Your town isn't prosperous until it gets its first Jew."

Yeah, the South has always loved Jewish people.

Judah Benjamin was Jeff Davis' Best friend forever. And another Jewish guy was a US and Confederate Senator from Florida. There are a couple Jewish Confederate Colonels too, maybe a General. But from looking at TV, Movies, and Politics - the love seems unrequited.

rcocean said...

Strom Thurmond couldn't wait to get a crack at those Nazi Bastards and parachuted in Normandy in June 1944 -at the age of 42.

Didn't do him much good with the ADL or National Jewish Groups.

Rumpletweezer said...

I predict White gets the next statue erected to a city official in Washington.

fivewheels said...

A significant word missing from this account: Democrat.

Sal said...

He doesn't need advice. All he has to do to get elected by DC blacks in perpetuity is to talk like a racist.

Chuck said...


Well, somebody's got to control the weather, right? I think Tom Steyer should control it. He's got a lot of good ideas. And he was a very successful businessman.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Howard said:

"This is your daily Altpost where Trumpsters feel free to express their generic superiority to Blacks."

Howard, if a GOP Congressman from Alabama made similarly stupid remarks, I am positive liberals would feel free to express their genetic superiority to inbred rednecks.

The guy made ignorant comments, but everyone should just ignore them because he's black?

rcocean said...

Howard, if a GOP Congressman...

You always take the bait. Don't feed the trolls.

Not that I expect you to stop.

Balfegor said...

Re: rcocean:

Yeah, the South has always loved Jewish people.

Judah Benjamin was Jeff Davis' Best friend forever. And another Jewish guy was a US and Confederate Senator from Florida. There are a couple Jewish Confederate Colonels too, maybe a General. But from looking at TV, Movies, and Politics - the love seems unrequited.


"Loved" is too strong, I think . . . It's more that Southern gentiles have been comfortable with Jews since Independence, while Northern gentiles were generally hostile up until some time in the 20th century. I think, though, that the denouement to Judah Benjamin's illustrious career as a US Senator, and then variously Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State of the Confederacy -- i.e. that while everyone else (even David Levy, the Floridian Senator to whom I think you allude) took their lumps and served time in prison for rebellion, Benjamin successfully made it to England where he earned a comfortable living as a lawyer -- probably did not inspire much fondness in his former colleagues.

Balfegor said...

There's a late-19th century (I think?) epic poem touching on the American Civil War. It includes an episode depicting the Confederate cabinet, and that episode employs some classic anti-Semitic imagery in discussing Benjamin. Trying to remember the name -- does anyone recall the poem I'm talking about? It is an exceedingly long and rather dull poem, but it was considered a classic of American literature at one time, I believe.

William said...

Those were some comically stupid remarks. You'll hear them here for a day or two, but then they're gone. No late night comedian will do a riff on them.......I don't know if Jews are all that smart. Donald Trump worked in their midst for fifty years. He's one of the dumbest men alive and yet he was able to mask his virulent anti-semitism from them for all those years.

William said...

How long did it take for the Russian Jews to catch on that the Soviet Union was not such a great place for Jews?

mockturtle said...

Krumhorn admits: If I were black, I would greatly prefer the company of a Strom Thurmond who I would, at least understand, to a WME agent, actress, studio head, or producer who loudly donates to leftie causes and thinks that he or she has bought some peace...and luv.

Conversely, in his last gubernatorial race, George Wallace won 90% of the black vote. It should be noted that Wallace wasn't really a racist but adopted the segregationist platform for political reasons. He later apologized to blacks for his rhetoric.

mockturtle said...

Harry Truman was a champion of Israel in large part because of his close friendship with Jewish businessman Eddie Jacobson.

J. Farmer said...

@Howard:

This is your daily Altpost where Trumpsters feel free to express their generic superiority to Blacks. Dronald's con is sustained on teh inferiority cuckplex of deplorables.

