Black People Are Less Intelligent Than White People… Apparently
Tuesday, March 7, 2006Posted in: Uncategorized
I was listening to the radio in my car today, when I was shocked speechless, by an amazing news story.
Apparently, black people are genetically less intelligent than white people.
OK, just in case you never got that, here it is again.
Black people are genetically less intelligent than white people. The keyword here, being ‘genetically’.
Well, according to a Leeds University professor anyway.
Now, everybody’s entitled to their opinion, but this fuck-wit has actually been teaching this in his lectures. I wouldn’t mind, but he’s a language professor, who specialises in Russian, which hardly makes him an expert methinks. Daft racist.
Unfortunately, I can’t link you to the actual article as it doesn’t appear to have been flagged up anywhere on the net.
However, on my travels, I did come across an Edinburgh University professor, who shares the same belief.
Chris Brand, who describes himself as a ‘race realist’ and a ‘scientific racist’, wrote a book called The G Factor, basically theorising that black people are innately less intelligent than white people.
Brands case for the innate inferiority of blacks, rested on the observation that black people consistently tested 15 IQ points below their white counterparts.
The IQ gap between white people, and black people, has been widely debated, discussed, and in some cases, actually proven, but I’m not sure that the results mean that blacks are actually less intelligent than any other race.
I’d like to know, if Mr Brand actually took into consideration the impact that different socio-economic grouping has on education, or lack thereof.
Did he test blacks and whites who had similar upbringings, or did he just simply take a group of black people and a group of white people, whose social paths were at polar ends, and put them into their little boxes, so that the numbers added up? Probably.
I think that it’s a fact of the world that there are far more rich, and well educated white people, than there are blacks. I see it around me everyday of my life.
If you live in the ghetto, and don’t go to school, how the hell are you going to pass an IQ test, let alone outperform the white middle-classes?
How can anybody ignore the relationship between intelligence, and the social context of a person’s life, regardless of colour?
It’s this kind of unpardonable bigotry that gives white people a bad name.
From what I’ve since read about him, this wasn’t the only extremist view that he was happy to share with the world, apparently in one of his newsletters, he claimed that “sexual abuse of children above age 12 and of above average IQ” posed no threat to their well being “particularly when a cash payment is involved”. What planet?
Apparently Chris Brand was relieved of his post shortly after the book was published. I’m all for free speech and all, but honestly, who the fuck let him and that other arsehole out of their cages?
Wankers.
Anonymous
March 7
10:25 pm
Those people should be shot. It’s their kind that makes this world the shithole that it is.
Anonymous
March 7
11:09 pm
How come no one ever complains when people say that black people are better at sports than white people. Aint that the same thing, yet it seems pretty acceptable to the majority. If you are a white person these days, you aren’t able to verbalise anything that can be taken as being racist. I think it sucks.
Eve Vaughn
March 7
11:15 pm
What makes this guy so dangerous is that he believes his own hype. I read the article you linked and no where does he bring up the socio-economic factor. I guarantee you that if he would have taken a a black kid from the ghetto and a white kid from a trailer park, or a black and a white person from upper middle class backgrounds, both with private school educations, the results wouldn’t be that much different.
I think there are some cultural differences, but a lot of it has to do with the region we were raised in, or our ecconomic status. Having been born in the South and now living above the Mason Dixon line, its a culture shock to me. It’s like a different world, but at the end of the day we’re all still people.
It’s dangerous to start thinking in generalization because we then lose our ability to learn from each other.
Eve Vaughn
March 7
11:19 pm
“How come no one ever complains when people say that black people are better at sports than white people. Aint that the same thing, yet it seems pretty acceptable to the majority. If you are a white person these days, you aren’t able to verbalise anything that can be taken as being racist. I think it sucks”
If you’re so strong in your convictions, you should post a name. Trust me, there are far more negative black sterotypes than not so come join the real world with the rest of us.
Laura V
March 7
11:40 pm
It’s not as though either IQ testing or racial categories are clear-cut and uncontroversial. Racial categories are a whole lot more complicated than checking whether someone has two X chromosomes. Instead, the racist apartheid regime had to resort to tests such as the ‘pencil test’ to determine whether someone was ‘black’ or ‘coloured’. Whether someone’s hair is curly enough to hold a pencil in it is clearly not a very scientific indicator. Neither is skin-colour, given that members of the same family can have different skintones. So categorising people according to ‘race’ remains problematic.
