The New York Times recently ran an article on January 1, 2019 entitled, James Watson Won’t Stop Talking About Race, saying:
The Nobel-winning biologist has drawn global criticism with unfounded pronouncements on genetics, race and intelligence. He still thinks he’s right, a new documentary finds.Unfounded pronouncements? Really? It amazes me that accepting genetics for virtually everything else, including athletic ability, disease potentials, skin color and physical characteristics is acceptable, yet we're expected to believe it's racist to say intelligence is inheritable.
My friend John J. Ray has written extensively on this subject. In his post, Race, genes and IQ: Some observations, he presents a more far ranging discussion than did the limited and deliberate effort at misrepresentation in the NYT article.
As an example, he discusses Jewish IQ. Jews have often been thought of as the smartest people on the planet. Is that true? It turns out there's a major difference between the IQ of European Jews and Jews from Africa and Arab lands, all of which there's been centuries of interbreeding. He notes in Israel the average IQ of European Jews is 100, but Jews from Arab lands is quite low at 88.
Regarding the large gap between blacks and whites in America he says:
The background of course is that researchers always find a huge gap (of about 15 IQ points) between the average IQ of American blacks and the average IQ of American whites. And American Leftists almost always attribute this to the poor upbringing that black children receive (and since that is not very complimentary to black mothers they then blame black "culture" -- and that, of course, is the fault of whites!).
So the obvious experiment to test the Leftist theory is to have black children adopted into white families and see what happens. Will they grow up with IQs at the same average level as whites? If upbringing is the key, they should. Some well-intentioned whites actually did just such an adoption program on a fairly large scale in Minnesota in the 1970s. The result years later? There was still that same old black/white gap in IQ when the children concerned had grown up. The implication is, as so many other studies suggest, that it is the African gene pool that is responsible for the lower black IQs.
There is an adoption study that focuses on income summarized here which gives similar results to studies of IQ.The NYT article went on to say:
In 2007, Dr. Watson, who shared a 1962 Nobel Prize for describing the double-helix structure of DNA, told a British journalist that he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours, whereas all the testing says, not really.”
Moreover, he added, although he wished everyone were equal, “people who have to deal with black employees find this not true.”
Dr. Watson’s comments reverberated around the world, and he was forced to retire from his job as chancellor of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island...........His speaking invitations evaporated. In 2014, he became the first living Nobelist to sell his medal, citing a depleted income from having been designated a “nonperson.’’Despite environmental factors playing a role in IQ, the idea that genetics is the primary component of IQ is clearly factual. So why is this a bone of contention? Because black culture in America is disastrous, and anything that explains that failure other than racism is totally unacceptable to the left. But a high IQ isn’t necessary to have a successful life. Persistence and determination are however!
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Calvin CoolidgeBlacks in America have not succeeded as Orientals in America, or Italians and Jews for that matter. And for the same reasons.
If you want a successful life you have to get a job, go to work every day, go in on time, leave on time, do the job you’re hired to do, don’t steal from your employer, don’t give your boss six thousand pounds of attitude, marry the person you’re making babies with, pay your bills, treat people with respect, don’t do crime and violence, don’t do drugs, raise your children with that attitude, make sure they go to school and do as best as they can - then you will have lived a successful life.
That’s not happening in Black America today, and IQ hasn’t a thing to do with a 70% plus illegitimacy rate in black America. In short, family values are the difference between success in life and failure. Among Orientals, Jews, Italians and all the other ethnic groups in America who’ve been successful family values is the common thread.
In Cleveland at the beginning of the 20th century you almost couldn’t get a job in a factory if you were a Jew or an Italian, a problem not exclusive to Cleveland at that time. Yet both of those two ethnic groups have been tremendously successful. Why? Family values! They sent their kids to school, worked whatever jobs they could find, and started their own businesses. Push carts if necessary. No job was too low if it meant they could take care of their family. And they all helped each other. Family came first.
The number one problem for blacks in America is other blacks. Not whites, not discrimination, not past history, it’s black attitudes and liberal solutions that excuse a lack personal responsibility.
When black kids abuse other black kids who are doing well in school as “acting white” you have to ask: Where did they get that from? Their parents? Their culture? Those who profess to be black leaders? That’s the problem, not IQ. IQ is what it is, accept it and move on.
