“Intelligence” Is A Racist Lie

September 21, 2020

IQ tests, SAT tests, GMAT tests, etc are racist. “Preferences” for people who score high on these tests are preferences for people who are a part of white culture. Let’s look at some examples of statistical racism to illustrate exactly why this idea that “intelligence is a real thing” is so problematic. Statistical racism is a form of prediscursive construction; observing an outcome and falsely characterizing it as the cause. Gender is an example of prediscursive construction. Because society creates gender, it exists; and yet it is falsely claimed that society believes in it because it’s a natural fact. Here are several examples of statistically racist claims which allow false arguments to be made about the relative “merit” or “ability” of people in different racial groups. Let’s start here. This is a graph of IQ scores based on race. There are a lot of problems here. As one example of how the IQ test is racist, one component scores test takers based on word association. The test giver will say a word and you say the first word you think of. The fancier your response, the smarter you must be. Another example is watching you try to make shapes out of blocks. If you haven’t had exposure to hands-on learning or had lots of toys as a child, then you won’t do as well. The list of reasons goes on and on. The problem is that people see this graph and argue that these results reflect the natural genetic ability of people in these groups. In reality, there is more genetic diversity among people in a racial group than there is for people between racial groups. The idea that races are genetic is just not true. <div class="dati1w0a f10w8fjw hv4rvrfc discj3wi"><div><div class="a8nywdso j7796vcc rz4wbd8a l29c1vbm">Here is another graph of sat scores by race. This one it easy. Lots of affluent white-culture words like “regatta” appear in questions on the SAT. This privileges people who are familiar with affluent white-culture. Additionally, concepts from math and science are more available to students who go to better funded schools; that means white kids. This test measures the wealth of the neighborhood that kids grew up in, not their ability or “intelligence.”</div></div></div><div class="j83agx80"></div><div></div><div><div class="a8nywdso e5nlhep0 rz4wbd8a ecm0bbzt dhix69tm oygrvhab wkznzc2l kvgmc6g5 k7cz35w2 jq4qci2q j83agx80 olo4ujb6 jmbispl3"><div class="l9j0dhe7 k4urcfbm"><div class="l9j0dhe7"><div class="e71nayrh _18vj"><div class="dati1w0a f10w8fjw hv4rvrfc discj3wi"><div><div class="a8nywdso j7796vcc rz4wbd8a l29c1vbm">Here is another set of test scores broken out by race including gmat. As you can see, the same trend follows. There is no genetic difference between these groups. The tests are measuring the quality of education the kids have received and the relative wealth of the neighborhoods they grew up in.</div></div><div class="j83agx80"></div></div><div><div class="a8nywdso e5nlhep0 rz4wbd8a ecm0bbzt dhix69tm oygrvhab wkznzc2l kvgmc6g5 k7cz35w2 jq4qci2q j83agx80 olo4ujb6 jmbispl3"><div class="l9j0dhe7 k4urcfbm"><div class="l9j0dhe7"><div aria-label="Like" class="oajrlxb2 bp9cbjyn g5ia77u1 mtkw9kbi tlpljxtp qensuy8j ppp5ayq2 goun2846 ccm00jje s44p3ltw mk2mc5f4 rt8b4zig n8ej3o3l agehan2d sk4xxmp2 rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 j83agx80 mg4g778l btwxx1t3 pfnyh3mw p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x tgvbjcpo hpfvmrgz jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso l9j0dhe7 i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr gokke00a du4w35lb lzcic4wl abiwlrkh p8dawk7l buofh1pr taijpn5t" role="button" tabindex="0"><div class="e71nayrh _18vj"><div><div class="q9uorilb bvz0fpym c1et5uql sf5mxxl7"><div class="_680y"><div class="_6cuy"><div class="b3i9ofy5 e72ty7fz qlfml3jp inkptoze qmr60zad rq0escxv oo9gr5id q9uorilb kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x d2edcug0 jm1wdb64 l9j0dhe7 l3itjdph qv66sw1b"><div class="tw6a2znq sj5x9vvc d1544ag0 cxgpxx05"><div class="ecm0bbzt e5nlhep0 a8c37x1j"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql"><div dir="auto">In all of these cases, the results of generational poverty, racial profiling, and education underfunding are showing up in the test results of kids based on the neighborhoods they came from and the opportunities for advancement they were given. This result is then presented as evidence that these groups of kids are somehow fundamentally different, and “intelligence” is the name given to what’s different about the groups.</div><div dir="auto"></div><div dir="auto">This claim is categorically false and categorically racist.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>