This being so, Chomsky says that, “there might be interest in correlations between partially heritable traits, but if someone were interested in this question he would surely not select such characteristics as race and IQ, each an obscure amalgam of complex properties. Rather, he would ask whether there is a correlation between measurable and significant traits, say, eye color and length of the big toe.”
Chomsky also goes on to point out that even if there are correlations, it is racist to assume that all members of the group are the same. Just as it’s sexist and reductionist to assume that all women (and no men) have particular traits, just because, on average, slightly more women than men have them, so it is ridiculous to go from looking at averages concerning a racial group to making an assessment about an individual:
“An individual is what he is; it is only on racist assumptions that he is to be regarded as an instance of his race category, so that social consequences ensue from the discovery that the mean for a certain racial category with respect to some capacity is such-and-such.”
http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1978—-.htm
Jaynie R
March 8
12:09 am
Unfortunately it’s nothing new. When I was doing my psyc degree ( about 8 years ago now), there were always people doing papers on why black people scored consistently lower than white people on IQ tests. There’s always been a debate on whether it’s genetics or environment.
..and there will always be dickheads in this world.
hugs
Sarah McCarty
March 8
1:18 am
That’s really just so much shit in a bucket I can’t believe it even gets air time. Just goes to show that statistics can be skewed to support any harebrained notion, no matter how offensive or idiotic.
McVane
March 8
2:16 am
Daft racist? Nah, try ‘Daft little prick who needs a brand new brain AND a good swift kick up his ignorant arse’.
Kristie (J)
March 8
3:17 am
There was a professor at the University in the city I live in who said the same garbage a few years ago. As far as I’m concerned, he embarrassed himself, he embarrassed the university and he embarrassed the city.
Haven’t heard anything from him for a number of years though. I think the last time I heard – he was run out of London (Ontario) and moved to England. Wonder if it’s the same idiotic jerk. Wouldn’t be surprised. If it is the same idiot – sorry about that. It’s not nice of us to send you our garbage.
Wendy
March 8
3:27 am
Oh, shit–where does that leave me? White father, black mother. Am I 15 IQ points smarter or dumber after hearing about the pricky prof’s reasoning? And WTF does that mean for the siblings? Do the lighter skinned ones have higher IQ’s?
Monica
March 8
4:42 am
Race is a man-made construct. The new racial DNA tests put paid to the concept.
A person can look black but carry mostly Western European DNA and vice-versa.
When I hear people say that blacks are better at sports, singing or dancing, I feel that’s just a racist statement as saying blacks are less intelligent than whomever.
Maura
March 8
4:45 am
What a load of crap! Arrgh – people are always looking for ways to prove superiority of one group over another. Despite my psych minor, I never saw the flipping point.
And statistics? That statistics really prove anything is one of the greater myths of the world. I was in a meeting at work once where I used the same set of data to “prove” two different hypotheses. Of course the two were completely at odds and could not co-exist.
Grumble
*hugs*
Rosie
March 8
5:58 am
First of all I have to mention that it irritates me when people voice a strong opinion and don’t leave a name. Cowardly.
Secondly, in academia there is a saying “publish or perish”. Chris Brand published AND perished. I’d love to see the data these individuals used to prove their theory.
I think Sarah nailed it…”Just goes to show that statistics can be skewed to support any harebrained notion, no matter how offensive or idiotic.”
Amen!
Dawn
March 8
11:11 am
What an asshole! What is worrying though, is that there are people out there who are ready to say “Well he’s a scientist, so he must be right!” I vote we go find him and give him a good kicking.
Anonymous, you talk like what this guy has said might be “misconstrued as racist”. There is no misunderstanding here – it is clearly a racist statement. And the fact that black people are supposedly good at sports? If only it were so – I’d be making some serious money.
Sam
March 8
2:20 pm
Sounds like a racist, looks like a racist, smells like a racist – must be a racist.
Who the hell is going to listen to crap like that? Like the Harvard guy that said Women were not as good as science and math as men.
Come to think of it – he resigned.
Maybe this fuckwit should resign too and do the world a favor –
Personally I think that His leaving Leeds would definitely up the IQ average at that school.
