Was Mahatma Gandhi a racist?

[Gandalf]

Tito, I know this will sound racist, but the reason you know people who have struggled with tests is because they were not smart enough to do those tests. Puerto Rico has a relatively low IQ and some of that will be genetic and some of that will be cultural (50% single mother rate, less focus on education etc). You are obviously pretty smart and stand out from the average.

If we are going to blame culture for a lack of attainment, and we should in part, it does not mean everyone is thrown under a bus or anything like that. I was from a poor, broken family and had no problems passing tests. I certainly had zero academic encouragement. I am not saying I am great, but nothing is particularly flawed. My B in maths was because that was where I was at. Maybe with smart parents to help me more I could have got an A.I didn't have that, I don't blame the test. I got A's in other subjects instead. And when older and motivated worked hard for an MA distinction. I am likely above average despite poor origins. You can rise beyond your cultural limitations. If you are bad at tests it is because your intelligence is likely flawed.

Beanz the Bell curve is only feared because of what it says. Whence scientists terrified of going near IQ in 'multicultural' times in a PC world. You get no more research into it as Universities do not want to touch it. It is taboo.

[Gandalf]

It wouldn't be racist if they were white people doing the test though. Racism does not exist for them. And there are plenty of stupid white people too. I know, I went to school with some of them. Still, I wouldn't blame the test.

[Gandalf]

My point being that we can help raise intelligence by choosing good partners, educating kids ourselves, getting tutors if we have money, and so forth. 70% single mother rates in the US is one reason why black IQ rates are in the mid 80's. You have to be raised to not have a Denilson sized chip on your shoulder, not hate men or follow the welfare example, listen to your teachers and try your best. That can no doubt be improved. At least in my opinion. Reject how your parents did it and do it your way. A better way. My youth was no different to a poor black person it was just that I found freedom in books and games.

If I can do reasonably well with no support and from a broken family, imagine what I could do with my own child and my reflective approach to home teaching and also an intelligent mother? Alas it will never happen, but I think that is how you raise intelligence. I would also be stealing the genes of my wife too. So kind of cheating.

I think in Beanz case it is partly genetic too. Unfortunately if your parents are dumb, separated, and you have a bad attitude then you will struggle and the cycle will continue. That's just reality. Teach your kids something! But many don't know or care about raising kids. Look at the West. We mostly leave it all to the schools. Noam Chomsky was not raised like that and it shows.

[Gandalf]

I am destroying the thread here, but seriously. Who watched TV in Noam Chomsky's day? Today people are watching reality TV, soaps and singing contests. And they cannot even find a partner who will stick around. No wonder kids are all over the place. "What's for dinner Mum" says little Sally with her Mum glued to the screen. "Stick something in the microwave. I'm busy" "Yes Mum". She is left alone with her homework and nobody tells her she is silly when she ends up taking on a sociology course at University with little more prospect than 40 grand of debt and a job in retail to try and pay it off. That's if she doesn't get pregnant at 16 first. It is a lottery and is awful. In the old days people read books and interacted. Sure, many young people play games too, but those tend to be the smarter kids, but what they are doing is stinting themselves socially instead. The Asperger's Crew tend to do pretty well on IQ tests of course.

[Gandalf]

And no I wasn't that stinted socially. I played for the cricket team and spent the weekends in the pub.

[TitoFan]

Miles, if you want to keep peddling that "IQ is attached to race" B.S. there's nothing I or anyone else can say that will keep you from doing it. Maybe you'll grow out of those beliefs... maybe you won't. We'll agree to disagree. Suffice it to say there's plenty of scientific evidence and papers out there backing up what I've said about IQ tests.

I'll also clear up a little something for you, since you seem to have me pegged wrong. When I referred to people who have trouble with tests, regardless of them being very intelligent, I was referring to people in many of the different places I've lived, including the U.S. I'm sorry if the idea of poor test takers is new to you... it's a well-known fact to many of us with college degrees. Some very highly intelligent people get nervous when taking tests and tend to do poorly. Yet others with less intelligence are adept at performing under pressure and thus tend to well in tests. I thought everyone knew this.... I guess I was wrong.

As long as you clutch to your beliefs of some races being superior and more intelligent than others, you'll be keeping this cloak on yourself which prevents you from actually getting to know people in depth. Wasn't it you who posted that trash YouTube from that Japanese fellow and tried to pawn it off as the truth? Only to find that there was a rebuke from a much more intelligent and mature Japanese young fellow who made the first guy look like a fool.

Differences in intelligence, athletic ability, hand-eye coordination, emotional intelligence, etc. are best studied on individual basis.... not broad-brushed like we like to do just about anything else in society.

You'll find brilliant, overachieving, successful professionals from all races, countries, ethnicities, and in general walks of life. But I suppose you'll write those off as exceptions to your "race rules".

Oh well..... c'est la vie.

[Gandalf]

You will find I reach the same conclusion as in your final paragraph except that I am not blind to the FACT that differentials in IQ between race exist. It's a topic I have looked into extensively and it is just the way it is right now. The average Japanese person has a higher IQ than the average Puerto Rican and that is just a fact. It is not racist. Of course you are going to meet Americans who struggle with tests of intelligence. People will anywhere, but how many will depend upon where they come from, the parenting, schooling, genetics, a variety of factors. At the end of the day if it is too hot in the kitchen and you cannot cook the dish on time then you are not cut out to be a chef.

I know full well what test anxiety is having been designing and administering tests for many years. In truth, you don't see as much of it as you would think. Written tests mostly show what you are capable of. Now oral tests are harder, but again, mostly reflect classroom performance levels. IQ is a different kind of test, but if you have anxiety then you need psychological help of some kind or else simply are not able to do the work. I doubt Americans have more test anxiety than any other groups anyway.

[TitoFan]

Here's a case that'll warm your heart, Miles. Controversy in a California high school over a science fair project that sets out to prove that "students of African American, Latino and South Asian descent didn’t have the intelligence to participate in the school’s Humanities and International Studies (HISP) college preparatory program". I would call that racist and inflammatory, but I suppose it's right up your alley. Blacks, Latinos, and South Asian all rolled up into the same disposable, low-IQ ball. Cute. A convenient way to further racist agendas, veiled and masquerading as a science project.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/ed...201449649.html


This is the type of useless drivel that keeps propagating the same racist beliefs from the old generations to the new generations. This inexplicable need to pigeon-hole people into tidy little groups.