Thursday, September 21, 2006

J. Philippe Rushton - national embarassment

Well, the most recent controversy and black eye to hit Canadian academia is the latest research published by Dr. J Philippe Rushton. Yes, you may remember him as the kook who used porn mags to try to validate the intelligence of races according to the size of the men's penises. He also wrote back in 1989 that Asians were more intelligent than whites who were in turn more intelligent than blacks.

Recently, the University of Western Ontario professor has published a new study based on 1991 SATs stating that women are, on average, 4% less intelligent than men. I saw an interview with him today on ROBTV where he attributed this to the fact that there are not more women in high power positions in business and governmment.

This man has been able to preach his racist, sexist and anti-immigrant message here and here through the controversial Pioneer Fund, and is quoted as having said,"

The biological factors underlying race differences in sports have consequences for educational achievement, crime and sexual behavior.

He goes on to conclude that the lower intelligence scores of women explain the "glass-ceiling." This man's views are offensive to me and the vast majority of Canadians.

This whole mess leaves me with 2 questions: 1) Is this man receiving any SSHRC or CIHR research money? and 2) Why is the University of Western Ontario continuing to coddle this racist who is supported by the likes of CFAR?

Someone should ask PM Steve-O what he thinks of Rushton's research...

4 comments:

Jim Thompson MD said...

Wouldn't a more effective strategy to diminish his standing be to publish or cite studies which contradict his views? Applying a label of "racist" or "sexist" because you do not like a conclusion may be nice rhetoric but it's not effective persuasion.

pumpernickel said...

Jim:

It is quite simple. His views are racist. He is supported by CFAR and Paul From - racists.

It may not be a popular desciption of his views, but it is an accurate one.

Observer said...

His views are not racist anymore than observing that no white or asian has run the 100 metres under 10 seconds is racist.

Groups were on divergent evolutionary paths for up to 50,000 years. Of course you're going to see some differences, and perhaps some in addition to the superficial.

The latest genetic research show that at least 7% of the genome underwent recent adaptations over the past 10,000 years. For instance the protein encoded by DAB1 plays a developmental role in the layering of neurons in the cerebral cortex and cerebellum [37], and exhibits strong evidence for a selective sweep in the Asian sample. Also, the serotonin transporter SLC6A4 in Europeans and East Asians.

More of this will come to light in the years ahead.

Observer said...

A recent example of how a group can develop increased cognitive function is the Ashkenazi Jews who average 2/3 of a std deviation above other whites.

Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence, Journal of Biosocial Science 38 (5), pp. 659–693 (2006).

http://homepage.mac.com/harpend/.Public/AshkenaziIQ.jbiosocsci.pdf