Lori
March 9
5:08 am
Speechless here. I work for one of the major social science academic publishers, and did a search all day through the literature looking for anything published out of Leeds or with an author out of Leeds with this theme, and couldn’t find it. Now my interest is piqued. I am on a hunt, a quest. I will find this idiot.
It’s intersting, though, how you can manipulate research to make it say whatever you want, isn’t it?
Shawn
March 9
6:16 pm
Rrrrroflmao! This is the first time I’ve heard this. I’m sorry I laughed, but I can’t help it.
When I was younger, my mom would tell me that people who went out of their way to put others down, did so because they felt less than.
I can only feel sorry for these people.
Anonymous
March 12
10:13 am
Karen!
I agree that this guy is some what of a racist (why ever would he try & justify his findings)… However let me say this.
The reality is that any test or conditions put forward to test the theory that black people are less intelligent than white people would (I believe) show in favor of white people being more intelligent.
Social background, history, modern culture, negative black role models & the lack of Father figures within a great deal of black communities MUST surely contribute to this.
if this guy conducted a fair test -without predjudice… then I’m sorry to say his result would support is theory!
BTW I’m a black guy who can hold an intelligent conversation, write a report, & pass high level exams……. But I know many that can’t.
And as far as black people being good at sport? Well.. what sports might these be then? Football, Basketball, Soccer, Boxing? what about Tennis, Auto racing, Snooker, darts, Skiing, Horse racing.
Ok my opinion now! Black people are conditioned to be better physically because by enlarge they aren’t exposed to sports such as Auto racing & horse racing where the money factor plays such a key role. And if earnings & money are linked back to IQ levels? I take you back to the theory of the Leeds uni prof.
I thank you.
Karen Scott
March 13
11:35 am
Anonymous1 – I totally agree.
Anonymous2 – The whole black people are better at sports is a little silly actually. Yes black people are better at some sports, but not all, besides, a lot of sporting activities are based on physical build and ability, so definite comparisons can be made, whereas saying that if you’re black you’re automatically born stupid just smacks of ignorance to me.
Eve, if you’re white and you’re brought up in a not-so-good area with parents who don’t particularly give a shit, dragging yourself out of that situation becomes a challenge let alone being able to apply for mensa, so not taking into consideration the social aspect of people’s lives is a little foolish I think. Fuck it; he’s just an ignoramus, end of.
“It’s not as though either IQ testing or racial categories are clear-cut and uncontroversial. Racial categories are a whole lot more complicated than checking whether someone has two X chromosomes.”
Laura V, if I’m honest, I’ve never really put much stock into IQ tests, because I’m never really sure what use they actually are. I’ve known a few academically brilliant people who couldn’t tie their own shoe laces, as well as people who couldn’t add up to save their life, yet they were great at problem solving.
Jaynie, I’m nore inclined to believe that it’s more the environment than genetics. When I was younger, I used to babysit for this couple who weren’t the brightest people in the world, but they lived in a good area, also they were good parents and their children went t good schools. Years later one of their daughters is a junior solicitor, and the other girl is going through medical college. Go figure.
Sarah, I’ve heard that 95% of stats are made up *g*
I’m with you though, stats can be made to say whatever the hell you want, and the thing is, there are people who will agree with him and his dubious studies.
Maili, we live in a world full of people who think like he does, and volunteer to do the kicking.
Kristie, I think he’s the same guy actually, it sickens me to think that there are more teachers out there who think the same way.
“Oh, shit–where does that leave me? White father, black mother. Am I 15 IQ points smarter or dumber after hearing about the pricky prof’s reasoning?”
Precisely Wendy, in his great study, he wouldn’t have even thought about the people who don’t conform to being strictly black or strictly white. The way the world is going, there will be more bi-racial people in the future, so how will that affect the status quo?
“When I hear people say that blacks are better at sports, singing or dancing, I feel that’s just a racist statement as saying blacks are less intelligent than whomever.”
Monica, I totally agree, and the whole statement is a lot of rot anyway. I can’t remember the last black person to win an olympic gold in swimming, or tennis.
Maura, the thing is there are people in the world who believe what he says. If you’v only come across stupid black people, then you’re probably inclined to believe anybody who tells you that as a whole they are of lower intelligence than white people. Hugs back, lol!