Do you consider people that are smarter than you "superior" to you? Do you consider those less smart as you "inferior" to you? Intelligence is not some global assessment of worth or value. It is a measure of a specific set of cognitive skills. Any human being deserves to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of ability. But it does no good to bury your head in the sand and pretend that group differences do not exist. And speaking of which, describing a group is never the same thing as describing any individual person. Any rational person would judge another person on their individual character and merit and not on their identity traits. There are obviously many black people that are smarter than many white people. That there exists a black-white gap in the distribution of IQ scores remains a fact.

Now think for a second, if this wall cooked up "pseudoscience" in support of white supremacy, why would East Asians and Ashkenazi Jews (two groups not especially favored among white supremacists) show up at the higher end of the distribution? Consider a counterexample. A non-cognitive one. Look at the disproportionate representation of black men in professional sports such as football and basketball. I think there is a good case to be made for an at least partially genetic explanation for this disparity. By pointing that out, am I thereby asserting that blacks are superior to whites? Obviously not. I am pointing out that within certain skill sets, there are gaps in the distribution of abilities.

Why is it likely that there is an at least partially genetic explanation? Because of basic Darwinian notions. The ancestors of whites and the ancestors of blacks come from radically different environments, and these environments obviously placed different selective pressures, resulting in genetic changes whose effects reverberate to the present day.

William said...

According to the McCullough biography, Truman was in partnership with Jacobson but never once invited him to his house. Truman and FDR both used racial slurs when referring to Jews, but they were Democrats. So no big deal. I think many Democrats are now willing to admit that Woodrow Wilson was even more racist than other people of his era. That's the lag time to admit to a moral flaw in a Democrat--about one hundred years. In another fifty years, we'll see another movie about Ted Kennedy.

rcocean said...

Judah Benjamin wasn't particularly liked by anyone in the Confederate Government - except Jefferson Davis.

Davis was always loyal - too loyal - to his friends. Judah had no qualifications to be Secretary of War - but Davis appointed him anyway, and when he failed, gave him a post as Secretary of State.

From what I can gather, he was a "Yes Man" - a kind of Lindsey Graham type with Davis being John McCain. At the end of war, he was reinforcing Davis' delusion that the war should go on - and the South could win - even after Lee surrendered. He then bugged out and went to England, where he mysteriously got around all the red tape and admitted to the English Bar in record time. And never looked back.

He also seems to have shipped some Cotton to England during the war on his own account. And had a tidy sum waiting for him when he got there.

rcocean said...

Peeps in the Old South weren't happy he left for England, but why should he have stayed and suffered?

J. Farmer said...

@William:

I think many Democrats are now willing to admit that Woodrow Wilson was even more racist than other people of his era.

Racist though he was, that was the least of Wilson's flaws. He was, by my estimation, the worst president in US history. He certainly made the single greatest foreign policy blunder in our history: involving the US in the European's psychotic "Great War." And even after throwing away American treasure and American lives in that conflict, his Fourteen Points were abandoned and he was largely ignored at Versailles as the British and French piggishly divided the spoils of war. We are still living with the results of that foolish endeavor to this day. Despite Wilson's total failure, a century later, US presidents are still foolishly trying to make his vision come true.

Bilwick said...

Howard seems to be channelling the loopy Toothless State-fellator off his meds. H., can you remember when other blog posts on this blog became a forum for white supremacists? I've been visiting this blog almost daily, yet somehow I've missed the white supremacy rants.

For me, although cultural differences are always of interest* skin color is irrelevant. A Thomas Sowell or a Walter Williams , darker skinned as they may be, is always going to be tons smarter than your average "liberal," no matter how pasty-faced.

*see, for example, Sowell's "Black Rednecks" book.

rcocean said...

"Truman and FDR both used racial slurs when referring to Jews, but they were Democrats."

That's interesting. On December 31st 1943 - January 1, 1944 FDR had a private dinner for his close friends. Guess who was invited?

