Are the IQ differentials among the races of mankind a moral problem?

Brandon F. writes:

I would like to know your position on what our moral position on the treatment of non-whites and those of lower intelligence should be. If we are granted by God an intelligence higher than the average African, where does that leave us morally? Should we do anything to help alleviate the suffering inevitably brought on by a lack of intellect?

LA replies:

Yes, we assure a society with basic social order, so that people of all levels of ability can find their place, the way Murray and Herrnstein talked about in The Bell Curve. In a country like America with a white majority and black minority, that’s possible. Africa is a different story. In my view, as I’ve said, there are two rational choices vis a vis Africa: have absolutely nothing to do with it, or take it over and run it for its own good.

It’s mistaken to think that people suffer because of lack of intellect. Black people with a 70 IQ are not miserable, they enjoy their lives, you don’t have to worry about them. Having a 70 IQ does not mean the same thing for blacks that it means for whites. A white adult with a 70 IQ is developmentally abnormal, and has obvious dysfunctions. A black adult with a 70 IQ is a developmentally normal adult. Yes, he has the IQ equivalent of an 11 year old white; but an 11 year old white can do a lot of things, has a lot of capabilities.

In Understanding Human History, Michael Hart followed this ingenious reasoning: since African blacks today have an average IQ of 70, and since, as the genetic record strongly suggests, the ancestors of all non-African humanity left Africa about 50,000 years ago, and since non-African humanity today has substantially higher than a 70 IQ, therefore the IQ of the ancestors of non-African humanity 50,000 years ago was 70, and increased over time. The humans who left Africa and began spreading out through the world had 70 IQs, until, under various selective pressures, their IQs increased. So there’s no shame in having a 70 IQ. It’s where we all started from.

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February 23

Laura W. writes:

Blacks do suffer immensely from low intelligence in this country now because whites do not “assure a society with basic order.”

The fact that blacks suffer more, both physically and psychologically, from pervasive moral decline is one of the most compelling arguments in persuading liberals to recognize racial differences and to act upon this realization. Even if there were a great rebirth of moral standards among whites, this alone would not restore order to black communities. The pattern of early promiscuity and single parenthood is too entrenched. Whites would need to engage in social engineering, providing short-term rewards to induce long-term goals in those less capable of reflection. It is altruistic, not self-promoting, for whites to recognize intelligence differences between themselves and blacks.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at February 23, 2009 01:13 AM | Send