{"id":6241,"date":"2020-08-18T11:16:17","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T10:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gspellchecker.com\/?p=6241"},"modified":"2020-08-18T17:27:47","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T16:27:47","slug":"phil-torres-claims-iq-data-means-black-people-are-genetically-dumber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gspellchecker.com\/2020\/08\/phil-torres-claims-iq-data-means-black-people-are-genetically-dumber\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Torres Claims IQ Data Means “Black People Are Genetically Dumber”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Phil Torres is an author. His blatant dishonesty and lack of principles first caught my eye in 2017 when he published an article<\/a> in Salon titled \u201cFrom the Enlightenment to the Dark Ages: How \u201cnew atheism slid in to the alt-right\u201d. The poster boys for this article were Sam Harris and Milo Yiannopoulos. Sam Harris isn\u2019t alt-right (he\u2019s a Jewish liberal) and Milo Yiannopoulos isn\u2019t even an atheist (he\u2019s a Catholic clown), but facts shouldn\u2019t matter when you have an axe to grind.<\/p>\n

The article is the usual mix of the guilt by association and misrepresentation we\u2019ve come to expect<\/a> from Salon\u2019s output on Sam Harris. However, one shining example of Phil\u2019s unscrupulous methods is exemplified in how he attempts to paint Richard \u201cwe are all African apes\u201d Dawkins as a promoter of white supremacist propaganda.<\/p>\n

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Phil makes the claim that Richard Dawkins has \u2018linked to white supremacist websites\u2019 which \u2018further alienated women, people of color and folks that one could perhaps describe as \u201cmorally normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll get on to what one might consider \u201cmorally normal\u201d behaviour shortly. The problem with the claim about Richard Dawkins however is that it is barely even a half-truth and its inclusion is clearly designed to create an association that was not earned. In reality, what Dawkins did was share the below satirical image of a non-existent book that riffed on his own best-seller \u2018The God Delusion\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Unfortunately, what Dawkins wasn\u2019t to know (and I suspect none of us would have) is that the QR code (that\u2019s the little barcode) contained within the image\u2014when scanned with an app\u2014would direct you to a website championing white nationalist slogans. In short, Richard Dawkins didn\u2019t spot something that was so hidden it required a QR decoder to reveal.<\/p>\n

Upon being informed of this maliciously hidden information, Dawkins deleted the tweet. Now consider the mentality of a man that uses this obvious mistake as a jumping off point to argue that Richard Dawkins, and therefore \u2018new atheism\u2019 is somehow sympathetic towards white supremacy.<\/p>\n

Not only does Phil seem committed to dishonestly smearing those he does not care for, his behaviour also extends to more sinister and unbalanced methods. Phil himself has admitted to creating multiple Twitter accounts to harass people<\/a> after being blocked by them. And when that method did not get him the attention he believed he was entitled to, he would then threaten to turn up in person to his target\u2019s place of employment<\/a>, after being repeatedly told to stay away. This stalker-like harassment compelled one of his targets to consider a restraining order.<\/p>\n

This brings me to the most recent episode of blatant dishonesty in the Salon\/Phil obsession with Sam Harris. In Phil\u2019s latest Salon piece<\/a> titled \u2018Sam Harris and Donald Trump: They’re completely different \u2026 yet very much alike\u2019 he claims that Sam Harris has become a \u2018super-spreader of racist disinformation\u2019.<\/p>\n

Torres points to Harris\u2019s comments on IQ as his jumping point for labelling him a racist:<\/p>\n

And as bad luck would have it, but as you absolutely predict on the basis of just sheer biology, different populations of people, different racial groups, different ethnicities, different groups of people who have been historically isolated from one another geographically, test differently in terms of their average on this measure of cognitive function. So if you’re gonna give the Japanese and the Ashkenazi Jews and African Americans and Hawaiians \u2026 you’re gonna take populations who differ genetically \u2014 and we know they differ genetically, that’s not debatable \u2014 and you give them IQ tests, it would be a miracle if every single population had the exact same mean IQ. And African Americans come out about a standard deviation lower than white Americans. A standard deviation for IQ is about 15 points. So, if it’s normed to the general population, predominantly white population for an average of 100, the average in the African American community has been around 85.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here, Sam Harris is outlining the scientific consensus<\/a> on variation in IQ. Phil goes on to summarise this data with \u2018There is simply no other interpretation<\/strong> of this than “Black people are genetically dumber<\/strong>.” (emphasis mine).<\/p>\n

However, given Sam Harris provides his actual interpretation immediately after the quote Phil Torres has mined, one would be inclined to disagree. As always when people selectively quote Sam Harris, what is omitted is usually more illuminating. And given what is omitted here would conclusively refute the thrust of Phil\u2019s accusations, I can\u2019t help but think it was intentional.<\/p>\n

The full conversation containing the above comments can be heard here<\/a>, with the relevant section beginning at around the 18 minutes mark. Here are the things Sam Harris says immediately after the words Torres chose to highlight in his article (emphasis mine):<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are obviously some wrong conclusions<\/strong> some people want to make on the basis of these data\u2026it is in fact true that there is so much more variation within any population, for everything, but in particular intelligence than there is between populations that you actually know nothing about a person\u2019s intelligence by being told the colour of their skin<\/strong>. Being told that someone is white, is black, is Japanese tells you nothing about how good they are at anything<\/strong>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sam Harris goes on to say:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no argument for treating any person as anything other than an individual that needs to be assessed on his own merits. There is no argument for discrimination\u201d.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

These are not the words of someone who believes\u2014or wants you<\/em> to believe\u2014that \u201cblack people are genetically dumber\u201d. In fact, these are the words of someone who believes the precise opposite. The thing about genuine racists is that you don\u2019t need to misrepresent them in order to demonstrate their racism. It seems that Sam Harris\u2019s interpretation of the data is clear. And it differs emphatically from Phil Torres\u2019s own bizarre assessment which is that \u2018there is simply no other interpretation of this than \u201cblack people are genetically dumber\u201d.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This must be one of those \u2018obviously wrong conclusions\u2019 Harris warned about. And you have to wonder what prejudices led Phil Torres to make such a conclusion.<\/p>\n

Stephen Knight is host of The #GSPodcast. You can listen to The Godless Spellchecker Podcast <\/strong><\/i>here<\/a><\/strong><\/i>, and support it by becoming a patron <\/strong><\/i>here<\/a><\/strong><\/i>.<\/strong><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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