Robert Sherwood and Wife.
Henry Morgenthau and Wife.
"Judge" Roseman and Wife.

Wonder if he used "racial slurs"?

Bilwick said...

J. Farmer, I once heard a Murray Rothbard lecture on American political history, and Rothbard called Wilson "the world's first international maniac."

BUMBLE BEE said...

My life experience echoes AllenS. Several friends of mine who service the black community agree. The local Jamaican community are quick to distance themselves from local blacks. The locals have far too much baggage, and the Jamaicans are hustle hustle hustle. Lotsa chips on the shoulders.

mockturtle said...

According to the McCullough biography, Truman was in partnership with Jacobson but never once invited him to his house.

William, I suspect this was because of Bess.

Anonymous said...

"Mike said...

"That councilmember's ignorance was astounding. . . . He never heard of the Warsaw Ghetto?"

Never mind the Warsaw Ghetto -- he never heard of a black ghetto?!?

traditionalguy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

The mystery of Jew hating never ceases. If one Jew does something wrong, why is there easily a hatred of all Jews. When one Italian wrongs me or one Englishman wrongs me, it never occurs to me that society ought to exterminate all the Italians or all the English.

The best argument Anti-Semites come up with to that question, is why everybody has always hated jews for five thousand years. Which admits it is a spiritual war, and Jews are only hated by men because God is hated by men.

traditionalguy said...

HST was a Southern Baptist. He had a Jewish partner once, but that was not what made him a Zionist. Southern Baptists are all Zionists, much to the moderate Jews embarrasment. But to the Baptists the issues are the land given by God, Jerusalem and the Jewish Messiah. The Jews just cannot stop the Southern Baptists from supporting Israel. When they are not selling Chiken Sandwiches the Baptists will quote God's promises to his original faithful friend Abraham: Those that bless the Jews will be blessed by God, along with their descendants. But those that curse the Jews will be cursed by God along with their descendents. Choices, choices.

mockturtle said...

Good point, tradguy. And I think most Evangelical Christians are Zionist.

William said...

You can be very smart or very good, but it is very difficult to be smarter or kinder than the era in which you live. I don't mean to slam Truman or FDR for bigotry. They were significantly less bigoted than others of their generation and do not deserve to be so condemned. That courtesy is seldom extended to Republicans....... I think you can fairly say, however, that Wilson, even by the standards of his age, was a dick. And not just in racial matters. When he was flat on his back and trying to recover from a severe stroke, he talked of running again for reelection.......Wilson now gets the blame for imposing segregation on D.C., but Eisenhower is never ever given credit for lifting those restrictions. Trump signed an order ending segregation in the armed forces, but Eisenhower was the President who made sure that that order was enforced. When Eisenhower sent troops to Little Rock to enforce desegregation, Stevenson criticized him for doing so........It appears that Churchill is being cast as the hero of WWII, and so he was In 1940.. However, it was Eisenhower who pushed for the winning strategy and kept all those divas --Patton, Montgomery, DeGaulle, and especially Churchill--on the same page. Maybe in another hundred years Eisenhower will get the credit he deserves.

wildswan said...

On this IQ debate, here's a point I like to make. IQ tests show blacks as group have an average IQ of 85, one standard deviation below whites. Now think of a white person with an IQ of 85. SOOOO, SLOOOOWWW. But the average black is not SOOOO SLOOOWW. Their IQ score of 85 therefore means something else than what it means in a white person. It doesn't mean: consequence of evolution. The idea that whites up in Norway with the polar bears were getting genetically ready for technological culture while blacks intermarrying into Egypt's advanced culture weren't getting those special culture-advance genes, that is just the current anthropological fantasy.

It has to do partly with being almost incredibly badly educated - way beyond what we think of as badly educated. Like this person not really knowing what the Nazis were. I've seen other examples - clever people who can't read a map; managers who can't figure out the meaning in bureaucratic verbiage.