Rosie, I have no doubt in my mind that his data would have been skewered to say what he himself believed. The whole IQ test thing probably would prove that blacks score lower, but who are these people testing? Are they testing people from similar upbringings and areas?
I consider myself an intelligent black woman, and in school, I was academically brighter than a lot of my white peers. In my class at school, I was one of only two black kids, and I can categorically say that between the two of us, we whipped some white butts, but in my opinion, this was due to the type of upbringing we’d had. My dad was a cop-turned solicitor, and my mother was a nurse, and to them, education was the most important thing in the world, and they made sure we understood that. The other black kid’s parents owned their own business, and they were very similar to my own parents in that they believed that education was everything also.
Some of the white kids weren’t so fortunate, a lot of them had parents who were going through divorces, and parenting their own kids wasn’t at the top of their priority. There was one girl whose parents were both psychologists, but they virtually left her and her sister to raise themselves. She was pregnant with two kids by the time she reached her 18th birthday.
These are just my own personal experiences, but in each of the different circumstances, environmental factors played a key role, so why wouldn’t it be the same elsewhere?
Dawn, the whole black people are good at sports thing is a myth. To me the sports that we tend to be good at are sports where physical build makes a difference, like boxing 100m racing etc. When was the last time you saw a black person playing water polo? Mind you, that along with other sports such as tennis and motor-racing are geared towards people with money anyway.
Karen Scott
March 13
11:50 am
Sam, Sam Leeds university has a lot of black people in it, and all I can think is that he just doesn’t appreciate working in such a diverse environment. Arsehole.
Lori, I couldn’t find the link either, but it was heatly debated on the radio, and there were lots of people who tended to agree with him. You just can’t get away from the fact that there’s an arsehole born every minute.
Shawn, he’s entitled to his own opinion, but the thing is, he’s teaching these things to the kids in his class. The majority of them will see through his attempts at promoting racism, but there will always be at least one person who takes his word as gospel.
“Social background, history, modern culture, negative black role models & the lack of Father figures within a great deal of black communities MUST surely contribute to this.”
Agreed, which is why his bringing genetics and race into it doesn’t make sense. I sincerely believe that it’s all about how you were brought up, and where.
Anonymous
May 5
6:27 am
one thing i want to say is it’s hilarious that some people would consider black white as just skin different.
take a picture of a black person and digitally color it to white and you think it’s gonna look like a white person? The answer is no.
Brain is the most complicated organ in our body and the color of skin, the whole appearance are different BUT the brain must be the same!? Why? Anybody who doesn’t want to talk about more or less intelligent at least should realise there’s difference. Otherwise, you are playing God, like many people would say it’s just skin deep and god created us all the same… Excuse me, did you just tell God what God should do, and maybe a long long time ago when he created human? Yes you did that and I’m sure God had to listen to you.
Anyway, i think no matter you believe in God or you care more about evolution, you can’t escape from this:
1. if you believe in god you should know you can’t force god to do what you think he should do
2. if you believe in evolution you should know you can’t tell our genes that only the parts that determine the appearance can be different and the parts that determine a much much more complicated organ, our brain – which obviously needs more genes to build than skin – must be the same. Genes listen to nature that made the evolution happen thru history, genes don’t listen to you my friend.
Karen Scott
May 5
7:17 am
Anonymous, I take it you agree that blacks are less intelligent then?
That’s certainly what you implied, in your pseudo-politically correct roundabout way.
As for the whole God thing, (and I tend not to follow God too much) if the bible is to be believed and Adam and Eve were indeed the first people on earth. What colour were they then? Regardless of whether they were white or black, your argument falls down, because we ALL came from then. Surely that means we’re all related somehow?
As for the evolution theory, if we all originated from the same species, surely our genes are gonna be the same?
I guess it all depends on whether you believe black people and white people evolved totally separately.
Your argument was weak my friend. You’ll need to try again methinks to best this black woman.
Anonymous
March 29
2:38 pm
Look at this realistically. We can’t say we believe in science while refusing to entertain the possibilities of uncomfortable possibilities. Do Blacks and Whites have genetic differences? Certainly. Is it feasible then, that some of those differences could affect intelligence? Or, if it makes you feel comfortable – is it feasible that the mental traits that society deems as ‘intelligence’ are more present in one genepool than another?
