FLYNN THE FOOL

Ideology can make a fool out of otherwise creditable scientists. The way that the remarkable temperature stability of the 20th century (according to the U.N. only .6 of one degree rise over the entire 20th century) can be portrayed as an era of global warming is ample proof of that.

And James Flynn is another example of that. He does generally good science and knows heaps about IQ research but when it comes to interpreting scientific findings which clash with his faith he goes bananas. He is a fervent Leftist -- with all the faith in being able to "mould" people into some sort of ideal man that usually goes with that faith. And genetic influences have a nasty unalterable character that clashes with that faith.

So what does he do when faced with an unremitting torrent of research findings that show a consistent black/white gap in average IQ of around 15 points? He points to just ONE study which shows no significant gap. And that study must be just about the most irrelevant one in the literature. He points to a study which shows that the illegitimate children of black GI's in Germany are no dumber than the illegitimate children of white GI's in Germany.

I don't know how to put this politely, but, as far as I can see, all that that result shows is that German women don't go to bed with dumb blacks. They only go to bed with the brighter ones. And the U.S. army of the 40s and 50s was a good place to find the brighter ones. Blacks had to be at least as bright as whites to get into the U.S. army of the 40s and 50s. Ever since 1917, the U.S. army has accepted only those recruits who pass an IQ test at a standard level. And there have always been SOME blacks who pass. So Flynn bases his faith in the unreality of black/white IQ differences on a sample which has been deliberately equalized in terms of IQ! What a fool! I can think of no other term for him that fits.

You can find detailed accounts of Flynn's follies in the matter here and here. In his most recent posts, Chris Brand also points out the limitations of the study Flynn relies on. I have commented previously in the academic literature on explanations for his own findings that Flynn does not consider. See here and here.

Related:

Black/White IQ gap still large: "Despite widespread claims that the gap is closing between Blacks and Whites in educational achievement and intelligence test scores, new research shows the 15-point IQ difference is as large today as it was 100 years ago. A study published in the October 2006 issue of Psychological Science showed the same Black-White IQ difference in large standardization samples for four major IQ tests. The researchers reported on the Wonderlic Personnel Test, the Kaufmann Assessment Battery for Children, the Woodcock-Johnson test, and the Differential Ability Scale, which all combined to show a Black gain of less than 1 IQ point over the last 30 years. The study's authors were veteran IQ researchers J. Philippe Rushton of the University of Western Ontario and Arthur R. Jensen of the University of California at Berkeley... Rushton also said the results could undermine affirmative action policies as the US Supreme Court's 2003 decision on the University of Michigan only being permitted affirmative-action on the assumption that Black-White test scores were converging. That assumption has been shown to be untrue."

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ELSEWHERE

Recent vote was NOT for open borders: "The idea is spreading that this month's Republican electoral defeat somehow represented voter rejection of the enforcement-first approach to immigration championed by the House Republican leadership, and meant, instead, voter endorsement of the Bush-McCain-Kennedy approach that would amnesty (or "legalize") the illegal aliens already here and double or triple future legal immigration. This notion is so colossally wrong only a senator could believe it.... The open-borders crowd scavenged for results they hoped would confirm their pre-packaged conclusions. A favorite was the defeat of two Republican immigration hawks running for the House in Arizona, incumbent Rep. J.D. Hayworth and Randy Graf, who was seeking liberal Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe's seat. The problem with pointing to these results as proof of the public's support for the Bush-McCain-Kennedy "comprehensive" amnesty plan is that the very same voters overwhelmingly approved four good ballot measures related to immigration: denying bail to illegals, barring illegals from winning punitive damages in civil suits, prohibiting illegals from receiving certain state subsidies for education and day care, and declaring English the state's official language. Clearly, the actual policy issue of immigration control remained hugely popular"

Blue Dogs no longer runts of Dems' litter: "Now that the results of the midterm election have demonstrated the strength of moderate to conservative Democrats in swing districts, the clout of the independently minded Blue Dog Coalition is on the rise, say political observers, and its bite could match its bark. 'They can cause fits for the majority leadership,' said Brookings Institution scholar Ron Haskins. Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi 'is going to have a lot of trouble holding that coalition together.' Democrats will hold 232 seats in Congress come January; Republicans will have 200, and three races are still undecided but looking to go to the GOP. With 218 votes needed to pass legislation, and 44 incoming Blue Dogs next Congress, according to the group, a strong voting bloc could make or break Democratic-sponsored legislation."

A right to earn a living? "Imagine you own a business that you built from the ground up. You have satisfied customers, good employees and provide a useful service. There's just one problem: your competitors don't like that you charge less while providing better service. Instead of lowering their prices and working harder, they call their lobbyists and get the government to make your business illegal. Can they get away with this? According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the answer is 'yes.'"

Corrupt Associated Press: "The most powerful media institution in all of human history is the Associated Press. Its news feed is ubiquitous - used, directly or indirectly, by every U.S. newspaper and TV news program and a vast number of foreign ones, too. AP maintains the largest world-wide coverage, and its reader base is nearly immeasurable. Unfortunately, and repeatedly of late, this behemoth has not only been getting it wrong - but increasingly refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing. Instead, acting more like a politician or the mega-corporation that it is, the AP crew spins, obfuscates and attacks. Now they're at it again in Iraq. I have got direct experience of this.... "

There is a post just up on Strange Justice which adds to the evidence that the FBI these days is a decayed organization.

For more postings, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and EYE ON BRITAIN. (Mirror sites here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here).

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"All the worth which the human being possesses, all spiritual reality, he possesses only through the State." -- 19th century German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Hegel is the most influential philosopher of the Left -- inspiring Karl Marx, the American "Progressives" of the early 20th century and university socialists to this day.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch)

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