And I think it has to do with a pride and anger so great that basics aren't ... well I don't know. I can see it quite clearly and I think "The water is wide/I cannot get o'er/Neither have I wings to fly."

mockturtle said...

Good points, William. Eisenhower has never been fully appreciated. Even during the war when he was, as you point out, juggling resources between the Brits and the Americans and trying hard not to be biased. He did a damned good job. No ideologue, he used common sense in his presidency, as well. Something I happen to value highly.

Churchy LaFemme: said...

The Florida Senator was David Levy Yulee. The Nassau County town of Yulee is named after him.

All he wanted to do was get his trans Florida Railway built, and after all those years when it was done, the Civil War started, and wrecked the whole thing.

Here is a "Hamilton"-like video about Senator Yulee by the Amelia Island History Museum of History (The terminus of Yulee's railroad was in Fernandina Beach):

https://www.facebook.com/AmeliaIslandFlorida/videos/10157634563155082/

Churchy LaFemme: said...

It is interesting to read Churchill's history of WWI (_The World Crisis_) and see him "praise" Wilson while running the knife in.

Ralph L said...

he used common sense in his presidency

If only he'd gotten Congress to lower the absurdly high tax rates. The ensuing boom would have made desegregation much easier, the public schools wouldn't have gone down the PC toilet to produce T White ignorance, and then we'd have Nixon instead of JFK LBJ LSD LLL B E E J.

HT said...

"The guy made ignorant comments, but everyone should just ignore them because he's black?"

That's not what is happening.

J. Farmer said...

@wildswan:

On this IQ debate, here's a point I like to make. IQ tests show blacks as group have an average IQ of 85, one standard deviation below whites. Now think of a white person with an IQ of 85. SOOOO, SLOOOOWWW. But the average black is not SOOOO SLOOOWW. Their IQ score of 85 therefore means something else than what it means in a white person.

I do not think there is any basis to believe what you just said. What is your basis for thinking that whites and blacks with the same IQs present differently? How would you know when you were interacting with any white or black person what their IQ scores were?

And even if you did, it would most likely be what's called the "Full Scale IQ score." And the FSIQ does not really tell you a whole lot on the individual level. On IQ tests, the FSIQ score is a composite of the individuals's scores across a variety of subtests. It used to be broken down to Verbal and Performance, but newer editions use Verbal, Perceptual Reasoning, Working Memory, and Processing Speed. While in an ideal situation these scores would all be relatively the same, in most individual cases that can diverge quite significantly. So, for example, it would be possible for someone to have average Verbal skills in the low 90 range and borderline Perceptual skills in the high 70s and end up with an IQ somewhere in the mid-80s. Someone with such a distribution would likely present as smarter than they are, since one's verbal fluidity is often the primary method by which people infer someone's intelligence.

Lastly, if an IQ of 85 meant something different for a white person than it did for a black person, then we would expect 85 IQs to have different predictive power for whites and blacks. But they don't. They predict outcomes about equally.

Rusty said...

" Someone with such a distribution would likely present as smarter than they are, since one's verbal fluidity is often the primary method by which people infer someone's intelligence. "
Like youi J.? Just kidding. I question your analysis, not your intelligence. Even if you resort to name calling. People like me, with high IQs, can be exascerbating.;-)
But yes on that scale 85 is 85 irrespective of race. But then there can be some abysmally ignorant intelligent people as well.

J. Farmer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
J. Farmer said...

@Rusty:

People like me, with high IQs, can be exascerbating.;-)

I think you mean exasperating. There is no such word as exascerbating. You've probable confused it was exacerbating. People mixup exacerbate and exasperate a lot. Remembering the difference between exasperate and exacerbate can be exasperating.

Ralph L said...

Jeez, pendant much? Or just sic?

J. Farmer said...

@Ralph L:

It's mostly just a joke. Mostly. I normally would not begrudge someone a typo, especially considering I make on average about ten per comment. But when someone does it while simultaneously extolling their "high IQ," the temptation to mock simply overwhelms.