Tamara
April 11
11:42 pm
Science has made tremendous advances in understanding genetics, especially over the past five years. The mapping of the human genome has proven that the outward, physical manifestations of race are determined by a very small number of genes (less than 6 percent). Genetic studies have also proved that there are no significant differences between human beings and that there is only one species of human. The concept of race has been judged to be biologically meaningless and the American Anthropological Association also rejects the concept of race.
External differences in human beings can be traced to geographic isolation after human beings migrated from Africa. This has been documented by the National Geographic Genographic Project. We are all of African decent.
What’s left to this is the social construct of race. His eugenic observations on IQ make a scientifically invalid leap from culture to genetics to intelligence. On top of this, people’s reliance on a standardized test to determine intelligence is also bankrupt. We have written about standardized tests in the magazine and will have further articles in 2007. Tests don’t judge intelligence, and many factors impact test scores, notably economic level. That poverty can be traced to race in our country is the result of bigotry and racism, not genetics.
It’s sad to say that we human beings share a tendency to oppress. It is a common feeling to think that holding one group back elevates another group—but it doesn’t work that way in an economic model, noted by no less than George Washington, who observed that an acre of land was less expensive in Virginia than an acre of land in Pennsylvania—despite the quality of the Virginia land being superior. His conclusion, borne out by economists, was that slavery depressed value and freedom elevated it. In my opinion, science has caught up to economics. Now it’s a matter of we humans coming to grips with our own self-destructive behavior.
In closing, I have to note that I find it impossible to believe that asshole would be so profoundly ignorant of the current state of genetic research and opinion. His facts reflect a desire to be a bigot!!!
Anonymous
August 24
2:22 am
In the mid 90’s, a global IQ test was done by the World Health Organization. The test was generated by a panel of teachers, scientists, etc from all seven continents. Before administering the test, it was scrutinized for potential racial and cultural bias. The test was administered globally. Statistically, the black race scored 15-25 points lower than the white race. The white race generally scored 3-7 points lower than the asian race. (http://www.charlesdarwinresearch.org/Race_Evolution_Behavior.pdf)While some may find the results offensive, if not disgusting, the results are the results. Ingnoring the results and blaming the tests only adds to the disparity between blacks and other races.
Vic
September 21
8:55 pm
Nothing came out of Africa for 50,000 years, not even the wheel (The Pyramids were Arab). So it doesn’t come as a surprise to me that blacks are 15 points lower in an IQ test.
Also, as one of the Anonymous posters here has pointed out, these IQ tests have been done under fair circumstances. One of the findings was that whites are 3 points lower IQ than asians. But I doubt that is something which has been as quickly denounced as racist by the over sensitive politically correct conscience mongering Liberals who think of racism as something that only ever happens by whites, to other races.
Del Mids
October 1
1:59 pm
As a psychology major, I can affirm that many studies have replicated this effect, even those conducted under conditions controlling for socio-economic status, background, occupation, etc. Ie. a black male middle class lawyer will ON AVERAGE (not always, thats not what these studies suggest!!!!!) score several IQ points lower than a white male middle class lawyer of similar background. This effect remains even after the tests are presented favourably for the African American group, ie. using language more likely to be used in their schemas and social surroundings.
I fail to see how these studies can be construed as racist, when all they do is report real findings, and when these people have genuinely tried to get rid of any confounding factors that would distort the statistics and lead to this result. The mistake people seem to make is that. A. they reveal their own prejudices in seeming to believe that being less intelligent makes you inferior or less valued as a person, explaining some people’s extreme hostility and aversion to these results being reported (isnt that just as terrible a type of bias?) and B. thinking that results being undesirable for them (obviously no racial group would wish to be labelled as less intelligent, due to the stigma and racists in other racial groups seizing this an “evidence” of their own superiority) equals the results being false. But unfortunately, my feeling that I do not agree with world hunger, does not make it less of a fact that it is occuring, if you can see the parallel there.
those of you who contest these results, you can only do so by addressing the experimental design, not by simply labelling these people as “racists” just for reporting a scientific finding. It shows your own ignorance and intolerance of others. And as someone else commented, why would “racists” or “white supremists” also accurately report that Asians have higher IQ’s than Caucasians? that hardly balances with what you are saying.
