Jewish IQ

[James Brody]

Great read! But my hero, Charles Murray, neglects a couple of things. More later.

JimB
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http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.aip?id=10855

"Jewish Genius" by Charles Murray in Commentary (April 2007).

"Since its first issue in 1945, COMMENTARY has published hundreds of articles
about Jews and Judaism. As one would expect, they cover just about every
important aspect of the topic. But there is a lacuna, and not one involving
some obscure bit of Judaica. COMMENTARY has never published a systematic
discussion of one of the most obvious topics of all: the extravagant
overrepresentation of Jews, relative to their numbers, in the top ranks of
the arts, sciences, law, medicine, finance, entrepreneurship, and the media."

"...Jewish accomplishment constitutes a fascinating and important story. Recent
scholarship is expanding our understanding of its origins.

"And so this Scots-Irish Gentile from Iowa hereby undertakes to tell the
story. I cover three topics: the timing and nature of Jewish accomplishment,
focusing on the arts and sciences; elevated Jewish IQ as an explanation for
that accomplishment; and current theories about how the Jews acquired their
elevated IQ."

See also link supplied by Hussey under the recent Toynbee thread! "Steven Pinker of Harvard in December 2005 discussing "Jews, Genes, & Intelligence" at the Center for Jewish History (from http://majorityrights.com/index.php...enc e_of_jews/"

[James Brody]

Again, thanks to Phil Rushton & the EP list for this clip. Note particulary Tony's story, that he is statistically naive but makes statistical conclusions! The sun sinks on Her Majesty's empire...

JimB

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"From The Sunday Times
April 8, 2007


"Murray lauds 'genius of Jews'

"Times online; <BLOCKED::www.timesonline.co.uk> www.timesonline.co.uk

"Sarah Baxter

"...Some ascribe the intellectual accomplishment of Jews to a 'winnowing' by persecution and the tradition of marrying socially desirable" scholars and their children, but Murray believes there are more compelling explanations
at work.

"In AD64 Joshua ben Gamla issued an edict mandating universal schooling, at the same time as the Jewish religion became more centred on prayer and scholarship. A substantial majority of the Jewish population were farmers
then, but by AD1000 only a small minority tilled the land.

"Murray believes increased literacy encouraged Jews to drop out of farming. Those who did not may have dropped out of Judaism, which requires study.

"Tony Judt, a British historian based at New York University, is scathing about Murray's theory. 'My own, statistically naive, impression these days is that intelligence, ignorance and bigotry are distributed among Jews in proportions comparable to their presence in society as a whole,' he said."

[Fred H.]

"Tony Judt, a British historian based at New York University, is scathing about Murray's theory. 'My own, statistically naive, impression these days is that intelligence, ignorance and bigotry are distributed among Jews in proportions comparable to their presence in society as a whole,' he said."

Such pointless mental masturbations remind me of Pauli’s putdown: “Not even wrong.”

[James Brody]

Fred,

I noticed the overlap in phonology between "Jew" and "Judt." Maybe there is a Gawd!

Jim