Saletan suggests liberals will have to struggle to deny the facts, like creationists rejecting evolution, or ”try to reconcile evidence of racial differences with a more sophisticated understanding of equality and opportunity.”I don’t understand genetics very well. I wonder about the evidence that IQ increases significantly over time as groups have more access to education. But I have to credit Saletan with guts for writing about this issue.It's amazing that Ms. Jacobs has been doing educational journalism for years, has written a book about an inner-city charter school, and it looks like she's never heard of this concept before. What did she think all those people were mad at Charles Murray about?On the same theme, Gene Expression defends DNA pioneer James Watson for telling an inconvenient truth.What if IQ is linked to race? at Joanne Jacobs
In a related note, Megan McArdle is in Cambodia for the Atlantic Monthly, where locals asked her why the District of Columbia had so much crime—and apparently, she had no idea:
I wanted to say, "they are poor". But that seems a ridiculous statement in a country of 85 million people who are nearly all living at a lower standard of material consumption than the poor of DC.Cambodia has a per capita GDP of $2,800—and in an earlier post, she mentioned that "only about 10-15% of the population" has electricity. In the end, she still has no idea what makes the District of Columbia more violent than Cambodia:
I'm not sure what I mumbled, but I changed the topic pretty quickly. I wonder how often my hosts have done the same to me when they just couldn't explain.I think it's just possible that if she did figure it out, the Atlantic would fire her. Which would be a shame, because she's a nice girl. But I think the Cambodians would have told her about their own troubles with the Hmong if she'd asked.Megan McArdle (November 20, 2007) - What is poverty, she said, and washed her hands?