I am in no way a racist, but as a scientifically minded person I accept the findings of these studies until/unless evidence contradictory to them is found.
David Ben-Ariel
October 18
5:45 am
Need any honest person ask? REALISTS already know, as the evidence is overwhelming. The ones who are presently in denial of the plain truth are as ignorant as those who pretend there are no differences between gender either, failing to truly appreciate DIVERSITY.
THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES. It’s about time folks set themselves free from their PC blinders and get off the PC plantation.
Felix ZZ
October 18
9:36 am
The arguments on this page all seem to assume that IQ tests properly and comprehensively reflect intelligence. I suggest that is debatable in itself.
The one thing which IQ tests undeniably show is that someone is good or bad at completing IQ tests!
If, by taking out all social and economic factors, there is a black-white difference, then so what? If this reflects racial diversity then is that really something to be so frightened of?
Maybe people should be less paranoid about trying to squeeze everyone into the same mold, and less eager to draw blanket conclusions from a singularly focused study.
Anonymous
October 22
7:30 pm
Well one can look at the history of blacks. During slavery’s hay day they bred blacks to be strong. One could say this was an early version of genetic selection and is the reason blacks are ‘better’ at sports. And from what ive seen most black people I know are pretty strong. Is that racist?
My wife is a school teacher at a 60% black school and 99% of the trouble makers are black and could care less about their education and rather follow the likes of TI and Snoop dog. Could this be why they arent as smart?
It really is sad because Ive lived all over the country from Brooklyn to village towns and I think its more a social thing. Ive seen some really intelligent black people come from rural communities where the ‘black’ mentality that is so prevalent in the ghettos isn’t as strong.
There are so many factors as to why blacks fail in so many areas of life. I blame it on the government entitlement programs and parents who dont care , but who really knows.
Anonymous
October 25
4:16 pm
Races come in different heights, skin colors, eye colors, hair types, shapes, sizes, etc.
However, when it comes to the structure and function of our brain, we all managed to evolve identically!
**Buries head back in the politically correct sand**
Anonymous
October 25
11:40 pm
It’s true. Look at Africa! ( excluding South Africa–thanks to Europeans) it’s still stuck in the Bronze age. Go to any museum see for yourselves. Enough said.
Anonymous
November 6
11:53 am
scientists rely on facts. if it was the other way round then the facts would show this. does it affect you as individuals? not really. i get on in life knowing there are black people far more intelligent than i am! so stop playing that damn racist card!
Anonymous
November 22
12:11 am
Of course they’re less intelligent, the dopey knuckle-draggers.. they refused to leave a fly-infested shithole of a continent which my ancestors did, they submitted to slavery… And oh, name me a black person who has invented something useful; erm, George Foreman. Sort of. Quality.
Anonymous
January 4
12:27 am
i.q. tests don’t have questions about knowledge like, “who was george washington?”. they have stuff like “put the circle peg in one of the following shaped holes. ” although i’m offering a really simplified example, the more complicated questions, much like this one, are not inherently racist. they are based on reasoning, logic, and higher order thinking abilities.
if DNA is responsible for other traits like the quick temper you might have inherited from your father or your chance of getting lung cancer like grandma, then why should we assume that DNA has NOTHING to do with intelligence? much like all races have evolved differently in terms of skin color, hair texture, the amount of sweat produced, surely they must have evolved varying degrees of intelligence.
if it WERE true that blacks were less intelligent than others, we’d never find out about it. the government would suppress it or there would be riots. this is why inquiry into these topics is discouraged – fear of the truth.
Anonymous
January 9
4:30 pm
the results of this experiment could be dangerous. if it were true that black people are less intelligent and the results gained extensive media coverage, all hell would break loose. 30 years of research by university professors from yale to ontario suggest there is a link between genetics and intelligence: http://www.news-medical.net/?id=9530
it could be true however that our definition of intelligence may not apply to some races. for example, intelligence in ethnic groups are often reflected by their past scientific advances. e.g greeks, aztecs, etc. all races have had a scientific past except north american natives, black africans and australian aborigines (theyre not blacks…42000 years in australia and still no advancement).
actually, such differences only show that the egalitarian abrahamic god doesnt exist, if any god at all. i wholeheartedly accept race differences (if proven) the same way i accept dolphins are smarter than sharks.
and i’m not white.